I do love a good cheesy pun and this picture book is chock full of them!

Michael Benner finds a story in every food pair he sees (and eats)! He loves to write humorous, punny picture books that make kids and adults laugh, and maybe groan a little, too. He lives and writes in Central Texas with his wife, son, and dog (who acts like a cat). You can learn more about him at his website or follow him on Instagram or BlueSky.

Alison Hawkins is an illustrator based in Durham, North Carolina. She started her career as a graphic designer, and went on to work as a product designer, illustrating for apparel, toys, and greeting cards. Some of her clients include American Greetings, Universal Standard, Target, and Discover Durham. You can learn more about her at her website.

MAC AND CHEESE: THE ORGIN STORY is the first book in the Delicious Duos series. It’s a picture book all about the famous pair and how they came to be best friends. Mac lives in Pastaland and despite being friendly is unable to make a friend. So he sets out on an adventure through many different lands until he ends up in Quesoland where he meets the king Cheese. It’s a story full of fun punny inclusions in both text and illustrations that will leave readers giggling for quite some time.

Welcome Michael and Alison!

Me: Can you both talk about your creative journeys? How did you get started writing and/or illustrating? How did that lead you to the work you’re doing now with books for kids?

Michael: I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school. I don’t know how I got started; I just wrote because I loved telling stories. After I grew up and got a job I didn’t write as much, but I still had the itch and wrote horror short stories (much different than Mac & Cheese!) every Halloween. My wife read all of them and eventually encouraged me to take a class at a local community college near where I live in Austin. That class was life changing! The instructor, Lindsey Lane, gave us a mini-MFA in kidlit and in the process of learning how to write for kids, I fell in love with children’s literature, especially the picture book format. That propelled me into the writing career I now have.

Alison: Like many illustrators and visual artists, I started drawing as a kid and never stopped! I was always carrying around coloring books and sketchbooks. I grew up in the DC area where there are lots of free art museums, and I also had a great art teacher in high school.

My career path might be a little bit more round about, but I eventually landed in graphic design and worked at some smaller companies where I had the chance to illustrate graphics and learn about surface design. I was working at American Greetings before I went freelance in 2017. That position turned out to be a pretty good intro to illustrating children’s books because I was designing visuals and lettering that complimented and expressed text.

Me: Michael, I love all of the cheesy puns and jokes you included in this story! What gave you the idea for this book? When did you think it might make a goud-a picture book?

Michael: Thanks! This story is truly a case of ‘necessity breeds invention’. In 2021, I was taking an online class at The Writing Barn named Picture Books II which dove into a plethora of craft topics. At the end of the second-to-last class, we were told our homework was to write a new picture book draft using a craft topic we’d learned during the class. I had a small panic attack because I didn’t have a single idea! We’d also just learned about picture book duos (e.g., Frog and Toad) and I saw an empty bowl of mac and cheese sitting at the corner of my desk (I’d eaten mac and cheese for dinner that night during class). My brain put two and two together, something clicked, and I cooked up the story from there. When the instructor, Carmen Oliver, saw it, she said something to the effect of “any editor who’s willing to put in some work will buy this story.” That’s when I knew I had something special. I’m very glad I had mac and cheese for dinner that night otherwise this book might not have been written!

Me: Alison, I love that you were able to capture a similar sense of humor in your illustrations! Can you talk about the medium you used to create these illustrations? Are you a traditional or digital illustrator (or a blend of both)?

Alison: The Mac & Cheese illustrations are digital. I usually sketch on paper, scan those sketches, and then paint in Photoshop with a Wacom pen tablet. I still draw and use traditional mediums, but a digital process is a lot easier for me when it comes to making revisions and working on picture books.

Me: There’s so much going on in both the text and the illustrations that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins! Were there art notes about the names of places or songs that only showed up in illustrations? Who invented what parts? Did you each have room to create? Did you communicate at all during the process?

Michael: I’m super curious to hear Alison’s answer to this question! During the process of producing this book, we did not communicate directly. All the back and forth between text and illustrations was mediated by the Scholastic team (editor and art director – who were amazing during the process, by the way). I come from the world of software engineering where to build a piece of software you literally have designers, engineers, product managers, marketing, etc working together side-by-side, day-by-day in the same room. So, the process of creating this book was a little different to me, but it worked. And I think it worked because Alison got it from the start. She understood the story within the jokes and puns and wordplay and crafted these beautifully emotive characters and settings. It’s really incredible what she did.

