Who remembers not eating their vegetables? For some reason, children all around the world have a shared distaste for anything green and fresh. But when those same children grow into adults, their diets may shift to veg-only!

The taste sensations of young children are developed slowly across their early years and some parents may struggle in convincing their kids that these small green trees are crunchy and delicious – so in steps Brianna Brown.

We spoke with Brianna about her experiences growing up, the importance of difference and the complexity of discussing it with young children, as well as her work on the lead cats of her story.

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With a book about fearing vegetables at an early age, our first question has to be: is this based on a true story? How did your experiences as a youngster influence Phoebe PhobiCat Versus Broccoli?

Yes and no!

I have two kids and one thing I’ve learned is that if I give them a vegetable, they’re going to act like I’m trying to poison them. One day, this image of a cat jumping out of her seat over broccoli popped into my head and I couldn’t shake it.

I was already interested in learning about phobias in young children (see next question for that story), so I started researching “afraid of vegetables,” which led to food neophobia. I guess you could say that I wrote this story, in part, to convince my kids to eat their veggies!

This is a fun and playful book, perfect for children to share with their families, but there is an underlying message of caring for kids who may have a deepening and more complex fear, something which may be put off and labelled incorrectly. Why did you want to tell a story that addresses this issue?

When my daughter was toilet training, she developed a serious fear of public restrooms. She was a toddler, so I chalked the tantrums when entering the bathroom up to her age at first, but after a few months, I was concerned it may be more serious.

Thankfully, she did overcome this fear with time, but the experience put me on a mission to learn more about invasive fears and how to know when to seek intervention.

A family of felines are the central characters of your story. Were your leads always designed to be cats or did you move towards them at a later stage?

They were always going to be cats. The first things that I determined for the book were: firstly, I wanted to cover one phobia in each story; and secondly, I wanted to do that by playing on the image of a ‘scaredy-cat’ that most people are familiar with.

The last name, PhobiCat, alludes to this concept.

Looking back on the writing of your book, working with our illustrators to bring this story to life and now with the world able to meet Phoebe for themselves, what lessons learnt along the way will you take with you to your next publication?

This is my first publication, so every step has been a lesson to take forward! I think the most important lesson-learned for writing a picture book, is that illustrators are not one-size-fits-all.

It’s important to work with an illustrator that understands your story and can help take it to the next level with the illustrations.

We almost got ahead of ourselves with that previous question, but this book finishes with you looking forward to the next time we meet PhobiCat, where she can continue helping families tackle invasive fears. When will that next story be told and what can you share with us at this time about it?

Soon!

Phoebe is back to face her fear of the potty. Toilet Anxiety is another very common invasive fear in children; and, as I mentioned before, one I have seen first-hand.

I’m very excited to be tackling this one next!

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Phoebe PhobiCat Versus Broccoli is available now in paperback.