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Laura Carolfi on "The Hungry Little Gopher" - ASL Inclusion, Music, and Bilingual Storytelling
- Kathleen Marcath
- 24 minutes ago
- 13 min read
by Kathleen Marcath
Sometimes a story begins quietly — with a dream, an aha moment, or a simple knowing. And somehow, when that knowing arrives, the mountains move to make a way through what once felt impossible. This author spotlight explores how Laura Carolfi’s children’s book, The Hungry Little Gopher, brings together music, American Sign Language, and bilingual storytelling to create an inclusive reading experience for children.
That’s how I think about Laura Carolfi’s journey as an author. Laura has been incredibly supportive of My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere with Me, and I’ve
been so inspired by her creativity, generosity, and heart for children. I’m thrilled to spotlight her work — especially The Hungry Little Gopher, and her deeply moving bilingual book, Tower in the Stars / Torre en las Estrellas.
Getting to Know Laura
Let’s start at the beginning. Did you always know you wanted to write for children, or did that calling grow later — perhaps after becoming a parent?
Laura: For as long as I can remember, I wanted to write books for children. On our bookshelf growing up was a bright yellow, handmade picture book. My mom started creating it by hand before she had children. With handwritten text and illustrations in various stages of completion, my mom’s unfinished book first inspired me to want to create my own picture book someday.
I’ve always loved reading and writing, but it wasn’t until after I became a parent myself that good story ideas came to me, whenever I least expected them! As my family grew, I soon understood why my mom never finished her book (but I still hope she does!). Sometimes staying up post-bedtime is the only time to fit in writing!
How Laura Carolfi Created The Hungry Little Gopher
Where — and when — did the idea for The Hungry Little Gopher first come to you?
Laura: The Hungry Little Gopher started as a song that I made up in a sudden (desperate?) spark of inspiration. It was 2015. I was a new mom with a crying baby in my arms. I had nursed him, rocked him, and finally, I was carrying him all around the house trying to calm him, when I peeked out of the kitchen window and spied a gopher in the backyard!
As a new homeowner, I had been looking forward to planting our first vegetable garden in the spring. I saw the gopher and started to sing about my family planting different vegetables and the gopher eating each one in turn… and my baby stopped crying! I sang the lyrics over and over again, adding more backyard animals and four different colored vegetables, until my baby fell asleep. Then, standing at the kitchen counter with my sleeping baby in one hand, I used my other hand to write the first draft of The Hungry Little Gopher on a scrap of paper. I thought, “This could be a fun picture book!”
You majored in Spanish and even read Harry Potter in Spanish — how did language learning shape the way you think about storytelling today?
Laura: Yes, I have read Harry Potter in Spanish! The Spanish editions remain on my bookshelf today. I got the first book, Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal, after I started learning Spanish in high school. I had read the English version a nerdy number of times, and so I thought reading the book in Spanish would be a fun way to expand my vocabulary. This proved true!
Thanks to your question, I am realizing that my experiences learning Spanish over the next eight years absolutely influenced my storytelling. One semester in college, I had a job in a local church watching a group of Spanish-speaking children while their parents took English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.
Years later, when I wrote my first children’s picture book, Tower in the Stars/Torre en las estrellas, I had those ESL parents in mind when I decided to make my first book bilingual and put the English and Spanish texts together on each page. Making a picture book bilingual elevates the story into a language learning tool. I bet those parents would have loved to read bilingual picture books to their children!
Music, Rhythm, and Story
One of the most unique aspects of The Hungry Little Gopher is its musical element. How, when, and where did the song come into the picture?
Laura: Writing books for kids was a childhood dream — but making a song? I had never considered this! My musical background is unimpressive. I was in the school choir throughout elementary and high school, and I played the guitar and volunteered as a cantor during Mass in college.
The melody, story, and text for The Hungry Little Gopher came to me in a burst of inspiration at the very same time, back in my kitchen in 2015. I was a new mom, making up a silly song to calm my baby. But creating the melody and lyrics was only step one. I had no idea how to create a professional song.
Luckily, I knew a multi-talented musician who had a recording studio in his basement — my cousin-in-law, Jared Bashant. It took me a couple of years to build up the courage to share my song with him (in a singing voicemail!) and ask if he could produce it. Jared now plays all the instruments and is the lead adult vocalist on The Hungry Little Gopher song. His daughter and my son (the same baby who was in my arms in 2015!) added their vocals to the song in early 2025, and two of my nephews are included in the group parts.
My friend and music teacher, Melynda Morrone, transcribed the song into sheet music so I could include music pages in the book, too!
You’ve mentioned a desire to create a new music video that features:
Pages from the book on one side
Five performers who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or CODAs
Fluent ASL storytelling woven into the experience
What excites you most about bringing ASL and music together in this way?
Laura: Yes, I would LOVE to make a new music video!
First, I’d like to explain how the existing music video came to be. The footage of Jared and me is from 2021. Back then, I was working with a different illustrator with a Blue’s Clues–style approach who included real pictures of Jared as the adult character. At that point, ASL was not in the book, but I had been learning ASL with my hearing babies to facilitate early communication.
