Which is all kinds of cool.

Also all kinds of cool: the book’s illustrator, Kirstie Edmunds, who kind of achieved the impossible.

This is the story: Unlike many other picture book writers, I’m not a visual thinker. Still, I generally have some vague idea of how the book might look once I’ve completed a final draft. But with ROCK STAR, nothing. I suspected I had created a nearly-impossible-to-illustrate text. I had absolutely no idea–zero picture–how this book would look.

But since Kirstie came on board, I can’t imagine it looking like anything other than what it is. Remember that name, folks. Here she is–Kirstie Edmunds. And make sure you read past the end of the interview for a chance to win the Rock Star Palooza Swag Giveaway.

Q: I know you had another book under contract when ROCK STAR came knocking, but ROCK STAR will be hitting the shelves first. What has the experience of illustrating this first-to-be-published book been like?

The first thing I wanted to do after reading ROCK STAR, was jump up, throw my hands about, and shout “Yeah! Let’s rock.” I was totally thrilled to be asked to work on it, and very fortunate to be part of such a great team of people who really took care of it from start to finish. It’s always a bit nerve-racking the first time you do anything, and there’s always so much to learn (especially how to tackle all the ‘rocking’ crowd scenes!), but the experience has been brilliant, in every way. It’s been a total pleasure. I really couldn’t have asked for a more fun and expressive first book.

(Here it must be noted that Kirstie, who makes herself sound all novice-y, created the coolest endpapers I have ever seen. If you ever get a chance to open the book, take some time to check them out. And don’t miss the author “photos;” I have never looked cooler.)

Do you have a good concert or rock and roll story to share? (I think my blog readers know these two Bruce Springsteen facts about me—my skirt fell all the way down at a concert when I was very clearly in Mr. Springsteen’s line of vision. Years later, he tossed me a harmonica during “Promised Land.”)

Audrey, that’s an epic story. Ha, ha!

I don’t think I have anything as good. The jacket sleeve on our book references a story where I once set fire to my own hair in a restaurant…sounds very rock n’ roll I know, but I’m afraid it was only through lack of concentration. I was too busy goo-gooing my friend’s gorgeous baby to notice the faint smell of burning hair rising from the table. I’m not sure what impression that might have left on my friend’s poor little one, but I am now known as the ‘firestarter’ when we go to visit.

What children’s book would you have liked to illustrate?

I would’ve loved to have been tasked with illustrating the brilliant series of travel books that Miroslav Šašek (M. SASEK) did so magnificently back in the ’60s. I find them utterly fascinating, and I’d love an excuse to travel! Sasek had the most wonderful graphic, architectural way of arranging things on the page. He’s a great inspiration.

That's Kirstie on the right.

Which books/characters were your favorite when you were a young reader?

I was an utter bookworm! I loved all books, but I do remember Richard Scarry being very popular in our house (BUSY, BUSY WORLD and GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE BEAR were particular favourites) along with Eric Carle’s THE VERY HUNGRY CATER-PILLAR, WINNIE THE WITCH, and a host of characters from Janet and Allen Ahlberg. I very much loved being read Roald Dahl, especially MATILDA, and all of the Enid Blyton books, like THE SECRET SEVEN and FAMOUS FIVE. From very early on, my mum could sit me near a pile of books and I’d be mesmerised for hours.

What are you working on now?

A: At the moment I’m working on a great little series called “Playground Adventures,” written by the wonderful Patricia Lakin, with Dial Books For Young Readers. It stars Bruno, a little squirrel, and his best friend Lulu, a cheeky little chipmunk, and sees them getting up to plenty of mischief in the playground.

I’m also bobbling about feeling very excited for the launch of ROCK STAR on the 28^th of this month, and the forthcoming release of THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN, a wonderfully sweet and funny monster story by Tiffany Strelitz Haber, with Henry Holt/Macmillan, out on the 17^th July.

I can’t wait to read about that monster. It looks great. Many thanks, Kirstie!

ROCK STAR PALOOZA SWAG GIVEAWAY:

• If you leave a comment you’ll be automatically entered in the ROCK STAR PALOOZA SWAG GIVEAWAY. The prize includes one author-signed copy of SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK STAR, a ROCK STAR tote bag, a ROCK STAR tee shirt available in medium or large, a neat pile of ROCK STAR of postcards (with spots for practicing your autograph) and of course a ROCK STAR pen to help you handle all those autograph requests…The winner will be randomly selected on our publication date, 2/28.

Rock on. And be excellent to each other.

