The Picture Book Buzz - Interview with Christy Mihaly and Mariona Cabassa

Christy Mihaly writes for kids because she believes our best hope for the future is raising young people who love to read and giving them the knowledge and skills to lead. An award-winning author and poet, she has written more than 40 books, primarily nonfiction, on topics from hayfields to food to free speech, and had poems published in many anthologies. She’s also a founding member of GROG, the group blog for writers and readers of children’s literature.

Christy is a former lawyer and has written extensively about history, civics, and social justice. In 2023, Christy received a National Art Strategies creative arts fellowship to develop interactive workshops using poetry to illuminate freedom of expression and civic conversations. Christy lives in rural Vermont where she enjoys visiting schools and community groups to share ideas about writing, creativity, and civic engagement. At home, she likes to walk in the woods and play cello (though not simultaneously).

Christy’s the author of 36 books, including Our Congress, illustrated by Doruntina Beqiraj (2024), Mel Brooks: A Little Golden Book Biography, illustrated by Kelly Kennedy (2024), Ultimate Food Atlas: Maps, Games, Recipes & More, National Geographic Kids, with Nancy Castaldo (2022), Patience, Patches!, illustrated by Sheryl Murray (2022), The Supreme Court and Us, illustrated by Neely Daggett (2022), WATER: A Deep Dive of Discovery, illustrated by Mariona Cabassa (2021), Free for You and Me: What Our First Amendment Means, illustrated by Manu Montoya (2020).

Mariona Cabassa was born in 1977 in the vibrant city of Barcelona and lives there with her son, Martin.

Her journey in art began at Massana Art School and continued with postgraduate studies at l’École des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. For the past 25 years, she has immersed herself in the world of book illustration, exploring painting, drawing, and embroidery—both on paper and large-scale fabrics. Around the age of 40, she ventured into tattooing, bringing her artistic visions to life on skin.

Throughout her career, Mariona has published nearly 100 books, countless schoolbooks, and illustrated a wide range of products such as puzzles, decorative vinyls, bags, toys, postcards, posters, and wine labels. She has also taught at several art schools in Barcelona and led her own workshops.

A wanderer at heart, she captures moments through photography, cherishes silence, and finds joy in wide-open spaces and small gatherings. She needs big windows to see the sky, hours of solitude, and natural light. She loves traveling, spending time with friends, savoring her morning coffee, and swimming every day. Though she has attempted to learn the cello twice without much success, she remains hopeful for another try.

Curiosity drives her, and her love for nature—passed down from a family of gardeners—is reflected in both her work and the gardens she has nurtured over the years.

Mariona believes art and creativity are essential tools for everyone, offering a magical way to connect with the world and bring more beauty into it. She hopes her work inspires others and brings a touch of magic to their lives.

Mariona is the illustrator of 72 books, including Frisky Face the Naughty Cat by Géraldine Elschner (2025), The Air We Share: A Pollution Problem and Finding Ways to Fix It by Dee Romito (2025), Earth Song by Susan Reed (2024), Festivals! by Jane Bingham (2023), Opposites: The Opposing Forces of the Universe (Cycles of the Universe, 2) by Soledad Romero Mariño (2023), Whatever Comes Tomorrow by Rebecca Gardyn Levington (2023), Infinity: The Magical Cycles of the Universe by Soledad Romero Mariño (2022), and A Gift for Amma: Market Day in India by Meera Sriram (2020).

Their new picture book, Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals, releases April 21^st.

Welcome Christy and Mariona, thank you so much for coming back to talk about your newest book and your writing.

Tell us a little about yourselves. (Where/when do you write or illustrate? How long have you been writing or illustrating? What is your favorite type of book to write or illustrate? )

CHRISTY – I’ve always enjoyed writing, and as a lawyer I wrote every day. But writing for children is a journey I started later in life, after 25 years of lawyering. In 2011, my husband earned a sabbatical from the law school where he was teaching, and our family decided to live in Spain for a year. I left my law job and determined to do something I’d been wanting to do – write for kids. We rented a little house outside of Sevilla. My husband taught at the law school and our daughter attended a Spanish school. I started researching and writing, determined to find out if that “writing for kids” thing might work out. That year, I sold an article about the Spanish navigators and sailors who sailed with Columbus from southern Spain, and a story based on my daughter’s experiences in her new school. I also began researching the life of Pablo Casals and dreaming of writing a book about him. (Yes, that was 15 years ago.)

