To say it's about time I caught up with my decade-long friend, author, and illustrator Mike Ciccotello is an understatement! But I got lucky because I got to talk to him about Leonard Builds a Haunted House, and I'm nothing if not a big fan of spooky mixed with humor. It's my absolute pleasure to present that interview to you all today!
About the book:
Leonard the cheerful, can-do ghost is building his family members a new haunted house. It needs to be the scariest house EVER! Except the more Leonard builds, the less creepy their new home looks. From the un-scary cellar to the snug roof that doesn’t leak, it’s nothing like the house of horrors his family imagined . . . or is it?
Peek underneath the dust jacket:
And check out the endpapers:
Let's talk Mike Ciccotello!
MC: I went through several ideas trying to figure out who this ghost character was. Not in a past life kind of way, because I think of Leonard as a ghost character in the present. I was trying to figure out what makes him tick, and his vision. After I tried writing his story wearing a bunch of different hats, a construction hat was the one that reveled who Leonard truly was. He is a maker, an artist, a builder. He has a vision, and he will always see it through with his can-do attitude. Once he on put that hat, I knew what he was building and how this story would go.
LTPB: Am I remembering correctly this book is part of a series? Can you talk a little bit about the visual evolution of this series? As you got to know the characters, how did your illustrations evolve?
MC: Leonard Builds a Haunted House is part of a series. I created the first book as a stand-alone but was pleasantly surprised when the editor reached out for me to pitch another idea for a follow-up. The first book was such a fun introduction of the characters, but I leaned into their personalities a bit more in the second. I was able to spend more time with the characters and developed a stronger sense of their body language and facial expressions. It’s a fun world and characters to play with. I would welcome the opportunity to go further into this world.
LTPB: What did you find most difficult in creating this book? What did you find most rewarding?
MC: Finding the story was definitely the most difficult part. As I mentioned, I went through several ideas before figuring out who Leonard truly was. Once I figured that out, the story built itself around him. I think the most rewarding part was the collaboration with the team at FSG and my kids. I truly enjoy collaborating throughout the picture book making process. I love bouncing ideas back and forth and thinking things through. For this book, I got my boys involved with character development, cover design, fonts, and even deciding on paper. It feels so good to look at this book and know how collaboration played into the development and creation of the finished product.
LTPB: What did you use to create the illustrations in this book? Is this your preferred medium? How does your process change from book to book?
MC: I work digitally in Procreate for my books. It allows me to work on my books when I travel or be around my family when everyone is lounging out in the living room. But I’ve wanted to bring more handmade texture into my work for some time. I had a great conversation with an author-illustrator at a conference a couple years ago. We were discussing techniques of blending traditional made textures into digital work. I started experimenting and really enjoyed the result. I have this ginormous sketchpad I used for this book. I call it THE BIG BOOK OF LEONARD. I packed everything into that sketchbook–notes, ideas, sketches, thumbnails, etc. I brought it to the playground when I picked up my kids from school and all their friends gathered around to watch me draw and add in little ideas for the ghosts. It’s a great collection. Anyway, I started sketching in a red pencil when working on this book. It’s such a waxy smooth feeling when the colored pencil glides across the paper, and sketching in red allows me to be a little looser with my line. I find I’m not as worried about making things perfect. I was able to scan a lot of those drawings, import them into Procreate and finish them digitally.
LTPB: What are you working on now? Anything you can show us?
MC: I recently completed, Leonard Grows a Haunted Garden, which comes out in January, 2026. Here’s a look at one of my favorite moments in the book.
Oh, and I believe by the time this interview has published another project I’m working on will have been announced, so let’s take a peek at two characters from my upcoming book, LION LOOKS. It will be in the I CAN READ line of books published at Holiday House, January 2027.
LTPB: If you got the chance to write your own picture book autobiography, who (dead or alive!) would you want to illustrate it, and why?
MC: Oh, wow! There are so many illustrators I love, but I think I would really love to see it illustrated by David Roberts. I admire his work so much. I think it would be interesting to see how he would illustrate my many cats, my joy of jazz piano, and my time as a mime.
A BIG thanks to my buddy Mike for taking time to talk about this ghostly book! Leonard Builds a Haunted House published earlier this month from Farrar, Straus and Giroux!
Special thanks to Mike and FSG for use of these images!
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