Every once in a while, my editors will come to me with ideas for new books.
It happened with Mostly Monsterly. An editor wanted a cute, young, funny Valentine’s Day story about friendship. Right away, I went to the library, read every Valentine’s Day picture book I could find, and noticed something. Most of these books were about cute things like puppies and kittens and mice. Right then I knew that if I was going to write a Valentine’s Day picture book, mine would be as un-cutesy as possible. So what did I write about? Yup! Monsters.
The next time this happened was with The Underpants. This editor wanted a fresh take on the old Ukrainian folktale The Mitten and wanted the title to be The Underpants. Oh! This was my kind of story! Happily, I swapped out a perfectly nice mitten with a pair of underpants, set the story on a farm instead of in the woods, changed the cast of characters from woodland animals to farm animals, and upped the ridiculousness. I also dedicated the book to many of my favorite teachers and thanked them for their…um…support.
A little over two years ago, it happened again. This editor wanted a funny book about pizza. Well, I love funny books and I love pizza, so this felt meant to be. But I didn’t have a single idea.
I happened to be doing a lot of author visits in Round Rock, Texas, at the time. Lucky for me, my hotel was right next to a fantastic pizza place called Pinthouse. I proceeded to eat A LOT of pizza.
But I still didn’t have a plan.
Then I got to thinking about how lots of restaurants use wordplay in their names. I looked up “pizza restaurant names” online in the hopes that one of those names might trigger an idea. I scrolled through a long list of names and one of them felt like gold to me–Pizzasaur. Right away, my writer brain said, “PIZZASAURUS!” And boom. I not only had a character, I had two kid-friendly hooks–pizza and dinosaurs.
It took lots of drafts–and lots of pizzas!–until I landed on just the right story for my prehistoric, pizza-eating pal.
I got the YES from Frances Gilbert at Doubleday Books for Young Readers. The wonderful Kyle Beckett signed on to illustrate. Annnnnd together we have one very delicious book.
I’m happy to report that SLJ and Kirkus served up some tasty reviews.
★ “This is a terrific book to read aloud when some humor is needed, or classroom pizza parties are about to commence.” —School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“Cheesy in all the best ways.” —Kirkus
GIVEAWAY:
For a chance to win a signed-by-me copy of this book, leave a comment. For an extra chance at winning, please share this post on Bluesky and tag me! @tammisauer.bsky.social
Can’t wait to read this, Tammi!
I can imaging that PIZZASAURUS is going to come in hot! Congrats!
This looks fantastic, Tammi! Congratulations!!!
How fun! Can’t wait to read PIZZASAURUS!
Kids will love this. How much fun.
Looks like a pizza lovers delight!
What a fun book!
I enjoyed learning about your inspiration for writing it! Congratulations!
Love this! As especially when you said you read every related book you could find. Great advice! LM
Perfect combination for a children’s book–pizza and dinosaurs!
As always, I look forward to reading a new Tammi Sauer book…and one that combines pizza AND dinosaurs? Brilliant!
This book sounds like a hoot!
Congrats how fun!
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to devour 🙂
Sounds delicious! Can’t wait to take a bite! Congratulations, Tammi!
It’ll be a hit!
Move over dragons and tacos, there is a PIZZASAURUS coming to town!
Congratulations on such a fun story!
This looks delightful! Congratulations!
Sounds like a winner! Congrats, Tammi! Can’t wait to read it!
I’m struggling right now with a character whose story is still a mystery to me. Glad to hear about a happy ending! Can’t wait to read it.
I loved reading about your idea getting process! AND this pizza book looks hilarious.
This sounds fun with so much humor. Thank you for sharing about how you came up with the character for your delightful book.
How could anybody resist this delicious combo?! *wink*
Congrats, Tammi!
I could this hot, I could read this cold, I could read this for breakfast, lunch or dinner… Congrats on Pizzasaurus!
Your books are hilarious! Can’t wait to read more!!
Your stories are hilarious! Keep them coming!
So fun! My kids love your books. PIZZASAURUS looks delish. Can’t wait to read it!
I love hearing the story behind the stories!
Great hooks! Congrats!
Sounds like another must read book.
This looks absolutely adorable! So glad the ideas came together for you. Great post.
Oh, I would love to win this book for my kindergarten class! Thanks for sharing the back story for this book, Tammi!
I love your humor, Tammi!
👏👏Even T-Rex can’t compete with “Tammisauerus”! 💛
Pizzasaurus guarantees delivery of smiles in 30 seconds or less!
🍕🦖😄
Congratulations, Tammi!
I am so excited to read this one. I just used The Underpants in story time this morning and it was a huge hit. Lots of giggles.
Looking forward to reading this!
Great interview! I can’t wait to read this one! Sounds delicious!!
Another deliciously adorable book, Tammi! I can tell it’s full of fun and humor.
This just got added to a lot of library story times – good job!
Pairing pizza and dinosaurs is definitely a winning combination for a fun picture book. The opening pages look great. I can’t wait to read the rest.
Congratulations, Tammi.
I love your quirky takes on topics. Congrats! This book looks so fun!
Love hearing how you came up with ideas for these stories. All winners!
Who doesn’t love pizza or a Pizzasaurus! Can’t wait to read this fun story!
Congratulations!