Today we are very excited to share an interview with author José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço and Illustrator James Braithwaite !
Read on to learn more about the author, the illustrator, the book, and a giveaway!
Meet the Author: José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço
José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço is a Toronto-based writer and filmmaker. His debut feature Young Werther premiered in TIFF’s Special Presentations section, was longlisted for for the Vallée Discovery Award, acquired by Lionsgate, and released theatrically around the world. A former Toronto Star columnist whose writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Hazlitt, the Globe and Mail, and National Post, he now works across film, television, publishing, and advertising. His wife and two daughters believe this bio would be 10% stronger if it were 10% shorter.
Meet the Illustrator: James Braithwaite
James Braithwaite is an illustrator, animator and writer, who lives in Toronto with his lovely wife and two little sprogs. James’ work has been nominated for an Oscar, was presented at the Guggenheim, and won an Emmy. An Emmy is alarmingly sharp, and is great for holding bananas. James currently spends all his time in his studio softly muttering at his watercolour palettes. He’s fine. But you should probably bring him a bagel.
About the Book: Billie Builds A Robocorn
A hilarious picture book character has hit the scene! Meet Billie: she’s wily, she’s precocious, she’s funny and she will not take no for an answer . . . but even Billie has to make new friends sometimes!
Billie is relentlessly resourceful. Nothing can keep her down! Band has no instruments? Easy. She’ll make some. Bike tire flat? Piece of cake. She’ll take her boom box go-cart instead. Moving away from her best friend? No problem. She’ll just create a new one!
TA-DAA! His name is RoboCorn, and he’s a majestic robot unicorn capable of deep conversation, jumping over the sun and making pancakes. What more could a person need? Certainly not human friends . . . right? Prepare to meet a lovable and irrepressible new character certain to take the world by storm. No one can resist Billie, and RoboCorn . . . well, RoboCorn is truly one of a kind. Definitely in a good way. For sure.
YABC: What inspired you to write this book?
We lived in a few different places when I was young, and I’d been the new kid at five different elementary schools by sixth grade. That’s where we meet Billie in this first book; she’s just moved to a new city and has nobody to play with. I was thinking about that feeling of *Late August Summertime Sadness*, where it’s sunny out but there’s nothing official forcing you into contact with other kids.
I dealt with that feeling by escaping into books and movies, whereas my two amazing daughters seem to always be in constant creative motion. Drawing, painting, dancing, building giant castles from Ikea cardboard, making stapler-bound comic books that genuinely make me laugh, and crafting Lego contraptions that would impress even the most
discerning Danish architect. They’re 5 and 8, so it’s not like they never announce “I’m bored” or have days where they seem a little blue, but I’m so impressed at how they always manage to engineer themselves out of it. Winnie and Willa are very Billie about things.
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
There’s a very sweet call and response moment baked into the book that makes me feel like I’m filled with equal parts cinnamon and sugar: when Billie is first explaining RoboCorn to her Dad, she mentions how RoboCorn battles loneliness with snuggles; in the concluding spread, it’s Dad who needs a lil’ snuggle (and gets one, from RoboCorn), because Billie is running off to have dinner at her new pal Elif’s house.
James’s lovely illustration in that spread, for me, perfectly captures that happy/bittersweet feeling of watching your child grow up and grow away.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important
thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
Your creative energy is a living thing; it weakens if underfed. I’ve found that the more I read, study craft, and internalize lessons from writers I admire, the more my work benefits.
The other big thing is being choosy with ideas. There are too few hours in the day to do everything, so I feel like it’s important to be selective about which projects get my time.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you want your reader to
remember from this book?
Tails must only be brushed clockwise.
And, I suppose, feeling delighted and joyful at the odd and incredible ways our children’s brains work? Kids are the absolute best, they’re all so weird and unique, and it’s a very lucky thing to get to witness their amazing minds in interpretative overdrive.
YABC: Do you have a playlist you listened to while writing?
Playlists rarely, because the song-to-song artist change-ups snatch my attention. I sometimes listen to albums while writing, though. If there isn’t something new grabbing me by both ears, I’m likely listening to Nico Muhly’s “Mothertongue” or “Lost in The Dream” by The War on Drugs — great records that for whatever reason don’t interrupt
~flow state~.
Lately, (I know, I know, leave me alone) Cameron Winter’s “Heavy Metal” has been the go-to. That said, the top song on my Wrapped last year was “Golden” by HUNTRX, so that should give you a pretty good idea of who controls the soundtrack in the car on the way to gymnastics and figure skating.
YABC: Do you have an unusual office supply that helps you in your
writing routine?
When I’m structuring a story I break down the scenes / beats / ideas onto dozens and dozens of note cards. My desk used to always be a real mess because of it. But Paige and I have these design-minded friends with incredible taste, and when they were renovating their home they covered an entire wall in their home office with this high-end bulletin board material that comes in a variety of darling colours. Perfect for organizing note cards, and so, so gorgeous. I am immensely jealous of it. In my little writing office I use a 3’x4’ bulletin board I scavenged from a nearby trash pile while walking my dog. I painted it white so you can’t see the stains.
YABC: What kind of animal would your main character be and why?
Billie would of course be a common octopus. Incredibly smart, impressively resilient, independent yet social, able to figure out any and every puzzle, has several limb-like tentacles covered in various sea-slimes, tastes absolutely revolting.
YABC: If you could collaborate with any other writer in history, who
would it be?
