(Wow. That’s a scary big picture of me. Sorry!) So I have this book coming out in a few days…. It’s called Merry Christmas, Little Hoo! I’m not a huge fan of Christmas (too much clutter!) but this book was actually really fun for me to work on and I think you’ll like it.

This is probably way too much of a sneak peek but I figure why not! I’m feeling the sharing love.  I dedicated this book to all the munchkins in my life instead of the usual ode to Bug. I’ve got a lot of kids in my life and I call them munchkins. Just ask my nieces. So I thought it would be fun for them. Especially for my boyfriend’s little girl who has been loyally watching me make this book from over my shoulder.

Basically this book is a typical Little Hoo story. As you probably already know, Little Hoo is the scardiest, scardy-pants, little timid owl ever. He is afraid of EVERYTHING (even the beach but that book is coming out in summer). I started this series with Bug’s anxiety in mind when she was a toddler as a way to work through some of her fears.

Of course some could (and will) say that these books have turned into little horror books for toddlers as they introduce all kinds of new things to be afraid of but I think it’s still fun. If anything, it’s a way to go THROUGH the fear instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.  The dark is scary and going to bed on Christmas even can be incredibly difficult for angst-ridden children who feel like they have no control over their little brains that go a mile a minute.

Little Hoo hears noises in the night but instead of being scared, he thinks it’s Santa coming and he’s stayed awake long enough to get in on the Christmas action with his wild imagination.

Snow crunching, jingling bells, scuffling in the kitchen… is it elves? How can little owls go to sleep with so much noise going on in the night?

Of course half the time it turns out to be boring things like Mama Hoo putting away leftovers… I had a lot of fun illustrating Mama Hoo who is very tired. She’s so over Christmas already. She was over it at Halloween.

And reindeer without teeth? Not sure what I was thinking there…

This is my favorite page though. Papa Hoo has been caught eating cookies. Bad Papa Hoo! And bad Little Hoo! Go to bed Little Hoo!

Maybe I scold too much in my books. Some of my critics have gone to town on my Time to Eat Bunny book for that.  I guess I’m kind of a scolding type of parent but I try to say it all affectionately with a smile in my eyes.

Like here! What does this picture say? It says, Buy my books for Christmas presents this year, OR ELSE!

Or else what?

I’ll tickle you to death?  Yeah, something like that.

By the way, the print edition is not available yet but it will be very soon and I will put the links here when it is. Or maybe I’ll write another whole post and get Bug to read it to you or something. That would be fun.

The ebook edition is available here for pre-order if you’re looking to load up a kindle as a Christmas present or something cool like that.

Print version available here! Ebook version available here!

If you have a blog that gets a lot of hits, I might even be persuaded to give out some free copies for reviewing so email me! I don’t have a lot of free copies though because just like you, I have to buy them and unlike you, I am cheap! (Can’t you see I can only afford a manicure for one hand?!!  Just kidding. I was trying out Bug’s new glow-in-the-dark polish {which totally works and is awesome, buy it at Target} and I’m right-handed, yo. I can’t paint with my left!)