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Kristine A. Lombardi, "Crouton: One Cat's Adoption Tale" (Random House, 2026)
00:40:03
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the New Books Network. Hello to the wonderful Christine A. Lombardi.
- [00:09]
B
Hello. Thanks for having me.
- [00:11]
A
Well, it's so exciting to have you and to celebrate your brand new picture book, which is simply called Cru Temps, and wave it in front of everybody and say a few words. And we're going to delve into it because it's brilliant.
- [00:27]
B
This is her.
- [00:28]
A
Okay, so now's a good time to say that it launched on January 27th with Random House. Go for it there.
- [00:35]
B
I'm sorry.
- [00:36]
A
Now this is your opportunity to say a few words about the book.
- [00:39]
B
Oh yeah, it came out just two weeks ago. And you know, it's funny with publishing, it feels like it takes forever. You first you're trying to sell the book and you're editing the book and then it finally gets acquired and you're editing it all over again and. And then there's that time, which is usually about a year where you are just waiting for the book to come out. It feels like a small eternity.
- [01:04]
A
It is, it is. So I'm going to introduce myself before I forget. I'm Mel Rosenberg and I am the host of the Children's Literature Channel of the New Books Network. And Christine, I'm so happy to have you on the show. You were recommended by one of the people in Kidla to my hold the highest esteem for Steve Stephen Fraser, who is your agent. And just like Crutten, you picked him. And we'll have to delve into that. So a few words about your book. Show us some of the gorgeous artwork. You're also the illustrator and the author. Tell us everything.
- [01:44]
B
Okay. Yeah, so the book is definitely very pink. These are the end papers.
- [01:51]
A
You had me go to Wikipedia because the mid month I said, oh, maybe cats. I never had cats and I'm really not a maven on cats. We have some in our yard, but they're feral. And I went to Wikipedia. Maybe cats only see pink. What do I know? They do see a restricted number of colors, but pink is not one of them.
- [02:15]
B
No. Yeah, I don't know how this. I think, you know, I think what happened is when I did the dummy for this, which is a mock up of a picture book, I drew it all out and you know, dummies are generally for me at least they're done in pencil, so they're a little boring looking. So I, I added this little pop of pink to kind of make the pages stand out a little more. And then I think people reacted to that and I ended up keeping it. I kept pretty close to the Dummy. Which is extremely limited in terms of palette. And I dedicated the book to my Boo, who was a calico tuxedo mix that I adopted. And just life changing. Just the kindest little creature. We had such a bond. And that's where the story started. You know, it was the second cat I adopted. Well, anyway, I'll just show you.
- [03:10]
A
It was the second cat you think you adopted.
- [03:12]
B
Yeah.
- [03:15]
A
Exactly.
- [03:16]
B
Totally adopted me. That's her in the shelter. You know, it's basically a story about. It's just. I flipped the narrative, so it's all through Crouton's perspective of waiting for her person to come by every day at the shelter. It's. It's just all about her point of view and finally seeing somebody that.
- [03:41]
A
That. That she wanted to adopt.
- [03:43]
B
Exactly. And, you know, I used to visit a lot of shelters, which I found both depressing and also just endearing to see all these little sweet faces. But I used to think, like, what is it like for them? Because we are always saying things like, oh, you know, she has such a sweet disposition and. And this and that. And, you know, they're. They're getting judged every day. So I kind of started to think, you know, I wonder what they think. I wonder what they think of us. And so when I adopted Boo, I just remember this pivotal moment. I couldn't make up my mind. I think I just wasn't quite ready. I lost another cat of mine that I had for almost 20 years.
- [04:21]
A
Wow.
- [04:22]
B
And I remember putting Boo back in the cage. You know, I held her and, you know, she was a sweetheart. And I just remember closing the door and she just held her head high. She just. And it broke my heart. It was almost like she's been put back in this cage so many times, and almost like she wasn't believing that it was gonna happen. And that was the turning point. And I just. I took her home.