I’m delivering bound copies of BROTHERS AT BAT: THE TRUE STORY OF AN AMAZING ALL-BROTHER BASEBALL TEAM to the brothers themselves. (The book’s official pub date is April 3, but I know people. I have some copies.)

BROTHERS AT BAT is about the twelve Acerra brothers of New Jersey, honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame as the longest-playing all-brother baseball team of all time. (Yes, there was more than one. There were 29.)

photo courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

The brothers have heard me read the text to them–so there won’t be any big surprises. They’ve seen the cover. But this–this feels big.

It’s my third nonfiction picture book, but the first time I’ve had this opportunity to present a book to its subjects. Three of the twelve Acerra brothers are alive and all three will be on hand tomorrow. I’m a little nervous.

But mostly, I think it’s going to be a months-long party. I believe all three brothers will be on hand to join me at the big launch event in Cooperstown on April 12, too. Still, it’s a nervous-making situation: handing over my summary of their lives and the lives of their siblings.

I know they’re excited and I am too. As I often remind my children, nervous is just the flip side of excited. I’ll try to flip this one on over.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Sometimes it’s best to just let the interview do the talking. Introducing … author Mara Rockliff.

I don’t know how you’ve done this, with books illustrated by different artists, but it really seems that you can tell when a book is a Mara Rockliff book. And I have a mad crush on the non-didactic make the world a better place message that’s in your picture books and GET REAL: WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE YOU BUYING? Can you explain what voodoo magic you use to effortlessly brand yourself?

You mean, besides the name on the cover?

No, honestly, I would have said my books were all over the place, so that is great to hear! I can’t claim I do anything to “brand” myself, but I guess all writers reveal themselves through their books. (From reading your picture books, Audrey, I suspect two things you’re particularly fond of are baseball and a good laugh!)

I’ve been interested for a long time in the idea of community, how people come together to live a better life. When I was in my teens, I fell in love with Utopian literature—books like Bellamy’s LOOKING BACKWARD, Skinner’s WALDEN TWO, Gilman’s HERLAND, and of course More’s UTOPIA. That led to reading books about people who tried to put Utopian theories into practice (I was amazed to learn that American communal groups existed long before the 1960s!) and eventually to living on a commune myself for several years. (I was amazed to learn that American communal groups existed long after the 1960s, too!)

Although I never sat down to write about Utopian communities, I think that thread runs through my books. In THE BUSIEST STREET IN TOWN, neighbors unite to tame the noisy cars and trucks that rule their street, transforming Rushmore Boulevard into people-friendly Walker Road. (Apparently my own idea of Utopia involves giant sunflowers, a poodle, gingersnaps, balloons, and a live mariachi band.) In MY HEART WILL NOT SIT DOWN, Kedi’s village comes together to accomplish a good deed she can’t do on her own. And while GET REAL: WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE YOU BUYING? might seem to speak to teens as individual consumers, it’s really about protecting local communities and being caring citizens—of our towns, our country, and the world.

How did you come up with Kedi’s point of view for telling the story of America’s Great Depression in MY HEART WILL NOT SIT DOWN? Can you also tell us where the title (LOVE the title) came from?

“My heart will not sit down” is a wonderful expression that was in use among the Bulu people of southern Cameroon at the time the story is set. When I found it in my research, I thought it perfectly captured the theme of the story, which is about a girl who hears of children going hungry far away in her teacher’s village of New York City and decides she has to find a way to help.

The story was inspired by a true event: In 1931, during the Great Depression, the city of New York received a gift of $3.77 for hunger relief from the African country of Cameroon.

When I came across a mention of this in a history book, I was immediately fascinated. Even eighty years ago, $3.77 wouldn’t have gone far to feed the hungry of New York. Who were these people who had sent this gift? They couldn’t have known anything about America. They must have had very little money themselves. And yet, when they heard of hungry strangers somewhere in the world, they willingly shared what they had.

Nothing more is known about this incident, but with a lot of research (and the generous help of Doris Anderson Reeves, who grew up in Cameroon during the 1930s) I was able to piece together quite a bit about what may have happened. One thing I learned was that the villagers probably heard about the Great Depression from an American teacher. That told me that it could have been a child who first thought of sending money to America.

And so Kedi was born—a girl who knew how it felt to be hungry, a girl who had often emptied her bowl without filling her belly. A girl who heard of hungry children far away, and felt her heart would not sit down until she helped.

What books did you love fiercely as a young reader? What character would you have wanted for a friend?

I loved THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, anything by Edward Eager or E. Nesbit, THE GREAT BRAIN and its sequels, the Betsy-Tacey books, the All-of-a-Kind Family books, MANDY, FREAKY FRIDAY, A WRINKLE IN TIME, THE EGYPT GAME…I could go on and on.

