Rain Rain Go Away: A Soggy Like Cush Cush Conversation with Karly Pierre and Kristen Uroda

I like it when kids complain.

Not my kids. Definitely not my kids. But when I read a picture book with an authentic kid with authentic gripes, I dunno. It just makes me feel like there’s something legit about the book. So when I read the new picture book Soggy Like Cush Cush by Karly Pierre and Kristen Uroda (out now!), I really felt where Petite Marie was coming from.

But I get ahead of myself. Here’s a quick plot description of the book in question:

Rain falls outside an old Louisiana Creole house until the ground is as soggy as a bowl of cush cush. Petite Marie thinks she’s going to have to spend all day indoors, but Grandmoman takes Petite Marie on an unexpected journey around town. Soon, Petite Marie is having a magical day filled with friends, delicious creole cooking, and a lot of care and kindness. With the help of Grandmoman she discovers that any day can be beautiful, no matter the weather. 

That description is okay, but it doesn’t really do the book justice. And with a starred review from Publishers Weekly and Booklist saying that, “Uroda’s illustrations drip with the raindrops and glow with the warmth”, I wanted to know a bit more about the book’s origins. Happily, I was able to ask Louisiana local and author Karly Pierre and artist Kristen Uroda a thing or two about the book:

---

Betsy Bird: Karly! Thank you so much for talking with us today. Now I know that a book like SOGGY LIKE CUSH CUSH comes from a deeply personal place. What can you tell us about writing the book? Where did it come from?

Karly Pierre: The idea for the book came when I began taking Kouri-Vini language classes to reconnect with my Louisiana Creole heritage. As a child, I remember sitting among older relatives as they spoke Kouri-Vini. There were so many native speakers when I was young, but I couldn’t recall seeing Kouri-Vini in any children’s books growing up. Most books about Louisiana are focused on New Orleans or Cajun culture, but there is great regional diversity.  So, I began writing this book as a way to represent the community and culture that I grew up with. As I reminisced, I thought about the countless times my family members took me on drives to visit elderly, sick, or needy people in the area. I decided this would be a good device for taking the reader on a tour of the community and went from there.

 BB: It was! Which brings us to you, Kristen. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. So to kick us off, tell us a little bit about why you decided to work on this particular manuscript. What was it about SOGGY LIKE CUSH CUSH that appealed to you? 

Kristen Uroda: Thank you so much for the invitation! I was initially drawn to how the story transforms a rainy day into an adventure filled with joy and connection—especially through the eyes of Petite Marie, a young girl weighed down by a gloomy day who eventually overcomes her shyness and skepticism about finding fun in the rain. Moreover, the unwavering spirit of Gran-moman shows us that there’s always a chance to discover brightness through community, care, and love.

SOGGY LIKE CUSH CUSH not only embraces the magic in everyday moments but also invites readers to see the world in a new light against the backdrop of Louisiana. I was honored by the opportunity to showcase this slice of Creole culture and explore how joy can be found even in the midst of gloom.

BB: Speaking of gloom, one trend that I’ve noticed in my picture books of 2025 is the willingness in a lot of these titles to show kids being grumpy. I’m not particularly interested in books where kids are happy from page one onward. Bring on the kids with the bad attitudes! They make for much more interesting narratives, after all. Karly, in this book, Petite Marie takes one look outside at the rainy day and decides (as so many kids would) that this is a gloomy day and not worth celebrating. When you first wrote this manuscript, was Petite Marie always a grump, or did that come later?

Karly: At first, I wrote Petite Marie as a bright-eyed optimist. But as I considered my experience as a mom, I realized kids complain a lot. Haha! They’re human, after all. After thinking more about Petite Marie’s character, I really wanted her to learn a lesson without the story being preachy to the reader. Starting her off grumpy puts her in a great place for that development. It’s wonderful watching Petite Marie come to the realization about the true meaning of giving and happiness by observing Gran-moman. That’s how kids learn, and as adults, I think we shouldn’t overlook the importance of how we model attitudes and behavior for them.

BB: Well, and there’s an authenticity to that. Speaking of which, Kristin, the book is set in New Orleans and everything from the car that Gran-moman Efamie drives to Mr. Jean’s porch has to feel authentic. What kind of research do you tend to do when you have to illustrate a book like this? 

Kristen: I’m a big fan of immersion. Even when I travel, I want to soak in the place and the people to understand its history and heart beat. So for all of my projects, especially if they are located in or inspired by a very specific place like SOGGY LIKE CUSH CUSH was, I conduct extensive research to deeply understand the setting so the environment can become its own character with a life and personality. 

The author, Karly Pierre, generously provided photo references and artifacts from her own life, which served as a great starting point for my research. From there, I dove into the Creole culture and the Acadiana area that Petite Marie and Gran-moman are from, reading up on the local history, trying to understand what kind of native plants would be there, how people would dress, what kind of cars they would drive, what their homes look like, what the grocery stores like, and etc. 

Whenever possible, I do prefer to visit locations in person to do some on-site sketches—it brings a level of authenticity and connection that can’t quite be replicated online. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to Louisiana in time for this project, but I always look forward to the opportunity to experience a place firsthand.