- [04:47]
A
I'm a big fan for these reversal plots or these plot reversals. I'm a sucker for these quirky stories. I find them the simpler they are, the more brilliant they are in my mind. The idea of the cat choosing the owner, then writing a story about the owner, including some of the, you know, the. The good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes she doesn't exactly behave according to how she's supposed to, but still, I love her. It's such an adorable book. Tell us now about your history as an author and an illustrator. You didn't start out in that field. You started out in advertising.
- [05:39]
B
Yes. Yeah.
- [05:40]
A
So started Zero. Started Cristine. Where did you grow up? How did you grow up?
- [05:46]
B
Yeah, if I go way back. I always loved art. I was always the kid with the crayons. And I remember being like a very social child, but also needing my time to just sort of daydream. I remember vividly I climbed a lot of trees. And I used to go up and just sit there and just observe the world. But if I wasn't doing that, I was playing Barbie dolls with my neighbor friends. I grew up in a beautiful little town in New England where we had our house abutted to a field. So we were always running in the field, and in the winter we were sledding, just. And I had a very creative mother who, you know, on rainy days, she'd bring out this thing called an activity box, and it was literally filled with a bunch of junk. It would be my father's.
- [06:39]
A
There's a story there, by the way.
- [06:41]
B
Yeah, probably. You know, it would have caps from his shaving lotion and just random bits, little things from the kitchen. And she'd put it down and say, make me something. And of course I would, you know, oh, wow. You know, the gears would start turning and so that's, you know. And I always credit her for my orange bedroom growing up, I swear that had something to do with. Not that I use orange a lot, but it is one of my favorite colors. And I just think, like, I don't know, she just always pushed creativity. So then I guess I'll cut straight to high school. The School of Visual Arts came to our high school, but back then, you know, it was the 80s. I wasn't ready for the city life. I was always in these little towns. I was a big chicken, basically. But deep down, I wanted to go study illustration. But I was more pragmatic. I ended up going into advertising. I got an internship at McCann Erickson, where they stuffed me in a stat room for eight hours. Which.
- [07:46]
A
Which is the Penguin Random House of Advertising.
- [07:49]
B
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I learned a lot there, but they really did. They had me in this dark room all day making stats, which is pre, you know, digital art. So I would emerge, you know, at the end of the day, just completely blind. So, you know, completely discombobulated, you know, but it was a great opportunity. And then from there, I ended up getting a job down in Austin, Texas, and I had a crappy job, you know, entry level traffic manager. So I was the one that pushed all the work through, the one that everybody hated when I came around.
- [08:24]
A
Did you go to university?
- [08:26]
B
I went to University of Texas, but in Dallas.
- [08:29]
A
Oh, and what did you study? To be a. To work in an advertising agency. And they. And to work in traffic. These are like.
- [08:40]
B
It was a lot of just coincidences. Like I originally, I'll tell you, I still feel a little heartbreak. I wanted to be an anchor woman. That was my dream job.
- [08:52]
A
Of course you do.
- [08:55]
B
I just had an obsession with the news. Not so much just. Just being an anchor woman. I applied to Emerson. I did not get in. And I remember my guidance counselor saying, you know, you kind of committed college suicide with this because you didn't apply to enough schools. And so I kind of stayed in a liberal. A liberal arts tract in college. Wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do, but once I was in that advertising world, I loved it. I thought people were so much fun and it was a good way to be creative but have a salary. So then I kind of went, um, you know, I did this traffic job, which is something you kind of have to do starting out. And, you know, I learned a lot about how the, the, the jobs flow through the agency. Got yelled at a lot. I had a crazy boss who used to slam his door every five minutes and he knocked a hole in the wall once. Just, you know, crazy. But I ended up moving to Dallas and working in the art buying department and wasn't really happy there. I mean, I enjoyed agency life. It was more of a promotional agency. But I realized as the art directors would come up and make requests to me, I said I should be an art director. So I quit my job and I gave myself basically the summer to put a portfolio together. I begged all the creative directors there to give me assignments. And I just worked all summer, put a portfolio together and went back in as an art director at the end of the summer. So that was a bit of a coup for me back then. And I just loved it. I loved the creative process. I loved the people. We were an amazing agency called Tracy Lock and we had mandatory foosball championships. So I would get summoned over the PA system that it was my turn to play the round robin. And we just had crazy fun times there. And I worked on the Pepsi account and it wasn't the most glamorous job. I didn't have the big, you know, the big ticket items. I had, you know, kind of the low hanging fruit. I did a lot of canned panels for Pepsi, but I had a blast.