To answer your question about art notes, yes, the final manuscript was loaded with them. I mean, probably 40-50% of it was art notes – GASP! All the dialog is in speech bubbles and every speech bubble was an art note in the manuscript. I also added art notes describing the characters, songs, and games, but those were minimal compared to the speech bubbles. You always hear that editors will remove art notes but I think Scholastic kept them in b/c I had one about the “pin the tail on the goat cheese” game, which ended up in the illustration. Or maybe the art note was removed and Alison came up with that joke, as well. Either way, great minds! 😀

Alison: People are often surprised to learn that illustrators and authors don’t normally communicate in a typical picture book production process. It’s still a very collaborative project though because there are a lot of people working behind the scenes at the publisher that facilitate and contribute. As an illustrator, I usually work with an art director or book designer. In this case, I worked pretty closely with the designer on our team, Rae Crawford, to design the layout with so many word bubbles. There are art notes and suggestions in the manuscript, but Rae communicated feedback throughout the process. There is still a lot of room to be creative with the visuals. I try to read between the lines to inform the personalities of places and characters, and it’s so fun when I can think of a visual way to add an extra layer to a joke that’s in the text. But I was so excited to get a chance to work on a story like this. My head was filled with images from the very first read!

Me: This story is a true work of art! The text and  illustrations work so wonderfully together. How many revisions did each of you have to make to get this story to the brilliantly funny final product?

Michael: Everyone tracks revisions differently, but for me I log a new version every time I send a manuscript to someone (e.g., critique partners, family, editor). I think I had around 20 versions total before we called it done-done. The earlier revisions had massive changes (e.g., the two settings were initially Grownupland and Kidland, yikes!) whereas latter revisions were much smaller, tweaking words / phrasing or polishing up some of the jokes.

Alison: Thank you! We did go through quite a few rounds of revisions to the sketches, but I guess that paid off because there were very few revisions to the final illustrations. Maybe it would be more interesting to actually see some sketches and how they took shape…

Me: You two are a snack-tastic duo if I ever saw one! I understand that this story is now going to be a series, with at least one more book to come (and I hope MANY more!). Do you want a giant series to come of this? Do you two hope to meet in person someday? What’s it been like to collaborate with each other?

Michael: Thanks! Working with Alison has been a dream come true. When Scholastic first told me they wanted her to be the illustrator, I’m pretty sure I jumped up and down wildly and yelled, “Yes! Yes! She’s perfect!’ We haven’t met in person yet but I hope we get to sometime soon (ahem, Scholastic… nudge, nudge). At the time of this blog, we have one more book scheduled for 2027 (Milk & Cookies – there’s a nod to it on the back cover of Mac & Cheese) and hopefully several more in successive years. I’d like to keep writing more stories in the series until we’ve run out of kid-friendly food pairs, but I think we have a long runway before we hit that point (probably when Liver & Onions is the only thing left). 😀

Alison: I turned in the first draft of illustrations for our second book about a week ago. These stories are definitely a match for my sense of humor, but I also love the very earnest and relatable premise of making friends. Of course, I would love to keep creating them. I’m sure there will be some book tour events one day!

Me: Do either of you have any advice for new writers and/or illustrators?

Michael: Yes.

1. Write and read consistently, as much as you can. Reading is fun and fills my mind with new ideas or new concepts that then trickle into my work. Writing helps me hone my skills. I’ve noticed if I ever stop writing for a time, my skills lapse.
2. Write what you love. Chasing market trends feels a bit like a dog trying to catch its tail. I think, as creatives, we do our best work when we focus on what we want to write instead of what we think might sell.
3. Be persistent. This is a career filled with a crazy amount of rejection. If you can see past all the rejection and keep your mind’s eye fixed on end goals then you have a better chance of succeeding as a writer.

Alison: I’ve been making an effort to make illustrator friends IRL, in the town where I live. We meet up once a month to talk about our projects, slow times, share inspiration and resources. I’ve found this camaraderie and support is more meaningful and helpful than comparing your artwork or career to anything you’re seeing online. And it’s a lot more fun!

That’s great advice. Thank you both for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book publishes next week. Keep an eye out for it. It’s a fun twist on the comedic duo AND a road trip with puns all woven together. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it!