New Year, New Book! : Where Are You, Magoo?

DAT-DA-DA-DAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

New Year and a new book! My latest children's book Where Are You, Magoo? is now available on Amazon and CreateSpace!

I had a total blast making this book. I felt like writing and illustrating Frank the Gentle Viking was all about learning the process and pushing my skills as an artist. This one was just about having fun, playing with words and visual jokes.

Most of all this project was inspired by my family. My mom came to me years ago saying, "Lucy, you should write a story about a toddler who can't find a yellow cat and call it "Where Are You, Magoo?" This was back when I was attempting to be a fine artist of sorts, a serious artist. Like most children, I basically rolled my eyes and said "Yeah, mom, I'll get right on that." Surely the last thing this world needed was another friggin' story about a cat, right? My aunts and grandmothers, all cat lovers, agreed that I should draw way more cats because people love cats. Sure, yeah, great. But the idea of a yellow cat named Magoo never really left me.

I finally began to toy around with the idea of a story, but knew something had to set it apart. I really started to think about how we feel when we've lost something. The emotional center of the book really solidified when I left my local bookstore and couldn't find my car in the parking deck. I immediately thought "Oh, my gosh, somebody stole my car!" I always think this. I don't know why. It is never true. It's usually just not in the row or the level I thought it was. The same is usually true whether the missing item is a pair of glasses, your cat, your child, etc. Our minds always go to the worst case scenario. I remembered all the times my mother told me not to leave whatever designated space she set for me lest I be kidnapped by gypsies or something, which as a child I always found wildly entertaining. So I began to write a raucously rhyming story about a little girl with a wild imagination and a flair for the dramatic who cannot find her beloved pet.

This story is not only for cat-lovers, but anyone who has ever misplaced something. Adults and children alike will enjoy the irreverent rhymes and whimsical pictures. Check it out!