Tag: Q&A

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Creator Spotlight: Alexandra Finkeldey

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Alexandra Finkeldey!

About the Author:

ALEXANDRA FINKELDEY is an illustrator based in Ottawa, Canada. Her art is focused on noticing and capturing the small, pleasant details of daily life, featuring organic subjects and natural textures, and she has illustrated several picture books, including When the Storks Came Home, Talala: The Curious Leopard Cub Who Joined a Lion Pride, Saving the Spotted Owl, and The Boy, the Cloud and the Very Tall Tale.

Fast Five with Alexandra Finkeldey:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

One day, I would love to try living in the country. A wooden cabin in the woods or in the mountains, preferably near a lake (I love to swim). I’ve only ever lived in cities. While I absolutely adore the pace and comforts of city life, I fantasize about living a slower life, surrounded by nature. Maybe when I’m older!

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Going outside. No matter what kind of day I’ve had, I can usually lift my spirits by going for a walk around my neighborhood. Lately, I’ve been going for walks without music or a podcast playing in my ears. This helps me pay attention to my surroundings, which include birds, neighbors, pets, gardens, and nature sounds. It feels good to move my body, and it helps me to calm down. As a bonus: I usually get a lot of new ideas for drawings and paintings!

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Lunch! Cooking is one of my favorite activities, and lunch is when I feel most creative and energized. And, since I work from home, I’m able to take my time to make something nice and nourishing (usually involving lots of veggies). While I’m eating, I like to call family and friends. It’s nice to hear their voices and have company while I eat.

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

The best concert I’ve ever been to was Fleet Foxes, here in Ottawa, Canada. They are one of my favorite bands! I was lucky to see them in a very small, cozy setting. They played a local music festival on a small stage. It was the middle of summer and the weather was perfect. At one point, the lead singer, Robin Pecknold, sang one song on his own (just his voice and his guitar). The audience was silent as stone. It was such a special experience. 

What do you like to do outdoors?

I often say that my favorite thing to do outdoors is: “walk around and look at stuff”. I like to pay close attention to all types of life outside. For me, paying attention looks like birdwatching, mushroom foraging, identifying plants, sketching landscapes, taking photos of trees . . . the list goes on! I also love hiking, camping, gardening, and swimming in lakes and rivers. Since I live in Ontario, Canada, I’m lucky to have access to many natural areas. If you ever see me sitting still and silently outside, I promise I’m not bored. I’m soaking up the sights and sounds, gathering inspiration, and feeling so much gratitude for this beautiful planet.

Books by Alexandra Finkeldey:

On a Mushroom Day
Written by Chris Baker
Illustrated by Alexandra Finkeldey
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774882580 | Tundra Books
A mushroom day is a day of exploring together and discovering some of the most incredible lifeforms on earth: fungi. In this lyrical, informational picture book structured around a walk through a summertime wood, a child and their caregiver share the sights, sounds and smells of the forest as they observe and identify different varieties of mushrooms. On a Mushroom Day encourages curiosity and a love of fungi in young children and normalizes safe, chaperoned joyful exploration of the fungal queendom all around us. Filled with fun, fascinating fungi facts and a visual catalogue of mushroom species so that kids can enjoy their very own mushroom day in the pages of this book!

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Creator Spotlight: Christina Uss

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Christina Uss!

About the Author:

CHRISTINA USS is the author of the middle-grade novels The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle, The Colossus of Roads, Erik vs. Everything and A Few Bicycles More, which have received many accolades, including multiple starred reviews; JLG selections; numerous state lists, including the Texas Bluebonnet list, Maine Student Book Award and Vermont’s Dorothy Canfield Fisher list; a Kirkus Best Book of the Year and more. She lives in Massachusetts.

Fast Five with Christina Uss:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

In a little tiny place on a beach where I can ride my bike to a library.

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Listening to my favorite music! I have a “Moodboosting Playlist” that includes everything from Queen to Megan Trainor to Beethoven.

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

ALL OF THEM, yes please, thank you. I love to eat so very much. Food – especially food someone else cooked for me – is one of the great joys of my life.

What’s your “dance like nobody’s watching” song?

“Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves. If it comes on, you know I’m jumping up to dance.

What’s something you always say “yes” to? And what’s something you always say “no” to?

I always, always, always say yes to hot buttered popcorn, even if I’ve just eaten a whole bowl. And I always, always, always say no to waking up one single minute earlier than I have to.

