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• Little Bat Up All Day Clarion Books (Boston, MA), 2022
• Wombat Said Come In Margaret Quinlin Books (Atlanta, GA), 2022
• Meet the Mini-Mammals Beach Lane Books (New York, NY), 2025

1. Meet the mini-mammals LCCN 2024005676 Type of material Book Personal name Stewart, Melissa, author. Main title Meet the mini-mammals / Melissa Stewart ; illustrated by Brian Lies. Edition First edition. Published/Produced New York : Beach Lane Books, [2025] Projected pub date 2503 Description 1 online resource ISBN 9781665947176 (ebook) (hardcover) Item not available at the Library. Why not? 2. Little Bat up all day LCCN 2022286605 Type of material Book Personal name Lies, Brian, author, illustrator. Main title Little Bat up all day / Brian Lies. Edition First edition. Published/Produced Boston : Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2022] ©2022 Description 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 24 cm ISBN 9780358269854 (hardcover) CALL NUMBER PZ7.L618 Li 2022 FT MEADE Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE 3. Wombat said come in LCCN 2022939544 Type of material Book Personal name Deedy, Carmen Agra, author. Main title Wombat said come in / Carmen Agra Deedy ; illustrated by Brian Lies. Published/Produced Atlanta, Georgia : Margaret Quinlin Books, [2022] Description 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 24 x 29 cm ISBN 9781682633212 (hardcover) (ebook) CALL NUMBER PZ7.D3587 Wo 2022 FT MEADE Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE

• Cat Nap (Author, Illustrator) - 2025 Greenwillow Books, New York, NY

• Brian Lies website - https://www.brianlies.com/

  ABOUT BRIAN LIES
  First of all. . . what's with that name??
  (Please note: for a professional biography for a conference or event, please see "Biographies for Press" )

  I was born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1963, which back then was a quiet college town, surrounded by old farmland slowly giving way to housing developments. I spent a lot of time writing and drawing with my older sister, building dams and forts in the woods across the street with my best friend, and making things. My friend and I were also young entrepreneurs, selling greeting cards door-to-door (we earned a set of walkie-talkies!), or managing roadside lemonade-and-sticker stands.

  At various times during my childhood, my sister and I had newts, gerbils and rabbits as pets. When I was in fifth grade, an author and illustrator visited my school, and I was amazed that a person could have a job writing and drawing. I wished it could be my job! But I didn’t think I was good enough at either writing or drawing to even try.

  I had always liked to draw, though, and kept doing it just for fun. During high school, I also painted with oil paints and made stained glass windows. I actually sold some stained glass, too—another taste of self-employment. I went to Brown University after high school, where I studied Psychology and British and American Literature. I began to think about what I really wanted to do for a career, and what I really wanted was something that involved art. So after graduation from college in 1985, I moved to Boston to study drawing and painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (also known as the Boston Museum School).

  At the Museum School, I started getting paintings in exhibitions and won a few prizes, and then was able to get political illustrations published in the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe.

  Suddenly I had a career as an editorial and political illustrator, working with a lot of magazines and newspapers. In 1989, I illustrated my first book, Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye, with Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston.

  Since then, I’ve illustrated almost thirty books, including my 2019 Caldecott Honor-winning THE ROUGH PATCH, which also won a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award, Got to Get to Bear’s! and my NY Times-bestselling bat series ( Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Library, Bats at the Ballgame, and Bats in the Band). My first two written-and-illustrated titles were Hamlet and the Enormous Chinese Dragon Kite (1994), and Hamlet and the Magnificent Sandcastle (2001).

  One of my great joys as a grown author and illustrator is to be able to visit elementary schools around the country, working with young writers and illustrators as they create their own stories (see Schools). It feels as though it's all come full-circle.

  I now live in a seaside town in Massachusetts with my wife and two cats. Our adult daughter lives not too far away. My hobbies are bicycling, woodworking, and tending a big vegetable garden behind the house. I’m very interested in old-fashioned food preparation, too, and make my own kimchi, pickles and sauerkraut. I’ve tried some other things, like cheesemaking and a vinegar-laced drink called switchel, which I kind of liked but which everybody else in my family thought was really nasty.

  I also read a lot, which I think is important—it keeps my imagination going, and leaves me feeling much more relaxed than television does!

  Brian Lies is represented by Erin Murphy Literary Agency. FOR SCHOOL VISIT QUERIES, click HERE.
  All images and content on this website ©Brian Lies, and may not be used or transformed in any way without express permission.
  Reuse without permission is theft.

  Frequently Asked Questions
  Q: How long does it take to write a book?

  A: It depends on the book. I've written a manuscript (and re-written it many times) in as few as three months. Sometimes it takes a lot longer. Several of my story ideas have been with me for twenty years, and I still haven’t decided on the best way to tell them!

  Q: Where do you get your ideas?

  A: Ideas can come from lots of different places: things that you like to do or you've done in the past, things that you see that make you curious, or things that people you know might say or do. There are lots of ideas everywhere, and all you have to do is start paying attention to things around you. Also, when you get an idea, write it down in a notebook or a sketchbook, so you won’t forget it!

  Q: I’ve written a children’s book. Will you illustrate it for me?

  A: It’s normally the editor and art director at a publishing house who choose the illustrator for a book, and if you want to suggest me as a potential illustrator for your work when you submit it, I'd be honored. It's important to know that you don’t need to have an illustrator with you before you submit a manuscript for publication—the most important thing is that your story is as strong as it can be when you submit it.

  Q: Would you be willing to read my manuscript and give me some advice?

  A: Though I enjoy providing critiques in certain professional circumstances, I’ve been advised not to read other people's manuscripts any more. It could get very awkward if someone sent me a manuscript similar to something I was already working on!

