I’m a great organizer and when things don’t go according to plan, it can sometimes throw me under the bus. However, I’ve never seen chaos like that in today’s picture book!

Jenna Beatrice has visited my blog once before. She is a mother, author, lawyer, party planner, clipboard-user, and cookie-baker. Her debut picture book, The Loud Librarian, illustrated by Erika Lynne Jones, was called a “storytime favorite” by the Horn Book and voted by students across the US for the Children’s Book Council’s 2024 Favorites Award. Jenna is a graduate of Barnard College and Fordham University School of Law. She lives in New Jersey, where she eats lots of spaghetti with her husband and their two young sons. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram or Twitter.

ANNABELLE & THE SPAGHETTI-CONFETTI SURPRISE tells the story of young Annabelle who loves to plan parties and she’s good at it. She sets her sights on planning the neighborhood block party with her brother. Planning is excellent, but execution doesn’t go as planned, as brother has his headphones in and mis-hears everything! There is some hilarious word play that ensues and chaos extreme.

Welcome back Jenna!

Me: I love the idea of a young party planner set on perfection, yet when she asks for help from her brother, nothing but chaos ensues.  What gave you the idea for this story? 

Jenna: I have always wanted to write a party book AND a spaghetti book, but I didn’t originally think those two concepts would be in the same book! I had gotten an image of spaghetti (as opposed to confetti) pouring from the sky in my mind, so I worked with that visual as the center stone to write the first draft of this story. It took me a while to figure out WHY spaghetti would be falling from the sky so from there Annabelle’s brother Anthony was created as the instigator of the chaos. I liked the idea of siblings working together, and also of silly miscommunications, so eventually the story was more fully formed as a party and sibling book.

And of course, I couldn’t write a book about spaghetti-caused-chaos without an homage to the Strega Nona books by Tomie dePaola. These were my mother’s favorite stories to read to me and my brother when we were growing up, so I had to sneak in a loving reference to Big Anthony!

Me: I love that! From baboons to lemurs, the word play in this book is great fun. Were there other misunderstood words in the first draft of this story? How many revisions did it get to find the baboons and lemurs and perfect level of chaos?

Jenna: I knew that I needed the chaos to be party themed so I worked from all the party elements I could think of and eventually narrowed it down to balloons, streamers, and confetti. I kept the visuals in mind when choosing what the alternates to those words should be and baboons and lemurs seemed like the perfect fit! As mentioned earlier, I always knew spaghetti would be the climax of the story, so it really was just working out what would complement the chaos.

As for revisions, there were MANY revisions of this story. I honestly can’t tell you how many! It took a while to figure out the wordplay, characters, emotional component, and most importantly, the pacing.

Me: Can you talk about the marketing of your book a little bit?  How did your picture book land at Two Lions?

Jenna: Our wonderful editor on this story is Marilyn Brigham of Two Lions. I loved Marilyn’s vision for this story! We talked about the book being colorful and loud and bright, and how we hoped readers would feel like they were part of the party. I also loved how Marilyn embraced the silliness of the story while taking the characters and their emotions seriously. I absolutely loved collaborating with Marilyn and the whole Two Lions team. I had the best time working on this story!

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

Jenna: I hadn’t written a manuscript before that featured a strong secondary character who was integral to the plot of the story. It took me a while to find the balance between Annabelle and her brother Anthony. I wanted Anthony to feel like he was a fully formed character who was relatable without taking away too much attention from Annabelle, the main character. It also took me a few revisions to understand the dynamic between the siblings and how to portray that dynamic on the page. Once I felt like I captured the balance between them, I was able to focus on their miscommunications which triggers the chaos and silliness to come.

Me: The illustrations by Annabel Tempest are wonderful.  I loved the textures and fun lines she used! Were there any illustration surprises for you?  

Jenna: I LOVE everything about Annabel Tempest’s incredible illustrations, especially how bright and colorful and FUN the whole book feels. Annabel perfectly captured the party element of the story – it really feels like you’re in the middle of a block party! I love the busyness of all the scenes and all the different background characters, and I just love all the small details on each spread.

Also, Annabel added the cutest surprise throughout the story. If you look carefully, you will see bits and pieces of the lion from the end of the book throughout the spreads. You sometimes see his tail or his shirt but never him in his entirety until the last page of the book. I was so delighted to discover this when I first saw the draft illustrations. It is SUCH a fun idea! I hope kids enjoy spotting the lion throughout the story – I know my son Henry does!

Me: How fun! In fact, I love all of the background characters and animals that are included in the illustrations. Annabelle’s cat just might be my favorite. Did you have any favorite characters or illustrations in your story?

Jenna: I love everything about the illustrations, it’s hard to pick! But if pressed, I will say that I absolutely adore the main character, Annabelle. I love her expressions and how determined she looks when she’s working hard and preparing for the party, and I love her vulnerability when the party goes awry. And not to mention, I love Annabelle’s super cute outfit and sparkly hair bow!

Also, the book has a secret cover. If you lift up the outer cover, you will see Annabelle’s expression change in the under-cover. It is SO FUN and was such an unexpected and delightful surprise!

Me: If you were to throw a block party of your own, what animal would you hope would show up? What animal would you hope wouldn’t show up?

Jenna: This is such a fun question! My favorite animals are elephants and red pandas so I would love to hang out and party with them, but I would be happy to have any animal join my block party! I think the only exception I would make would be any poisonous animal – even the cute ones like the poisonous dart frogs. I think we might lose their invitations in the mail. Otherwise, all animals are free to join!

Ha! Great answer. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today Jenna.

Dear readers, this book was published just last week. It’s an amusing story of hijinks and chaos gone wild that’s sure to make readers giggle. You won’t want to miss it!