NYT Bestselling Author on Writing 200+ Children's Books — Tish Rabe
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Tish calls the Dr. Seuss division at Random House, introduces herself, and the person says they were supposed to call her but didn't. She asks for bad news first: "We cannot publish Morris Aurora Brachiosaurus because we are the rhyming home of Dr. Seuss." Then good news: "How would you like to write a new series for Dr. Seuss?"
Host excited to connect with Tish Rabe, thanks Alan Lee. Tish has written 200+ children's books, sold more than 11 million copies, and 300 children's songs. Tish studied opera in college with a four-year degree and minor in jazz. In high school, loved singing and writing but chose singing. Came to New York auditioning everywhere.
High school music teacher became assistant music director on Sesame Street season two. Tish meets him, he asks if she can type, hires her as music production assistant. Hired jingle singers in Manhattan to sing with Jim Henson's Muppets. Sang all day while typing, filing, answering phones.
After a year, they let her sing on Sesame Street with Muppets, on show, albums, specials. First big break: sang with Oscar - "I love trash. Everything dirty and dingy and dusty. Anything ragged and rotten and rusty."
Season 2 felt like the most creative environment. Joan Ganz Cooney (executive producer), Jim Henson, puppeteers made stuff up all day. Worried show would bomb: six-foot yellow bird (Big Bird), cookie monster, grouch in trash can, multi-racial cast in 1969. Joan let them be creative.
Sesame Street needed books, toys, merchandise. Staff pitched ideas. Tish pitched story from childhood: broke great-grandmother's teapot, mother said, "I'm not mad or anything. I love you more than any teapot." Pitched to Sesame Street Books, dead silence, then editor from back: "Could you make it a story for Bert?"
First book: Bert and the Broken Teapot (out of print). Bert breaks David's favorite teapot, tries to fix it, fears losing friendship. David: "You'll always be my friend. Can you help me in my restaurant next week?" Won great awards and letters for message that friendship > stuff.
Educational research-backed TV show. Thick notebook per season on learning goals: numbers, letters, compassion, sorting shapes. Writers made stuff up. Key lesson: wrote endings first, like Abbott and Costello - "pushing piano across bridge with gorilla coming, how did they get there?"
Tish writes last page first for children's books. In I Believe Bunny books, ends: "you may get a surprise, you can make a difference, even a bunny your size." Then writes how bunny helps friend who can't swim. Last page crucial before book shuts for sleep/nap/play.
Worked for Jim Henson for years. "Gentle giant with a mind of steel," great businessman, creative, nice to production assistants. Worked nonstop: Sesame Street day, fly to London for Muppet Show, fly back. Creative minds made things up on spot, sense of humor, lightness - "Oh, and by the way, we're teaching kids."
First to do double-level humor: funny for kids, stuff for adults. Parents watching helped kids learn more. Early shows parents avoided; Sesame Street so nuts everyone loved it.
Songs pre-recorded, puppeteers lip-synced. Tish counted them in next to camera: measure one, two, three, four. Carol Spinney (Big Bird) saw her point to start singing/moving.
Jingle singers in 70s: sang through once, assigned parts on spot (root, third, fifth, octave). Example: "We are the sound of the sound of the Count's down four-part harmony."
Christmas special: full orchestra, Carol Spinney struggled with "I Hate Christmas" as Oscar. Took break, he took Oscar puppet out of case, sang perfectly.
From Needham, Massachusetts. Mother told her high school music teacher got job; Tish visited him dressed up. He bought her lunch weekly. Timing/luck got her in.
Auditions: sang nine notes ("Oklahoma where the wind goes" - thank you). Getting music TV job was magic.
Sesame Street taking off when she joined, uncertain success. Created to even playing field: kids entered kindergarten knowing alphabet/numbers, singing songs like "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 alligators went to the alligator picnic."
Kept writing after Bert book. Hired by Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin, Random House. Produced Big Bird in China (1982), senior producer for 3-2-1 Contact (science series). Became Random House director of video (VHS era), produced animatics (camera over artwork), music, voiceovers.
Hallway requests: "Could you write a book about butterflies?" Sure, when? Wrote songs for 3-2-1 Contact: electricity, mammals. Favorite: gestation periods - "I'm waiting for my baby... elephant two years... baby, you were worth the wait."