Books by Christina Uss:

The Island Before No
Written by Christina Uss
Illustrated by Hudson Christie
56 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735272415 | Tundra Books
When you’re a walrus living on an island where the answer to every question is YES, life is pretty simple, especially when that’s all you’ve ever known. It’s great when you want a slice of birthday cake for breakfast . . . and not so great when someone asks you to wear an itchy shirt. But one day, a kid shows up, brandishing an entirely new word: NO. NO is heavy like a bookcase, solid as a boulder. It’s not shaped like YES, but somehow, it’s still an answer. The kid calls his friends to come visit the island too, and it’s not long before they’ve eaten up all of the yummiest food without sharing. What’s worse, none of them bring their own toothbrushes . . . It becomes clear that what the walruses all need is to find their own NO . . . not only to hold back the rampaging horde of children – but for their own sakes as well. The Island Before No is a hilarious new picture book that blends its zany fun with an important message about respecting and setting boundaries.

The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle
By Christina Uss
336 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780823445738 | Margaret Ferguson Books
Introverted Bicycle has lived most of her life at the Mostly Silent Monastery in Washington, D.C. – and she likes it that way. But when her guardian, Sister Wanda, announces that Bicycle is going to attend a camp where she will learn to make friends, Bicycle says no way. Determined to prove she can make friends on her own, she sets off on her bike for San Francisco to meet her idol, a famous cyclist, certain he will be her first true friend. Who knew that a ghost would haunt her handlebars and that she would have to contend with bike-hating dogs, a bike-loving horse, bike-crushing pigs, and a mysterious lady dressed in black. Over the uphills and downhills of her journey, Bicycle discovers that friends are not such a bad thing to have after all, and that a dozen cookies really can solve most problems.

A Few Bicycles More
By Christina Uss
272 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780823455904 | Margaret Ferguson Books
Bicycle has been back from her cross-country adventure with her robot-like bike, named Fortune, for just a month when it starts malfunctioning, insisting that they pedal away from their home in Washington D.C. to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia. Once there, they discover a scrapyard where bicycles are being crushed and recycled – and it appears they are too late to save them. Bicycle and Fortune head to a convenience store so Bicycle can drown her sorrows with a chocolate bar.  Much to her astonishment, she meets her long-lost family there. Bicycle learns that they have been looking for her since she disappeared as a toddler and that she is a quintuplet. She is happy to go live with them except for one thing: her family doesn’t share her passion for cycling. In fact, her sisters have never even ridden a bike. Then Fortune acts up again, leading Bicycle back to the scrapyard where she discovers that there are four bicycles left and they were all made by the same inventor who created her Fortune. Four seems too coincidental to ignore – the perfect number to bring her sisters up to speed. She sets a plan in motion to rescue the bikes, a plan that if it works will help her fit into her family and still stay true to her cycling self.

The Colossus of Roads
By Christina Uss
208 Pages | Ages 9-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780823449897 | Margaret Ferguson Books
Rick Rusek’s stomach has a lot to say. It’s got opinions on tasty foods, not-so-tasty foods, and driving in traffic-jammed Los Angeles makes it roil, boil, gurgle, and howl. It’s doing the best it can. It never meant to earn its owner the nickname Carsick Rick or make him change schools for fifth grade. And Rick’s stomach isn’t the only one dealing with terrible traffic. His family’s catering service, Smotch, is teetering on the verge of ruin after a rash of late deliveries and missed appointments. Fortunately, Rick has the solution. Unfortunately, no one wants to listen to a kid. Absolutely certain that he could fix the constant, endless traffic snarls, Rick hatches a plan. But he’ll need help from his unicorn-loving Girl Scout neighbor, a famous street artist, and the best driver in L.A. Together they’ll take on the stream of stalled cars – and a secret conspiracy or two, too. It’s going to be tough, but Rick won’t give up. If he can successfully move the 330,000 slow-moving cars standing in the way of his family’s future, maybe everyone will see that he’s not Carsick Rick. He’s one of the seven wonders of Los Angeles.

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Creator Spotlight: Chris Baker

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Chris Baker!

About the Author:

CHRIS BAKER is an author, professional mushroom lover, and founder of Chicory Naturalist, a nature shop and community space rooted in Kingston, New York. Baker is also a certified forager and enthusiastic guide to the realm of fungi, leading forays in the Hudson Valley bioregion. Running through all of Baker’s professional endeavors is a passion for reconnecting broken chains of generational knowledge about the natural world. She lives a few blocks from the Hudson River with her spouse, child and two calico cats.

Fast Five with Chris Baker:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I would rather live here in the Hudson Valley than anywhere in the world. I’m in a deep, committed love with this ecosystem and community and plan to live here for the rest of my life. That said, if my family could house swap with someone in France or Italy, I wouldn’t mind spending a year hunting ceps . . .