The idea occurred to me that Jared and I could learn sign language for the music video and make it accessible. For six months, we took ASL lessons from Deaf ASL instructor Diana Meade. Then, just one month after we finished the video, the illustrator suddenly dropped out for health reasons.
Long story short, this became an opportunity to make the book, The Hungry Little Gopher, bilingual and include ASL in the illustrations! I did an online search to see if any bilingual picture books in English and ASL existed with a fun storyline that wasn’t about ASL, but where the characters simply happened to use ASL. I found your wonderful book, My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere with Me, and I knew: it can be done!
When Deaf illustrator D. E. West came on board and brought The Hungry Little Gopher to life with his fun, vibrant cartoon characters, I realized that now anyone could pretend to be the characters in the music video. I wanted to redo the video with five performers fluent in ASL; however, if we had waited to create the perfect music video before releasing the book, the book still wouldn’t have been published!
And so, Jared and I decided to launch Gopher with older footage of us from 2021. We deliberately did not include any illustrations from inside the book in this video. I am saving the interior pages for my dream music video, which would include each page of the story, five performers who are fluent in ASL (not me and Jared!), and signing timed to sync with the song's tempo (I know it can be done!).
What excites me most about bringing ASL and music together in this new video is the educational potential. When I visit classrooms and read the book, I will share this video with students, and I can talk about the backgrounds of the diverse performers fluent in ASL. My hope is that students will be inspired to want to learn ASL, too.
ASL, Inclusion, and Community
You’re intentionally building bridges — not positioning yourself as an ASL expert, but lifting up resources created by people fluent in ASL. What inspired you to include ASL learning links and resources connected to The Hungry Little
Gopher?
Laura: I realize that for some visitors to my website, Gopher might be their first encounter with ASL. I minored in Social Work in college, and linking people to resources is one thing that stuck! My perspective in creating this book is as a hearing mom/songwriter and student of ASL, and I am happy to direct my readers to learning resources that I have used.
I’m honored that you’ve included ASL Picture Books on your ASL resources page. What does collaboration and mutual support among authors mean to you?
Laura: The honor is mine! ASL Picture Books is an amazing resource! Your website has grown so much since I first discovered My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere with Me in 2021.
I’ve found excellent books that I can read with my children through your site (I’m so excited to be featured!). Collaborating with other children’s picture book authors and other self-published authors has been immensely helpful.
Choosing Kickstarter
Why did you choose Kickstarter to launch The Hungry Little Gopher?
Laura: I wanted to try something different. I published my first book, Tower in the Stars, exclusively through Amazon KDP. I was hopeful that book sales would at least cover the costs of creating this book. When selling through Amazon, I normally got about $2 per book back.
Then one time, Head Start ordered 25 books through Amazon. After a standard bulk discount through Amazon…I received only .20 per book for that order!
I want creating children’s picture books to be sustainable for my family and me. For Gopher, I determined that using Kickstarter to launch my book before releasing it through Ingram Spark (and then Amazon, Barnes & Noble) was my best chance, since I could order Kickstarter books in bulk from a local printer and sell them directly to readers.
Now that you’ve experienced Kickstarter, what worked well?
Laura: We surpassed our goal and I was able to order more books than anticipated. This enabled me to fulfill all Kickstarter orders, use several books for marketing/promotions, and save a few hundred for class visits and in person book events.
What surprised you?
Laura: It felt a little bit like It’s A Wonderful Life to see so many people support The Hungry Little Gopher!
And would you use Kickstarter again?
Laura: Absolutely, I would use Kickstarter again.
A Look at Your Other Beautiful Work
Before The Hungry Little Gopher, you wrote the bilingual picture book:
Tower in the Stars / Torre en las Estrellas This tender story gently helps even the youngest readers cope with the loss of a loved one. With simple bilingual text and heartfelt illustrations, it creates space for grief, memory, love, and hope.
What moved you to write a story that addresses death with such openness and compassion?
Laura: Tower in the Stars is based on the real loving relationship between my son and my father-in-law, who died from cancer in 2016. I was getting my son ready to see his Grandpa one last time when I got the call that it was too late.
Some of the conversation about death and dying that appears in my book between Tower and Tiny is modeled after the real words spoken between me and my son that morning.
I wrote the first draft of Tower in the Stars to preserve my father-in-law’s memory for my son and to help me process my grief. As months went by, I thought that Tower and Tiny’s story might provide comfort to other families with very young children, and I edited the text with the vision of turning the story into a picture book.
In 2018, while pregnant with my 3 rd child, I saw Ryan Konzelman’s artwork and I thought he would be the perfect illustrator. But it wasn’t until several months after my daughter was born in 2019, when I approached Ryan, and he agreed to illustrate. I encouraged Ryan to draw the characters as animals he loved – dogs.
Readers love Ryan’s heartfelt and tender illustrations.
What have you heard from families who’ve shared this book during difficult moments?
