Pennsylvania One Book Welcomes Arlo

On Thursday, April 10, 2025, NYT bestselling author/illustrator Rob Sayegh, Jr. and I teamed up and shared our book ARLO DRAWS AN OCTOPUS with schools and libraries across Pennsylvania with a special PA One Book Virtual Kickoff Event. Wow, Pennsylvania! Thanks PA One Book. What an honor!

Before I read the book, I shared how all books begin with an idea. In my case, I got the idea for Arlo when I remembered the times my sister and I would draw at the kitchen table together. However, since she was nearly three years older than me, I'd look at her drawing and think her drawing was better than mine. Why couldn't I draw more like her?

So my story became a boy named Arlo who decided to draw an octopus. However, the more he tried to draw an octopus, the more frustrated he became until he crumpled his "disaster-piece" and exclaimed that he hated drawing octopuses. When I wrote the story up to that point, I wasn't sure what would happen next. Would he suddenly draw something wonderful? Would he give up and draw something else? I was delighted when I came up with the unexpected ending. But no spoiler alerts here! Read the story to discover the fun ending!

Then, Rob delighted viewers with some great drawing activities. First, guiding young viewers to draw the octopus just like Arlo. And when someone asked him to draw Arlo, Rob explained how he drew him with a circle head, curly hair just like his, a tear-drop nose, a tear-drop body, a fun striped shirt, and high top shoes with laces.

We ended the session with a fun Q&A session. So many great questions about storytelling, how authors and illustrators collaborate, and what's next!

Thank you PA One Book. I'm delighted that you chose ARLO DRAWS AN OCTOPUS for 2025 and hope it inspires young readers everyone to read, draw, and dream big.