Wild About Capybaras! coming May, 2026 will be my 7th TOON book. I want to share my cover sketches. If you are not an illustrator, you may be surprised to see how many sketches I did. This is almost the cover…
My editors liked this idea best, but, they didn’t like the cartoon balloon. They didn’t like the fruit on the capybara’s snout! They didn’t like cut paper landscape! They didn’t like the swimmer! Capybaras are often depicted with yuzu, a fragrant citrus used in Japanese baths. The editors had a good point. Yuzu is not something a Capybara would find in the wilds of their native South America.
Scroll to the bottom to see the final cover. Meanwhile, here are some early sketches. Luckily, the swimming pool idea (below) got rejected. It’s looks like a swipe from Bill Peet’s Capyboppy! Believe me, I never saw Peet’s sweet 1966 book about his pet Capybara until after I finished my book.
Other ideas I played with included this one had two yuzus! The stacked animals recall one of my favorite tales from the Brothers Grimm’s, The Bremen Town Musicians.
Another, simple one. I still kinda’ like this one…
Another…
Another…
Finally, This is the cover. TA-DA! I didn’t do the lettering, which is great. I painted the landscape instead of using cut paper. After eliminating the swimming capybara, I added the Amazonian water lilies and a little frog staring up at the capybaras.
Kids know more about capybaras than most adults do. These TikTok stars, the world’s largest rodents, are quite amazing. If you want to learn more, you’ll want to get the book. I’m looking forward to doing more school visits in 2026. I already got my capybara shirt!
Thanks to The American Library Association’s Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table for sharing this photo of me at The Kutztown Public Library.
More info on my other TOON books and my school and library visits can be found here.
Illustration Concentration 
Wikipedia says that Bill Peet joined Disney in 1937 and worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and The Jungle Book (1967).
Eventually, a disagreement with Walt Disney over the direction of the project led to him resigning in 1964.
Peet also did The Ant and the Elephant.
Keep up the good work, Kevin!
I read that Bill Peet worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Jungle Book while at Disney.
He also did The Ant and the Elephant.
Keep up the good work, Kevin!
Thanks for reading, Mike. I found Bill Peet’s Autobiography in Rohrbach Library. Fascinating. Ostensibly a kid’s book, he talks about how very depressed he was in his final days at Disney. His book Capyboppy tells of their pet they let swim in the family pool. One day Capyboppy bit a neighbor boy and drew blood. That would not likely appear in a kid’s book today. Peet then donated the animal to a zoo. He came to the same conclusion as I do in my forthcoming book, namely, some animals are not meant to be pets.