Dag and the Apple centers around a quiet little unicorn who sets out on a gentle adventure after discovering a beautiful red apple in the forest. Where did the idea for this story come from?

Necessity truly is the mother of invention. I was working on my reading comprehension of Swedish, in particular. As I looked on Amazon for resources, the books I found were honestly too advanced for a beginner. When I learned to speak Russian, I relied on books for very young children that didn’t include complex sentences. Something truly A0/A1. So I thought to myself, “You’re an author. Write what you need. Write what you’d like to see on the market for true beginners.” And I did!

Dag is very observant and calm. What drew you to writing a quieter main character?

Dag the Unicorn is a recurrent character in my universe. In my How to… with a Unicorn series, Dag is an adult. But in my Learning with Dag series, he’s a toddler. A toddler-corn, I guess we could say. Learning with Dag is an educational series. Most children and adults learn and retain information much better in a calm, low/no-pressure environment. American business culture in particular is inundated with the hustle-and-grind, “business bro” mentality, and I’ve seen a real backlash against that in recent times. People don’t necessarily want someone yelling at them to wake up at 5 a.m. and memorize complex grammar tables if they need to learn a new language. And for early learners, we want to create an environment that’s welcoming, inclusive, and accepting. Learning should be enjoyable, not tediously dull or a punishment. Neither should it be overwhelming.

How does nature influence your storytelling?

The natural world is a great place to draw from for language learning. You have weather, seasons, colors, shapes, etc. Nature is also universal and relatable. Flowers, trees, grass, sky, sun, and so forth.

Did writing the story bilingually change how you approached the text?

Absolutely. The focus is on simple words and basic sentence construction, as well as repetition. Toddlers and adult A0 level beginners are not looking for Tolstoy, Nietzsche, or Joyce. I think the challenge of truly keeping things simple is something every writer should do here and there. In some cases, less is more!

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