In 2016 I published my first children’s novel, The Wild Robot. It’s the story of a robot named Roz and her struggle to survive on a remote, wild island. As it turns out, Roz doesn’t just survive, she adapts, and learns to communicate with the wildlife, and then she develops animal friends and even a family. Roz makes the island her home. But that wasn’t the whole story. You see, from the moment I started dreaming up The Wild Robot, I was also dreaming up the sequel. It would be another survival story, only this time Roz would have to… 

So, I wrote my first children’s novel. It wasn’t a graceful process, but I survived the stress and the solitude and the crippling self-doubt, and now my novel has entered the world. It’s called The Wild Robot. If you have a few minutes I’d like to tell you about it. Back in 2008, while working on a picture book called The Curious Garden, I spent a lot of time making sketches like this- I loved imagining scenes of nature living in surprising places. And that got me thinking about scenes of unnatural things living in surprising places, and I made… 

I’ve received some amazingly CREEPY carrot art from kid’s all over the USA . . . and now I’ve received some truly inspired photos from OUTSIDE the USA! Madame Gubbel’s third grade class, in Winnipeg, Canada, has completely WOWED me with their beautifully creepy series of photographs.

I grew up in Hopewell, a little town just outside of Princeton, NJ. And so I was very excited when, a few years ago, I learned that the Princeton Public Library (where my mom took me as a wee lad) would begin an annual children’s book festival. This year the festival has got an UNBELIEVABLE lineup of authors and illustrators. Seriously. It’s crazy. You should totally go. And the organizers asked ME to design the festival poster. As a “local boy,” I really did not want to disappoint. So I racked my brain trying to think of a fun, interesting…