I have so much admiration for an author who can write an endearing character with a unique personality to match. Such is the case with Marisol, in MAYBE MAYBE MARISOL RAINEY by Newbury award-winning author Erin Estrada Kelly.
From the first pages of this chapter book, I was all in:
“There is a magnolia tree in Marisol Rainey’s back yard. The tree is named Peppina. It is perfect for climbing. The branches are practically made for human feet. It’s as if Peppina wanted to say: Step here, and here, and here.”
Marisol’s a fan of old-time silent movies, and she named the magnolia after a Mary Pickford movie.
It seems like everyone but Marisol thinks Peppina is the perfect tree. “Think of someone you’re never happy to see, like your dentist or the principal after you’re sent to the office.” That’s how Marisol feels about Peppina. Everyone loves Peppina’s thick, knobby branches, perfect for climbing up, up, up. But Marisol is afraid. Fortunately, her best friend, Jada, “never makes fun of her for being scared.”
Summer has begun, and as the two spend the afternoon in the backyard – Jada “lying on Peppina’s booster branch with one leg dangling down” and Marisol, “planted on the ground,” the girls imagine what it would be like to be somewhere else. Anywhere but Louisiana where it’s “approximately five bazillion degrees outside with 2,000 percent humidity.”
Ultimately, this is a story of a sweet and thoughtful girl who likes to name inanimate objects, who lives in a small town in Louisiana with the only mom born elsewhere (the Philippines) and a dad who lives on an oil rig most of the time. It’s a story of family and friendship, setbacks and bullies, facing fears and finding courage.
Thoroughly charming, MAYBE MAYBE MARISOL RAINEY will be a series. I, for one, can’t wait for Book 2.
Fred is a busy boy who loves to romp through the house, around his bedroom, across the hall, and into his parent’s bedroom. Like many young kids his age, he also happens to love being naked! “Fred might never get dressed!”
But one day, he stops romping and “peeks into Mom and Dad’s closet.” All those clothes. Shirts and ties, shoes and dresses. It might be fun to try on something new. It might be fun to brush his hair and paint his face with makeup. But… Uh-oh! Here comes mom and dad! What to do?
One day, when I was five years old, I went into my parents’ bedroom and began looking through my mother’s makeup. I loved my mom, and I loved making art, so it was only natural that I was curious about the “paint” she put on her face. I didn’t know what to do with makeup, of course, and when my mother found me, her makeup was smeared across my cheek.
My mom’s reaction was simple, but amazing. She just smiled, cleaned my cheek, and then she showed me how to put on makeup. We had a terrific time trying on makeup, together.
… I love that I felt free to explore and experiment. I love that my mom joined me and encouraged my curiosity.
In his post, Brown goes on to describe his process from initial spark to finished picture book – rough sketches and thumbnails, color choices and composition, and even the decision to write the story in the present tense.
He writes:
At one point I told my editor that I didn’t want this story to have any tension at all. Fred’s experience is so sweet and innocent that I just wanted him to have this moment without any problems. As it turns out, Fred never encounters any real problems, but there is a moment when readers might feel some tension. And that’s the moment when Fred’s parents first find him dressed up like his mom.
Listen to Peter Brown share more about the book, and take a peek at some of the inside spreads!
This exhuberant picture book was delightfully joyful and surprising. I know many young readers will agree.
PenIt! Publications | ISBN: 978-1-952894-32-9 (Hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-954868-76-2 (Paperback)
Clouds tower. Waves crash. A storm is on its way and Risa is afraid. She runs to Daddy. “Make it stop!”
Dad comforts Risa, gently reminding that soon the storm will pass and all will be well. But as the winds grow louder, Risa isn’t so sure. Though she tries to comfort Ivan, her stuffed elephant, a sudden RRROAR! and CRRRACK! send Risa running to Daddy’s arms. Can’t he do something about the noise and rain, thunder and lightning?
