This was my first kid’s book. When I wrote it, I was part of a musical theater workshop and thinking a lot about lyrics and rhymes. On the train one day, I began to brainstorm a list of rhyming animals and foods. Over the next few weeks, I added more and more rhymes to the list. Around that time, we bought our current apartment in downtown Manhattan. One day I got stuck there waiting for a contractor who he never showed up. The apartment was almost completely empty: just a mattress and a light from the former owner. Alone in my new home with a lot of free time and no distractions, I began to assemble the rhymes into a story. The next day I returned to the apartment and finished the rough draft. I read the story aloud to try to find pleasing rhythms and sounds. After putting together the story, I read it to several friends (young and old) to refine it.

If you read the book aloud, you’ll probably hear the influence of one of my favorite authors: Dr. Seuss. When I was a kid, I read Fox in Socks so many times that I still know most of it by heart.