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Paying attention to nature always does the trick. Of course going for a walk in the woods is wonderful, but even just taking five minutes to listen to the birds chit-chat and watch leaves dance can really turn my mood around.

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Dinner is my favorite meal because it’s when I get to reconnect with loved ones at the end of the day. In the summertime, we try to eat dinner outside as much as we can, which makes even boring meals feel special.

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

Patti Smith’s 25th anniversary tour for Horses was a pretty transcendent concert experience! But honestly, the best shows were probably the ones I got to see in bars and little venues when I lived in New Orleans. Little Freddie King, Hurray for the Riff Raff, and King Khan come to mind.

What is your favorite mushroom?

So hard to pick just one! But the first mushroom I really imprinted on was the golden chanterelle. I don’t think there’s a better smell in the world, and my heart always seizes up with excitement when I find them.

Books by Chris Baker:

On a Mushroom Day
Written by Chris Baker
Illustrated by Alexandra Finkeldey
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774882580 | Tundra Books
A mushroom day is a day of exploring together and discovering some of the most incredible lifeforms on earth: fungi. In this lyrical, informational picture book structured around a walk through a summertime wood, a child and their caregiver share the sights, sounds and smells of the forest as they observe and identify different varieties of mushrooms. On a Mushroom Day encourages curiosity and a love of fungi in young children and normalizes safe, chaperoned joyful exploration of the fungal queendom all around us. Filled with fun, fascinating fungi facts and a visual catalogue of mushroom species so that kids can enjoy their very own mushroom day in the pages of this book!

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Creator Spotlight: Deke Moulton

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Deke Moulton!

About the Author:

DEKE MOULTON is a writer currently living in the US Pacific Northwest. They are a former US Army drill sergeant and trained as an Arabic linguist during their time in service.

Fast Five with Deke Moulton:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I would give anything to live on a kibbutz again! This is how I lived up until I was 6, and I just loved the closeness of everyone and the way that everyone contributes. And maybe that’s why both of my books are actually about collaborative living? In Don’t Want To Be Your Monster, we have two moms who operate what’s essentially a half-way house for young vampires trying to leave bad situations and start a new life, and in Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf, we’ve got a werewolf extended family living together on a wolf sanctuary / kibbutz!

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Sitting down in a comfy chair, wrapped up in a blanket, a warm drink in one hand (coffee in the morning, green tea in the afternoon) and a great book in the other, with my dog curled up in my lap. Oh my gosh, it’s small and simple but it’s just pure contentment.

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

I actually don’t eat breakfast but I do drink a big cup of coffee (on an empty stomach, ugh, I know it’s bad!). So between lunch and dinner, I honestly love lunch so much more! It’s usually my biggest meal of the day, and I get really creative with it because often it’s the one meal I only make for myself! I love vegetarian cooking, so I will do lots of rice / bean / lentil type meals. I try out new recipes. I make up my own. It’s just a wonderful meal!

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

I would say my very first punk show was probably the best one I’d ever been to. It was in 1997, I think, Anti-Flag at the Metro in Chicago. The show was sold out and I just walked up to the security guard and asked if we could come in anyways. I guess my chutzpah paid off because he let me and my friends in! I loved it. I’d been listening to punk for a while just at home on CDs so being in a big venue with so many other people, all screaming along to the songs and moshing – it will always hold a special place in my heart!

Who would win in a fight: vampires or werewolves?

Okay, I am so sorry to all my werewolf fans, but I am definitely going with vampires here! Unless the werewolf calls for a fight at high noon (but then that would be a forfeit on the vampire’s part so not really winning the fight). Werewolves are awesome and I think if I had to choose which one I would be, it would be a werewolf, but vampires have super-healing powers and are pretty much immortal (just avoid the sun, wooden-stakes-to-the-heart and really dedicated vampire hunters). So if it came down to physical battles, vampires are going to win. At the very least, if things got close, our vampire could jump up into a tree or something and taunt their werewolf opponent!

Books by Deke Moulton:

Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf
By Deke Moulton
304 Pages | Ages 10-14 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774880524 | Tundra Books
Benji Zeb has a lot going on. He has a lot of studying to do, not only for school but also for his upcoming bar mitzvah. He’s nervous about Mr. Rutherford, the aggressive local rancher who hates Benji’s family’s kibbutz and wolf sanctuary. And he hasn’t figured out what to do about Caleb, Mr. Rutherford’s stepson, who has been bullying Benji pretty hard at school, despite Benji wanting to be friends (and maybe something more). And all of this is made more complicated by the fact that, secretly, Benji and his entire family are werewolves who are using the wolf sanctuary as cover for their true identities! Things come to a head when Caleb shows up at the kibbutz one night . . . in wolf form! He’s a werewolf too, unable to control his shifting, and he needs Benji’s help. Can anxious Benji juggle all of these things along with his growing feelings toward Caleb?

