How to use this Page

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.


RUTH A. MUSGRAVE is the Director of WhaleTimes Inc. (http://www.whaletimes.org/) and an award-winning writer. In addition to National Geographic Kids Magazine, she has also written for Scientific American Explorations, SuperScience, and Ask. Her awards include Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Magazine Merit Honor Award for Nonfiction and two Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences-Southwest.

In addition to teaching and writing, her background includes 25+ years developing and producing K-12 marine science education programs, curricula, professional development seminars, and a children’s television series.

While writing the NGK Everything Sharks, Ruth was inspired to create a holiday for sharks, called “Fintastic Friday: Giving Sharks a Voice.” She knew once kids discovered what magnificent and important animals sharks really are, they would want to protect them. Hosted by WhaleTimes, the holiday gives children a platform and opportunity to make a difference.

Congratulations on your success with National Geographic Kids Everything Sharks, just released this spring (April 2011). National Geographic is a "closed" house, meaning they don't take unsolicited submissions. Could you give us some background on how you broke into this extraordinary publishing house and what it's been like working for them?

Thank you. I'm so excited about my book. National Geographic Kids Everything Sharks is full of stunning shark photos and the layout is a delight to the eyes. Before you even get to the text, you can spend hours just looking at the photos. Writing it was fun because I was able to show sharks as they really are -- these incredible, diverse, sometimes odd and quirky creatures. It has a lot of humor and tons of great information.

The best part is, kids will read about sharks and fall in love with the real animal, not some fictional beast. The vicious animal portrayed in movies, books, and television doesn't exist. Sharks are extraordinary animals, but they are not invincible. They are in trouble and they need kids' help.

Hmmm, how I got my foot in the door at National Geographic Kids...well, Terry, I'd tell you, but then I'd have to...just kidding!

I have been fortunate enough to be a frequent contributor to National Geographic Kids Magazine for a many years. The editors knew about my marine science background and asked if I'd like to write about sharks for their very cool new "National Geographic Kids Everything" series. Working with such talented editors and a publishing house that loves animals, embraces the fun of science, yet prizes accuracy...well I still expect someone to wake me up from the best dream ever!

What is the best advice you can give for writers who want to write non-fiction (articles or books)?

This is a good question. Only write

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

BARBARA JEAN HICKS lives in Oxnard, California with her partner Michael and a bad-tempered cat. She is the author of five children’s picture books. MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI is her second book about monsters and her third book in which food is an important element. She is working on her relationship with vegetables but has a monster appetite for fun! To learn more about Barbara and her books, visit her website.

MONSTERS DON'T EAT BROCCOLI is a rollicking book with lots of fun concepts and language. Can you tell us a little about how the story came to be?
An interesting story: the pictures came first! Sue Hendra had created a dummy for a pop-up book that was about all the crazy things that monsters eat. Erin Clarke, the editor I had worked with on THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER KITTY, loved Sue’s monsters but wanted them in a traditional picture book. I feel so fortunate that she decided to ask me if I might be interested in working with the sketches Sue had already done. I fell in love with Sue’s cheerful, colorful monsters! I wanted her to be able to use at least some of the fun, funny sketches she’d already created, so I decided to keep with the eating theme. When I found a sketch of the monsters having a food fight with vaguely broccoli-looking trees they’d been munching on, I immediately thought of the way so many parents get their kids to eat broccoli by calling it little trees.

I turned the “what monsters eat” theme on its head and focused instead on what monsters (and their child counterparts) often don’t eat—their veggies. A phrase popped into my head from the old fairytale JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, and I turned that on its head as well. Thus: “Fum, foe, fie, fee, Monsters don’t eat broccoli!” I rearranged the sketches, leaving out some and suggesting others to make the book a little longer, as part of the process of writing the text. I had lots of fun, and the text came very quickly.

MONSTERS sends a great message to kids about healthy eating. I know you're active in promoting healthy eating for children. Can you tell us a little bit about this and how you're hoping that MONSTERS will help the cause?
The creative process is so fascinating. When we write (or draw, or sing, or do any number of other creative things), our subconscious draws from many disparate memories, ideas, emotions and experiences and makes connections we aren’t even aware of on a conscious level. I wrote this story thinking it was about the power of a healthy imagination—which it is. But it’s also, perhaps even more, about healthy eating habits. I grew up with a father who loved to garden and was crazy about fresh vegetables—and a mom who didn’t much like vegetables. So we had opportunities to eat lots of fresh vegetables but were never forced to eat them. I had my favorites (like corn on the cob and peas right out of the pod), but other veggies have been an acquired taste. Many of them I’ve discovered just in the last year, when my partner was diagnosed as pre-diabetic. We went on the South Beach diet, which is heavy on vegetables and whole grains. This new way to eat totally reversed the blood sugar problem, and we both dropped pounds as well. We discovered a lot more vegetables we liked, and those have become a regular part of our diet.

When the reviews started rolling in for MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI, every single one commented on the “healthy eating” aspect of the story that I hadn’t even realized I’d written! I also got lots of comments back when I sent a notice out to my e-mail list that the book had hit the bookstore shelves. One was from a school superintendent I had worked with in the past who asked if I would be interested in partnering with the district to encourage healthy eating habits in the elementary schools. I realized that many kids don’t have the advantage I had as a child of a big garden in the back yard, and I liked the idea. Obesity and diabetes are increasingly significant problems in this country, not only for adults but for children, and poor diet is the main culprit. Lack of exercise is a second element that I’ll also address in the program I’m developing for the district, which we have dubbed the Rio Healthy Kids Initiative.

My book launch for MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI was part of a weekend long fundraiser in cooperation with our local Barnes & Noble for the Initiative. We not only had great fun, we taught kids the “broccoli chant,” engaged them in a healthy-eating poster contest, and had a slide show about ways to eat healthy even at fast food restaurants.
I’ve discovered that several members of my local SCBWI chapter have developed or worked with nutrition curricula for elementary school children and are willing to share their materials and experiences with me as I develop the program for the Rio Healthy Kids Initiative, which I hope to make available in other schools as well.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Appropriately enough, when we’re talking about healthy eating, it’s a fruit joke.