- [11:14]
A
No Frito Lays or whatever.
- [11:17]
B
Little bit of Frito Lay Thai. I remember once I was on what they called the field market so one time they put me on a promotional. I don't know if it was for the cans or what it was, but I remember getting the job jacket and the title was Party with the Elways. And I called out over all the cubicles, who is John Elway? And I thought they were gonna kill me because all the guys wanted the football, the super bowl stuff, and I just didn't care. I mean, I. I did my job, but sports stuff, never really my thing.
- [11:55]
A
You moved the goalposts.
- [11:58]
B
What's that?
- [11:59]
A
Yeah.
- [12:01]
B
So.
- [12:01]
A
And how did you morph from all of this into writing children's books and illustrating them? And how did you break in? Breaking in is so difficult. Everybody has a story.
- [12:12]
B
It's very difficult. What happened is I eventually left advertising at the advice of one of my bosses at the time. I had so much fun drawing up new business concepts. That was my favorite part of the job. Any chance I got to draw. And one day she kind of. I felt like she pushed me out of the nest. And she said, why aren't you an illustrator? So I said, hmm. And it stuck in my head. And I eventually went out on my own as an illustrator. Always had an interest in children's books. In fact, at that time, I was going to this local bookstore, Half Price Books, in Dallas. Favorite store on earth still. But I would look at all the picture books. You know, I'd spend hours poring over them, and it was something I wanted to do, but I couldn't. I couldn't write. And flash forward. Years later, I took a course at School of Visual Arts with Monica Wellington. A lot of people have gone through her class. She's wonderful. And I learned kind of the nuts and bolts of it. I eventually set my sights on being a children's book illustrator, but. But that ended up being more difficult than anything because you're competing with so many people, and it's very hard, especially if you specialize in animals. You know, your window gets narrower. So I had an agent, an illustration agent at the time, and I came up with this character, which became Lovey Bonnie, my first book. And somebody at Abrams loved her and asked him, is there a story to go with it? You better believe I wrote a story. And I had a few failed attempts, but she kind of coached me a little bit and said, why don't you take one of these vignettes of everything Lovey loves about life and narrow it down and expand on it. So I chose the dress up theme because that was something that was very near and dear to me from Childhood, I used to steal my mom's shoes and run down to the basement and clicky clack around. It just was a natural progression. So I focused on that and on the book. You know, in the book, I stole the mother's dress and tore it to shreds on my skateboard outside showing off. So that's how I got. I really got into fighting.
- [14:37]
A
How did you find your first agent? It's so difficult to find an agent.
- [14:40]
B
I had a few agents over the years. I haven't always had a good agent. How do you find a lot of just riveting up on them, huh?
- [14:50]
A
Hi, it's Christine here.
- [14:52]
B
Yeah, hey, what's up? They were all illustration agents in the beginning. I just had a lot of people that I. It just didn't work out for a variety of reasons. And then I realized I probably really need a literary agent. So for several years, I actually, from the first book until I think this is the eighth, I didn't have an agent. I was doing it on my own. And it was difficult, you know, and I had some editors give me sage advice and basically say, you need a buffer because I was trying to play agent myself. Where are we with this? Where are we? And I know I irritated people, but it was my book and I had to kind of wear a lot of hats. And they said it would be easier for you if you could just focus on the creative and have somebody else do the other stuff. It would be easier for us because we could give feedback and, you know, I think the agent softens the blow a bit. So if they don't like something or they reject it, it goes through this little.
- [15:55]
A
So Steve Fraser, who is one of the most respected agents in the world, you told me that you kicked him. I'm going to see him in about a week and a half and I'm going to verify everything you tell me now on the air. So be careful. Christie, you picked Steve fraser. He picks one author out of about 10,000 and you picked him. It's exactly like they play Clouton here.
