Baby Brother-Itis follows a four-year-old girl who is convinced she’s come down with something called Baby Brother-Itis and spirals into a flurry of imagination, questioning what it is, whether it’s contagious, and how her world will change. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Our children were my inspiration for Baby Brother-Itis.  Our son was born early during my husband’s deployment with the U.S. Army.  He was born with medical complications and required a lot of extra care.  Our daughter never had to “compete” for our attention it was always hers alone.  With a new baby in the house and only one parent caring for both children sadly, she was feeling the strain of our “new normal”. 

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?  

I wrote this story 25 years ago; and put it in a filing cabinet.  Periodically throughout the years I would pull it out and read it to our children.  We moved 21 times in 23 years with the Army and a lot changed within our family dynamics during that time.  Initially we only had 2 biological children when I wrote this; and adopted 3 more children years later.  I wanted to incorporate all 5 of the children in the book.  Each page is actually one of our children, with their unique characteristics.  

What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?

The scene I had the most fun writing was where sister says all the baby does is “eat and sleep all day”.  Our son the “baby” is now 28 and when he came home from a deployment with the U.S. Army, he reverted back to the baby and once again “eat and sleep” all day.  I also love the illustrations on that page; Tullip Studio did an amazing job with the illustrations.  

I find a problem with well-written stories in that I always want there to be another book to keep the story going. Is there a second book planned?

The question keeps coming up about another book for this story. It definitely has given me something to think about. I’m excited to say, I have been working on another book not associated with Baby Brother-Itis and hopefully it will be available later this year.  

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