Halloween is one of author Kristyn Crow’s favorite holidays.
“Our family gets really into Halloween,” Crow said. “We completely change the front of our home. We just go all out, and we love haunted houses and things like that.”
Another favorite holiday is Christmas.
“I love Christmas just a little more than Halloween,” said Crow, a Southern California native who has called Utah home for 15 years.
Halloween and Christmas come together in her picture book “Zombelina Dances the Nutcracker” (Bloomsbury, $16.99, ages 3-8), which was released Sept. 8.
“I wanted to create a character for Halloween that really hadn’t been done before,” Crow said. Through her research, she honed in on zombies, and she figured: Why not create a little girl zombie? Through brainstorming, she came up with the name Zombelina, which sounded like a ballerina.
“The more I played with that idea, the more I thought it was the perfect juxtaposition of the two traits to be a zombie and a ballerina,” Crow said.
The first book about Zombelina, titled “Zombelina,” was released in 2013 and is about the girl zombie trying to overcome stage fright at her debut ballet performance.
“She uses her strangeness and her uniqueness to really have her talents stand out,” said Crow, who is the mother of seven children ages 12 to 24, including a daughter who dances. “Even though she gets stage fright, her family comes to support her.”
In “Zombelina Dances the Nutcracker,” Zombelina and the other girls in her class, including Lizzie Snow, audition for the role of Clara in the ballet “The Nutcracker.”
Also, Zombelina’s Grandpa Phantom has been haunting the opera house for 99 years, and she hopes he doesn’t decide to do anything tricky during the performance.
Zombelina gets the role and is able to remain friends with Lizzie.
“We wanted Zombelina to have a friend so kids can see they can have friends who are different than them,” Crow said.
Friendship is a theme that many children can relate to, she said.
“Everyone wants to feel like they have a friend and that someone cares about them and that they fit in somewhere,” Crow said.
Both Zombelina books are written in rhyme and include many witty and humorous puns.
“Anytime writing in rhyme, and most of my picture books are rhyming, it’s always tough to get the right rhythm,” Crow said, adding that she’s sprinkled “dead humor” throughout the book. “That is a puzzle all by itself.”
Crow, a Layton resident, had previously seen “The Nutcracker,” and for this book she went to see it at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City.
“It’s so amazing to see it there,” Crow said. “I wanted to remember the vivid scenes to help make ‘The Nutcracker’ come to life (in the book).”
Molly Idle, who has previously won a Caldecott Honor award, illustrated both Zombelina books.
“I love the lines she creates in her illustrations. She has a lot of curves and flowing lines going through her characters’ movements,” Crow said. “I love that style.”
Zombelina is green and has stitches across her joints.
“I’m so glad that she did make her cute,” Crow said. “She’s got enough zombie in her to make her interesting.”
Crow is the author of half a dozen published picture books, and Idle is the only illustrator of Crow’s books that she’s met in person. They were at the same conference, and Crow waited in line at Idle’s booth.
“We had a good hug, and it was really fun,” Crow said. “You don’t often get to interact with your illustrator when you’re a picture book author.”
A third Zombelina book, about a dance party, is scheduled to be released in the next year to year and half.
And Zombelina hasn’t just stayed on the page.
Crow had heard from girls who have dressed up as Zombelina for Halloween and a few girls who have created Zombelina dolls with Velcro seams so their arms and legs can come off.
“It’s really been fun to see what kids have done with the character and how much fun they’ve had with it,” Crow said. “I hope it means there are more fun things to come with this character.”
Crow will be on the “Anatomy of a Zombie” panel at the 2015 Salt Lake Comic Con. She also wrote “The Accidental Astronaut,” an educational story-based movie that teaches kids about the Earth, moon and sun, and it opened at the Clark Planetarium in March.
Her first non-rhyming picture book, titled “Hello Hippo, Good-bye Bird,” the story of a bird trying to convince a hippo to be its friend, will be published through Penguin Random House in the spring.
If you go ...
What: Kristyn Crow book signing
When: Saturday, Sept. 19, 2-4 p.m.
Where: The King's English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City
Web: kingsenglish.com, kristyncrow.com
Note: Places in the signing line are reserved for those who purchase a copy of the featured book from The King's English.
Email: rappleye@deseretnews.com Twitter: CTRappleye