A Closer Look
The Story Behind the Story
The idea for SPIKE, THE MIXED-UP MONSTER came from this photo. I was reading a photography book about baby animals—kittens, puppies, calves, and cubs—when I turned the page to find this! What in the world?
Since I used to work for Sesame Street my first thought was, “It looks like a Muppet!” I couldn’t believe this impossibly cute, freckle-faced creature was a real animal. Further research revealed that it is an axolotl (pronounced AK-suh-laa-tl) a critically endangered salamander that lives in one lake in the world —Lake Xochimilco in the heart of Mexico City. It’s known as the Peter Pan of animals, because it never grows up. While other types of salamanders lose their gills and develop lungs to live on land, axolotls live their whole lives as youthful water babies.
The story gets better. It turns out that the axolotl is crucial to science and medicine because…get this...it can regrow damaged body parts, including its legs, tail, toes, parts of its brain and spinal cord. Given this backstory and a Mad Magazine connection, I thought there must be a million books about axolotls, but a quick check online at the time revealed only a pet owner’s guide. I knew had to write about it! When the manuscript was finished, I got excellent feedback about it, which gave me the courage to submit it to agents. I signed with Brenda Bowen and the book went to auction with three publishing houses bidding on it!
Spike cake by Karen Jordan
