Being In the Moment
April 2025 Edition of the Super Readers Club
Howdy, Super Readers! How is it April already?! The year is already flying by and I’m looking to s-l-o-w it down a bit. Are you, too? I find taking my time with an art project, a good book or even just a really good London Fog latte (Earl Grey tea with foamed milk and vanilla syrup—swooooon!) is the ticket to being in the moment. The Super Readers Club can help you get there, too! Today’s there’s a NEW Kitty & Cat comic for a giggle, the Muddy Puddles cover reveal for some picture book anticipation, the Chloe Zoe Easter Activity Kit for fun with the littles and a NEW mini interview with kidlit wonder Merrill Rainey for inspiration!
The Funnies
If the longer days and flowers didn’t announce springtime, the birds sure are. Are the birds in your backyard tweeting up a storm these days!? Mine, too! Like Kitty & Cat I like watching em' all—hawks, bluejays, cardinals and more!
Springtime Means Muddy Puddles
It’s my pleasure to reveal the cover of the new children’s book Muddy Puddles! Hooray! It was an honor to be trusted to adapt the original song, Muddy Puddles, by celebrated children’s musician, Laura Doherty, into a picture book. I not only illustrated the song, but also designed the book itself. I can’t wait to share more of this super fun, super hilarious book with you, so stay tuned…more artwork sneak peeks and order links coming soon!
Easter Fun with Chloe Zoe
• CRAFT an Easter basket!
• READ the book at home, school or library!
• MAKE an Easter Egg Surprise!
• SHARE a book review on Goodreads!
• ENJOY the free printable activity kit!
Super Story Time LIVE
Plan to join me and children’s book author-illustrator-paper engineer Merrill Rainey for a super special Super Story Time LIVE! Merrill will be sharing his new children’s book, My First Town, and demoing the paper toys readers can make with it! And in a tip of the hat to the season, I’ll be reading the classic Chloe Zoe book, It’s Easter, Chloe Zoe! Tune in this WED 4/9/25 at 1pm EST over on Instagram. Yay!
Mini Interview with Merrill Rainey
Q: Your new book My First Town: A Building Block Book is a paper engineering wonder! How did you first get started creating pop-ups and paper toys?
MERRILL: This question definitely comes up a lot. Part of what got me started is that I’ve always been fascinated with books that move and I spend a lot of time investigating how these moving books work. Another piece is the fact that I had a very creative childhood. So, putting those two things together is a nice path that leads to paper engineering.
But, what really got me moving on creating in this way started back when I was first getting my feet wet with my freelance career. I found an amazingly creative individual by the name of Matthew Hawkins and I started following his work. Matthew used to have a blog where he would post a new paper toy each week that you could download and create. This peaked my interest in paper toy art, and for a while I would build everything he posted. Until I finally got to the point where I felt I had learned enough about paper toy mechanics to start making my own creations out of paper and cardboard! You can check out Matthew’s work here.
Q: What was your most favorite toy as a kiddo? What was your most favorite book?
MERRILL: I was a Ninja Turtle kid through and through! In fact, that’s actually what my mom used to call me, ‘The Ninja Turtle Kid’. If you were to walk into my childhood bedroom, you would have thought you had walked right into the Turtle’s Lair! My walls were covered with TMNT character drawings and movie posters, shelves were crowded with action figures, TMNT comics littered my desk. You name the TMNT toy and I probably had it, or if I didn’t have it, I would have made it! I think the coolest TMNT toy I ever owned was the Pizza Thrower, and of course my favorite food at the time was pizza!
My favorite books growing up were always The Hobbit and the Lord Of the Rings trilogy. I don’t know exactly why I connected to these stories so early on, but I think part of it was due to me falling in love with the art and storytelling of the Rankin and Bass animated adaptations. If you haven’t seen the animated movies, I recommend you do so! I guarantee that you will fall in love with them too.
Q: Dish with us about who/what/where is currently inspiring your creative work!
MERRILL: I’m currently being inspired in multiple ways by one of the undisputed masters of the 20th century—Matisse! His unique technique of creating artwork, or "cut-outs" as he called them, produces cut paper illustrated collages that focus on exploring the harmony of color and line through the use of color and shape. He called this technique "painting with scissors."
Obviously, hearing the phrase "painting with scissors" resonates with me on so many levels both as a paper engineer as well as a cut paper artist.
Another thing that inspires me about Matisse, is that his cut-out paper technique came into being during a time in his life when he was sick and needed to pivot in his career and reinvent how he created his work.
I think any artist can relate to this situation. We all have some challenging moments, and it’s how we face those challenges that help us to grow and move into the next chapter of our creative journeys; just like Matisse!
I am also currently inspired by my new set of Sharpie Creative Markers and my General’s 4B Charcoal pencils. ;-)
• Visit Merrill & all his creative books + art HERE!
See You Later, Alligator
Thanks so much for being here in the moment with me, Super Readers! Until next time, wishing you a peaceful month filled with books and art and light and all the things you love.