One cold and rainy winter morning in Ireland, a small black French Bulldog named Mortie took his first breath on this emerald green island. He was welcomed with so much love into the world as his Mum and Dad stared down at him. Over a hot cup of tea, they promised each other, their son would see the world. As soon as Mortie was old enough, they sent him off to school to first learn about his own country in hope that he would love to travel as much as they did. Mortie’s first visit was to Blarney Castle where he could climb the castle’s tower and kiss the Blarney Stone. Kissing this stone for good luck would give him the gift to speak to anybody. This would help his travels to find new friends in the new countries he would visit.
Today we talk about Mortie’s Adventures in Europe, a book by Havana Von and Jennifer Pfeiffer published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the authors Havana Von and Jennifer Pfeiffer to get to know them better, where they find the inspiration to write their book Mortie’s Adventures in Europe, as well as how the illustrations are important in a children’s book.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where did you find the inspiration to write Mortie’s adventures?
Mortie, my French Bulldog has been my best friend for over 6 years. I had a huge change in my life that had me moving from California to Ireland by myself. To pass the time I started painting silly paintings of Mortie traveling to different countries. When people started seeing these, they told me how fantastic they were and that I should write little stories about him traveling. I have been writing my whole life but this was something new, exciting, and made me very happy.
- How important do you think illustrations are in a children’s book?
This book was a collaboration with my sister, since she is a much better artist than myself. Since childhood we both have been visually driven as individuals. When Jen had her first coloring book and I was scribbling, we realized it was our preferred way to learn new things. Children’s illustrations are a fun way to mentally be able to travel to new places, real or imaginary ones.
- What would you like to hear from your young and adult readers?
We would like to hear from our reader’s where Mortie’s next adventures should be. Also, what kind of food, places he should visit in those countries, and different languages and friends he can meet along the way.
- How was your publishing experience?
This being our first children’s book, we were very appreciative to have the direction and guidance to bring our dream project together.
- Are you working on a new writing project that you can tell us about?
Yes, we are very excited to be continuing Mortie’s adventures to different places. We just completed another story about Mortie’s Adventure’s in Florence, and are working on our next one of him visiting New York. Our dream is to bring all these little stories to children’s hands so that they can learn and appreciate new cultures around the world.
Europe Books thanks the authors Havana Von and Jennifer Pfeiffer once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside them on the editorial path that led to the publication of their book Mortie’s Adventures in Europe. We wish them the best of luck for their book and for their future works.
To you, my dear reader, may Mortie’s adventures bring you a great experience to enjoy. And remember that, no matter how adult you are, books for children have a lot to teach us all! Written in simple and clear concepts, illustrated children’s book have the ability to give us important life lessons or they put us back in touch with our forgotten child side which just needs to be awakened.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!