It’s an Axolotl-Ella Cover Reveal and Q&A with Kate Messner and Lian Cho

These fairytales get fractured for a reason, people.

When offered the chance to reveal the picture book cover of the latest by Kate Messner AND Lian Cho pairing, an intelligent librarian response would be a resounding (and possibly overeager) YES!!!! And with good reason too. Messner uses her customary talents to weave facts into this twist on a classic fairytale. The name of the book is Axolotl-Ella and it’s slated to come out June 2nd. Or, put another way:

Axolotl-Ella is a quick and clever salamander with a daring, deliciously ambitious dream. All she needs to do to make her dream a reality is to meet the Prince at the King’s Festival. So with a little bit of magic from the lake of the night, Ella makes her skin gleam and her gills glow–and conjures the perfect outfit for a fancy party!

But the Prince talks a lot, and the magic wears off at midnight. Can Axolotl-Ella find a way to make her dream come true, or will she be stuck at the murky lake with her annoying stepsisters forever?

We’ll show the cover, of course, but first we’ve some questions to tackle:

---

Betsy Bird: Kate! Such a delight getting to lob questions at you today. AXOLOTL-ELLA is one of the more brilliant mash-ups I’ve heard of. That said, if folks are thinking of making an axolotl-related picture book, I’m not sure their first inclination would be to say, “By Jove, let’s make it Cinderella-themed!” So where did this particular idea come from (and have you always been an axolotl fan?)?

Kate Messner: I’ve always loved fairy tale retellings. My middle grade novel The Seventh Wish (Bloomsbury, 2016) is a reimagining of “The Fisherman and His Wife.” Anyone who knows my work also knows that I love animals, and I’ve always wanted to do a picture book that combined the two. I’m a fan of reptiles and amphibians in general, but axolotls are my favorite, for a few reasons. Obviously, they are adorable, and they also have the unique (and useful!) ability to regenerate lost or damaged body parts. The idea of a, thoughtful, empowered, and resilient Cinderella really appealed to me. And of course, “Axolotl-Ella” is a ridiculously fun name to read aloud, so that sealed the deal.

BB And Lian! Holy moly, have I never interviewed you before? Madness. I’m such a huge fan (I consider OH, OLIVE to be an almost perfect picture book). And here you are diving head first into axolotl-related fare. So first and foremost, and before anything else, what was it about this particular project that appealed to you? Why’d you take it on?

Lian Cho: To be completely honest with you I wasn’t sure about whether or not I would take on this manuscript when I first got it. It had nothing to do with the text of course, as Kate is a genius, but simply that my schedule was already pretty packed. I had told myself that I would be more selective with manuscripts and had actually already turned down illustrating a couple before Axolotl-Ella hit my inbox. I decided to take some time and think over the project before taking it. Yet over the following week, I found myself doodling axolotls in my sketchbooks, on my iPad or on any scrap paper lying around. 

I was having so much fun figuring out how I would draw an axolotl that it became clear that this project would be a lot of fun to work on! At one point my husband said something along the lines of “you’ve drawn so many axolotls at this point you may as well take on the book.” And so I did! The concept was just too delicious to turn down. As I began to get more and more excited about the book, I actually took the time to do a full sample piece which I sent over to Ginee, our editor, something I don’t usually do. I was just too excited to start the book

BB: Understandable! Now Kate, I want to ask you something along the lines of “what is the universal appeal of the Cinderella story”, but that seems a bit vague, so let me get a little more precise. What are the aspects of the Cinderella story that you think make it such a great template for stories like your own? 

Kate: I visit schools and libraries all over the world, and when I talk to kids about fairy tale retellings, I explain it this way: fairy tales are so old that they belong to all of us now, and that means we can remix and reimagine them any way we like. That’s empowering, particularly for a heroine like Cinderella who, honestly, has less agency than the rescuing prince in the classic version of the story. The Cinderella story works so well for retellings because it’s part of our shared literary heritage. You’d be hard-pressed to find a reader who doesn’t know the main beats of the story – the prince, the ball, the glass slippers, the stepsisters – so when a retelling like Axolotl-Ella comes along and subverts them, readers share that sense of surprise and satisfaction.

