MICE SKATING is the story of a mouse who loves winter and who does everything she can to get her friends to join her in the cold. This funny, punny love song to winter – and to one brave, bold, and generous mouse – will have kids bundling up for some cold-weather fun of their own!
Hi Annie! Thanks so much for stopping by the blog and congratulations on the release of Mice Skating! Let’s chat…
1) Bunny’s Book Club, your debut picture book, was SO well received when it hit the children’s market (BIG congrats!) — and now I’ve heard it referred to as a timeless, classic tale (wow!). With Mice Skating as your sophomore release, how does the experience feel the same and/or different?
Thank you so much! That is so nice to hear! It is definitely a thrill to have a new book out in the world, so in that sense it’s the same. I do feel a bit more relaxed the second time around because I’ve learned some of process, which is nice.
2) How did your idea for Mice Skating come about? (I love to ask this, because writers often have their best ideas at the most interesting times!)
I got the idea for Mice Skating when I dropped in to visit my parents. Outside their garage was a wheelbarrow filled with water that had frozen over – what I imagined might be the perfect ice rink for a mouse. (They live in the woods so I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been!)
3) Does anything specific attract you into creating animal characters for your stories versus using human characters?
One reason I love writing animal characters is because they can get away with things that human characters could not. For example, it would be scary if a child snuck out of his house and into the library’s book return in the middle of the night. (Yikes!) But a bunny? No problem!
4) Teagan’s illustrations for Mice Skating are so sweet and playful. How did it feel to see your characters on the page?
Teagan’s art is stunning and the characters she envisioned and created make me so happy! I am beyond thrilled with every detail in the book from the mice playing cards to the clothespin holding up the cheese domes. I feel truly grateful.
About the author: Annie Silvestro is a lover of books who reads and writes as much as possible and can often be found shuffling piles of them around so she has a place to sit or someplace to put her teacup. Her picture books include BUNNY’S BOOK CLUB, illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss (Doubleday), MICE SKATING, illustrated by Teagan White (Sterling, Fall 2017), and THE CHRISTMAS TREE WHO LOVED TRAINS, illustrated by Paola Zakimi (HarperCollins, Fall 2018). Annie lives with her family by the beach in New Jersey.
Visit Annie online at: www.anniesilvestro.com and on Twitter and Instagram: @anniesilvestro
Jennifer Mary G 