It’s then that Risa feels Daddy’s heart race. Could he be scared, too?
“When I was your age, I loved storms. Skies were stages for my imagination.”
That’s how it used to be. But during his time as a solider, Dad’s stories changed. Now, it’s Risa’s turn to use her imagination to tell a story that calms them all. Risa’s simple, but beautiful words help her and her dad weather the storm. Before they know it, the storm has passed and the three have shared a pivotal moment together.
I was curious to learn more and was lucky enough to ask author Sandy Brehl a few questions.
DIANNE: Welcome to ReaderKidZ, Sandy! Let’s talk about your debut picture book, IS IT OVER?, illustrated by Rebecca S. Hirsch. What were the seeds for this story?
SANDY: Thanks so much for welcoming me and for your kind words about IS IT OVER?
So, here’s how this story began:
“Once upon a time” I wrote a sort-of-chapter book for my parents’ 45th anniversary. Each chapter, although fiction, was based on some of the creative ways my parents had found to delight the four of us siblings on a shoestring budget. One chapter was set at a rented cabin on Lake Erie during a fierce thunderstorm. My parents and grandparents each told a reassuring story about what caused all the noise and lights: angels bowling, jousts and flashing swords, even God taking flash pictures of us on Earth. That was the one chapter that friends and family always mentioned, so I began WAY back then to look for ways to write it as a picture book.
DIANNE: That’s fascinating!
The book starts with a prowling, growling thunderstorm and Risa is scared. But there’s a gentle revelation in the middle. It’s such an important turning point in the story and I’m curious, did you always plan to include the line about how Dad’s feelings for storms?
SANDY: Not at all. Narrowing the focus from my full-family storm-story to Daddy, Risa (and Ivan) came about because I read so many fear-of-storms picture books that used an outside force to comfort the frightened child. In this case, I wanted Risa to rescue herself and to feel empathy beyond her own struggles. That’s when the triggering effect of storms on adults came to mind. I considered various approaches, thinking first of WWII veterans, like my Dad from the “Greatest Generation”, who likely returned from unspeakable battles with as-yet-unnamed PTSD. Then I moved to the countless veterans (men and women) of the past two decades who returned from deployments individually, without a cohort nearby who might recognize and share their reactions to loud storms, sudden noises, fireworks, etc. My biggest challenge was deciding how to portray adult fear and topics about war in an age-appropriate way for young audiences.
DIANNE: I see… one idea led you to the next! Isn’t it wonderful how that happens?
Many of those who read picture books don’t realize how hard it can be to capture strong emotions in as few words as possible. You’ve done that in a way that packs a punch.
SANDY: Thank you for that, Dianne. As I said, this one began as a full chapter! I’m never at a loss for words, so I tend to pour them ALL onto the page in the first round. Only then can I sort out whose story it really is (not MINE!) and work through what it is they do (or DON’T) need to actually show or say, leaving room for the illustrator.
I was anxious to see what Becky (Rebecca S. Hirsch) would do with it. In the end, she captured the heart and power of this story so well that it could nearly have been a wordless book. As a result, even more words were trimmed, and I was happy to let them go!
DIANNE: We learn midway through the book that Dad was a soldier, and it wasn’t until then that I noticed that he had a prosthesis. Did you and the illustrator collaborate on the art? What, if any, communication did you and Becky have as the project went forward?
SANDY:I’m so pleased to have you say that. That’s very much the reaction I was aiming for, a subtle suggestion rather than centering it in the story. Becky began with only the text of the story, no art notes. I didn’t know it until the early art arrived, but Becky researched a variety of actual prosthetic models until she found something that could suit the character and story so naturally that readers, too, might overlook it, or just assume it didn’t matter. Then, once Daddy’s background came through, there’s awareness, a sort of “A-HA” moment.
The MANY veterans of multiple deployments are family members of an entire generation, yet references to their experiences rarely appear in picture books except as a tragic or heroic or service story. I was eager to provide a daily-life story that allows those families to find themselves on the page.
