I have loved every single one of Breanna Carzoo’s picture books, but today’s picture book feels SO very true to life these days.  PLUS it’s set at the beach with a little sand castle as the main character.  What’s not to love?

Breanna Carzoo has visited my blog a few times before.  She is the author-illustrator of the picture books LOU, GREENLIGHT, and THE SQUISH. She crafts illustrations with painted cut-paper collage and mixed media. Her debut picture book, Lou, was shortlisted for the 2023 Barnes and Noble Children’s and YA Book Awards and named on many state award lists, and both Lou and Greenlight were named Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books of 2022 and 2023. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and dog. You can learn more about her at her website.

THE SQUISH is another fantastic author-illustrator picture book from Breanna with SEL leanings.  I felt this story SO much myself, but I know there are many of us who are feeling squished by life right now too.  The main character is a sand castle who is doing just great until he gets squished by one of his kid creators.  It happens, but it completely sideswipes this character.  Shock, dismay, and protection follow suit.  Isn’t that what we all do?  This book felt so right, so natural, and yet so refreshingly new.  I love when a book can feel both new and reassuringly familiar at the same time, don’t you?

Welcome back Breanna!

Me: I don’t know if it’s possible to pick a favorite out of your books.  I love every single one, but a book set at the beach with a squishable sandcastle?  That just might be my favorite.  What gave you the idea to jump from inanimate objects like a fire hydrant and a stop light, to something created like a sand castle?

Breanna: I never thought of it that way! I was drawn to writing characters who did not know something inherently great about themselves. LOU, because of how he’s treated, doesn’t know he’s a firefighting hero. Greenlight, feeling rejected, doesn’t realize the value and connection of her own light, and sandcastle doesn’t know that they are inherently resilient!

Me: I love how the squish keeps happening and it’s out of the sandcastle’s control.  That’s life, right?  We get squishes from life and keep getting squished.  How do we respond to something that traumatic?  I love that you’re starting a conversation about this with young readers.  Is that important to you?

Breanna: We all get hurt in life, whether we are hurt by someone intentionally, by mistake, or you know, the world or the weather—all things THE SQUISH deals with in the book.  How we respond and care for ourselves after being hurt matters. I think for a lot of my life, like sandcastle, I thought I could learn from getting hurt and prevent it. At some point though, despite my best efforts, I started to accept it’s impossible to prevent every bad thing from happening. I felt drawn to exploring that concept with a character who embodied it the most because despite sandcastle’s best efforts they’ll always be returned to sand again. Unfortunately, while working on this book and waiting for it’s release, I’ve also gone through some of life’s greatest squishes. Grit and resilience isn’t about strength and never getting hurt, it’s about the capacity to reach out for support, recover and the courage to rebuild despite knowing you will, at some point, be hurt again.

Me: Aww!  Absolutely.  I heard that you used some of the sand from your childhood beach to create

this book.  How on earth did you implement that into your cut paper illustrations?

Breanna: Sandcastle’s arms are what give them agency in the story, so I wanted them to feel more flexible than cut paper. I used sand from my childhood beach and Elmer’s glue much like kids would do with lines of glue and glitter! It was a giant mess but a ton of fun! There were also photos I took of the sand layered over the paper bags digitally to add even more texture!

Me: What a great idea!  I love all the stories I see happening with characters in the background.  They’re easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.  All your books do this, but this one seems somehow more visible than before (especially with the adorable crabs), despite them fading in and out of the background.  Why did you want characters in the background having their own actions or reactions for this book?  Was that your idea or someone else’s? 

Breanna: We don’t live alone in this world and we are all connected! There are other people living their lives and seeing situations from different perspectives and I love honoring that reality in my books. And in this one in particular, often when we feel hurt we sometimes don’t notice that there are others around us that may be hurting too or we push others away like sandcastle does at first. Sandcastle certainly gets hurt by a couple people as well, both intentionally and unintentionally!

I think in all my books, the main characters aren’t fully aware of their surroundings because they are overwhelmed or preoccupied with their emotional experience. I think when readers read my books for the first time they are busy listening to the character share their emotional experience. But just like in life we need to take a deep breath, slow down, and notice, which helps us gain a new perspective and realize we aren’t as alone in our feelings as it can sometimes seem.

Me: I love that!  In GREENLIGHT, there were allusions to LOU.  I couldn’t easily find any references to previous books within this one.  Are there any easter eggs from the previous two books here?  Why or why not?

Breanna: It’s true that there are no characters from LOU and GREENLIGHT in THE SQUISH, but LOU is there in spirit! I had made a golf birthday card for my husband a few years back with paper scraps from illustrating LOU. When it came time to illustrate THE SQUISH, I used the flag in that birthday card for sandcastle’s flag.

After finishing LOU and GREENLIGHT, I always wanted THE SQUISH to have the space to be it’s own

book with it’s own look, feel and voice, and to allow me to grow as an author and illustrator without having to think about ‘matching’ a style with the previous two. I also wanted to honor the story I was telling in this one and not force a connection!

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing or illustrating this book?

Breanna: How many crabs I was going to have to make… seriously! There are 80 total, each with 6 little legs and

claws. I have no idea how I hadn’t thought of it in the sketches, but when it came to making the cut paper art, it absolutely both surprised and overwhelmed me! So. Much. Work!

Me: Oh wow!  I love the crabs in this book.  They’re so adorable and expressive.  They’re definitely one of my favorite parts.  I’ve seen several other critters show up on your Instagram.  Any other projects in the works with one of them?  A lizard book perhaps?  Or an elephant?

Breanna: Thank you! I’m not able to share yet but keep your eyes out! 🙂

Hee!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today Breanna.

Dear readers, this book releases on May 28th.  Trust me when I say that this is a book you won’t want to miss.  It has laughs, but also surprising emotional depth.  It’s funny, but it’s also a great tool to talk about hurt and grief.  How it can do both things is an amazing thing to behold.  Keep your eyes out for this one!