World Premiere Video for a Brand New Amos McGee! With Special Q&A with Erin E. Stead

I was at the American Library Association Conference in Philadelphia less than a week ago and had a rather interesting run-in or two. You see, over the years I’ve been in the presence of power couple Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead, but our conversations were always sort of brief and perfunctory. Then suddenly, on Sunday at lunch, I had the great grand pleasure to not only spend some time with Phil BUT after leaving with Travis Jonker to go back to the conference center, who should I run into but Erin Stead herself! I was elated! Floored! And a bit baffled since coincidentally I knew that today I’d be premiering a video for a picture book that is, to put it mildly, long awaited.

Take a look:

It’s been 15 years since A Sick Day for Amos McGee charmed the world and now there’s a sequel coming out. Or, as its publisher puts it:

A cozy tale of winter hope and joy, from award-winning and New York Times-bestselling duo Philip and Erin Stead, perfect for fans of The Snowy Nap and The Mitten.

Amos McGee, the friendly zookeeper, loves spending time with his good friends no matter the season. When snow in the forecast never arrives, he decides to head home and hope it comes another day. But when overnight a surprise snowfall blankets the town in fluffy white, what shall his lovable squad of animals do? Visit Amos and play in the snow, of course!

Amos and his familiar companions are back for this delightfully snowy tale—the latest follow-up to the Caldecott Medal winner A Sick Day for Amos McGee.

Today, I’m going to show you a truly lovely making-of video of the creation of this book. But first? I had a chance to ask Erin a question or two about Amos and where he’s been all this time. Phil wasn’t able to tackle the questions, but Erin more than compensated.

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Betsy Bird: Erin and Phil, thank you so much for answering some of my questions about the return of Amos McGee. It’s been 15 years since your book won a Caldecott Award, which allows a little room for reflection. Erin, this was your first picture book. This year, the 2025 winners include two first-time debut picture book creators who have won the Award and an Honor. As someone who experienced this firsthand, I know that winning an award like this can be both rewarding and potentially crippling to your creativity. For you, how did you handle your own Caldecott Award win in terms of other projects?

Erin E. Stead: First of all, thank you for asking! It’s always nice to spend time over here on your blog.

I can answer this question in two parts. The first is practical. When you make picture books, it is a slow process (especially for me). It takes me about a year to make the illustrations for a book, then another year to go through the proofing, printing, and selling process. By the time A Sick Day for Amos McGee came out, let alone won the Caldecott, I was already well into my second book. This was lucky. If I had not been signed up, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have stopped making books. If you’ve ever watched Seinfeld, I would have been like George Castanza and went out on a high note. Especially if I consider who I was then.

The second way to answer your question is pretty multifaceted. My instinct was to put my head down and try to get better at making books. I put the medal in a drawer with all the art from the book and just kept at it. What was wonderful, though, is that the medal (and an understanding editor) gave me a lot of artistic license to pursue manuscripts and illustrate instinctively, which not a lot of people get to experience, even if it’s a temporary part of a creative career.

Okay. There is a third part to this answer. Fifteen years later, having accidentally made a book that produced the world’s nicest fans, I cannot separate being given that award at such an early part of my career from who I became, both professionally and personally. It is a beautiful burden to have people want to meet you and expect you to be kind. What an incredible thing to try to live up to. I am sure that has informed the projects I have taken on and the artist I am trying to become.

BB:I may have to quote you about the “beautiful burden” of expectation of kindness. And, naturally, I’m delighted that you managed to work in George Castanza. Now what inspired the two of you to return to the world of Amos McGee now? I’m sure people have been asking you for more Amos books for many years, after all.

Erin: We made a second Amos book in the pandemic, and it was, mostly, selfish. The past decade has brought a tremendous amount of change for us (and for everyone, really). We were in the middle of gaining a baby and losing my father, the bottom had fallen out of normalcy, and we just wanted to spend some time with the Amos team. I was working in the middle of the night, and it was such a comfort to draw those animals.

