ARLO

Written by Sophia Gholz | Illustrated by MacKenzie Haley

 

ARLO works on the assembly line like the rest of the robots. But unlike the others, ARLO longs for something different. Then one day, a surprise changes everything. Follow this exciting adventure as ARLO discovers the unknown, learns home is where the metal heart is, and that “something different” can be created in many ways.

Meet Sophia Gholz

Sophia Gholz is an award-winning children’s book author, poet, magic seeker, and avid reader. Sophia enjoys writing fiction with humor and heart. When writing nonfiction, she pulls on her love of science and her strong family background in ecology. Since 2017, Sophia has helped oversee the Henry L. Gholz SEEDS National Field Trip Endowment for The Ecological Society of America, funding ecological field experiences for students. Sophia is the author of The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng, This is Your World: The Story of Bob Ross, Bug on the Rug, A History of Toilet Paper (And Other Potty Tools), Bear at the Fair, and more. When she’s not writing from her home base in Florida, you can find Sophia reading, visiting schools, or exploring the great outdoors with her family. For more, visit Sophia at: www.sophiagholz.com.

Hi Sophia, I’m so excited to be sharing the cover for your adorable book! Just look at that face! ARLO melts your heart! I’m also happy to be talking to you about how ARLO came to be and so much more. I can’t wait to get started!

Robots are both timeless and timely—and, of course, always kid-favorites!  What was the inspiration behind ARLO?

ARLO actually began as a writing exercise a decade ago, in May of 2014. At the time, the buzzword in the picture book world was “character,” and agents and editors were hungry for “character-driven pictures books.”

Now, I know authors aren’t supposed to write for the market. Instead, you write the story that suits you and hope it fits into the market. However, at that time I was still fresh to the world of picture book writing. I wasn’t agented or published. I was still learning how to craft a story and hadn’t studied much on character building. So, I took the buzzword of the day and decided I wanted to explore that idea. In doing so, I created a metal bot that longed to swim, but couldn’t because—as the line when in my original manuscript said—“His boots sink like bricks, his gears rust, and oil and water don’t mix.”

Similar to the ARLO of today, this original bot worked on a factory assembly line and longed for something different. But unlike ARLO, that original bot had eight arms (like an octopus) and because he loved water, I called him Robotopus. It took me over a decade, 60+ drafts, and so many different variations to finally find ARLO at the heart of this story. And that is exactly why you don’t write for the market and instead write for yourself. It wasn’t until I let go of what I thought this story needed to be and allowed it to become what it was naturally that it clicked.

Growing up, did you have a favorite robot character in books, TV, or movies? What was it about that robot that you liked best?

I’ve always been a huge techy/sci-fi and fantasy fan! One of my favorite childhood movies was called Flight of the Navigator. I loved that film as a kid and it definitely sparked my interest in out-of-this-world robots at a young age. Flash forward, my daughter was on a competitive robotics team in school and that continued to fuel my love. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out Disney’s WALL-E here. That little bot stole my heart from the get-go! In fact, I pitched ARLO’s story as “WALL-E meets The Wizard of Oz.”

Can you talk a little about the journey of this book from idea to publication?

Some books pour out in final form within a matter of hours. Other books take years. ARLO was one of the latter. The first draft was written in May of 2014. I’m one of those writers who likes to save all of their drafts as I revise in case I need to pull something from or revert back to a previous version of a story. So, it’s pretty easy for me to look back now and see exactly how this story changed and shifted over the years.

From the first draft, I fell in love with my little robot. I knew from the start he worked in an industrial factory, but needed nature and longed for something different. In those first drafts, my robot wanted to swim and he used his factory skills for building a suit to help him achieve that goal. That original story actually won an SCBWI Rising Kite Award in 2017. Still, I knew it was missing something. Like my little bot, the story longed for something more. I just couldn’t figure out what that was.

I eventually shelved this manuscript as I focused on other projects. But my bot lived on in my mind. Over the course of ten years, while I was in between other projects, I’d pull this manuscript out of the drawer and completely rework it again and again. Robotopus became Robbie, then Robotika, who morphed into Zigbee, then Ozzy, and ARO, who finally led me to ARLO.

