Today’s picture book is a delightful author-illustrator story about trying to understand the ones we love.

Sujean Rim is the author and illustrator of My Dog Smudge, You Are Loved, Take a Breath, Take a Chance, Birdie’s Big-Girl Shoes, Birdie’s Big-Girl Dress, Birdie’s Big-Girl Hair, Zoogie Boogie Fever!, Chee-Kee: A Panda in Bearland, and more. She has illustrated for clients including Tiffany & Co., Target, and the website DailyCandy. Sujean lives in New York with her favorite artist and husband Bob, and their son, Charlie. You can learn more about her at her website, follow her on Instagram, or watch this amazing YouTube video of her mural work in Vegas.

MY DOG SMUDGE is a concept picture book. It tells the story of a young girl with a dog that doesn’t bark. Instead he says all sorts of odd things and she proceeds to ask every animal she can find if they can understand him. She wants to understand, but ultimately it is love that helps her to communicate with her dog. The concept of the book is very cleverly hidden flaps. I almost missed them altogether! They’re seamless! It’s a really fun interactive story that young readers are sure to love experiencing many times.

Please note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher to review, but the opinions, as always, are my own.

Welcome Sujean!

Me: You are an artist, fashion designer, and illustrator of picture books. Can you tell us a little bit about your creative journey? When did you start creating art and/or writing picture books? How did that lead to where you are now as the author-illustrator of this book?

Sujean: For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved drawing and doing all kinds of arts and crafts. Then in first grade art class, I discovered that being an artist was an actual job—and that was it, I was hooked. I knew I wanted to spend my life creating in some way.

As a latchkey kid, picture books and comics were my best friends (Charles Schulz was my idol!) -the stories kept me company, and the artwork kept me busy, inspiring me to draw and invent characters of my own. 

Over time, my creative focus turned to fashion design and illustration. I went on to design shoes and accessories and spent years freelancing as an illustrator. But my love for picture books never went away. So one day, when Little, Brown for Young Readers reached out to ask if I would consider illustrating a children’s book, I nearly passed out from excitement and started dreaming of writing one myself. Coming from the fashion world, I thought of a story about a little girl who loved wearing her mom’s shoes. That idea became “Birdie’s Big Girl Shoes”, published in 2009—it felt like a come-full-circle dream come true. I still pinch myself.

Me: I love that! The illustrations you did for this book are so joyful! Can you talk about that process a little bit? What media did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Are you mainly a traditional artist or digital artist (or a blend of both)?

Sujean: Thank you so much—“joyful” is exactly what I hope to always capture in my art (and honestly, it’s how I try to approach life in general).

At heart, I’ll always consider myself a traditional artist. I love drawing and painting by hand, and that’s always where I start. But lately, I’ve been experimenting more with digital tools, and I’m enjoying finding ways to combine the two. My digital skills are probably elementary school level compared to many, but I love learning and playing around.

For this book, I sketched and added all the details in pencil first, then scanned everything and layered in the color digitally.

Me: I adore the story of this little dog that doesn’t speak the same language as the other dogs. What gave you the idea?

Sujean: The idea actually came from my real-life dog, Smudge. Since he was a puppy, he had the biggest, friendliest personality and would rush over to greet to anyone—or anything—he saw. In his desperate enthusiasm and need to say hello, he would pull on his leash so hard that he’d practically choke himself, letting out these huge huffs, puffs, and piggy snorts.

It was a little embarrassing, but mostly adorable. The sounds he made were weird, funny and non-stop that I just started telling people, “My dog thinks he’s a pig, and this is how he says HI!”. I loved the idea that Smudge was speaking his own language so much, it became the heart of this story.

Me: All of the flaps you’ve incorporated into the physical body of the book are so fun and frankly fascinating to me. I almost didn’t know they were there! Was that something you always thought of including with this story? How did you decide what parts would get them and which wouldn’t? 

Sujean: I have to give credit to my agent and dear friend, Holly McGhee, for the idea of adding flaps to this story. At first, I had all the “reveals” laid out right on the page, but then Holly pointed me to the classic book “Dear Zoo,” and I was instantly inspired by how flaps could create surprise and interaction.

I loved the idea of using the flaps as a playful way to add suspense—letting readers guess what the next animal or scene might be based on what Smudge was saying. I started each spread imagining different animals and how Smudge might try to “talk” to them as a jumping-off point, and from there figured out which parts would be the most fun to hide under a flap.

Me: I love that a solution isn’t easily found (no spoilers given) and your final message. Why was that something you wanted to share with young readers? Why was it important to you to tell this story?

Sujean: Growing up, I sometimes felt a little lost because I couldn’t speak my parents’ language. I was born after they immigrated here from South Korea, and while they were busy building a life for our family, I never had the chance to learn Korean. At the same time, they were doing their best to learn English along the way. So, I found myself learning to communicate in extra ways—through feeling, action, and presence. Having a dog reinforced this idea for me. I feel Smudge has his own unspoken language that I just get, and I wanted to share that with young readers: we don’t always need the same words to be heard and understood. I believe everyone has something to say, and each of us has our own unique way of saying it. And so sometimes the best way to listen is with our hearts, not just our ears.

Me: Ohh! I love that too. What is one thing that surprised you in writing and/or illustrating this story?

Sujean: What surprised me most was how something as simple as adding flaps could completely change the way I told the story. All of a sudden, it wasn’t just about the illustrations and text—it also became about building little surprises. Each flap felt like a tiny drumroll leading to the next reveal. It made me think in a new way, and I just loved working with that extra layer.

Me: Any advice for other aspiring picture book writers and/or illustrators?

Sujean: I think the best stories often come when you’re not trying too hard to come up with them. Ideas for a story can pop up from anywhere—a childhood memory, something funny that happened in your day, or maybe, like Smudge, you have a dog that snorts like a pig – you never know where inspiration will come from.

My advice is to tell the story you want to tell as if you were sharing it with your bestest friend- where you can be your truest, silliest self and not worry about any judgement.

And for illustrators, I would encourage daily doodling, experimenting with new mediums and techniques, have fun—don’t ever be afraid to color outside of the lines!

That is great advice. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today Sujean.

Dear readers, this book publishes next week. It’s a concept book you have to physically see and feel to truly understand exactly what it achieves. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss it!