Santa Rosa cartoonist Stephan Pastis tours for new kids’ book, ‘Looking Up’

Midway through “Looking Up,” the newest children’s book written and illustrated by Santa Rosa cartoonist and author Stephan Pastis, there’s a two-page spread showing drawings a boy has made in his attic.

Look closely and you’ll see, among many other figures, Pig and Rat, the two star characters of his comic strip “Pearls Before Swine,” which he started in 2001 and which now runs in 850 newspapers across the country.

But this is not a “Pearls” book. Aimed at readers ages 8 to 12, it stars Saint, a young girl who serves as the first-person narrator of her quest to befriend Daniel, the shy boy who lives across the street and draws pictures.

Saint also rescues piñatas from birthday parties before they can be battered with sticks and broken. And when a wave of redevelopment sweeps her town, she hopes to stop the trend.

“I wanted to do a book with a little girl as the protagonist. I like the idea of a little girl who sees her favorite toy store torn down and tries to do something about it. And I had this idea of a little boy who disappears into the art world to escape a world he doesn’t like,” Pastis said.

“It could be a one-off, or it could be a series,” Pastis said of “Looking Up,” recently published by Simon & Schuster’s children’s division. “It depends on how it’s received. I could do a second book. I’m hopefully going to turn ‘Looking Up’ into a movie.”

The cartoonist will launch his new book with a book signing Thursday at Copperfield’s Books in Petaluma. His tour with “Looking Up” will include 19 public events and more than 40 visits to schools.

He finished the book two years ago, but its publication was delayed to avoid overlapping with the publication of the second book in his “Trubble Town” series, about a quirky town and the misadventures of its residents.

Pastis also has published eight books in his “Timmy Failure” series, about an 11-year-old boy detective, which he started in 2013. He co-wrote a live-action film version of the first book in the series, “Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made,” which was released on the Disney+ subscription video-on-demand service in 2020.

And there have been so many published collections of his “Pearls Before Swine” comic strips, that he has lost count. “Forty-something,” he guessed.

The gentrification theme for his latest book stemmed from the author’s constant travel, promoting his books and absorbing knowledge about each place. He was inspired particularly by the changes in New Orleans, one of his favorite cities.

“I wanted to do a book about changing neighborhoods,” Pastis said. “I know this is being marketed as a kids’ book, but I don’t think about that when I’m writing.”

To make time for travel, Pastis pushes himself to write and draw two weeks’ worth of “Pearls Before Swine” every week, which keeps him well ahead of his deadlines.

“It helps buy me 26 weeks a year to travel, do book tours and work on books,” he explained.

So it’s no surprise the next challenge he wants to tackle is to write witty travelogues like Bill Bryson’s books, mixed with humorous essays, a la David Sedaris.

“Certainly, I always ask myself, ‘What can I do that I’ve never done?’” Pastis said.

At age 55, Pastis already has piled up an impressive stack of accomplishments.

Pastis grew up in Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Valley and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science at UC Berkeley. During his senior year there, he met Staci Daniels of Santa Rosa. They married in 1993, when Pastis finished law school at UCLA.

It was in law school that Pastis’ sardonic cartoon alter-ego, Rat, first showed his pointy little nose. While taking notes during a spring semester course in European economic community law, Pastis sketched the little rodent in thin shaky lines, and seminal comic strips began to form.

When Pastis made the transition from law to cartooning, he wanted a “day job” to support his family. He and Staci settled in Santa Rosa, and Pastis went to work three days a week at Creative Associates, the studio of his hero, the late “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz. During his time there, Pastis’ job was to review and reject or accept licensing proposals for “Peanuts”-related products.

Although the author’s illustrations for “Looking Up” are not in comic-strip form, his sense of timing — honed by years at the drawing board — is still evident, with images from Saint’s adventures and imaginings popping up right after she mentions them in the narrative.

And “Pearls” fans will notice Pastis has not lost his passion for puns. A cup with the image of a feline face on it says “Cat Stop Loving You.” One chapter is titled “The Leers of a Clown.” (Remember “Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson?) Another is titled “Orange You Glad I’m Not My Mother?”

The book is playful and kid-friendly, but Pastis said he doesn’t “dumb down” his writing.

“When you’re 6 or 7 and reading a book, and you hit a word you don’t understand, you can always run to the dictionary,” Pastis said. “It’s a stealth way of learning.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.