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by Susan Macartney
Tara, thank you! I’m so happy to share my success story. Spoiler alert: It’s never too late to embark on this journey!
“Winding” doesn’t quite do justice to my meandering, zigg-zagging road to publication as an author-illustrator. I’ve always been drawn to both the arts and the sciences. So maybe I could have saved some time if I’d made a beeline for narrative nonfiction! Didn’t happen… First I studied zoology and anthropology and then ended up working in graphic design for 20 years. No question—a convoluted, interesting path, and along the way I continued to tinker with writing and illustrating children’s stories.
I joined SCBWI in 2012, was full of enthusiam about joining a writing “community”… and then my partner and I moved overseas. Temporary hold on my writing while all of “life’s dust” settled… Fast-forward to 2015, my desire to write and illustrate was still strong and I reached out again to the wide world of kidlit.
To give you an idea of how far I had to reach: I’m Canadian. I was living in Sweden. And Tara’s picture book webinar was being hosted by SCBWI… out of France! The host gave us the link to Tara’s blog and told us we should really try the November PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) challenge—and the rest is Storystorm history.
Well, not quite… I moved again! But now the Storystorm challenge with all its amazing writing and illustrating advice was waiting for me wherever I landed. On January 5, 2018, I looked at my blank Storystorm entry page, armed only with the goal of gently exploring the theme of self-awareness. And oh yes, I knew I wanted an animal main character and for envirornmental issues to figure in the subplot. I first learned about the Galapagos Islands when I was seven. And it wasn’t long before the engaging Blue-footed booby waddled into my mind as a potential candidate—what’s not to love?
Two years later after many drafts, CP reviews and edits my debut picture book, BENJAMIN’S BLUE FEET: Pajama Press, was published.
Yay Storystorm! The discipline of a defined daily challenge enhanced by professional advice for ONE creative month, worked for me on so many levels. I’m goal-oriented and an early riser and embraced the habit of piggybacking my Storystorm entry with my morning coffee. Take note! Having that pen and dedicated notebook within easy reach also helped to minimize all the usual self-inflicted roadblocks to being creative.
Now my story ideas weren’t loose bits of inspiration scrawled on scraps of paper anymore, or worse, those “best” ideas that never even got recorded. They’re all there in black and white – no excuses, no delusions (about how great that idea actually was) – just lots of ideas to return to, mull over and mine!
It is never too late to set forth on this journey. Remember that there is a WIDE world of like-minded people out there – learn to reach out, relish the small joys along the way and PERSEVERE!
Blog readers, Sue is giving away a signed copy of BENJAMIN’S BLUE FEET!
Leave one comment below to enter.
A random winner will be selected soon!
Good luck!
Sue has taught art to children around the world and currently works as a nature sketch artist at The Bateman Foundation in Victoria, BC. You can find Sue online at suemacartney.com and on Twitter @suesumac and Instagram @suemacartney.
by Maria Gianferrari
Happy Spring! I am delighted to be here on Tara’s blog today to celebrate my newest picture book, BE A TREE!, illustrated by the phenomenal Felicita Sala, and published by Abrams Kids!
BE A TREE! invites readers to imagine themselves as trees—stretching our branches to the sun, feeling rooted and connected to life underground, letting our crowns swing in the wind.
So, here we go! If you could be a tree, which kind of tree would you be?
A baobob?
A palm?
Or perhaps one of the trees featured in these beautiful endpapers?
To be a redwood—imagine all the things she has seen?
Here I am a Redwood National Park back in 2011—what a magical place it is!
Thanks, Maria! If I could be a tree, I’d be a Paperbark, so I’d always have something to write on! I actually have some River Birch trees outside my bedroom window. Sometimes I want to lean out and grab a piece of their natural paper.
Thanks to the generosity of Abrams Kids, one lucky blog reader will receive a copy of BE A TREE! (US residents only—sorry!)
So, while I think almost everyone reading this blog would also choose a paper birch, I have to ask you to think again. If you could BE A TREE!, what tree would YOU be?
Leave one comment below and a random winner will be selected next month.
Good luck!
Maria Gianferrari has climbed fig trees in Italy, stood under stately coastal redwoods and twisted Torrey pines, marveled at mitten-shaped sassafras leaves, colorful coral trees and sawtooth oak acorn nests. She lives with her family, including dog, Maple, in a house encircled by trees. Visit her online at mariagianferrari.com.
Author Terry Pierce remains tied up, busy writing, so I asked a representative spokesbear to answer a few questions about her latest board book, EAT UP, BEAR, published last week by the Yosemite Conservancy. This spokesbear seemed to know a lot about scrumptious snacks.
