Library Books Are Not For Eating (Doubleday, June 2020)

It started as an idea in February 2016. All I had was the title: "Dinosaur Librarian."

I wrote the first several drafts in prose. The protagonist was named Mr. Saurus.

14 drafts and 9 months later, it was a rhyming story starring Ms. Bronte. Much better name, don't you think?

It sold in the first round of submissions.

I'm very happy with it--the rhymes flow smoothly, it's a cute story, and the illustrations take it over the top. The cover is also innovative, as it has "bite marks" revealing pictures from the inside page.

Illustrator is Tom Booth--here's a link to his work.

Naughty Ninja Takes a Bath (Two Lions, December 2019)

How much trouble can a little boy possibly get into simply by taking a bath?

My inspiration was Curious George. I thought it would be fun to write a story about a young boy who has such a vivid imagination that he unintentionally causes trouble no matter what he does or where he goes...in this case, even the simple act of taking a bath is a disaster. 

Vin Vogel, the illustrator, did a great job of showing both action and character. It reads like a Saturday morning cartoon. Here is more of Vin's work:

This book debuts on Amazon First Reads on December 1, 2019, then released to the general public on January 1, 2020.

Three Grumpy Trucks (Little, Brown, 2018)

This book follows the same story structure as Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! The child protagonist is the adult, and his tantrum-throwing trucks are the kids. Get it? It's a metaphor.

Illustrator Guy Parker-Rees (Giraffes Can't Dance) is great for this. He is known for animals, but I love the way he gives them toddler-like exuberance. The three grumpy trucks are just toddlers, after all.

Three Grumpy Trucks received positive reviews in both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

It was released in paperback version in November 2019 by Scholastic.

A Chinese version is coming soon...but you have to travel to mainland China.

Fun fact: it is the favorite book of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, per this July 2019 article in Parents magazine:

How to Become a Knight (in 10 Easy Lessons) (Sterling, 2018)

A bumbling instructor "teaches" a smart boy how to become a knight.

I was channeling four classic characters here for the "wise" instructor (see how many you recognize): Ted Baxter, Barney Fife, Inspector Clouseau, and Super Grover.

Illustrator is Jenn Harney, who has a unique style and did a great job.

Update: an Italian version of Knight is in the works.

Beep! Beep! Go To Sleep! (Little, Brown, 2015)

Illustrated by Caldecott Honoree John Rocco. This is the story of a boy who struggles to put his rambunctious robots to bed.

Robots and rocket ships and space have a childlike wonder, but they also represent the deeper questions about our place in the universe. When I think about the meaning of my life, I think a lot about my kids. So this is my book for Sam, who loved mechanical things as a child.

Little, Brown featured it on the cover of their fall catalog...

...Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review...

...it was featured in the New York Times...

...released in paperback by Scholastic...

...and here are some awards that it won:

• ALA/ALSC Notable Children's Book, 2016
• Bank Street College: Best Children's Books of the Year, 2016
• Chicago Public Library: Best Picture Books of 2015
• Huffington Post: Best Picture Books of 2015
• Early Childhood Education Zone: Best Children's Book Since 2013

Three little robots,

Time for bed.

Time to dim
Your infrared.

Brush your rotors

‘round and ’round.

Clean your shields

And power down.

My Grandma's a Ninja (NorthSouth, 2015)

Illustrated by Danny Chatzikonstantinou. (I can't pronounce it either.) It's my first published non-rhyming book, and targeted to a slightly older audience (ages 4-8) than my first two books. It features a boy named Ethan, like my own son, and a ninja grandma, like my own mom. 

My grandma came to visit last week. She's a ninja!

It was fun.  At first.

Instead of riding the school bus to school, we took a zip-line. We zipped past the crossing guard so fast, his uniform blew off.

All my friends were like, whoa.

This was the first US-written children's book by publisher NorthSouth, which specializes in European titles from its parent company (NordSud) translated to American readers. This was the first time it worked in reverse: as it has been translated for German and Danish markets.

Here's a great video made by German students:

Oh, it also won the 2017 Golden Cowbell Award, organized by school librarians in Switzerland and voted on by 1,633 Swiss students! The award came with an actual cowbell and Swiss chocolate. Who says the Swiss are neutral?

Ten Tiny Toes (Little, Brown, 2012)

You're supposed to love all your kids equally, but I suspect that no matter what else I write, Ten Tiny Toes may always be my sentimental favorite. I wrote it as a love letter to my kids, Sam and Ethan, whose toes would now be kinda gross to nibble, but back in the day....

It has been wonderful watching them grow into adults, just as the baby does in the book.

It was illustrated by Marc Brown, creator of the Arthur series. It was an Amazon #1 Hot New Release in New Baby Books, and was featured for several months as a Top Pick in Picture Books at Barnes & Noble. 

Into the world
Came ten tiny toes
A hundred times sweeter
Than one could suppose

Toes that were tiny
And tender and tasty
Toes more delicious
Than cinnamon pastry

Toes you could nuzzle
And nibble in bliss
Toes you could pattycake
Into a kiss

A Chinese-language version was released in 2017.

It's nice to imagine babies halfway around the world smiling and cooing and falling to sleep to this book. 

Little, Brown released it as a board book in 2018. When a baby starts chewing and slobbering on the sleeve of a picture book, Mom gently takes it away and says, "Let's don't chew on that, Sweetheart." But board books? Babies can chew and slobber all over them until they've consumed their daily diet of fiber. Long live board boards. Long live babies.

Fun story alert! In January-February 2019, Ten Tiny Toes got paired with Jimmy Fallon's Mama book in Amazon's algorithm. 

As Everything is Mama shot up the charts, so did Ten Tiny Toes. For several weeks it was among the top 1,000 books on Amazon, peaking at an impressive #109. For a week or so we out-sold all of the following classic children's books:

And I think I should frame this one, he-he...

How About a Kiss For Me? (Dutton, 2010)

This was my first picture book; it's about the joy of kissing! It was featured for several weeks at ToysRUs, and subsequently released in paperback by Scholastic in 2011. It's a great book for Valentine's Day or any time you need kisses.

Do you like to kiss a dog?
Do you like to kiss a frog?

Do you like to kiss a pig?
In the mud and very big?

Do you like to kiss a cat?
Do you like to kiss a bat?

Do you like to kiss a cow?
Look, here comes one, kiss it now!

Manuscripts

I always have multiple manuscripts in circulation with publishers. I put a lot of effort into writing and polishing each one until I think it's going to be a runaway best-seller.

Then it gets shown around and--generally--rejected by Publisher A...then rejected by Publisher B...then...all the way to Publisher G or H, at which point it is retired to a folder on my Google drive called Todd's Manuscripts, which gets bigger every year.

Here are a few of my favorite unpublished (so far) manuscripts...

"The Ninjas 'fore Christmas" - Nine little ninjas help Santa deliver gifts to the dreaded pirates in the village below

"Dear Baby" - A daddy's love letter

"13 Ways to Cross a Puddle" - A creative boy demonstrates the options

"Choo! Choo! I Love You!" - Three little train cars venture beyond their circle track

"Helicopter Parents" - A baby human is adopted by well-meaning helicopters

"Best Wedding Ever" - A boy mistakenly believes he is going to be a Ring Bear

"The Furry Four" - Four bumbling superhero canines save the world from evil robot squirrels