I loved anything with scrappy orphans and other smart, brave, independent girls: Margaret Thursday in THURSDAY’S CHILD, Claudia in FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER, Caddie Woodlawn, Bonnie in THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE. I’m not sure if I imagined them as friends or just wanted to be them. Can you imagine all those characters together in one room? The fur would really fly!

If I had to choose one book that I loved more than any other, it would be SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. I read it over and over. Those Robinsons had some mad skills, yo. They were like Martha Stewart meets MacGyver on a very well-stocked desert island. (Hmm…a group of castaways creating their own new society from scratch…maybe that was my first taste of Utopian literature!)

Many years later, I reread the book and I couldn’t believe its heavy-handed preachiness. We always talk about how much kids dislike “books with morals,” but I had never even noticed it. I think kids actually like a bit of moralizing, as long as the story grabs them. Look at the Narnia books. Or the ongoing popularity of the Berenstain Bears.

What are you working on now?

I just did my final tweaks on a picture book that is coming out later this year, ME AND MOMMA AND BIG JOHN. It’s my first picture book for Candlewick and I’m really excited. The story is about a boy whose mother works as an apprentice stonecutter on Big John (the Cathedral of St. John the Divine) in the late 1970s. It’s kind of a meditation on the nature of art, and I guess it’s also really a story about community.

Like all the builders of the great cathedrals throughout history, Momma is creating art. She knows her art will never make her famous; people who come to the cathedral won’t even know which stones are hers. At first, this disappoints her son. But when he sees Big John, he understands why she is happy to be part of something bigger—a community of artists who are making something beautiful to last a long, long time.

ME AND MOMMA AND BIG JOHN is illustrated by William Low, who does amazing things with space and light. My agent said that when she turned to the page where they enter the cathedral and look up, she gasped and burst into tears. It’s truly breathtaking.

I think writing picture books is a little like building a cathedral. My name is on the front, and so is William’s. But really it’s the work of a community—writer, illustrator, agent, editor, designer, and other people I will never even meet—all collaborating to create something that none of us could have managed alone.

I somehow think it would be impossible for Mara to do an interview without coming full circle. Thanks so much for taking the time here, Mara!

You can learn more about Mara by visiting her website.

Please be sure to check back here next week for what could only be called the start of RockStarPalooza.

I’ll be celebrating the imminent release of SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK STAR with an interview with its divine illustrator, Kirstie Edmunds and a fabulous Rock Star swag giveaway.

I love that this book began with a teacher having a creative idea that excited kids. Author Laura Murray described her students’ annual hunt for the gingerbread man throughout the school building: “We hung missing posters and searched the halls, discovering crumbs and dropped candies, as we asked school staff where he might be.”

The post gives a really interesting inside look at all that happened after she took that idea and turned it into a manuscript. Illustrator Mike Lowery (love his stuff!) and art director Cecilia Yung discuss their role in developing this title from manuscript to picture book.

Here’s the link–enjoy.

Today’s guest is Beth Shaum, sixth-grade English teacher at St. Paul Catholic School in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.

I feel like I’ve known Beth, in a cyber-way, for a long time, and was surprised to remember that our introduction occurred because of her connection to a certain buffalo who didn’t even exist until 2010.

Sometimes a reader just CONNECTS with a book. I don’t know how I first found out that you had a reaction like that to IS YOUR BUFFALO READY FOR KINDERGARTEN?, but I do remember that I especially loved that you were a middle-school teacher, because that was so unexpected. Can you explain how that book came on your radar? And how it led to classroom Skype visits from illustrator Daniel Jennewein and me? 

I have followed Lenore Appelhans’ book review blog for a few years now. I initially started reading her blog because I knew she lived in Germany. I lived there for two years so it’s always a pleasure for me to connect with people who are from Germany or living there. She talked on her blog about her husband, Daniel Jennewein, being a newly-minted children’s book illustrator. One day I was at the library and happened to come upon IS YOUR BUFFALO READY FOR KINDERGARTEN?. When I saw the book I remembered that her husband illustrated it, so I checked it out.

