Happy Birthday, ON THE TRAIL!

Author Paige Braddock with book, ON THE TRAIL

Did you ever notice that sometimes, art imitates life? And at other times, life imitates art? How about art and life imitating each other at the same time? I think that’s what happened to me!


After the first two stories featuring our fur babies, Peanut, Butter, and Crackers, I
thought it would be funny to write an adventure. It seemed like a good idea to take these
characters on a road trip to a place outside their comfort zone. A camping trip seemed
like a fun idea. I love camping. And what better way to get to the campground than in a
camper van.

Funny thing is, when I first began to work on this book, I didn’t own a camper van. But at
some point, it seemed like a fine idea, and we got one. Maybe this story inspired me to
try the adventure I was percolating in my head for Peanut, Butter, and Crackers, in the
real world?

Not long after getting our camper van, which we affectionately call Leonard, we loaded
our fur family up and took a drive from California to Georgia. And then, after a few
weeks, we turned around and did it again!

It soon became apparent that our dogs, Buddy Barker and Charlie, seemed to enjoy the
road trip much more than our cat, Otis. Thankfully only once did we have to rent a cabin
along the way to give Otis some space. Valuable lesson learned: Cats like to have their
own space. Duly noted!

Thankfully what my imagination ultimately conjured up as adventure in ON THE TRAIL
did not come to pass in real life! Reality was enough adventure for all of us!

ON THE TRAIL is about home and all the places we find it. I hope you enjoy the third installment of the Peanut, Butter, & Crackers series.

Happy Book Birthday to Fetch!

Happy Book Birthday to Fetch! The second of three graphic novels in the Peanut, Butter, & Crackers series for kids inspired by my adventures in being a puppy mom.

When Charlie first came to live with our family I had this big plan to take him to work with me every day. But Charlie was a very nervous puppy. He barked a lot at the office and he’d hide whenever any of my coworkers stopped by my desk.

So I thought taking Charlie to doggy school might help him build confidence and make friends. Our first visit to the doggy day care was hilarious because I learned that each size dog had their own class: the littles, the middles, and the big dogs. I immediately thought, this would make a great story.

I hope you enjoy Fetch! Stay tuned for Book 3!

Butter the cat was inspired by my cat Otis who was very happy to stay at home and have the cozy dog bed all to himself.

Portraits Aren’t Just for People

When I’m trying to come up with animal characters for stories I usually begin by sketching from photos of real animals. For characters Peanut and Crackers, I began the design process by doing portraits of different dog breeds and then simplifying those drawings into cartoon characters. Some of these dogs appear as secondary characters in Book 2 of the series. Stay tuned! 🙂


The three main characters are based on my own pets. Here’s a comparison between actual photos and each cartoon persona I created. If you study animals, they each have funny little personal traits. I tried to incorporate these traits into Puppy Problems.

Crackers character and Crackers inspiration
Peanut character and Peanut inspiration

For example, our cat loves boxes. Our little dog with the button ears whose cartoon persona is Crackers, can’t stand squirrels. Our puppy does this cute little thing where he pauses and lifts one paw when he’s nervous. Peanut does the same thing.

My advice to anyone who wants to create characters and comics, pay attention to the little things. The fun is in the details.