Q: What was Beethoven’s favorite fruit?

A: Ba-na-na-na (sung to the tune of the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth!)

Thanks, Barbara Jean! For more information on Barbara Jean's blog tour schedule, read on!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 17: Review: Elizabeth Bird for School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. “More fun than a book with a message should ever hope to be.”

SUNDAY OCTOBER 18: Book Trailer: Monster reviewers Gene Sisko and Roger Elbert go two thumbs up for BROCCOLI!

MONDAY OCTOBER 19: Interview: Terry Pierce talks to Barbara about children and healthy eating.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 20: Interview: Little Willow talks to illustrator Sue Hendra, editor Erin Clarke, and Barbara in a single interview.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21: Interview: Sherrie Petersen talks to Barbara about the switch from writing romance to writing children’s books.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 22: Interview: Terry Pierce interviews editor Erin Clarke (Random House Knopf).

FRIDAY OCTOBER 23: Interview: Jaime Temairik and the Zombie talk to illustrator Sue Hendra in sock puppet form for Zombie Broadcasting Services. You’ve never seen an interview like this one!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 24: Podcast Review: Mark and Andrea’s Just One More Book audio blog. “Gasping, gobbling, grinning, crunching and belching, seven sherbet-coloured monsters revel in outrage at their broccoli-loving readers in this rhyming enticement to eat green.”

SUNDAY OCTOBER 25: Book Trailer: Cecilia Olivera-Hillway of Polar Twilight animates Sue Hendra’s cheerful monsters as giant broccoli falls from the sky.

MONDAY OCTOBER 26: Photographs: The Broccoli Book Launch, August 28, 2009, Barnes & Noble Ventura. Seen: Chow, Chompers, and Barbara Jean the Story Queen!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 27: Downloads: For kids, Sue Hendra’s coloring pages for MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI. For adults, The MONSTERS DON’T EAT BROCCOLI Broccoli Fan Cookbook!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28: Podcast Interview: Suzanne Lieurance talks to author Barbara Jean Hicks about BROCCOLI, her life, and writing on Book Bites for Kids (Blog Talk Radio).

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

LISA GRAFF is an associate editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers, where she has worked for the past four years. She is particularly interested in middle-grade novels, but enjoys everything from picture books to YA, especially the funny stuff. In addition to working as an editor, Lisa is also a writer. Her first book, The Thing About Georgie, was selected for seven state reading lists, including the Texas Bluebonnet master list, and her latest novel, Umbrella Summer, is due out in June 2009. With the help of seven other children's and YA authors, Lisa keeps a blog about the writing and the publishing world, The Longstockings. Her website is can be viewed here.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa at a recent SCBWI retreat. She was funny, insightful and charming. I'm so happy she agreed to answer some questions for us!

What is it like wearing both the author and editor hats, and how does this benefit each role?
I feel very lucky that I get to be both an author and editor—two awesome jobs, and I get to do both of them! The thing I like most about it probably is talking to other authors about their craft, and getting an inside look at how stories develop, which helps me tremendously as a writer. Just knowing that other writers face the same struggles that I do all the time, and yet somehow manage to be brilliant storytellers in the end is very inspiring. And there’s nothing that makes you want to buckle down and write more than being surrounded by good books all the time! I also think that being a writer helps me when I have my editor hat on because it makes me more empathetic to my authors and to aspiring authors—and hopefully helps me skew my thoughts and criticism in a way that is most helpful to them.

Another great thing about being both a writer and an editor is that I get to work on stories I would never be able to write myself. So far all of the books I’ve written have been funny, contemporary middle-grade novels (although I’ve just signed up a funny, contemporary chapter book—so you can see I’m branching out!). But as an editor I can work on anything from historical fiction to non-fiction to picture books, all of which I think I would write extremely badly myself. So I get a chance to learn about new genres and styles, which I really enjoy doing. Still, my favorite stories to work on are funny, contemporary novels (go figure), from chapter book up through YA.

The double-life can be a bit hard, too, though. I think it’s especially taxing when I’m in the throws of working on something really wonderful and tricky at the office, and also working on my own writing at home—trying to use the same part of your brain all the day long can be very tiring! Those are the days I think I’d rather be a welder. But it’s very satisfying, too, so I really can’t complain much.

Can you tell us about your latest book?
My newest novel is coming out in June, and I’m getting very excited about it. It’s called Umbrella Summer, and it’s about a ten-year-old girl named Annie who becomes a bit of a hypochondriac after her older brother, Jared, dies unexpectedly. It’s a weighty subject, obviously, but there’s a lot of humor in there, too, and some very fun characters that just a ball to write.

What is your favorite children’s joke?
My absolute favorite joke makes no sense written out, unfortunately, but I’ll give it to you anyway:

Q: What do you call a pig with four eyes?
A: A piiiig.

See? Totally not funny on paper. But for some reason every time I tell that joke it makes me bust up laughing. I am obviously very easily amused.

Thanks so much, Lisa!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

SARA DOBIE is the Public Relations Coordinator for Sylvan Dell Publishing. She has been featured on the ForeWord Publishing Insider blog, SellingBooks.com, and AllBookMarketing.com. If you’re an author without a website, she will find you and throw tomatoes. Rotten ones. Say hello at http://www.saradobie.wordpress.com/, or check out all the Sylvan Dell Publishing titles at http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Sara while promoting my latest book, Blackberry Banquet. Sara is a dynamo with enough energy to light up any metropolitan city (who says we're having an energy crisis with Sara around?). I knew she would have some terrific advice on book promotion for us!

