my name is Chris Monroe, and I am an author, illustrator, cartoonist and artist.

I write children's books mainly.

And I got a new one string ball that I've been working on, and it just came out last week.

That's, It's so hard to say where ideas come from.

And a lot of the books kind of start with a gag in my head, like Clark the elephant stuck in the laundry chute where you're looking up and see the elephant, and then I write the whole story around that gag.

once I kind of zero in on something, then, you know, I just start to expand it with sketching and trying to figure out a color scheme Being a children's author illustrator is probably one of the greatest jobs that a person could have.

one thing I just never realized.

When you do this job is that you then go out and meet a whole bunch of kids and read to them and and hear, hear their opinions and what they have to say.

And that's just been amazing.

can't imagine having a different job.

The slice from PBS North