It’s a pirate’s life for a wee little baby and a treasure with emerald green … leaves? Hold onto your tricorn, this book will have you catching stitches in your sides from laughter!

Monica Acker has visited my blog before. She is an author, educator, and avid cookie eater. She has a master’s degree in teaching and is a reading tutor in the Reading, Massachusetts school system. She and her husband captain their crew of three children and over a dozen houseplants. You can learn more about Monica at her website or follow her on Instagram.

PIRATE BABY: A BOOTY-FUL TALE is a funny picture book all about young Cally. Cally is the perfect little pirate who only ever takes what she can at every turn. But when she finds a plant with emerald green leaves with needs she cannot figure out, she gets cranky. How does she help a plant when she doesn’t give anything to anyone? This is a very fun approach to learning all about plants!

Welcome back Monica!

Me: I love the personality of your main character! What gave you the idea for this story?

Monica: Thank you! The idea for the story started with Storystorm. Thank you Tara Lazar and guest blogger Laurie Lavoie. To anyone unfamiliar with Storystorm, it is a series of 30/31 blog posts hosted on Tara Lazar’s blog during the month of January intended to get ideas flowing. During Storystorm a few years back, Laurie Lavoie wrote about Vampire Vacation and Monster Baker so from there my brain took a popular picture book topic – pirates – and decided to give my pirate an interest in something not so piratey – gardening. The story evolved from there.

Me: From dandelions to potted plants! I laughed when I realized that this story had a leafy treasure in it. Why the fascination with growing things? Do you have a lot of plants yourself or maybe a green thumb?

Monica: I do not have a green thumb but I do get joy from the plants in my home and garden. However, it is my husband who keeps everything alive. There are three plants in the window right by where I write and they have worked their way into my subconscious. I also have created my own lore about how my books are Easter eggs for the next one (even though it is complete happenstance). Paran Kim, the illustrator for Brave Like Mom, gave the MC a stuffed lion that is featured throughout the book. Then Leo is about a dandelion who thinks he is a lion. Followed by Pirate Baby, where the priceless treasure is a plant. I wonder what clue is in there for the next book …

Me: I love the concept of a pirate baby who is so used to taking that she doesn’t know how to give anything. There were so many twists and turns I didn’t see coming (and lots of giggles too). Did your story undergo a ton of revisions to get to its finished state? Or was the story always like this from the beginning?

Monica: Unlike my standard practice of pantsing, I plotted this story. For that reason, this was the fastest first draft to final draft I have produced. That being said, it still took me 15 revisions, lots of great feedback from critique partners, and an editor who had an eye for trimming it a touch in order to get it where it is today.

Me: Can you talk about your back matter? It fits SO well into your fictional plot! Is that where your story started? Or was that added after you’d worked on the plot quite a bit?

Monica: While the story does go over what a plant needs, I knew I wanted it to have an additional layer, the benefits humans get from caring for plants. I see the joy my husband, our family plant caretaker, gets from keeping our home full of green even in the dead of winter and started wondering if there is science behind the joy. I did a little research and there is a lot of evidence that supports that caring for plants does so much for not just the plant but the human caretaker, including building empathy. Lucky for me, the research says there are benefits of simply being around plants such as increased productivity and a sense of calm, though I should probably start getting my hands dirty too.

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

Monica: I approached the writing process differently for this story. I tend to have an idea and just start writing to see where it will go. I don’t know what motivated me to outline the story before writing it, but it made such a difference in my writing process! I’m not quite ready to give up the natural spontaneity of pantsing all the time, but I have started plotting with outlines or noting key scenes before drafting some stories. I guess I’m a plantser now!

Me: Ha! Of course. The illustrations by Susana Soto are pitch perfect! I love the mice she snuck into every scene. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Monica: The minute she was suggested as an illustrator I was sold. Her illustrations are so playful and fun! The little mice were such a wonderful surprise because I am certain little readers will have fun looking for them on each spread. My favorite surprise however is the life preserver ring. I wrote in the story that the plant was floating in the water but I never said how. It is the most perfect solution and it looks so cute to see a little plant bobbing along in a life preserver.     

Me: Now that you’ve had several picture books published, I have to ask about routines. What habits have you found helpful to maintain your creativity? What do you do to set yourself up for success with your writing?

Monica: Between working part-time and raising three kids, routine can be hard to come by. I am lucky that while I work school hours so that I am available to play the role of mom-taxi after school, I do not work on Fridays. This schedule allows me to know that I will at least get a few hours a week to write or do writing adjacent activities. If I have a task I need or want to get done midweek, I will “assign” it to myself while I am waiting at a dance practice or for my ninja kid. I maintain my creativity with snacks… and looking at life with wonder and joy.

I love that. Thank you for stopping by my blog again today Monica.

Dear readers, this book publishes next week. If you like a good giggle, and a good pirate yarn, this book is sure to float your boat. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss it.