At this point in human history I feel like we could all use a little more Kurt Vonnegut in our lives.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
My daughters would say I am excellent at exactly one thing, and that is making crepes. I don’t know if that’s useful as a superhero, though. Maybe it’s a good power for a supervillain? Maybe I could make a crepe so enormous it would encircle the entire moon??
Not sure what the ransom ask would be for that. A comet, probably. A good one. Don’t try to fob me off with some low-level Halley.
YABC: How do you cope with criticism from editors or the public?
Our wonderful editor on BILLIE BUILDS A ROBOCORN, Sam Swenson, has only ever criticized my execution of The Dougie, and even then her notes were mostly about instep placement during footwork.
And as for the public, you always hope onlookers with strong Dougie-ing opinions will appreciate how hard you’ve worked on nailing your rhythm, bounce and arm positioning, but not every dance, no matter how well-executed, is a good fit for every dance floor. Or at least that’s what the Arriba instructor at the Y keeps insisting while looking askance at my elbows.
YABC: What new release book are you looking forward to in 2026?
Tana French writes the most gorgeous sentences — feats of subdued literary majesty that have no business being in books that are, ostensibly, genre fiction. I am salivating for her newest, THE KEEPER. Everyone should read every single thing she’s ever written.
Honourable mention to one of my favourite novels from last year, JULIUS JULIUS by Aurora Stewart de Peña, which everyone also should read — it is so funny, so strange, so singular. A perfect book.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
We have the second Billie book coming in hot next year, where we’ll meet even more of Billie’s new neighbourhood pals and witness a bonanza of chaos the likes of which the world has never seen. I’ve also just finished writing the next feature film I’m going to direct (the follow-up to my debut feature, YOUNG WERTHER), and am in the middle of writing a TV pilot with an actor and creative team I’m super excited about.
There are a few other bookish things I’m plotting away at, but we’ll see how and if and when those spring into life.
Also, I am writing these responses on a Friday. That means tomorrow, like every Saturday morning, I will be making crepes as fast as Winnie and Willa can gobble them up.
YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?
Yes! Bananas are technically radioactive. They contain the delicious isotope potassium-40, which our frail bodies crave. That’s why every time I eat a banana, I think: “Zap!”
And now you will, too.
YABC: What is your favorite thing to draw?
I very much like to draw people. Although I’m not great at capturing realistic likenesses, I still very much like to draw people. Kids especially. I set up in busy places, like train stations or museums, and I’ll sketch people living their lives. I have considered making a duck-blind, so I can draw people without them seeing me, but that might be too crazy.
YABC: Do you doodle?
I spend a great deal of my waking life drawing in my sketchbooks. I fill a sketchbook every three-ish weeks. The drawings don’t have to be great, but they are little nubs that I can always return to when I need a little inspiration.
YABC: What advice would you have for aspiring illustrators?
I get this question a lot. My main advice is to draw with real tools. Pencils, pens, stick and dirt. Whatever. Stay away from digital illustration as long as you can. I think there is a place for digital illustration, but with the onslaught of AI, I think analog tools are important, especially when starting out. When you are drawing digitally, you always have the ability to undo your mistakes, and that fundamentally changes the way you draw. The mistakes are what makes the drawing feel human, and I have to believe the readers can feel that humanity coming through.
YABC: Which techniques are your favorites to use?
I am such a sucker for pen and ink, with watercolour washes. I use a very loose fountain pen, and the ink dries within minutes. I can then watercolour over the lines. It’s not perfect, and this imperfection is the point. I was greatly inspired by Quentin Blake and William Steig, and their loose ink drawings with watercolour have always just felt perfect to me.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
Although the clear answer is Billie, I do have a lot of love for Hank The Turtle.
YABC: When did you start drawing?
I have been drawing my entire life. I was a pretty bad student, and my third grade report card reads “James might be a better student if he didn’t draw all the time.” Not wrong!
YABC: What’s up next for you?
I am working with my good friend and fabulous writer José Lourenço on a second Billie book.
After that I have my first author/illustrator book that’s tentatively called Jennifer Snowpants Pomertantz. It’s about a little kid who has a beloved cat named Snowpants. One day Snowpants comes home smelling of other people’s homes, and the kid is now confronted by the fact that Snowpants has a whole other life outside of him. But what is this life? He must find out. This book will be also be published by Tundra.
Title: Billie Builds A Robocorn
Author: José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço
Illustrator: James Braithwaite
Release Date: April 14, 2026
Publisher: Tundra Books / Penguin Random House Canada
ISBN-10: 1774884046
ISBN-13: 9781774884041
Genre: Picture Book / STEM / Science / Humor
Age Range: 3-7 years old
~ Giveaway Details ~
Use the Rafflepress Form below to enter
*be sure to include complete mailing address for the second entry question to qualify to win*
Ten (10) winners will receive a hardcover copy of Billie Builds A Robocorn (José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço) ~US/CAN Only!
Billie is a precocious, toolbox-toting tinkerer who uses her relentless resourcefulness and a bit of DIY magic to build herself a new best friend.
This book looks so fun!
This looks like a cute picture book that shows creativity! 🙂
Robots and unicorns? Yes, please!
Unicorn books are so popular with our school’s readers–I have a feeling they’d love this one!
I love how Billie Builds A Robocorn mixes creativity, STEM, and humor into a fun story that can inspire kids to dream big and invent anything they imagine.
This looks like a sweet book.