When I got home and started reading it I couldn’t stop laughing. It was so funny and biting, yet endearing at the same time. Despite the fact that its primary audience is kindergartners, it had a sassiness about it that I thought was perfect for middle schoolers. So the next day I brought it into school and read it to my class. They erupted with laughter throughout the entire read-aloud. In fact, as I was passing by their science class on my prep period that day, they stopped me and asked me if I would read it to them again – while they were in another teacher’s class!

in Germany with Lenore and Daniel

Over the summer, my husband returned to Germany on a month-long business trip and I happily accompanied him for a week so we could spend some vacation time there. Since I knew Lenore and Daniel lived in Frankfurt, I asked if they’d want to meet up the night before I flew home. While the four of us spent the evening together, I happily gushed to Daniel about how much I loved his illustrations. He even drew in my copies of both Buffalo books and created an illustration of my dogs.

I shared the Buffalo books again with my class this year and told them that I was lucky enough to meet the illustrator over the summer. Many of them commented on what a great artist they thought Daniel was so I asked him on Facebook one day if he’d be willing to Skype with my class.  He agreed.

A few months later, while I was gone for three days at the NCTE convention in November, I left plans for my sub to have my class create their own picture books using some books we read together as mentor texts. Some of my students chose to write books inspired by the Buffalo books with titles such as “Is Your Monkey Ready for Spanish Class?” “Teach Your Pig to Fly” and “Is Your Giraffe Ready to Drive?” Upon my return from NCTE, I began reading through their creations and was amazed at their humor and creativity. It was by far the most enjoyable writing assignment I’ve ever graded. I was so impressed with their efforts, I wanted to share these creations with you so I sent you copies of a few of them. It was then that I bit the bullet and asked if you’d be willing to Skype with us.

(It must be said: Beth’s students’ books were fantastic and laugh-out-loud funny.)

Beth is not pictured here. It is merely an awesome photograph.

What originally drew you to teaching? Is your teaching reality what you expected it to be?

I was a very bossy child. One of the things I used to love to do was play school. Most of the time I played by myself to an imaginary class but if I had a group of friends, I would force them to be the students and I ALWAYS had to be the teacher.

In college I initially thought I would go into psychology but something compelled me to change my major to music. I had played the piano for 13 years and thought that was enough to be a successful music teacher. It wasn’t. The competitiveness and “every man for himself” attitude of the students and professors in the music program at my university made me realize music as a career wasn’t for me and I decided to be an English teacher instead. Despite realizing right away that English education was the perfect fit for me, I regret that making music my major, however brief it was, caused me to lose my passion for it in the process. I will always love music, but it’s still a little bit painful for me to sit down at the piano.

I don’t think anyone’s teaching reality is what they expect. I didn’t imagine it would to be a cakewalk, but at the same time, this job is MUCH HARDER than anyone could ever understand unless they are a teacher themselves. I have, in a sense, become embittered by how politicians and the media have boondoggled society into believing that teachers are greedy and lazy. It gets really old having to set people straight about how hard teachers work. Yes, we have summers off. But our weekends, evenings, and breaks are spent working. I mean, I had quizzes to grade over Christmas break. I had lessons to plan. I have a huge stack of papers sitting in my bag right now waiting for me to grade. I have parent emails to respond to and meetings to attend before and after school. Our day does not end at 3:00 and I really wish more people understood that. Hearing pundits on the 24-hour news networks declare that teachers don’t deserve to be well compensated because we only work part-time really gets my blood boiling. Spend an entire day with me. I’ll show you how part-time my job really is.

At the same time, I love my job. It truly is a vocation. I don’t just pester people with my biting commentary about how hard teachers work, but also stories about my students that made me laugh or smile. Watching kids make strides in their learning right before my eyes is the biggest reward of this profession.

Did you have a special connection to any books when you were a young reader? What were your favorite books?

The first book I remember reading on my own was CHARLOTTE’S WEB. My uncle used to read it to me whenever I would visit with him and I eventually started to read it on my own. It’s one of the few books in my life that I’ve read more than once.

When I was in elementary and middle school I devoured Nancy Drew novels. From a young age I was quite a fluent reader but my comprehension wasn’t the greatest so I sought out novels that weren’t very challenging. Nancy Drew and R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series filled my reading needs for a quite a few years.

But then I lost my love of reading in high school and college. Reading nothing but classics and being forced to dissect and interpret books that were way above my ability made me stop reading for pleasure. I didn’t start reading for pleasure again until a few years ago when I realized that I needed to read voluminously in order to help my students become lifelong readers. From that moment on I realized I will never again be a teacher who thinks that one single book can fill the reading needs of an entire class of students. It certainly didn’t work for me when I was in school.

What children’s book character would you have liked to move next door to young Beth? 

Well, even though she’s from a young adult novel and it only came out a few years ago, I would have to say Mia Hall from the book IF I STAY by Gayle Forman. I remember reading that book and thinking how much I would’ve loved to have a family like Mia’s – all musically inclined, free spirited, intelligent, and very close. As a child of a rather messy divorce, that kind of love, stability, and celebration of individuality really stayed with me.