What are the three most important things (general or specific) an author and/or illustrator should focus on to promote his/her book?
(Disclaimer: I feel like the multitude of answers to this oh-so-important question varies from day to day. So today? My answers are as follows.)

1. Know the World Wide Web.
This is a monster of a task, I know. There are millions of websites and blogs out there. How do you navigate? Well, you could start by having a website/blog of your OWN. Sounds obvious, right? Then, how come so many authors DON’T? Tell people about your website. Point interested booksellers, librarians, and strangers you meet on the street to your website…well, maybe not that last one…but you get the point!

So you have your website. Now, do your homework. Find out which sites you should be following. Who knows their stuff? Who should you be reading for valuable advice? Where should you be leaving comments that lots of people see? And when you leave those comments, is there a LINK TO YOUR WEBSITE by your comment so that people know where to find you?

This process builds into a rapport. Now, you can see if the people who know their stuff want to review your book. Ask them. Most will say yes. Then, there will be a review of your book on their high-traffic website. High-traffic website equates to book sales equates to you can stop eating Ramen noodles like an unemployed college kid.

2. Know your local media.
How are people going to know you published a book if no one tells them? You, as an individual, can only knock on so many doors. Standing on corners screaming your ISBN doesn’t do much, either. However, how about a feature story in your city newspaper? How about a TV spot on the five o’clock news? That’s the way to spread the word, and your publicist—if you’re lucky enough to have a publicist—can’t do it all. Your publicist can’t walk into the newsroom and start shaking hands for every client in every city with every book, etc. However, you can do this for yourself. As soon as you sign that publishing contract, get ready to make friendly. Go in and meet the story assignment editors and program directors. And once you have review copies of your opus, be sure to hand-deliver them to these same contacts! The media is your FRIEND. Say it with me: “THE MEDIA IS MY FRIEND.”

3. Know your niche.
If you spent a year researching and writing your book, then you should know what it’s about, right? If you know what it’s about, you should know your target audience, right? If you know your target audience, they should know about your book, right? RIGHT? If they don’t, you don’t know your niche. A niche is a targeted, little place in the big book world where your book belongs. Your book lives in that niche, and it should sell to that niche market. In other words, let’s say you wrote a book about herons. Who should you be sending it to? How about Audubon? What about wetlands conservation organizations? Did you know that the official city bird of Seattle is the HERON? Well, you should, if you just wrote a book about them! No, I’m not obsessed with herons. I know this stuff because I just launched a book about herons. I know this stuff because I saw the niche, and so should you, when your book comes along.

What are the most common mistakes that an author and/or illustrator can make in regards to promoting his/her book?
I was going to make a list of no-no’s, but when I looked at it, the list boiled down to one thing—a lack of pride in your product. Your book is your baby. And I’m not talking about the ugly baby in Seinfeld. I’m talking about a beautiful, well-behaved baby that chews with its mouth shut and knows the alphabet at two weeks old. Think about it…

Would you hide your baby at home? No. You would run out and show it to the world. The same goes for your book. You need to schedule events. You should have signings, school visits, library visits, workshops, etc. You should be out there meeting your fans with a smile—the proud parent of a newborn masterpiece. Never hide at home.

Would you leave your baby in the car on a hot day? NO! You would take it with you when you left the house or went into the grocery store. You would take that newborn EVERYWHERE! Never forget that you are an author. Always have copies of your book in your car. Always have business cards with an image of your book and your website address. Never forget your baby.

Like I said, a lack of pride in your product is a problem. (Whoa. Too many P’s…) Have pride in your masterpiece. Have pride in your CREATION. Have pride in you. It’s a package deal, and having pride in yourself and your product will turn you into a promoting machine.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Q: What has four wheels, is yellow, and lies on its back?

A: A dead school bus
(Yuck-yuck…)

Thanks, Sara!

(Note: The book featured to the right is one of Sylvan Dell's Spring 2009 releases, One Wolf Howls by Scotti Cohn, illustrated by Susan Detwiler. To learn more about this title, click HERE.)

MINI-VIEWS:

Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

MEREDITH MUNDY WASINGER has been a Senior Editor at Sterling Publishing since 2005, following eleven years with Dutton Children’s Books. A Colorado native, she is a big fan of pugs, poetry, and gardening (guerrilla and otherwise). She is currently looking for character-centered picture books; original non-fiction with pizzazz; and unusual activity books for children of all ages. Sterling does not publish original fiction (aside from picture books) or non-fiction that would be geared purely toward schools and libraries.

I had the pleasure of meeting Meredith at our recent Ventura/Santa Barbara SCBWI Writers' Day and am so pleased that she agreed to do an interview for us!

What does your job entail as an editor at Sterling Publishing?
It’s a job filled with variety—never a dull moment! I spend much of my day writing and answering emails from authors, illustrators, and agents to keep projects that are already in process moving along. Part of each day is devoted to requesting contracts, reviewing catalog and jacket copy, compiling editorial notes for authors whose manuscripts have been accepted, or reviewing and commenting on sketches/final art that have come in for particular books. Our editorial team has an acquisitions meeting every two weeks to discuss future projects we hope to acquire, and we meet every month or so to read new submissions that have arrived. The mail is very hard to keep up with—so many manuscripts!—but we do everything we can to avoid making authors wait interminably.

Could you give an overview of Sterling's list and its philosophy?
Our list is quite eclectic, and reflects the interests of our small staff. Our range is from board books for babies to sophisticated biographies for older readers to puzzle-and-game books to picture books of all kinds. We are publishing our first middle-grade chapter book series next year (The Doyle & Fossey Science Detective series, by Michele Torrey, illustrated by Barbara Johansen Newman), and if that is well received, we may consider acquiring more chapter books. But for now we are not accepting any chapter books or novels.

Our philosophy is simple—we want to publish only the very best books to be read by the widest possible audience. This makes reading submissions pretty easy, really, since we can rule out anything that’s too generic, or too slight, or too specific in terms of its topic, or too much like anything that’s already out there. We look for originality, excellent writing, unforgettable characters, clever twists on familiar themes, and humor.

