One of my first forays into publishing was Jimmy Jonny Brownie Stays Up All Night, a story about a boy, bedtimes and natural consequences.

In Jimmy Jonny Brownie Stays Up All Night (written under my pen name, Bing Puddlepot and illustrated by Sherwin Schwartzrock, his real name), a Jimmy Jonny finally gets what he’s wished for “his whole life” — a chance to skip bedtime altogether. With imaginative adventures throughout the night and amusing consequences the next day, this picture book helps children figure out bedtimes on their own.

Written for kids who like staying up and the parents who still love them.

Let's hear what they have to say.

We’ve gotten a lot of good press for the book — and a lot of thanks from grateful parents. It’s both humbling and exciting to know we’re making a difference in kid’s lives in amusing and effective ways.

Work in progress.

One of the benefits of being in two writing groups is that you do a lot of writing. In addition to Jimmy Jonny Brownie Stays up All Night, I have a YA and middle grade novel and over two-dozen picture book manuscripts. I'm also head down on another middle grade novel .

The YA novel Karakuri follows the mixed-culture kids at a theater school who all have reasons to hate Tokyo’s unblinking surveillance. But when a prank against the system goes wrong, one of their own is arrested. It’s then that 16-year-old Velour convinces the others to follow her on a jailbreak to demonstrate the weaknesses of the surveillance technology. The risks could not be bigger. Fail, and they’ll lose the only country they’ve ever known.

The Contraption of Elsewhen is a middle grade novel about a 10-year-old girl who has a strange ability to find things. The skill leads her to a flying machine that’s hiding on the edge of her small town. She quickly realizes she’s not just meant to find the airship, but where the airship needs to return, 150 years after it was left behind.

My top-five unpublished picture book manuscripts (at the moment).

The Piano Lesson.

Kimi is a reluctant piano student who duels with Kenji, her *perfect* twin brother, for their piano teacher’s attention. But when Miss Lydia cancels lessons, Kimi is twinged with the guilt that her awful playing made their teacher sick. 

The Legend of Sleepy Hello.

Every morning, Iggy wakes his parents before the sun is up. After insisting little Iggy stay in bed, the story comes to a head in a fun and surprising way, not unlike its Sleepy Hollow namesake. 

My Grandma is an Octopus.

It’s sharing day, and Octavius (a human boy) tells the class his favorite adult is his grandma—who he claims is an octopus. Though convinced he’s making stuff up, Miss Mint is unable to stop him from sharing every last detail (in a way that makes this narrative nonfiction come to life). The surprising truth is finally revealed when Grandma comes to pick him up.

The Girl and the Squirrel.

Though, at first glance, a cautionary tale about feeding wild animals, it’s really about how two characters can tell wildly different stories about the same events.

Everything Comes Apart.

For Trinka's birthday, she gets all she ever wanted: a reversible, ratcheting-action, 13-in-1 multi-bit screwdriver. So early the next morning, she proceeds to take her house apart. Trinka learns that while everything comes apart—like her father’s heart as he holds a box of parts that were once his antique cameras—it takes work to undo the undoing.

Tariq won't crow.

Tariq is a rooster that refuses to get up, sending the barnyard into a panic. He’s unmoved by the farm animals’ pleas, so they seek their own way to be up at dawn. 

Okay, you're right. That's six.