Good morning, Spokesbear. I understand you’re the representative for the wild bear population of Yosemite.
That’s [chomp, gromp, mmmm] me! I’ve taken over for Yogi and Boo-Boo.
Since Terry Pierce and Nadja Sarell can’t be here today, I’d like you to answer a few questions. I realize human food is pretty tasty, Bear. Can you tell us your favorite people-only food?
Mmm-mm-yum! Bears will eat almost anything that people eat from cheese doodles to hot dogs to peanut butter. We really will eat anything humans leave out for us. But I’ll admit, one of the problems with human food is how they package it. Since us bears can’t unwrap food, we eat the packaging, too, and that’s just not good for us (oh, the tummy aches!). And once, my cub got her head stuck in a giant cheese doodle plastic jar, trying to get to the last one. Luckily, some kind humans helped her get the jar off her head. I can’t imagine what would have happened to her if they hadn’t rescued her. It would have been un-bearable. If only those humans had stored their cheese doodle jar properly!
But you know that’s not healthy for you, Bear. What’s a good bear-food that tickles your taste buds?
You’re right, human food is tasty. And sometimes, they make it so easy for us bears! Like when they leave it out on a picnic table, or leave their ice chest out. They even leave food in their cars! A locked door won’t keep me from getting to a tasty bag of chips or nuts. Have you seen my claws and powerful arms? And speaking of nuts, that’s a good-bear-food us bears love. Nuts, seeds, grubs, ants, fresh spring grass, berries—yum! Sometimes, I’ll even catch fresh trout for a meal.
That sounds more like it! Hey, maybe you can even tell me about how Terry cooked up this book?
Yes! There’s a story here, so bear with me. In 2018, I was so “scratch-your-back-on-a-tree happy” to hear about Yosemite Conservancy’s call out for a children’s board book (you know, those chunky books meant for your littlest cubs). Well, a writer named Terry Pierce saw the call out and sent them a manuscript about how to store human food so us bears can’t get into it (and then have to eat good bear food). Terry lives not far from Yosemite National Park in the mountain town of Mammoth Lakes, California, so she knows about how to “coexist” with black bears. “Coexist” is a fancy human word that means getting along with someone, and Terry knows the best way to coexist with bears is through proper food storage.
Why is food storage important? Well, us bears are what you’d call “opportunistic eaters.” We’ll break into cars, tents, backpacks, coolers, even homes if we think food is inside. We can really make a mess of things and do a lot of damage when that happens. (My cousin once ripped the door off a car just to get to some peanuts left in sight!) But the bigger problem lands on the bears. When a bear relies on human food so much that he’ll do anything to get some (and cause the kind of damage I mentioned), humans label him as a “problem bear” and that could mean big trouble. Sadly, a “problem bear” will be put down. It’s never happened to anyone in my family, but I hear the stories. So, you can see why I was so happy to see Terry’s new book. It helps little cubs and their families see that their own actions could ultimately save the life of a bear! Proper food storage helps keep all bears eating healthy, good food that nature intended for us to eat. But I do wish that once in a while nature would make it rain hot dogs or jellybeans!
Wow, so this is really an important book, Bear! Thanks so much for letting us savor it!
Hey, I’ve got an even better way for you to get a taste! Yosemite Conservancy will give a book away!
Sweet!
Blog readers, leave one comment below to enter.
A random winner will be selected later this month!
Good luck!
With twenty-five published books, Terry Pierce has experienced the joys of being a writer in many ways. She has a B.A. degree in Early Childhood Development and an international A.M.I. teaching diploma. Terry was a pre-primary Montessori teacher for twenty-two years before deciding to follow my dream of writing for children (what she calls, “the best mid-life crisis ever!”). She’s been writing since 1999, with her work appearing in magazines and the children’s book market. She has an MFA in Writing for Children &Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, including the Picture Book Concentration certification. She also teaches online children’s writing courses for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Visit her at terrypiercebooks.com.
by Tracy C. Gold
Several years ago, I visited Austin, Texas while traveling for a friend’s wedding. I love animals, so number one on my list for my time in Austin was watching the bats fly out from under Congress Bridge (don’t worry, I also had tacos and barbecue and heard live music). A million bats fly out from their home in this bridge in quick succession right around sunset!
Here’s a video! It is so cool!
That was way before I was writing picture books, and way before I had a kid of my own, but somehow it snuggled its way into my brain.
