Beth Anderson, Children's Writer

What a treat to share this post from author Omar Abed about the beginning of DEBUG THIS BOOK, a creative story, illustrated by one of my critique partners, the uber creative Julie Rowan Zoch! It was a long time coming, but it’s out in the world June 30! Like Omar did, we all hope that our manuscripts get in front of just the right person who will see value and understand our vision.

Congratulations to, Jilanne Hoffmann, the winner of AMERICA’S FOUNDING MYTHS…AND WHAT REALLY HAPPENED! from Christy Mihaly!

Deconstructing Debug This Book

by Omar Abed

After my first book was published, I felt a rush of possibility and hope. The Book That Almost Rhymed had been signed by a major publisher! And if I could do it once, I could do it again… right?

Suddenly, I wanted to turn every random idea into a book. The problem was, I didn’t have any other ideas that felt as commercial or universal as Almost Rhymed. I had this momentum, but didn’t know what to do with it. And I was afraid of being a one-hit wonder… a flash in the pan.

They say to write what you know. So, I thought about my unique positioning as a children’s author. What makes me unique? Being Muslim and Palestinian are major parts of my identity, but I never wanted to center those aspects on their own. They are a part of me, but they are not the whole story. They are the connecting thread through all my stories. Okay, so what else? I am an engineer, but not always a good one. I know just enough to break things. Hang on…

What if I knew just enough to “break” a book? What would a glitching book look like? That was the initial spark of the idea for Debug This Book.

I wrote the first draft on a plane ride from Denver to Virginia, accompanied by some terrible sketches – a wave of “code” overtaking pages of a book, characters running to find shelter on other pages.

When I finally felt good about the concept, we went back to Penguin Random House with the manuscript, and…

They turned it down.

I was shocked. After all this time building a relationship with a publisher for my first book, I was going to start from scratch.

In hindsight, with my emotions behind me, their reasoning made sense. They thought the concept might be too advanced for young readers, and that older readers won’t read picture books. I get that, but a few factors made me push back.

1. This book doesn’t actually teach code. It isn’t technical.

2. Kids are being introduced to technology younger than ever before. It’s important to meet them where they are.

3. Unfortunately, reading levels are declining, and picture books are increasingly targeting older readers.

With all that said, I’m thankful that Simon and Schuster understood the vision. They came along and scooped it up. But even then, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. They acquired the book at the start of 2022, but in 2023, Simon and Schuster itself was acquired.

Picture books already take notoriously long, but when you’re dealing with the legal and infrastructure hurdles of merging systems, things can take even longer. I particularly remember one instance where my editor was struggling to get access to her email due to their email provider changing. There are some things you just can’t plan for when making books.

It seemed like this project was never destined to get completed. Now, over four years after the initial acquisition, it’s finally here.

In the end, everything went according to a grander plan, and I’m so glad it did, because we might have missed out on working with the illustrious Julie Rowan-Zoch.

Julie understood the vision even more than I could have hoped. She took my half-baked ideas of what a “code bug” would look like and completely blended the worlds of pages and screens like I never would have imagined. I mean, just look at this:

And this:

The way she digitizes the pages is genius. There are so many neat easter eggs to discover in the illustrations. Even for me, I’m still discovering cool little things that Julie left behind for all the readers who will experience this wild adventure.

I can’t wait for you all to join this experience. I truly believe there’s nothing quite like it.

When you enjoy a book, please leave online reviews to support authors and illustrators. 😃