BB: That extends to the writing as well. Karly, tell us a little bit about how the characters speak in the book. Gran-moman Efamie speaks with a distinct Kouri-Vini patois and Petite Marie does too a bit. Recently a friend of mine who’s a successful author wondered whether or not a person could write a book with similar inclusions, worrying that they’d be asked to change it before the final addition. When you wrote your first draft, did you change anything with the language before it reached the final product, or is it all pretty much the same? 

Karly: I did hold back on the Kouri-Vini patois a lot at first because I was cautious about the book being accessible to a larger audience. However, after speaking with my editor, he encouraged me to go for it. He assured me if anything was really difficult to understand, he would help me rein it back in. I’d say the patois is at maybe 75% strength. I’m happy with the final result though! I feel as if the language isn’t alienating for readers who have no knowledge of Louisiana Creole culture, and that’s what I wanted. I’m hoping to pique their curiosity to learn more about the culture and language.

Betsy: That’s awesome. And Karly, you also illustrated the 2023 title CAN WE PLEASE GIVE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO THE GRANDMOTHERS? which utilized a kind of honeyed, light palette. This book, in contrast, takes place on a rainy day. How do you keep the images bright and interesting when there’s this overwhelming sense of gray inherent in the setting? 

Kristen: Working with a rainy-day palette did pose a unique challenge—I wanted readers to really feel the gloom! I initially experimented with a completely grey and monochromatic palette for the outdoors to create a stark contrast between the rainy, dark exterior and the warm, bright interior. However, as I continued to refine the palette, I decided to shift toward a cooler, bluish tone for the overall atmosphere. This allowed me to use Petite Marie and Gran-moman as focal points with pops of color, and also add some beauty to the rainy weather by giving it a bit of vibrancy even if it was still quite dark. 

As the rain finally lets up, I gradually transitioned these colors into a golden-pink palette, reflecting the hopeful shift in mood and the return of light—this felt like a natural, visual metaphor for the transformation in Marie’s perspective, from bleakness and defeat to an inner serenity. 

BB: The food is a bit part of that inner serenity. Karly, in the back you include Petite Marie’s Cush Cush Recipe. I’m so excited because I finally get to ask this question: Where did this recipe come from? 

Karly: It’s a version of the way I ate cush cush with my grandma who lived next door to me. She would usually bake cornbread from scratch. My other grandma liked to use Jiffy cornbread mix. There are slightly more elevated ways of making cush cush, but I wrote this recipe as if it were Petite Marie’s—simple and fun.

BB: Getting back to the art, Kristen, people may not be wholly aware of all the work that you do (for one thing, you did the cover of the newly minted Newbery Honor winning book ONE BIG OPEN SKY by Lisa Cline-Ransome). Do you prefer to balance out your book jacket projects with your picture book projects or are they one and the same with you?

Kristen: I’m incredibly fortunate to work on such a range of projects, from picture books to editorial illustrations to book jackets like the cover of ONE BIG OPEN SKY. Each type offers a different set of challenges and creative freedoms—book jackets and editorial illustrations typically need to capture a reader’s attention in a single glance, while picture books allow me to build a world page by page—yet they all require a deep understanding of storytelling through images. In practice, I find that the skills and insights from one area enrich my work in the other, making them less of a balance and more of a harmonious dialogue within my overall creative process.

BB: And Karly, were you aware of the art of Kirsten Uroda before she was paired with you on this book? What do you think of the final product? 

Karly: No, I’d never seen Kristen’s work before, but when I looked at her portfolio, I knew she was the right illustrator to bring the story to life. The way she uses colors is so vibrant and lively that you can’t help but smile when looking at her work. She is amazing, and I’m so grateful that she was able to work on this project.

BB: Well, I can’t thank the both of you enough for talking to me today. To wrap this all up, what are you two working on next? 

Karly: I have a few projects that I’m working on, all centered in Louisiana. I think there are so many wonderful and unique stories yet to tell from my home state.

Kristen: I’m excited to share that I’ll have two more books that I’ve illustrated coming out this year—Scientists Like Me by the Kamin Science Center and JaNay Brown-Wood will drop in August. It features portraits and illustrations of 25 trailblazers in the field of science. The other book is close to my heart as it’s based in Detroit and tells the story about Miss Betti, a lunch lady that transformed school lunches in public schools throughout the city using patience, tenacity, and a green thumb—that one should be dropping around the summer as well.

Outside of that, I am working on another picture book this year and continuing to illustrate book covers for the Race to the Truth series that tells the true history of America from the perspective of different communities.

And outside of that! I do have some stories of my own that I’d love to tell one day, so I’m hoping to make some headway on those in between everything else. 

---

Thank you Kristen and Karly for all these insights into your work and process today. Thanks too to Maggie Salko and the folks at Little Bee Books for helping to put it all together. Soggy Like Cush Cush is out now so if any of this has piqued your curiosity, go on out and find yourself a copy today!

Filed under: Interviews