I'm reading more and more about the economy affecting book sales and the publishing industry. Is the economic downturn affecting Sterling in any significant way?
We have been asked to be exceptionally careful with our budgets, as has everyone in publishing. We are cutting costs everywhere possible—from sending out electronic Christmas cards instead of paper ones to avoiding using overnight mail unless absolutely crucial. We know how tough the retail environment is right now, and we are hopeful that next year will bring brighter news to all retailers, not just booksellers. It does seem that the children’s book market has more resiliency than other sectors. People tend to buy for their children (and their pets!) even if they are not buying for themselves.

On the lighter side, what is your favorite children's joke?
One morning a traffic cop is directing traffic in a busy intersection. A guy pulls up in a fancy convertible filled with penguins.
“Hey, mister!” the cop calls out. “I want you to take those penguins directly to the zoo!”
“Sure thing, Officer,” says the driver.

Later that day, the cop sees the same carload of penguins pull up in the intersection.
“Hey, mister!” he yells. “I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo!”
“I did,” says the driver. “We had a great time. Now we’re going to the movies!”

Thanks so much, Meredith!

MINI-VIEWS:

Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

DAN HANNA lives high in the treetops of the Brazilian Rain Forest where he illustrates (and attempts to write) children's picture books. He periodically lowers his work to a devoted monkey-like companion who then submits it to various editors throughout the world. His first book, THE POUT-POUT FISH (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) was launched in March 2008.

Mr. Hanna doesn't have any children of his own but he does have a BOYish grin, he's YOUNG at heart, has CHILDish tastes and two KIDney stones.

How does it feel to have your first book (and author Deborah Diesen's first book) be on the NY Times Bestseller's list for children's books? Did you ever imagine it would be this successful?

It feels like a hot air balloon ride. But not like one of those rides where the basket catches on fire or the balloon hits a power line or something.

My imagination was all over the place. At the low end, I imagined it showing up in the 99 cent stores along with Jay Leno's picture book. At the high end, I imagined it becoming the basis for a world-wide religion where true believers would genetically alter themselves to resemble characters in the book. So getting on the NY Time's List was right about in the middle.

I'm just kidding of course. It was like a dream and it never occurred to me as a possibility. I still don't understand how it could have happened. I think maybe my fairy godmother went around buying tons of books and now she has about a zillion copies in her fairy garage.

You're a wonderful illustrator with an extensive background in animation; now that you've illustrated your first picture book, do you have any advice for aspiring picture book writers? How about aspiring illustrators? (okay, that's really two questions, but I have to give equal time to each craft :-)

Buy one thousand parrots and place them in a room with a looped recording saying something like: "Dan Hanna can sure draw fish!" Then release the parrots, using a helicopter, over each of the major publishing houses. When the editors leave for lunch they'll hear the parrots in the trees screeching "Aaaaccck, Dan Hanna can sure draw fish!" Now I know this scheme seems rather elaborate, but it worked for me.

Deborah and I were very fortunate to be included in Alice Pope's 2009 edition of CWIM (Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market). In my interview there's an extensive list of equally dubious "how to get published" advice.

What’s your favorite children’s joke?

My favorite is actually the "Interrupting Cow" joke but somebody [Jay Asher] already - MOO!

Q: Why doesn't anyone play poker on the Serengeti?

A: Because there's too many cheetahs.

Very funny! Thanks, Dan!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

JAY ASHER is the author of the New York Times Bestseller's list young adult novel, THIRTEEN REASONS WHY. He got the idea for THIRTEEN REASONS WHY at a museum. While taking an audio tour, he was struck by the eeriness of the voice in his ear—a woman who described exactly what he was looking at, but wasn’t there.

Jay lives on the central coast of California. THIRTEEN REASONS WHY is his first book. Find out more about him at http://www.discomermaids.blogspot.com/.

Thirteen Reasons Why has had huge success in its young life. Did you ever foresee the kind of attention it has received and how do you keep grounded with all of the attention it (and you) have gotten since its release? And possibly related to that, what project are you currently working on?
If the book found its audience (which required the help of booksellers and librarians), I thought it could be a real word-of-mouth success because of its mix of suspense, a unique structure, and the issues it discussed. I just didn't think the initial audience would be so big. From there, the teens took over and began recommending it to their friends. I definitely didn't expect to see it on the New York Times Bestseller list, though. When it first appeared on that list, it was such a shock that I actually started crying.

As far as staying grounded, a full-time job definitely helps. But, more than that, the letters I receive from teens are so heartwarming and inspiring. Many of them open up about their own lives and tell me the ways in which the book positively affected them. I can't feel anything but honored by that.

I'm working on my next novel for teens right now. There will definitely be more humorous elements in this book than Thirteen Reasons Why...but hopefully just as engaging.

Do you have a favorite novel-writing exercise, tip or piece of advice that you find most useful, and are willing to share with other writers?
Thirteen Reasons Why was the first manuscript I wrote without anyone looking at it (other than the first 12 pages) before it was finished. Since I was writing such a personal story, I didn't want anyone swaying the emotional aspects of my words yet. But I did hold several brainstorming sessions with my wife and two writing friends (and co-bloggers) Robin and Eve. After it was finished and polished to the best of my abilities, then I let other people read it...one at a time. After each person critiqued it, I made alterations and then passed the manuscript on to the next person. That way, the story was seen through fresh eyes each time as opposed to the same people critiquing every stage of the revision process.

What's your favorite children's joke? (I know as a frequent winner of the SCBWI summer conference joke contests, you've got to have a few jokes on hand ;-).
Knock knock!

Who's there?

Interrupting cow.

Interrup----

Moooooooooooo!!!

