Wake up, everyone! The cover for Everyone's Sleepy but the Baby is here! The team at Familius put together an adorable cover. I am incredibly excited about the way illustrator Adèle Dafflon brought these exhausted parents to life, and designer Carlos Guerrero pulled the words and text together beautifully.
There's a very special story behind the sleepy dog on the cover. You might want to get your tissues ready before reading on.
While I was revising this book with Familius editors Laurie Duersch and Brooke Jorden, I found out my beloved dog Ollie had terminal cancer. When I told Brooke and Laurie, they offered to send some pictures of Ollie to the illustrator to see if she might include a dog that looked like him.
Sweet Ollie passed away in December, leaving a gaping hole in our family. I still missed him terribly in July, when the first draft of this cover landed in my inbox.
Whew, I was glad I wasn't in public, because I needed a moment to be emotional when I saw it!
Ollie was a rescue dog my husband and I (okay, mostly me!) adopted a few years before getting married. He was best known for stealing food from the table, rolling on feet, and endless games of fetch. He always brought a smile to our faces (even when he somehow ate a whole batch of freshly baked muffins out of their LATCHED container). I will forever be sad that he won't get to see my daughter grow into a little kid, and forever glad that he will live on in the pages of Everyone's Sleepy but the Baby.
Ollie was a huge part of my inspiration for writing Everyone's Sleepy but the Baby, because I was always so frustrated when I had to wake up in the middle of the night to tend to baby Ava and Ollie remained happily snoozing away! To his credit, he would often wake up and follow me into her room, where he would then curl up at my feet and slumber.
Here's a picture of Ollie with my family below.
Photo credit: Borrowed Blue Photography
Not only is Ollie dog on the cover of Everyone's Sleepy but the Baby, you can find him on most of the internal pages, too!
I am so glad he is on the cover of this book.
There's another special story here: if you preorder the book and send me a receipt, I will donate a copy to ShareBaby, a Baltimore-based charity that gives baby items to families in need. Just forward your receipt to tcgpreorders@gmail.com. You can find more information about the preorder campaign on my website.
You can preorder the book at the following places:
Find out more about me, Tracy C. Gold:
tracycgold.com (sign up for my newsletter for events and giveaways)
Find out more about illustrator Adèle Dafflon on Instagram @adeledafflon