The Picture Book Buzz - Interview w/Lynn Becker and Review of Ghost Town in the Mountains

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Lynn Becker has been a reader and creator all her life. When she’s not writing picture books or children’s book reviews, you can find her hiking, gardening, or reading about monsters, witches, and ghosts (but not zombies). She also enjoys putting books in the Wee Free Library outside her home in Colorado.

Photo of author Lynn Becker sitting on a rock by a snowy mountain trail.

For additional information about Lynn, see our earlier interviews (here) and (here).

Collage of the covers of Lynn's two books.

Lynn is the author of Monsters in the Briny, illustrated by Scott Brundage, which won the Colorado Authors League Award for Best Picture Book, was a Bank Street College Best Book, and was one of Betsy Bird/SLJ’s Picture Book Readalouds for 2022. June Moon, a board book illustrated by Nate Carvalho, followed in 2024.

Her newest picture book, Ghost Town in the Mountains, released on June 15^th.

Welcome back Lynn,

Hi Maria, thank you so much for having me back again! And thank you for all the work you do to showcase picture books and their creators!

What has been the most interesting or odd experience (you’re willing to share) of your children’s literature career so far?

How about interesting, odd, and wonderful? I went into my bank recently and a woman who worked there told me she was just back from a vacation in Jamaica with her 4-year-old son. She described how he was bobbing in the ocean and belting out the words to Monsters in the Briny! As someone who is committed to writing fun books for kids that will hopefully encourage them to enjoy reading on their own, this was an emotional moment for me. I’ve heard stories about kids reciting June Moon from memory, too, and these are truly reasons to write and moments to live for.

Oh my gosh, what a great moment indeed! What was your inspiration or spark of curiosity for Ghost Town in the Mountains?

Book cover - two kids and their dog walk down a wooden trail to an old town in the mountains, as ghosts pop out from the trees watching them.

Monsters in the Briny was a joy to create, from start to finish, and after it was picked up by Sleeping Bear Press I thought it would be great to follow up with another picture book manuscript based on a song. But I really wanted to find a connection between song and content—a reason to change the words to something kid-friendly that also makes sense. Monsters in the Briny is a sea shanty about sea monsters and, for my next book, I wanted something that felt as inherently connected. It took a while for me to come up with something inspiring, a lot longer than I would have thought. But one evening it hit me—a ghost town that’s actually full of ghosts, and with it, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” popped into my head. And there it was!

Fun how inspiration (or the muse) just seems to have its own time table. How many drafts, or revisions did Ghost Town in the Mountains take from idea spark to publication? Did you find this “song-based” picture book easier or harder to write or revise than Monsters in the Briny?

My stories typically take lots of revisions, but as I’ve said here previously, Monsters in the Briny was kind of a magical experience in how quickly it came together following the initial idea. Ghost Town in the Mountains was similarly fast compared to my non-song-based manuscripts. Once I had the foundation, “scrim-scram,” I was on my way! It was a process, as all writing is, but this particular kind comes fairly easily to me, probably because I enjoy it so much.

So maybe we'll get more of these fun song twists. How did you come up with these riffs on these songs? What was the biggest challenge in writing picture books based on well-known songs? What ended up being the toughest aspect of writing Ghost Town in the Mountains?

Once I have the subject and the song, I take some time to come up with a storyline. For a book about ghost towns, it didn’t take long to think of the chapter book by Alvin Schwartz and Dirk Zimmer, In a Dark, Dark Room, (which, by the way, has the dreaded Green Ribbon story as one of its chapters). I reread it, along with other variations, including Ruth Brown’s A Dark Dark Tale, and The Teeny-Tiny Woman, by Paul Galdone, and books with similar atmosphere, like The Ghost Eye Tree, by Bill Martin, Jr, John Archambault, and Ted Rand. Once I had a structure that would work for me, I walked a lot and played with words. The biggest challenge? Definitely finding that song-subject pairing that inspired me to dive in.

I think you and illustrator Roland Garrigue did such a great job with the spooky, young kid friendly ghost town! What was the most fun or fascinating part of writing Ghost Town in the Mountains?