BB: I love that. So, Lian, since this is a Kate Messner project, you know that means you’ll have some nonfiction and informational stuff to handle. While illustrating the book, were there scientific and biological realities that you had to incorporate into your art? Did you have to change anything that was potentially inaccurate, or was it a fairly easy way to go (I mean, it is a fairy tale after all)?

Lian: As with any project, I started out with collecting a lot of visual reference and research to refer to when I designed the characters. I did learn a lot about axolotls during the process. During my first pass of the sketches, it mentions Axolotl-Ella’s gills and without thinking, I drew her with gills like that on a fish or shark. It was only after doing more research that I realized that the axolotl’s gills are actually the external feathery parts on the side of their head! Whoops! 

BB: Getting back to the fairytale aspects, Kate, I have to tell you that one of the things I like most about this Cinderella adaptation is that it isn’t afraid to touch on one of the original aspects of the fairy tale. Mainly, chopping off body parts. In the original tale the stepsisters cut off pieces of their feet to fit the glass slipper. In this version, our heroine’s sisters cut off their own limbs (knowing full well they’ll grow back, and thanks to Lian’s art they look downright cheery doing it). I’m curious, but at what point in the writing process did you realize that this story could mirror that aspect of the original? 
 
Kate: Oh, I’m so glad you asked this question! Lots of people don’t realize how…well…grim the original Grimm Brothers tales could be. (And not just Cinderella!) Before I even started drafting Axolotl-Ella, I knew that I wanted to use the axolotl’s real ability to regenerate limbs in the story, and I saw the parallel to the original version of the story right away.

BB: I always like to find my favorite Lian-Cho-Facial-Expression in any given book of yours, and here it has to be the Prince looking down at the arm that just popped off of Axolotl- Ella’s body. Asking you this is a bit of an unfair question, but what part of this book was your favorite to create? 

Lian: My favorite part of this book to create was probably the first ballroom scene. I’m just a sucker for big ballroom scenes, I mean just look at Pig Town Party. I love creating a grandiose setting and although it is usually a bit painful to create, the end result is always so satisfying. Overall I had a lot of fun working on this book as a whole as I have been dying to create a book in ink and watercolor but had never found the right story. It was so satisfying to finally get to just draw and paint fast and loose and I hope the art reflects that.

BB: Kate, your book is a straight-up fairy tale reimagining, but even so you include some great axolotl-related reading resources at the end (including my personal favorite Not a Monster by Claudia Guadalupe Martínez). I’m just so delighted by this more recent trend of even fictional titles having just a smidgen of backmatter (a uniquely American children’s book trend at that). How often do you include such resources in your fictional books and have you always done it or is it a more recent inclination? 

Kate: As you know, I write informational picture books, too, and it’s hard for me to let a picture book go without back matter. When I do school visits, I talk with kids about all of the research that goes into writing not only nonfiction but fictional stories, too. My current novel-in-progress is a Broadway ghost story that’s heavily influenced by the history of the Ziegfeld Follies, and I’ve spent hours upon hours doing research at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts. Readers are always fascinated to hear about the real- world research behind fictional stories, so I try to include that back matter, at least with an author’s note, in most of my books.

BB: Lian, give us a bit of a hint into your process. When you have to include actual critters like axolotls, what kind of research do you do? Where do you look for visuals? And were there any rejected ideas you had when working on this book?

Lian: I had never drawn an axolotl before this book and so I followed my own guide on “How
to Learn to Draw Anything” (a popular Substack post of mine). Essentially, I collect a lot of reference images then study and sketch from those reference images until I begin to develop my own visual language for the subject. Since I tend to design my animal characters a bit fast and loose, I just had to make sure that the axolotl had the key parts that would make it recognizable in an instant.  

While doing my research, I came to learn that axolotls are indigenous to Mexico, particularly the lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco. When I was first designing Axolotl-Ella I had dressed her in a classic European fairy tale dress reminiscent of the Cinderella she was referencing. However as I continued to work on the dummy, I suddenly felt like this was the wrong take on her design. If axolotls are found in the lakes of Mexico, why was Axolotl-Ella European? Wouldn’t it make more sense if she was Mexican?

