Cover Reveal and Conversation: Caroline Perry Discusses I Am Not Happy in All Its Hilarious Cuteness

Human beings are complex individuals. Take Caroline Perry, for example. On the one hand, the woman has been instrumental in the Kidlit for Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts, directing a great amount of money to people who need it badly. On the other, she’s a children’s book creator and today, I get to premiere her latest picture book. I’m not going to lie to you either… it’s cute. Like, really really cute.

I Am Not Happy follows the trials and tribulations of a marsupial cursed to look, to human eyes anyway, like it’s happy all the time. Or, as the publisher describes it:

“With its bright eyes, puffy cheeks, and beaming smile, the quokka is clearly the happiest animal on earth. Or is it? This quokka is here to tell you…he is not happy! At least not all the time. Just like everyone else, he can be sulky, or sorry, or sad; but you’d never know from the look on his face! So, what’s a moody marsupial to do when he’s being misunderstood? Teach every other animal from kangaroos to koalas not to judge a critter by its cover!”

But before we get to the winner of a cover, we’re going to talk a little bit to Caroline about her life, her work, and her latest:

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Betsy Bird: Caroline! Thank you so much for answering my questions today! And allow me to say that this book of yours? Adorable, hilarious, and utterly relatable. Quokkas are dang cute. Heck, I think Haley & John Rocco had a nonfiction picture book out just last year on them (HELLO, I’M A QUOKKA). But your book was in the works long before that. So where did it come from? What is its origin story? 

Caroline Perry: I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed the book, Betsy, and thank you for hosting this cover reveal! The origin story is simple: I’ve been obsessed with Australian animals for as long as I can remember. My husband is a Kiwi who grew up in Oz (a happy coincidence, I swear—though he had me at ‘G’Day’). We spend a lot of time Down Under, always seeking out wildlife sanctuaries, and when I first learned about these smiley, little-known marsupials called quokkas, I was smitten. Then I started thinking—what a burden to be labeled the ‘Happiest Animal on Earth!’ That’s a lot of pressure for anyone, and it made me wonder how a quokka might feel about that expectation. Of course, quokkas are also ridiculously adorable. Last summer, we made the long journey to Rottnest Island/Wadjemup in Western Australia to see them in the wild. When I watched a quokka joey clamber out of its mother’s pouch I was, without question, the happiest human on Earth.

Australia is a magical place, and I will always be mad for its marsupials (and monotremes… I’m currently plotting ways to observe platypuses in the wild).

BB: I know I speak for everyone when I say how much I envy even your plotting. This book is perfect for those kids who are, by now, super clear on facial expressions and emotions, and are ready for something to upset their expectations. An animal that is forced to smile at all times? There are larger implications to teaching kids that there may be more behind a person than their facial features. Did you have any of that in mind when you wrote the book?

Caroline: This is absolutely the humor-coated takeaway I hoped for! How often are kids–and adults–told to ‘cheer up’ when they’re maybe just feeling tired, or pensive, or not overly smiley for whatever reason? How frequently are we judged on our facial expressions and external appearance? People also get labeled— ‘she’s the happy/quiet/moody one’—and often, it’s hard to shake these preconceptions. In this book our mercurial marsupial is, understandably, tired of people assuming that he’s cheerful all the time. He’s here to tell everyone: don’t judge a quokka by its cover! 

BB: Nailing the landing on a funny picture book is an art in and of itself. Did you struggle at all with the ending of I AM NOT HAPPY or did you know precisely where it was going from the start?

Caroline: I had maybe three potential endings in mind when I drafted the manuscript. One of those dropped off during the revision stages but there were still a couple of contenders. The magic moment came when I made a dummy, to perfect the page turns (something that’s so important with humor). Seeing I Am Not Happy! in mini-book form made it clear that this closing spread was ‘the one’, and  Sydney’s art just reinforced that choice. I absolutely love the way she illustrated the ending! 

BB: Let’s talk a little about your illustrator Sydney Hanson. She’s sort of the master of the big-eyed cute. She is also, and I mean this sincerely, the best possible illustrator you could have gotten for this book. Simply put, she understood the assignment. Did you know Sydney prior to working together? How do you feel about her work on this book?