  Q: What were your favorite books when you were a kid?

  A: My favorite book when I was very young was Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever. Other early favorites were The Wonderful Treehouse by Harold Longman and illustrated by Harry Devlin, Why I Built the Boogle House, by Helen Palmer, Drummer Hoff by Barbara and Ed Emberley, and Fortunately, by Remy Charlip. When I was a little older I loved Jean Craighead George’s My Side of the Mountain, Helen Bush’s Mary Anning’s Treasures, and all of the children’s books by Jane Langton (The Diamond in the Window, The Swing in the Summerhouse, etc.). I also enjoyed reading Edward Eager’s magic books (including Half Magic and The Well Wishers).

  Q: Of the books you’ve done, what’s your favorite?

  A: I’d bet most authors or illustrators would answer that whatever they’re working on when you ask the question is their favorite. However, for a number of reasons, if I HAD to choose, I'd say my favorite book so far is The Rough Patch, a meditation on grief and the anger which sometimes accompanies it . . . and on hope.

  Q: Do you ever give up?

  A: Sometimes I’ll work on an idea for a while, and then decide that it either doesn’t really work as a book, or isn’t something that I want to spend more time on. But I’ve definitely found that persistence is the best way to succeed.

  Q: Does your hand hurt after you draw a book?

  A: If I’m working seven days a week to get a book finished, my hand will start to hurt a bit. But I can paint or draw for eight or more hours a day and not have it bother me. What gets really tired is my head. It’s hard to keep your concentration going after many hours of work.

  Q: Why did you become an author and illustrator?

  A: I’ve always loved coming up with ideas and putting them down on paper, whether it was writing or doodling. Writing and illustrating children's books seemed the best way to do something I loved.

  Q: What do you like most about writing?

  A: I like making stuff up. And writing is an opportunity to get ideas down on paper so that I can share them with other people. My hope is that, if I do it well, a story I create will actually seem real to some readers.

  Q: Does writing and illustrating books become easy after a while?

  A: Mostly, no. Both writing and drawing take a lot of time and effort, and they never feel easy. But at the same time, as I do more and more books, I feel more comfortable in my own drawing and writing style. It has become more fun than it was in the beginning.

  Q: When you were young, were teachers impressed by your stories?

  A: No, I don’t think so. I think I was probably seen as a creative student, and I clearly loved to write and draw, but I don’t think I was ever considered “a future author/illustrator.”

  Q: Which one do you like better, writing or drawing?

  A: That's a hard question to answer. I like both, and find both incredibly frustrating. To me, that's like asking "Do you like verbs or nouns better?" They're both important in a sentence, and writing and drawing are both equally important in creating a picture book. To me the most important thing is story, and the words and pictures both work in service of that story.

  Q: Have you ever written a book about seasons or holidays?

  A: No—so far, the stories I want to tell haven’t been tied into seasons or holidays. I do think it’d be fun to do a Halloween book some day, but there are lots and lots of them already. Some people think my bat books are Halloween stories, but they're not—if you look at them, not a single one takes place at Halloween time! Also, if you do a season/holiday book, you’re limiting when people read your stories to that time of year. Bookstores will stock your book in the month before the holiday, and the day after. . . off the shelves they come.

• School Library Journal - https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/04/10/sneak-preview-a-cat-nap-conversation-and-peek-inside-this-fall-release-with-brian-lies/

  Sneak Preview: A Cat Nap Conversation with Brian Lies and a Peek Inside This Fall Release
  April 10, 2025 by Betsy Bird 1 comments

  What do we do when we experience extreme creativity in the picture book realm? Sort of a subjective question, I know. I might find something creative that you find pedantic or dull. And you might think something was brilliant that I feel is repetitive and old hat. But there are rare cases where an author or illustrator goes so far above and beyond the norm that they create something that is, quite frankly, inarguably without compare.

  Enter Brian Lies.

  Today we’re going to talk about his fall title Cat Nap (out September 30th). And since this book is a bit difficult to describe without having seen it first, here is the extended description from Harper Collins:

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  With lush paintings and intricately constructed 3-D artwork, bestselling and Caldecott Honor–winning author-illustrator Brian Lies introduces a sleepy kitten whose afternoon nap transforms into an epic journey through art, time, and history. Perfect for fans of They All Saw a Cat, Museum Trip, and Jumanji. Includes back matter.

  In the warm, late afternoon sunlight, a girl sits on the couch reading a book. Her kitten dozes nearby. But when Kitten notices a mouse and dives after it through a framed poster on the wall, an epic chase through time, art, and history ensues. Is it a dream? That’s up to the reader to decide, but for the kitten, every leap and bound is full of suspense and makes for a masterpiece.

  Caldecott Honor–winning and New York Times bestsellingauthor-illustrator Brian Lies creates a truly unique picture book journey that invites young readers through the galleries of an art museum as well as through time, space, and history. As the cat and mouse leap from one page to the next, they are portrayed in the style of masterful artworks from history—an ancient Egyptian relief, an illuminated manuscript, a stained-glass window, a ceramic dog—each painstakingly and lovingly re-created in its original media by Brian Lies. When the sly mouse gets away, Kitten finds himself lost and alone. Will art help him find his way home?

  This visual showstopper by an award-winning and bestselling picture book creator offers readers a page-turning cat and mouse chase, an introduction to famous works of art throughout history, an epic adventure story, and a homecoming. Back matter includes information about how each of the illustrations in the book was created, notes on the original artworks featured in the book, and an afterword inviting young readers to make, create, and build things.

  Now I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to put up the art from this book first (if you click on the images you can expand them). And only after you have seen them will I dive into my Q&A with Brian about the title. Otherwise, I worry you won’t get the full effect.

