Written and illustrated by Mayra Azanza
I am excited and honored to introduce this month’s book. First, it is my daughter’s favorite book, and it makes her laugh uncontrollably every time we read it. Second, I love the author & illustrator of this book, who happens to be my business partner and dear friend Mayra Azanza. Lastly, I am excited for you to discover this fun, unique and creative book and have lots of fun and laughs with your kids.
Tell us about your passion for writing.
When I was a little kid, about 7 years old, I started making my picture books using the notepad my mom kept next to the house phone (that drove her crazy, by the way). Using a blue-ink ballpen I wrote and illustrated a story about a tiny character named Liktok that was very scared of the world, and I bound the pages with scotch tape. I then went to the neighborhood’s store and tried to sell it to the owner, needless to say, I failed on my first attempt to sell an original story! But I kept writing and illustrating my own stories for me and my friends at school until, in my teens, I was recruited by a local comic magazine to write and illustrate my own stories.
How did you come up with the idea to write this story?
It was the beginning of the pandemic, we had so much time on our hands, and all four of us: my husband, my daughter, my son, and myself were enjoying a nice afternoon on our patio. My son, 5 years old then, was talking about how much he likes French fries. I started thinking about how would a French-fry feel. What would it be like? And the story just flowed, I drew the sketches in about 20 minutes!
Why did you choose a French-fry as your main character?
I like choosing unusual characters, I am always thinking from a different perspective. I thought a french fry would be a bit moody and grumpy, maybe because deep inside that’s how I felt with the whole isolation during the pandemic!
What would you like your readers to take away from this story?
First, a good laugh. Making people smile really makes me happy. Second, for my readers to see in a silly character that, yes, sometimes nothing makes us happy. And yes, sometimes we know exactly what we want, no more, no less, and that is absolutely right! Sometimes we have to say a lot of “BAHs” if we want to reach our goals.
Why did you choose an open ending to the story?
Because that’s how life is. It is an infinite cycle, you make your choices and that is not the end, it is always to be continued.
What is coming next for French Fry?
We’ll see… But for sure it will have the intention of making readers old and young, smile a big smile.
The book is available in English, Hebrew, and Spanish as a digital file at the Mistake Club website.
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