I love a funny book that tackles a tough topic with humor.

Linda Ravin Lodding is the award-winning author of more than ten picture books, including When We Had to Leave Home, Flipflopi, and Painting Pepette. Originally from New York, she now lives in Stockholm, Sweden, where she leads communications for a Royal Foundation championing children’s rights. A globe-trotting shutterbug, Linda finds inspiration everywhere―and believes every book deserves its chance to spark young imaginations. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

IT STARTED WITH A BOOK BAN is a picture book that tackles the topic of book banning and some of the ridiculousness that’s happening with humor. One ban leads to another ban and soon the most comical things are being banned. This book dips into the absurd in the very best possible ways.

Welcome Linda!

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?

Linda: I’ve been writing picture books for about 25 years — though honestly, I think the writing bug bit much earlier. As a kid, I made a family newspaper in elementary school (breaking news: We Had Hamburgers Again for Dinner!). In high school, I was mailing poetry off to Very Serious Literary Magazines with tremendous earnestness. They sent it back. Politely. I collected quite a nice stack of those rejection letters.

But picture books? Picture books felt like home.

The real turning point was taking an online class with Anastasia Suen, where one challenge was to read five picture books a day for an entire month. Total immersion — and I completely fell in love with what the form can do. What drew me in, and still does, is how much picture books ask of so little. They carry the emotional sweep of a novel, but have to conjure character, world, mood, and momentum in very few words. Every word matters. I also write very visually, almost cinematically — I love thinking about page turns, what gets left for the illustrations to reveal, the music of language read aloud. It’s such a rich, layered form.

Once I found picture books, I never looked back. And I think all those years led me, in many ways, to It Started with a Book Ban — a love letter to readers, librarians, libraries, and the transformative power of stories.

Me: I adore what you’ve done here. This is exactly how I’ve felt about some of the books getting banned the last few years. It’s such a kid-friendly (and wonderfully absurd) approach! What gave you the idea for this story?

Linda: Thank you — I’m so glad that came through!

This one began differently from most of my books. Usually, I start with a character or a story idea that simply won’t leave me alone. But this time, my editor, Josh Gregory at Albert Whitman, asked whether book banning might be explored in a picture book — which felt like both a challenge and an invitation.

The real question for me was: how do you bring a child into a subject this serious? I didn’t want to lecture. I wanted to tell a story. What drew me in was the absurd internal logic of censorship — once people start banning one thing, where does it stop? That question opened the door to a more playful, exaggerated world where the banning keeps spreading, reaching further and further into everyday life in increasingly ridiculous ways. Humor became my way in.

Children are so quick to notice when something is unfair or simply makes no sense, and I wanted to trust that instinct. Beneath the silliness, though, the book asks some real questions: about fear, about control, and about who gets to decide what belongs on a shelf — or in a world.

Me: The way you’ve written this book is brilliant. It’s hilarious what all gets banned here, and how it just builds and builds. I can see kids laughing while reading your story, but also understanding exactly what’s going on. How did you land on this approach? Was there a mentor text or some source of inspiration?

Linda: Thank you! — that balance was exactly what I was after.

The approach really came from asking myself: if you start banning one thing, where does it end? There’s something so inherently absurd about trying to control ideas, and once I started following that logic, the story almost wrote itself. Of course they wouldn’t stop with one book. Of course the banning would spread. Of course it would get more and more nonsensical as it went along. That escalation felt true to the subject — but it also gave me a wonderfully playful way in.

Children are just good at this kind of reading. They love silliness, they love when things get a little out of hand — but they’re also incredibly quick to notice when something is unfair or doesn’t make sense. They don’t need it spelled out for them.

There wasn’t one single mentor text so much as a feeling I was chasing — stories that use exaggeration and a slightly tilted world to shine a light on something real. I was also thinking very much as a picture book writer: each new ban had to feel surprising, but also top the one before it. A lot of thought went into comic build and pacing.

For me, the sweetest picture book is one that makes a child laugh and then think — or maybe think and laugh at the very same time. That was very much the hope with this one.

Me: I think it works! This is such a deceptively simple manuscript with an incredibly tight design. How many drafts did it take to get to this final state? Were there a lot of revisions, or was this a gift from the Muse?

Linda: Oh, I always like to believe it was a gift from the Muse — delivered with a flourish and very little need for revision. In my imagination, I dash off a first draft, lean back, and think: Well, that was brilliant. Then, a day later, I reread it and discover all sorts of wobbly bits and places where the words are very much not doing what I thought they were doing.

The central idea came quickly, which felt like a small gift. But turning it into a manuscript with a truly tight structure was another matter. The concept was there. The plotting took work. And the ending — oh, the ending. Beginnings and I are old friends. Endings are a far more complicated relationship.

I also worked especially closely with my editor, Josh Gregory, on this one. Josh was terrific at keeping the story tethered to the original idea of book banning, while also giving the humor, the escalation, and the sheer ludicrousness room to really have their day. That combination of discipline and comic freedom was such a joy.

So no — not a one-draft miracle. But one of those wonderfully satisfying books where the revising made it sharper, funnier, and much more itself.

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

Linda: I think what surprised me most was that the book never stopped feeling timely. When I began writing it, book banning was already a very relevant issue — but part of me wondered if, by the time it came out, it might feel like yesterday’s news. Instead, it has remained deeply current. That was both surprising and sobering.

I had worried I might be writing about a moment. What I came to see was that I was really writing about a pattern — about fear, about control, and about who gets to decide which stories are allowed to stay in the world. I hope this book keeps finding its way to young readers for a long time. And I hope, when it does, the world is a little more willing to keep its shelves full.

Me: Aaron Cushley’s illustrations in this book are wonderful. I love the way he slowly drains the color out of the book, and brings it back in. Did you have any illustration surprises? Any favorites?

Linda: Oh, yes — definitely. One of the great joys of picture books is that the illustrator always brings something you never could have created on your own, and Aaron did that beautifully here.

I write very visually, so I always imagined the color shift as a central part of the storytelling. But Aaron made it feel so much more powerful than I’d imagined. The town doesn’t just lose color — it loses warmth, life, and joy. And when that color returns, you really feel the release of it. That transition from the gray, drained town square back to the vibrant one is probably my favorite moment in the whole book.

I also adore the wall of posters banning things. It’s such a funny, clever visual way to show the absurdity escalating — and that spread makes me laugh every single time I see it.

What I love most is that Aaron captured both the heart and the humor of the story. The illustrations are full of wit, but they also carry real feeling. Which is exactly what I’d hoped for.

Me: You have several picture books published at this point in your career. What advice would you give to aspiring picture book writers?

Linda: Read picture books constantly — and read them like a writer. Study how they open, how they end, how they use page turns, how the words leave space for the illustrations to do their part. Picture books are short, but they are wonderfully demanding.

Find a critique group or trusted readers, and be genuinely open to feedback. I’ve been with the same critique partners for years — and one of them goes all the way back to that very first class I took with Anastasia Suen. We’ve kept challenging each other, and cheering each other on, ever since.

Most of all: trust the child reader. Don’t write down to children. They are often the smartest readers in the room.

And stay open to learning. I’m still constantly learning and growing as a writer, and I think that’s exactly as it should be. Every book teaches you something new — and isn’t that the best possible reason to keep writing?

Yes! It really is. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today Linda.

Dear readers, this book publishes next week. It is an astonishing combination of pithy riposte and hilarious hijinks that is exactly at a child’s level of understanding. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss this one. It’s definitely one to study!