I was first inspired to create this book while touring for my books Tomorrow I’ll be Brave and Tomorrow I’ll be Kind. I loved showing preschoolers and early elementary school kids how I draw letters all day for my job and that letters come in all shapes and sizes. There’d be big ooh’s and aah’s when showing off a letter shaped like a flower or a shiny gem. I’d encourage the kids to look for fancy letters all over the place. Parents and teachers would send me photos of the letter art their kids were inspired to make after my visit or photos of the cool letters they spotted in the wild.

As I was working on this book, I would show sketches to my littlest and his friends from preschool. The kids were so excited to see letters drawn in different styles and immediately became over-the-shoulder art directors —“W! For Water! Make it Water!” “A Slimy S!” They were still just learning how to draw basic letters, but they knew the alphabet well and the sounds that a lot of letters make. Seeing letters drawn in such different ways got their imaginations racing. Each kid had “their” letter, sometimes because it was the first letter of their name (“I’m the G for George!”) or because the illustration showed something they liked that they felt was unique to them.

My First Book of Fancy Letters, while an alphabet book, is so much more. It’s a gateway into a new form of art that’s incredibly accessible for kids and a new way to think about something we see every day all around us. For new parents and the littlest of readers, it has bright engaging illustrations and a simple poetic cadence making it a fun, easy, and enjoyable read. Preschoolers will love seeing all of the different styles, picking out their favorites, and scheming about what other letters could look like. And for older children and typography loving adults, it’s a springboard to creativity. It’s amazing the world you can create with just a single letter!

It’s the annual “Find Yourself Field Trip” at Ms. Bracket’s School of Little Letters, and “u” couldn’t be more excited. She can’t wait to see all the ways letters are used in the world — they’re on everything from books to boats, from sidewalks to spaceships! And it’s starting to make her wonder one important question: Who will she be when she grows up? Set in New York City, this book is a love letter to my former home as well as a beautiful introduction to the world of fanciful letters. The story originates in Alphabet City (of course it does!) where the little letters attend school. The class embarks on a full day of exploration, meeting letters “on the job” and learning about all sorts of different places they may choose to end up when they’re older. Each “grown up” letter shares their passion and motivation for what they do, showing the little letters that who you become when you grow up is informed by who you are now and what makes you happiest. Ultimately, u learns that she has her whole life to figure out who she is meant to be, and that all she really has to be is herself.

While touring for my first two kid’s books, I loved showing children how fancy letters are all around us and that there are countless ways to draw the same set of letters. So aside from conveying an important lesson about staying in touch with what drives us as individuals to find happiness and fullfillment in life, I wanted the book to encourage kids to look at the world around them to see beautiful letters everywhere. You will love exploring your city and looking for everyday examples of beautiful letters “at work” on signage, in books, on graphic tees, and everything in between.

When I first began speaking publicly about my books Tomorrow I'll be Brave and Tomorrow I'll be Kind, one of the things I heard over and over were how universal and applicable the messages were. The first time I actually read Tomorrow I'll be Brave out loud was to a group of college students and several made comments that the book really resonated with them. I always thought of Brave and Kind as a set, not a trilogy, but I kept thinking of ways to bring the art, color palette, and tone to a new format and ultimately to a broader audience. I loved the idea of a beautiful keepsake journal, one that wasn't just a book of blank pages—it would be personal and intimate and make the process of journaling fun and accessible.

I should mention that I'm a terrible journaler. I have started and abandoned so many journals over the years, mostly because I had outsized expectations of what journaling is or needs to be. I felt like a journal should be an enormously detailed accounting of your life—documenting everything that happens with thoughtful commentary, perfect penmanship, and beautiful little sketches of found objects, landscapes, and locations. It's no wonder that journals I started never made it past a few entries. But then I discovered gratitude journaling and my perspective on journaling changed forever. The practice of gratitude journaling has brought so much joy to my life and allows me to focus on what matters most, especially during tougher times. I hope it brings as much to your life as it's brought to mine!

When I had initially started brainstorming about Tomorrow I’ll be Brave, I made a huge list of aspirational words. There were so many good ones that I had a hard time narrowing it down. I also saw two distinct kinds of positive attributes emerge: attributes that mostly impact you—elevate you, fortify you, and help you have courage to take on anything...and attributes that encourage you to help those around you and ultimately make the world a better place. When I talked to Penguin about Brave, I talked to them about both books. That they were two sides to the same coin. First you have to take care of and encourage yourself, and then you can do your part to help others. Brave has a light effervescent energy and Tomorrow I’ll be Kind is a low burning flame.

This book also has a deeper meaning for me. As a person who was raised in the Catholic Church but now considers herself agnostic / on a path to her next spiritual calling, I wanted to address these universal morality teachings from a secular standpoint. I wanted to figure out how to drive home the concept that doing good can come from a light lit within, not because of fear of punishment from an external source. I believe religion can be a wonderful and beautiful thing for people, but I also believe that you can be a good person and have a well developed sense of morality without it. Ultimately I'd love for people of every belief and background to feel this book resonates with them. We all can be helpful, patient, gentle, honest, generous, grateful, and kind to each other, and when we try—even a little bit—it makes a huge difference.

When my daughter was born, we started reading to her almost immediately. I was delighted when she learned how to turn the pages herself—she was 7 months old and it felt like suddenly I could see into a future when she was a child not a baby. As working parents, bedtime became a sacred time, a time when we were all hers and she was all ours. Some nights we’d read a dozen books: everything from the classics we were raised on (some were the actual physical copies we grew up with, handed down by our parents) to the new beautiful books coming out by contemporary authors and illustrators.

Our library grew and I started to notice themes emerging, especially when it came to bedtime books. There was the “Goodnight Objects” genre, all clearly based on the structure and popularity of Goodnight Moon. There was the “Bedtime Routine Reinforcement” genre, in which the child is walked through the nightly routine of prepping for bed (usually by a beloved television character). And then there is the “Parent Ugly Cry” genre: beautiful poetic books about growing up and growing old that turn the parent-reader into a puddle of emotions. What I didn’t see were a lot of bedtime books about reflecting on your day and setting intentions for the next.

I had the idea for this book when Ramona was a little over a year old. I wanted to write something uplifting, encouraging, and empowering—a book to help end the day excited for all the possibilities that tomorrow could bring. There are plenty of inspirational books out there for young readers, but this would be different. It wouldn't just encourage kids to be the best they can be—it would give them the opportunity to reflect on their day and even introduce the very grown-up concept of self-forgiveness. I worked on it for about a year before approaching a publisher, and in that time it matured alongside my tiny muse. I’m incredibly proud of how it turned out, and I’m so happy to have partnered with Penguin Workshop to bring it into the world.