Today we are very excited to share an interview with author Mike Boldt!
Read on to learn more about the author, the book, and a giveaway!
Meet the Author: Mike Boldt
Author/illustrator Mike Boldt is the New York Times best-selling artist of acclaimed picture books Just Try One Bite, How to Grow a Dinosaur, and the popular “frog” series by Dev Petty, including I Don’t Want to Be a Frog and I Don’t Want to Be Big. Mike has brought both his illustrator and author chops to award-winning picture books Bad Dog, Find Fergus, A Tiger Tail, and more. He lives in Alberta, Canada with his wife and three kids.
About the Book: CAN DO: CANTALOUPE AND HONEYDO RIDE A BIKE
From the New York Times bestselling artist of Just Try One Bite and I Don’t Want to Be a Frog comes a picture book series of spectacular firsts, featuring two melons with hilariously—and helpfully—opposite worldviews.
Cantaloupe brings the caution and HoneyDo the confidence. Together, they’re learning what they can’t do, at least not at first, and what they totally can—with a little practice, a little care, and their two smart melons. From riding a bike to baking a cake to learning to swim and more, with friends like this, new things are can-do.
~Author Chat~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
Thanks for asking! I think I first noticed how cantaloupe and honeydew always seem to be together or beside each other. In the grocery store, fruit platter, when you buy one you might also buy the other – they’re almost the fruit equivalent of PB and J. Then I noticed the word play with the “can” or “can’t” and “do” in their names. I instantly felt like there may be some potential there with these two inseparable friends and wrote it down on a sticky note. After a few years, and my schedule opened, I decided to tackle these two melons learning what they CAN and CAN’T DO.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
A favorite? While I want to think I’m more of a HoneyDO, personally now that I’m older (and a parent), I’m probably more of a CANTaloupe – though I do enjoy learning new things once I get up the courage to try. That said, HoneyDO makes me laugh more with its big expressions and reactions and unrestricted belief in itself.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
I really enjoy the moment right near the end of HoneyDo’s first efforts to ride the bike after Cantaloupe says they’ve got it backwards – and HoneyDo’s response to that. It still makes me laugh when I see it.
YABC: What came first, the concept, landscape, characters, or something else?
The characters came first for sure. I had these two melons and knew I wanted to do something with them, but didn’t know what exactly, so I actually had brainstormed a number of different ideas. Turns out, learning to ride a bike was just the one that rose to the top of the pile.
YABC: If you could only write one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
I haven’t written anything that’s been published yet other than picture books, though I do have some GN and MG book ideas. However, I love writing picture books. There’s just something about a picture book that is so unlike other genre, in how they invite story time interactions with someone, or how they can be “read” even before you know how to read. I probably still enjoy picture books as much as I did as a kid.
YABC: How do you keep your ‘voice’ true to the age category you are writing within?
That’s an interesting thought. I’m not sure how others do it, but I don’t actively think about my “voice” while writing picture books. Maybe it helps that I still enjoy many of the same things I did as a kid, like comics, picture books, cartoon, but I write stories that I enjoy, and then work through them with my editor. I suppose I write to the story that I’m telling and that it works for kids of a certain age group just happens to merge with that story rather organically.
YABC: What can readers expect to find in your books?
I hope they can find some joy or passion that I pour into the books and stories that I come up with. With the Cantaloupe and HoneyDo books, I also hope that they see emotions, characters, mannerisms, personalities, and situations they can relate to in some way.
YABC: What is your favorite snack when writing?
Snacks and I are very good friends, and I’m not that picky. I really enjoy cashews, so much so friends have even sent me flavored cashews from all over. But I’ll also snack on baby peel carrots, snap peas, apple slices, and other healthy things like small bowl of chips, candy (in small doses), and Cadbury Mini Eggs. Halloween parent tax and candy stash raids are real.
YABC: If you were able to meet them, would you be friends with your main character?
Simply yes. In fact I think we’re already on BFF and holiday dinner party terms.
YABC: What’s your least favorite word or expression and why?
That “Practice Makes Perfect”. It doesn’t. It makes progress! Thinking that we can practice to a point of perfection leads us down the road of perpetual disappointment. The most talented people in the world are often those who practice the most, and they still don’t perform perfectly. I think we’re allowed to strive for more knowing we have more potential than what we’re currently capable of. But we need to measure against our own progress, not what others do or achieve or perfection. There’s something to be enjoyed in the progress and process as well, even if it’s not until later.
YABC: What do you do when you procrastinate?
If I’m into a good book, probably reading. Maybe a reno around our home. But also social media – the doomscrolling is real.
YABC: What fandom would you write for if you had time?
The Hobbit and JRR Tolkien’s works are among my all time favourites, but I’m not sure there’s anything I’d want to write to build into what he’s already done. As much as I enjoy many of these fandoms like Star Wars, Marvel, or Tolkien, I love discovering new original ideas of my own or other folks’, so I think I’d want to try to just pour my time into creating more of my own ideas.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I’m super excited to be working on more Cantaloupe and HoneyDo books of my own and am just wrapping up book 2. I’m also illustrating a few new books with one of my all time favourite collaborators and creators, Dev Petty. There will be a third Chip the Dog book as well as a second Elmore the Christmas Moose.
YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this interview. Making books is such a privilege and I’m always grateful when others take the time to support or take interest in what I do. Also, I’m a big fan of ice cream.
Title: CAN DO: CANTALOUPE AND HONEYDO RIDE A BIKE
Author/Illustrator: Mike Boldt
Release Date: June 11, 2024
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers; Penguin Young Readers
Genre: Picture Book: Self-Esteem, Friendship, Humor
Age Range: 3-7
~ Giveaway Details ~
One (1) winner will receive a signed copy of Can Do: Cantaloupe And HoneyDo Ride A Bike (Mike Boldt) ~US Only!
*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*
This book looks so fun!
What a cute cover!
The cover is cute and this sounds hilarious.