Thank you so much, Beth!

You can learn more about Beth by visiting her blog.

Paul is just about the most enthusiastic book-connection person you could ever hope to meet. I’m still in the hope-to-meet category—Paul and I have never met but his is one of those names I keep seeing all over the place, and I figured it was time for all of us to get to know him better, though I imagine many of you are way ahead of me on that one.

When you decided to become a high school English teacher, how did you envision your days? How different is the reality?

I wish I had a better answer for this. I wanted to be a nurse. I was a hospital corpsman in the Navy. But when I saw the laundry list of math and science courses I might have to take, I switched my records over to the school of education. And this was not by default, mind you. While in the Navy, I had fancied myself a writer of sorts. And we (squadron buddies) were continually raiding the neighboring barracks buildings’ libraries for donated books that we could pilfer to make our own library look better (I think the statute of limitations has passed here and these were donated books). I thought that my days would be best spent reading and sharing books and writing and sharing the ideas that were coming from that writing, whether it was a quick thought capture, a line, or a piece that felt finished. Sure enough, some eight school years later, that is just what I am doing.

Why was it important for you to create RAW INK Online?

I wanted to go outside the classroom to reach my students in a place that might be most familiar to them–the social network. The first year was really neat because everything we did was brand new, you know? Our authors who joined in that first year are still a part of the community. I think RAW INK Online not only helped us to make connections with authors and within the classroom, but it created something really unique that Silver Creek High School students were doing with Web 2.0 technology.

Can you speak about some of the friendships that have been borne out of your author-student connections?

Sure. Chris Crutcher has helped us to kick off three out of four school years since the beginning of RAW INK Online. Our summer reading session with Deborah Wiles with COUNTDOWN was a neat experience for many of our students. The YA Super Chat we held in the spring of 2009 was magical (25 authors meeting in the chat room–five apiece for thirty minutes–for two and a half hours) was really neat. Some authors stayed just to talk to the others. Our friendships with authors like Cheryl Rainfield and Sarah Darer Littman have been vital to our students who have read their books. The interactions around SCARS (Rainfield) were powerful during the year that the book released, and the chats we have had with Sarah, and the fact that we met her for lunch in New York City with a group of students really solidified that relationship. Gae Polisner is relatively new to the community and her interactions with our students have really been the turning point in the lives of some of our dormant readers. We are going to miss people who make this site so special, but I would say that each of our 85 middle grade and young adult authors are most appreciated. I couldn’t do some of what we do without their willingness to be a part, their participation, and their willingness to receive correspondence from our membership.

What character from children’s lit would you have liked to move next door to younger-you? Why?

This might sound strange, but I would love to have a grown-up Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes) in my English 11 or AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE and COMPOSITION class. I think he would give a lead learner a real run for their money, don’t you? I would see him as a rebellious thought leader who would eat up the canon but would also love some of the snark of say, John Green, Don Calame, or Libba Bray.

Thank you so much, Paul.

But today I welcome the freakishly prolific Sudipta. True, her name is really Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, but if you check out sudipta.com you’ll get my point. Also, by way of example, if you ask someone at an SCBWI conference, “Did you see Anne’s shoes?” there might be some confusion. But if you ask, “Have you seen Sudipta’s shoes?” there will be none.

I’m coming at everything in a very roundabout way today (which explains my first interview question), but I want to say this straight-out. In addition to freakish prolificness (I looked it up. It’s spelled right.), Sudipta is also a a freakishly generous mentor to writers finding their way. She may not want that truth out there in the world, but it’s my blog, so there it is.

You may be wondering what Bruce Springsteen’s doing here. Reread the last sentence of the previous paragraph–he’d never show up on Sudipta’s blog, but this one’s mine.

There’s a (not fantastic) Springsteen song, “Outlaw Pete,” in which the titular character introduces himself a lot—may I suggest you begin your readings by crooning, “I’m Half-Pint Pete” repeatedly (along the lines of what you hear at the 52-second mark)? I’ve been singing it and it’s a lot of fun. Also, as a half pint: thank you. We have long been underrepresented in the pirate oeuvre. Where did this story come from?

I’m going to tell you, I had no idea where that question was going to end up based on the beginning. Which, by the way, is great storytelling. Surprise your reader. Brava, madame.