  Take a gander:

  Cool, right? Now please understand that this was all done by hand.

  Every. Last. Image.

  Oh yeah. We’re gonna have a lot to talk about…

  Betsy Bird: Brian! A million thanks for talking to me today about CAT NAP. The term “ambitious” doesn’t seem sufficient to describe this book. What you’ve done here feels as though it should rightfully have taken you a good decade. Where on earth did the idea for this book come from originally?

  Brian Lies: This one has been brewing for over a decade. Our gray Russian Blue / Siamese mix cat Dylan disappeared one day, and we searched the house from basement to attic—no cat! But then several hours later he sauntered into the room, his whiskers covered with cobwebs. He’d clearly had an adventure. But where? We joked that he’d found a wormhole in space and time, and I started imagining him in ancient Egypt. That turned into an adventure of my own, creating a story in which Kitten encounters a variety of artworks before he finds his way home again. But the twist would be creating the book images in both 2D and 3D, as close to the originals as possible. That sounded like fun!

  Brian Lies
  BB: Yes, but in your rather extensive notes at the end of the book you mention how much easier it would have been to simply digitally place the kitten in each of these images. Instead, you opted to actually go so far as to make pieces that looked like the originals. At what point in the process did you come to the decision to go this route?

  Brian: It was baked into the project from the very beginning, a self-dare. I’ve worked with a variety of materials over the years, and the whole thing seemed a lot more fun if I attempted to create look-alikes of original artworks, all in their original media. But the project started rolling for real two years ago, when I created a miniature display for Beacon Hill Books in Boston, a permanent, tiny home for their squirrel mascot. I realized I was problem-solving and making things as I’d planned to do with this book—ultimately it was my “embravening” myself to attempt it!

  BB: A perfectly cromulent word. You say that some of the artistic techniques were new for you. Which ones were they and how did you go about learning them?

  Brian: The Mblo portrait mask was probably the one I worried about the most. While I’ve whittled at sticks with a Swiss Army knife before, I’d never actually carved in wood before this. And it’s very different from working in clay, where you can always add more material if you need to. In wood, it’s subtractive, so you’ve got to be sure you can fit the eventual carving in the block of wood with which you start. And if you get too aggressive and whack a big chunk of wood away, you’re sunk.

  BB: Paging through this book, it feels as though you purposely chose the most difficult styles imaginable. Clay! Gold leaf! Illuminated manuscripts! As you went through the Met and selected the pieces that you wanted to use in the book, what factors did you take into consideration?

  Brian: My first research trip to The Met was a “what if?” lark—I was just looking for artworks that grabbed my imagination, things that might be fun for Kitten to interact with. The delightfully odd “Portrait of Emma Van Name” was an obvious choice—it’s one of those strange mid-1800s portraits in which children appear as miniature adults. In this one, Emma stands next to an enormous wine glass filled with berries. What’s that about? And she’s in a ridiculously ornate frame. Could I duplicate that frame at home, too?

  One thing that was important to me was to reflect world art as broadly as possible. Every human culture has created stunning pieces of art, and since there was only room for nine artworks appear in CAT NAP, it wasn’t possible to represent the entire spectrum of art history. But I was able to include Egyptian, Asian, African, Mexican, U.S. and European artworks. I snuck in a trompe l’oeil painting, and some graphic novel-inspired pages, too. Maybe kids can round out the representation by creating their own museum lookalikes!

  BB: I like that! Was there any particular piece that gave you more trouble than you anticipated? Or anything you had to abandon along the way because it just wasn’t working out?

  Brian: In the stained glass pieces, “Gathering Manna,” I had to learn how to work with vitreous paint, which is essentially ground glass paint, brushed on a prepared surface and then kiln-fired. I found a small craft kiln on Facebook Marketplace, and drove two hours to pick it up in a sketchy handoff in the parking lot of a derelict Friendly’s restaurant off of the Massachusetts Turnpike. I had several failures with the kiln—laboriously painting pieces of glass, only to have them crack when I underestimated their cooling time. But like most skills we learn, I developed a sense of how long they had to fire and cool to come out unscathed.

  There were two places where I didn’t follow the original artworks as closely as I wanted to. With the carved Egyptian panels, I knew I couldn’t source stone that was close enough to the originals, so I poured slabs of Hydrocal plaster and after carving the images with dental tools, stained and painted the slabs to look like stone. And then, with the illuminated manuscript, I was able to source goatskin parchment from India—but the original prayer book is SO small –about 3” tall–that I can’t begin to imagine how the artist painted the miniscule marginal images. And because we’d have to blow the image up for readers to see it clearly in the book, I decided to break away from strict exactitude, and paint the images larger. I had to remind myself that the images as they appear in the book were more important than creating an exact “forgery.”

  BB: In your Acknowledgements you mention that the photo credits are all public domain courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What was your relationship with the museum when crafting this book? Was it done in conjunction with them, or was it something you proposed and they allowed? (One certainly hopes this will be prominently featured in their gift shop at some point)

  Brian: It would be an honor to see the book in their gift shop! I made my research visits anonymously, but reached out to several experts with questions about particular artworks. Michael Carter, the Librarian at The Cloisters, was generous in his time helping me view an exact-size facsimile of “The Hours of Jeanne D’Evreaux,” which was an exciting research experience. But otherwise, I did my homework pretty much unnoticed.

  At first, I had thought I might set the book at my other favorite museum, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, where I spent countless hours during my time at the Boston Museum School. but I have a long-standing emotional connection to The Met—sparked in childhood by E.L. Konigsburg’s classic book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. As a kid, I loved the idea of copying Claudia and Jamie’s adventure at The Met, and CAT NAP was a way to have my own personal imagination adventure there!

