For one little girl, there’s no place she’d rather be than sitting between Mama and Mommy. So when Mommy goes away on a work trip, it’s tricky to find a good place at the table. As the days go by, Mama brings her to the library, they watch movies, and all of them talk on the phone, but she still misses Mommy as deep as the ocean and as high as an astronaut up in the stars. As they pass by a beautiful garden, the girl gets an idea . . . but when Mommy finally comes home, it takes a minute to shake off the empty feeling she felt all week before leaning in for a kiss. Michael L. Printz Award winner Nina LaCour thoughtfully renders a familiar, touching story of a child who misses a parent, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita, whose distinctive style brings charm and playfulness to this delightful family of three.

Nina, you’ve written a lot of stunning YA novels and now an adult book as well. I’m a huge fan of your novels. How was the process different for drafting and revising a picture book?

Nina: Thank you so much! It’s been an exciting few years of experimenting and branching out in my work. I want to keep growing as a writer, always, and writing my first picture book text was so unlike writing a novel that it felt like I was working in an entirely different medium. I didn’t yet know who would illustrate it—or even if it would be published!—but I still viewed it as the first step in a collaboration. I had to get comfortable with leaving out the visual details that are so important to novel-writing and trust that the book’s future illustrator would fill in the world. I focused instead on the language and the emotional arc of the story, the passage of time, the inner life of the child. When I saw Kaylani’s gorgeous illustrations—bursting with so much love—the collaboration was complete.

Kaylani, I’d love to know more about your art process. How did you take Nina’s words and begin to create a visual story?

Kaylani: I start by reading the manuscript a few times, while I read I imagine the story and take notes on the side of the manuscript. My notes are short and include doodles. 

I love that Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle is a picture book featuring a two-mom family, but the story is focused on how to handle missing a parent while they travel for work and not necessarily on educating anyone about LGBTQ+ families. There’s a dearth of LGBTQ+ families in books for this age. Why did you want to tell this story this way?

Kaylani: Part of educating people about inclusion and diversity is showing casual diversity. It’s important to show that there are other things happening to and around queer people aside from persevering extreme discrimination and experiencing trauma. We need to also have representation of queer people experiencing things like love, friendship, missing, family, milestones, all sorts of things!

Nina: There really are so few books that represent queer families, and it’s an absence that bleeds into all media. Movies, tv shows, narrative podcasts…there just isn’t nearly enough representation out there. I think that’s slowly changing and I’m glad that Kaylani and I can be a part of that change. I didn’t write the text to educate because I was more interested in writing a book that reflected the families of kids who don’t see their own families in media. That’s a through line in all of my work, I think: My characters exist in the world as they are without any need for explanation.

Nina, were you at all inspired by the real fact of life, pre-pandemic, that was traveling for book tours? I thought about this while reading about the video calls with Mommy when she’s away.

Nina: Oh, absolutely! The first time I left my daughter for more than a night or two was to go on book tour. At that time, my wife was the parent who traveled more often for work, so it was really sweet for them to have that one-on-one time together. And it was good for me to be an individual out in the world again, too, even though I missed them terribly. In addition to book tours, I often travel to Minnesota because I teach for Hamline University’s low residency Master’s program. I’ve had many Facetimes to show my daughter the snow. It’s quite the novelty for us San Franciscans. 

I love that Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle doesn’t just deal with how we often feel when we miss someone, but what we might do with that love until they’re back, such as creating a bouquet for them. Why did you want there to be actionable, physical ways to represent that love?

Nina: It’s so important for children to feel empowered within their circumstances—to learn that while so many choices are made for them, they can find ways to have autonomy within those parameters. Self-expression through the act of making—whether that be movement or art or words or, in this case, a bouquet—is a vital life skill to carry with us throughout childhood and beyond.

There are also several types of missing that are described by the classmates in the book, such as missing a parent who lives permanently far away, missing a sibling in college, or missing a cat who’s no longer living with your family. Why did you want to go beyond this family’s specific story to show the different ways someone might be missed? What do you hope readers get out of this?

Kaylani: It’s important to show how everyone shares the human experience of missing and loving. When drawing various people of different identities and circumstances experiencing missing someone, I hoped to introduce children to the idea of “That’s me!” Whether they feel like they can visually identify with a character or identify with their actions, it’s important to show lots of different people experiencing similar feelings to connect then build empathy and compassion. 

Nina: I absolutely love how Kaylani brings the little girl’s classmates so fully to life in that illustration. She gives us a glimpse of their longings and sadnesses in such a tender way. Just as Kaylani said, missing and loving are universal feelings, so I wanted to widen the lens and show other circumstances that would lead to those feelings.

Kaylani, you beautifully drew illustrations to go with Nina’s colorful descriptions of how much a child can miss their parent. How did you decide what to draw for each scene? Can you tell us about the tools you used when you created your illustrations and why they were right for conveying these feelings?

Kaylani: Usually, I choose a keyword to focus on and then I emphasize it with color and composition. For example, if I’m asked to draw a scene that conveys the feeling of missing someone, I might draw a single figure with an open background, hints of the people missed (maybe some photographs or something that symbolizes them), to convey how lonely someone feels when they miss someone. I use a mixture of digital tools (Photoshop, scanner) and analog tools (paper, watercolor textures) to edit and draw. 

What other books do you think are in conversation with Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle? Do you have any recommendations for published or forthcoming picture books?

Nina: I’m happy to see more picture books coming out right now that celebrate queer characters. I’m in love with Mr. Watson’s Chickens written by Jarrett Dapier and illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi, Bathe the Cat written by Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts, and Big Wig written by Jonathan Hillman and illustrated by Levi Hastings. It isn’t quite as recent but I also have to mention the lovely When Aiden Became a Brother written by Kyle Lukoff and illustrated by Kaylani. That’s where I first saw Kaylani’s art.

What’s one question you wish you were asked more often (and the answer)?

Kaylani: I believe that everything is relevant and related to each other. Representation isn’t just us recreating reality, how we depict what we see helps further build and shape the reality that already exists, it’s always changing and growing. I really want people to ask myself and each other, “What reality does this story create?” 

 Nina: The question is, “What’s bringing you joy right now?” And the answer is, “Reading to my daughter on the backyard hammock, making smoothies, dabbling in various forms of writing, deep conversations with my wife and friends.” These have been a brutal stretch of years for so many people, and I’m finding that checking in with myself and moving in the direction of joy makes a huge difference.