And so I decided to pivot and did more research into traditional and modern Mexican attire. In the end, I decided to dress Axolotl-Ella primarily in a huipil, a traditional embroidered tunic, which she mostly wears outside of transformation scenes. During her ballroom scenes, she’s dressed in a bright dress that is colored Mexican pink, a hot pink that is seen all throughout Mexican culture. The prince himself is dressed in an outfit inspired by Mexican designer Benito Santos’ menswear collection with his red neckbow, cape and black boots. They’re all subtle additions since the art is so simple, but I hope the intention shines through.

I also tried my best to make sure the setting was accurate to the environment that axolotls live in. For the lake scenes, I scoured the internet for images of axolotl environments and took lots of reference images from documentaries on axolotls as well as a 5 minute video of someone’s recreation of the environment in the lakes in Xochimilco in a 162 liter fish tank for their pet axolotl. The plants that you see in the book are mostly referenced from this one video as it provided the closest look at the environment in Lake Xochimilco.  

BB: Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off of the floor. Boy, Kate, you could have gotten any illustrator in the world but you ended up with one of my absolute favorites (and you can see why). I think we can all agree that Lian Cho has this very particular style that’s a perfect complement to this tale. Did you request her or was she paired with you? And what do you think about the final product?
 
Kate: When my editor Ginee Seo and I first talked about possible illustrators for Axolotl-Ella, we had a short list of possibilities, and Lian was hands-down my top choice. I was on pins and needles waiting to hear if she liked the manuscript and could fit it into her schedule, and when we finally heard back, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Her style is absolutely perfect for this story, and she captured the characters, from Axolotl-Ella to the stepsisters to the hapless prince, with such great nuance and humor. Every time I see her illustrations for this story, they make me laugh.

BB: Oh! That reminds me. Lian, just randomly, is there a particular animal you’d love to bring to life in a book someday?
 
Lian: I would say pig, but we all know that I’ve done it before. If I had to pick another animal, I
would say an alligator or crocodile. Something about their long faces and teeth just make for a very satisfying character. I also love the color green so an alligator book is inevitable. In fact, I’ve already got a manuscript in the works about them, but it’s in such early stages I’m keeping it hush hush… 

BB: Speaking of future projects, Kate, I know from past experience that you probably have ten different pots all boiling at the same time. Even so, I gotta know… what’s next for you? What else do you have coming out these days?
 
Kate: Oh gosh – I have an especially busy year coming up. In addition to the ghost story I mentioned earlier, I’m working on several new books for the History Smashers series. History Smashers: The Space Race comes out in July, with Wildfires and The Olympic Games to follow. My Over
and Under nature series with Chronicle continues this fall with Over and Under the Park, which explores urban wildlife. Ginee and I are also talking about an Axolotl-Ella companion book, with another fairy tale and a different animal star. Can’t say much about that one yet, but I will tell you that I have an appointment with some capybaras soon.

BB: That’s fantastic. And Lian, I know from your fabulous Substack that you’re finally able to take a well-deserved break, but what other books do you have coming out in 2026?

Lian: My fourth author-illustrator book, The Pizza Brothers, will hit shelves this October 14th! I’m very excited for this one. It’s about three brothers who decide to make the world’s largest pizza. It’s an ambitious task but things start to go awry very quickly (of course). Will they succeed? Will they fail?? I guess you will have to read the book to see! There are some great mustaches in the book, alongside a mouse on every page, mountains of cheese and a lot of dough thrown around. You may even see a hairy chest at one point! Anyways, that’s all I can probably talk about. I hope you’ll check it out… and maybe bring me back on the blog to talk about it!

BB: Count on it.

---

Boy, where to begin with the thanks today? First off, a huge thank you to Jennifer Dee and the team at Ten Speed Young Readers for helping me to put this together. Thanks to Kate and to Lian for the sheer amounts of care and attention that went into answering my questions (and sending me these sketches!).

And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the cover:

Filed under: Interviews