If you loved the first book, then you’ll love the second. Watch out for attacks from these adorable animals!

Brooke Hartman has visited my blog several times before. She is the award-winning author of numerous picture books, including The Littlest Airplane, Dream Flights on Arctic Nights, and Klyde the Kraken Wants a Friend. She lives in Chugiak, Alaska, where the dramatic landscapes of mountains and sea inspire her stories. You can learn more about her at her website, or follow her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

MORE CUTE ANIMALS THAT COULD KILL YOU DEAD is a picture book sequel with the same fantastic premise as the first: just because an animal looks cute, doesn’t mean it’s safe! In fact, these lovely little cuties are deadly. Maybe not to you (though some are), but the stats don’t lie. Every single animal included in this book’s repertoire are killers in one way or another. Cute cartoons (even the scary ones) litter the pages along with a ton of nonfiction facts that are sure to capture young readers’ attention.

Welcome back Brooke!

Me: This being a sequel, was it hard to come up with a lot more cute animals that had deadly tendencies? Or did you already have an arsenal of killer cuties that didn’t make it into the last book

Brooke: Good question! You would think with the mashup cute + deadly I’d quickly run out of animals, but I actually have enough creatures for an entire third book and then some! And I keep stumbling across more each day, from friends who send me links about fun animals they’ve recently learned about to random Instagram reels that come across my feed (special thanks to David Attenborogh for narrating most of these). Apparently my social media algorithm has my quirky interests pegged!

Me: This book includes another 17 animals from all over the world and a variety of habitats (including one people might keep in their own homes!). I saw at least one familiar face too (i.e., the Jumping Spider). I’m curious, how did you choose which animals to include for this second round? Were some of them publisher or illustrator recommendation?

Brooke: It’s truly amazing how many different critters live on our planet. New animals are being discovered every day (I’m discovering new ones I never heard of before at least once a week!). All the animals in these books are ones I’ve unearthed (or plucked from a tree, spotted in the sky, etc) one way or another. The real treat was seeing how the illustrator brought them to life on the page, from their cute/killer ‘tudes to the jokes and puns. 

Me: What made you decide to include a house pet in the mix this time (NO spoilers given!)?

Brooke: The entire time I was researching cute and deadly creatures, this animal kept popping up over and over again. I knew I had to include it in one of the books. So many people have absolutely NO idea what they have living under their roof (sometimes even in their beds!) and the mind-boggling amount of prey those crafty critters are responsible for killing every year.

Me: Ha! Indeed! There are now two books in the “Killer Cuties” series. Are there plans for any more? Is there still room for more books in this series?

Brooke: There is definitely room for more Killer Cuties! I keep finding more animals all the time (or at this point, maybe they’re finding me). Will there be a book three (or even four?) Only time will tell!

Me: The layout and page turns were pretty well established with the first book; and once again your now trademark killer puns had me laughing all the way through. Did that make it easier to write this book or harder?

Brooke: With book one, the manuscript had to be rewritten, reformatted, and re-edited to mold it into the cute-turned-killer format the editor wanted. It was a long process involving multiple rounds of edits and lots of words ended up on the chopping block. But once the layout was established, it made book two much easier to write. I’m one of those weirdos who actually works better within some sort of constraint, so knowing how each page turn and section needed to look and what the editor wanted enabled me to format the book that way from the get-go. This resulted in much fewer edits, thankfully!

Me: Once again Maria Garcia’s illustrations in this book are wonderful. She can definitely capture the cute, as well as the “cute scary” perfectly! That scary face on the Puppy-Face Saddleback Caterpillar had me giggling. It’s like it suddenly leaps out from the page to attack you. After knowing the kind of work she could deliver, were there still any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Brooke: Book one turned out so great, I knew she’d blow everyone away with book two… and then some! My absolute favorite illustration is the mice cream stand. Makes me giggle every time I see it!

Me: What is one thing that still managed to surprise you in writing this story?

Brooke: Do you know how hard it is to come up with new, fresh puns for similar types of animals?! I wanted these books to be similar, but different enough to entertain the same readers who may have both books. And only so many synonyms exist for words like claw, fur, and feather. My poor laptop was about to explode with all the jokes and idioms I was looking up. Though I think all that research and twisting my brain into knots was worth it, because really I love how this book turned out!

I agree! It’s another great read! Thank you for stopping by my blog again today Brooke!

Dear readers, this book publishes the beginning of September. If you were a fan of CUTE ANIMALS THAT COULD KILL YOU DEAD, you won’t want to miss the sequel. It has many more cuddly killers that just might surprise you. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it!