  BB: I think your note at the end talking about how you didn’t want your art to look like it was made by a kid when you were a kid is going to hit home for a great many people. How would you best like librarians, educators, and parents to use this book with kids?

  Brian: For me, this project was a counterpoint to artificial intelligence. Sure, a computer can create amazing images through prompts, but where’s the human feel in them? Could a computer-generated magician’s illusions dazzle us the way a real magician’s does? Or does the power of a magical illusion come from the fact that we know it can’t be done, but . . . how was it done??? Part of the awe we experience through real artworks is the idea that real humans created them.

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  So I hope that the story of CAT NAP will inspire some kids to wonder “could I really make that, too?” The answer is YES! Skills that previous humans developed can be learned. Why not YOU? There’s nothing like that feeling of “I made this!”

  I also hope that some kids who never visit museums might get a tiny glimpse of the wider world of art (is it always just a painting in a frame?) and it might spark their curiosity to explore more.

  BB: Finally, I can’t imagine you haven’t deserved a rest after this, but what’s next for you? What else is on your plate?

  Brian: I recently Illustrated Melissa Stewart’s Meet the Mini-Mammals / A Night at the Natural History Museum (Beach Lane Books), and then next year is the publication of Diffy (Christy Ottaviano Books / Little, Brown). It’s a story of how we make connections and stories, as seen through the eyes of my fictional version of an anglerfish whose life is changed when an illustrated dictionary lands on his deep-sea ledge home—and reveals images in its margins that he can’t comprehend.

• Maria Marshall - https://www.mariacmarshall.com/single-post/the-picture-book-buzz-interview-w-carmen-agra-deedy-brian-lies-and-review-of-wombat-said-come-in

  The Picture Book Buzz - Interview w/Carmen Agra Deedy, Brian Lies, and Review of Wombat Said Come In
  "The responsibility of the writer is to take every injurious word,

  every moment of heart-stopping wonder, every slithering

  fear, every joy you have ever experienced, and create something

  that will make the rest of us believe that this luminous and

  sometimes brutal life is worth living." ~ Carmen Agra Deedy

  Carmen Agra Deedy is an award-winning author and storyteller. Deedy is also an accomplished lecturer, having been a guest speaker for both the TED and TEDx Conferences, the Library of Congress, Columbia University, the National Book Festival, and the Kennedy Center, among other distinguished venues. A life-long supporter of the institution, she opened the 2016 Art of the Book Lecture Series for the Smithsonian Libraries.

  Her personal stories first appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered. Funny, insightful, and frequently irreverent, Deedy’s narratives are culled from her childhood as a Cuban refugee in Decatur, Georgia. She is host of the four-time Emmy-winning children’s program, Love That Book!

  She’s the author of twelve books for children, including The Children's Moon illustrated by Jim LaMarche (2021), Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day illustrated by Pete Oswald (2020), The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! illustrated by Eugene Yelchin (2017), The Library Dragon illustrated by Michael P. White (2012), The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale illustrated by Barry Moser (2011), and 14 Cows for America illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez (2009), a New York Times Bestseller, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, illustrated by Michael Austin (2007), The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark illustrated by Henri Sorensen (2000).

  Brian Lies is an acclaimed children’s book author/illustrator. He was born in Princeton, NJ in 1963, and graduated from Brown University with a degree in British and American Literature. He attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) for two and a half years, and then went on to create Op/Ed page illustrations for many magazines and newspapers, including the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor and Chicago Tribune.

  Brian nearly stopped reading in the third grade, but was encouraged by his local librarians and rebounded, becoming an avid, lifelong reader. Partially because of his own experiences, as well as current brain studies which show the importance of reading in social and emotional growth in young people, Brian feels very strongly about the importance of getting them to read. Brian spends a portion of the school year traveling throughout the United States to work with students and encourage them in their goals. He lives in Duxbury, Massachusetts with his wife and daughter and two cats.

  He illustrated his first children's book with Houghton Mifflin Company in 1989 and has since created more than two dozen books. He’s the author/illustrator of 2019 Caldecott Honor-winning picture book The Rough Patch and Got to Get to Bear’s (2018) and his New York Times-bestselling bat book series, Bats at the Beach (2006), Bats at the Library (2008), Bats at the Ballgame (2010), Bats in the Band (2014), Little Bat in Night School (2021), and Little Bat Up All Day (2022). He also illustrated the middle-grade novels Malcolm Under the Stars (2015) and Malcolm at Midnight (2012) (by W.H. Beck) and a number of other picture books.

  For additional information on Brian Lies check out our earlier interviews (here).

  Their newest picture book, Wombat Said Come In, released October 4th.

  Welcome Carmen and Brian, thank you both for joining me to talk about yourselves and your newest picture book.

  Carmen, I’m a huge fan of The Children’s Moon and The Yellow Star, and it’s wonderful to “meet” you. Since I’ve interviewed Brian before, let me ask you a few general questions first. Tell us a little about yourself. (Such as - where/when do you write? How long have you been writing? What is your favorite type of book to write?)

  CARMEN - As no doubt many artists discovered, the enforced isolation of the pandemic had an unexpected silver lining. Here, at last, was the one thing that none of us could barter for or buy: TIME. Despite other obligations, I was able to write, and later sell, three books, of which Wombat Said Come In is first in the queue. As to when and where I typically write? Well, my husband and I share a little studio adjacent to the house; he has the downstairs, I have the upper room, where I have an architectural bed, a writing desk, and my folklore collection. It's the happiest writing place I know.

  That sounds amazing. And congrats on your books! What is something no one (or few) knows about you?