It wasn’t until I let go of the idea of swimming (which I held onto for SOOOO long) and allowed ARLO to tell me what he wanted instead of me telling him, that his story finally poured out in late 2019. But in 2019, two things happened simultaneously: 1) my first book (a nonfiction book titled The Boy Who Grew a Forest) was released and 2) the pandemic struck. As a result, ARLO was shelved again, and it would be another two years before his story would be sent to editors for consideration.

When Sarah Rockett at Sleeping Bear Press made an offer, I jumped on it. I didn’t want the manuscript going anywhere else. Sleeping Bear makes such beautiful books and I knew Sarah really understood this character and the heart of ARLO’s journey.

Tell me about the first time you saw MacKenzie’s cover for ARLO.

I have loved MacKenzie’s art since I first saw it in The Scariest Kitten in the World. I was ecstatic when my editor, suggested MacKenzie as the artist to bring ARLO’s story to life. As soon as her name was floated, I couldn’t think of a better artist for this book.

When I first saw her cover sketch, I squealed in delight. I had no idea what to expect and Mackenzie completely nailed it. I mean, she really knew how to bring ARLO’s personality out and how to capture our little bot’s heart. I cannot wait for readers to immerse themselves in MacKezie’s art and ARLO’s world!

Since your first book The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadev Payeng was published in 2019, you’ve written about a beloved artist, a famous paleontologist, a bug in a rug, a hangry bear, and even the evolution of toilet paper. These books have been recognized with multiple state and national awards. What do these honors mean to you?

When I began writing, I set out to complete one book. That was my only goal. I was a hopeful writer who wanted to know if I was even capable of crafting or sharing a story I loved. The fact that some of those stories actually became books that have been received in the way they have, is far beyond my wildest dreams. To say I am incredibly grateful, would be a vast understatement.

To this day, each time I sit at my desk, I question again if I’m capable. As an artist, you hope other people will love your art the way you do but that is far from guaranteed. I completely panic every time I release a new book. No matter how much time passes from that first story, I’m still just that girl, sitting behind a keyboard, hoping to complete a manuscript and praying someone out there might like it.

The last time we chatted, you were just getting started as a published author. Your career has really taken off since then. What do like best about being a children’s author? What have you found to be the most surprising?

I’m thankful you’ve been on this journey with me since the start! It feels so good to be back on the blog with you now.

As an author, there is nothing more gratifying than having a reader connect with your story or your character in some way. I absolutely love hearing from readers or seeing the spark in their eyes when I visit them in schools or events. Honestly, there’s nothing better than that.

The most surprising has been navigating book bans and political controversy. When I heard A History of Toilet Paper had been banned in some circles or when I got word from PEN America that Bug on the Rug had been flagged in Florida a while back, I was floored. I’m over here just trying to share stories I love. Call me naïve, but I had no idea how much people might pick them apart in search of negativity.

From the pictures of school, bookstores, and workshop appearances on your website, it’s clear you and the kids have a blast when you visit. Can you talk a little about what you do during a school visit? 

I love visiting schools and hosting author events. This past year, unfortunately, I had to cancel most of my appearances as my daughter went through some very scary health issues. Thankfully, we are on the other side of that now and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with everyone!

I’m not an educator by nature (shout out to all the amazing teachers out there!!!) and don’t know much about school curriculums. So, for me, I love to talk with people about the art of storytelling and finding inspiration in everyday life. One of my favorite things to do is work with an audience to create a story in real time during a visit.

What are you hoping kids will take away from this book?

ARLO is ultimately about finding yourself, learning to embrace differences, and stepping outside of your comfort zone. I hope readers of all ages will find inspiration in ARLO’s adventure.

When can readers look forward to seeing ARLO on bookstore shelves? Do you have tour or other plans you’d like to share?

 ARLO will be released August 1^st, 2025 and is available now for preorder anywhere books are sold! Keep an eye out on my website for upcoming events and signings: sophiagholz.com.

Thanks, Sophia, for sharing so much about your journey with ARLO and your inspirations! It’s obvious that ARLO is very well loved!

