This fall, a new picture book will be the star of classroom, nighttime, and possibly even dinner table story time. Turkey in Disguise is a hilarious, rhyming story inspired by the classic classroom project that leaves readers with a heartfelt message about being yourself. There is even a tear-out turkey template included so young readers can make their own original disguise.
The book was written by Adam Wallace, who also penned the popular “How to Catch” picture book series, along with more than 100 other books for children. His books have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide in 10-plus languages. Before he embarks on his U.S. book tour later this fall, we caught up with Adam to ask him all about his journey to becoming a New York Times best-selling children’s book author.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became an author.
It was a long journey! I loved writing until my last year of school, then I became an engineer. I analysed car crashes before moving into playground safety, which was awesome. After I did my teaching degree (but never taught in the classroom aside from my teaching rounds), someone dared me to write a children’s book. I wrote one, and it opened something up in me that I never want to close. That was in 1999 and I have written every day since!
Do you have a favorite place to write?
I will write ANYWHERE! I write at home on my computer, at my kitchen bench, on the train, in a cafe, on my couch, in a park, on a plane, anywhere. Sometimes I have even pulled over to the side of the road when I got an idea and HAD to write it down. But mostly I write at my computer at home. My favourite place to write though, was Mendocino, California, in America!
Turkey has to get ready for the November Ball, but she has no idea what to wear! Should she go as a unicorn, a ninja, or maybe a witch? All she knows is that she absolutely cannot go as herself . . . or can she? The classic classroom project Turkey in Disguise inspired this original picture book, making it a perfect read for the fall season.
What inspired you to write Turkey in Disguise?
It’s interesting, because in publishing there are different ways to get to write a book. One is that you come up with an idea, write the story, then send it to a publisher to see if they like it and want to publish it (little side note, I have done this hundreds of times, and around 500 of those times they have said no). The other way—and this is often if you have worked with the publisher before or if they know of your writing style—is that the publisher will come to you with a concept and ask if you would like to write it. That happened with Turkey in Disguise and it was a resounding “YES!” from me.
Why? I loved the idea of thinking of all the crazy disguises I could think up for the turkey to wear, and how her friends would respond to them. I even had lots of ideas that didn’t make the book! This was partly my imagination and partly inspired by seeing disguises kids made up.
The illustrations by Mike Moran are hilarious and really bring a wonderful, joyful tone to the story. Did you have much say in how the characters looked, or did you brainstorm with Mike?
They are SO good, Mike is awesome! We didn’t brainstorm these pictures, Mike came up with the designs himself. It’s so exciting to see what an illustrator comes up with after I just send in a Word document. Sometimes I get to be involved, other times not—it really varies—but whatever happens it is always thrilling to see my words come to life in the hands of a brilliant illustrator such as Mike.
What is your all-time favorite children’s book that you didn’t write? What authors have influenced you along the way?
Ooooooooh, good question and an easy one to answer. It is Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, which I reckon is the best picture book ever written.
As a kid, I loved Dr. Seuss, and Bill Peet, and Roald Dahl, and now, kid’s book authors I love are Andy Griffiths, Oliver Jeffers and Adrian Beck.
Like the Turkey in your book, do you get nervous when you have a big event like a school visit or book signing? If so, what do you do to calm those nerves?
Great question again, these are excellent! When I was younger I would get SOOOOOOO nervous, before playing sports, doing a speech, going to a birthday party or anything really. In those days, I didn’t calm my nerves, I just threw a tantrum. Now I don’t get as nervous, but if I do there are a couple of things I do. The first thing that helps is practice. The more I do something, the less nervous I get, and after 1,200 school visits I hardly get nervous at all. I also imagine it going really well. And I’ve realised that I mostly get nervous because I am thinking about something that hasn’t even happened yet, so why am I nervous? IT HASN’T HAPPENED! If I can be in the moment and not worry about what will happen next, I tend to not get as nervous.
Since you’re Australian, have you ever celebrated Thanksgiving? If not, what side dish would you bring if you were invited to an American Thanksgiving?
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in this part of the world, although I have had some Thanksgiving dinners with my Godsister and her family, which was great since I learnt about Thanksgiving and got to eat nice food and nap after. My favourite side dish and the one I would bring would be what we call hot chips, what you call fries, because they are the tastiest thing in the world and everyone loves them! I eat them every Tuesday and sometimes other days as well.
Love this author? Follow Silver Dolphin Books on our socials for details of Adam’s upcoming U.S. book tour later this fall, along with updates on his exciting new releases in 2026!