Identify science to teach, structure: verse + B section (goes somewhere, comes back). Example: "Cord of wood" song - how many toothpicks/picnic tables in a cord?
Used to singing rhyming lyrics. Joe Raposo wrote theme, big songs. Asked "how Kermit feels?" Wrote "Being Green" - no end rhymes: "It's not easy being green, having to spend each day the color of the leaves..."
Thunderstruck, mega hit. Joan Ganz Cooney gave freedom: "just do it."
Favorite non-written song: "I Just Adore Four" (Joe Bailey) - "less than five, more than three." Grown-up lyrics kids understood.
Free-flowing but curriculum king: had to fit season's topics (seasons, cooperation). Focus groups tested with kids: Oscar originally orange, kids didn't like. Fine line: double-level humor without losing kids, e.g., "I Just Adore Four" taught without sophistication overload.
Submitted a rhyming book to Random House in 1991 when kids were three and four. Worked there as senior producer for home video, singing on TV and VHS. Manuscript: "Morris Aurorus was a brachiosaurus who had the best voice in the dinosaur chorus. He liked to play tennis and swim in the sea, but mostly he liked to eat fresh broccoli." Friends try to get him to eat something else: "Broccoli's fine. It's got color and crunch, but you eat it for breakfast and dinner and lunch." Last line: "One thing is true and you cannot deny it. Like it or not, you won't know till you try it."
Walked manuscript to book department, heard nothing (pre-texting, voicemail, payphones). Called, person said: bad news and good news. Bad news: cannot publish Morris Aurorus because Random House is the rhyming home of Dr. Seuss. Good news: write a new series for Dr. Seuss.
Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel) wanted series of books for kids 4-7 about science in rhyme for early readers, died before finishing first. Handed stack of research on mammals, birds. Behind schedule finding writer for his rhythm and rhyme. Morris Aurorus matched it. Asked for two books in four months: As a Camel, a Mammal and A Feathered Friends.
Random House had exclusivity on Dr. Seuss rhyming books. He created Beginner Books series, head of it, other authors wrote too. Author-illustrator; art directors/editors at Random House did nothing to his perfect submissions (e.g., Horton).
Missed meeting him by one year. Spoke to widow Audrey Geisel. She referenced 1950s study: pregnant moms/dads read/sang The Cat in the Hat to babies in utero; newborns recognized voices, waved hands, eyes linked.
In 2008, Audrey Geisel called: read all 41 Ted Geisel/Dr. Seuss books, write book referencing all, titled Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go! (to be read in utero). Examples: "Here's a who," If I Ran the Zoo, If I Ran the Circus, Yertle the Turtle, Ferdinand with the Moose. Turned in manuscript.
Picked up kids from school (middle school age), phone rang: Random House sending Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go! to printer, need short funny bio now. Bio: "Tish Rabe is a mom who thinks that it's cool to be home rhyming rhymes while her kids are at school." They loved it. Bestseller, flies off shelves.
You do not have to have kids to write for kids. Many fabulous authors did not.
Last page: pregnant mom (maybe not drawn by Ted), wrote: "It's a scrumptious world and it's ready to greet you. And as for myself, well, I can't wait to meet you." Thinks wouldn't have come up with it without having two kids (son and daughter).
Random House did research for first two; she did own after. Went to local library children's department, pulled all simplified kids' materials on topic. Spiral notebook per book: wrote facts (e.g., space, insects). Looked for rhyming potential words.
Example: "When birds want to go on a winter vacation, they all take a trip and they call it migration."
Guardrails: Seussian pure rhymes (migration/vacation), not slant (farm/barn). Rhythm perfect, never varies: "On the 15th of May, in the jungle of Nool, Horton the elephant sat in the pool."
If stuck, made up word like Dr. Seuss. His: Sleep Book, "Have you met the Van Flex?" When they sleep, they yawn so wide you can see down their necks. Hers: Oh, the Pets You Can Get! in Gerlatz (made up, homage to Ted).
Keep simple, rhyme for kids. Rhyme introduces mnemonic device; kids remember words like migration via rhyme. All her books after rhyme because it works.
High school Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts. Music director got her first NY job. English teacher Mr. Allen: wrote poems, sonnets, plays; taught format, end rhyme, limericks.
Unpublished book (may self-publish): built on Morris Aurorus, three for Nickelodeon in limerick rhyme. "Have you met Morris? He's an oopsaurus. A dinosaur if you can't guess. But sometimes he bumps things and sometimes he thumps things and sometimes he makes a big mess."