Thanks, Jay!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

HAROLD UNDERDOWN is a freelance editorial consultant. He has worked at Macmillan, Orchard, and Charlesbridge, and has experience in trade and educational publishing. Among the books he has edited are Evelyn Coleman's and Daniel Minter's The Footwarmer and the Crow, Yumi Heo's One Afternoon, Larry Pringle's and Bob Marstall's An Extraordinary Life, Lisa Rowe Fraustino's Ash, Grace Lin's The Ugly Vegetables, and Sneed Collard's and Michael Rothman's The Forest in the Clouds. He is also the editor for the Young Patriots Series, published by Patria Press.

Harold enjoys teaching, and in that role wrote The Complete Idiot's Guide to Children's Book Publishing, now in its third edition. He founded and runs “The Purple Crayon,” a respected web site with information about the children’s publishing world at http://www.underdown.org/. He speaks and gives workshops at conferences, including the SCBWI's national conferences in LA and NY, and smaller conferences all over the country.

I'm so honored that Harold agreed to do an interview. And in the spirit of his never-ending generosity, he not only answered the standard three Mini-View questions, but he gave us an additional answer too.

How do you think the rising cost of fuel will affect the children's book industry?
I don't think it will have much of an impact. A family that struggles with an extra $20/week in gas costs is not a family that had a lot of money available to buy children's books before the price of gas went up. The families that buy significant numbers of children's books are relatively well off and not likely to be affected.

How is today’s economy affecting the children’s publishing business and what are the prospects for its future?
It's not clear yet how much the current economic situation is going to affect our business. People who lose jobs or are struggling with a mortgage won't be buying children's books, of course, but the real impact won't be felt until we see how state and local tax revenues are affected. If school and library spending is cut, that will have big impact on the business, in the short term.

In the long term, I'm not too worried about the children's book business. Over the past several years, we've had to adjust to reduced spending by schools on books, as they had to shift their resources to testing materials. Under a new administration, I'm hopeful that more money will be available at the federal level AND that the testing required by NCLB will be at least scaled back, meaning schools will have more money available for real books.

What is your prediction of the picture book market?
That there will continue to be one! There's been a lot of talk about the picture book market being weak compared to the demand for novels, but it never disappeared, and some companies are already talking about doing more picture books. Demographics have an impact on what's being published, but not a huge one.

What is your favorite children's joke?
Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?

A. To get to the other side.

Q. Why did the rabbit cross the road?

A. Because it was stapled to the chicken!

(I picked that because it's an example of the kind of joke I've heard my daughter tell--the kind of joke that makes kids laugh uproariously, but generates only puzzled expressions on adult faces...)

Thank you, Harold!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

MARY HERSHEY’S first book, a tall tale of sibling rivalry, entitled MY BIG SISTER IS SO BOSSY SHE SAYS YOU CAN'T READ THIS BOOK was published by Random House in 2005. THE ONE WHERE THE KID NEARLY JUMPS TO HIS DEATH AND LANDS IN CALIFORNIA was released by Razorbill last year, and was selected for the 2008 New York Public Library Best Books for Teens List. Her third book, TEN LUCKY THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED TO ME SINCE I NEARLY GOT HIT BY LIGHTNING, will be out this July, and she is currently working on her fourth book with Random House. In addition to being an author, Mary works for the Department of Veteran Affairs, is a personal coach, a former undercover hooker, and a wannabe yogi. She lives in Santa Barbara with her partner and two bipolar cats.

Mary is also a contributor to one of my favorite blogs in the whole wide world, Shrinking Violets Promotions, where she and Robin LaFevers help introverted writers (such as yours truly) learn how to promote their books and explore the world as an “innie.”

What is the most important aspect of writing a humorous novel and how do you achieve that?
Uh, how many humor writers does it take to answer that question? Four. One to answer it, one to make a joke about it, one to go around for the next six months telling it, and one to try in vain to screw it into a light socket. :->

It's a great question, Terry, and one could write volumes on it. Here's the cliff notes. I think the most important aspect is knowing your audience. You need to 'get' and target the developmental stage of humor that comes with the reader's chronological age. It is essential to understand the social, cultural and the contemporary variances in humor. What might be funny in 1983 is not necessarily funny in 2009. Humor is a tool to be used to achieve a specific effect on the reader. At it's very finest, humor has the ability to delight, teach, and relieve--helping the reader to both transcend and reclaim one's humanity.

This is a "Which came first, the chicken or the egg" kind of question. When writing a story, do you already have certain humor aspects in mind (funny plotline twists, main character traits and quirks, humorous secondary characters) or are these things discovered/developed as you progress through your story?
I always start with character, but that is a highly personal decision, not a craft one. There are essentially four types of humor: physical humor, humor of situation, humor involving play on word, and humor of character. In any one book, or even one scene, you may use any combination of all four of these. Where you choose to start building your story is unique to you.

I begin with character, experiment with their voice, and then I find just the right setting and situation for them. A stellar example of that is Lauren Tarshis' Emma Jean Lazarus Fell out of a Tree, a middle grade novel released in 2007. Emma Jean is a powerful character that drives this marvelously funny book all the way. Another storyteller might start with a seed of a humorous situation, then build from there, finding character(s) that would 'fit'. For example, apparently author/illustrator Mo Willems asked himself one day--What would happen if a pigeon tried to drive a bus? Physical humor and humor involving play on word usually grow from the characters and situations you have chosen.

So to summarize, chickens are funnier than eggs, but research has proven that ducks are the funniest animal at all. I hope that clears things up once and for all, Terry.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Why did the boy tiptoe past the medicine cabinet?

He didn't want to wake up the sleeping pills.

Thanks for the insightful answers and chuckles, Mary!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

R. L. (ROBIN) LA FEVERS has taught plotting workshops for the SB/Ventura SCBWI Region and is on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference. Her current book, THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS, was published by Houghton Mifflin in April of 2007 and was a Junior Library Guild selection, Summer Booksense Pick, and has been nominated for an Agatha Award. Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris will be out in November of 2008.

