New York Times Bestselling books - Duck At The Door and Duck Soup
Imagine Pippi Longstocking all grown up.
This is Irene. She shares her home with
countless cats, dogs, birds and even a
rabbit. This is the home that Max the duck
stumbles on when his flock leaves and he stays
behind. Almost frozen, he is adopted and
quickly learns the joys of cooking, TV, and
pizza delivery.
The characters in this book are all based on real animals that I or others I know
have lived with. Here are a few of the characters from the book, along with their
real life counterparts:
Duck at the Door is an exciting book for me because it's the first one I have written as well as illustrated. I grew up in a family where animals were rescued and loved. But the spark of inspiration for this story comes from my friend
Irene.. Like my fictional Irene, she has given a home to countless cats, dogs and rabbits.. My friend Susan and I were talking about Irene’s menagerie one night when the beginnings of a story idea came to us: what would happen if a duck showed up at her door in the middle of the night?
Here are some photos of
me working on the book
along with some of the
illustrations in progress.
I hang the finished watercolors on the
walls around me. I keep checking to make
sure I am matching the colors correctly
from page to page.
It takes 2-3 months to paint a book,
once the drawings are done. I find
it encouraging to see the walls fill up
with finished art, so I can see how
far I’ve come.
These wonderful photos
were taken by Susan Dreiband
Guess who comes to the door in
Duck and Cover, book #3?--
Harold!!
I don’t want to
Give away the story,
but I will tell you
Harold turns out to be
a handful for the entire family,
especially for the cats!
Remember to check out Duck Soup and Duck at the Door
at your local bookstore!