Torn between English/writing or singing in college; chose singing, now does both.
Started with Million Gazillion Rhymes computer program (husband bought). Typed words (e.g., antenna), found rhymes. Now knows instinctively.
Solar system book mnemonic: "You've seen all the planets. Now here is a trick to remember their names and remember them quick." My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto).
Random House called: Pluto demoted. Couldn't change art. Changed to My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Nickels. Artist changed pizza boxes to nickels.
74, turning 75 in July. Started own company at 71.
Parents married as World War II started. Father POW, came home. Had two boys, then her (little girl). Father played piano half hour after work; mom English major, loved writing. Not musical family; brothers played sports.
At 7 (first grade), stood up singing father's nightly song (mom's favorite), Tammy from Tammy and the Bachelor: "I hear the cottonwood whispering above. Tammy, Tammy, Tammy's my love." Whole room stopped.
Encouraged to pursue music/writing. College (Ithaca College, class of '72): only one not taking education backup. Told mom getting singing degree, planned NY/Broadway success. Parents supportive: "Sure, if you think this is going to work, good luck."
Music therapeutic, helps retain faculties. Every self-created book has song to public domain melody (people know). First: sleep book lullaby "Night is here. Today is done. It's time to sleep, my little one." To Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
You can sing. Just it doesn't mean if it's croaky. The only voice your child wants to hear is yours.
Voice resonating in their ear; kids love parents' voice reading/singing most.
Started company during COVID at 70. Met Pajama Program (now Beyond Bedtime): gives free pajamas/story books to kids in adversity (no pajamas/books).
They needed help for parents getting kids to sleep. Wrote Sweet Dreams story book + tips in rhyme (e.g., "30 to 60 minutes before you tuck them in is the perfect time for their bedtime routine to begin"). Parents read to kids, kids learn routine, sing lullaby. Kids now sing in school/daycare.
Married high school sweetheart, live Mystic, Connecticut (middle for 4 kids: 2 Boston, 2 Manhattan). Husband avid fisherman, fishes 3-4 days/week fishing season (best in New England: ocean, Rhode Island, Block Island). 24-foot boat, catches sea bass, etc., gives away/cooks.
Felt needed ideas publishers weren't doing. Love You, Hug You, Read to You board book: begged publishers for dialogic reading (questions, e.g., mommy cat to kittens: "What do you think the little kittens are thinking?" Builds dialogue). No takers, so self-published.
Now does what she wants, messages not done before. Huge learning: find illustrator, printer, Amazon, website sales. Loves it.
Lifetime mission: free books to kids without. Started at Sesame Street to lift/teach reading; still doing in 2026.
Child of World War II hero. Dad in college when he enlisted.
Tish's dad enlisted in college while studying engineering and became a navigator on a B17, sitting in the front with the pilot handling maps. His plane was hit by enemy fire, burst into flames, he jumped out, was arrested, and spent under two years in a German prison camp. He came home, and they had two boys and a little girl (Tish). Throughout her career writing children's books, Tish wanted to write a book for military kids and families in honor of her father, as no one understands their sacrifices. As grandmother to two girls (five and three), she reflected on her granddaughter's reaction to her son being away on business for two days, compared to military kids with parents gone for a year. She tried Department of Defense, Department of Education, naval bases for help, but ended up starting her own company. Got clearance for Groton Naval Base next to Mystic, Connecticut, visited their library, read every book for military children, found nothing helpful. As she was leaving, the librarian suggested "United Through Reading," which records deployed service members reading books to their kids, sending video and free book copy home.
Tish wanted a book reflecting their story: "This is where I am. I miss you, but I'm fine. You're fine. I'm fine. It's fine." Interviewed service members, spouses, partners, kids for months, filling notebooks on experiences like walking away from a three-year-old hoping to return to serve the country. Interviewees gave tips for the book; favorite: when husband leaves, trace his hand on paper, put it by door so kids can high-five it. Book title: Sometimes a Part, Always in My Heart—helping military families send love from far away. Received big awards; passion project, can't imagine son leaving granddaughters for a year, but it happens daily.