After I found my story arc, I was free to be as silly as I wanted, as long as it was in service of the narrative. I love playing around on a word level, and these books are the result of working and reworking to get rid of a lot of the repetition that happens in songs (thank you, critique partners!) and pushing the word and rhyme choices to be as interesting as possible (thank you again, critique partners!). I walk first thing in the morning, and this kind of rhythmic writing works really well for me outdoors. I focus on a stanza or two, and being in motion seems to free me up to play and think outside the box. I enjoy it so much that revising these kinds of texts over and over is actually something I look forward to.

Interesting. Did anything surprise or amaze you when you first got to see Roland Garrigue’s illustrations? What is your favorite spread?

I knew Roland loves doing scary illustrations, I think all of his books have monsters of some sort in them, but of course seeing his art bring Ghost Town in the Mountains to life was an extraordinary thrill. His colors printed gorgeously, including what Kirkus calls “lurid pinks and purples,” and he added so many details for readers to pore over. I especially love the dragon on the first spread, but the skeleton dancing makes me laugh every time. Even the title page with the owl makes me chuckle.

Internal spread - two kids and their dog walk down the street of a haunted town, with four ghosts and a ghost horse watch them and misty shapes swoop past.

Text © Lynn Becker, 2026. Image © Roland Garrigue, 2026.

A favorite? SO difficult. Maybe the second spread where the kids are walking along Main Street and the adventure is still ahead of them. (If so, a strong second would be near the end when they’re skedaddling down the stairs, the colors are perfect and there are ghosts and a cat and all the sounds!)

What's something you want your readers to know about or gain from Ghost Town in the Mountains?

I absolutely want young readers to know that reading is fun, rhyming is fun, music is fun, sometimes being a little scared is fun, and being safe at home after the scare is fun, too! Also, there are books that will appeal to every person, no matter how old or young, so keep searching till you find the right books for you, and then search some more.

That's awesome! Are there any projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

I’m always working on new book projects, both rhyming and prose, and I’ll let you know when I have news I can share!

Best of luck on these projects. Last question, who is your literary hero or heroine, living or dead? Why?

I would have to go with Cassandra Mortmain from one of my all-time favorite books, I Capture the Castle. Cassandra is seventeen, an aspiring writer living in a broken down old castle in England with her sister Rose, her father who’s a writer (struggling, with one hugely successful novel in his distant past), and their stepmother Topaz, an artist model and muse. Cassandra sets out to describe their completely unconventional life, which takes a turn after a couple of handsome, rich gents move in next door, and the whole thing is equally funny—with some truly hysterical scenes—and heartbreaking-but-not-quite because of Cassandra, who’s oh-so-wise for her years. I wish I had been as honest and insightful when I was her age!

Thank you, Lynn, for stopping by to share about yourself and your newest picture book.

To find out more about Lynn Becker, or contact her:

Website: https://lynnbeckerbooks.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lynnbecker196/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-Becker-Author-113395604329668

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lynnbbooks.bsky.social

Review of Ghost Town in the Mountains

Lynn Becker is back with another fun riff on a familiar song. This time, the humor in the text and illustrations is interwoven with a great dash spooky eeriness. As with her previous picture book, the rhyme is spot on and begs to be sung rather than just read. It's a delightfully hilarious and scary adventure.

Ghost Town in the Mountains

Author: Lynn Becker

Illustrator: Roland Garrigue

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press (June 15, 2026)

Ages: 5-8

Fiction

Themes:

Rhyming, spooky, humor, and ghosts.

Synopsis:

A hauntingly hilarious riff on the tune "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain.”

It's a dark and gloomy night when two children decide to visit a ghost town. It's lonely. It's deserted. And it's certainly eerie. The main street is filled with tumbledown storefronts and there's not a soul in sight. But then the kids spot a boarded-up creaky, creepy cabin. Do they dare enter? What will they find? And what is with all those bones their dog is collecting?

Deliciously spooky, fun-filled artwork brings the story to ghostly life. Back matter includes information on ghost towns and the history of the song.

Opening Lines:

There’ s a ghost town in the mountains, turn back now!

OOOO-WOOOO!

Ghosts are haunting these ol’ mountains, turn back now!

OOOO-WOOOO!

Now that nighttime has befallen,

all the ghosties will be callin’ .