Last year I had the pleasure of attending one of Robin’s plot workshops—her insight and writing advice was tremendously helpful. While she is probably too modest to mention all of her many credentials, I must add that Robin is also a contributor to one of my favorite blogs, Shrinking Violets Promotions.

With the immense popularity of fantasy in recent years (resulting in so many published fantasy titles), how do you make your story unique enough to stand out amongst the rest?
I think there are a couple of answers to this first question. The first is to create vivid characters the reader can’t help but bond with and care for. This is one critical element that can be easily overlooked in fantasy because writers get so involved in constructing their world and the bells and whistles of their magic systems that the characters can get lost. So first, create vivid empathetic characters.

The second thing would be to utilize an under-explored mythos as the basis for your fantasy. The thing is, there are so many fascinating jumping off points for fantasy worlds, and they don’t all have to be wizards or witches or vampires or fairies. However, if you simply have to use one of those, consider completely re-inventing or re-imagining it or adding something new and fresh that help make your version of that fantasy world stand out.

What would you say is the most important aspect of developing a plot?

Hm. I’m going to cheat a little and say there are two critically important aspects of developing a plot. One, it has to be developed organically from your unique character—meaning, it has to grow out of that character’s own unique quirks and weaknesses and strengths. I firmly believe that character IS plot, so how you develop that character will determine that plot. An example would be a kid who chose to retaliate against a bully in a passive aggressive way versus an out and out confrontation. Two very different approaches from two very different types of people, each would lead to a distinctly different plot.

The second, and I would say equally important aspect of developing a plot, is to make sure the conflict is big enough to sustain a novel (or whatever length project you’re writing.) It can be a more subtle, internal-type conflict or a big external conflict (although ideally books should have a little of both) but it needs to matter enough to the characters that it’s able to drive the narrative to its climax and resolution. Many of my early (deservedly unpublished!) books—and so many manuscripts I read for critique—peter out about one third of the way through because the conflict doesn’t truly test the very core of the main character. So really examine the main conflict of the book and make sure it’s compelling and enough of a driving force to keep the reader turning the page until the very end.

What is your favorite children's joke?
This is so embarrassing because I’ve never been much of a joke teller and my absolutely favorite joke when I was a kid was: What’s black and white and red all over? Of course, the answer was a newspaper, but as we got a little older and a little sillier, we had obnoxious fun with made up variations—a bloody zebra!—and worse, but I’ll spare you those.

Thanks so much, Robin!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

ALEXIS O'NEILL spends a good portion of the year visiting students in schools all around the country. She is the author of LOUD EMILY (Simon & Schuster), THE RECESS QUEEN (Scholastic), THE WORST BEST FRIEND (Scholastic), ESTELA'S SWAP (Lee & Low) and fiction and nonfiction for Cricket, Spider, Cobblestone, Calliope, Faces, and Odyssey. A writing teacher for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program, she is also a Regional Advisor for SCBWI in California. A popular presenter, she writes a column for the SCBWI Bulletin called, "The Truth About School Visits."

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

KRISTIN DALY discovered her love of children’s book in high school, when she worked at her local public library. In May 1999, she began working at Golden Books as an Editorial Assistant, working on picture books, series fiction and easy readers. In January 2002, she began working at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she now works as an editor. Her early work focused on mostly picture books and easy readers, but now she edits all levels of children’s books. Currently, she is especially excited to be working with best-selling author Gary Blackwood on his first I Can Read Book, The Just-So Woman and newcomer Sudipta Bardhan on her first HarperCollins picture books, Snoring Beauty and Hampire! I was delighted to have met Kristin at a recent SCBWI retreat.

You have a lot of experience editing picture books, easy readers and rhyming stories. What advice would you give to a writer who is contemplating writing a story in rhyme?
I actually have two pieces of advice! The first is to Make Every Line Count. In writing rhyme, it’s so tempting to make yourself and your story slaves to the rhyme and meter. There are two immediate signs that you’ve fallen into this trap: The first is if you find that you’ve been adding unnecessary adverbs, adjectives, and articles in an effort to meet the syllable count of your meter. The second is inverting the object and verb of a line to read something like, “His carrots he never ate in haste,” just because the line before ended with "taste." Writers of rhyme should always watch out for empty calories, or all of that “filler” material that may sound good, but doesn’t move a story along at all. If you find yourself writing lines and adding words simply to meet your meter or rhyme scheme, you are filling your story with empty calories.

My second piece of advice is to read your work aloud, because although the rhyme and meter may look fine on the page, when you read your verse aloud any forced rhyme or uneven meter will jump right out at you. I do this as an editor, too--whenever I'm editing a rhyming picture book text, I close my office door and read the text aloud to myself several times to make sure everything sounds perfect. It's the surest way to know whether or not a rhyme is really working.

It seems that a current trend amongst many easy reader publishers is toward featuring licensed characters. Do you have any advice for someone who wants to write ”non-licensed character” easy readers for the trade market?
While it's true that more and more licensed characters are popping up in easy-to-read books these days, this isn't necessarily a new trend. Licensed characters have been appearing in easy-to-read books for years; it just seems new because there are so many of licensed books right now. That said, not every easy-to-read line publishes books featuring licensed characters, and even those that do--such as Random House and Harper--generally do not exclusively do so. It's the same with nonfiction--some easy-to-read lines publish a ton of nonfiction, some publish a little, and others none at all.

And so my best advice to a writer of easy-to-reads is the same as it is for writers in any genre: Know your market. Go to bookstores and libraries and actually look at the different easy-to-read books out there. Look at titles individually, and look at the easy-to-read lines as a whole. Take the time to become familiar with the different lines, because each has its own distinct personality. And within each easy-to-read line, read some books at different levels. Which houses are publishing more original (as opposed to licensed) beginning readers? Which ones seem to publish more books at the same "level" as your own manuscripts? (For example, while Harper's I Can Read! line technically publishes up through Level 4, we tend to do more titles at the younger levels, from My First up through Level 2.) What types of stories are the different lines publishing--who seems to focus on Frog-and-Toad type friendship stories? Who does easy-to-read poetry or nonfiction? And so on. The more knowledge you have about the market, the more effectively you'll be able to target your submissions, and the greater the chance that your manuscript will find the best home.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Q: Why do elephants paint their toenails red?