  CARMEN - I love to draw. My favorite mediums are pencil and pen & ink. I rarely do any drawing now. Nonetheless, I love it still.

  What do each of you like to do outside?

  CARMEN - Walk in the woods. Oh, and treeclimb. I have grandchildren who are great inciters.

  BRIAN – I’m a big gardener, with two vegetable gardens in the yard. But I also enjoy bicycling, walking woodsy trails in my town, camping, and so on. Being out in Nature is invigorating!

  I'm not surprised you like to garden Brian. And I love the image of you, Carmen, in a tree with your grandkids. Carmen. where did the inspiration for Wombat Said Come In come from?

  CARMEN - There are annual bushfires in Australia, and 2020 was no exception. But an unusual, and perhaps unprecedented thing occurred when the fires died out. Animal rescuers found that a variety of animals had taken shelter in wombat burrows––and the wombats had allowed them in. It should be noted that wombats are delightfully portly little marsupials, so they have rather large burrows.

  As I researched wombats, it seemed that they are mild-mannered and shy creatures in many ways. I wondered what a single, rather reclusive fellow would do if confronted with other animals in need. Would he refuse to disrupt his very private life and tidy sanctuary? Or would he let them in?

  I remember those reports and the surprise of the animal rescuers who witnessed it. Brian, what about the manuscript for Wombat Said Come In snagged your attention or intrigued you to make you want to illustrate it?

  BRIAN –I’ve wanted to illustrate something by Carmen forever, and jumped when the manuscript came over the transom. It’s so incredibly ­voice-y — I think that, as an oral storyteller, Carmen has a natural ear for creating different character voices, and that comes out in her writing. From the moment I first read it, I knew it’d be a terrific story to read aloud.

  I think her voice and your illustrations combined beautifully. What's something you both want your readers to know about Wombat Said Come In?

  CARMEN - I would like them to keep a lingering feeling that the smallest creatures can make a difference. And even when the world is on fire, you can still do one good thing.

  BRIAN –DO read the story aloud, and DO make up voices for all of the different characters! This is a story to read in an uninhibited way. And perhaps be inspired by Wombat’s instinct—to say “yes” to kindness.

  I totally agree with you both. Brian, as both an author/illustrator and illustrator, which do you find most challenging writing and illustrating your own books or illustrating another’s book? Why?

  BRIAN – they’re very different experiences. I like being entirely in control of both how a story looks and how it sounds when I’m doing my own stories, and being able to make changes to both words and images as I go along. But it’s also an interesting experience to weave images into a text someone else has written, to try to make the end result feel seamless. It’s definitely challenging to have alternate ideas of how a story might be told, and NOT be able to change it because you’re not the author. . . but I didn’t have that problem with Carmen’s story. I enjoyed it as it was, and had a lot of fun mapping the illustrations onto the text!

  I like that description; you're not just adding the pictures or your half of the story, but weaving them into and through the story. Carmen, what is the toughest aspect of writing for you? How about with this book? How long did it take for Wombat Said Come In to go from the idea to publication?

  CARMEN – The most difficult moment for me (in the writing process) is creating a first cohesive draft. Every writer has their own process, of course, but here's mine: I'm usually struck by an incident or idea that strikes like a thunderbolt––and I write it down. As in, I write it down immediately. I know how ephemeral these flashes of inspiration can be. After that, I do research on the subject (whether for fiction or nonfiction). Once I've gathered a few notes, I hand-write the story in a very elemental form; this is how I begin to grasp the slippery arc of the story. The "first" draft is then written on my laptop. It's uniformly awful. A wobbly, incoherent, and unlovable thing. Every time. A draft even Anne Lamott would hate. I walk away from it. At some point within the next few hours or days, I return to it and decide whether it deserves to live. Then I begin to edit. Now THAT is a wonderful process: change a word, rearrange the order, take out an unnecessary or distracting scene, add or remove a character, come up with a better ending . . . you know, write.

  Wombat Said Come In was written during a golden period of writing. I followed the process I described earlier, then I edited (and re-edited), until––at last––I emailed my agent the "first draft" of a dozen drafts. Once the book was contracted, more editing ensued. Brian received the manuscript some six months later, I believe. From idea to publication? Roughly two years. And that is LIGHTNING FAST in the picture book world!

  It's so fun to learn how everyone's process is slightly different. Carmen, you have a great refrain in the book. How challenging was it to create this refrain and the later tweak of it?

  CARMEN – I'm not in my comfort zone with verse of any kind, but, when telling stories to children, I've learned that kids love a repetitive line or phrase. It anchors the story, and they wait for it to reappear. In this case, it also helped set up the ending where dear Wombat, knowing his guests are now safe to return home, reverses the phrase. I hope it makes the children laugh.

  I think you succeeded brilliantly and it is a lot of fun to read aloud. Brian, which was the toughest illustration to create or the one that took the greatest number of revisions?

  BRIAN – the toughest illustration was the “payoff page,” where poor Wombat is slouched on his ottoman as his friends make themselves at home, because it’s a full-bleed spread with all of the book’s characters in it, and there’s a lot of surface area to cover. It’s also the one with the greatest clutter, which is both fun to do, but also time-consuming.

  Poor Wombat. I love the way you've captured that moment when you're ready for family (or house guests) just before the end of their visit. Brian, many illustrators leave treasures or weave their own story (or elements) throughout the illustrations. Did you do this in Wombat Said Come In? Could you share one or more with us?