Half-Pint Pete came from the deep places in the heart where all great literature comes from, where characters live and breathe and fight for justice. Somewhere beneath the cockles and to the right, I’d guess, but can’t really be sure…or, perhaps, it came from my daughters’ inability to share their dress-up toys, leading me to tear everything in half in a fit of exceptionally good parenting. The princess skirt, the knight’s shield, the treasure map — all cut in half. I remember one of them complaining that you can’t do anything with half a treasure map, and voila! “Half-Pint Pete, the Idea” was born.

How easy was this book to write? Does the final book look like what you imagined when you first had the idea?

I always knew that I wanted Half-Pint Pete to be about searching and feeling complete, and who could resist taking two halves (Half-Pint Pete and Half-Baked Belle) to make a whole — and more (at the end, they are not just the perfect two, but two and a half!)? In that sense, the book is what I imagined it would be. But structurally, that’s another story. The manuscript was acquired at around 750 words, but through the editorial process, it was literally….cut in half. Trying to tell a complete story in 350 words is so hard that…well, next time, I’d rather walk the plank.

Your verse scans so well I have to ask: Do you think and dream in rhyme?

Ummm, yes.

You’ve always been exceedingly generous in sharing your writing and promoting knowledge with me. Were there people along the way who helped you or did you figure it all out yourself?

There were many people who helped me, and many people who I *wished* had helped me! Writing is a very solitary endeavor, so much so that those antisocial habits carry over sometimes into the non-creative parts of what we do. But both the craft side and the business side of our lives benefit from collective knowledge — why should we each reinvent the wheel when we can pool our knowledge and get there faster? Now, there’s still going to be a lot we have to figure out on our own — not everything that works for you will work for me, for example, and many of the most successful strategies are often very specific to a certain writer or book. But sharing our knowledge is a great way to brainstorm for more things that may work. If one mind is good, a dozen is so much better.

What have been some of the most useful nuggets you’ve learned along the way?

Well, the most useful writing nugget I’ve learned is to be patient with your character. If you have a great character, he or she will show you the right story if you are patient. Forcing an idea is the easiest way to get to a really bad idea. A close second would be to write what you know, but with the knowledge that no one but you finds the true specifics of your life as fascinating as, well, you do. For example, you should write about the things your kids do that make you laugh. You shouldn’t, however, write it in such a way that your neighbors would recognize the characters as your kids. Use the intimate to inform the universal.

As for promotion, the most useful nugget would be that the best way to make people think that you’re cool is to not talk about how cool you are. That is true for speaking engagements, for school visits, and especially for interviews!

What were your favorite books as a young reader?

I loved Nancy Drew books (and was heartbroken when I found out Carolyn Keene isn’t real!), and I also read quite a bit of “classic” stuff, like Sherlock Holmes. There were always books in my house, and I pretty much read whatever I could get my hands on. And then when I got my library card! There was one summer when I was in 3rd grade maybe that I won the summer reading competition at the Jersey City Public Library. I think I read something like 200 books. (I’m a nerdy chick, and always have been.)

What are you working on now?

I’m branching out into new and fantastical territory for me — instead of talking animals (or pirates) who rhyme,  I’m writing about contemporary human children in elementary school. It’s very scary to me to go to this strange place with my writing and it’s taking a lot of research to even make it sound believable. But I’m trying, because failure is not an option. I’m going to be launching a new series of early middle grade novels in 2014, and while the series will launch with four books in the first few seasons, I have only written…one of them.

In all seriousness, I am working on quite a few early middle grade projects — as my children grow older, I’m finding my interests are changing and I want to write what they like to read. But I haven’t given up of the picture books — I’m working on several right now as well. And most importantly, I am working on…keeping my bedroom clean. It’s embarrassing how much like a dorm room it has become!

Thank you, Sudipta.

Are you ready to sing with me now? “I’m Half-Pint PETE! I’m Half-Pint PETE! Can you hear me?”

You can learn more about Sudipta and her 36 books (no lie) by visiting her website.

As we wake on the other side of  the national holiday that honors Martin Luther King Jr., I could not be more pleased to welcome Cynthia Levinson and her gorgeous book, WE’VE GOT A JOB: THE 1963 BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN’S MARCH, to the blog.

This is my kind of book. And even though you might think I don’t know you that well, it’s your kind of book, too. I have been aching to get my hands on this one since I first learned of its existence three years ago.

I want every teacher and librarian and school media specialist to read this. I want my daughter and son and husband to read it. My sisters and my dad. My friends, too. And then I want to have a fun party where we talk about it all night. Who’s in?

In case you’re not a star-watcher, to date WE HAVE A JOB has received three starred reviews (Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist). I predict more.

Without further ado (because that was plenty of ado), my interview with the woman of the hour, Cynthia Levinson.

