Characters often emerge after doodling them for a while without any clear direction or rationale. For example,I’d spent years absent mindedly sketching elephants before creating the Elephant and Piggie books. (After I did, elephants disappeared from my doodle repertoire.) Similarly, a giant batch of alligator sketches predated Alligator from Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator! Stuffed, yet living, teddy bears were also a recurring doodle theme for a while. I thought the idea of a bear aging with its owner was funny, but also a little creepy. And it was the creepiness that kept me from being able to come up with a workable picture book for my bear. Still, I love the weirdness of this story, and I had fun telling a wordless story (a challenge I’d still like to attempt with a picture book). It’s not for kids, but it’s fun.
– Mo Willems
