MR. PIG LIVE. . . with Ella and Penguin!

Hello, all you lovely readers out there. Welcome back to my award-winning daytime talk show. . . 

MR. PIG LIVE! 

(*Applause*)

Today's guests are friends of a feather. 
They stick together—
through thick and thin,
rain and shine,
in light... and even... in the DARK!

Please give a warm Crooked Cottage welcome to. . . 

ELLA AND PENGUIN! 

(*Applause*)

Ella and Penguin are the stars of Megan Maynor's debut picture book ELLA AND PENGUIN STICK TOGETHER, illustrated by Rosalinde Bonnet.

Let's introduce ourselves, shall we? I'm your host, Mr. Pig. What are your full names? 
Penguin: This is my friend Ella.
Ella: And this is my friend Penguin.

Now onto more pressing questions: Do you have belly buttons?
Ella: Yes. See?
Penguin: *checks tummy* Ah! Oh no! Ella, I LOST my belly button! Ahhh! Where did it go?!

Ahem, lets change the subject. What's the best thing about being you?
Ella: Having Penguin for a friend. I do all the best things with Penguin.
Penguin: Snuggling with Ella.

What's the worst thing about being you?
Ella: I am not tall enough to reach all the things we need for our plans.
Penguin: Sometimes Ella has to do things—gulp—without me.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you bring?
Penguin: Fish, fish crackers, gummy fish, and fish sticks.
Ella: Penguin

What is your idea of the perfect day?
Ella: Dance with Penguin. Put on a show with Penguin. Build a fort with Penguin. Make a snack with Penguin. Sing with Penguin. Snuggle with Penguin.
Penguin: Wake up. Play with Ella. Eat snacks. Take a bath for a hundred hours. Put on footie pajamas. Snuggle with Ella.

illustration (c) 2016 Rosalinde Bonnet

What are you reading right now?
Ella: The ABC book.
Penguin: I’m still learning, so Ella reads to me.

What is your favorite word?
Ella: Tah-dah!
Penguin: Ella.

What is you least favorite word?
Ella: Bath time.
Penguin: Bedtime.

What is your favorite sound?
Ella: The kind of music that’s good for twirling and leaping.
Penguin: The freezer door opening.

What is your least favorite sound?
Ella: Penguin crying.
Penguin: *sniff*. Oh, that’s so sad. *sniff* I hope I never hear that sound! Oh, boo hoo hoo!

Share one thing that most of our readers don’t know about you.
Penguin: I am an expert at rolling down hills.
Ella: I’ve seen him. He’s very good.

If you could dine with three characters from other books, who would they be?
Ella and Penguin: Frog & Toad, Cowboy & Octopus, George & Martha. (There are two of us, so we each picked three.)

If a genie gave you one wish, what would you wish for?
Ella: That kind of finger paint that has glitter in it.
Penguin: Fish sticks. In a box that was never empty. Never-ending fish sticks.

If you have a pocket, what is in it right now? 
Ella: A sticker, a stone, half a crayon, two candies, and some yarn.
Penguin: Ah! I also lost my pocket! First my belly button, now my pocket?! Everything is lost! Oh boo hoo hoo!
Ella: It’s okay, Penguin. I’ll share what’s in my pocket.
Penguin: *sniff* Thank you.

illustration (c) 2016 Rosalinde Bonnet

What did you eat for breakfast this morning?
Ella: My special recipe: Yogurt mixed with cereal.
Penguin: Toast cut into the shape of a fish.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Penguin: When I got my head stuck in a lampshade.
Ella: When I called Penguin “Mom.” Remember that?
Ella and Penguin: Ahhhh! Mom! Hahahahah! (both fall over laughing)

What is your pet peeve?
Ella: People who think Penguin is cute.
Penguin: I’m not cute?
Ella: Oh no. You ARE cute. But you’re not JUST cute. Some people think you are only cute and not important. And you are EXTREMELY important.
Penguin: *nods* Extremely. *whispers* (What does “extremely” mean?)

What was it like working with Megan Maynor?
Ella: Exhausting. She had us go on SO MANY adventures before she settled on one for the book.
Penguin: She still owes me some fish sticks.

Fish sticks are delicious! Speaking of delicious, our caterer, Nina, from Mamabelly's Lunches with Love, has whipped up a delightful Literary Lunch for us today. Scroll down or click here, for a peek at her scrumptious creation!

Megan Maynor is a former advertising copywriter and author of picture books ELLA AND PENGUIN STICK TOGETHER and ELLA AND PENGUIN: A PERFECT MATCH (coming 2017), both from HarperCollins Children’s Books. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and three children.

For more about Megan and her books, visit her website: http://www.meganmaynor.com.

Rosalinde Bonnet loved to draw when she was little. She would often get into trouble in school because she doodled all over her notebooks during class. After high school, she studied at the Versailles School of Fine Arts for two years then at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris for another four years. Since her graduation in 2004, she has written and/or illustrated numerous children's books published in France, in England and in the United States.

Visit Rosalinde's website: http://www.rosalindebonnet.com to see more of her work!

* Praise for Ella and Penguin Stick Together:

"Maynor, making her debut, backs up her perceptive premise with solid comic writing; even though Ella and Penguin’s search for a nonscary, semidark viewing environment proves unsuccessful, their attempts (which include sitting under a laundry basket and shielding the stickers from the light with frog- and bear-shaped umbrellas) have the authentic ring of kid ingenuity at work. Working in watercolor and pencil, Bonnet (Poppy’s Perfect Paper) makes the repartee between the friends natural and appealing, and when Ella and Penguin finally screw their courage to the sticking place and enter the closet, the unleashed glowing is a payoff worth waiting for. " 
—Publishers Weekly