A Snow Day for Amos McGee came after that, and after the realization that making Amos books, as long as we didn’t screw them up too much, was maybe the happiest we could make other people. It was so fun to watch other people be so excited about a book. So, if we enjoyed making them (even though it was hard and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves) and if other people wanted to read them, why should we get in our own way? I love snow and wanted to make a book about it. Phil helped me out by providing such a good manuscript.

BB: Erin, considering how much time has passed, was there any difficulty slipping back into the world of Amos or was there a certain ease to it?

Erin: I was nervous that it would be difficult but it honestly wasn’t. It was a relief. Upon reflection, I think since Amos is obviously far and away our most popular book, it never left my periphery. But…phew.

BB: Phew, indeed. Phil, when you write an Amos book, how much of the writing process is collaborative with Erin? And in the case of this particular book, how did you arrive on the idea of a snow day?

Erin: I’m going to answer for Phil because he is currently in a deadline crevasse of an unprecedented depth. The truth is, for the first draft, there is no collaboration. We’ll talk about what might be a good idea, but I don’t often like giving authors (let alone Phil) too much direction at first. It seems oppressive. But, upon the second draft, I lose all that perspective and we edit together. The books we make together do tend to develop as the drawings are made as well. We really sweat the small stuff—editing lines to fit the design better or trying to decide between “amble” or “walk.”

BB: Sick days and snow days are both experiences that large numbers of kids experience and both include a certain amount of time indoors. I love that Amos is the rare adult human character that can embody these childhood experiences himself. I would think there would be certain physical limitations to placing these stories inside and yet whenever I read the books the idea that a rhino and elephant could be comfortably hanging out in Amos’s living room is never in doubt. What do you enjoy about creating these interior scenes?

Erin: It is actually pretty fun trying to expand the world of the books while adhering to the logic of the Amos universe. The interior scenes are an excellent example of this (thanks for noticing). Amos books are mostly about what’s left out of the pictures a lot of time. I can’t show a room’s corner. Suddenly you’d realize no one can fit.

BB: You’re both born-and-bred Michigan creators and I don’t think that gets enough attention. So much of where you live makes it into your books (and waiting for a snow day is a perfect example of this). But perhaps you disagree. Do you feel that Michigan plays a role (outsized or understated) in the outdoor scenes that you create or has any influence over your creations at all?

Erin: Yes.

But wait. I am writing this from New York City, having just taken our child to the Central Park Zoo. 17 years ago, when Amos was first signed up and I didn’t know how to start a book (I still don’t), I went to that zoo and watched the chinstrap penguins. I walked back into the exhibit today and couldn’t believe how much I stole from it. A zookeeper was hosing down rocks that the penguins were scattered around, chattering in little clubs and making a small ruckus. So much has happened since that visit so long ago, but for a moment, as I was studying the low lighting, the background color, and the proportionality of the water to the rocks as I stood at the glass, no time had passed at all.

So, the truth is, I don’t know. There is no doubt that growing up in Michigan and returning to Michigan as an adult informs who I am. The grass, trees, clouds, big lakes, different kinds of people, cars, rivers, pace, and smells all must affect how I draw. We’re only good at our jobs if we’re honest about them while trying to get better. All I can do is try to pay attention to the world around me and attempt to apply campsite rules to it (leave it a little better than I found it).

BB: Finally, you’ve just fed the fire, so I have to ask. Do you think we might hope for more Amos books in the future?

Erin: As long as people want to read them and we have a good idea for the Amos team, it seems silly that we would say no. But it’s been 15 years since the book published! I haven’t aged a bit, but the kids who read that book are out of high school. If we can properly introduce Amos to a whole new set of grownups and children, and they still like the books, then why wouldn’t we try?

Thanks for asking!

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Were you folks at home meticulously copying down some of the things Erin was saying like I was? The sentence, “We’re only good at our jobs if we’re honest about them while trying to get better,” is about to live rent-free in my brain for the rest of my livelong days.

How to top that? Oh, my friends. What a treat you have in store:

So much thanks is now due. Thanks to Chantal Gersch and the team at Macmillan for allowing me both a Q&A and a video premiere. Thanks to Erin for dropping Seinfeld references amidst little punctuated moments of brilliance. And thanks to you, folks, for taking the time to read this through.

Filed under: Interviews, Videos