- [16:20]
B
Well, I had been on this search for an agent for literally years, and I just said I can't make the wrong decision. So there was a lot of up and down. There was a lot of people that I thought I wanted to be my agent. And I think I just responded to him and how we still interact. And this is very simple. But he wrote me back right away. There's a lot of people that leave you dangling one of them for 10 months. You know, you think they're interested, but then they're waiting so long to get back. Or they say, I love Crouton, but then they're still taking a long time to get back. And I understand things take time, but I think when I sent Crouton to Stephen, he loved it immediately. And he wrote me back. And I was a little bit shocked because I was sort of choosing, you know, I was in. I had finally heard back from some agents that I thought I wanted. But I respond to how he's very nurturing. I'm a little taken aback by it, honestly, because he wrote me yesterday and he went, he's been going to all these bookstores in New York finding Crouton and facing the book out. Don't tell him I told you, but it's very sweet. It's very sweet that he's proud of the book. And I've never had that. I've never had somebody kind of act as a cheerleader. And if I write them, you know, I think we're both early risers. If I write them at, you know, seven in the morning, I. I might hear back like within 15 minutes, which is for me, unheard of. And that, that ranks very high in my book because I think a lot of the harder parts of this business is a lot of people just get back to you and you're wondering, you know, and you're in limbo and you send a book out and they might have it for months. And that's just part of it. I mean, it's par for the course, but I respond to just that, being able to communicate almost in real time.
- [18:34]
C
So this episode is brought to you by Peloton Break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus. Powered by Peloton iq, with real time guidance and endless ways to move, you can personalize your workouts and train with confidence, helping you reach your goals in less time. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go explore the new peloton cross training tread +@onepalaton.com we heard you.
- [19:02]
A
Nine years of bring back the snack wrap and you've won. But maybe you should have asked for more. Say hello to the hot penny snack wrap. Now you've really won. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can. Kudos to you because Steve, I once made a computation with him. He does get between 10 and 20,000 real. Yeah, it's incredible. He's a very spot after agent and usually he writes back to people. He's also one of the kindest in the business.
- [19:37]
B
He's very kind. Yeah, I think that's the perfect word for him.
- [19:40]
A
He's kind and very discerning. So the fact that he picked you, you're his crouton or he's your crouton or whatever is astounding. Can you read a little bit from the book? Because when I was growing up, my favorite book was Madeline by Wilver Bemelman. And when I see a book I really love, I say, oh, this reminds me of Bemelman. But there is something in your book that does remind me of Bemelmanns, and it's this. You know, he has all these pages with this yellow palette, and you have this pink palette, and there's something in line drawing. I can't. I. This may be just me, but that's.
- [20:23]
B
The highest compliment ever. I'm a huge fan of Babelman's, and I think a lot of people don't realize he. He also wrote for adults. So I have a bunch of his books, like, first edition books that I found on ebay. Yeah. I've collected over probably 20 years now. He. He wrote. Oh, gosh, how can I forget the name of it right now? Hotel Splendide. And I was really into Paris at the time, so he wrote this book, Hotel Splendid, all these little vignettes of his life in Paris. And, you know, he really had a hard life, and he really had a hard time making a go of. I think I just related to his story as well and his charm. And he also wrote a book called Pars. I think it was called Parsley. And he kind of called out these hunters that, you know, the cruelty of hunting an innocent deer, which, you know, that's something that really bothers me, and.
- [21:19]
A
So I'm glad I got it right for a change. And can you show everybody a couple of your beautiful spreads? It's a gorgeous book for. Because. And read also the text and the idea and the drawings. It's so cuddly and friendly.
- [21:37]
B
All right. Can you see okay? Hello. My name is Crouton. I live here at the animal shelter. That's me on the bottom row, waiting for the doors to open. Each day I watch the people walk by my crate. I'm always on the lookout for my person.
- [21:56]
A
I love that.
- [21:57]
B
Thank you.
- [22:00]
A
Not an unnecessary word in this whole book.
- [22:03]
B
Probably not. Well, I have an editor who helps me pare it down. It can be. And I'm plugging Maria Correa. Lovely woman. I'll talk about her more later. It can be a tough decision. They all seem nice. Even so, not everyone would be the right fit. Sometimes I wonder if my person is out there. I should show the Bratz there's always some. Sorry. Pages six.
