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| photo: Rahkela Nardella | |
Aaron Blabey is an author/illustrator with some 60 million copies of his books in print. Many of his kids' book series--The Bad Guys, Pig the Pug, Thelma the Unicorn, and Cat on the Run--are beloved around the world. Blabey executive produced the DreamWorks Bad Guys movies and the Netflix animated musical Thelma the Unicorn.
The first title in his new Game of Pets series, The Boy Who Knew Too Much (Odd Dot), features Griff, a reserved boy with a plethora of allergies, and his pet axolotl, Bob. Here, Blabey chats with Shelf Awareness about social interactions between the generations, creating illustrations that read "outer space," and where he comes up with his bonkers ideas.
Tell our readers what Game of Pets is about.
A kid with allergies named Griff wants a pet. He gets one--an axolotl--but he gets more than he bargained for. The axolotl can talk, and Griff doesn't like what he has to say: every pet on Earth is secretly an avatar in service to a diabolical intergalactic game show, and the purpose of the game is to see how quickly they can get humans to destroy their planet by encouraging us to make poor ecological choices. Griff is the only human who knows the truth and only he can save us.
I was laughing out loud before I even reached part one. What made you want to start the book with a commercial for aliens? And especially one that a reader would not understand?
That's just my brain. I have no rational answer for that. If it made you laugh, though, I did my job.
The illustrations and formatting of that first section have a very The Jetsons vibe. Did you have a specific inspiration for how you wanted the game to look?
My directive for the cover title lockup was "The Empire Strikes Back meets The Price Is Right." That summed it up nicely, I thought.
I have to say The Jetsons never crossed my mind, but I did want there to be a visual shorthand at the start to make it clear immediately that we were in "outer space." The book has a big concept. It was important to make it clear from page one so that kids could get it right away.
The aliens/pets have a very retro style of talking (Bob the axolotl asks Griff the kid "You dig?" at one point). Was there a specific inspiration for the pets' speaking style?
Nah, I just like having characters talk in ways you don't expect them to. The Bad Guys was the same. You are, hopefully, taken aback by their cadence and attitude in a way that makes them seem real on some level, despite the madness swirling around them.
The premise is--and this is a positive--bonkers. "Which player will be the first to get the humans to burn it all down?" What made you want to put climate destruction and pets together?
That's the game for me. Finding an unexpected collision of ideas that might appeal to a kid looking for something fun to read. The Bad Guys was no different--shady "bad" animals trying to go good. I'm never entirely sure where this stuff comes from. In this case, though, it means I can load a story up with some pretty significant truths about the world we live in, but keep it entertaining by inserting those truths into the vehicle of a "bonkers" action comedy. And yes, I take that as a compliment.
Bob the axolotl says, "It's not one big scary event that'll end the world. It's millions of tiny little nasty suggestions." That's a chilling truth. How do you think kids--who are inheriting this world from us--will take Griff and Bob's quest?
I hope they like the story and, maybe, think about the element of truth that underpins the narrative. The series will raise a LOT of questions about the world, but the context--the delivery of those questions--is never preachy or dry. I have a sign on my studio wall that reads "DON'T BE BORING." I think that's a good rule of thumb when doing stuff like this. Hopefully, this is the first children's book series about global calamity that is consistently funny and deranged whilst starting some bigger conversations about what we're all doing here. We shall see.
Why an axolotl? And why Bob?
Who knows? He's pretty cute though, yeah?
Tell me about The Pet Shop Lady. Where did she--and her dog and her monster truck--come from? Why does she say so many things that Griff thinks are insensitive?
I love Carol. She's a bunch of people I know, but she's also a bit of me too. Just like Griff is partly me. I like walking around and stepping into the shoes of each character, informing them with a grain of truth, no matter how absurd the situation might be. I'm also fascinated by the varying sensitivity levels of different generations. Carol (Gen X) and Griff (Gen Alpha) have such different ways of looking at things. It's a running gag throughout the series, seeing how they learn to navigate each other until, eventually, they become an inseparable team.
I have a deep appreciation for Griff's dislike of the outdoors. Is this character color or can we anticipate Griff having to do some intense outdoorsy activities?
Griff ends up going WAY beyond what he thought he was capable of.
Do you have an idea of how many books will be in this series?
It is a six-part series, currently being written in its entirety.
Will we ever learn why fish "really creep" Griff out?
Perhaps. I couldn't possibly say.
--Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness