Q. What is Zoodletraz and why are Droodle and Schmoodle locked up?
Zoodletraz is a prison on an island surrounded by water and dangerous water creatures. It is patrolled 24/7 by Chese groodled powered baloonadoodles.
Zoodle has a no pet policy and that is why they are locked up. Just a teaser. The reason Zoodle has a No Pets policy is because Cloodle has a poodle named KraZoodle, and if people had pets, they may see themselves equal to the Grand Roodle.
Q. What do you want kids to take away from this book?
Laugh out loud moments! Inspired to create a wackadoodle world!
Q. Tell us more about the US/UK cultural mashups.
Not so mashed up! I probably have some British sense of humor or humour, and Andy creates the site gags that he had to have looked inside my brain to pull out.
Q. How do cultural references cross borders in the Snoodles universe?
I think that we share many of the same culture. It is what we are exposed to. Ok. There is a Monty Python feel to the humor or humour. So, maybe we are all Brittish!
Q. Tell us what’s new in your blog, Steven.
The Generations of Grumble has been born! Cousin Sylvia leads the crew to a Podcast sharing their family woes! Everything gets turned upside down. And they keep to the Godfather rule “Keep Your friends close, but your enemies closer!” Of course, it is usually the same family members.
Q. As a computer teacher, Andy, how does this book relate to your work?
As a professional illustrator I use a lot of my skills honed from teaching to be able to learn and use the software needed to create professional illustrations, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, so this book is a result of that learning and practice. I also see a lot of my students spend a lot of time online looking at screens, so I hope this book will help
Q. How does your music factor into the process?
They are two distinct artforms, so they don’t often overlap. Music is an escape from the world where I can work with friends and just have a period of creativity without needing to evaluate it based on someone else’s ideal.
Q. Where did the music come from and how did it inspire the book?
I wrote an album with my friend Nigel Measures. It was recorded in Notingham at SIlver Studios over the course of a year. As i was recording, I would send music to Steven so he could listen as he was running marathons. He came up with the idea for the ‘Zoodleraz’ book as he listened to songs from my album
Q. Tell us more about the “Noodleham Rocks!” album?
‘Noodleham Rocks’ – available on Spotify is a free to listen to album based on the story of ‘Escape from Zoodletraz’. We thought, as the book is about the folk of Noodleham playing music it would be fun to have an album of songs, which effectively told the story of the book and would act as an accompaniment to the book. Kids love music and it was another way to get them to engage with reading.
Q. Where can fans listen?
People can listen to my music at https://andycasemusic.bandcamp.com/ – my first album at two subsequent singles can be streamed on Spotify and all major streaming platforms.
