Have you always liked to write?

Yes! I started telling stories when I was little. Often they were characters my sister and I made up—her security blanket, a family of girls who had their own swimming pool in their backyard (lucky) and some square-headed creatures and their pet pelicans. I also kept journals and wrote stories on my parents’ computer, though I often couldn’t figure out what to write after chapter one. I’d just start over with a completely new story. It’s hard to plot!

Have you always liked to draw?

Yes again! All of my stories had illustrations. I took art classes all through high school and in college—I even thought about going to art school for a little bit! My artwork has always been doodles, and my characters have always have the same shaped eyes, and I’ve usually incorporated dialogue. (I was a big fan of The Simpsons growing up.) I even included a “comic” as part of my college applications. I’m not sure if it helped me get in, though.

That said, I’ve never really done any artwork for a book before. It was a learning process. I redrew the artwork for the first Penny Draws book several times. There are 300 drawings in each book, so that’s a lot of re-drawing!

What were your favorite books to read growing up?

I liked books that were either realistic or funny. I loved the Babysitter’s Club series and Judy Blume books, and one of my favorite authors is Roald Dahl. One of my favorite stories is Esio Trot, though I can’t believe Mrs. Silver never found out her turtles were being switched out regularly.

These days, I read all kinds of things. Some of my favorite illustrators are Dav Pilkey, Roz Chast, and Sara Varon, who wrote Bake Sale and Robot Dreams.