Today we welcome Molly Harris into The Reading Realm to talk to Ian Eagleton about her brand-new book WHIRBY, which is illustrated by Jacob Souva…
If you (and your children!) struggle with setting a nighttime routine, staying up for countless hours, and regretting it the day after—this picture book is for you!
Whirby the robot is all systems go for his favorite school activity: bot battles! All that clinking, clanging, beeping, and banging makes Whirby so excited.
So excited that he forgets to recharge at night. He stays up practicing his best moves and building the coolest contraptions before the big battle.
But when it’s finally his turn to compete…BWOMP! BZZZ! ZZT!
With his battery on 0%, will Whirby find a way to still be the bot battle champion? Find out in this funny new offering from The Big Squeeze author, Molly Harris, and the illustrator of Big Bike, Little Bike, Jacob Souva!
Welcome, Molly! Before we settle down in The Reading Realm to talk about Whirby, what’s your drink and snack of choice?
A skinny cappuccino and some peanut M&Ms, please!
What can you tell us about your new book Whirby?
Whirby is a classic bedtime story, but with a twist. There are no parents begging the children to just pleeeease go to sleep, and there are no cosy, dozy rhymes (both of which are wonderful, by the way). Instead, it’s all about loud and exciting bot battles, and a young robot who learns the hard way that if you don’t charge your battery overnight, you’re going to have a serious system failure the next day.
What inspired this story?
This story was inspired by my own bedtime battles with my then-2-year-old, who was very into robots at the time. One exhausted night, as I tried in vain to get him to wind down, I said, “You know, even robots can’t play all night long. If they don’t plug into their chargers at night, then their batteries will run out of energy.” My son was curious: “Then what happens to them?” I told him how they start to get slow and glitchy, until they eventually just shut down. The story practically wrote itself after that. (I’m happy to report that he now sleeps like a log!)
Do you have a favourite illustration from the book?
This is such a difficult one to answer, because Jacob Souva absolutely nailed the illustrations in this story. But since I have to pick, I’m going to say the very first 2-page spread, because it was my very first glimpse into a world I helped create. When I wrote the original manuscript, my opening line simply said, “Whirby the robot loved going to robot school.” Jacob took this generic statement and created an entire believable world. I audibly gasped when I saw it: This is EXACTLY what a robot school should look like! The gears, the conveyor belt, the puffs of smoke. The textures and colors and teeny tiny details. And Whirby himself, whizzing by with his jetpack backpack! I was just instantly in love and inspired. I truly believe this is going to be one of the most beautiful books on the shelf!
What are your own childhood memories of books and reading?
I often get asked what my favourite book was growing up, and it’s a tricky one because I don’t remember loving just one thing. What I remember better is where I was when I read something that stayed with me. I remember things like going to the public library with my mom and picking out a random assortment of stories: Koko’s Kitten, Nancy Drew, and books about dog breeds. I remember flicking through Dewey Decimal System cards in my school’s library to find books by Beverly Cleary and Shel Silverstein. I remember being gifted a full set of The Chronicles of Narnia from my aunt one Christmas. I remember my dad bringing me to the mall to buy the latest in the Animorphs series, and then acting out the scenes in my best friend’s backyard. Clearly, I could go on!
Finally can you describe Whirby in three words?
Supercharged, Self-care, Robots!