Did any part of your body explode when you read your reviews or saw the stars? For example, I’d have spontaneously lost a limb upon reading this from a School Library Journal blog: “This title…may be the most important historical account of the Civil Rights movement.” What has this experience, this wave of raves, been like for you?

That’s a very funny question, Audrey! My body parts are intact. But I’ve been grinning so much and so hard that I think I could pick up a trombone and play about as well as Quincy Jones, right off the bat. (Sorry, I had to get baseball bats in this interview somewhere.)

At the same time, though (there had to be a ‘but,’ right?), I feel like the photo of my three-year-old niece sitting in her sandbox, surrounded by toys, and pouting. Or, maybe I’m like Godzilla. Stars are so much fun, I’ll take them wherever I can get them. I bonked my head on the overhead rack on a plane recently and thought, “Oh, goodie. More stars.”

Really, though, it’s gratifying to have my work, the extraordinary efforts of my editor, Kathy Landwehr, and the contributions of the four main narrators of the book recognized. As Kathy said, she knew it was a marvelous book, and it’s nice that other people are validating that.

Can you share with us the process by which the Birmingham Children’s March transformed from something you knew about to something you needed to write about?

That process took roughly a nanosecond. It’s true that I knew about the Birmingham Children’s March, although it wasn’t called that in 1963. It was called, according to newspaper headlines at the time, “mass demonstrations” and “rioting Negroes.” What I missed for the following 44 years was the “children” part of it. Even though I taught American History in middle school and high school, somehow I failed to notice that the bodies that were assaulted by vicious police dogs and firemen’s hoses were short. The moment that I made that belated discovery, while researching an article on music in the civil rights era for Cobblestone magazine, I knew the story had to be shared.

I know your research for this book was especially vigorous. Did you have any especially gratifying or exciting discoveries along the way?

Audrey in fifth grade

The four people I interviewed most extensively—Audrey, Wash, Arnetta, and James—continually shared gratifying (and sometimes heartbreaking) stories with me. Audrey, who was nine when she was arrested and spent a week in jail, talked about the board game she carried with her. Visualizing Audrey clutching her protest sign in one hand and her board game in the other as she climbed into a paddy wagon was such a sweet yet jarring image.

Wash told me about his conversion from rock-throwing truant (he was definitely a “rioting Negro”) to peaceful protester. When he heard a girl sing “The Lord’s Prayer” in jail, he knelt and bowed his head. Arnetta described how she and her younger sister bawled when their father tried to sit in the front of the bus to protest segregation; they were panicked that he’d be arrested, and they’d never see him again. James carried the casket of one of the four girls murdered in the church bombing four months after the marches.

The connections between these individuals, these normal yet singular teenagers, and the grand history of the movement that we read about in textbooks were immensely gratifying.

Thank you so much, Cynthia!

WE’VE GOT A JOB‘s official on-sale date is February 1, but it’s never too early to pre-order or check with your local library to make sure it’s on their radar.

You can learn more about Cynthia and her book by visiting her website. Be sure to drop by the EMU’s Debuts blog the week of the book’s release, too.

Working on a picture book is so incremental and I love every step of the process, from my own first draft, revisions, more revisions, the decision about an illustrator, seeing early sketches, later sketches, color illustrations, first pass, unbound copies, all the way to real bound books. Every step, especially the ones that don’t involve any work on my part, is a real joy.

I’m only supposed to receive one bound copy at this stage of the game, but my editor had the grace and foresight to think of the brothers themselves–three of the twelve are alive–and to know that I’d want to be able to give them actual books instead of the (unbound) F&Gs I had planned to give them.

We have a date planned for the big book-giving–the Sunday after the Superbowl.

BROTHERS AT BAT is my third nonfiction picture book. There was also a fourth manuscript that never found a publishing home.

The first book, BARK & TIM: A TRUE STORY OF FRIENDSHIP, co-written with my sister Ellen Glassman Gidaro, is based on the autobiographical paintings of outsider artist Tim Brown.

Ellen and I never met Tim, though we wanted to. Our interviews were all handled with Tim’s manager as a go-between. We’d send off questions via email and a month or more later, we’d receive Tim’s handwritten responses.

We never heard from Tim about the book once it was out, so I wrote to his manager to ask what Tim had thought. His response was something along the lines of, “He liked it,” or “He thought it was good.”

