This interview originally appeared in the May/June 2024 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews, 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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Chipmunk Piper wants All the Books (sound familiar?), but her hoarding of them is beginning to present challenges. What to do?

Photo: John Rocco.

1. Where do your respective tastes in books overlap?

We love beautifully designed books, from children’s fiction or nonfiction to books for, dare we say, adults. Our personal collections of old, new, and “somewhere-in-between” books are intermingled on burdened bookshelves, and we often put books we’ve just finished reading on the other’s nightstand. Lately, we’ve been reading books on conservation and animal ­welfare, which has informed a lot of the work we do.

2. John, why a chipmunk?

We have several chipmunks living in the stone walls surrounding our two-hundred-year-old home, and they seemed like the perfect hoarding type of animal, stuffing their cheeks with the nuts and seeds we offer. Originally, our main character was going to be a little girl, but it seemed more believable that a chipmunk had never been to the library.

3. Hayley, what was a book you checked out over and over as a child?

I loved anything to do with adventure/exploration and/or animals. Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (I still have a dream of ­taking a seafaring voyage like her…sans murder, of course), and Hatchet were some of my go-tos. You asked about one book…but that’s like asking what my favorite color is — how do you pick just one?

4. John, what about you?

The Guinness Book of World Records. I spent several summers trying to figure out what talent I might have to get my name in that book. I never figured that out, but one of my neighbors went over Niagara Falls in a barrel (twice!), so he’s in there.

5. What does collaboration do for a marriage and/or vice versa?

Writing and illustrating can be a lonely, isolating adventure. Not that it can’t be fun, but working on books together — during the idea stage, research, writing, illustrating, or promoting — doubles the chances of getting it right. Teamwork makes it exciting, in both our work and our marriage. We are fortunate that we’re such good teammates!

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