So you’re Kate Feiffer, and you think you’re set to have two new children’s books released, with all the attendant tours and book signings . . . when along comes another project with a yesterday-deadline attached to it, some super-sized hoopla stemming from its topicality, and the next thing you know USA Today’s Life section features it on the front page, Stephen Colbert is flashing a copy of your book on the air, and your Amazon.com sales perform a turn-around jump shot.

“We have a national crisis going on,” Mr. Colbert intoned grimly as he pointed to Which Puppy? the book by Kate Feiffer, illustrated by Jules Feiffer. Entire books had been written about choosing a Presidential puppy and yet still the President’s family had not chosen a puppy. Puppy mania was taking over the country!

On Nov. 4, when President Barack Obama rendered his acceptance speech, he announced, primarily for the delectation of his daughters, Sasha and Malia, that they could consider it done that the First Family would begin a search for the First Puppy. Suddenly Ms. Feiffer’s phone rang on Oak Wood Road in Oak Bluffs. Her editor, Paula Weinsman, at Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, wondered if the author of five previous children’s books, including the two due out in 2009, could, with warp speed, write a book about the future Presidential pup.

“It had to be done by mid-January,” said Ms. Feiffer in a recent interview at her cozy home. Her editor asked if the author’s father, Pulitzer prize-winning illustrator Jules Feiffer, might consider partnering on the project. Initially Mr. Feiffer had no idea how he could clear his desk of other commitments. Other high profile illustrators were tapped; none of them could contemplate dropping everything for this rush-rush job. So how did Ms. Feiffer win her papa’s help after all?

“I begged him,” she revealed with a laugh of pure honesty.

The story about the endearing animals — including a turtle, a guinea pig, a raccoon and a whole heap of dogs — auditioning for the part of First Pet was, as stated, an instant sensation, and the rest is recent history.

Ms. Feiffer now was able to turn her attention to the two books that had been percolating along just fine without anyone having to turn up the heat.

My Mom Is Trying To Ruin My Life, illustrated by Diane Goode (Simon & Schuster, $16.99), nails that pivotal moment — somewhere between kindergarten and the third grade — when one’s parents begin to embarrass one. For example, Way #2 (for Moms): “She stops by my school in the middle of the day, barges into my classroom, and says, ‘I thought Emma might be hot and would like to change into these shorts.’ Like I would ever change my clothes at school.”

Or Way #1 (For Dads): “He makes me do my homework as soon as he gets home from work, no matter what else I’m in the middle of doing.”

Emma spins forward a fantasia of events in which both her parents are arrested for ruining her life. But then, what’s this? There’s no parent at home to feed her, read her stories, bring her a glass of water during the night, or keep her from getting scared. It turns out she LOVES her mom and dad and is happy to have them back (not from the actual police station but from the end of her morbid pipe-dream.) Parents are great, so long as they’re not being parent-y around other kids.

Ms. Feiffer is married to Vineyard native, Chris Alley. Their daughter, Maddy, just turned 11 and is sailing with her fifth grade class on the Shenandoah.

Ms. Feiffer grew up in New York city, worked in television in New York and Boston, wrote, produced and directed a documentary, Matzoh and Miseltoe, and moved year-round to the Island (after coming here for every summer of her life) in the 1990s. Her earlier books, inspired by life with Maddy, are Double Pink, illustrated by Bruce Ingman, Henry The Dog With No Tail, illustrated by Jules Feiffer, and President Pennybaker, illustrated by Diane Goode.

Now Ms. Feiffer has authored her first chapter book. In The Problem With The Puddles, illustrated by Tricia Tusa (Simon & Schuster, $16.99) we meet a family of six (two parents, two kids, two dogs) with enough eccentricities to equip an entire line of English royalty. Mr. and Mrs. Puddle disagree about everything, from when to eat dessert to what to name the baby. Their disagreements — all conducted with great civility — make them more batty than divorceable, but they do lead to a string of predicaments, such as naming both dogs Sally (big and little). Oh, and their child that everyone else calls Baby, Mrs. Puddle calls Emily and Mr. Puddle Ferdinanda.

It doesn’t take much to discombobulate these folks, and wacky weather and a hasty departure from their beloved island vacation home causes the Puddles to wholly forget about the two Sallys. The rest of the saga is a funny, heart-warming romp as the Puddles and the dogs, a mini-Chihuahua and a Great Dane, light out to find one another.

“When I first started to read chapter books as a kid,” confided Ms. Feiffer, “I was saddened by so many books without pictures. I didn’t mind reading larger books, but why did I have to be deprived of pictures? So in The Problem With Puddles, my editor, the illustrator and I all agreed to pack it with pictures.”

She also tucked in math equations and word games whenever possible, along with engaging dialogue, such as this between Big and Little Sally:

“I don’t think they’re coming back for us,” said big Sally.

“This is a conundrum,” said little Sally.

“A what?”

“A conundrum. You know, it’s a conum and a drum, a conundrum. Just like meat loaf is like a loaf of meat, a conundrum is like a drum of conum,” explained little Sally without explaining anything at all.

“I don’t know what ‘conun’ is and I don’t know what a drum of conun is either,” said big Sally.

“It doesn’t matter. What we have here is a conundrum, and we need to figure what to do.”

This Thursday, July 2, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Ms. Feiffer will be sharing The Problem With the Puddles with children at the Oak Bluffs Public Library to launch the Island summer reading program, Starship Adventure, in Oak Bluffs. The author will introduce the book, then check in on later Thursdays to answer questions and inspire discussion. There will be cake in the shape of a cloud and a puddle-jump to celebrate the program’s launch. The book club is free and open to all Island children.