  BRIAN – With this one, I didn’t add a substory because there’s so much action and great dialogue that adding anything beyond the design of Wombat’s environment might have cluttered things up too much or broken the flow of Carmen’s text. However, I did put a lot of “Easter eggs” in the illustrations—for instance, what looks like a pile of sifted dirt on top of Wombat’s clock is a representation of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock), and his comfy chair is based on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Some of the paintings in his burrow are paintings I’ve done which hang in our house. There are little visual jokes, such as an open packet of iced buns on the floor called Mel Buns (say that aloud fast in an Aussie accent!) or the brand of Wombat’s fridge (G’-Don-U—“Goodonya,” an Aussie statement of approval). I tried to avoid obvious Australian cliches (“shrimp on the barbie!”), and to add things that non-Australians might not know about, such as Wombat’s plate of Anzac biscuits (recipes available online!).

  Thanks for sharing some of the Australian references you included. Carmen, when you first saw Brian’s dummy and/or finished illustrations did anything surprise, amaze, or delight you? Which is your favorite spread?

  CARMEN - Trick question. I was so––to use a delightful British phrase––gobsmacked by the utter wonderfulness of them ALL that I believe I squealed. Or so I'm told. I adore Brian's work. He is a disciplined and visionary artist. He also respects the craft by researching all aspects of the work. Great balls of fire! I've wanted him to illustrate one of my stories for more than a decade.

  Text © Carmen Agra Deedy, 2022. Image © Brian Lies, 2022.

  What delighted me most? I suppose the added whimsey and humor. Okay. True confessions: I love, love, love the interactions between Wombat and Sugar Glider best of all.

  It seems that you both dreamed of working with each other. I also love the little Sugar Glider. Brian, is there a spread that you were especially excited about or proud of? Which is your favorite spread?

  Text © Carmen Agra Deedy, 2022. Image © Brian Lies, 2022.

  BRIAN – my favorite spread is the complicated scene I discussed above, where Wombat’s friends are clearly enjoying his hospitality, but a weary Wombat is seated on an ottoman and looking directly at us with a “why me?” look. I do like filling a whole page with the picture, because it feels more immersive, more like you’re really in the scene, than when you have a “spot illustration” with a white background.

  This is such a great spread. Are there any projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

  CARMEN - I just finished a really fun project for Georgia Power: a picture book about solar energy. What's exciting about that? Well, well, well. It's illustrated by Michael A. Austin ( with whom I collaborated for Martina the Beautiful Cockroach), and because we were given free creative rein––a glorious and terrifying thing––it became a tale of the use of solar energy through the ages, as we time-travel with a mote of the sun's energy by the name of Erg. One year of research, writing, and illustration. Ridiculously fun to create.

  I also have two new books coming. Carina Felina with Henry Cole (Scholastic Books, 2023), and The Peanut Man with Raul Colon (Peachtree Publishing, Margaret Quinlin Books, 2024).

  BRIAN – I’m working on a story which is basically about how our brains make automatic connections between things around us, and turn them into stories. My main character is my own version of an anglerfish (no scary teeth or blank eyes!), and I’m excited about the lighting opportunities the deep-sea setting offers—but also about what the story says about how the stories we tell can connect us all.

  These projects sound amazing! I can't wait to see them. Last question, what is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?

  Photo of the twisted tree at Maquand Park, Princton, NJ.
  BRIAN – wow—that’s an unexpected question! I visited Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks as a boy on family camping trips, and remember them being absolutely stunning—more so than the Grand Canyon, which felt oddly flat and unreal when seen from the observation areas on its rim (might have been different if we’d hiked down into it). On a more personal level, I have wonderful childhood memories of Marquand Park in Princeton, NJ. It has lots of beautiful specimen trees, including a favorite Japanese Maple with twisty branches which my older sister and I named the “twizzly tree.” I like going back to visit that tree from time to time!

  Thank you, Carmen and Brian for spending time with us. It was wonderful to chat with both of you.

  For more information about Carmen Agra Deedy, or to contact her:

  Website: https://carmenagradeedy.com/

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carmenagradeedy

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/deedybooks

  For more information about Brian Lies, or to contact him:

  Website: http://www.brianlies.com/

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianLiesbooks

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianlies/

  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brianlies/

  Review of Wombat Said Come In

  My first introduction to Carmen Agra Deedy came with the book The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark illustrated by Henri Sorensen (2000) and I totally fell in love with her touching picture book The Children's Moon illustrated by Jim LaMarche (2021). When I first saw this cover, it was through an announcement by another of my favorite author/illustrators - Brian Lies. I adore his picture books The Rough Patch, Got to Get to Bear’s (2018) and the Little Bat series, and was really excited to see he was illustrating a new one. Then I saw the author's name. I couldn't wait to get a hold of this book! It is as touching, funny, and poignant as I hoped it would be. It is a wonderfully humorous and heartfelt friendship story based on a real-life event which occurred in Australia during the deadly bushfires.

  Wombat Said Come In

  Author: Carmen Agra Deedy

  Illustrator: Brian Lies

  Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company/Margaret Quinlin Books (2022)

  Ages: 4-8

  Fiction

  Themes:

  Friendship, Australian animals, bush fires, compassion, empathy, kindness, and humor.

  Synopsis:

  A kindhearted wombat offers refuge to a parade of animal friends during an Australian bushfire in a delightful new picture book from New York Times best-selling creators Carmen Agra Deedy and Brian Lies.

  Australian bushfires roar above Wombat’s home. He is fortunate that his burrow is deep below ground and he is safe. He snuggles under his crazy quilt and drinks his tea.

  Then, one by one, five uniquely Australian animals – Wallaby, Kookaburra, Platypus, Koala, and Sugar Glider – seek refuge from the fires, and Wombat welcomes them all.

  When you have the heart of a wombat, there’s always room for one more!