Meet MacKenzie Haley

MacKenzie Haley is an award-winning illustrator born, raised, and living in Louisville, Kentucky with her two cats, Booger and Abby. She is the illustrator of Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid series, as well as A Book for Bear, and The Scariest Kitten in the World. When she’s not drawing or playing with her cats, she can be found spending time with her friends and family, and learning what’s currently “cool” from her twelve-year-old niece, and eight-year-old nephew. To learn more about MacKenzie and view adorable “bits and bobs,” comics, and more, visit her at mackenziehaley.com. 

Hi Haley! I just fell in love with ARLO the moment I saw him, so I’m thrilled to get to talk to you about how you brought ARLO to life and all the considerations that go into creating illustrations for a picture book. I’ve also gotta know about the kitties you’ve fostered, but let’s start with ARLO.

What drew you to this project?

When I first got the ARLO manuscript, I immediately appreciated the idea of this little robot having the very human experience of daily mundanity. No matter how much we love our day job, our family, our friends, sometimes the day-to-day gets hard and we lose ourselves in that daily grind. The fact that ARLO is literally swept away into a whole new world, specifically into nature, was a reminder that as humans we can get stuck in our day-to-day existence, and begin to take things for granted, to let ourselves get run down. It reminded me that we need to go outside and appreciate the natural world around us. Take time to breathe and experience nature. When we do that, we bring some of that back into our daily lives, and it can change our daily experiences for the better, just like it does for ARLO.

Can you describe your process in creating and choosing this endearing cover image?

To start with, I’ve had good and not-so-good experiences in the past creating covers. I guess every illustrator has! In my earlier years I had publishers shut down my ideas for the cover and want me to just create their vision. When that would happen, the end result was usually not something I was happy with, or that I felt served the book very well. In more recent years I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some wonderful publishers and art directors who value my input and let me explore ideas and take the lead.

Creating the cover for ARLO was a really great example of the collaboration between myself and the publisher/art director/editor. Looking back, I can see I started the cover a bit more guarded than I realized. I can get too attached to my ideas, and sometimes feel like I’m losing my voice in how an image turns out when someone asks me to make certain changes that I’m not sure about at first.

Working with Sleeping Bear Press taught me that there is a good balance to be struck between having an idea you really like, and leaving room for creative feedback and space for positive changes. Not to be so precious with my ideas or images, so that when suggestions are made with a good team, I can step back and really hear what they are saying and work that into the cover vision. For example, I initially kept making ARLO too small in the cover sketches I was creating. So Jennifer took the time to talk with me on the phone and explain what they were looking for, and we were able to come up with an image that really showcases the main character, while hinting at the world he discovers in the story. I learned a lot throughout this process, and I’m really grateful for their endless patience with me.

Did you always want to be a children’s illustrator? How did your career begin?

Growing up, money was really tight. There was a time when my mom and dad didn’t buy themselves any new clothes for two years, but they made sure that I always had a full bookcase and a constantly growing little library of my own. I treasured those books and carry that love of books with me today. Each book was a little world I could explore and get lost in.

That being said, growing up I never realized you could make a living creating art. There was no one in my family’s sphere who did that, and I just didn’t know it was a possibility. I kept making art as I grew up though, and learned that there were jobs as artists. I got my BFA with an emphasis in illustration from The University of Dayton in 2002. While I always loved children’s books, I had no idea how to get into that field, so I cast my net wide and tried to get any and all illustration freelance jobs I could. I had a day job this whole time because my freelance income wasn’t paying my bills.

Around 2005 or 2006 I realized I needed to focus on one aspect of illustration. I had no idea how difficult the children’s book market was to break into, so I naively chose that, haha! I’ve heard it said that you don’t know what you can’t do if no one ever tells you. So I worked on my portfolio, submitted to agents, got rejected, worked on my portfolio some more, submitted again, and got rejected. I kept doing this, improving each round, until I finally got an agent in 2017. I was able to quit my day job in 2018 and have been illustrating children’s books full time ever since then!

What have you found to be the most rewarding aspect of being a children’s illustrator?

Seeing a book completed at the very end is such an incredible feeling and makes all the hard work worth every minute. To know that the author and I created this brand new thing where nothing existed before is an amazing feeling. The other most rewarding thing is hearing from parents or kids themselves about how much a book means to them, how much they like a book or what kind of impact it’s had on them. I remember being little and how important books were to me, how much I cherished them. I feel honored that I am able to be a part of children’s lives like that.

