New Shoes for Leo: Lauren Agra Deedy and Susan Gal in Conversation

I don’t usually do this, but sometimes when I’m offered the chance to interview an author and illustrator I like to see the cover of their book before I decide whether or not to talk to them.

Here is the cover of New Shoes for Leo (out March 4th), written by Laura Agra Deedy and illustrated by Susan Gal:

Well. I mean. I’m only human.

The product copy was really just the icing on the cake:

“William’s Mami and his Tía Ana are busy packing a big box of food, medicine, and clothing to mail to their family living in Cuba.

But something important is missing.

They have no zapatos, no shoes, to send Cousin Leo!

“Which cousin is Leo?” William asks.

Tía Ana answers him with a thin paper tracing of Leo’s footprint. She nudges him out the door to find someone in the family with spare shoes in Leo’s size. But finding shoes for Leo is not as easy as it seems.

With warmth and tenderness, Lauren Agra Deedy and Susan Gal have created a rich, colorful story of a tight-knit family — and the love that grows as they care for those living far away.”

Today, we talk with Lauren and Susan on the book, where it came from, its design, and how you develop a book with this kicker of a combo of art and heart.

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Betsy Bird: Lauren and Susan, thank you so much for joining me today! And Lauren, specifically, congratulations on your gorgeous debut! NEW SHOES FOR LEO is a librarian’s dream picture book, in that it covers a topic I’ve certainly never seen for kids before, and does so with a fun, original, interesting storyline. So well done there. Tell us a little bit about how this book came about.

Lauren Agra Deedy: Thank you so much for your kind words! Leo was very much a labor of love for everyone involved, so we’re delighted whenever we hear it struck a chord.

Leo’s development was very organic. The initial idea came to me when my mother and I were going through my Abuela Esther’s papers. She was a very organized person (in another life, she would have been an amazing archivist) and saved various mementos from her long life. In one of her files she had kept some of the many paper footprints family and friends from Cuba had sent over the years. These footprints were used to figure out what size shoe to mail back—just like in the book.

The footprints stuck in my brain as such a tangible representation of so much of the refugee experience. The many boxes sent back home, the family and friends left behind, the connections that endured, etc.

It also brought back a lot of childhood memories, of watching my mom, abuela, and tía fill box after box with food, medicine, and clothes as we children watched. And of asking questions about who they were going to, and learning about people we might never meet—but building affection for them regardless.

The shape of the book percolated and formed quite naturally from there.

BB: That’s a great origin story for any book. And Susan! Absolutely lovely getting to bombard you with questions today. You just did some top-notch, stellar work on NEW SHOES FOR LEO. How did you come to hear about the manuscript? And what drew you to the story?

Susan Gal: Hello Betsy! Its a thrill to talk with you again. Thank you for your kind words about our book.

My agent Kelly Pelsue sent me the manuscript. Right away I felt a connection to William, the main character in the story. I understood his curiosity and desire to learn about his family that remained in Cuba. I am the grandchild of immigrants and like William’s family, my family maintains a connection with our relatives in Eastern Europe.

BB: Oh yes! I know that you have some family connections of your own to boxing up and sending supplies overseas. Could you tell us a bit about that?

Susan: My relatives in “the old country” of Hungary could not afford to travel to the U.S. to visit us. My great aunt and uncle remembered our family by sending them boxes of clothing, coffee, tea—items that were very expensive in Hungary at that time. In return, the Hungarians would send us beautifully hand-embroidered linens, pillow covers, and photos. Like William, I was eager to learn about my cousins in those photos, people that looked like me but with different clothes and hair styles. I loved hearing the family stories and hoped one day to travel to overseas to meet them and see our country of origin.

What I loved most about illustrating the book was the fact that Ms. Deedy’s family reminded me so much of my extended family. My grandmother would lovingly hold my face in her hands and I felt that felt that William’s grandmother would do the same. I believe that that kind of love connects all of us no matter what your country of origin.

BB: Well, I don’t think it will surprise anyone if I say that in the current political environment, we’re going to need empathetic books like NEW SHOES FOR LEO more than ever. Lauren, was this on your mind at all as you wrote the book? And how would you best like the book to be used in the future?

Lauren: Honestly, when I sit down to write I never do so with the intention of sharing a specific message or elevating a virtue (be it empathy, or something else). Children are highly astute. They can smell an attempt to moralize from a mile away and, generally speaking, will run in the opposite direction.

My technique has been to focus on storytelling, and have faith that in the course of crafting a solid story that good values will naturally emerge without heavy-handedness. Which is—hopefully!—what happened here. 

As far as the future, my hope is that Leo speaks to as many children as possible. Most obviously, I’m hopeful that children of refugee and immigrant backgrounds will find value in seeing part of their world in print. It isn’t always easy to explain to other children why you have to send clothes or medicine to another country, or why you have family you can’t see and what that’s like. I’m optimistic this book might be a tool to help these children explain and express their feelings around these topics a little more easily.  

I also of course hope the book speaks to children of non-immigrant backgrounds, and that they see themselves reflected in the broader messages of family, generosity, and empathy.

BB: That makes sense, though it’s always important to get the details of the subjects right. Susan, this book is entirely about Cubans and Cuban-Americans. I know you would have had to work meticulously to keep the book as visually authentic as possible. What was the process you went through to make sure every image was on the up and up?

Susan: That is a very significant question. It is the responsibility of the illustrator to “get it right”. For each book I illustrate I gather dozens of photos and use them for inspiration and authenticity.

