This Whole Interview Is a Mistaco: And I Get to Talk to Eliza Kinkz in the Course of It!

It’s no secret that I’m desperately fond of funny female author/illustrators of children’s picture books. As far as I’m concerned, when you find a good you, one you cling to them with both hands and do NOT let go. Happily, in 2025 we’re seeing a plethroa of such titles on our shelves! There’s Broken by X. Fang, The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi and Monica Arnaldo, We Are the Wibbly! A Tadpole’s Tail by Sarah Tagholm and Jane McGuinness, The Baby Who Stayed Awake Forever by Sandra Salsbury, Who Ate Steve? by Susannah Lloyd and Kate Hindley, and those new Lone Wolf books by Kiah Thomas and K-Fai Steele, just to name but a few. Yet there is one woman out there that I watch like a hawk. And when I heard that she had a new book out that she had written AND illustrated?! Welp, I needed to see it.

So see it I did and it did not disappoint. Mistaco: A Tale of Tragedy y Tortillas just came out two days ago, but already I am in love. The publisher describes it in this way:

After an awful day at school (including a tragic but plausibly deniable mishap with a pudding cup), Izzy wants to be left alone. But it’s Friday, and that means making tortillas with Lito.

As the mistakes pile up, they come tumbling out of Izzy—and Lito surprises her by saying everyone makes mistakes, and if she makes a tortilla out of her mistakes, he will EAT it. 

“Mmmm. . .spicy! And boogery! With a hint of courage. My favorite taco EVER!”

Suddenly, the whole family is confessing and getting mistakes off their chests with a feast of mistacos! A delightfully silly picture book for fans of Dragons Love Tacos and The Book of Mistakes. Includes instructions on how to make and enjoy your own mistacos!

Okay. So you know how I would normally do the interview part at this point, and there’s this nice back and forth between me and the creator of somesuch book? Here’s the truth of the matter: Very few of them are funny. This is because very few of them have been Eliza Kinkz (though we did talk once before). I am rectifying that problem TODAY! NOW! IMMEDIATELY! IF NOT SOONER!

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Betsy Bird: Eliza! Geez o’ petes, it is so doggone good to talk to you today. Mistaco is a joy of a book and one that I’ve been thinking about long after I read it. So first and foremost and before we go any further, where did the idea of this book come from? How did you come up with it?

Eliza Kinkz: AHHHHH!! It is so good to talk to you, Betsy.  AND YES, now I am the author, and illustrator.  MUHAHAHAHAA.  THE POWERRRRRRRRR!!!!   

Ahem, so the idea for this book was born in my sketchbook as I painted memories of making tortillas with my grandparents (Mis Abuelos).  

I could not roll a round tortilla to save my life!  Honestly, they probably would have come out closer to a circle if I sat on them.

Anyway, my Lito would look at my wonky tortillas, and say “I’ll eat all the mistakes, mamita!”   (Honestly, he was just trying to get away with eating as many homemade tortillas as possible!!

My agent saw the painting, and said that would make a great book.  After playing around with the story, I realized the perfect word was sitting right in front of me!! 

Just waiting to be combined through spanglish!!!  MISTAKE + TACO = MISTACO!! 

And now, a really delicious way to celebrate mistakes has been born. YOU ARE WELCOME EVERYONE LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO EAT ANOTHER TACO!!!!

BB: Darn right. And I think part of what I love so much about the title is the concept of eating your mistakes. Not “eating your feelings” but literally turning your mistakes into food that can be devoured, digested, and (ultimately) destroyed. I can’t help but think that some enterprising teacher (or SEL instructor) could take your book and use it as a guide for this kind of thing. This is NOT the kind of thing a picture book creator typically thinks about, so I’ll just ask you this: How would you like to see this book used? Ideally?

Eliza: ENTERPRISING TEACHERS, and SEL INSTRUCTORS, please gift me all your ideas as I am itchy to make great worksheets for you!  As I would love MISTACO to be used in schools to help kids never ever feel bad about a mistake again!  What I would love as well is for MISTACO to give families a fun tradition for taco nights!  A safe space for both kids, AND ADULTS to share mistakes they have made.  Like many kids, I really thought adults NEVER MAKE MISTAKES. But, adults sharing their mistakes can help kids realize we never stop being goofy humans who are always learning lessons in life!