A: So they can hide in a strawberry patch.

(Corny, I know, but it still makes me laugh!)

Thanks so much, Kristin!

MINI-VIEWS:

You enjoy funny, quirky picture books. I've often wondered what constitutes funny/quirky versus over-the-top ridiculousness (pushing the silly envelope too far). Could you define this more specifically and give some examples?
It’s a tough question! I feel like it’s easier to explain what I think does work than what I think doesn’t. Maybe it’s because it’s rare to find a book that pushes silly too far—I mean, I grew up on Dr. Seuss! How much sillier can you get?

Of course, there are different brands of funny. I tend to love word play/pun books, like Walker’s Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share by Kevin O’Malley, which is just about the epitome of a groan-worthy pun book, but somehow amidst the chicken and egg puns, it just works! (It also just debuted on the NYT Bestseller list! Hurray!) I’ve also recently bought a picture book manuscript called Animal House by Candace Ryan, which combines really clever wordplay like living in a “kangaroom,” keeping food in a “refrigergator,” and putting dirty clothes in a “hamster.” These sorts of funny wordplay books make great read-alouds.

Then there are the silly character picture books. I loved Amelia Bedelia when I was growing up (you know, the very literal housekeeper, who actually dusted the drapes by putting dust on them?) and maybe that’s why I’m such a fan of silly characters now. Walker’s recurring character picture books by Matthew McElligott about Backbeard the Pirate (Backbeard and the Birthday Suit, Backbeard: Pirate for Hire) are just plain hilarious. I think kids really love “comedy of errors” type picture books.

Some picture books rely on the artwork for the real humor. Another character that we publish at Walker is Millie the Cow, in Millie Waits for the Mail and Millie in the Snow by Alexander Steffensmeier. Readers will love to pore through the artwork and find all the different little details that the artist has added in, like a pair of rowdy chickens who are sprinkled throughout the spreads with hilarious antics.

And then there’s Adam Rex’s Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, which may be my most favorite funny picture book out there today. It combines everything!

If you’re worried that your picture book manuscript might be pushing the silly envelope too far, see if it makes kids laugh or not. They’re a tougher audience than you might imagine. If they’re groaning or thinking that it’s stupid, odds are an editor will think so too.

We all know about the dreaded “slush pile.” What is the most common mistake you see in manuscripts that come from it?
Not enclosing a self-addressed stamped envelope! It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t include it. And we can’t respond unless we can do it via the USPS. There’s just not enough time or energy in the day to phone or email everyone.

A more helpful piece of advice for those of you who know better than to skip the SASE is that we get a ton of submissions for genres that we just don’t publish. Easy-to-reads, early chapter books, fantasy, even adult books. You will really never find these types of books on the Walker BFYR list, so asking us to consider them is really a waste of our time. It really makes it seem like the submitter didn’t do their research before sending it to us, too.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Q: What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?

A: Nacho cheese!

(Terrible, I know. Maybe it says something about my sense of humor after all…)

Thanks, Stacy!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

I first met Bruce Hale a few years ago, when he had trekked from his beachside community of Santa Barbara all the way to the high desert (where I live) to do school visits. He is a delightful and informative speaker to both adults and children. Bruce has written and illustrated nearly 20 books for kids. His Chet Gecko Mysteries series includes: The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse, The Big Nap, Farewell, My Lunchbag, The Malted Falcon and others.

You could say Bruce has a thing for lizards. He also has created five Hawaii children's books, including Legend of the Laughing Gecko, Moki and the Magic Surfboard, and Moki the Gecko's Best Christmas Ever -- all starring Moki the Gecko. He’s taught writing workshops at colleges and universities, and spoken at national conferences of writing, publishing, and literacy organizations. On top of that, Bruce has visited elementary schools across the country, from Hawaii, to Kansas, to Pennsylvania.

Mystery plots involve so many factors--the main plot, subplots, clues, misdirections, red herrings, etc.--how do you organize all of these elements for a particular story (do you plot everything out in advance or determine things as you go along)?
One time, I tried to write a mystery the Steven King way -- just put two characters in a room and let them talk. 100 pages of rambling story later, I realized that Uncle Stevie's way was not for me. I work best from at least a rough plot outline. Here's how I do it:

First, I figure out the crime, then whodunit, then how Chet Gecko will discover/blunder across that. Then, I come up with the clues, red herrings, and obstacles. Once I have the ending planned and the rest of it loosely organized -- I usually leave the last quarter of the book unplanned, to leave room for happy discoveries -- then I write a fast and sloppy first draft. And after that, it's revise, revise, revise -- until all plot holes are plugged and the story is finished.

Other than reading a lot of mysteries (because we all know that reading the genre you want to write is key), what advice would you give to someone who wants to write a mystery novel for children?
Cultivate a curious state of mind. When you're out in the world, observe human behavior and construct their back-stories and motivation. Is that kindly old gentleman at the Starbucks secretly smuggling people into the country? Is the kindergarten teacher plotting a take-over of the school? Muse and wonder and daydream. From that comes mystery.

What's your favorite children's joke?

Q: Why are a gorilla's nostrils so big?

A: Because his fingers are so big.

Thanks, Bruce (I know some 4th grade boys who will love that one!)

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

Erin Murphy got her start in publishing at Northland Publishing/Rising Moon Books for Young Readers, where she was Editor-in-Chief; she still lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she founded her agency, Erin Murphy Literary Agency, in 1999. She loves knitting with a cat in her lap, walking through the woods with her dogs, traveling in the off season when the destination is quiet, watching DVDs (especially whole TV series in marathon sessions), kayaking, eating dark chocolate, and of course, reading. Her favorite genre to read in her downtime is fantasy. She works with more than sixty authors and author-illustrators. See a list of her most recent sales and her clients' new releases by clicking here.