As for collaboration, one benefit of working with a small traditional press is that this was possible. Becky and I exchanged email notes at various stages in the process, with my side of that tending toward cheers for her work, from her earliest character sketches to final illustrations. She also shared the full dummy with her art critique partners. When she passed along several of their helpful comments to me, some of those notes affected the final art.
DIANNE: As authors of picture books, we generally have an audience in mind. A special reader that we hope to reach with these words and this book (and it isn’t necessarily always the same from book to book).
Is there a specific reader or readers you hope will find IS IT OVER? and what do you hope they’ll carry inside them by book’s end?
SANDY: The dedication is to my niece, now married, mother of two, and a respected professional. As a child, though, she was terrified of storms, to the point of panic attacks. As an educator, teaching many ages, there were always a few students whose stress during a thunderstorm was visible. My original and intentional audience is any child who feels overwhelmed by storms. Its many revisions led me to imagine several new readers: children of families with veterans, of course, and the veterans themselves who might share the book with little ones.
DIANNE: That’s so wonderful. Thank you for your thoughtful replies and for sharing the “inside scoop,” Sandy!
And finally, the question we ask at the end of every interview: What are you working on now?
SANDY: One current picture manuscript (among MANY!) is a non-fiction collaboration with two members of the Gallaudet Eleven, pioneers in human space travel. The team of Deaf men had a difference that was exactly what NASA needed. Theirs is very much a sort of “Hidden Figures” story, only now coming to public attention after fifty years of silence.
DIANNE: That sounds fascinating, Sandy! Good luck!
SANDY: Thank you, Dianne, for the invitation to join you here with your readers!
DIANNE: Thank YOU! 🙂
Learn more about Sandy’s books and Becky’s illustrations on their websites:
“In a way it’s as important to communicate to one person, to one ten-year-old person that’s growing up, as it is to try to make any big effect on the entire world.”
— Keith Haring
Isn’t this how it is? Sometimes we have grand plans and we forget that one small word can make a big difference, one positive interaction can ripple out in all directions.
DRAWING on WALLS: A Story of Keith Haring by Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Josh Cochran is about the short life, positive spirit, and impact of an artist who drew “all the time, everywhere.” In school, he and his best friend, Kermit, were known as “The Artists.” Later, when he was 20, Keith arrived in New York City, enrolled in the School of Visual Arts, and began making the art he knew he was meant to create.
Keith didn’t think that “art should be hidden away in galleries, museums, and private collections.” He wanted “to communicate with as many people as possible.”
By the time Keith was 24, his career as an artist began to take off. A one-man show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Soho, and invitations to create murals in places around the world, including a stretch of the Berlin Wall, and an exterior wall of the Church of Sant’Antonio in Pisa.
Keith loved life! And when he learned that he had AIDS, “Keith didn’t stop.” He continued “making art and sharing his gifts with the world.” He died far too soon – at the age of 31 – of Aids-related complications.
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A note from author Matthew Burgess:
“I wrote this book as an expression of gratitude for Keith’s courage and creativity. Since his art may be even more accessible today than it was during his lifetime… what I hope to offer is a glimpse of Keith as a human being. An immensely generous person who held childhood and children at the center of his life, and an extraordinary artist whose spirit still inspires, still delights, still transmits his irrepressible energy of openness, freedom, and joy.”
Check out this wonderful VIDEO/Book Launch with author Matthew Burgess that includes an intro to the book, as well as a terrific writing/drawing activity!
“Do you love me?
Do you love me from the inside out?
Do you love me from the outside in?”
Is our love, our country’s love, conditional?
We already know the answer. It is conditional, and it shouldn’t be.
“Do you love my yes?
Do you love my no?
When I shrug my shoulders….
no sé
mo pa konné I DON’T KNOW.”
As a nation founded on the principles of equality, justice, and freedom for all, it’s obvious that we still have a lot of work to do. People-Riley’s lyrical text invites readers, young and old, into an ongoing conversation around these timely and essential questions.
