Those who believe that a pea is just a pea have yet to meet the affable little legumes featured in Keith Baker’s series of picture books that launched with LMNO Peas in 2010. Published by Simon & Schuster’s Beach Lane Books, that title was followed by four other helpings of Peas over the next seven years, and kids and adults found those offerings appetizing. Together, the Pea series—which also includes 1-2-3 Peas, Little Green Peas: A Big Book of Colors, Hap-Pea All Year, and LMNO Pea-quel—have garnered a global in-print tally of 2.25 million copies. And the peas are now making a celebratory return.

Beach Lane debuted a quartet of holiday titles starring the Peas in December with Hap-Pea Valentine’s Day, with Hap-Pea Easter hopping out in February, Hap-Pea Halloween scaring up sales in July, and Hap-Pea Holidays decorating store shelves in September. As he did in the original Peas books, Baker hid a ladybug on each spread of the new holiday capers, which are 8x8 paper-over-board books with a $9.99 cover price.

Baker explained that his interest in creating picture books was sparked in the mid-1970s, when he attended Eastern Oregon University, taking art classes and working in the school’s children’s library. “At the library, I got immersed in picture books and illustration, and I remember thinking that creating these books would be a fun job,” he said. “I was drawn to how words and pictures work together and was especially interested in how to say more with illustrations and use fewer words—the fewer the better. I connected with the work of picture book masters like Leo Lionni, Eric Carle, and Maurice Sendak, and was inspired by the idea of using illustration to present big concepts simply.”

After graduating with an art degree and a teaching degree, Baker taught elementary school for seven years, then quit teaching to continue his art studies at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif, focusing on children’s book illustration. Shortly after graduating from ArtCenter, his first book, The Dove’s Letter, an illustrated folktale, was released by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1988. In the ensuing years, multiple books from Harcourt followed, among them Who Is the Beast?, Hide and Snake, and Quack and Count, as well as a beginning chapter book series about the escapades of an alligator duo, Mr. and Mrs. Green.

Give Peas a Chance

The idea for the Peas series sprouted in Baker’s imagination as he made author presentations at schools, where he heard kids recite the alphabet. “As I listened, it occurred to me that ‘LMNOP’ usually comes out sounding like one word,” he explained, “so I decided to put ‘P’ in the alphabet as ‘Peas.’ I really have to credit first graders for that book idea.”

As he worked on LMNO Peas, the author-illustrator soon discovered that simplicity is anything but simple to achieve—and that creating books centered on pea characters presented a pod-full of challenges. “Obviously peas are little, and I wanted to keep them life-sized—or rather actual size,” Baker said. “But then I had to figure out how to fill up the pages, so I decided to use big letters in the words, and place the peas on top, around the bottom, and within the letters.”

But then how to differentiate the identically shaped and sized pea characters? “It took me a while to realize that they can’t all look alike,” Baker conceded. “My first peas were not dressed and had no hair, shoes, or glasses, and once I started adding those—as well as the whites, or more aptly the light greens, of their eyes—they definitely had more personality. And it was more fun for me to make them diverse—or as diverse as peas can be!”

More Peas, Please

Nine years ago, after wrapping up his fifth Peas book, Baker said, “I decided to retire from bookmaking and moved from Seattle to Walla Walla, Wash., to be closer to my parents, who needed care.” But the author rethought his decision when Beach Lane Books editorial director Andrea Welch (who cofounded the imprint with VP and publisher Allyn Johnston in 2008), pitched him the concept of exploring different holidays with the Peas.

Johnston and Welch have long histories of working with Baker, initially at Harcourt for many years before they moved to S&S, where LMNO Peas became one of the earliest books acquired for the Beach Lane list. “When Keith went on hiatus from making picture books, I stayed in touch with him regularly,” Welch recalled, “chatting about how much we loved working with him and reminding him that we were here as soon as he wanted to start working on books again.” She was delighted when Baker agreed to her holiday-themed series proposal.

“It was quite a wonderful, whirlwind experience to create four holiday Peas books in just two years,” Welch noted. “It took a whole village, and I want to credit the entire bookmaking team who worked together beautifully to make some very special books in a tight time frame.” She thanked Johnston for her support as publisher, and cited the key contributions of managing editor Jeannie Ng, executive art director Sonia Chaghatzbanian, and production director Elizabeth Blake-Linn.

Baker, who devoted 2022 through 2024 to creating the Peas’ holiday celebrations, said he turned in the last book at 4:30 p.m. on December 31, since he “was determined to finish the series before the end of the year.” Because it was necessary to create new Photoshop files, as his existing Peas book files did not work for the project, and he struggled with staging some of the holiday themes, Baker added, “The project was 10 times as much work as I’d anticipated—but it was a lot more fun than I’d thought it would be. This series has been a rebirth for me in terms of my interest in making books again.”

Yet for now, Baker is moving his Peas to the back burner and contemplating his next artistic venture. “I used to do a lot of abstract paintings, and I have ideas for books that involve painting—perhaps in watercolors, which I’ve never done before,” he said. “I’d like to try using simple palettes, or shades of one color. I would say that is at the top of my list of book concepts to try. So, it is time to put the Peas aside—for a while.”