Flash forward to Fall 2019. I signed with literary agent Carrie Pestritto, who fell in love with one of my picture book manuscripts about a real-life mass flamingo rescue that hasn’t found a home with a publisher (yet!). Carrie let me know that editors were looking for Halloween books, and I started brainstorming. I thought a riff on the “Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet” song would be really fun. I also thought it would be fun to write about a somewhat “undersung” spooky animal. Black cats and spiders seemed kind of obvious (and while I love black cats, I do not think I will ever be brave enough to write a book about spiders). Then, out from a dark corner—cave?—in my mind, flew the bats from Congress Bridge! I remembered that bats eat BUGS and “Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat” was born. From there it was lots of drafting, singing the book aloud, and revising, and many months later, a book deal with editor Kelly Barrales-Saylor from Sourcebooks eXplore!
Here’s the cover reveal!
I absolutely adore this cover and all of Nancy Leschnikoff’s illustrations. This bat is just SO CUTE but also just a little scary. Plus, this dark purple is my favorite color! It was a wonderful surprise to see it after just seeing black and white sketches of the illustrations for a while.
I will be mailing out free book-themed stickers, design to-be-determined, to anyone who lets me know they have preordered or requested the book at their library! More details on that and how to get signed copies from my local bookstores can be found here.
Thanks for letting me share the cover reveal, Tara!
Well, thank you for being so patient! It’s true, I’ve been slow with the blog lately. Since I postponed this post, I’m going to make it up to you, blog readers, by offering a virtual video call with me. I’ll pick a winner next week. So leave one comment below about the cover to enter. Good luck!
Tracy C. Gold loves bringing characters to life. She is a writer, freelance editor, and mom living in Baltimore, Maryland. She has two picture books forthcoming in 2021, “Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby” from Familius in March and “Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat” from Sourcebooks in August. She also writes short stories, essays, novels, and poems. Her work has been published in several magazines and anthologies. Tracy earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore and earned her B.A. in English from Duke University. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s playing with her toddler, or hanging out with her horse and dog, both rescues. You can find out more about Tracy at tracycgold.com, by following her on Twitter and Instagram at @tracycgold, or by liking her Facebook page.
Jean Reidy and Joey Chou have created a new beauty of a book, a new classic, not only in the colorful art, but in the imaginative question. What would YOU do? It’s an existential explosion (whoa, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that phrase) with all the options Jean and Joey present, from space exploration to simply being brave and doing the right thing. A child is presented with how wide and wonderful the world can be, and most importantly, told that they are in charge of their own destiny.
Jean! What a gorgeous book! Can you tell us how it came to be?
This book was truly the collision of two sources of inspiration.
As you know, I do school, library and bookstore visits. And one of my favorite parts of any visit is the “question and answer” part. But I’ve always felt it should be renamed the “question and answer and stories” part. Because kids love telling me their stories. And even though you probably think of me as a story writer, I’m also a really great story listener.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Teachers and librarians are awesome at helping kids understand what questions are and how to ask them. And I love answering. But no matter how much they’ve prepared, kids still have stories to tell.
Some of the stories I hear can be very funny. I once heard a seemingly endless saga about … wait for it … bowling shoes! But whether funny or serious, their stories are honest and earnest and heartfelt.
In some school sessions kids have an opportunity to read me their stories or show me their art. And again, these are some of my favorite sessions. They’re a great way foor kids to give me a peek into their worlds and for me to communicate to kids how much I value them and their perspective.
I feel that as a children’s author, one of the most important parts of my job is not to talk “at” kids, but to talk “with” them and hear them. To listen to their hearts and hopes and dreams. And to honor their perspectives. What a privilege.
Okay, so where am I going with all this?
Well, one day into my inbox comes this amazing piece of art by Joey Chou—complete with a title. As a matter of fact, that original art is very similar to our final book cover.
This happens every so often, where I’m sent a single piece of art—not an entire picture book of art, just a single piece—and asked if I’d like to try to write a story to go along with it.
And usually when that happens, I don’t answer right away. I take a few days or weeks to kind of daydream about the art and listen to the story that it’s telling me. And I don’t always say “yes.” Because for me to say “yes,” that art has to take up residence in both my head and my heart. I mean it has to move right in and stay there.
Well, guess what happened when I saw that particular piece of Joey Chou art?
I just imagined all those awesome kids telling their stories and I said “yes” immediately.
So, there you have it. That’s where it all began.
Jean, you have to tell us: what would you do in a book about YOU?
My little kid self would have given you an answer that would have turned this blog post into a lengthy novel with a separate chapter for each and every dream and aspiration. My grown-up kid self says, “I would just try to be the best ‘me’ I can be.”
Thanks for having me, Tara!
Thank YOU, Jean, for sharing your delightful new book. It’s out TODAY from HarperCollins!
And blog readers, you can win a copy.
Just leave one comment answering the title’s question.
A random winner will be selected later this month.
Good luck!
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 