Don’t Want to Be Your Monster
By Deke Moulton
304 Pages | Ages 10-14 | Paperback
ISBN 9781774880517 | Tundra Books
Adam and Victor are brothers who have the usual fights over the remote, which movie to watch and whether or not it’s morally acceptable to eat people. Well, not so much eat . . . just drink a little blood. They’re vampires, hiding in plain sight with their eclectic yet loving family. Ten-year-old Adam knows he has a better purpose in his life (well, immortal life) than just drinking blood, but fourteen-year-old Victor wants to accept his own self-image of vampirism. Everything changes when bodies start to appear all over town, and it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for the family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it’s too late?

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Creator Spotlight: Julie Kim

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our creators as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Julie Kim!

About the Author:

JULIE KIM is an author and illustrator living in Seattle, USA. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, her illustrations have been featured in several children’s books, including My Special Space and Mysterious Spinners. Her authorial debut, Where’s Halmoni?, has received several starred reviews. Its sequel Where’s Joon? was published in October 2023.

Fast Five with Julie Kim:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

If I could live anywhere . . . I would still live in Seattle! I love the mild climate here, despite the cloudy skies. Hot and humid places basically turn me into mush. And I love seeing the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade range as I drive around the city. I especially love how green and lush everything is in spring and summer. Nature can still feel wild here in the Pacific Northwest.

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

I love to sit at my table next to a bright window and sip on spicy chai! And with every sip I go “Hahhhh!” to cool my mouth. I do this until I run out of chai. What a treat!

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

My favorite meal of the day is brunch! It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what I eat, but it is more about the time of the day. Everything still feels fresh and bright, while by evening, I am tired and trying to wrap up the day. 

What’s your “dance like nobody’s watching” song?

Though I don’t have a particular song that comes to mind, I will dance to “techno” music. Does anyone know what that is nowadays? Anyway, sometimes I don’t even need music to dance. I just need to move out of my chair.

What’s your favorite thing to draw?

For the longest time, I loved drawing people the best. Now I really enjoy drawing and painting crooked trees. Something about them is very satisfying. And though you didn’t ask, my least favorite thing to draw are cars and trucks. It’s very painful!

Books by Julie Kim:

Swimming into Trouble: Julia on the Go! #1
Written by Angela Ahn
Illustrated by Julie Kim
176 Pages | Ages 7-10 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774881880 | Tundra Books
As a member of the Vipers Swim Team, Julia Nam’s always in the pool. Mountainview Community Center is like her second home, not only because swimming at the aquatic center is her favorite thing in the world, but also because her parents run the center’s sushi café. Julia would much rather be in the pool than sitting behind the counter of Sushi on the Go! watching other people swim. She’s the youngest swimmer on the team, but definitely not the slowest. Julia can’t wait for Personal Best Day – the most important day for all of the swimmers. If their times are good enough, they can enter a big regional swim meet. But then the worst thing happens. A sharp pain in Julia’s ear reveals an infection and she’s forbidden to swim for ten days. How can she get timed during Personal Best Day when she’s not allowed in the water? Julia is desperate to get back in the pool, even if it means having to go behind her parents’ backs in order to do so. But Julia’s solution lands her in a sticky situation, and it’s going to require the entire community center to come together to help her out of it!

The Big Splash: Julia on the Go! #2
Written by Angela Ahn
Illustrated by Julie Kim
176 Pages | Ages 7-10 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774882078 | Tundra Books
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Julia is dismayed to learn that Coach Marissa has to leave the Vipers swim team for an urgent family matter. Coach Nathan, their new temporary coach, is strict and humorless. He doesn’t even let them have Splash Time! And it’s not just Julia who’s upset – two of her teammates have even quit the team. So it’s no surprise that the team is not enthusiastic when Coach Nathan asks them to put together a car wash fundraiser for the team. But then they learn that there’s going to be a big increase in pool rental fees, which means the Vipers may lose practice days, or worse, not be able to swim at all. Julia takes the lead and gets the Vipers organized. Along the way, she learns more about her nemesis, teammate Olivia, and even Coach Nathan. Maybe first impressions aren’t always the most accurate.

Tundra Book Group