
BBB: What inspired you to become an author/illustrator?
A.S. My family is my main inspiration. We love to tell stories and from a very early age I was encouraged to create and explore my own worlds and characters. My grandmother in particular was a tremendous storyteller and would often entertain me and my siblings by weaving fantastic tall tales.

AS: The World’s Crummiest Umbrella is inspired by actual events, though in reality, there was no crummy umbrella. There was, however, a huge tantrum and some hurt feelings. The incident obviously had a profound effect on me and taught me a valuable life lesson. My mother deserves a medal for raising me so the least I could do was dedicate the book to her.
BBB: What do you think children will enjoy most about your book?
AS: Children are extremely intelligent and intuitive so I think they will enjoy the story most of all. It’s not every day you get to read a silly story about a crummy umbrella! I think they will probably giggle at the humorous illustrations too. It’s like Maurice Sendak said, "There's so much more to a book than just the reading."

AS: Currently I’m working on my next picture book as well as several other stories for children’s books in varying stages of development. I’m also in the process of creating and developing animated series for television.
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
AS: To learn more about me and my work, I invite readers to visit my website at http://alexschumacherart.com/. There, interested parties can see a varied sampling of my work to date, and find status updates and news on upcoming projects.