Behind the Scenes

A Peek into Our Creative Process

While Sonny's workplace looks like this:

Marie’s process is harder to capture in a picture—she simply sits with her laptop and writes. But there is a story behind this story, and it begins in a German class at the University of California. The assignment was to write a fairy tale using a list of required words such as witch, cup, bowl, forest, and others.

When Marie submitted her tale, it surprised everyone—herself included—with its unexpected force. Only afterwards did she realize that what she had written was closer to a fable, though rendered with a playful, parodic twist. The original text was in German, but Marie quickly produced an English version so that Sonny could experience the characters and their world.

Sonny read the story and, after some time, chose to render it in watercolor — a medium she felt would convey its meaning with greater subtlety and depth.

“What began as a classroom assignment soon turned into a story with a life of its own.”

With encouragement from instructors at UCSB, the idea took on new life. Sonny began developing the artwork, Marie refined the narrative, and together they transformed a classroom exercise into the book you now hold. Our hope is that this story will travel far beyond the classroom, reaching as many children (and their grown-ups) as possible.

We remain grateful to UCSB and the instructors there, especially to Evelyn Reder, for giving this little tale the encouragement it needed to take flight.