Caroline: I didn’t know Sydney personally but I was definitely a fan of her work–who doesn’t love Escargot? When my brilliant editor Celia Lee brought Syd’s name up in conversation I don’t think she had time to finish her sentence before I blurted out, “OHMYGOSH YES CAN WE SIGN HER RIGHT NOW?” (I promise it sounded more polite in my British accent). Syd really is the perfect fit for this book, we share a similar sense of humor and she completely understood the assignment. She’s been a delight to work with from the initial sketch stage to the gorgeous full-color art and we’re now collaborating on a second book together! I can’t wait for this to be announced. 

BB: I don’t want to conduct this interview without giving you significant props for your work on the Kidlit for Los Angeles Auction, raising money for wildfire relief. Last I heard from you you’d raised $180,000! Tell us a little bit about how you started this initiative and how you managed to get such a wonderful assortment of participants! 

Caroline: This is a long answer, so I apologize in advance (and I’d also like to thank you for helping to spread the word about our auction). I used to live right near one of the worst-impacted areas of LA, and I have a number of friends who lost everything in the fires. For several days my phone chimed nonstop with news of more losses, evacuations, and air quality warnings, and we watched my daughter’s preschool burn on the news. The scale of the tragedy felt immense and absolutely overwhelming, and while I was doing what I could to help people on the ground it didn’t feel as though it was enough. I called my friend and fellow LA-based author Charlotte Offsay to check in with her, and ask if she’d be interested in setting up a fundraiser. She agreed, and we quickly recruited Tara Luebbe and Jocelyn Rish: with a small but mighty team in place Kidlit for Los Angeles was born.

I also reached out to Sydney, who had been evacuated with her young family: at this point she didn’t even know if her home was still standing. It was such a heavy, fraught time but despite everything, Syd insisted on designing our fundraiser logo. Her image–of the California bear going to work for LA– is so perfect, and so meaningful. It made me cry when it landed in my inbox. 

When we began soliciting donations we were honestly blown away by the response. Many of the biggest names in publishing offered incredible items, and thanks to the generosity of our donors and bidders we raised almost $180k for wildfire relief. It was a mammoth undertaking, and a true team effort, but we are so, so grateful. The children’s publishing industry really showed up for LA. 

BB: And now my hardest of the hard hitting questions. Please please please tell me… is that a cane toad accompanying the quokka throughout the story? Please say yes. If it is, then this is the first memorable instance of a cane toad in a picture book in recent memory. 

Caroline: I’m here for the hard questions! Yes, we did indeed envision Quokka’s sidekick as a grumpy (but misunderstood) cane toad. That said, since cane toads are an invasive species in Australia, we like to leave a little room for interpretation… and rest assured, our frowny-faced amphibian is only visiting the island!

BB: Oh, very excellent point. Finally, what else are you working on these days? What else is on your roster? 

Caroline: I’m incredibly fortunate to have three books coming out this year! First up is The Memory Cake, illustrated by Jennifer Bricking, which releases with Holiday House in June. It’s a lyrical, intergenerational story set on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta (where my extended family still lives). In September there’s Messi’s Magic, a picture book biography of soccer legend Lionel Messi, illustrated by Luciano Lozano, which will be published by Scholastic Press. Last but certainly not least is I Am Not Happy!, which hits shelves on October 7th. I also have two more humorous books in the works with the wonderful team at Simon & Schuster–Nighty Knight, which is a humorous rhyming bedtime book,  illustrated by Scott Magoon, and another exciting funny– as well as an unannounced book slated for ‘27. Lots to look forward to, and I can’t wait to share more!

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It’s hard to top that level of enthusiasm, so you know what I’m gonna have to do? Reveal the heck out of this cover. Let’s do it!

Just look at that punim. Who could resist it? Thanks so much to Caroline for engaging in this Q&A. I Am Not Happy comes out October 7th, so you’re just gonna have to be patient and wait for it until then.

Filed under: Cover Reveal, Interviews