Bought granddaughter a stuffed dog named Alaska that fell in her bag while writing the book. Service members often leave pets when relocated. Made the bear family adopt Alaska from a shelter. Googled "Alaska"—only Alaskan huskies came up, no character named Alaska, so used it. Tip: Google potential character names first to avoid conflicts. Sent stuffed Alaska to art director/illustrator; she captured it perfectly from first sketch. Service members miss day-to-day family moments; Daddy Bear away, family adopts Alaska, last page shows Alaska jumping on him upon return. Stuffed Alaska available on website tishrabebooks.com with book.
Best place for Sometimes a Part, Always in My Heart and Alaska plush: tishrabebooks.com (note spelling: tishrabebooks.com). Website has e-commerce. Plush just needed bandana added saying "Alaska" and book name. Site features books in development, including Days Can Be Sunny for Bunnies and Money—commissioned by Ohio bank for financial literacy. Triplet bunnies: Honey Fern (likes to earn), Sunny Dave (likes to save), Funny Ben (likes to spend). They give eggs to library. Loves content-based books that teach. Big new book in one month: rhyming story Central Park is the Best Place to Be.
Joined Mystic Chamber of Commerce for small business advice. Met head of membership at coffee shop in Mystic Seaport on February 8th; she asked for children's book about town for huge anniversary by July. Wrote Mystic by the Sea is the Best Place to Be. Had hallucination of four seagulls over her head, inspiring family of seagulls flying over seaport, aquarium, boats, downtown Mystic. Wrote in two days.
Executive editor Jennifer Perry (former VP/publisher Sesame Street Books, trained greeter at Central Park) suggested rhyming book for families asking what to show kids. Central Park: 843 acres of open land, lakes, waterfalls—fit into 24 pages. Campaign crowdfunding free copies to first graders in underserved neighborhoods of Manhattan's five boroughs (Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn). Met influencer via Alain who offered help; on website landing page.
Children's books vary: Dr. Seuss 42 pages. 24 pages ideal for bedtime reading without overwhelming. Do other languages like Sweet Dreams in Spanish. Pace avoids too many words per page; kids love turning pages. Choose illustrator matching message/style: Jill Guile (London) for snuggling/reading books like Huff and Puff train books; wacky style for Bunnies and Money.
Presented to Girls Write Now group; first time asked about writer's block—yes, gets it. For hired books (still writes for others, e.g., recent Harper Collins), if due April 1st, aims for February 15th draft to buffer stuck days. When stuck, stop, switch to another project to avoid spiraling obsession.
Example: American Academy of Pediatrics book on sleep, healthy eating, exercise—seemed boring, preachy. Pitched creating Dr. Seuss-style characters like Zing Singing Zans who loves washing hands:
Squishly washly washly wish squishly squashly squashly squish. Wash your hands carefully. It's up to you. You soap in warm water. It's easy to do. Rinse them and while we all sing this refrain. Germs from your hands will slide right down the drain.
Editor said write full 42-page rhyming book, submit to Mrs. Geisel; if rejected, start over. Wrote it (e.g., Sneeze Snicker Sneeze brushes teeth). Approved, became huge bestseller; Michelle Obama funded 16 extra pages with exercises.
First film crew allowed in China with six-foot yellow bird. Associate producer; one hand-painted/dyed Big Bird costume—couldn't shoot in rain. Scheduled 13 rain days in one-month shoot; poured first 13 days. Pushed out for one line (e.g., "Should we go this way or that way?"), pulled back to dry. Won Emmy for best special (90 minutes on NBC). Complicated plot: Big Bird finds Phoenix. NBC suggested cutting to hour, but kept 90 minutes. No coffee—crew desperate, only tea. Five-year-old Chinese girl lead spoke no English, memorized old scripts by rote despite changes (e.g., said cut line "I don't know a big bird. Let's find out."). Shot Great Wall at 4 a.m. Billion people all walking/biking then (vs. cars now). Sheer volume mindboggling; cold with big green jackets.
Billboard message: "Remember that children are our most precious gift... they are the future... we must take good care of them... and read read read."
New book in three weeks: Kindness is Caring, Friendship is Sharing, with international Rotary Clubs. Gentle Africa story by little zebra about friendship, caring, sharing, making world kinder. Hopes parents learn about Rotary, join local clubs. All at tishrabebooks.com; links in show notes, crowdfunding, social media, tim.blog/podcast.
Reading and writing both are so exciting. Read a book or write a story. Start right now.
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