Earlier last month, I wrote and illustrated a new children’s book about a chupacabra named Churro who loves to make pies (yes—fully illustrated by me… I’m still a little proud of that).

Stylistically, it follows the same rhyming, picture-driven approach as my previous work. But the real question is: why a chupacabra?

Growing up, one of my cousins was completely obsessed with chupacabra lore. She knew everything—where it lived, what it did, how it hunted. For the uninitiated, the legend goes that a chupacabra attacks goats and drinks their blood… which, admittedly, doesn’t scream “heartwarming bedtime story.”

Fast forward a few years, and my aunt (not my cousin's mom) made an offhand comment about me writing another story featuring a chupacabra. I could’ve laughed it off. Instead, I took it as a challenge.

Later that night, I started tossing around ideas with my wife. What if a chupacabra wasn’t scary at all—just misunderstood? What if those infamous “bloodstains” were actually something harmless… like red berry pie filling?

That small twist unlocked everything.

From there, the story came together into something much softer: a tale about assumptions, kindness, and how easy it is to get the wrong idea about someone at first glance.

Several weeks later, Churro the Pie Maker made his way into the world—a pie-baking chupacabra with a big heart and a messy face to match.