What was the inspiration behind Little Seed? I wanted to tell a story about different ways to hug. Some people love hugs. Some don’t. Some love many and some only want a few. But the challenge was how will Little Seed hug when their arms are so small? How can Little Seed hug the whole world? Animals come in all shapes and sizes and I wanted to play with their personality and how they feel about hugs. Is there a difference in making board books vs picture books? I originally wrote this story as a picture book. When my editor read it, she saw it as a board book. And I agree. The concept fits better as a board book than a picture book. But we actually kept the same amount of pages as a picture book, 32 pages. Which was surprising, as board books are usually 24 pages. I’m glad we got to keep those extra pages so we get to spend more time with Little Seed. How did the designs come together? Little Seed was at first a humanoid character. Kinda like the little green giant. I still love this character, so it may make a way into some story or another in the future. But changing the design to an actual seed was the right choice for the story. It made it more clear, especially for the board book age. The art director suggested a bigger trim size then your typical board book as well. And she created an amazing font for the title which fit perfectly. I’m so grateful to work with the whole team at Little Simon. What are you working on these days? I’m wrapping up on Anzu Book 2 (ANZU THE GREAT LISTENER), a sequel to ANZU THE GREAT KAIJU, which came out Jan 11th, 2022. I’m really excited to go on another journey with Anzu. I’m also working on another picture book called FIRST NIGHT OF HOWLERGARTEN with Penguin Workshop. Thank you for listening to me ramble! Benson Shum is a children's book author and illustrator. His book, Anzu the Great Kaiju received a starred review from School Library Journal, and was selected for the Kid's Indie Next List recommended for Jan/Feb 2022 by ABA, American Booksellers Association. Benson is also an Animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he was a part of such films as Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, Frozen 2, Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto. Originally from Vancouver, BC, Benson now lives in sunny southern California.
Visit Benson at: http://bensonshum.com/ Twitter: @bshum79 Instagram: @bshum79 Facebook: @bshum79 Tiktok: @bshum79 Comments are closed.
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