As some of you know, the latest (yay!) and final (wah!) Melvin Beederman, Superhero adventure was released this week.  As you may also know, this series was my entry into the children’s book field.

Here’s a little history of the series…

Years ago I had written a picture book called Superhero Bob about a superhero who loses his cape at the dry cleaners.  A little girl, who has the lead role in her school’s production of Little Red Riding Hood, gets it by mistake.  He loses his powers; she gains them, just as the bad guys bust out of prison.  The manuscript was rejected, then sat on my desk for five years until I realized that it needed more room.  I wrote it in chapters, called it Melvin Beederman and the Curse of the Bologna Sandwich—and lucky me—it was picked up by Henry Holt and Company and made into a series.  I thought I was writing a stand-alone book, but my publisher had other ideas.  Smart other ideas.

Here’s what Rhode Montijo, the illustrator of the eight Melvin books has to say on the experience, and he reveals a secret about the series that very few know.