Photo by Elizabeth Yarwood
Adam Jay Epstein is the author of the new children's picture book Have You Seen Axel?. His other books include Have You Seen Gordon?. He lives in Los Angeles.
Q: What inspired you to write Have You Seen Axel?
A: Thanks, Deborah! So nice to meet you. Have You Seen Axel? and the prior book in the series, Have You Seen Gordon?, were a direct result of my daughters’ love of look-and-find books. Every night when they were little, I would read them three or four picture books.
One was often a look-and-find book. They would spend a half hour scanning the page for every last fairy or shell or ladybug. And that was such a special time with them… but I found that none of the ones we owned had a story. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to create a look-and-find that goes spectacularly wrong!”
In the first book, Have You Seen Gordon?, I wanted to ask the question, “What if the protagonist of a look-and-find book decides that they are proud of their identity and don’t want to hide anymore?” And, in addition, in that book, I placed a secret message from an overeager axolotl wishing that they could be the star of their own book.
So, for the second book, Have You Seen Axel?, I wondered what would happen if Axel the Axolotl got her wish to be the star of her own book. I felt like she would want to “win” by hiding so well that no one would be able to find her.
Which in hide-and-seek is the objective… but less so in a look-and-find book. You can’t hide too well, or no kid will find you! Both my daughters are very competitive and I think there is a lot of them in the character of Axel.
Q: Why did you choose an axolotl as your protagonist?
A: After Ruth drew the initial illustrations for the first book, I scanned the sketches to see who I thought looked like they should be the one with the secret message wishing for their own book.
The adorable axolotl immediately jumped off the page. And this was before she was even colored. There was also a photo of an axolotl on the cover of a nature book that I read when I was little that had this big smile that always resonated with me.
And then, for whatever cosmic reason, axolotls took off in the public consciousness. They were the animal of the year for the Girl Scouts. They were huge on social media. Having Axel as the star of this book when axolotls are so popular is a happy coincidence!
Q: What do you think Ruth Chan’s illustrations add to the book?
A: Ruth has an absolutely incredible talent for drawing busy scenes full of life and humor. We both wanted to make sure that there was always something fun to look at no matter where your eyes drifted on the page. She and I worked together on coming up with background stories to fill each page with.
But then Ruth took it to a wonderful next level! Whether it was a hippo chef or a shark with a fishbowl on its head, she found so many ways to make me smile and laugh. I am in awe of her talent and even I find something new every time I read the book!
Q: The Kirkus Review of the book says, “Waldo, Schmaldo. This hilarious book takes the seek-and-find someplace new.” What do you think of that assessment?
A: Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo? (Where’s Wally?) books are absolutely the visual benchmark for all other look-and-find books. That said, I am certainly proud of what we are doing with the Have You Seen series! Adding story, lots of humor and meaningful lessons was the intent from the beginning.
I truly hope that caregivers, teachers, librarians, and all other readers will have fun reading the books over and over because, as we all know, children’s books are meant to be revisited countless times. And I hope kids will have a lot of laughs as they discover all the hidden details on the 100th read!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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