Maybelline Has a Very. Bad. Day. follows a lovable baby goat through a tumble of farmyard mishaps, offering young readers a comforting reminder that even the worst days can end somewhere safe and soft. What inspired you to tell a story about a bad day through the eyes of a young goat?

I’ve had goats for about twelve years, and every spring comes the fun of kidding season. The baby goats are shockingly similar to young children! They must find out about the world; lots of times the hard way! My grandchildren and I started making up one-liners about an adorable little goat named Maybelline, who was in big trouble all of the time, it seemed! I decided to put together the one-liners, arrange them into themes, and voilá, Maybelline Has A Very. Bad. Day. was created.

Maybelline’s troubles are made up of many small disappointments rather than one big problem. Why was that emotional rhythm important to the story?

Most of us, children and adults, have a day now and then when things just don’t go right: Dog ate a sock and had to go the vet, you got a flat tire driving to work, your kid bumped another kid playing soccer and they both have bloody noses, you spilled your coffee all over your shirt, a package was delivered late and all chewed up…  By themselves, they are not anything huge, but a day with multiple little things going wrong does usually bring us down. For young children, it’s the same idea of that slow build all day. Maybelline represents a young child, with her day full of mishaps. And like Maybelline, we just want to get into bed at the end of the day and start fresh the next morning.

What do you hope children take away from Maybelline’s mama’s comforting message at the end?

Maybelline learns how to overcome obstacles, be resilient, and count on friends and family to help her. I want young children to see themselves in Maybelline and feel that they can get through a bad day, and to that end, Maybelline’s mama’s message states that explicitly. I hope that the Maybelline’s Antics series are relevant stories that engage children and encourage follow-up discussions, just like they did with my own grandchildren.

Are any of the animals or farm moments in the book inspired by real experiences on a farm? 

Absolutely! The original Maybelline was quite a character, and my current Maybelline, who the book character actually looks like, is a huge attention hog! In general, goat kids are adorable…and funny, naughty, capricious, loving, and silly. I have been through almost every iteration of personality of baby goats on my farm over the years and have many more tales to tell.

Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website