“Like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day.”

— Kirkus (August 2025)

Skunk and Badger have an easy roommate rhythm—Skunk cooks! Badger cleans!—when they take in two orphaned rat pups, Zeno and Zephyr. Badger is working on an Important Rock Work article for Rock Hound Weekly and needs focus, focus, focus to write it. But how much trouble could two tiny rats really be? Some scheduling, a few strategically placed naps, and all will be well!

But it’s winter, and nothing goes to plan. Hibernation threatens every routine. Articles refuse to write themselves. And rats in the rock room? It will take a North Twist village to raise these rats!

““…sophisticated… with plenty of humor ...readers will likely recognize themselves or others they know in Badger’s difficulty in dealing with the unexpected.””
— Horn Book 11.1.25

Good News!

Rock Paper Incisors was called a 2025 Best Book of the Year by the Chicago Public Library. It also got a VERY nice review in Booklist. (See below.) Kirkus? “Like a Like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day.” And? Indigo Books in Canada has made Rock Paper Incisors a pick of the month. Also? Illinois Reading Council has selected Rock Paper Incisors for the 2026 Illinois Reads.

What else? What Else?

In December, I did an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio’s Kate Archer Kent. Listen HERE. Glacial talk abounds. Ha! And? Scholastic Book Club interviewed me for schools in the United Kingdom!

YAY!

“…Timberlake’s character work shines as a variety of creatures pop in and out of the story and Skunk and Badger are pushed to their limit. Kids besting adults is always funny, and Zephyr and Zero do it better than most. Sweetness underscores all, as the community rallies around their care and Badger discovers he might love something more than rocks.”
— Booklist 8.1.25

What does the book look like?

Do I own Badger’s Typewriter?

Alas, no! I own a similar typewriter (a 1937 Remington Rand Model 1). In North Twist, woodpeckers make the best typewriters so Badger’s typewriter is a Picidae Portable.

from the journey