And then add a taco with that mistake inside, well magic straight up happens for sure!!

BB: Indeed! So originally when you first had the idea of this book, did you know precisely where you wanted it to go, or did that come out in the editing process? And what changed from your earliest edition to the final product?

Eliza: I knew where I wanted to go from the first draft, but honestly couldn’t see a straight path there.  Luckily, I have teamed up with a very editorial literary agent by the name of Stephen Barr, who’s a wonderful writer of children’s books as well!  My earliest version described a lot of the action going on, which seems so funny to me now looking back at it.  

It’s like “KINKZ, WHY ARE YOU DESCRIBING WHEN YOU CAN JUST SCRIBBLE IT?!?” 
Anyway, my agent encouraged me to keep trying the story in new ways, which was NEW for me as a writer.  

As I tend to think any version I make is THE BEST THING EVER WRITTEN EVER FOREVERRR.  I mean look at this early sketch!! 

Also, Stephen the agent help Eliza wrote THe grammar goody good.  

That horse did NOT. 

Finally my dear editor Namrata Tripathi, Art Director Jasmin Rubero and the entire team at Kokila, got me to the finish line with their amazing suggestions!  For both the writing, and the art!!

Dreamy Sighhhhhhh…making a book is such a team effort, and one that I love so very much, as I get to do it with the bestest of people!   

BB: You actually do. I like whole swaths of the people you just mentioned (and I once made a music video based off of a song sung by Namrata). And you are, and I mean this sincerely, one of the funniest illustrators of picture books working today. I have to assume that now that you have both written AND illustrated a book of your own, tapping into the funnier elements of a tale must be a little easier. Not funny? Rewrite it! Have you found the experience of being an author/illustrator of funny picture books liberating or limiting?

Sorry, you’ll have to speak up Betsy.  

Can you please repeat

“You are..one of the funniest illustrators of picture books working today”

to me for the next 72 years AT LEAST three times a day.  ¡GRACIAS!

Now to pretend to be serious, I do find it very liberating to write, and illustrate.  As I am an illustrator who obviously talks to my characters, which is no surprise to ANYONE who even takes a glance at my drawings.  AND I have been writing just as long as I have been illustrating, so it’s very freeing to finally have the opportunity to do both regularly now! 

BB: This is the kind of picture book I’d describe as “joke dense”. You just pack them in from page to page. How do you tell if a joke isn’t working in a book? Whose feedback do you rely upon? Or does it all come down to your own instincts?

Eliza: It’s really my own instincts as they usually are spot on.  And if I actually laugh out loud at a joke while I’m writing or illustrating, it means YOU might fall out of your seat laughing.  

You know the hardest part of me is actually tossing out an AMAZING JOKE that doesn’t support the story.  UGH!! 

As in the end you are (FART) in service to the story.  No matter how tempting it is to be super silly everywhere. 

BB: (FART) I hear ya. Finally, what else do you have coming out next? What else is up for you?

Eliza: I am doing another picture book with the wonderful team at Kokila who I loveeeeee way too much! (Obviously from this fanart.)

And besides that I am working on a graphic novel which I am pretty certain is the funniest thing ever written in the history of grown-ups writing stuff down!!

So prepare yourself for way too much ridiculous, funny, and JOY in your future!

Thanks for the lovely chat, Betsy!  (And I believe you are scheduled to tell me how funny I am AGAIN at 1:37pm.)

BB: *sets watch*  

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Oodles of farts and thanks to Eliza for being so awesome at answering my questions today. And with art! Bonus! As I mentioned before, Mistaco: A Tale of Tragedy y Tortillas is out as of two days ago, so run off, you lucky ducks, and score yourself a copy! And thanks too to Sierra Pregosin and the folks at Penguin Random House / Kokila for helping to put this piece together today!

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