More Books
Mommy’s Lap
Ages 2-4
Illustrated by Henri Sorensen
Lothrup, Lee & Shepard Books (1993)
Mommy’s Lap was the best place to be. Sophie loved to play there, and hear stories there, and sometimes fall asleep there.
Everyone is excited about the new addition to Sophie’s family – except Sophie. As Mommy’s lap gets smaller and smaller, Sophie becomes more and more concerned. But in the end, she finds that loving laps – and hearts – have room to hold more than one special person.
The Story Behind the Story
Mommy’s Lap was the first children’s book I wrote. It was also the fastest book I’ve ever written, the fastest one I’ve sold… and the slowest to publish.
My daughter Sophie was about a year old. I was pushing her stroller through our Los Angeles neighborhood when I started to muse about having a second child, and how Sophie might react.
A line came into my head: Mommy’s lap was the best place to be.
And then a second line: Sophie loved to play there…
The cadence matched the rhythm of my footsteps, and also the pacing of all those picture books I had been reading to Sophie.
I started back at the beginning, reciting to myself, Mommy’s Lap was the best place to be. Sophie loved to play there… and then I added the next line: and sometimes fall asleep there.
And so it went, step by step and line by line, and by the time we got home, I had written an entire picture book, except for the ending. That took me another week.
It was ridiculously easy. And so was finding a publisher. Maggie Kimmel, one of my beloved professors in library school, was president of the Association for Library Service to Children. I didn’t know anything about getting a picture book published. But I figured she might. I dropped her a note, and she gave me the names of two editors, and told me to mention her name. The first editor declined, but the second one said yes.
Magic! Or so I thought.
When I signed my contract in 1986, publication was scheduled for 1989. That felt like an eternity, but picture books take time. There was editing to do, all through snail mail, with my editor often taking months to reply to a revision. The illustrator had to do her work. And when she was finished, actually publishing the book would take more than a year.
And then things went wrong. The illustrator missed her deadline. My editor changed publishers. The illustrator turned in her final work, and the new editor decided to find a different artist. Six months later, Henri Sorensen came onboard, and publication date was pushed back to 1992. Henri lived in Denmark, and in those pre-digital days, he shipped his art via snail mail. And the art never showed up! So, he had to recreate all his paintings.
Mommy’s Lap finally came out in 1993 (two years after Bat Time). The baby I wrote it for was in the second grade – old enough to read it to her little brother, who was in kindergarten. Oh, and Sophie took just fine to her little brother. Most of the time.
p.s. When Mommy’s Lap finally came out, I sent a signed copy to my old professor, Maggie Kimmel, along with a note. Maggie died in 2014. And while putting together this website, I came across a copy of the book and letter I sent her, in the catalogue of Common Crow Books in Pittsburgh. I sent them a note introducing myself and asking if I could see the letter. They kindly offered to send me the book and my letter. I have lots of copies of Mommy’s Lap. But this one is especially sweet.
Bat Time
Ages 4-7
Illustrated by Susan Avishai
Four Winds Press (1991)
Two bats flutter and turn in midair, looping and crossing. Another swings past like a black boomerang, too fast to follow. More waltz and hook, sweeping the sky: hungry bats showing off as they gather their insect feast.
“Can we look for bats now?”
As Leila finishes dinner, the world outside is also preparing for the night. At last it is dark enough for her favorite good-night ritual: bat time!
From their back porch, she and her father see a line of ducks, a star, and a skunk. But will they spot the fluttering bats when they come to gather their insect feat? Leila catches the first blur of wings…
Reviews
“Horowitz does a fine job of capturing a child’s fascination with nature and her single-mindedness as well…with a little girl who loves bats as its heroine, it’s a different kind of bedtime treat for family sharing.”
—School Library Journal
“A judiciously understated plea for this useful, misunderstood creature.” —Kirkus Reviews
The Story Behind the Story
People are often surprised to learn that as a picture book author, I usually have almost no contact with the illustrator. And the contact I do have is always indirect, through my editor. Bat Time has been an exception, after the fact.
Around the time that the book came out, the artist, Susan Avishai, sent me a copy to sign. Her follow-up letter gave me a rare glimpse at her process.
“I went around to three nursery schools before I found the right ‘Leila’ – I wanted an adorable but spunky little dark-haired girl who could ham things up and wouldn’t freeze before a camera. Furthermore, she had to have a Daddy who looked something like her, a deck, and a family who was willing to do all this….
“It was great fun showing the drawings and then later the book to the little girl. She wasn’t quite sure whether the girl in the story was her or “Leila,” and having posed in all those situations, what was reality and what was a storybook. But she like it a lot…and I think she was sad when our business of making this book was over.”
Years later, Susan and I reconnected on Facebook. In 2025, I posted a photo myself presenting Bat Time when it first came out. I was thrilled that Susan saw the picture, and posted a comment with updates on her models.
“The little girl I chose as Leila (which means “night” in Hebrew) later got a new sister and her folks named her Leila. Mr. Mackety was my neighbour, a well-known historian at Boston College. The dad didn’t have a beard but when he saw my drawings, he grew one!”
Leila and her dad were inspired by my daughter and my husband, who used to go out to look for bats before bedtime at our home in Vermont. I’m guessing that the Leila who posed for the pictures is about Sophie’s age. I wonder what she’s doing now, and how much she and Sophie have in common!