My second nonfiction picture book manuscript, A MILLION FLOWERS, was one very close to my heart. It was told from the perspective of a child, a real child (now a real teenager) who participated in a gorgeous ceremony in Seattle in the wake of 9/11. Members of the community brought flowers to a park for a vigil. Then (this being Seattle) the gardeners stepped in–taking those flowers and turning them into compost. The gardeners, the father and his son, and a team of politicians then transported some of that compost to a garden that had stood in the shadows of the twin towers in NYC.

I so looked forward to the day I would put a bound book in that child’s hands, but that day never came. I am still in occasional touch with his father, a Seattle Mariners fan.

Third nonfiction book: SHE LOVED BASEBALL: THE EFFA MANLEY STORY. I think I must have researched that story just before the Hall of Fame made such research really easy. More likely, I didn’t realize how easy the Hall of Fame made things for researchers so I trekked to Cooperstown to spend a day in their library. (For a small fee, the research library can send copies of DVDs, CDs, etc. right to your very own mailbox.) It is worth noting that no baseball fan would complain about the opportunity to trek to Cooperstown, New York, to spend a day in the Hall’s awesome research library.

Effa Manley died many years before I wrote this book. She was not a woman who shied away from the spotlight, so I like to think she’d have been pleased, but of course, I’ll never know.

And now I’m on the eve (or the eve of the eve, maybe) of the April release of BROTHERS AT BAT. For those missing my point, this will be the first time I’ve ever been able to hand my book to its subjects.

I wish all of them were here–I’d round up twelve books and another four for their sisters.

one of my favorites

But I hope that this book finds its way into the hands of the descendants of the Acerra brothers and sisters no longer with us. Steven Salerno, the illustrator, did an outstanding job; it’s a truly beautiful book. (For an inside look at his work on BROTHERS AT BAT, visit his blog.)

Part of the joy of writing this book has been the time I spent with the two brothers I interviewed most frequently. As any writer knows, it doesn’t always work out. I still feel a great deal of regret that I didn’t get to present a beautifully illustrated bound copy of A MILLION FLOWERS to the father and son in Seattle. There’s a kind of responsibility a writer feels for her subjects, a need to do right by them, that lasts well beyond the interviews and research.

So I’m going to enjoy the moment as I hand off the three books to the three brothers. I’ll take pictures. And video. And I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’m so happy, happy to be starting 2012 by welcoming Kami Kinard to the blog.

Kami’s first novel, THE BOY PROJECT, is a new year’s baby, released 1/1/2012. It’s getting great reviews. According Kirkus, the book “lends refreshing perspective on teen relationships, and the results point to self-enlightenment.”

Publishers Weekly said, “Kinard creates a highly credible middle-school universe of popular girls, dorky boys, unpredictable teachers, and volatile loyalties; she hits all the right notes as Kara learns that first opinions are rarely accurate and that the scientific method does not always apply to human beings.”

First of all: YAY! Second, how did you go about creating that credible middle-school universe?

I think two things really helped me with this:

One: I was the parent of a middle-schooler when I wrote the book. (And I have another child in middle school now.)  So I gleaned a lot of information from the interactions of my son and his friends.

Two: I went back and read all of my old diaries. These helped me remember what it felt like to be in middle school. Middle school is kind of a hard time.  Friendships fluctuate, girls are often hard on each other, and no one really knows what they are doing when it comes to relationships. Reading the diaries gave me a glimpse into my old tween self – the one who was insecure about things (like having a boyfriend) that seem so unimportant now.

Where did your main character, Kara, come from?

Kara is probably the person I wish I had been in middle school. I was far more shy than she is, for one thing, and far less likely to act on any of my good ideas if they involved the possibility of humiliation!

What were your favorite books when you were a young reader?

Hmmm. I had a lot of favorites, but I’m trying to remember what I liked best when I was Kara’s age.  I think THE BLACK CAULDRON by Lloyd Alexander and THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis were probably my favorite books at that point.

What fictional character would you have liked to move next door to younger-you?

Nancy Drew. I had burned through the Nancy Drew books earlier, but I always admired how smart she was.  She had a great group of friends who supported her interest in sleuthing.  She seemed like an interesting and fun person to hang out with!

What are you working on now?

I am working on a literary fantasy. (Influenced by Alexander and Lewis, maybe?) It’s very different from THE BOY PROJECT, but I actually started writing it earlier. For me, literary fantasy is harder to write than contemporary because you have to build a world. It takes a lot more time, but I love doing it.  I’ve almost completed this manuscript now and I’m really excited about it.

I am also working on another humorous contemporary book with a middle school protagonist, but I’m only a few chapters in. I like the way it’s going, though!

To learn more about Kami, visit her website, where you can see pictures of her as a child,  her beautiful children, and a hilarious one of her dog.