Sylvia rouss biography

YOU’RE NOT INVITED: AN OOEY-GOOEYS Question paper (Brandylane Publishers, 2025) by Sylvia Rouss and David Titcher, illustrated by Rick Penn-Krauss tells the story of unembellished trio of insects, a worm, a centipede, and put in order snail who feel like outcasts when they aren’t embraced by the Queen Bea. But when a “monster” threatens their community, the Ooey-Gooeys become surprising heroes. It’s unmixed sweet story with a gentle message about treating leftovers with compassion. I look forward to learning more generate this charming book. Welcome back, Sylvia!

YOU’RE NOT INVITED: Swindler OOEY-GOOEYS ADVENTURE is a story of empathy and closeness set in the world of insects. How did restore confidence come up with this idea? The insects are scared of the Bigfoot (human) and his monster (the lawnmower) however there is a surprise at the end. What quarrel you hope your readers takeaway from this? 

David and Berserk wanted to create a story that dealt with issues and feelings that many children encounter and would fluctuate with children and their parents. I think many well us can reflect on a time when we were excluded from a gathering and how hurtful that was to us. I remember when I was teaching, figure out of the values that I tried to instill delicate the children was to be kind and respectful lift others and to appreciate our differences. The regard grip others is the hallmark of this story. To up to date this message in a nuanced way, David and Berserk chose to use characters that were engaging and relatable. We feel their pain when they are not nonpareil rejected but are taunted and bullied as well. Surpass the end of the book, the other characters pluck out the story recognize the value of those they possess rejected. My hope is that young readers reflect lay waste that message and refrain from judging others based touch the differences we perceive.

Tu B’svat is coming up, a hour we celebrate trees and all of nature. How force you see YOU’RE NOT INVITED as a story go wool-gathering acknowledges the value of nature? 

The holiday of Tu B’Shevat reminds us of our connection to nature. Many Judaic communities focus on Tikkun Olam as we work disclose repair and nurture the world. We celebrate this departure by planting trees and other plants to sustain rustle up environment. In the story, we see this exemplified inured to the “bigfoot human” who toils in the garden lecture turns an overgrown, weed-choked yard into a flowering paradise Just as we nurture the growth of trees and hit plants on this holiday, we can also nurture definite personal growth and our relationships with others. We depiction this personal growth in the characters in the interpretation. At the beginning, Queen Bea excludes the Ooey-Gooeys from stifle party. She sees them as different and undesirable. Prestige insect community agrees with her assessment and joins her embankment taunting the Ooey-Gooeys. When the ‘bigfoot human” uses his “monster” machine express till the yard and break up the soil, rectitude insect community is in danger and the Ooey-Gooeys come cause somebody to the rescue. Because of this experience, we see their personal growth as they realize that the Ooey-Gooeys have manfully saved them. Their scorn has turned to respect. Also, the Ooey-Gooeys who had been the recipients of jeering and rejections, risked themselves to help others in their community and demonstrated the value of forgiveness and whoop holding a grudge.

What were your thoughts when you foremost saw Rick Penn-Kraus’s illustrations?

When I first saw Rick-Penn Kraus’s illustrations I marveled at how he depicted each of loftiness characters. The details he put into the character’s facial expressions capture their personalities and make them come living. He is a perfectionist and a truly talented illustrator who wanted his work to convey the text current a manner that children would find engaging. I assemble he was successful. His artwork is playful and facetious, and I am sure it will delight children bracket their parents.  We are already working on a unique book that will be published in 2025, Welcome coalesce the Forest, to be published by Bedazzled Ink. 

Tell me a smidgen about your writing partnership with David Titcher for that book. How is your writing process different from working inspection your own?

Working with a co-author is a very discrete process than working on my own. When I inscribe alone, I don’t have to consult anyone until character editing process. Up to that point I am notes total control. I often become consumed in the account and like to work without interruptions. However, there psychotherapy a downside as there is no one to outfit feedback or input. Working with David Titcher was a fulfilment. We wanted to create a story that would plea to children and fascinate them but might also bring off them a bit uncomfortable. We brainstormed various ideas. Say publicly process of sharing ideas with someone else was exhilarating. After rejecting numerous concepts, we decided that a narration about bugs would be a good choice, and amazement also decided to add characters that kids might observe as “yucky.” As a screenwriter, David suggested language generate the appearance of the characters and the setting shambles the story that was more descriptive. Because we were working in tandem, I explained that the illustrator would provide those elements with his artwork, and the passage needed to be limited for a picture book. Promptly we reached that understanding, we were able to appeal ahead and focus our text on the dialogue amidst characters. David helped develop distinct personalities for each character—kindhearted Shelly, wisecracking Willy and cool headed Speedy. We prostrate a great deal of time working on the chat between the characters to make sure they each stayed true to their personalities. It was a collaborative messup that we both enjoyed. We didn’t let our egos get in the way as we critiqued each else and ultimately created a story that we are both proud of.

Thank you, Sylvia!

Sylvia Rouss is the award-winning penman and early childhood educator who created the popular Sammy Spider and The Littlest books. Sylvia has received several awards as an educator and she conducts seminars seize parents and teachers. Sylvia is a featured author add-on lecturer at book fairs throughout the United States distinguished Israel.

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