Amy Freund‘s debut picture book is Amigo the Capybara, illustrated by Kooky Chooky. Today we’re thrilled to be chatting with Amy about capybaras, writing in rhyme, and how she came to write the book.
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Amigo the Capybara.
From the publisher:
Amigo the capybara loves to party! But his neighbour, Mila the chinchilla, definitely does not. Will Amigo’s biggest performance yet be enough to win Mila over?
A capybara is an unusual creature; how did a capybara come to feature as your main character?
It all started a few years ago when I was playing a game and a capybara was one of the characters. I thought they were so cute and funny! But nobody I spoke to really knew what they were, until about a year ago when suddenly capybaras blew up on social media for being friends with all kinds of strange and unusual creatures. That was when I started to think about Amigo’s story and what a day in the life of an extroverted capybara would be like.
Are you more like Amigo the capybara (who likes a noisy party), or Mila the Chinchilla (who prefers a quiet siesta)?
I am definitely more of an Amigo. I LOVE fiestas, noise and having my house full of people! But, my fiancé is definitely a Mila, so I’m sure he wishes I was less like Amigo sometimes!
Kooky Chooky’s illustrations are bright and humorous. Did you work with the illustrator during the book’s creation, or did you work independently on the text and illustrations?
Amy Lee’s (Kooky Chooky’s) Illustrations are amazing! She did such a fantastic job bringing Amigo and Mila to life. I actually worked independently from Amy, as I wrote Amigo’s story almost a year before it was picked up by the publisher. But I was very lucky that the publisher found Amy, and she used the story and her imagination to come up with all the illustrations.
Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to try writing in rhyme?
Rhyme can be very tricky to write, I still find it difficult! My best advice would be to choose the simplest and easiest words to rhyme with in your sentences. Think words with one or two syllables. For example, we might decide to write a story about a puppy wearing a hat. ‘Hat’ is one syllable – nice and easy. So, the first sentence of our book might say something like: ‘Roman is a puppy who loves silly hats’. I would then start listing words that rhyme with ‘hats’: cats, pats, mats, rats. Out of this list, I think ‘cats’ makes the most sense, because dogs and cats are always at odds! So, I would then write the second sentence, making sure I use the word ‘cats’ as the rhyming word: ‘But they’re always stolen by naughty cats!’ What else could happen with puppies in silly hats and thieving, naughty cats?! If you keep the rhyme simple, the story will write itself!
Another important part of a good rhyme is, of course, getting the rhythm right. This can be really hard, but if you read your rhyme out loud and clap per syllable, you will be able to hear where your sentences are too long/too fast, and can fix them up.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’m going to write a sequel to Amigo the Capybara. This time, I think Mila and Amigo should have a fun adventure, like go on a trip to Brazil, or even have a sleepover. I think their different personalities will make for lots of funny stories, as they are so opposite, anything can happen!
Amigo the Capybara is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
AWESOME EXTRAS
Take a sneak peek inside Amigo the Capybara
Do you live in Victoria? Come to the book launch on November 24!
Visit Kooky Chooky’s website for more about the illustrations in the book
alphabetsoup.net.au 