A busy bunny has a lot to do, delivering eggs and surprises just in time for spring AND Easter.

Helen Kemp Zax could spend all day musing over rhymes, so daily to-do lists keep her life on track. Her poetry has appeared in many anthologies and magazines, and she was co-awarded the 2021 YorkMix International Children’s Poetry Prize and won the 2018 Middle Grade Katherine Paterson Prize. A former lawyer and teacher, Kemp Zax holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Leonard, and their Aussie-doodle, Huckleberry Finn. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, or BlueSky.

LITTLE BUNNY’S TO-DO LIST is a picture book about a little bunny who is exceptionally busy harvesting jelly beans, dying wool, knitting sweaters for chicks and so on. How does he get it all done? Time management 101: a to-do list! And while that might sound a bit OCD, this story actually has many sweet and hilarious surprises in store that are sure to delight young readers. I can think of at least one kiddo in my Kindergarten classroom who would ADORE this book to pieces.

Welcome Helen!

Me: 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?

Helen: I think of myself more as a poet than a picture book writer. I started writing poetry years ago when our grown daughter was little. The poetry collection I wrote then made it to the desk of the great Susan Hirschman at Greenwillow Books. I still cherish my rejection letter from her, which was so kind and encouraging. I spent the following decades writing poems that were published in magazines and anthologies. I also have written a few unpublished novels and a novel-in-verse.

Me: I love the idea of a regular bunny eating magical carrots to become the Easter bunny. What gave you the idea for this story?

Helen: Because I didn’t grow up celebrating Easter, I watched children’s shows to learn about the Easter Bunny. I discovered that in a child’s world, Easter focused on decorating eggs and hunting for them. After I realized no one knew much about the Easter Bunny, I felt free to start questioning and imagining. What’s more magical than a bunny who brings candy and chocolate to a child’s door? What makes that bunny become magical? Eating something magical, of course!

Me: I understand this is part of a series with Little Witch’s To-Do List publishing first and a third one due out this fall. Can you talk a little bit about the marketing of the series? Did you have all three manuscripts already written when you sold the first? Or did the others come about through successful sales? Will there be more books in the series?

Helen: My story is a wild one. My agent Steven Chudney sent out my novel and novel-in-verse during Covid. They didn’t sell. In the meantime, I kept writing, submitting, and publishing poetry. There was a call at Highlights for poems one fall, so I wrote my Little Witch’s to-do list poem. A poet friend suggested I add a few stanzas to the poem to make it picture-book length. I sent the manuscript to Steven at a time when he planned to cut back on his client list. At first, he wasn’t going to submit the manuscript, but then he decided Little Witch’s To-Do List was too cute not to submit. Almost immediately, I had a series deal. I had no other to-do list manuscripts written. There were no sales. I was simply incredibly lucky to have Meredith Mundy believe in the concept and my work from the start. And then there is Kiersten Eagan—whose illustrations brought my poetry to life. It’s because of Kiersten’s fantastic work (and very busy schedule) that we signed a deal for the fourth book—Little Leprechaun’s To-Do List—even before the Abrams team had access to much sales information.

Me: Your text is deceptively short and can be read as a mere to-do list. Yet I understand you also have a background in poetry. Did that come in handy when writing this story? Did the text undergo a ton of revisions to get to its finished state? Or was this story a gift from the muse that was good from the first draft?

Helen: This book started as a poem. I love the puzzle of writing rhymed, metered poetry. The to-do list format adds an extra challenge to the puzzle-solving I love. Of course, my to-do list poems undergo many, many drafts as I work out the story long before I share them with my editor. Little Bunny’s To-Do List had very few edits from Meredith—only a few great changes. Meredith and I had already done the structural work for the to-do list books when we worked on Little Witch’s To-Do List, the first book in the Magical List Series. That made the second book in the series much easier to write.

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

Helen: I had no idea before working on this book and our Little Witch book whether my vision for the illustrations would play any part in the creation process. But Meredith has included me at every stage. She and her team are totally engaged and always have brilliant suggestions. It is pure joy working with Meredith, Kiersten, and the whole Abrams team to create a book that is truly the product of all our imaginations.

Me: The illustrations by Kiersten Eve Eagan are adorable. They are so friendly and appealing. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Helen: Kiersten had already illustrated Little Witch’s To-Do List, so I’d experienced how charming her work is before she illustrated Little Bunny’s To-Do List. I knew Kiersten would create a magical world, so I was thrilled—not surprised—by her adorable choices. My favorite illustration? I absolutely love the bunny-hop page.

Me: Do you have any advice for aspiring picture book writers?

Helen: My advice is the same for all writers. Do the work every day. Never give up. Believe in yourself. Because someday you may be lucky enough to have an agent as tireless as Steven Chudney and an editor as generous as Meredith Mundy to believe in your work.

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

Dear readers, this book published in January, but it’s a great book that young readers will enjoy for spring and/or Easter. It’s not often that you see a poetic to-do list come to such sweet and magical life! Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it.