Laura: All feedback has been positive: the book has been helpful to not only children, but also adults. My favorite feedback has been that children want to reread it. Yes, reread a book about death and dying! I think it is because of Ryan’s beautiful illustrations: children love the characters. Some readers have requested more stories about Tiny. I am grateful and humbled that Tower in the Stars is helping more people than I imagined!
Life Beyond the Page
You live in New Jersey with your patient husband, four lively children, and a well-loved kitchen table that doubles as a writer’s desk after bedtime. You’ve shared that as a child, you were an avid reader — writing after reading, creating games, and imagining new worlds. How does motherhood — raising four children — intersect with those childhood memories and creative visions you still carry with you?
Laura: I love being a mom, and I love seeing the world through my children’s eyes. They are so creative, curious, and artistic, and I like to describe them as my little human tornadoes! Raising four children is a constant source of inspiration for me.
The Hungry Little Gopher will always be extra special, because all of my children had a part in the story at different stages (even a son that I miscarried, since I was pregnant with him when I filmed the ASL for the music video).
When you’re developing a story, do ideas tend to rise more from moments you observe in your children’s play and conversations, or from the imaginative worlds and curiosity you’ve been nurturing since childhood?
How do those two sources — your inner child and your children today — speak to one another in your work?
Laura: A new story idea comes when I least expect it! In hindsight, the most recent ideas have started while I am playing with my kids. They must bring out my inner child!
Developing stories often happens in my head for a long time before I have time to write anything down. As a mom, I feel like I am constantly multitasking. I have put a lot of thought into writing when it looks like I am just nursing a baby or washing dishes at the sink!
Final Thoughts
When someone has a story stirring inside them — especially one rooted in language, inclusion, and love — what encouragement would you offer?
Laura: Write it down! (Or sing it out!). Keep writing, tweaking, and editing until the words are your favorite. Envision your story in the world, make a plan, and stick to it. Even if it takes 10 years, don’t give up!
And finally: What’s next for you?
Laura: Three big things!
First, I’m booking author visits for 2026! Some visits include a seed-starting activity with kids, and I cannot wait. If you want me to visit a school, library, or other organization near you, email me at info@lauracarolfi.com, and I’ll see what I can do!
Second, I’ve added a Book Donation Program to my website. Throughout 2026, I will be spotlighting different organizations that promote childhood literacy and offering The Hungry Little Gopher for 50% off (exclusively through my online shop) for anyone who wants to purchase a book to donate to that organization. I will later hand-deliver all donated books to the featured organization.
The first organization is BookSmiles in Pennsauken, NJ! BookSmiles is an amazing local nonprofit that distributes books to children in the greatest need.
And finally, I have other stories that I would love to publish. One of them is another story/song! I left Jared a singing voicemail last month — hopefully, creating this new book will be quicker than 10 years!
About Laura Carolfi
Laura Carolfi is a children’s book author with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. She loves gardening with her kids, eating green beans, and writing late at night at her old kitchen table. Her books celebrate language, music, compassion, and meaningful conversations for young readers.
Connect with Laura Carolfi
🎥 Watch Laura’s Interviewhttps://youtu.be/JodVgMlCMjI?feature=shared
🌐 Websitehttps://lauracarolfi.com
📸 Instagram@laura.carolfi
📘 FacebookLaura Carolfi
▶️ YouTube@lauracarolfi7679
Closing with Thanks
Thank you, Laura Carolfi, for sharing your life, your stories, and your beautiful books with us. Your work invites children — and the adults who love them — to slow down, listen closely, and make space for meaningful conversations about language, love, and belonging.
And yes… even eating carrots! 🥕💛
Keep the Journey Going
Thank you for sharing the joy of ASL through books. Every sign you share with a child builds connection, language, and a sense of belonging. Before you go, here are simple ways to continue your ASL adventure:
🚚 Bulk orders available for schools, libraries & Deaf/HH programs
📚 Add more ASL books to your shelves — including My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere with Me
🎨 Pair story time with activities — My Monster Truck Coloring & Activity Book (Amazon) or ASL Picture Books Shop
🛍️ Browse our Bookshop.org page: Our Favorite Books — Stories That Include, Empower & Celebrate Every Child
✨ Book an author visit to bring the magic of ASL to your school or library
🎁 Get your free printable ASL Alphabet Chart in the ASL Starter Kit
💌 Sign up for our newsletter for tips, free resources & uplifting stories
Thank you for being a champion of language access and literacy. Together, we’re building a kinder, more connected world — one sign, one story, one child at a time. 💜
Meet Author: Kathleen Marcath
Kathleen Marcath is the award-winning author of My Monster Truck Goes Everywhere with Me and the founder of ASL Picture Books. She’s on a mission to share the joy of bilingual (ASL and English) education, creating stories that help children and families discover the limitless potential of ASL.
Stay in Touch: Follow Kathleen on Facebook and Instagram, or visit ASLPictureBooks.com for more resources and community updates.
Bring the Joy of ASL to Your School!Want Kathleen to visit your school or library? Inspire young minds with stories, sign language, and the limitless potential of ASL! 👉 Learn more about Author Visits here. |