I’m especially drawn to nonfiction, for kids of all ages. I enjoy writing both for the educational market and the trade market. About half of my books deal with some aspect of history, government, and politics, and I’m passionate about helping young people understand their vital role in our democracy, and to stand up, find their voices, and get involved in their communities. I’ve also written many books about technology, nature, and the environment. Some, such as Barefoot Books WATER: A Deep Dive of Discovery (illustrated by the brilliant Mariona Cabassa) seek to give kids the information they need both to be environmentally aware and to act as good stewards of the earth.

 © Mariona Cabassa, 2026.

MARIONA - I live in Barcelona, where I have my home and studio. You could say that in my life, just like in my home, there is never too much separation between the personal and my work—I am always illustrating something or thinking about new projects or drawing for pleasure. I published my first children’s book 25 years ago and since then (luckily!) I have never stopped.

In recent years I especially enjoy nonfiction projects that leave room to introduce visual elements of fantasy (as is the case with Music and Silence). For me they are something like the visual version of the literary genre “magical realism.” 

I also especially like crossovers, which are not aimed at a specific age range but are for everyone (and each age can have a different reading of them).

 It's wonderful to "meet" you both. What is one of the most fun or unusual places where you’ve written a manuscript or created an illustration?

CHRISTY – I write best at my desk, but I often do research in interesting places. For my book The Haunted History of Washington, D.C. (Abdo, 2024), I took one of those nighttime guided ghost tours of the capital city … and slept very badly afterwards.

MARIONA - Oh! Well of course, since in a way I’m always working, I’ve worked in all kinds of places (specially on my travels, in front of spectacular landscapes, on all kinds of transport, in big and small spaces...)

Christy, what was your inspiration or spark of interest for Music and Silence: The Passion and Protest of Pablo Casals?

CHRISTY - The inspiration grew during the time I lived in Spain (2011-12). I had started taking cello lessons several years earlier and learned about Casals’s music and his importance to the history of cello. But while in Spain, I read more deeply about his life and work. His discovery of the Bach cello suites was such a miracle! And I learned of his importance as a voice for justice.

Talking with our new Spanish friends, I learned more about the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s rule. I walked the streets of Barcelona, in the footsteps of Casals. I visited the Casals Museum (Museu Pau Casals) in El Vendrell, where I was thrilled to see the gourd instrument that his father made for him before he had an actual cello. At the museum, I also viewed the old footage of Casals speaking to the United Nations General Assembly and saw how much people revered him. I was intrigued, and I realized here was a hero, a truly great person, that American kids didn’t know about. I wondered whether I might someday write a book to fix that.

 Mariona, what about the Music and Silence manuscript appealed to you as an illustrator?

MARIONA – First of all, that it came from Christy (with whom I had happily worked before).Secondly, the figure she proposed! None other than Pau Casals, who is a very important figure for my culture (Catalan) and, I believe, for the world (as a defender of peace and a celebrated musician).

And lastly, the cello is an instrument I adore and that I have tried to learn to play several times in my life, although without much success.

How many revisions did Music and Silence take for the text or illustrations from your first draft to publication?

CHRISTY – Oh boy. I didn’t save them all, but I’d guess about 50 drafts and revisions.

I started this story when I was new at writing for kids. I had a lot to learn about writing a picture book biography. When I returned from Spain full of inspiration, I attended a workshop about writing nonfiction for children and young adults at what was then the Highlights Foundation. I learned a huge amount, met some amazing fellow kidlit people, and started seriously on the path to becoming an author.

The next year, I took an online course in writing picture book biographies and wrote a first draft of the Pau Casals story. I also kept researching his life, viewing videotapes and movies, listening to recordings, and studying the co-written memoirs he left as well as biographies and press articles. So even as I began sharing drafts with critique partners, I was still rethinking, adding, deleting, revising. I also started, prematurely, sending the manuscript out to editors. When those editors were under a certain age, they told me they had never heard of Casals – and they didn’t know why readers would want to know about him. Clearly, I had more work to do.

I changed focus and tried different approaches. Some of my drafts included direct quotations from Casals, in boxes. (I loved this – editors, not so much.) I laid out the page turns and tried to squeeze Casals’s long life into 32 pages (Thankfully, Eerdmans ultimately gave this book 56 pages!). I deleted words about his childhood, then put them back in and cut pages from his later years. I received a thoughtful critique from an editor, and at her invitation, edited and re-submitted – and that revision was rejected.

