We all know someone with a newborn baby that doesn’t sleep. That’s what makes today’s picture book SO funny (and seriously, how has no one thought of this before??).

Sandra Salsbury has visited my blog several times before. She is the author and illustrator of Best Friend in the Whole World and Spreckle’s Snack Surprise. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she received a BFA and MFA in illustration from the Academy of Art University. Most days you can find her at home in Berkeley with her husband and daughter. The Baby Who Stayed Awake Forever was written using the Notes app at 2am, while huddled in the corner of a nursery. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

I know this might surprise you, but THE BABY WHO STAYED AWAKE FOREVER is a story about a baby who doesn’t want to sleep. Ever. It’s hilariously told from the baby’s point of view. Every member of the family (and even the neighbors) want this baby to sleep, but that’s just not going to happen. The illustrations here are vibrant and do nothing to falsely lure the reader into a sense of calm (and potential sleep). This is NOT a bedtime story. BUT I guarantee it will make readers laugh and will be read multiple times. Take that for what you will.

Welcome back Sandra!

Me: I remember seeing you post a pitch on social media of this story and laughing so hard. Was it a Taco Pitch (or a Cookie Pitch)? I think it was just for fun, right? When did this pitch turn into a story?

Sandra: Yes! It started out as a funny fake cover and people loved it, so I toyed around with ideas, but nothing really felt right. I ended up using the cover drawing, along with a pitch, during cookie pitch and that’s when my editor, Frances Gilbert, saw it. She said she would take a look at a manuscript if I ended up working on it, so I thought, “Guess I better start working on it.” I work best with looming deadlines, so I was able to have something ready for submission in about six weeks.

Me: Wow! That’s incredible. I’m pretty sure I know the answer, given that you have children of your own, but what gave you the idea for this story in the first place?

Sandra: Confession time: my daughter was actually a decent sleeper at the time. However, like most decent sleepers, she had her occasional bad night where she would be awake for over an hour in the middle of the night for no reason. I came up with the title and drew the cover after one such evening. 

Me: This writing here is SO succinct and showcases your sense of humor so perfectly. Your comedic timing is spot on. How many revisions did it take to get the manuscript this well polished? Please say it wasn’t a simple easy one-draft deal to get to this brilliance!

Sandra: This story definitely went through many revisions! In an earlier draft, things really started to wind down after midnight and my critique group told me I needed to escalate the action. I thought, “Escalate? How can I escalate things even more?” And that very night my daughter learned that she could hold on to the edge of her crib and jump up and down. So you might say she really helped the process.

This book also saw a lot of revisions after acquisitions. My previous two books saw very few changes after they were acquired, but this book had a lot that was both cut and added. Many of my editor’s notes were along the lines of “maybe this part could be funny.” And I had thought I was being funny!

But working on this book taught me that humor doesn’t always just fall out of your brain and onto the page. Most of it doesn’t show up until the third or fourth or fifteenth draft. A great joke should feel surprising, inevitable, and effortless, but it can take a lot of work to get there.

Me: SO true! Once again, your end pages are fantastic, especially the last set.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but I had to go back to the last page of your story and double check that in fact all the things you mentioned were shown.  Brilliant!  I especially laughed at the licking of the pinecone (given your first book).  Were those all your idea?  Or did some of the bits come from others’ suggestions (critique partners, editors, etc.)?

Sandra: Just like with the rest of the book, those little vignettes are inspired by real life. You really spend a significant amount of your time as a parent trying to get your kid to stop licking whatever they pick up off the ground.

Me: Your illustrations are incredibly polished in this book. I loved the dance scene and the space scene, but my favorite spread is actually 11 o’clock with the neighbor yelling. That glint of green light behind the older child in the doorway in the upper left window! Gorgeous! Can you talk a bit about what your illustration process looked like? Did you still use traditional watercolor? Or was it a blend of traditional and digital media this time?

Sandra: This is my first project that was 100% digital. From the thumbnail sketches to the final art, everything was completed on my iPad with Procreate. This book really is the product of becoming a parent because once I had a baby, I knew I needed to switch to digital painting. I needed something that could come with me to any room in the house and something that I could pick up or put down at a moment’s notice.

It was challenging to completely reinvent my process with this book and I spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how to get it to look a way that I liked, but in the end I’m happy I made the switch. I’m sure I’ll return to watercolor again, but for now I’m happy exploring digital art.

Me: WOW! I never would’ve known that you’d switched to digital if you hadn’t just told us. This is also the first book you’ve illustrated with people (instead of animal characters). I know you can illustrate humans equally well (not only because of your work here). But I know some illustrators prefer one over the other, as well as have mental blocks about drawing people. Was it hard for you to switch? Were there any challenges specific to illustrating this book that you didn’t anticipate?

Sandra: I have done so many illustrations with both people and animal characters that I don’t really prefer one over the other. For me, it’s really about what character suits the story rather than my own drawing preferences. That being said, a surprising challenge for this book was actually the baby’s hair. Baby hair is so weird! It’s very sparse and it can be easy to make the baby’s hair look either too thick or too patchy. I could have done a bald baby, but the family in the story is based on my own, so I had my heart set on trying to replicate my daughter’s hair when she was a baby. I spent many, many hours trying to figure out how to get her hair right. It didn’t turn out exactly like hers, but I’m still happy with the look in the end.

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

Sandra: The biggest surprise has actually been how eager people seem to be for this book. My publisher has given me incredible support and booksellers seem very excited to have it on their shelves. I have so many events in March and April that I actually had to start turning people down. The book was also chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and an Indie Next Pick. I am so grateful for all the support and enthusiasm the book has received so far. I feel like a lot of the time when you do a book, you work in a bubble and then you release it into the world and move on to the next thing. But this time it seems like the world actually noticed.

We definitely noticed! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog again today Sandra.

Dear readers, this book is published today. Trust me when I say you will definitely want to track down a copy of this book. It’s one of the funniest books I’ve read so far this year and the illustrations are spectacular. You won’t want to miss it.