Are our favorite things there?
How Tucker's Stuffed Animal "Stuffie" Zoo Became the Inspiration for Jonner and the Stuffed Animal Mansion
One of the most fun parts of creating a children’s book is seeing ordinary things from your life transformed into illustrations.
The funny thing is that Jonner’s room wasn’t imagined from scratch. It began with a little boy’s room in Keller, Texas. Tucker’s train tent, favorite books, stuffed animals, and bedtime routines all found their way into the story. Looking at the illustrations now feels a bit like opening a family photo album and discovering it has become part of a dream.
Tucker has always had a big imagination. His room has changed over the years, but one thing has remained constant: stuffed animals.
And lots of them.
Not just a few sitting neatly on a shelf. An entire zoo.
Yes, that is a real photo. You should notice several that served as inspiration, including Jonner himself, hanging off the Zoo sign!
And yes, there are that many stuffed animals.
Some are old friends. Some are favorites. A few probably need a bath.
As I worked with my illustrator on Jonner and the Stuffed Animal Mansion, I used Tucker’s room as inspiration. Looking at the finished artwork for the first time felt a little surreal. What had once been a pile of stuffed animals, bedtime routines, and family conversations was suddenly becoming a real book.
One thing I’ve learned through this process is that there is a huge difference between imagining a story and seeing it come to life.
For months, these scenes existed only in my head. Then they became rough sketches. Then conversations. Then revisions. Sometimes more revisions. And eventually, they became paintings.
Watching that transformation has been one of my favorite parts of the journey.
This was the final original sketch for Jonner’s bedroom. You can already see all of the details that made the final version, but it still amazes me how much personality emerges between a pencil sketch and a finished painting.
This illustration doesn’t show the mansion.
It doesn’t show the Father’s House.
It doesn’t show the adventure waiting behind the doors.
It’s simply Jonner in his room.
And yet, it may be one of the most important pages in the entire book.
Before readers can believe in a stuffed animal mansion, they have to believe the stuffed animals matter.
Before they can follow Jonner on an adventure, they have to understand why he loves these little companions so much in the first place. I know how much Tucker loves his stuffed animals.
As I looked at the finished pages, I found myself lingering on a simple prayer that appears near the beginning of the story.
I remember when this page was nothing more than a rough drawing and a single question.
A question that felt simple enough for a child to ask, yet deep enough for adults to ponder too.
“Dear God...
What is heaven like?
Are our favorite things there?
And the people we love, too?”
Interestingly, the title of this article wasn’t part of the original manuscript.
In the earliest sketch, Jonner simply asked, “What is heaven like?”
As the story evolved, another question quietly found its way onto the page:
“Are our favorite things there?”
The more I sat with it, the more I realized that question might be at the heart of the entire book.
When I first wrote those words, I thought they belonged to Jonner.
Now I’m not so sure.
I think they belong to all of us.
Children have a remarkable way of asking questions that go straight to the heart of things. They don’t usually ask complicated theological questions. They ask whether they will see Grammy again. They ask whether the people they miss are waiting for them. They ask whether heaven feels far away or whether it feels like home.
As a Christian, my hope rests in Jesus and His promise that He has gone to prepare a place for us. When He speaks about His Father’s House, I don’t picture something cold, distant, or unfamiliar. I picture a place prepared with love by Someone who knows us completely.
That perspective has shaped every page of Jonner and the Stuffed Animal Mansion.
The mansion is simply the setting. At its heart, this is a story about comfort, belonging, imagination, and hope.
It’s about helping children imagine heaven through the lens of Jesus rather than fear, inviting them to picture a loving Father who knows each of His children personally and delights in preparing a unique place for each one in His Father’s House. A place where we remain connected to the people we love while always being connected to Him, surrounded by His presence, care, and love.
It’s about reminding them that they are deeply known and deeply loved. They do not need to have fear.
And perhaps that is why I keep returning to that simple question:
Are our favorite things there?
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Scripture doesn’t tell us whether stuffed animals have mansions or whether dinosaur valleys exist behind heavenly doors.
But I do believe the God who created us understands the things that bring us joy. I believe the One preparing a place for us knows every memory, every relationship, every tear, and every hope we carry.
Most of all, I believe heaven will be wonderful not because of what is there, but because of Who is there. Jesus.
As these illustrations continue to arrive, I find myself smiling at how a little boy’s stuffed animal collection helped inspire a much bigger conversation.
One that, perhaps, we have all asked at some point.
Will we see the people we love again?
And if Jesus is preparing a place for us, could it be even better than we imagine?
If you could peek behind one of the doors in the Father’s House, what would you hope to find there?
I’d love to hear what special things, favorite places, or treasured companions might be waiting on the other side.
Stay tuned to see some of the other heavenly mansions that will appear in the book as the illustrations continue to come to life.
Thank you for following along as this book slowly comes to life. It has been such a gift to share the journey with you.
If you’re new here, you can start at the beginning with How the Stuffed Animal Mansion Came to Life below.
My Big Wild Goal continues...
~ Breanna