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Five questions for Beth Ann Knowles author and Illustrator of Row Bot

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When did you start writing stories?

I've always written silly stories and rhymes; for family and friends. Once I had kids of my own my creative ideas seemed to mostly turn into children's stories.

What inspired you to create the character Row Bot?

I'm always playing with words in my head; rhyming things, making up silly verses, or strange word associations. One day the word robot popped into my head and I turned it into row bot. I thought on that for a while and started writing a more simple book with random words...row bot, low bot, big bot, small bot, etc. But, as I started putting it together a story began to develop.

Row Bot is very charming in it's simplicity. Was it hard to write and illustrate?

The writing got trickier the more I wrote; as I ran out of words to rhyme with row. I'm not an artist and haven't really drawn anything in my life but the image of Row Bot came into my head and I was quite surprised that I could put it on paper and be happy with it. I tried to keep everything to simple shapes. The crow was the most difficult part and I drew a LOT of crows before I made one that I liked.

What was your favorite book when you were a kid?

Unfortunately I can't remember a favorite book from when I was a child. But, I can remember the books I liked reading to kids I babysat as a teenager: "Love You Forever" and "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie".

Have you ever rowed a rowboat?

I've captained many rowing machines but never a row boat.