Are you ready to laugh? I hope so because today’s picture book is hilarious!
Welcome Lauren!
Me: Can you talk a little bit about yourself and about your writing journey up to this point? What brought you to this book?
Lauren: My arrival at picture book writing was a bit of a happy accident! I’ve wanted to be a published author ever since I was a kid, and I’ve always loved children’s picture books. But when I was in my early twenties, I was told by an industry mentor that agents and editors were only interested in author illustrators. So because I couldn’t draw, I told myself that picture books were not for me and I focused on my young adult novel writing for many years. Nearly a decade later, I was still querying agents with my YA writing without much luck. I was extremely discouraged—I felt like if my dreams of becoming a published author were ever going to happen, they would have happened by now, and I was at the point of giving up. But then the manuscript for Proper Badger Would Never! came about very spontaneously and on a whim, I decided to send it out. Ironically, after all those years of novel writing, it was this little manuscript that led to me signing with my amazing agent, Rachel Orr, and the two of us selling the manuscript to Flamingo Books just a few months later.
Me: I love the idea of a proper badger who isn’t proper at all, placed into a setting where certain manners are expected (like a birthday party). It’s hilarious! What gave you the idea for this story?
Lauren: I’m so glad you love the idea too! Proper Badger Would Never! has kind of an unusual origin story. Years ago, I was at a toy store with my younger sister and a little stuffed badger wearing a coat and scarf caught my eye. I decided to buy him because he was giving me The Wind in the Willows vibes (a childhood favorite of mine). My sister asked me what his name was, and the words “Proper Badger” immediately popped out of my mouth. She laughed so hard that the name stuck and it became a joke between us to bring Proper Badger to proper get togethers you wouldn’t normally invite a badger to, like tea parties at her apartment.
Flash forward to December 2020, a deep, dark pandemic winter in New York City. It was my husband’s birthday, and I felt so bad he couldn’t see any of our friends or family, that I decided to make his favorite peanut butter cookies and throw a little party. We invited Proper Badger because we knew he’d be the perfect… err… only guest. I took a photo of my husband and Proper Badger at the party and texted it to my family. My sister responded, “How did Proper Badger behave at the party tonight?” I messaged her back with a list of all the naughty mischief Proper Badger definitely did NOT do at the party (he’s simply too proper) and it suddenly struck me what a funny children’s book character that would be. I sat down to write and thirty minutes later I had the full first draft of Proper Badger Would Never!
Me: I love the details you included in this story. Proper Badger in his little jacket with buttons up the front and a bow tie was NOT digging in the cake looking for grubs, and NOT burying the cheese platter in a potted plant for a snack later, especially the Camembert. Were these details always part of the story? Or did they come about during revision? How many revisions did this story undergo?
Lauren: My agent fell in love with the story from the start—we did one round of revisions to tidy up the manuscript and add some art notes before sending it out, and then my fabulous editor, Claire Tattersfield, saw the potential of the manuscript right away. Incredibly, we did only one more round of revisions where I adjusted the framing at the start and end of the manuscript and added in two more spreads of badger antics. So the final story is nearly word for word the same as my original draft—the details were always part of the story, and in fact, the line you mention about digging in the cake was even in the text messages to my sister the night I wrote the first draft! Given the many rounds of revisions I’ve done on all of the other manuscripts I’ve written before and since, I know that this was a special experience and definitely not the norm for me.
Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing this story?
Lauren: This story is such an authentic representation of my family’s particular brand of humor—I think the most delightfully surprising thing in writing this story and putting it out into the world has been to discover that other people also appreciate the quirky humor of this character and setting. When you have done something purely to make your own family laugh, it’s such a joy to find it’s bringing laughter to other people as well!
Me: The illustrations by Rob Sayegh Jr. are perfect for this story. I loved the details he brought to the story as well. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?
Lauren: Rob brought Proper Badger to life more brilliantly than I ever could have imagined. His illustration process is so unique and the way he uses it to create such lush and vibrant worlds is pure magic. Every single spread is such a delight to me, but the first time I saw the illustration of Proper Badger opening his closet in his underground burrow to reveal a whole rack of fabulous outfits, it really cracked me up. My favorite spread would have to be the one of the birthday cake looking so deliciously destroyed. And the biggest illustration surprise for me was how Rob cleverly worked the photo of my husband on the night that I wrote the original manuscript into the art—can any sharp-eyed readers spot where?
Me: I had to go look and I found it. LOL! I missed it before. That’s very clever! I also love how Proper Badger is innocent, even though he is naughty. He isn’t intentionally being mean or upsetting. He’s just a badger who is being a badger. He’s not bad. I think kids will love him and possibly recognize a bit of themselves in him. Isn’t that what kids do? They don’t mean to draw all over themselves with marker or decorate the entire living room in flour, that sort of thing just happens. Was that partly your intent with this character? What do you want young readers to take away from your story (besides laughter)?
Lauren: I couldn’t have said it better myself! This was absolutely my intent with the character. What I love best about Proper Badger is how he’s flawed but still loveable. He truly wants to be proper like a human, but even his best intentions buttoned up in the fanciest jacket can’t overpower his true badger nature—or as I like to say, he’s not bad, he’s just Badger. I think both as kids and adults we can relate to not always acting our best when we are trying to suppress an important part of ourselves or not having our needs met. So besides the silly fun of watching a badger in deep denial destroy a party, I think the story offers a conversation starter for young readers: what other trouble could we avoid if we were all a little more honest about our needs?
Me: I love that. Any advice for other new picture book writers?
Lauren: There is a lot of advice out there for new writers, and I learned the hard way that much of it is best taken with a grain of salt. If you really love something and you want to do it, don’t let anyone tell you that it’s not possible or that you can’t. There is no one right way or single path to achieving your dreams—just keep trying, and most importantly, don’t ever, ever give up!
Thank you so much for the chance to chat about my very favorite badger, Jena!
You’re welcome Lauren and thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.
But wait, dear readers. There’s more! Lauren has agreed to giveaway not one, but TWO copies of PROPER BADGER WOULD NEVER! This is limited to US entries only, but TWO lucky winners may get a copy of this book. Enter the rafflecopter here!