I wrote 20-plus revised drafts in 2014, and more the following year. In 2016, I submitted the manuscript to literary agent Erzsi Deak, who loved it enough to offer me representation. Yay! At last! Erzsi had a couple of suggestions, so I tweaked the manuscript and then she started submitting the story. Crickets.

As the political winds shifted, Erzsi and I discussed revising to focus more on the anti-fascism aspect of Casals’s story, and I did that. I also experimented with new approaches: I tried having Pablo’s cello narrate the story, then wrote a double history of Casals and his favorite cello, and a version in verse. They didn’t work, but each informed how I eventually wrote the story. One important decision was to conclude my story with the Bach Festival and to leave out the final decades of Casals’s life, fascinating though I found them.

In 2018, the story felt timelier than ever, and we started a new round of submissions. After a few more rejections, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers told us they loved the story and wanted to make it a book. The manuscript then wended its way through the publishing process, which was of course delayed by Covid. Excellent editor Kathleen Merz offered thoughtful suggestions, and I revised further with her (and made more cuts). So … kinda lost track of how many revisions!

But I know the final book is so much better than my early drafts.

MARIONA - From the illustration side, I would say a couple: first the sketches and story board and then the final artwork. Working with the editors was easy, very smooth, and at all times I felt they gave me a lot of freedom to create from my point of view.

Christy, what was the toughest part of researching and/or writing Music and Silence? What was the most fun?

CHRISTY - The biggest challenge in writing this book was to be truthful without getting too dark for young readers. One thing that helped me walk this line was that Casals himself was such a positive, steadfast, hopeful person (at least most of the time).

The most fun was watching the story come to life with Mariona’s amazing art.

That's always such a fine line to tread in writing nonfiction children's books. Mariona, what was the toughest part of your research and/or illustrating Music and Silence specifically? What was the most fun?

MARIONA – Characters and architectural spaces are always a big challenge for me, especially if they have a real reference. I always feel much more comfortable and really enjoy drawing nature, animals, landscapes, organic elements.

I think you did an amazing job! Christy,  when you first saw Mariona’s illustrations in Music and Silence did anything surprise, amaze, or delight you? Which is your favorite spread?

CHRISTY – I loved what Mariona was doing from the very first sketches, as I knew I would. I had the good fortune to work with Mariona to create Barefoot Books WATER: A Deep Dive of Discovery, which came out in 2021. Mariona’s art for that book was so gorgeous and colorful, and I was intrigued that she was from Catalonia, like Pablo Casals.

I was delighted when Mariona agreed to illustrate Music and Silence. The fact that Mariona is Catalan and considers Pau Casals a national hero deepens her connection to the book, and I think you can see that in the art. And when you add that she plays the cello, you can see that she was meant to illustrate this book.

Text © Christy Mihaly, 2026. Image © Mariona Cabassa, 2026.

It’s hard to choose a favorite spread, though I do love the spread that ended up on the cover, with the birds flying up toward the bombs. I love all the birds in the book. And I love how Mariona portrays the power of the music itself with bursts of color and shapes. Other spreads that I especially appreciate are the illustration showing Pau’s discovery of the cello, and the one of him later in life, shown in darkened profile playing his music alone in exile.

There is something so magical about this moment of discovery in the illustration. Mariona, is there a spread that you were especially excited about or proud of? Which is your favorite spread?

Text © Christy Mihaly, 2026. Image © Mariona Cabassa, 2026.

MARIONA - My favorite is the one that later became the cover, where these birds coming out of his cello “face” the warplanes. I think it captures very well everything that is explained about Casals in the book.

That is such a powerful image, Mariona. Is there anything you want your readers to know or discover about Music and Silence?

CHRISTY – I hope readers are inspired by the book, both to find out more about Casals and his music (check out the links in the back) and to think about how they might stand up for justice in their own lives.

Another thing: As I say in my dedication, don’t you love Mariona’s birds? I hope readers love discovering the birds in Mariona’s illustrations, and to consider what they mean and why Mariona used them to illustrate Music and Silence so beautifully.

MARIONA - I think the story of this fascinating artist speaks for itself, and that both through Christy’s words, the images, and the additional texts (including the authors’ notes), readers will be able to discover or go deeper (if they already know Pau Casals) into his life and the great legacy he left (both in his fight for peace and artistically)...and perhaps, from there, look for and discover some of his music?