- [22:28]
A
Who says you're an animal illustrator? You're a fantastic kids illustrator, too.
- [22:35]
B
Thank you. Oh, wait. Who is that? She's adorable. Everyone is trying to adopt her, but she's my person. It's starting to feel like she'll never notice me over here. But then it happened.
- [22:50]
A
Love it.
- [22:52]
B
I am finally taking her home.
- [22:55]
A
I love it. I love it. Did you chuckle when you were writing this?
- [23:01]
B
Yeah. I had to keep pushing it, though. I wrote this probably 17 times because it just wasn't.
- [23:07]
A
It's really nothing.
- [23:08]
B
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't developed.
- [23:10]
A
I wrote Emily about a hundred times.
- [23:12]
B
Did you really? We have to talk about that because I. Rewrite. Yeah.
- [23:20]
A
Oh, no, no. Don't resist rewrites. Oh, no.
- [23:24]
B
I used to hate them, but now I feel like you can always make it stronger. If the words are okay, the picture could be funnier. Vice versa.
- [23:33]
A
Okay, go ahead. I don't want to get in trouble with Random House because they're my publishers also. So we're not going to read the whole book. Just show one more double spread.
- [23:43]
B
Oh, just one more. Okay. When we get there, I do everything I can to make her feel welcome. I make sure she's well fed and drinks plenty of water after supper. I see. After supper, I see to it that she has a nice warm bath. Then we read a captivating bedtime story. I keep her head nice and toasty, which is something that Boo used to do. She used to sleep on my head. She got a little chunkier. She got older. So I would wake up with a crick every morning, but she would just drape herself over my head and whatever. It was adorable. So I was on board.
- [24:19]
A
That's great. And how did the process go with Random House?
- [24:23]
B
You know, it went great. The minute I started talking to my editor, you know, she wanted.
- [24:31]
A
So I'll tell you one thing. Steve showed it to several. How did it work?
- [24:37]
B
Yes. Steve sent it to somebody there. And then I think the person didn't have that kind of. I don't know if it was picture books or what, but she said, I'm going to pass this on to somebody that I think would love it. And he let me know. And of course, I think I was probably rolling my eyes like, oh, yeah, this is not going to. You know, I'll never hear from them. But we did.
- [24:59]
A
He passed it out to Maria which is fantastic, because had he passed it on to Annie Kelly, she might have taken your book instead of mine.
- [25:07]
B
Oh, no, no, no.
- [25:09]
A
Worked out fine.
- [25:10]
B
No, it's. I don't want to feel dumb.
- [25:13]
A
So I get to go. I'm gonna go with Maria.
- [25:15]
B
I mean, she was so lovely. And she cracks me up because she's a nomad. She's all over the place. So I think she was writing me back then. I don't know if she was in Scotland, but we talk. She's such a warm, lovely person. And so I think she gave me some feedback, and I made some tweaks to the dummy. I think I had to make some of the art a little more compelling. And then she had some text edits that I needed to tweak. And then she introduced me to the art director, Liz. And I think by fall, we all began to collaborate and have more meetings. And so I spent the fall of 2024 into winter 25 working on the book. And it went great. I had the best team ever. They were super supportive, great feedback. Just really an enjoyable process. And, yeah, it was great. It really was. It was a very streamlined process. And the book, I was amazed at the care they took in the printing. So they. They sent me proofs from overseas, and we all looked it together and agreed on, you know, tweaking this and that because the pink was a. A little bit problematic. It's very bright, and it was brighter in the beginning.
- [26:40]
A
I. I cannot wait to see the book, which I will in about a week and a half.
- [26:44]
B
Oh, yeah. Because you're coming to New York.
- [26:46]
A
Yeah, and in the wild. And I even. I might even get to meet you.
- [26:50]
B
Oh, I would. I mean, I really hope we can meet. And Stephen, he's been a champion of finding it, like I said. So he knows where the. The book is in New York more than I do. But, yes, I haven't seen it in the wild yet, other than at the Kinokanoya, the Japanese bookstore in Bryant Park. I did. I signed some books there, so I was able to see it there, but I haven't, other than events I've done.
