Media Inquiries
With years of entertaining large audiences through sketch comedy, Summer and Maren have a great chemistry, are comfortable in front of the camera, and are available for interviews.
Fun Facts
Summer’s older brother is the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull. She was his marketing and events publicist during the early days of his career.
Pandas symbolize strength, peace, and friendship.
Summer and Maren met while writing and performing with a popular sketch comedy troupe in Provo, Utah nearly 20 years ago.
The posters in the 1918 pandemic illustration seem ridiculous but are based on real posters Maren found while researching the Spanish flu pandemic.
Summer went through two rounds of failed IVF treatments. She and her husband gave up on the idea of being parents when much to their surprise, they conceived the old-fashioned way.
Maren is that person that is literally amazing at everything she does. She runs a successful Etsy shop where she crochets custom costumes, accessories, and gifts.
Summer’s baby came three weeks early, allowing their friends and family to visit them in the hospital. Had she been born on her due date, no visitors would have been allowed.
Maren included Summer's baby in the illustrations. She's the little baby with red hair.
Summer is a copywriter for a Fortune 500 company.
Summer credits her sister Tiffany’s creative brain for sparking We Are Pandas. Summer’s baby, Brightlyn, is now doomed to be surrounded by panda stuffed animals for the rest of her life.
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
We Are Pandas
Summer Mull Boyle
801.855.6211
We Are Pandas:
The hilariously sweet picture book about babies born during the pandemic is now available.
The original pandemic babies are turning two. This book celebrates them.
[SALT LAKE CITY, UT, February 2022] — Two years. It’s hard to believe we’ve been masking and quarantining and hand sanitizing for two whole years—unless, of course, you had a baby during this time, then you know exactly how long it’s been.
Author Summer Mull Boyle had just delivered her firstborn when the world started shutting down. By the time she and her husband brought their baby home, Costco had sold out of toilet paper. Nothing has really been the same since.
Boyle, a former sketch comedian, couldn’t help but imagine the silly quirks these pandemic babies were developing growing up in such strange times. And once her sister nicknamed her daughter a “panda,” Boyle knew she needed to write a book about it.
“Masks are normal for my baby,” Boyle said. “Which leads me to believe she’s probably developing an amazing ability to read eyes. She may never be able to read lips, but she’s got body language down.”
We Are Pandas is a picture book especially for families of babies born during the pandemic. It hilariously explores social distancing, drive-by birthday parties, work-from-home parents, and other strange, everyday occurrences from the perspective of babies born during the 2020s.
“There were so many memes flying around about erasing 2020,” Boyle said. “As silly as it sounds, they made me sad because without 2020, I wouldn’t be a mom. I started thinking about all the babies growing up and finding out how much everyone hates the year of their birth, so I wanted to give them something to be proud of.”
Boyle enlisted the help of her friend from her college comedy troupe, Maren Adair, to illustrate it. Evidence of Adair’s comedic prowess is seen throughout the illustrations.
“Having a friend that’s way funnier than me illustrate it was the best decision,” Boyle said. “Maren’s illustrations make the book so much better.”
Boyle is the sister of the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull. In fact, she spent the first few years of his career helping him market his book throughout the country.
“I had the privilege of traveling the country with my brother visiting schools and bookstores,” Boyle said. “It was so much work but equally so much fun. It’s rare to get to spend that amount of time with your adult siblings.”
While Boyle understands the important role publishers play, she decided to forgo submitting her idea to any publishers.
“It was really important to me to have this book printed locally,” Boyle said. “The pandemic was so brutal on so many people and businesses, I wanted to give however much this little pandemic book could give back into the community. When you hand your book over to publishers, especially as a nobody, you hand over how and where it gets produced.”
We Are Pandas was funded on Kickstarter by friends, family, and wonderful strangers near and far. It was printed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is now available online at wearepandas.com.
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Review
Google Book Reviewer
"This book is adorable! It is the perfect gift for anyone with a baby or a little one during the pandemic."