I think you both will succeed in these hopes. Christy, was there anything in your research that you wished you could have included in the book or back matter?

CHRISTY – I omitted so much from the story of Casals’s life – but thankfully, Kathleen and I worked together to create extensive back matter, including a timeline, information about what happened after the last event scene of Music and Silence, background about Catalonia and the Spanish Civil War, and links to some of Casals’s great performances and footage of interviews, which I invite readers to explore. But, space limitations meant that there were many tidbits we couldn’t squeeze in. For instance, here are some of the maestro’s own words that I love, but aren’t in the book:

“How could I, who came from peasant stock, help but be in sympathy with the people?

. . .  I am an artist but in the practice of my art I am also, after all,

 a manual worker and have been all my life.”  ~ Taper, pp. 61-62.

“The only weapons I possess are the cello and the conductor's baton. They are not very deadly, but I have no others, and do not wish to have any." ~ “Casals—A Living Portrait” interview; Corredor, p. 212.

           “The life of an artist is inseparable from his ideals.” ~ Kahn, p. 260

[quoting from a 1946 letter Casals wrote to The Times of London,

thanking the British people for their greetings in celebration of his 70th birthday].

Thank you for sharing these with us, Christy. Mariona, many illustrators leave treasures or weave their own story (or elements) throughout the illustrations. Did you do this in Music and Silence? If so, could you share one or more with us?

MARIONA - Well, I was very clear from the beginning and placed special emphasis on giving birds an important role in the book. I love drawing birds, I think they are a great symbol of freedom, and above all, one of the most emotional pieces for any Catalan by Pau Casals is "El cant dels ocells", which, although it is a traditional Catalan Christmas song, Casals turned into a national symbol and a song of freedom by performing it repeatedly from exile.

What a great way to honor this amazing musician. Are there any projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

CHRISTY – I have a book coming out May 26, just in time for the 250^th anniversary of July 4, 1776. It is America’s Founding Myths … And What REALLY Happened! (illustrated by Marta Sevilla, published by Barefoot Books). It’s an interactive exploration of early United States history, focused on unpacking popular myths, revealing true stories, and elevating unsung heroes including important women, Indigenous people, and Black Americans.

On each spread for 15 major myths, we start with a brief “you may have heard …” statement of a commonly heard story, like “the New World was an empty, unpopulated wilderness.” The reader lifts a large gatefold flap on the left, revealing beneath it the true story, how the myth came to be, and historical context. The rest of the spread fills in the true history. The “New World” spread features a map of North America showing some of the multitude of Native Nations and their cultural, technological, engineering, governmental, and other accomplishments as of 1492, and a timeline showing graphically just how much of the continent’s human history happened before the arrival of Europeans. Like the story of Pablo Casals, this is information we all should know.

MARIONA - Right now, I am working on a book that illustrates the life of the great Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral (the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature in the Spanish language), and it will be followed by another about the history of feminism. There are other projects that I have already finished and will be published between 2026 and 2027 (in Spain, US and UK) but I am especially excited with these two!

I look forward to seeing these books. What is your favorite National Park or Forest, regional park, or city park? Or the one you’re longing to visit. Why?

CHRISTY – This question surprised me! But so interesting, and it’s more vital than ever that our parks get the

attention, care, and support they deserve. I’ve enjoyed visits to many National Parks. In fact, I researched the park system thoroughly in working on the team putting together National Geographic Kids’ Junior Ranger Activity Book (2016).

So many of the parks are so wonderful, and they’re so different. But if I had to pick one, it would be Denali. That’s partly for sentimental reasons, because we took a truly amazing family trip there many years ago. But also, it’s breathtaking.

MARIONA - Well, although I have been working for years with the US, I still have not had the opportunity to visit the country. Now my sister and her family are living in Washington for a while for work, so I think it will be a great opportunity for me to visit (including surely some natural environments that I know are spectacular in the United States!)

I do hope you get to visit the U.S., Mariona, and explore some of our National Parks. Thank you, Christy and Mariona, for sharing your newest picture book with us.

Be sure to come back on Friday for the Perfect Picture Book #PPBF review of Music and Silence.

To find out more about Christy Mihaly, or contact her:

Website: https://www.christymihaly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christymihaly

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

To find out more about Mariona Cabassa, or get in touch with her:

Website: https://theinvisiblecircle.com/

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