  Fellowship, empathy, and adorable Australian animals star in this delightfully heartwarming and funny story about help in the time of trouble from author Carmen Agra Deedy (14 Cows for America, The Library Dragon, The Rooster Who Would Not Stay Quiet) and Caldecott Honoree Brian Lies (The Rough Patch, Bats at the Beach).

  The book will delight children with Deedy’s engaging story and Lies masterfully rendered animals. It is an ideal read-aloud for adults seeking a story with humor and heart. Generosity and kindness provide powerful SEL themes. Older readers will get a glimpse of the unique environmental challenges presented by the country’s annual bushfire season.

  Opening Lines:

  Wombat was not worried.

  No, not a tittle. Fire had passed over his

  burrow before.

  Best, he thought, to shelter under my

  crazy quilt until the trouble passes.

  But, as it often does, trouble

  came knocking . . .

  “Walleeooooo, Wombat!”

  What I LOVED about this book:

  It's so fun when the book cover is a surprise under the dust jacket. For this book, Brian Lies (and the art department) not only created a surprise, he totally knocked it out of the park! It is so fun to "wander" through Wombat's home and pure genius to include a "True or False Wombat Quiz" on the book cover. It's a great surprise under the jacket cover. What a wonderful way to add STEM to a fiction book! Be sure to take some time lingering and thinking about the end papers. They provide a spectacular wordless frame for the story as well as lots of opportunity to talk about different animals and the footprints we all make.

  Text © Carmen Agra Deedy, 2022. Image © Brian Lies, 2022.

  Before we ever get to the opening spread, Brian Lies colorful acrylic and colored pencil illustrations set up the expectation for a funny book. Did you notice the chair propped under the door's handle in the room where Wombat is sitting? Then, between the front end pages and the title page is a half-spread of a door with a mail slot pushed up by a single claw and an eye ball peeking directly at us. The opening spread's vocabulary immediately clues us into the fact that we are definitely in Australia - "Wombat was not worried./No, not a tittle/.....Walleeooooo, Wombat!" And it's playful use of the cliche, "trouble comes knocking," cues readers into the tongue-in-cheek humorous nature of the text.

  Text © Carmen Agra Deedy, 2022. Image © Brian Lies, 2022.

  When the huge bush fires block a petrified Wallaby from getting to his home, he begs to stay with Wombat. Hesitating for "one tick of the clock" - both an Australian saying ("any tick of the clock") and a great representation of what an animal would hear as the passage of time (since "a second" makes no sound on its own) - Wombat invites Wallaby in with what becomes a wonderful refrain:

  Wombat said, “Come in!

  From smoke and din

  and howling wind,

  come in, my friend, come in!”

  Wallaby hops in, claims the couch, Wombat's comfy quilt, and promptly falls asleep. Interestingly, Wombat's clothing and human accessorized burrow are in stark contrast to the visitors who arrive, looking like typical Australian animals. However, as part of the humor, they also do not act 'normally', asking for tea and reading a book on dance moves.

  Just as Wombat is about to sit in his chair (that looks like the Sydney Harbor Bridge), “Woo-hoo-ha-ha-ha!” announces a scorched Kookaburra begging for refuge. As Wombat starts his refrain, the bird zooms through the door and straight into Wombat's favorite chair. Sensing a theme? Poor Wombat, just as he reaches for his fuzzy slippers, a Platypus tumbles through the door missing a shoe and sneezing from all the smoke and heat. Of course, she instantly dons the slippers, requests tea, and totters off to claim a room.

  As a weary Wombat begins making tea and toast, to "make a hard day easier to bear," Koala arrives tugging a eucalyptus branch and knocking over Wombat's clock. Then Sugar Glider launches into the house, toppling the

  hat rack, a tea tray, and scarfing up all the sugar cubes Wombat had been looking forward to adding to his tea. Before long, Wombat's orderly, comfy burrow is a disaster zone. I agree with Brian, this spread wonderfully sums up poor Wombat's feelings in a nutshell. He wants to be a good friend (and host), understanding of their need for safety from the fire, but...

  Text © Carmen Agra Deedy, 2022. Image © Brian Lies, 2022.

  Wait until you see the final couple of spreads! The ending is delightful with its humorous twist on Wombat's refrain and a little surprise. This is a wonderful, humorous fiction picture book based on true events which occurred during the Australian bush fires in 2020. Offering teachers and care givers a chance to discuss the effects of climate change on animals and people around the world (climate refugees/displacement). A book that asks the reader to envision what they would do in Wombat's shoes. What would they do for a friend, neighbor, or stranger in need? And would we really do less than the wombats did? It's a subtle reminder that we all have the ability to make a difference, even with seemingly small actions. And perhaps a comment on being a gracious guest. Overall, this is a humorous, heartfelt, and gorgeous book.

Lies, Brian LITTLE BAT UP ALL DAY Clarion/HarperCollins (Children's None) $14.99 7, 12 ISBN: 978-0-35826-985-4

There's nothing like staying up late. Or staying up early.

Little Bat is curious about daytime. What is it like when the sun is in the sky, and what are the animals like that are awake during the day? Little Bat decides to stay awake after his family falls asleep and see daytime for himself. Although he is initially overwhelmed by the bright light and the noises of the daytime, echolocation helps Little Bat adjust to this new world and discover it's the same as the dark one he's used to living in. Saved from a hawk by a friendly squirrel named Rusty, Little Bat makes a friend and enlists her to help him stay awake to see the sunset. It's a difficult job, though, because bats are meant to sleep all day. Little Bat realizes he's not meant for diurnal life; the pair are able to maintain a friendship, however, by leaving notes in an old birdhouse that they convert into their own special clubhouse. The story's plot flows smoothy, and Rusty is an adorable new addition to Little Bat's world. Fans of Lies' rich illustrations will be delighted with this latest bat book, and readers unfamiliar with the other books will marvel at the mixture of realism and humor captured in the richly hued acrylic, watercolor, and colored pencil art. Educators may find this a useful title if considering class pen pals or to help explain how various human communities use shared spaces in different ways. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Readers will go batty with joy! (Picture book. 4-6)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Lies, Brian: LITTLE BAT UP ALL DAY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A708487029/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b67bb0a6. Accessed 15 June 2025.

