Never Seen THAT Before! A Talk with Millie von Platen About Her Zohran Mamdani Book

I couldn’t resist. You’ll have to forgive me but deep down, in my heart of hearts, I’m a children’s literature academic. So I’m endlessly fascinated by those books coming out today that will serve as documents for the times in which we live. And what better example of this could I even find than the endlessly fascinating picture book Zohran Walks New York (out October 28th) about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his 13-mile summer 2025 Manhattan campaign walk? Picture books about political candidates do happen, but almost entirely at the presidential level. I’m wracking my brain desperately, trying to think of any mayoral picture books at all (and no, that picture book by Ed Koch does NOT count), particularly before they were elected.

I mean, I had a lot of questions. And sure, specifically political picture books are a bit out of my wheelhouse, but you can’t tell me you also don’t wonder about this title. So I decided to speak with author/illustrator Millie von Platen to find out more:

Betsy Bird: Millie! BOY, have I gotta lot of questions for you today. I am absolutely fascinated by what you’ve produced here. So before we do anything else, I want to know the origin story. Where did ZOHRAN WALKS NEW YORK even come from? 

Millie von Platen: Thanks, Betsy! My colleague, Susan Dobinick, and I had been casually chatting about how excited we were about Zohran’s nomination. Later that day, she called me unexpectedly with a crazy-but-exciting idea she had just had with our Publisher, Ben Schrank: would I consider doing a children’s book about Zohran? My full-time job is editing children’s books, but I also work as an editorial illustrator. I particularly love drawing New York City-specific scenes, so this felt like a dream project. I said yes almost immediately, and we dashed into a wild, sleepless month of pulling this whole thing together with the help of so many of our colleagues at Astra.

BB: Dear god, a MONTH!? That’s some kind of speed. And like I said before, I’ve never really seen a book like this. I mean, political figures in picture books? Sure, but they’re almost always either currently in office or they used to have the job. I have seen a picture book about a political candidate, but that was John McCain when he was running for president, so I don’t really count that. A NYC mayoral candidate book from a major publisher is a complete new one to me. What books were you looking to when you wrote this one? I mean, how did you find the guidelines it had to follow?

Millie: I agree it’s a very specific type of book! However, while I was making it, I kept thinking of it as more of a New York City-themed story than a political biography for kids. It was important for me to make sure the book would appeal to families who aren’t as familiar with Zohran and the mayoral race in NYC. For that reason, the books I looked to when making this one were titles with great urban scenes. These include Small in the City by Sydney Smith, London: A History by Laura Carlin, and The Magic Currant Bun written by John Symonds and exquisitely illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators of all time, Andre Francois.

BB: Okay, you’re getting some extra points for those choices. So was the form of the story full-fledged from the start or did it go through a lot of changes? And what was the role of your editor in all of this?

Millie: The process for this book was sort of thrilling, actually. We had a month from start to finish to make the whole thing in time to publish this fall. I started by turning off my phone and hunkering down in the quietest corner of my local library at Grand Army Plaza for a weekend. After a few solitary and unusually disciplined days, I had a sketch dummy and manuscript to share with my editors, Carolyn Yoder and Susan Dobinick. They helped me shape the story by making it flow better and ensuring its factual correctness. What was helpful was that we knew from the start that we wanted to use Zohran’s iconic campaign walk through Manhattan as the framework for this book. So, we started there and did some in-depth research on how Zohran’s life could be mirrored by a fictionalized cross-borough walk through the city.

BB: Let’s talk about the art. There are a lot of directions you could go with it. Did you have a clear sense of how to illustrate this? Did you try out some things that did and didn’t work? What was your process like?

Millie: I love to paint with gouache and draw with pen and ink; those are my preferred mediums. But given the fact that I had one month to make the book, I had to do it digitally. In a way, I’m relieved. I have so many things I would have wanted to try out illustration-wise. The fast turnaround time forced me to be laser-focused and not spend too much time hemming and hawing. When I needed a break, I’d walk around the city and take mental notes of things to include in the illustrations— I took so many reference photos of kids’ chalk drawings on the sidewalks around my apartment. And there’s real mix of people I know personally and New Yorkers that I’ve seen out and about that I’ve folded into the drawings. Plus, some Easter eggs in the form of NYC critters—like raccoons and rats—tucked into various corners…

BB: It wouldn’t be New York without them, I concur. Finally, any more political titles in your future or do you consider this a singular occurrence?

Millie: Even though the subject of this book is Zohran Mamdani, I don’t consider it a political title.  Rather, I think of it as a love letter to New York City.  It’s a terrific book to share with kids who are interested in learning and discovering more about their community and getting involved, whether they live in New York City or elsewhere.  I am not sure if I’ll work on a similar book like this in the future, unless another political figure like Zohran enters the scene! But I sort of doubt that will happen. Zohran seems like a rare bird in politics. Seemingly affable, good-hearted, and clever. It’s a strange joy to have someone like him rise to the top.

Big time thanks to Millie for answering my questions today and to Deborah Sloan and the team at Astra Books for Young Readers for helping to put this together. Zohran Walks New York is, as I mentioned, out October 28th. A singular book for singular times.

Filed under: Interviews