 Today we celebrate the book birthday of The Helping Sweater, by Rachel Mas Davidson. We sat down with Rachel to learn more about the inspiration behind this book. It's finally cold enough for Maya to wear her favorite sweater! But when her cat pulls a thread loose, her beloved sweater quickly begins to unravel. Maya is heartbroken, but she doesn't have time to fix it before school. She starts to realize that maybe her sweater can help other people–and that's when the magic begins! Maya uses her sweater to help folks in her community throughout the day. But of course, what goes around, comes around and when Maya needs help, someone comes to her rescue. So lovely, can't wait to see what happens... What inspired you to become a writer? I started off as an illustrator with no desire to be an author. I was working with my husband, who is an author, to create books and I figured someone else would always do the writing. As we worked together, I realized I had stories I really wanted to tell, and if I wanted to get those stories out there, I was going to have to get more comfortable with writing. I decided to commit to becoming a better writer by reading and writing A LOT. After lots of trial and error I wrote “The Helping Sweater”. This was not nearly as easy as it sounds though. Writing is very challenging for me. I honestly do not enjoy it, but I do enjoy creating picture books and the art inside. To be able to fully create what I wanted to create, I had to really push myself to become a writer. Where did you get the idea to write this particular story? The idea for The Helping sweater came from a digital doodle I drew of a little girl in a very large sweater.  I liked the character very much and decided to try and write a story about her. It was an idea I let bounce around in my head for a few weeks. I eventually came up with the idea for the book in visuals. This is a pretty typical way for me to write. I see the story in pictures and then I add words. I decided to change the look of the character in the end to be the Maya in the book. Maya is one of my absolute favorite characters I've created.
What comes next for you as an author? I am currently illustrating the sixth book I've worked on. It's a book by my husband, Brad Davidson. It'll come out with Little Brown in 2026. Besides that I am just making art, reading lots of books, forcing myself to write, attending school visits and events, etc. I really love my job and can't believe I am lucky enough to get to do it!
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