This interview originally appeared in the July/August 2025 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Debut Authors, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions.

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Two Caldecott Medals, sure, but now with Peachaloo in Bloom, Chris Raschka tries his hand at long-form fiction.

Photo: Lydie Raschka.

1. What about writing a novel was easier than you expected?

The steps from one moment in the story to the next presented themselves to me readily when I looked for them. I began with a clear idea of where I wanted the story to go and how long I wanted it to be, but the exact how of getting from here to there was open. It was like I wanted to walk across the park, but I hadn’t decided on which paths. As I got going, one step led to the next, and one path followed another.

2. Was your mysterious narrator part of the story from the beginning?

Along with knowing where I’m going, the narrator is perhaps the most essential part of book creation for me. Once I really know who the narrator is, how she relates to the story and characters, I feel comfortable. It feels like acting (though I’ve never been an actor). If I can think and feel and act like my narrator, the words come almost of themselves.

3. What characteristic of Peachaloo’s town of Fourwords would you like to see more of in your own, New York City?

I wish New York City had a lovable, goofy mayor, who was sometimes misguided, often vain, occasionally silly, but truly public-spirited and good-natured, like the mayor (or, as they say there, the alderman) of Fourwords.

4. And what characteristic of Peachaloo would you like to see more of in yourself?

I wish I were fearless, matter-of-factly self-assertive, and well-grounded like ­Peachaloo is.

5. What novel that you loved reading can you see in the novel you wrote?

While I couldn’t presume to see my writing in that of a master like E. F. Benson, I will quote from the novel Secret Lives, which can raise my mood no matter how often I read it: The first duty of Elizabeth’s day was to drink a glass of hot water, the second to refrain from breakfast while engaged on a cross-word puzzle, which was sufficient by itself to take away the healthiest appetite, and the third to take her dogs into the garden.

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