Author and illustrator Zachariah OHora can’t pinpoint when his adoration of racoons began, but the affection is such that it takes up, in his words, “half my Instagram timeline.”
“They’re just so cute and fuzzy,” says OHora, illustrator of the New York Times bestselling book Wolfie the Bunny, as well as the author and illustrator of a number of award-winning books including The-Parent-Trap-for-cats epic Niblet & Ralph featured on The Today Show. “And they’re really fun to draw. My Cousin Momo actually came out of my obsession with Japanese flying squirrels.”
Known for his picture books featuring bipedal animal characters from lemmings to elephants, OHora’s stories caught the eye of PBS KIDS’ Director of Content for Children’s Programming, Natalie Engle.
“Natalie reached out to me and was like, ‘We like your art style. Have you ever thought about doing a TV show?’” recalls OHora. “Little did I know that it would take the next 10 years …