Deedy, Carmen Agra WOMBAT SAID COME IN Peachtree (Children's None) $18.99 10, 4 ISBN: 978-1-68263-321-2

Wombat's sense of hospitality is hard-pressed as other animal residents of the burning Australian bush seek refuge in his cool, safe, underground home.

From the start, the text seems made for a read-aloud: "Wombat was not worried. No, not a tittle. Fire had passed over his burrow before." A delightful, full-bleed double-page spread depicts a cutaway of Wombat in his orange-toned burrow, while outside and above, readers see a pale sky and a drift of smoke. The mannerly marsupial--his patterned quilt wrapped over his collared, khaki shirt--settles in to have tea and wait out the fire. Immediately, he hears the first of many interruptions at his door. Wallaby is begging for shelter, and Wombat invites him in with a welcoming verse that becomes his standard reply each time another refugee arrives ("Wombat said, 'Come in!' / Wombat said, 'Come in!' / From smoke and din / and howling wind / come in, my friend, come in!"). The charming, easily learned mantra changes only when the crisis ends. Each succeeding guest is more demanding, from Kookaburra, Platypus, and Koala to tiny Sugar Glider. The dry wit of the text is matched by art that is both detailed in illustrating each animal and hilarious in showing poor Wombat's trials. One of many funny touches is the fact that only Wombat wears clothing. Beneath the fun, however, lies the grim reality of climate change, tempered by lessons in zoology and, especially, practical altruism. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A superb read-aloud balancing messages about the environment and generosity with humor and heart. (Picture book. 4-8)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Deedy, Carmen Agra: WOMBAT SAID COME IN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711906638/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4a384397. Accessed 15 June 2025.

Stewart, Melissa MEET THE MINI-MAMMALS Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (Children's None) $19.99 3, 4 ISBN: 9781665947169

Come along on an informative countdown of 10 of the world's smallest mammals.

Most children are familiar with elephants, cats, and dogs. But what about their smaller cousins? An anthropomorphized ferret, clad in a jaunty bow tie and jacket, takes readers on a museum tour to learn about 10 mini-mammals from all over the world. This newest addition to Stewart's prolific portfolio of nonfiction picture books is chock-full of riveting information about these smallest of specimens: In the winter, when food is scarce, the Madame Berthe's mouse lemur consumes insect poop; the Etruscan pygmy shrew takes 40 breaths in the same amount of time a human breathes once. The author also tells an engaging story that makes adept use of humor and alliteration as the furry narrator wrangles the subjects into ranked order, from the (relatively) largest to the very tiniest; the ferret's asides and questions build suspense ("Isthis lively leaper the mini-est mammal of all?") and add whimsy. Lies' illustrations, created with acrylic paint and colored pencil, are amazingly lifelike, featuring incredible texture and detail. Each spread depicts a creature gazing out earnestly from a wooden picture frame; the facing page shows the mammal in its natural habitat. That each of the featured animals is portrayed true to size will further delight youngsters. Readers can delve even deeper with the appended "Mini-Mammal Small Stats" section, while a list of selected sources will extend their learning further.

A surefire hit for budding wildlife biologists.(Informational picture book. 4-8)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Stewart, Melissa: MEET THE MINI-MAMMALS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A821608545/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8ef805dc. Accessed 15 June 2025.

Lies, Brian CAT NAP Greenwillow Books (Children's None) $19.99 9, 30 ISBN: 9780062671288

A felicitous feline with mice on the brain leaps into adventure--and art.

In the late afternoon, a kitten's attention is seized by a wayward mouse. When the rodent jumps into a framed poster for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kitten is close behind. What ensues is a chase across the museum--and into a variety of pieces spanning time and geography, all of which hail from the Met and are labeled and further explained in the backmatter. On each spread, both Kitten and his prey are visually transformed, matching the style of the work in question--and wreaking a bit of chaos along the way. At last, it's the lure of home and dinner that brings Kitten's wanderings to an end. As Caldecott Honor winner Lies notes at the book's conclusion, he painstakingly brought to life each sculpture, painting, and illuminated manuscript, as seen in his jaw-dropping array of styles. He glued layers of wood to fashion a Mblo mask, fitted stained glass for a sequence where Kitten and his quarry dart through Friedrich Brunner'sGathering Manna, and, using dental tools and a chisel, carved plaster to re-create an Egyptian relief. Amid this meticulously rendered art, the kid-friendly storytelling, anchored by a spirited refrain ("Does Kitten follow? Of course he does"), remains at the heart of the narrative.

Utterly beautiful, playfully fun, and, above all, breathtaking.(Picture book. 3-6)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Lies, Brian: CAT NAP." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A841814867/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5c15e1d8. Accessed 15 June 2025.

"Lies, Brian: LITTLE BAT UP ALL DAY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A708487029/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b67bb0a6. Accessed 15 June 2025. "Deedy, Carmen Agra: WOMBAT SAID COME IN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711906638/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4a384397. Accessed 15 June 2025. "Stewart, Melissa: MEET THE MINI-MAMMALS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A821608545/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8ef805dc. Accessed 15 June 2025. "Lies, Brian: CAT NAP." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A841814867/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5c15e1d8. Accessed 15 June 2025.

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