Heidi Cooper Smith emphasizes the theme of embracing change in Odd Sock Sid, a fun and colourful mystery about vanishing socks, and discusses her previous projects as an author-illustrator.

What do you love about writing and illustrating children's books?

I love the excitement of coming up with a new idea, the challenge of getting the wording just right and, most of all, I love taking those words (whether or not they are mine) and creating a visual narrative that will, hopefully, engage and delight the reader.

What inspired you to write Odd Sock Sid?

Odd Sock Sid was originally an octopus called Steve I created in response to a prompt for an illustration challenge back in 2014. I feel every illustration should tell a story, so I decided Steve should be plagued by nightmares about his odd sock drawer. Which got me to thinking, why were his sock disappearing? The story had three incarnations over eight years - sometimes it takes that long to get a story right!

Did you have any personal experiences that contributed to this new book?

I’m looking at a huge pile of odd socks as I type this. Our groodle likes to gift socks, so not so much of a mystery why they’re all disappearing in our house!

How do the themes of this story compare to your previous children’s books? Did you explore anything new?

My favourite type of story to write is something playful and slightly absurd like Odd Sock Sid and Too Many Ducks. But this kind of book doesn’t appeal to a lot of publishers, and I think that has led me to explore a range of themes. Kate and the Thing is one of my favourite concepts and has an almost supernatural aspect to it. Secrets of the Seasons is more of a whimsical tribute to the beautiful place where I grew up. And my next book is a non-fiction picture book with CSIRO which required quite a bit of research.

What do you hope your readers will take away from Odd Sock Sid?

Odd Sock Sid has an underlying message about embracing change but, more than that, it’s a fun and very colourful mystery about disappearing socks. I hope readers will take away a sense of enjoyment and perhaps a newly found love for socks!

How did the writing process of this book compare to your previous children’s books?

This was actually the first story I ever wrote and, at that time, I really didn’t understand how to write a picture book. It was in prose, which seemed easier than rhyme, but I now know it can be harder to get right. The publisher I submitted to didn’t respond and, dejected, I put it away for a year. I later submitted another story to the same publisher (Six Sleepy Mice) and the feedback they gave me on that one made me go back to Odd Sock Sid and have another go. I wrote it in rhyme this time and it was better - I won a competition with it - but it still wasn’t picked up. I put it away for a number of years this time… but I REALLY wanted to make this picture book, and so I got it out again recently and completely rewrote it, submitted it and got a YES!

As an illustrator for a lot of your books, what is it like to illustrate your own work? What do you love and what things are challenging about it?

I’d say it’s definitely easier to illustrate my own work, because when I write I generally have the pictures in my head as I go. When I get a story from an author it’s usually broken into spreads (sometimes by the author, sometimes by the publisher) and there will be spreads with words that don’t suggest or inspire an illustration. They’re GREAT words, but it doesn’t always feel like they were written with the illustrator in mind.

I’d say what’s challenging about illustrating my own stories is I only have my own vision. When I’m working with an author, they can weigh in with their vision, which can be really valuable. Two (or three) heads are almost always better than one!

Your debut book as author-illustratorwas Kate and the Thing, released in 2018. How has your writing and illustrating changed over the last few years?

I’m not sure it has changed that much - I still really like that story and how it’s written. But I have played with a variety of styles and formats. Secrets of the Seasons is very lyrical without actually rhyming. Odd Sock Sid is written in a much more traditional rhyming format. And with my next non-fiction book the words are written more as a support/companion to the elaborate illustrations I’ll be creating. The first book I illustrated was Two Birds on a Wire back in 2015. Back then I was using watercolour, pastel, ink and pencils. Now I work almost entirely digitally on my iPad, which is quicker and easier, but I really miss working traditionally (and buying art supplies!) and hope to return to it in the near future.

Which of your book projects have you most enjoyed working on?

The book I most enjoyed working on is Too Many Ducks. I think this is partly because I love ducks and the idea of being suddenly inundated by a flock of friendly ducks is extremely appealing! And I really enjoyed creating the surprise ending, which hopefully makes people laugh.

Do you have any other projects in the works?

I’ve recently gone back to working with clay more and most of my time is taken up potting, loading kilns and teaching, but I am currently illustrating two books - one written by me and one by another (very talented) author, due out in 2024 and 2025 respectively.