“Do you love my brave?
Do you love my bold?
Am I to have?
Am I to hold?”
From the Author’s Note:
Like many children of color, I often experienced racism and biases at school. Back then, I didn’t know the words to describe how I was treated, but I do remember feeling as though my classmates and my teachers liked one another more than they liked me. … Sometimes I wondered if they treated me differently because my family was black and theirs weren’t. Or because my family was different from other families in my community… I often changed who I was to fit in. I also pretended that the way I was treated didn’t bother me. But it did. It broke my heart.
Reading and Lecture with Daria Peoples-Riley on Saturday, July 10, 11:30 – 1:00 pm
DISCOVER YOUR HIDDEN STORY
In this lecture, Daria will share how we can discover stories hiding within us. She will discuss how these stories, like treasures we often don’t know we have, offer us the opportunity to write with authenticity, personal truth, and the power to connect readers to each other and their communities. Daria will also be in conversation with guest author and VCFA alum Jessica Rinker about how she discovered the very first story hiding within her.
My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Clark, was very fond of poetry. She would stand behind our chairs and recite poems by heart. Robert Frost, John Masefield, Carl Sandburg. It’s a memory I’d mostly forgotten about until a few years ago. She had been the principal of the school for many years, and returned after her retirement to teach again because she missed the daily interaction with students. In a way that I didn’t realize until many years later, she was one of the first people to plant the seed of poetry in my heart.
At some point during that year, one of our assignments was to write about a poet and I chose Emily Dickinson. That was many years ago…
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.
Recently, wanting to read more about Dickinson, I picked up BECOMING EMILY: The Life of Emily Dickinson by Krystyna Poray Goddu. With photos, excerpts of letters, a time line, and many full-length poems, this wonderfully researched and engaging biography for young readers (or readers of any age, really) is the perfect introduction to those interested in learning more about Dickinson’s life and poetry.
Here’s a list of other books for those young readers who’d like more:
ON WINGS OF WORDS: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander
EMILY WRITES: Emily Dickinson and Her Poetic Beginnings by Jane Yolen, illustrated by
EMILY by Michael Bedard, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
This week, I’m excited to share author Roberta Gibson‘s debut picture book, HOW TO BUILD AN INSECT, illustrated by Anne Lambelet. I met Roberta at a recent (virtual) gathering of local SCBWI PAL members in Arizona and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of her book.
This clever STEAM title invites children to “build” an insect, talking readers through the various body parts in a relatable way, using questions and comparisons. (“Below our head, we have shoulders and a chest. An insect’s chest is called its thorax.”) The reading is both informative and interactive:
“How will the insect move?
Give it some legs.
How many legs?
Two like us?
Four?
Eight?”
Too many. Eight legs would make it a spider…
What about ears?
An insect can have its ears anywhere. …
on its thorax, on its abdomen, or even on its knees!”
See what I mean?? This book is brilliant! I’m so glad Roberta was kind enough to answer a few questions:
DIANNE: Hi, Roberta. Congratulations on your debut picture book!
HOW TO BUILD AN INSECT came together rather quickly after you saw an open call for K-3 nonfiction submissions on Lerner’s blog in early March 2018. The timeline started ticking and you got to work. Can you share a little of that story?
ROBERTA: Thank you for having me. I would be happy to share. When Lerner posted an open call for STEM picture book manuscripts, I knew it was a golden opportunity. However, they also wanted topics presented “in playful or unconventional ways.” None of my polished manuscripts fit and with a deadline of May 1, 2018, I had about six weeks to come up with one that did.
I wrote the first draft almost immediately. Author Dusti Bowling, who was writer-in-residence at the Tempe (AZ) Library at the time, critiqued it for me. It was good, but it lacked something, like a stew that needs that one more ingredient to take it over the top. The last bit to come together – which was comparing insect and human anatomy — happened early one morning a few days before the deadline. I keep a running notebook for each of my projects and I even wrote down the time: 4:30 a.m. on April 25, 2018. I submitted the manuscript a few days later. Whew!
