A road trip with friends is always a good time, even when things don’t go as planned.

Marlene Droop studied graphic design in her hometown of Münster, Germany. She then moved to Hamburg to pursue a master’s degree in illustration. Her first young adult novel, Echt das Leben und Ich (Real Life and Me), was published in 2024 and nominated for the Stiftung Buchkunst award for the most beautiful German book. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram.

SAME TIME, NEXT WEEK? is a picture book about several friends who get together for a road trip to the countryside to see the stars. Somehow, this is a quietly calm book all about friendship, even though things don’t go at all as planned. It’s a sweet and surprisingly endearing look at the journeys we take over and over again in life and who we take them with.

Welcome Marlene!

Me: Can you share about your creative journey? When did you start creating art professionally? How did that bring you to being the author-illustrator of this book?

Marlene: I study design and illustration. During my current master’s program I published my first two books, illustrated for teens and adults. Same Time, Next Week? is my first children’s book which I worked on during a course in the master’s program.

Me: I love this group of friends in search of the stars. What gave you the idea for this story?

Marlene: Our professor, Bernd Mölck-Tassel, assigned us the task of developing a quick book idea each week based on a new overarching theme. I had the idea for Same Time, Next Week? around the theme “countryside.”

So, in a way, I wanted to work with the exact opposite: the big city and the contrast between city and countryside in terms of the stars.

Me: I have to ask, what made you want the driver to be a Giraffe? I laughed at all the different problems Giraffe encountered! Was the driver always a giraffe in your story from the very first draft?

Marlene: One of the pictures I started the story with, shows giraffe and turtle setting out on their journey. It then occurred to me that, given the perspective I’d chosen, giraffe’s head wouldn’t actually fit in the picture (not that my pictures are particularly realistic). So I thought, why not play around with that? And the fact that giraffe prefers to drive a convertible is the logical conclusion.

Me: I noticed that you didn’t use any pronouns for any of the characters (i.e., he or she, etc.) in the book at all. They didn’t even have names, just animal identifiers. Was that intentional? How hard did you have to work to keep things neutral in your writing?

Marlene: I went back and forth a bit on the topic of pronouns. Some people I showed my text to initially found it strange that I simply referred to the animals by their species. But I’m so glad I stuck with it, and I’m happy you noticed! Did you also notice that, in all the other cars except for turtles van, there are always only animals of the same species?

Me: I love the way you illustrated this book. The textures are fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about your illustrations for the book? Did you work with traditional media or digital or both?

Marlene: I used mixed media for this book. Many of the areas, especially the “watery” ones, where the sky has a particularly textured appearance, were created using gouache and acrilyc paint and then assembled on the computer. The same goes for most of the line drawings. In the end, what matters to me is the final result and the dramatic effect in the pictures, and if I have to combine digital and analog painting to achieve that, that’s perfectly fine with me.

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing and/or illustrating this story?

Marlene: I started this story without any particular plan in mind.

So the first two images were simply depictions of turtle and giraffe in the van, followed by a scene where they drive out of this big city to see the stars. I wanted to create images that were funny yet visually powerful. I hadn’t planned at all for the story to suddenly be about light pollution, friendship, and “the journey is the destination.”

Me: Any advice for other new picture book writers and/or illustrators?

Marlene: First: Don’t be so hard on yourself and let go of perfectionism!

Second: AI has no place in creative and cultural work. After all, picture books are culture for children, and that must be protected, because what would humanity be without culture?

Third: Thank you for letting me share my thoughts here. 🙂

I love that Marlene. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book publishes tomorrow! It’s a delightful road trip romp that you won’t want to miss.