And then sometimes books happen very (relatively) quickly

So, I was talking about how long these books can take, right? Of course, then, this past Thursday’s edition of PW Children’s Bookshelf contained this announcement:

The way that 88 Instruments has come together is far different from how my John Roy Lynch or Nutcracker books developed.

In March of last year, editor Julia Maguire let it be known that she’d be interested in a picture book about a child picking which instrument to learn. I had not yet written any such picture book, and it wasn’t un...