Ten years has passed since Lisa Mantchev first called Pet Club to order in her debut picture book, Strictly No Elephants, featuring art by Taeeun Yoo. When a boy and his tiny pet elephant discover that the club does not allow pachyderms, they show its members the value of diversity and inclusion—and the true meaning of friendship. Published by Simon & Schuster’s Paula Wiseman Books, the tale has been translated into 19 languages and has sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide.

Now the collaborators amplify that tale’s message in a companion, The Trouble with Giraffes, in which a girl’s pet giraffe is too tall to fit through the clubhouse door, but the Pet Club members come together to find a way for him—and everyone—to be included. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman is releasing the title with a 150,000-copy first printing.

Mantchev’s interest in writing for children dates back to her tenure teaching elementary students at a French-American school from 1997 to 2003. “I was around little kids all day long for six years, and I brought that experience with me when I left teaching,” the author explained. She had already published some adult short stories in magazines and a handful of young adult novels (including the Théâtre Illuminata trilogy, which Feiwel and Friends launched with Eyes Like Stars in 2009) when she happened upon a black-and-white photo on the internet that inspired her first picture book.

“It was a picture of a small child with an elephant pull-toy standing in front of a door,” Mantchev recalled. “I took the idea in that illustration and wrote a short version of a story for my Facebook page, and the feedback almost universally was ‘This would make a darling picture book.’ Sylvie Frank at Paula Wiseman Books [now senior executive editor at Flamingo Books] encouraged me to write a picture book based on that image that became Strictly No Elephants, which has continued to be a tiny juggernaut of a success. I refer to it as ‘the tiny elephant who marches onward’ every time I post some news about exciting things happening with my work!”

Bringing the Can-Do Elephant to Life

South Korean artist Yoo, two-time recipient of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award and winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award and the Society of Illustrators’ Founders Award, eagerly signed on to illustrate Strictly No Elephants.

“Reading the manuscript for the first time, I was immediately drawn to the elephant character as an unusual pet,” she said. “I was captivated by how Lisa used the elephant to tell a story about rejection and inclusion, kindness and friendship in such a fun, engaging way.”

Although Mantchev had never before worked with an illustrator, she knew from Yoo’s sketches and previous books that “there was something very sweet and wholesome but also complex about her art.” Knowing that Yoo was the right match for the book, Mantchev added, “I put some art direction suggestions for what I envisioned in the margins of the manuscript. Taeeun ran with them and created art that was a million times better than I could have possibly imagined. It has been astonishing and marvelous to sit in front of children with the book and hear their comments. Taeeun’s work is phenomenal, and I admire her so much.”

The Pet Club Reopens Its Doors

Realizing that the 10th anniversary of Strictly No Elephants was on the horizon, Wiseman (who retired at the end of 2024 but continues to edit select titles) approached Mantchev about the possibility of doing a companion picture book to celebrate this milestone. “Lisa told me she would mull it over, but a few months went by, and I hadn’t heard from her,” Wiseman said. “I wanted in the worst way to call her, but I knew better. And then one morning, the story appeared in my inbox!”

Writing a sequel was not entirely smooth sailing for Mantchev. “My response to Paula’s proposal of a companion book to Strictly No Elephants was a combination of honest-to-goodness dread and a bit of wondering how I would follow-up a book that had done so well,” she said. “My headspace had been, if I think of a perfect idea, I will write another Pet Club book, but I had not found the right hook. I did not want to do a book that was derivative or would tarnish the ‘legacy’—though I do not like that term—of a book for which there is a lot of love out there.”

Yet the author knew that she wanted to feature one of the other Pet Club members in the sequel, and once she decided on Giraffe as its protagonist, the manuscript took off. And Wiseman proclaimed it a clear win. “At first read, it was nearly perfect,” she said. “Lisa expanded on her first picture book’s themes of what we do for our friends, and at the heart of The Trouble with Giraffes is the theme of loyalty and the consistency that makes a good friend. Taeeun returned to the setting of Strictly No Elephants and created an irresistible giraffe main character. All the pieces fell in place like they were meant to be.”

Yoo was pleased to step back on board to illustrate the new Pet Club story. “Revisiting the animal characters after all those years felt like returning to old friends,” she said. “When I first drew the boy and the elephant for Strictly No Elephants, I didn’t know they would one day find a new life in another book. One of my favorite parts of the new book was drawing the children and the animals in the treehouse calling, ‘Welcome back!’ It felt as if they were greeting the readers themselves, inviting them in.”

The Trouble with Giraffes by Lisa Mantchev, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman, $19.99 Sept. 16 ISBN 978-1-66596-276-6