- [27:16]
A
I'm going to go to Bryant park, but I'm probably going to buy it at the corner bookstore where my launch is, and I'll make sure that they have a couple of copies of your book.
- [27:26]
B
Oh, thank you.
- [27:28]
A
So that I can buy one.
- [27:30]
B
So I want to hear your book.
- [27:31]
A
Well, okay. This show is about you, but if you insist. My book looks like this. It's like you have a Pink one. And I have a blue one. And Emily saw a door. And it's also at Random House, the Random House studio with Annie Kelly, illustrated by the phenomenal Orit Magia. Because I cannot draw a stickman. And the original book was in Hebrew and it's orange. The original book is orange.
- [27:57]
B
Really? I love orange.
- [27:58]
A
Your favorite color. Yeah. I'll have to bring a copy in Hebrew to show you. But Annie and her gang and took the blue from the first door of the book and it just boom. So I'm also angry. Very. I would say I'm tickled pig, but I write that I'm tickled blue.
- [28:18]
B
Tickled blue. I can't even say it.
- [28:20]
A
You can be tickled pig by Crouton. So you have like a bunch of other books. I'm now finished talking about my book. It launches on February 24th. And now back to the wonderful pristine. So a few words about your other books and what you have coming up.
- [28:38]
B
Not sure what's coming up. I've written a bunch of books and I have another idea I've been kind of playing with but haven't had much time to dedicate to that lately. I've sort of taken the promotion of this book on as a full time job. I actually left my part time job so that nothing would get in the way, which is a little crazy.
- [28:59]
A
But it is a lot of work getting the word out.
- [29:03]
B
It's a lot of work. And you know, publishing houses don't have always the resources to push. I guess. I'm a mid list author so I'm not some big heavy hitter where they're going to dedicate a team. However, I also want to have a shout out to Priyanka, my publicist. She's the sweetest person. I'm actually going to meet her this weekend, but she's been an absolute delight and helps me with all of these events. You know, I started seeking them out on my own, but once I did, she would do all the coordinating and make sure that they had books ahead of the event. Made a little calendar for me. So again, the best team, you know, bar none. So this was my first book, Lovey Bunny. Excuse me. Largely based on my childhood, I think my childhood. In fact. A lot of people when I've been at book signings will say, how many children do you have? And it's always a little awkward. And I'll say zero. And oh, I'm surprised you're writing children's book. And it's like, well, no, I adored my childhood and I Want to live in that little space, you know? So that was my first one. Then came Oops. Then came the Grumpy Bunny.
- [30:20]
A
And the Grumpy Bunny is from Abrams, Right?
- [30:23]
B
Abrams, Yep. And this one, too. The Grumpy Pets. This place was. This one was also an adoption theme. It's about a grumpy little boy named Billy who kind of gets dragged along, you know, on Saturday errands with his mom, and they pop into an animal shelter, and he's just like, ugh. You know, with all the cute pets, you know, they're all too cute. I mean, I can show you, I guess, my favorite page of the book, which kind of sums up Billy. Just one second. What is it? It says, he began to look around, but every single pet was just so happy. He thought to himself, and I have happy, happier, way too happy. So I. I just had fun with this perennially grumpy kid who eventually finds the dog that fits him, who's also pretty grumpy, but at the end, he's not really walking off with a big smile on his face. He's still grumpy, which is, I guess, my secret message. It's okay just to be who you are and doesn't mean that you're a bad person if you're a little bit of a curmudgeon. Then came Mr. Biddles. This is the wild card. This is about a cat inventor.
- [31:43]
A
Oh, I have to get my hands on that one.
- [31:46]
B
It's hard to find this book. I don't want to say too much. Probably never had a chance, but I love this story. I love anything that takes place on the coast, but basically, it's a lobster delivery gone awry. He gets somebody.
- [32:05]
A
I love it already.
- [32:07]
B
I'm the one that goes by the lobster tanks and wants to cry. I feel. I want to set them loose. I feel bad for them, actually. When I was in advertising, I set a lobster loose in our agency just to let them walk around, because I was horrified that my boss ordered live lobsters from Maine. And I felt bad that they're in this foam container. I got in huge trouble for it. I just let him out.
