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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Ellie Has a Secret, and it won’t leave her in peace! First-time author/artist Amelia Bothe delves into a little girl’s battle with guilt.

Photo: Sophia Gentile.

1. What picture book has taught you the most about creating a picture book?

If I had to choose just one, probably Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex, which I loved as a kid and love even more now. I like the way the text and illustrations pull such separate weights, which is something I’ve tried to internalize while making my own books. I reread it a lot while making Ellie Has a Secret, so I think some of it sneaked in there. Or maybe I just hope some of it sneaked in there. It’s so good!

2. What was the hardest thing about being a kid for you?

Maybe it was not knowing who I was yet, but I’m ­finding that’s also the hardest thing about being an adult. My ­exclusive-to-childhood hardship was probably my inability to buy whatever animal I feverishly wanted as a pet that month.

3. Favorite animal to draw?

Right at this moment it’s probably dogs, but truly it’s just always going to be dragons (do dragons count?). I like how solid and shapely dogs are, and I like how a dragon can look like whatever you want it to look like that day.

4. Top tip for someone trying to get published?

Prioritize making a portfolio of precisely the type of work you’d like to do and then show it to as many people as possible. I’ve found the Society of Children’s Book ­Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) to be a great resource, especially if you can make it to one of the annual conferences. It’s a great way to meet people and get your work out there.

5. Anything weighing on your conscience that you’d like to share with the class?

No, I’m actually really bad at keeping secrets. Maybe I’d be better at it if you got an evil little pet serpent out of it. But you often don’t.

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