Recently I attended a fun Bear Essential News Reporter Zoom with author/illustrator LeUyen Pham and author Shannon Hale. They shared how they met, how they became best friends and talked about the books they have worked on together.

The two wrote “Pretty Perfect Kitty-Corn” while they were on tour for their book “Best Friends.” They were at a cafe working on a book when Pham had an idea about a fluffy kitty that wanted to be a unicorn, so she made a sketch, and Hale wrote a sentence. Pham asked, “Can I show you something,” and Shannon asked the same. They showed their ideas to each other and just started laughing. That’s how “Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn” became a book.  

They talked about the lengthy process to make the book just right. Shannon said that a story is more than an initial idea and that you just know when an idea is working or not and that she and LeUyen do not settle for stories and illustrations that are “good enough” they always want better for the story to come to life. LeUyen shared that she uses her iPad to create her illustrations and that she takes it with her everywhere.

The two are going on their first book tour since the pandemic and will be in Tucson for the Festival of Books March 12–13.