We often hear of agents turning down manuscripts because they just didn’t “fall in love” with it. Out of the manuscripts that you do reject, what percentage of these do you feel are actually good, marketable manuscripts that just didn’t fit your taste or needs?
I'd say about 95% for me--but this is because I don't read unsolicited submissions. *All* of the manuscripts I get are from people who have been referred my way, or who I met at a conference, and I generally ask to see a writing sample before I ask for a full manuscript--so by the time I sit down to read a manuscript, I'm already fairly sure of the writer's experience, professionalism, subject matter, grasp on the market, and so on.

At this point, for me, I only sign someone new if it makes my stomach hurt to think of them working with someone else. Their work has to be so wonderful and so unlike anything else I've ever read that I just can't pass it up. This means I turn away a lot of people I really believe will get published--just, with the help of someone else, or on their own. When possible, I try to refer them to another agent who might be a better match for their style.

I know that's a terribly hard reality. I definitely don't share it in order to be discouraging. I just encourage people to push themselves beyond their comfort zones and to write the best material they can possibly write. Publishing is a business of love. Those who write fearlessly, who really put themselves out there in their work (with a strong foundation of craft and knowledge) are most likely to connect with an agent or editor.

What’s your favorite children’s joke?
Q: How much did the pirate's earrings cost?

A: A buccaneer! (Buck an ear.)

Thanks so much, Erin!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

Donna German is the editor of Sylvan Dell Publishing, a small press that specializes in animals, nature, science and the environment. She’s the author of two children’s books (Carolina’s Story and Octavia) plus 16 cookbooks, four of which were New York Times best-sellers including The Bread Machine Cookbook Series, which have sold more than 3 million copies. She’s worn many hats in her life, including homeschooling her three children while her family took a sabbatical and lived on a sailboat in the Bahamas, and then traveled cross-country visiting our National Parks. It was the NPS’s Junior Ranger Program that ultimately led to the “For Creative Minds” educational section in the back of each Sylvan Dell book. Though she admits that she doesn’t have time to write anymore, she feels that her author background gives her an interesting insight into the editorial process. “I hate writing rejections because I vividly remember receiving all 27 rejections prior to my first cookbook being accepted.”

I'm so pleased that Donna agreed to answer my questions and give us some insight into the small press side of our business.

What advantages does a small press have to offer for an author (as opposed to large publishing house)?
This is such an interesting question and I’m going to refer to something from my “former life” as a cookbook author. I was at an annual conference for cookbook authors and a table mate at one of the meals was talking about his Christmas Cookbook that had been released the year before by a LARGE printing house. Unfortunately, the books themselves were misplaced somewhere in the warehouse and orders were being “back-ordered.” The books finally showed up in February and orders filled (?) but, of course, they were all returned because it was after Christmas. Since many large publishing houses have a “six month” survival rule, his books were remaindered because they didn’t sell. His agent explained that because this book had flopped, no other publishing house would touch him…

My observation is that small houses keep books active longer than larger houses. We continue to market all books, not just the new releases. We must rely on EVERY book being a success because we can’t afford to publish books that won’t sell.

How does a small press compete in such a highly competitive business; how much do they rely on their authors’ involvement in book promotion?
I would say that small publishing houses must rely on every angle for marketing. We truly need our authors and illustrators to participate in marketing their books – through signings, library readings, and school visits. We can honestly see a difference in the bottom line of the titles that have that support versus those that don’t. I don’t know about other companies but at Sylvan Dell, every single title is selected to fit our precise niche and marketing plan. Unfortunately, we have had to turn down some really cute stories because we didn’t think we could market them.

We use technology to our advantage. Not just on the editorial end (accepting e-submissions), but in marketing too. We have just introduced a “referral rewards” program for people who are excited about our books and share the information with others. Once someone is signed onto our website, they get a special link to forward to friends. If the friends order books through our website, the original person gets credit towards their purchase or a cash reward. Independent bookstores and bloggers can sign up for an affiliate program so that they get credit – similar to Amazon.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Why do elephants paint their toenails red?

To hide in strawberry patches!
(hee-hee!)

Note: Sylvan Dell is not affiliated in any way with either Sylvan Learning Centers or any “Dell” company. The name itself is Latin, meaning “wooded valley.” Donna German had the business name picked out years ago — long before the business itself was determined. Her father grew up in Delaware in an old farmhouse that is actually older than the United States! When her grandfather died, Donna moved from Massachusetts into the house so they could keep it in the family. While cleaning out an old shed, Donna found a wooden, hand-carved sign that simply said “Sylvan Dell.” When she questioned her father about it, he remembered the sign nailed to a tree at the end of the driveway when he was a young boy. Donna’s grandfather apparently referred to the property as “Sylvan Dell.” Donna determined that if she ever owned her own business that she wanted to name it after the family property (which is, in fact, a wooded valley). Yes, the home is still in Donna’s family — her sister lives in it. Continuing with the wooded valley theme, the logo uses leaves falling into an open book (valley theme) to signify “fall into reading.”

Click here for the Sylvan Dell's submission guidelines.

Earlier today we shared an essay by Elizabeth Beck, one of the authors of In the Shadow of Death: Restorative Justice and Death Row Families. Beck has been kind enough to answer a few questions for OUP about her experiences with death row inmates and their families.

OUP: Do you think there is a theme that ties the defendants on death row together, other than their alleged crimes?

Elizabeth Beck: Yes, I have intimate knowledge of the psychosocial background of close to 20 capital defendants. I often say that the murders can almost be viewed as a logical occurrence to psychosocial histories riddled with mental health and family backgrounds that lined up in an unique and devastating confluence. (more…)

Share This