The FIrst of a billie-on books in the billie series!
Meet Billie: she’s wily, she’s precocious, she’s funny and she will not take no for an answer . . . but even Billie has to make new friends sometimes!
Billie is relentlessly resourceful. Nothing can keep her down!
Band has no instruments? Easy. She’ll make some.
Bike tire flat? Piece of cake. She’ll take her boom box go-cart instead.
Moving away from her best friend? No problem. She’ll just create a new one!
TA-DAA! His name is RoboCorn, and he’s a majestic robot unicorn capable of deep conversation, jumping over the sun and making pancakes. What more could a person need? Certainly not human friends . . . right?
Prepare to meet a lovable and irrepressible new character certain to take the world by storm. No one can resist Billie, and RoboCorn… well, RoboCorn is truly one of a kind. Definitely in a good way. For sure.
The Reviews are in!
“The ‘ink, watercolor, sweat, tears, and blood’ that (per the copyright page) went into Braithwaite’s playful, scribbly artwork shine, as do the abundance of visual gags and turns of phrase that’ll make even grown-ups reading aloud chuckle. Friendship made easy — and fun.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“There’s so much packed into this dainty story. . . . The images evoke a spirit of doodling and childlike fun. . . . This story packs a punch.”
—School Library Journal
The life of Billie, SO FAR
I was born on the sunniest day of the year (it was a SUNDAY).
My favourite food recently is pepperoni pizza with pineapple and pimentos.
I am learning to juggle! I am no longer allowed to practice with apples.
If I had to pick one colour? Vivid electric rainbow.
I prefer ice when it’s politely invisible in water.
Every time I fall asleep I wake up for one second and shout: “MEEP!”
I have attended two different schools in my life. Both are A+ in my books.
I’ve memorized 1/3 of the periodic table. I like Helium the best (balloons), and am interested in GALLIUM because it’s a metal that melts in your hand!
When I grow up I am going to do so many backflips.
In the springtime I sneeze a lot because of raspberry pollen, but such is the Nose-wet price of verdant beauty.
ME AND MY DAD ALWAYS DO COOL STUFF!
Including but not limited to: Bocci, light concrete repair, board games featuring snakes and/or ladders, the baking of fruit-forward loaves, adopting clouds, discussing the fine art of turtle maintenance, circuit board etching, tulip husbandry, and bingo. Man we love bingo!
One time we were playing bingo and the biggest prize was a year’s supply of ramen noodles. There were several flavours, including, but not limited to, Sweet and Sour Boysenberry Supreme, Crizzle, Just Ketchup, Subtle Notes of Sesame Oil and Ginger, Soy Smack Attack, Five-Star Spice, and Cool Ranch.
My dad said he wasn’t sad when we didn’t win. But i could tell he was.
So I made him some homemade Cool Ranch ramen to cheer him up! He gave me the biggest hug and told me he loved it so much he was going to save it for later.
James Braithwaite is an Oscar-nominated illustrator, animator and writer based in Toronto, which is a very nice place in Canada and yes he knows your friend from there. They say hi.
His debut picture book, BILLIE BUILDS A ROBOCORN, written by José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço is forthcoming from Tundra 2026. His debut as a picture book writer/illustrator for a picture book currently titled SNOWPANTS, is also forthcoming from Tundra.
Recognition for James's animation work includes an Emmy, a Best Animation Short award from the American Film Institute, and presentation at the Guggenheim. Festivals played? You bet. Sundance and hundreds of others.
His delightfully strange animation and art direction can be seen in an eclectic range of recent projects—from hit animations for PBS, to a Smithsonian commission about the insanity of Thanksgiving, to a series of crazy little music videos for the John Lennon/Yoko Ono family.
He has owned many cats. His favourite was called Montelle.
Follow him on IG @thebathwater
José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço is a Toronto-based writer and filmmaker who wrote BILLIE BUILDS A ROBOCORN using a mechanical Icelandic typewriter with six different keys for “fjord.” He has often written while sitting, but for this book he stood, wobbling, atop a Regular Unicorn (one of those flesh-and-rainbow-blood ones with a hide like crushed pearls, breath of peppermint and fresh clover, and a marbled horn brimming with poured moonlight and atmospheric dew).
His debut feature film Young Werther premiered in TIFF’s Special Presentations section, was longlisted for the Vallée Discovery Award, acquired by Lionsgate, and released theatrically around the world. A former Toronto Star columnist whose writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Hazlitt, the Globe and Mail, and National Post, he now works across film, television, publishing, and advertising.
Follow him on IG @jose.lourenco.writer.
