It all started with a little boy, a box of crayons, and an alien who had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
Hi, I’m Aga Orlovska. I’m a writer, a mother of two, a traveler, and the person responsible for bringing Bzubzi to Earth.
I’ve been making up stories for my children for as long as I can remember. My daughter had her own stories when she was little, and years later, my son became an enthusiastic (and rather demanding) audience.
Every night, he wanted something new. So I invented adventures, imaginary worlds, and ridiculous situations. Eventually, I had dozens of stories saved on my computer.
Then came his fascination with space. And with it, Bzubzi.
I wrote a story about a friendly, terribly confident alien trying to make sense of life on Earth. But I wanted to give my son a real book, with pictures and everything.
There was just one problem: I could write, but drawing was another matter entirely.
Armed with a box of crayons and more enthusiasm than artistic talent, I illustrated the whole thing myself. The result was far from perfect, but my son loved it.
We read it every night for weeks. Then he wanted another adventure. And another.
Apparently, Bzubzi wasn’t going anywhere.
Soon, my son’s friends and other children in our family were reading Bzubzi too. They laughed at his terrible decisions, loved his strange ideas, and kept asking for more.
For years, these stories belonged to a small circle of children. Eventually, I thought it might be time to share them with a few more.
And that’s how Bzubzi went from a homemade book to a published series.
Bzubzi may be my first children’s series, but he’s definitely not my first book.
Before creating a confused little alien, I wrote Mały Biały Domek (The Little White House), a Polish novel that sold 10,000 copies on its first day, and several cookbooks inspired by my love of Mexican food and family recipes.
I also have a PhD in law, have traveled to more than 45 countries, and once climbed a 6,088-meter mountain in Bolivia.
None of these experiences, however, quite prepared me for explaining to an alien why humans need to take baths.
My son is growing up, but Bzubzi is still very much part of our family. There are plenty of adventures waiting on my computer, and I suspect our little green friend has many more terrible ideas ahead of him.
I hope your family will enjoy them as much as ours has.
A first-day bestseller with 10,000 copies sold.
More than 7,000 copies sold.
Novels, cookbooks, and now one very confident alien.
Before the polished illustrations and published adventures, there was one homemade book drawn with crayons.
Here you can see photographs of the original pages.
