I don’t know about you, but I love seeing those cute fluffy bunnies in the wild. Well, today’s bunnies are certainly wildly unexpected!

Laura Gehl is the award-winning author of many popular children’s books, including One Big Pair of Underwear, Delivery Bear, Except When They Don’t, and Apple and Magnolia. Laura lives in Maryland. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or BlueSky.

ATTACK BUNNIES is a picture book with several unexpected twists. As the title suggests, these are no ordinary cute and fluffy bunnies. Instead, they are staunch defenders of the forest. Yet their defenses might surprise you. So will the villain of the story! I won’t give anything away, but suffice it to say that this book has many pleasant surprises in store for young readers.

Welcome Laura!

Me: For those who might not be familiar with your work, can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey? When did you start writing picture books? How has that brought you to writing this picture book?

Laura: I wrote my first picture book, ONE BIG PAIR OF UNDERWEAR, in 2004, and it was published in 2014. That first book was humorous and in rhyme, and my love of humor and rhyme comes out in ATTACK BUNNIES as well. Even though ATTACK BUNNIES isn’t a rhyming picture book, Pufftail’s rhyming poems were super fun for me to write. In between ONE BIG PAIR OF UNDERWEAR and ATTACK BUNNIES, I’ve published plenty of books that are not humorous, and plenty of books that don’t rhyme. However, most of my books have either humor or rhyme, if not both.

Me: Your story has cute fluffy bunnies as fierce defenders of the forest (and with such surprising attacks!). What gave you the idea for this story?

Laura: One of my favorite ways to brainstorm is to combine words that seemingly don’t go together. A silly combination of words I came up with while brainstorming was “attack” and “bunnies,” and the book evolved from there.

Me: I love that you named your fox Reynard, a classic mischief maker. I was so thrilled with that, I think I fell for your misdirection! (No spoilers given.) Was your manuscript always this tight? How many revisions did it go through to get to this final state? Did it go through many revisions or was this a gift of the Muse?

Laura: Oh, many many revisions! One change I remember is that I started with three bunnies, but I ended up with just two. That third bunny was a talented artist, and I’m a little sad she didn’t make it into the book. And actually, Renard didn’t have a name through most of those revisions. He was just called Fox!

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

Laura: Not exactly in writing the story, but I was convinced that Julia Patton was the right person to illustrate this book. I suggested her to the publisher, and they actually asked her, and she actually said yes! Such a wonderful surprise!!! I’ve often had publishers ask me for illustrator suggestions, and I always give them my ideas…but this is the first time it ever worked out, and I am so thankful that it did!

Me: That’s amazing! The illustrations by Julia Patton are pitch perfect for this story. I love her ninja poses and color palette. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Laura: Oh, so many fun surprises! A few examples are the bunnies’ belts with their initials, and the little mushroom houses near Agatha Owl’s house. The endpapers are amazing and hilarious too. Julia is currently working on illustrations for the sequel to ATTACK BUNNIES, and I can’t wait to see them!

Me: Ohh! A sequel! That’s great news. In fact, you have quite a few books published and more on the way. Any other projects we can look forward to reading from you?

Laura: Yes, thank you for asking! I have three nonfiction board books that all come out on the same day in March.

ODD BUGS (Abrams), illustrated by Gareth Lucas, is the third book in our Curious Critters series, following ODD BEASTS and ODD BIRDS. It is, as you might expect, about the world’s weirdest bugs.

BUNNIES KNOW AND GROW and PUPPIES KNOW AND GROW (Barefoot Books), illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford, are the first two books in a new series that will be available in both English and bilingual English/Spanish editions. These “Know and Grow” books show young readers what animals know how to do from the moment they are born (a lot!), and what they learn how to do as they grow up.

And then my next picture book comes out in May. BECCA AND BUBBE’S BUCKET LIST (Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Random House), illustrated by Sarah Lynn Baker, is about some of the best things in life—specifically, summer and grandmothers and ice cream—and has a theme of overcoming fears too!

Me: Wow! That’s an incredible list. Do you have any advice for aspiring picture book writers?

Laura: Oh wow, I have lots of advice, although it’s kind of the same advice everyone gives (because it’s the best advice). Read gazillions of recently-published picture books, find critique partners, and don’t give up! I’ll also add some advice that isn’t quite as common: Try writing EVERY kind of picture book. Write in rhyme and in prose; write holiday books and non-holiday books; write religious books (if you are religious) and secular books; write fiction and nonfiction; write books in the second person; write books that don’t have a story arc; write books with an inanimate object main character; and so on! You never know what will turn out to be your most brilliant writing, and you never know what will sell, so try everything!

I love that. That is great advice Laura. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book was published the beginning of February. It’s an incredible combination of funny and sweet that will sneak up on your expectations. Trust me when I say that you won’t want to miss it.