I knew that this was Ms. Deedy’s debut picture book and how important it was to her to reflect her Cuban heritage. She graciously provided me with photos of her grandparent’s home and items that were meaningful to her family. Her photos reminded me of my immigrant grandparents and great aunt and uncle’s home, down to the picture frames and family knickknacks. I also spent considerable time researching Cuban communities, the proper way to make empanadas, the correct shoes for each of the family members, buildings, interiors, etc. The text does not suggest any pets for the family but I enjoyed imagining what it would be like to know these characters and create environments for them. When the author was specific about things that her family used I made sure to incorporate them in the art.

BB: True, this is your debut, Lauren. But while writing picture books is new to you, the concept certainly isn’t since your mom is Carmen Agra Deedy. Did you always intend to write some yourself or did it come as a surprise to you?

Lauren: Neither? I never really saw myself as writing picture books, but I also didn’t have anything against the idea. 

But I quite literally grew up in children’s book publishing. Anyone who worked at Peachtree Publishers during the early 1990s surely remembers me roaming the halls with my teddy bear, Boo. My bear and I sat in at many editorial meetings and even went to ALA together.

So when I started having ideas for children’s books—probably a side effect of my nieces and nephew getting older, and of working in a pre-school for a few years—taking up the genre felt natural.

BB: I get that. You know, part of what I like so much about this story is how you have all this pertinent information about families sending things to relatives in Cuba, but the story for kids itself is such a fun search for the right shoes. That balance between the content and the storytelling is a hard thing to master. How much does this book resemble your earliest drafts?

Lauren: The answer to that question is simultaneously: ‘A lot’ and ‘Not at all.’

The basic structure of Leo was remarkably stable from the start. I knew that this was going to be a story about a child trying to find shoes for a relative in Cuba, that he would go from family member to family member looking for a match, and that in the end the match would be him. That never changed.

What did change a lot was everything else. The art of the children’s book is very much the art of reduction and crystallization. Taking big ideas and lots of words and turning them into a concise 32 pages. That is what much of Leo’s editorial process revolved around. Not only finding the right words and story, but refining and boiling them down to their essences. I’m very grateful to my editor, Dianne, for her help in that process. She’s a master of it and a huge help to someone like me, who tends to be wordy.

I’m also grateful to my mother and husband for their advice during the editorial process—I think they both read most of my drafts—and to family who contributed memories or ideas.

BB: Let’s talk a little bit about that art. Here’s a question about your use of color. In this book, I noticed that green and orange were prevalent in the art. Susan, what causes you to consider and select one thematic shade in a book over another? How do you determine the look of the colors for a book?

Susan: I know this will sound artsy but its true! Every book I illustrate eventually reveals what palette it needs to be. Our story takes place in Florida and I wanted to capture the lushness of a tropical, vibrant, international community. I spent time working in Florida so I was familiar with that landscape. Originally I started with a pastel palette but it felt too dated to me. When I think of Florida I remember countless shades of green and vivid orange sunsets. You’ll notice that our Cuban family’s clothing is rendered in shades of green with leafy, floral patterns. William’s red and white baseball shirt and blue jeans echo the colors of the Cuban flag and his American home. As I was painting the artwork it was really fun to let go and try to push the rich colors.

BB: Lauren, Susan Gal just poured her heart and soul into the images on these pages. Were you aware of her work going into this book? How do you feel about the final product?

Lauren: When my editor first suggested Ms. Gal, I was not familiar with her work. But once I saw it, it was (artistic) love at first sight. Ms. Gal is an incredible talent, and I still can’t believe my luck in being able to work with her for my first book.

What’s great about Ms. Gal is not only is she a fantastic artist, but she’s also very receptive to working as a team. In order to accurately portray Cuban homes and culture, I sent Ms. Gal family photos, household photos, general cultural information…you name it. And she used it all!

Several of the objects in the interiors are even taken directly from photos of my abuelito’s home—dolls, picture frames, maps, etc. The result is that even though Ms. Gal is from a different cultural background, she still created very recognizably Cuban-American illustrations. That only happens with an illustrator who’s willing to do the work and do it well.

Needless to say, I’m absolutely thrilled with the final product!

BB: Susan, I won’t give it away, but you have a very nice little wordless postscript to the story at the very end that I appreciated. Was it your idea to include it or someone else’s?

Susan: Ah! Thank you for noticing our little postscript! Let’s see if I can answer this without any spoilers.

The story doesn’t tell us what happens after the boxes are sent to Cuba. I put myself in the shoes of the reader and felt they would want to see the results of William and his family’s efforts. Our editor Dianne Hess and art director Marijka Kostiw agreed. Together we came up with a visually satisfying solution that felt just right. That’s what I love so much about illustrating picture books; the opportunity to tell a story with both words and pictures.

BB: That’s awesome. Okay, that just leaves my final question: What are you two working on next?

Lauren: I have a few different irons in the fire, but the only project that’s far enough in the process to mention now is a book about the Three King’s Day bread (roscón de reyes). It’s called Don’t Eat the Baby! No release date yet, but hopefully I’ll have more for you before long!

Susan: Thank you for asking, Betsy! I am fortunate to have two books publishing in 2025. My other illustrated book is titled No More Chairs, published by Little Brown. It’s based on a true story by retired teacher Dan Gill. That book debuts in July.

I’m currently teamed up again with author Chana Stiefel for another book with Scholastic. Authors and illustrators traditionally do not collaborate, but we became friends after creating The Tower of Life and we are very excited to work together. We may be breaking the rules but our process has been really rewarding and we bring out the best in each other’s work.

Thank you for inviting me to talk about New Shoes for Leo. I loved answering your thoughtful and intriguing questions!

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And thank YOU, Lauren and Susan, for taking all that time to answer my questions today. As I mentioned earlier, New Shoes for Leo is out March 4th. Thank you too to Victoria Velez and the team at Scholastic who coordinated this interview.

Filed under: Interviews