- [32:31]
A
You didn't take him home, though.
- [32:33]
B
What's that?
- [32:34]
A
You didn't take him home?
- [32:35]
B
I didn't take him home. I just let Max.
- [32:38]
A
I see another book here. You know, the lobster adopted you, but I'm not sure that would go as well as the Pluton.
- [32:45]
B
No, maybe not. But anyway, so he's a cat inventor, and when this lobster shows up, he says he doesn't see him as food. He sees him as a friend and a helper in the lab. So the Hobson is the name of the lobster, which I got that name from that movie, Arthur the Butler. I always loved that character. So Hopson uses his claws to turn lug nuts and help him pick up tiny pieces in the lab. So they get along swimmingly and they become the best of friends. But what happens is if you love something, set it free. And Hobson is deeply homesick for his family and he has to go away. I won't spoil it.
- [33:37]
A
I gotta get my cloth on that book.
- [33:39]
B
I love a good quote.
- [33:41]
A
I have a cat story. I think now that perhaps you can help me with it. But we'll do that off camera. So, Christine, we're running out of, out of time. This has been wonderful. What is your advice? I mean, like you've made it big, you know, like you're one out of a billion to find, to choose your agent to have a book you at Random House and many, many gorgeous books. And what is your advice for the people coming up in the ranks?
- [34:15]
B
As they say, never give up. Never give up. Because I had a really hard road to publication. I tried and tried again. I was trying to get in as an illustrator and I did make some attempts at writing and there were a lot of close calls, but I just couldn't break in and I didn't give up. And I remember calling my father saying, I just feel like something's gonna give. I've been at this for years. And then one day a lovely editor I wrote her and I just said, I think I was looking for advice. Am I doing something wrong? And she said, no, you have what it takes. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a three book deal tomorrow. And then I wrote her probably a few months later saying, well, I got a two book deal. And it was just. I just felt like feeling like somebody in the industry believed in me and said that really it buoyed me up, you know, boy, buoyed. Edit that out. But it really just gave me hope and I just sort of stuck with it. And I think a lot of people give up too soon or they don't realize how much work it is and how many times you have to redo things.
- [35:33]
A
There's another thing here, and you are kind of a renegade in a sense. There must have been pushback with your color palette. I mean, did this book. Yeah, there was, but nobody said a word. You didn't say to yourself, oy vey gray and think no.
- [35:52]
B
And you know, it wasn't intentional. It was simply a tactic I used in the dummy to lie.
- [35:56]
A
But, no, I know. And what I love about it is that it is so different. I mean, other than it reminds me of the yellow and the. And gray pages, the Bemelman. But it's such a refreshing. The book is refreshing. It's a funny, hilarious, quirky look at pet adoption by the pet. The illustrations are precious. And this, you know, I would say almost black and white, which is pink, is special.
- [36:30]
B
Thank you so much. Yeah, I really. It was. It was sort of.
- [36:33]
A
So, everybody run out and buy Christine's book, but save $20 because my book is coming out in two weeks and you want to buy that one. Also.
- [36:47]
B
I'm going to plug your book.
- [36:49]
A
You're a sweetheart for that. You're going to interview me, too, if you'd like.
- [36:54]
B
I will. We'll switch roles. I want the headphones.
- [36:57]
A
But you need a blog for that. Listen, we're going to sign off and say goodbye to everybody who's been run out and buy your book and pre order mine. You can pre order it. I just remembered Emily Saudor. And you and I are going to come back to the same rink and talk for a few more minutes and arrange our meeting in New York. And to everybody else, I'm Mel Rosenberg, the host of the Children Literature Channel of the New Books Network and author of Emily Sawdor. So you come out in every bookstore in the United States, and I have been interviewing the wonderful, sweet, super talented Christine Lombardi and talking about her gorgeous new book, Crouton, which just came out with Random House. So Christine will say goodbye to everybody else.
- [37:44]
B
All right, thank you. Bye.
- [37:47]
A
Bye, Sam.