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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNovember 14, 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Welcome to Creator Corner, a blog series where we interview the creators of our recent and upcoming books. For this post, we interviewed Burst Your Bubble!: Outsmart the Algorithms and See What You\u2019re Missing<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>author Joyce Grant and illustrator Jan Dolby, whose book published November 11, 2025!<\/p>\n Owlkids Books:<\/strong> Joyce, how and why did you begin writing children\u2019s books?<\/p>\n Joyce Grant:<\/strong> My first book, Gabby<\/em>, is a picture book about a girl who puts letters together; whatever she creates with those words comes to life. I was teaching my son to read at that time, and the idea of words becoming real-life things is a phonics concept that\u2019s great for very early readers.<\/p>\n More recently, I started writing illustrated non-fiction for kids to help them think more critically about what they see online. I speak to thousands of kids every year and it\u2019s never too young to get them to ask themselves questions about what they\u2019re seeing or hearing. Does it make sense? Does something feel a bit off about it? In this age of algorithms and fake news, I wanted to do something positive to help kids get ready for the information they have to deal with every day.<\/p>\n Owlkids Books: <\/strong>Jan, how and why did you begin illustrating children\u2019s books?<\/p>\n Jan Dolby:<\/strong> As an artist, I find it more exciting to create artwork that appeals to children. I prefer quirky and colorful art, and I collected picture books as a kid, so it seemed appropriate for me to shift my art focus to children\u2019s books.<\/p>\n OKB:<\/strong> Joyce, what inspired you to write this book?<\/p>\n JG:<\/strong> There\u2019s no question that the world has become more divided. You\u2019re in your bubble and I\u2019m in my bubble\u2014until all we can see is our own point of view. It helps to explain why people become so emotional about defending their viewpoint. Once we start accepting our truncated worldview, though, we can become entrenched. So many great things become tuned out in our world\u2014we miss so much! Not the least of which are empathy and compassion for others and the excitement of learning something new and learning about people we may be unfamiliar with. That\u2019s what this book is designed to do: make kids aware that we are all in bubbles (online and in real life) and help us to want to burst out of it, to discover what we\u2019re missing. This book isn\u2019t going to solve all the problems created by algorithms. But it does a good job of introducing and explaining an extremely sophisticated topic and helping kids how intentional bubbles are, and how we end up in them. Then, I\u2019m hoping it will set readers off on their own journey to making sure they get to see everything in the world they want to see. I\u2019m hoping it will help to reduce some of the divisiveness and negativity and introduce more empathy and understanding. It\u2019s a starting point, for kids and for educators and parents. And we\u2019ve done it in a really fun way, especially with Jan Dolby\u2019s very whimsical illustrations. This book was something I felt I could do, to aid in the struggle against negativity and divisiveness in the world today. I can\u2019t wait to see how kids use it, going forward.<\/p>\n OKB:<\/strong> Jan, what was the inspiration for your illustrations in this book?<\/p>\n JD:<\/strong> Character inspiration came from friends, family and former art students. Especially my kids.<\/p>\n OKB: <\/strong>Joyce, what was the most enjoyable part of bringing this story to life? What was the most challenging part of the process?<\/p>\n JG:<\/strong> Challenging? Try explaining to an 8-year-old what an \u201calgorithm\u201d is. Ha! That\u2019s really hard! But it was job-one. So daunting. It took me a long time to finally figure out that if you want to understand algorithms, you need to actually do<\/em> one\u2014so we included some activities right in the book for kids to try. Doing the games will help them understand more than any definition we could give them.<\/p>\n And enjoyable? Well, I met my (tech) idol! More than a decade ago, I took a virtual website course from Morten Rand-Hendricksen, who is now a tech \u201cunfluencer,\u201d who studies technology in an ethical framework and its effects on all of us. I reached out to him and to my great delight he agreed to be a tech consultant for the book. I have admired him and his work so much over the years and to have his support and expertise has been incredible. Also, this is the fifth book Jan Dolby and I have worked on together. We did the Gabby series, and I was thrilled when she agreed to work on this book. She has done an amazing job bringing some really challenging concepts to life and making them fun.<\/p>\n OKB:<\/strong> Jan, what was the most enjoyable part of illustrating this book? What was the most challenging part?<\/p>\n JD:<\/strong> The most enjoyable part of illustrating Burst Your Bubble!<\/em> was developing the character kids for the book. Each character has their own funny personality and story. The most challenging part of illustrating this book was creating an illustration style that visually attracted young readers and at the same time helped develop the book concepts.<\/p>\n OKB:<\/strong> Joyce and Jan, what do you hope readers will take away from this book?<\/p>\n JG:<\/strong> I hope this is a starting point and that kids (and adults!) will run with the concepts in the book that most appeal to them. We can\u2019t possibly deal with everything technology is throwing at us these days, and we certainly can\u2019t \u201cfix\u201d algorithms. That\u2019s not a thing. What we need, though, is to make sure kids have the skills to think critically about what they encounter. Ask questions. And if they have doubts about something, to think twice before sharing it online or even in real life. Kids want to have critical thinking skills, and they\u2019re more than ready to handle them. We just need to have good resources to start the conversations and start the thinking. And that\u2019s what I hope this book will do. I believe in giving kids the tools and they\u2019ll make their own decisions about how to use them. They will. And I want to thank the educators and parents who do this difficult work with kids. It\u2019s a long teaching curve, but it will result in giving kids skills they\u2019ll use their whole lives.<\/p>\n JD:<\/strong> I hope readers acquire the knowledge to modify or change their algorithms regularly so that they don\u2019t miss the good stuff in life. Even better, live life through real life experiences and take breaks from socials.<\/p>\n OKB:<\/strong> Joyce and Jan, what\u2019s an interesting fact people may not know about you?<\/p>\n JG:<\/strong> This year, especially with everything stressful that\u2019s been happening around the world, I took up pottery! I\u2019m making cups and bowls and just really getting into working creatively with clay on the wheel. My son even created a website for my pottery (QuirkyBird.ca) so we\u2019ve got a fun little joint venture together. Working on the wheel is incredibly soothing and relaxing. It\u2019s been a good way for me to meditate and regroup.<\/p>\n JD:<\/strong> I\u2019m an artist who is interested in technology (tech nerd) and a sports enthusiast.<\/p>\n Thank you so much Joyce and Jan for taking the time to do this interview and creating a wonderful book! We hope readers enjoy Burst Your Bubble!<\/em><\/a>\u00a0as much as we did!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/owlkidsbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/9781771477123_004_iart-250x140.jpg\")
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