There’s a ghost town in the mountains,

turn back now!

OOOO-WOOOO!

What I LOVED about this book:

I loved Lynn Becker's picture book, Monsters in the Briny (a riff on What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor? ), and like that one this new picture book is also hard to read without singing it. It is also an ingenious weaving of the song - She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain - with the idea of a haunted town in the mountains. I adore Roland Garrigue's, spooky, atmospheric, gloomy and equally humorous illustrations.

Internal spread - two kids and their dog walk up a winding mountain trail to an abandonded town, as 13 ghosts peak around the trees, four faces grimace on the mountains, two wispy ghosts float in the sky, a dragon nestles in the mountains, and an animal peaks out of a cave in a mountain.

The girl's adventurous, happy-go-lucky (one could say oblivious) attitude plays so well against the shocked and nervous looks on the boy's face as he's initially the one who sees some of the ghosts. And Roland Garrigue gives the reader the superiority of seeing all the spooky things watching and following the kids. The unperturbed attitude of the dog and the smiling faces of the ghosts defrays a bit of the spookiness, softening it a bit for the youngest readers.

Internal spread - a girl happily heads to a house with glowing dots in the windows, as a grimacing boy and a happy dog follow. While seven smiling ghosts peek from behind them and seven rats scurry about.

Lynn Becker's cumulative refrain - "KNOCK-KNOCK! CLIP-CLOP! OOOO-WOOOO!" - which combines the second verse of each of the first two refrains will be lots of fun for the kids to anticipate and chat during a reading! And limiting it to these two word onomatopoeia lines, steadily increases the fun and humor and forestalls a weariness of long repetitions for the reading adult. And kids will love following the dog's antics and expressions as it collects bones throughout the adventure.

The color shift to pinks and purples continues while the kids remain inside exploring the spooky house and its attic. After they encounter one thing after another (including a humorously dancing skeleton!) in the attic, the girl and the dog fearfully race the boy down the stairs and out of the house. Where it shifts back to the original blue and black, spooky night palette. It's interesting to watch the progression of the ghost's faces change from big smiles and laughter to frowns and concern as the girl and dog get increasingly worried and scared. Providing a great opening for discussion about what the ghosts might have wanted.

Internal spread - on the left, a girl, boy, and dog race down stairs, screaming as ghosts and a skeleton watch from the top. On the right, a girl, boy, and dog race down the street toward a ghost white horse, as five ghosts and a cat watch from the roofs.

The final spread is ingenious and so much fun. This would be a great read for Halloween, a camping trip, or anytime you wanted a bit of spooky fun. It would also be fun as an action book, where the kids act out the refrain's sounds, creating fun actions for each that they repeat as they are read. An author's note shares information on real 'ghost towns' and the history they reveal, as well as the origin of the original song and a musical score with the first verse from the story. A delightfully ghostly, eerie picture book with a large dose of humor woven throughout the lyrics and the illustrations.

Resources:

Collage of eleven of the over 20 featured gost crafts.

check out over 20 fun ghost crafts to make. Would yours be scary, spooky, or silly - or all three?

what do you think was the scariest thing the kids discovered? Why? What would have been the scariest thing for you to see? And what was the silliest thing you saw in the book?

pair this with Gilbert and the Ghost by Heather Pierce Stigall, illustrated by Jess Mason, How to Make Friends With A Ghost by Rebecca Green, and There's a Ghost In This House by Oliver Jeffers for some other fun & lightly spooky books on ghosts.

If you are in the area, join Lynn live for these events!

An owl perches on a wooden, directional sign point off the right to a ghost Town.

June 20th, 1pm-2pm: Signing at Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, CO.
July 25th, Time TBD: Storytime and signing at one year anniversary event for The Quill & Candle Bookshop in Longmont, CO.
August 1st, 9am-10am: Storytime and signing at Blue Pigeon Books in Denver, CO.
August 29th, Time TBD: Signing at Bristlecone Bookshop in Nederland, CO.
September 13th, 9am-1pm: Signing at Farmers Market / Second Star to the Right in Denver, CO.
September 27th, 12pm-2pm: Signing at Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, CO.
October 16th, 10am-10:30am: Storytime at Longmont Library in Longmont, CO.