Ask the Author: Robin Yardi
Answered Questions (4)
Robin Yardi
MYSTERY OF THE MIDNIGHT MOUSE
After coming home from a long family trip my husband woke me up with his face hovering inches from mine. He'd found something. It wasn't a mouse. And it was locked in the powder room.
Now, I'd been secretly cleaning up evidence of a mouse. Tiny droppings. In the powder room. And not saying anything for weeks about it, because I didn't want anybody to get any ideas about traps. Mice are cute. I'd once shared my office closet with a little family of them before anyone caught on. Baby mice are AMAZING.
For weeks before our trip my husband had been telling everyone he saw a bat, but since he's the kind of person who is up in the middle of the night when nobody else is. Shrug. We didn't believe him. In fact making fun of his bat became a family sport.
Sometimes he would see the bat while we were downstairs together on the couch in the evening. "Whatever, Dad, there's no bat," said my daughter.
There was.
And now it was locked in the powder room.
But how did it get there? The powder room had no windows!
Well... because I didn't want anyone trapping "My Mouse," and secretly cleaning up its tiny "mouse droppings," and was hoping it would take itself outside. I'd been leaving the doors and windows open longer and longer each evening. The bat would fly into our bedroom window, down the stairs, into the powder room, where it would hang daintily on the grate above the toilet.
I only had to clean up the droppings if the toilet seat was closed. It was basically POTTY TRAINED and my family still didn't let me keep it. Rabies, blah, blah, blah.
No mouse OR bat for me! A nice man with a net came from animal control and took it away. But I still keep the doors and windows open, hoping something just as cute will come back and that nobody but me will notice!
After coming home from a long family trip my husband woke me up with his face hovering inches from mine. He'd found something. It wasn't a mouse. And it was locked in the powder room.
Now, I'd been secretly cleaning up evidence of a mouse. Tiny droppings. In the powder room. And not saying anything for weeks about it, because I didn't want anybody to get any ideas about traps. Mice are cute. I'd once shared my office closet with a little family of them before anyone caught on. Baby mice are AMAZING.
For weeks before our trip my husband had been telling everyone he saw a bat, but since he's the kind of person who is up in the middle of the night when nobody else is. Shrug. We didn't believe him. In fact making fun of his bat became a family sport.
Sometimes he would see the bat while we were downstairs together on the couch in the evening. "Whatever, Dad, there's no bat," said my daughter.
There was.
And now it was locked in the powder room.
But how did it get there? The powder room had no windows!
Well... because I didn't want anyone trapping "My Mouse," and secretly cleaning up its tiny "mouse droppings," and was hoping it would take itself outside. I'd been leaving the doors and windows open longer and longer each evening. The bat would fly into our bedroom window, down the stairs, into the powder room, where it would hang daintily on the grate above the toilet.
I only had to clean up the droppings if the toilet seat was closed. It was basically POTTY TRAINED and my family still didn't let me keep it. Rabies, blah, blah, blah.
No mouse OR bat for me! A nice man with a net came from animal control and took it away. But I still keep the doors and windows open, hoping something just as cute will come back and that nobody but me will notice!
Robin Yardi
Teagen White, the illustrator of THE MIDNIGHT WAR OF MATEO MARTINEZ's breathtaking cover, tweeted something about an owl stealing pink donuts in the middle of the night and my brain said... are you gonna eat that?
Once I made sure that Teagan was fine with me stealing her dream donut thief the mystery of OWL'S OUTSTANDING DONUTS took off with a hoot!
https://twitter.com/teaganwhite/statu...
Once I made sure that Teagan was fine with me stealing her dream donut thief the mystery of OWL'S OUTSTANDING DONUTS took off with a hoot!
https://twitter.com/teaganwhite/statu...
Robin Yardi
I'm almost always working on at least two things at once. Usually a picture book and a project for middle grade readers. Right now I'm working on a picture book about a special fossil and a middle grade adventure set in the Galapagos...
Robin Yardi
I have a constant stream of neighborhood critters coming to my office door for peanuts, birdseed, and dried mealworms. Feeding the squirrels and scrub jays and chipmunks keeps me occupied, provides inspiration and distraction when I'm not feeling particularly productive.
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