DIANNE: That’s amazing! Sometimes a time crunch works in our favor!
I was really charmed by your book and wished I’d had it when I was teaching. I remember back-in-the-day doing a hands-on AIMS “build-an-insect” project with students using clay and toothpicks. This book would have been perfect to share before we began!
What was the inspiration? How did you land on this fun, call-and-response – “What else should we add? What about bones like ours? Should we give it a skeleton?” – format?
ROBERTA: I’m so glad you like the book. I’ve had kids use marshmallow and toothpicks to make model ants, but I was always afraid someone is going to eat their creations and bite into a toothpick. I’m going to have to give clay a try.
The call-and-response format came from my days doing workshops for children. As you probably know, asking questions is a way to gauge prior knowledge (cued recall) and check how engaged the students are. Having to think about a problem also makes the solution more memorable. It seemed natural to use it in the text.
DIANNE: The illustrations are fantastic. I loved the way that Anne Lambelet opens the book with a spread that is part mad scientist lab, part art studio.
Most people don’t realize that picture book authors don’t generally communicate with the illustrator, but with your entomology background, were you asked, or did you find you needed to weigh in along the way?
ROBERTA: Isn’t Anne Lambelet a fabulous illustrator? She brought such vibrancy and fun to every page. I hope one day we get to do a joint program together. Or in a perfect world, maybe work together on another book.
True, most people don’t realize that the illustrations, and even the choice of the illustrator, are totally out of the author’s hands. I’ve been saying the pairing is like a blind date. That said, our book was probably more collaborative than usual. Editorial Director Carol Hinz asked me to provide insect anatomy resources beforehand and I did check the illustrations for accuracy during editing. Questions came up that I could help with, such as how many legs does a centipede have (not exactly 100, but somewhere above 30).
DIANNE: I noticed on your website that, in addition to picture books, you write poetry and mysteries. What projects are you working on now? Do you have any tips to share with writers who are looking forward to their first publication?
ROBERTA: I do feel tugged in opposite directions sometimes because I enjoy writing both for adults and for children. I’m a member of Sisters in Crime as well as SCBWI, so my next publication is a mystery short story coming out in Volume #9 of the Desert Sleuths Anthology sometime this year. I’m working on a mystery with an amateur sleuth that features a lot of cool cars in addition to some nonfiction middle grade and picture books.
Because I’ve written for adults, I know writing children’s books is not as easy as people seem to believe. My tip for children’s writers is to learn the craft first and don’t rush to publishing. You probably have heard when starting something new that students don’t know what they don’t know (the four stages of competence). It is so true. When I look back at old manuscripts, I see all sorts of things that don’t work, starting with main characters with alliterative names. The stories are embarrassingly bad. It takes everyone, no matter who you are, time and study to become competent.
One of the best ways to learn is to read new children’s books. I was a CYBILs judge for several years and read hundreds of titles that were nominated as the best of a given year. I also regularly review new books. Reviewing books makes you look deeply at what works and what doesn’t, plus helps you spot publishing trends.
Even though it may seem like it is impossible to break in, there are opportunities all the time if you plug into the children’s literature community. For example, if you attend SCBWI conferences and training events, often agents and editors will read manuscripts as part of the program. Follow publishers who offer open calls. If you see your opportunity, try to make sure that your manuscript fits their requirements and tweak it if it doesn’t. If you have a quality manuscript that fits their needs, publishers are going to be interested.
DIANNE: Thanks for sharing these wise and helpful tips for writers and congrats on your upcoming publication in the Desert Sleuths Anthology! We’ll keep our eyes open for more of your work. Nonfiction picture books and middle grade? Yes, please!!
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Want to learn more about Roberta’s journey from first draft to acquisition?
