Hello!Lucky’s new book is magical!

Bringing Hello!Lucky’s sunny and punny illustrations online is one of our happiest achievements. We now get to celebrate yet another new medium for their genius: children’s books! On the eve of their newest release, My Mom is Magical, and its sequel, My Dad is Amazing, we spoke to Eunice and Sabrina Moyle, the sister act behind Hello!Lucky. We asked about their favorite children’s books (other than their own, of course) and the artistry behind their adorable and exuberant world.

What made you want to create kids books?

We love the fact that children’s books usually teach simple but profound life lessons. Often these are the basic things that we forget as we grow up—things like being kind and caring—but that are key to leading a happy, fulfilled life. It is so much fun to revisit these ideas through the eyes of children! Children and parents both benefit from reading them.  

We also love that children’s books have to be both entertaining and emotionally true to keep a child coming back to read it again and again. It’s a super-fun challenge to come up with ideas that are fresh, inspiring, funny, and deep at the same time.

Image courtesy of Hello!Lucky

What was your inspiration behind the book?

The inspiration behind My Dad is Amazing and its counterpart, My Mom is Magical, is the relationship and bond between parents and young children. Kids idolize their parents—they are these huge, magical, larger than life figures in a child’s life. Yet, parents often feel anything BUT magical—they are often anxious and haggard from juggling all their responsibilities. We wanted to affirm to parents how wonderful and inspiring they truly are, as well as help kids cheer their parents on! At the end of each book, kids get to hear from their parents that they are magical, too, which is a great sentiment right before bedtime. In short, these books are intended to be a big warm fuzzy to parents and kids everywhere. (Aww.)

“Yeti Party” by Hello!Lucky, Image courtesy of Hello!Lucky

How did you come up with the characters (especially the yeti)?

The yeti was inspired by a Father’s Day card idea. We wanted to write a card that said “Dad, You’re Unbelievable!” and were looking for unbelievable things that could illustrate the point. A yeti popped into our minds and the card was born! Our editor at Abrams loved the card so much that she asked us to pitch a children’s book based on it, so we wrote Dad, You’re Unbelievable. Mom, You’re Magical was a natural companion. We are so excited by how these two books turned out and have many more in store! We used the same yeti for our Paperless Post “Yeti to Party” invite, because we just can’t get enough of him :).

What are some particularly fun stories you remember from childhood—did you two ever get up to hijinx together as siblings?

Ha! Too many to count! We were entrepreneurs from an early age. Our mom was a fashionista and an Avon salesperson, and we used to borrow her costume jewelry and makeup samples and set up shop in the spare room. She and our grandmother would graciously buy back their belongings. Our dad, on the other hand, is a jokester and would, with a straight face ask, to buy store fixtures that were absolutely not on sale, like a ballpoint pen—it certainly taught us that different customers have different tastes!

What are your favorite kids’ books?

Too many to name! Here are just a few of our all-time favorites:

Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus and Jose Aruego,

Crictor the Boa Constrictor by Tomi Ungerer,

Sparkle and Spin by Ann Rand and Paul Rand,

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, by Judi Barret and Ronald Barret,

The Cat At Night by Dahlov Ipcar,

Kel Gilligan’s Daredevil Stunt Show by Michael Buckley and Dan Santat,

The Three Questions by John J. Muth,

the Ordinary People Change the World series by Brad Meltzer,

the George and Martha books by James Marshall,

and the Calvin and Hobbes comics by Bill Watterson.

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Parent-designed, kid-approved: Hello!Lucky’s illustrations are great in a book and even better on an invitation or greeting card.