Years ago, when my nieces were little, they argued about who the boss of the bathroom door was. One wanted to push it one way, the other wanted to push it the other way. It was silly and yet so important to them.
Twenty years later, while I was on a walk, I heard two little girls in my neighborhood arguing about who was the boss of their front steps. I remembered that long ago argument between my two nieces and wrote the first draft of the story that afternoon.
Interestingly enough, when I first wrote this story the main character was a little girl. I sent it out a few times only to be told that the main character was “too unlikeable.” Seems as though people don’t like bossy little girls, so I changed the main character into a cat. Apparently bossy cats are totally acceptable.
Sterling Children’s Books, 2018, illustrated by Marisa Morea.
