I DON’T WANNA HIBERNATE!

I’m happy to be back to the blog and with a wonderful interview to share with you.

This time, I had a conversation with my critique partner Anna Ouchchy, about her recently published and adorable picture book I DON’T WANNA HIBERNATE! which is illustrated by Raahat Kaduji and was published by Henry Holt & Co. on January 7th, 2025.

Just look at the cute cover! I love it!

A bit about I DON’T WANNA HIBERNATE!

As snow gently blankets the land, the Groundhogs prepare for their long, snuggly hibernation. But little Tess is wide awake! Tess’s parents try everything to get her to sleep, but she knows every trick in the book. When Mommy and Daddy fall asleep without her, will Tess be able to stay up all winter? Or will she snore her way through Groundhog Day? Join Tess in this wintery bedtime story perfect for readers who are wide awake when the rest of their world is sleepy.

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Now on to our interview:

M. Anna, how wonderful to have this opportunity to feature you and your beautiful book! Can you share what inspired you to write this story?

A. This book was inspired by my interactions with my kids when they were little. Neither my daughter nor my son ever wanted to go to bed. They had every excuse, from “I’m not tired” to “My stuffed animals will be lonely if I go to sleep.” Occasionally, I would hear noises from my son’s room late at night and find that he had climbed out of his crib and was playing with his toys. Another thing is that I used to see groundhogs on my grandparents’ farm all the time when I was growing up. My grandpa hated them because they dug holes in his fields and ate the vegetables in his garden, but I always thought they were cute with their chubby bodies and big teeth. When I was researching this book, I learned that groundhogs are very clean animals. They dig a separate “bathroom” in their homes and they clean their burrows regularly by removing waste and dirty bedding.

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M. I’m sure your book will certainly resonate with many parents and kids regarding bedtime, and how cute that you have memories with groundhogs. That’s so special! Did that influence you to write a book related to Groundhog Day?

A. Well, this didn’t start out being a book about Groundhog Day at all! When I had the original idea, I was going to write about a little bear who didn’t want to go to sleep in the wintertime. However, after doing some research, I found that bears are not “true hibernators” and groundhogs are. So I decided to write about a little groundhog instead. In my first draft, Groundhog Day wasn’t part of the story at all; the little groundhog didn’t want to hibernate and then she finally became exhausted and fell asleep. When my agent saw the manuscript, she asked a lot of good questions, one of them being, “Why don’t you tie this to Groundhog Day in some way?” So I did and in the end it became a book related to Groundhog Day.

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M. I love that it turned out that way! It works perfectly for Groundhog Day! Can you tell us if you used any mentor texts when writing your book?

A. Yes! Another comment my agent made was that the meter was so regular that it was putting her to sleep – and not in a good way. That was definitely not the effect I wanted so I checked out a stack of rhyming picture books from my local library and studied the way some authors varied the meter to create different effects. One of my favorites was MAX ATTACKS by Kathi Appelt and Penelope Dullaghan. In this story, Max the cat is obsessed with the goldfish in the fish tank and tries many tactics to catch them. The meter changes according to what Max is doing and I tried to emulate this by adding fun onomatopoeia verses to break up the rhythm in my story.

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M. Thanks for giving us such a great example of how mentor texts can be a great resource for writers. Now, regarding the adorable illustrations. Did you have any illustration notes in your manuscript? How was it for you to meet your characters for the first time, when you saw the illustrations by Raahat Kaduji? Did you have any input in the illustration process?

A. I included a few illustration notes in the text. For example, I wrote that there should be a mailbox outside the burrow that says “Groundhog Hall”. I also noted that the parents high-five each other and say “Phew” when Tess finally goes to sleep (or so they think). I had no idea if these suggestions would be followed in the illustrations, and I was fully prepared for them not to be. But I guess these ideas must have worked for the illustrator, Raahat Kaduji, because she used them in her art. Seeing my main character, Tess, for the first time in Raahat’s illustrations was amazing! The art is so lovely and cozy, and I fell in love with the characters all over again. I had input into the illustration process from the first sketches to the final art. One change I suggested was in the final spread when the groundhogs emerge from their burrow on Groundhog Day. Raahat lives in the UK, where there are no groundhogs or Groundhog Day, and her original art had flowers everywhere. I said that there probably wouldn’t be flowers blooming on Feburary 2. Now, the final art has the groundhogs coming out to snow on the ground.

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M. You’re so right, the art is lovely and cozy. Anna, to wrap our chat, can you share what is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned by going through the process of publishing your first book?

A. I think the most valuable lesson I’m learning is to practice patience, which doesn’t come easily to me at all. Each part of the publishing process takes a looonnng time, and the trick is to slow down and enjoy each step along the way. I’ll let you know when I’ve figured out how to do that!

I agree. Learning and exercising patience is something many writers have to learn in this journey to publication. Anna thanks so much for sharing more about your book and how it came to be. I wish you the best with the promotion and I hope you have a lot of fun reading this cute book to children.

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ANNA’S BIO

Anna Ouchchy is a children’s book author and former teacher. She loves writing picture books that inspire wonder about the natural world or make kids laugh. Her articles and stories have appeared in Highlights magazine, and her first picture book, I DON’T WANNA HIBERNATE, came out in January 2025. Anna lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with her family and a very spoiled cat named Spooky.

Connect with Anna: @annaouchchy (IG); @AnnaOuchchy (Twitter/X)

Thanks for reading!

M

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📸 Cover photo by Gildo Cancelli.