Short & Sweet by Josh Funk and Brendan Kearney

Hello! Josh Funk is on a 5-week virtual tour celebrating Short & Sweet. Watch. Connect. Read. is one of his stops today. 

We chatted about Baron von Waffle, Brendan Kearney's illustrations, puns, book trailers, Your Name Is a Song, and more. I wrote the words in purple, and Josh wrote the words in black. Thank you, Josh! 

Short & Sweet (Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast) tells the story of a scientific experiment going bananas (pun intended - *wink*). Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast have been in the fridge for over five years and multiple adventures. Eventually they were bound to go stale which happens in Short & Sweet. Fortunately, Professor Biscotti has a DE-spoiling ray.

Unfortunately, it malfunctions and shrinks Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast into toddlers who escape from the lab and run wild causing culinary chaos once again. But this time Baron von Waffle is on their side and does everything he can to help remedy the situation.

Brendan Kearney's illustrations crack me up. I love how cute Mini Miss Pancake and Squire French Toast look with their teddy bear and blankie. And all of the bands at the end of each book are brilliantly clever. First it was Spuddy Holly, then the Peach Boys, and now it’s Juice Springsteen (who followed openers of Jami Hendrix, the Food Fighters, Apple McCartney, and more). Brendan adds so much humor - I’m so lucky to be able to collaborate with him.

Puns should be used sparingly. I like peppering them into my stories, especially in the locales that the characters visit - like Limes Square, the Bran Canyons, and the Great Wall of Pine Nuts. I also had a blast making up punny food picture book titles.

Short & Sweet's book trailer is my favorite one yet. While I’m not a rock star (yet), I have a blast recording songs for my book trailers. And for the second time, my daughter joined me singing backup. I record the whole song on my phone with the GarageBand app and then use iMovie to make a slideshow with screenshots from the book. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll get to open for Emily Arrow or something like that...

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me to share some of my favorite recent picture books. I love Speak Up by Miranda Paul & Ebony Glenn, Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen & Lucia Soto, Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison & Brianne Farley, and Grandpa Grumps by Katrina Moore & Xindi Yan, but my favorite book of the year is Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow & Luisa Uribe!

Short & Sweet by John Funk; illustrated by Brendan Kearney 

Josh Funk is the author of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, followed by its sequels The Case of the Stinky Stench and Mission Defrostable, as well as Albie Newton, How to Code a Sandcastle, Lost in the Library, and more. He lives in Concord, MA. Brendan Kearney is also the illustrator of the first Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast; its sequels The Case of the Stinky Stench and Mission Defrostable; and Bertie Wings It. He lives in St. Albans, UK.