Is there such a thing as too much family? For some of us perhaps, but not for the protagonist of Jehan Madhani’s debut picture book, Eli and the Uncles. Eli has eight uncles in total, each of them tall and bearded, yet unique and eccentric in their own ways. We had the opportunity to sit down with Jehan and talk about her new book, working in children’s media, and how the source of inspiration is often close to home.
About Jehan Madhani
Jehan Madhani is a South Asian–American writer and cartoonist for audiences big and small. She was the recipient of the Lee & Low 2020 New Voices Honor for an original picture book manuscript, Eli and the Uncles. She was a fellow in the inaugural class of the Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room and as a TV writer, she has been Emmy-nominated for her work on Karma’s World on Netflix. Her work can be seen across a number of shows, including Deepa & Anoop, Lyla in the Loop, Get Rolling with Otis, and Dee & Friends in Oz. She lives in Brooklyn with a family of unappreciative cats whom she repatriated from her parents’ Houston, Texas garage.
Thank you so much for joining us, Jehan! Let’s get started.
Can you give our readers a quick introduction to the story of Eli and the Uncles and what inspired you to tell it?
Eli and the Uncles is a goodnight book! Eli spends the day with his eight uncles and their magnificent beards and then gives each of them a kiss goodnight. I was initially inspired to tell it because I wanted to see more faces that looked like mine and my family’s in children’s books. Everyone benefits when we expand who the stories we read and write are about! And as the book came into being, it became clear that it was about celebrating and encouraging an openness to expressing love and affection in boys. In my work in TV, it’s a joke with friends that I love to write the “soft boy” — the character that’s a little too gentle for this world. I wanted to write a book for the soft boy.
How much of the book was drawn from your own family experiences? Was there a character or scene in particular that was inspired by your life?
I do have a lot of uncles! But the part of the book that is most inspired by my own family experiences is the kiss goodnight. These days it’s easy enough to leave a family gathering with a wave, but when we were kids, we would go around and give every older family member a kiss on the cheek as we left for the night. We always joked about how leaving would take ages, but there’s also something so nice about having this little moment with every member of your family, and a little extra bit of love.
You were awarded the Lee & Low 2020 New Voices Honor for the manuscript of Eli and the Uncles, congratulations! What was it like to have your manuscript recognized by such a respected voice in diverse children’s literature?
It was amazing! My roommate baked a cake! It was such a thrill to have other people who share my hopes for the future of children’s literature celebrate my work. Lee & Low champions the kind of diverse narratives I love to read and that I want to see more of, and I’m honored to have my work recognized by them.
Tell us about your experience working with illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh on the book. What did your collaborative process look like as you brought the text and artwork together?
We both worked primarily with Eli’s editor at Candlewick Press, Mary Lee Donovan, and her guidance was paramount to the process! I loved receiving Rashin’s art at different stages and seeing the story come back better and brighter with every pass. I feel so lucky to have Eli in Rashin’s capable hands — her imagination, creativity, and humor come through in her beautiful illustrations. I loved it enough to get a tattoo of the spaghetti Uncle Salim cooks throughout the book!
In addition to being a children’s book author, you have written for many children’s TV shows, like Blue’s Clues and Karma’s World. Are there differences between your approach to writing a picture book versus writing a television script?
I think children’s book writing is a more individual experience — to begin with at least! Once you get to the editing and illustrations, it’s very collaborative, but my experience has been having an idea and getting it down on my own and bringing a more fully formed story to the process. TV writing is more collaborative from the top. There’s usually a brainstorm where you and a writing team come together to come up with or shape an episode premise together, and then you’re sent on your way to write! I’ve found that joking around with a team is where I do some of my best creative work. I’m extremely lucky to get to do both!
Are you interested in writing more books for children? What topics or subjects are you excited to explore in future titles?
I am interested in writing more books for children! I think I’d like to continue some of the work I’ve started with Eli! I mentioned that we all benefit from specificity in diverse narratives, and I’d love to bring more of that to my writing in the future. It’s wonderful to give kids characters who look like them — I’d also like to offer a wider audience the chance to learn about kids and families who don’t look like them and learn about the little intricacies of a life that looks different. And I think that can be in the background, like in Eli, in a way that makes diversity feel like a given, or in the foreground, in a way that celebrates unique culture and experience.
And I’d like to continue working to change how kids learn about gender. Young audiences should get to see as many different versions of the world as possible so that they don’t feel bound by the boxes that might be presented to them as they get older and start getting to know the world outside their home and family. I’d like to do the work I can toward that! And if I can do that with warmth and humor and fun, even better! My niece, upon seeing the cover of Eli and the Uncles, said, “there’s no girls” and that was a fair critique. So I’ll work on that too.
We love to ask those who create stories for children which stories inspired them when they were children themselves. What stories from childhood do you still carry with you?
I loved Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones books. I loved books about rambunctious girls who were a little too much (then and now, I have always talked too much). But even more than that, I loved books and media that let me feel like I was in on the joke. There’s something so exciting about feeling seen by an author and for an author to so beautifully remember what it was to be a kid and that audience in a way that feels authentic. That’s something Beverly Cleary also did beautifully!
Lastly, in honor of Eli and the Uncles, what is your favorite way to spend a day with family?
I love watching movies. I think there’s something so cozy about spending the day on the couch under a blanket with rotating snacks, watching movies we’ve probably seen a hundred times.
A huge thank you to Jehan for taking the time to share her thoughts with us! Be sure to find her online at jehanmadhani.com and follow her work on Instagram and Twitter/X. And, of course, don’t forget to add Eli and the Uncles to your family’s reading list.
To read more of our exclusive interviews with authors on their work, check out our entire Author Interviews series!
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