Ten Little Kittens, Bouncing on the Bed

I started sending out my second children’s book to publishers in April, but I see now that I’ve only sent it four places. Time to start sending it out again.

The inspiration came from when I was reading a counting book to my granddaughter, Ariella, called, Over in the Meadow. And even though the animals change each page, it’s pretty monotonous for adults.

So I thought I’d write a new version of Ten Little Monkeys, Jumping on the Bed. But I changed the rhyme of how they got off the bed each time, and I thought I’d show the kittens in all sorts of varied positions. Plus, I imagined that I’d make each cat differently colored, for more variety. In all I think I drew 135 kittens. That’s a lot of cats. But I learned a lot about them by drawing them.

Publishers recommend you just send a book dummy, not finish all the illustrations, as they’d like to have input. So I’ve only drawn them in outline, and colored in the two you see on this page. I’m thinking they may need some shading and shadows.

Each book I’m learning so much about illustrating. I’m kind of pleased, as I only started drawing in January, 2025.

Looking back at my posts, I see that I haven’t posted much about ‘Twas the Mouse Before Christmas, which I self-published only in December last year. Still, it did fairly well for so little time before the holiday. This year I’d like to publish it in hardback, but was totally frustrated with trying to work with a publisher to get the final details sorted out.

As for the Kittens book, I’d like to have it traditionally published, if possible. If my beta reader Ariella is any indication, it’ll give a lot of fun to children for a long time. There’s just so much for them to look at in the pages, and the kittens start to become little personalities.

Here’s a sample. I know you shouldn’t apologize for your work, so I’ll leave it as is. I hope you like it.

Six little kittens, bouncing on the bed.

One climbed the curtains and the curtains did shred.

Mama called the fireman, and the fireman said,

“No more kit-tens bouncing on the bed.”