This interview originally appeared in the September/October 2024 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Fall 2024, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions.

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In A Mischief of Mice, an autumnal forest is the setting and inspiration for an introduction to some of the imaginative collective nouns our language provides for animals.

1. What woods can you wander for inspiration?

I especially love the trails of Royal Gorge in Tahoe National Forest, the Presidio in San Francisco, and Audubon sanctuaries all over New England.

2. Which came first for you, the animals or their collective nouns?

There were a few I knew I wanted to include — a parliament of owls, a gaze of raccoons, and a sleuth of bears. Then I made a longer list of animals that belonged in a fall forest, then considered which collective nouns worked best together. I eliminated ones that didn’t quite fit — an unkindness of ravens won out over a murder of crows — and featured the animals and their nouns that best told the story of our missing mischief of mice.

3. How does illustrating an animal change the way you see it?

It helps me to look much more closely and notice all sorts of details: the colors of a bird’s feathers and the shape of its head, the size and angle of a deer’s ears, the varied coloring of a bear’s fur. Looking closely helps me see what’s actually there, rather than what I think might be there. Of course, I take a few liberties when illustrating them for picture books. I would encourage any animal lover to try illustrating their favorites, and everyone should try drawing a reasonably accurate giraffe at some point. Giraffes are amazing.

4. Whose pictures of animals have taught you the most?

Beatrix Potter’s are masterpieces. Even her quick pencil sketches are awe inspiring. I also love the work of nature photographers who focus on animals. Thomas ­Mangelsen’s photos, especially of Grizzly 399 and her cubs, are iconic. I’m also a fan of National Geographic photographer Drew Rush.

5. A _________ of children?

Ha! May I pick more than one? Depending on the circumstances, a noisiness, an energy, a curiosity, or a sweetness.

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