When you are given a manuscript for a picture book, what are your first considerations and how do you go about creating a detailed world for the story?

When I first get a manuscript, I read through it a number of times without trying to make any decisions, to just absorb the story. When I first started illustrating books, I didn’t really know what I was doing or have any kind of plan. That’s changed throughout the years, learning what works best for me and seeing what helps me create the best books I can.

For ARLO, I took a more holistic approach, considering characters, color palettes, emotional tones and shifts. The first thing a publisher usually wants are sketches for the main characters. This was the case with ARLO, but for this story I took it further. I listed all of the characters, distilled the main message of the story, and noted what the characters were feeling and when, along with the major emotional shifts in the book. The robots are characters in this story, but I also considered the two worlds or environments as characters as well—the factory and nature. I wanted a color shift to occur throughout the book. The factory was created using almost exclusively neutral colors, with a pop of bright blue here and there, hinting at the natural world ARLO would explore later (the bird he follows in the story is bright blue).

The shift from neutrals in the factory to an explosion of bright, bold colors in nature was really important. The neutrals portray the mundanity of ARLO’s daily life in the beginning of the story, and at the end when he has learned from his adventure, he brings the brightness from nature into the factory, and we see neutrals and bright colors together, indicating in a visual way how ARLO’s and the robots’ daily lives are more fulfilling and happy now. Colors carry such emotional weight, and my hope is that the reader feels this as they progress through the story.

What was your favorite part of creating ARLO’s world?

My favorite part was creating ARLO himself. I had so much fun playing with basic shapes and forms and fun little details, such as the little compartments he has and what tools would pop out of them. But I also loved creating the outside world almost as much as ARLO. To make the flowers, I scanned in hand-painted swatches of watercolor, collaged shapes from them digitally in photoshop, and then drew on top of those shapes. I got to explore a lot and try several different things to see what worked best and what I was happiest with. It was a really fun process! I think the watercolor texture is a good contrast to the sleek metallics of the factory world.

Your bio on your website reveals that you’ve fostered around twelve cats and are a cat mom to two. How did you begin fostering cats? Your illustrations of cats are so adorable and true to cats’ goofy and sweet personalities. Do you use your own cats as inspiration? Will readers be meeting any kitties in ARLO?

I fostered my first kitties 13 or 14 years ago. At the time Louisville Metro’s animal shelter system had a really high kill rate. I didn’t have much money to donate, and they said the next best thing was to foster. They have food banks to cover that cost, and local vets who spay/neuter the cats for free, and take care of deworming, fleas, etc. I walked into the shelter that first day, having one cat at home, thinking to myself “okay, you get to foster one cat.” I ended up walking out of there with a huge crate holding a mom cat and her five one-day-old kittens. I obviously didn’t stick to my plan! I had asked them what their most immediate or urgent case was, expecting maybe a difficult or older cat. When they introduced me to mom cat and her kittens though, I couldn’t say no. I’m a sucker for kitties!

I definitely use my own cats for inspiration. The kitten in The Scariest Kitten in the World is basically my white cat, Booger. She’s so goofy and playful. She was one of the kittens in that first foster group I had, so I’ve known her since she was one day old. She would crawl up on my lap while I was working on an illustration and fall asleep, while the other kittens were playing with each other. I fell in love immediately. I think the situation is more that I’m her human, rather than that she is my cat. I adore her. There aren’t any kitties in ARLO. I should have tried to sneak one in! But there are some woodland creatures the readers will see along the way!

What would you like readers to take with them from your illustrations for ARLO?

I think I would like them to take away the idea of what an amazing wonder nature is, what a gift we have right in front of us, and what it can add to all of our lives. Just being outside for even five minutes a day, breathing in fresh air, feeling the sun on your skin, it all makes such a huge difference. I think it’s something humans crave and need to be whole and happy.

Thank you so much, MacKenzie, for this wonderful, in-depth look at your career in illustration and your process in creating ARLO’s world! I’m so looking forward to August 1, when readers everywhere will be able to bring ARLO home with them.

If you’re as eager to read ARLO as I am, you can preorder the book at these booksellers and from Sleeping Bear Press. ARLO will be released on August 1.

Sleeping Bear Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop (to support your local independent bookstore)

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