Suzanne Slade Scores Another Nonfiction Winner with 'Swish!'

Chicago's favorite rocket-scientist-turned-children's-author Suzanne Slade has another fantastic nonfiction picture book hitting shelves, and illustrated by the wonderfully talented Don Tate, it's an irresistible book to add to your shelf. Telling the true story of the endlessly entertaining Harlem Globetrotters, it examines the team that changed basketball forever.

Both Suzanne and Don are prolific children's book creators, and Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters (Little, Brown, November 2020) highlights their storytelling talents.

Click here to enter for a chance to win a copy of Swish!

QUESTION: It's so exciting to see the legendary Globetrotters' story come to life! In a tiny caption on one of the final pages, readers see the name Fred Buckingham. Can you talk about the place the Globetrotters have in your heart?

SUZANNE SLADE: What a keen eye you have, Kate! The book's endsheets contain fantastic Globetrotter photos, including the one you noted with the name "Fred Buckingham" in the caption. That picture was taken in 1977 when the Globetrotters came to my little hometown, Goshen, Indiana, and the infamous Curly Neal (No. 22) pulled my younger brother, Fred, from the audience to "volunteer" in a hilarious stunt. Fortunately, the local paper captured the moment, and I was able to track down the photo and get permission to include it in the book. So yes, the Globetrotters hold a very special place in the hearts of my entire family.

Q: Your nonfiction is so well-researched. How do you go about gathering material for your stories? How long do your stories take to research?

SS: As you know authors utilize many types of sources for a book. The main goal of my research is to find great primary sources. But getting access to certain primary sources can take considerable time and effort. For example, it took three years of asking (AKA politely pestering) various people at the Globetrotter organization before a helpful person in their PR department decided to supply wonderful photos for the book. Persistence has proven to be effective in other projects too, such as the many emails I sent to astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth man on the moon, before he finally agreed to two interviews for my book Daring Dozen: The Twelve Who Walked on the Moon. (Actually, after our conversations he agreed to write an afterword for the book.) For Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks, I *patiently* waited for two years to get access to Gwendolyn Brooks' handwritten poetry journals. Then it took another year to obtain permission to include her unpublished poems "Clouds" in the book. My advice on research: Don't be afraid to ask. Be patient. And be persistent. Regarding the length of time my research takes, that varies greatly for each book. For Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon, the research ironically took about 2979 days (over 8 years!)  

Q: Can you talk about your writing process? Do you have the story in your head as you're researching? Or does the material you uncover lead you to the story?

SS: When a book topic finds me (I never go looking for a book idea), first I do some quick initial research to see if this subject has the basic elements of a picture book: a compelling hook (something readers will find fascinating and want to know more about), a unique theme or thread to carry the story, and a satisfying ending. If the idea meets those criteria, I write up a basic story outline based on the initial research. Then I dive into deep research and begin to flesh out the story. Sometimes, as happened with Swish!, I end up uncovering a compelling event which completely changed my storyline plan. So while it's important to have an idea of the main event(s) you plan to include in a picture book, an author needs to be flexible and keep an open mind during the research process, and be willing to make changes to create the best story possible. 

Amy Alznauer Inspires with 3 New Picture Book Biographies

We can all agree that 2020 has been A Year. But for Chicago author Amy Alznauer, there have been some fantastic bright spots to celebrate. A Northwestern University lecturer in calculus and number theory, Amy saw not one, not two, but THREE of her picture books publish this year! 

Perfectly suited to her field of expertise, Amy's first title was the picture book biography The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A tale of the genius Ramanujan (Candlewick, April), about a young mathematical genius from India who grows up to reinvent much of modern mathematics. Her Strange Birds of Flannery O’Connor: A Life (Enchanted Lion) came next in June, and Flying Paintings: The Zhou Brothers: A Story of Revolution and Art (Candlewick) landed on shelves in September.

Amy is active in SCBWI-Illinois and was a recipient of the Laura Crawford Memorial Mentorship, partnered with the incredible writing coach Esther Hershenhorn. Her writing has won an Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction and a Christopher Award. We're so grateful Amy took a little time to talk about her creative process.

Click here for a chance to win a copy of Amy Alznauer's Flying Paintings!

QUESTION: The Zhou Brothers' story has ties to Chicago, your hometown and mine. Can you talk about how this story came to be? How did you learn about them?

AMY ALZNAUER: Every third Friday of the month the Zhou B Center in Bridgeport (right down the street from the Sox stadium) holds an open-house. You can walk through the open studios of the artists who work there and also tour the permanent and rotating gallery spaces. Often there’s someone out front with a chainsaw carving up ice or wood into something beautiful (or at least fascinating). On one of these visits, I sat down in their bar and started thumbing through the Zhou catalogues. I soon came across a statement about the process of collaborative art that floored me.

People think collaboration is about harmony, said one of the brothers (and I’m pulling together a few different statements here). But they’re wrong. It’s like this: you make something beautiful. Someone comes along and destroys it, and you have to find a way to go on together.

I was immediately struck by how this statement captured not only the struggle of making art, but the struggle of loving another person, and even the struggle of loving a nation through turmoil. I imagined a story that would weave together those three strands – the brothers’ relationship to each other, to their country (through the Cultural Revolution which devastated their family) and to their style of collaborative art. 

Q: Your year in books has been tremendous. How did it happen that you had three books hit shelves in 2020? Are there more to come?

AA: Thank you! Well, it wasn’t supposed to happen quite like that. Two of them got bumped from their original pub dates, which for better or worse landed everything in a short five-month period. There’s actually one other out this year, 1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Rebellion, Revolution, and Change (Candlewick), which makes two books with “revolution” in the title released on September 1!

Right now, I’m doing so many projects surrounding these books – creating short films, working on a book-donation and classroom art initiative, helping to curate an exhibit at Emory University (on Flannery O’Connor and the Black artist Benny Andrews), working on designing a geometric art game, and putting together a huge math + storytelling conference. So I’m struggling to find time for my future projects, but also dying to get to them!

Q: Your books celebrate painting, literature, mathematics and speak to children in a sophisticated way. Who is your ideal audience and how do you want them to experience your stories?

AA: I’ve never stopped loving picture books, and I guess I assume others feel the same way, so I write for both children and adults. To me the best way to make a book function on multiple levels is through metaphor. Metaphor is really the process of bringing disparate things into relationship, so in that way it creates both plot and the working out of ideas (why do these unlikely things go together?). So for example, in Strange Birds, there’s a little girl on a quest to find the strangest, most beautiful bird. But there is also a girl becoming a woman who will strive to write the strangest, most beautiful stories. The quest is for everyone, but older readers might also be inspired to think about how our life’s work grows out of childhood fascinations, how birds are like stories are like people, and maybe even the nature of strangeness. And I think when you write this way, the illustrator often has the chance to infuse their art both with beauty and concept, which again makes it function on different levels.

Recently a mathematician contacted me about The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity, saying that he was inspired by the book to revisit one of Ramanujan’s theorems. And he actually wrote and published a paper that mentions my book as the inspiration. He opens with this: “We loved this book. It turned out that this book can be enjoyed by all ages from 0 to ∞.” Then he closes with what he calls “morals” for his adult, mathematician readers, the first of which is: “Read Children's books.” So that pretty much sums up my wildest hope – that my books will be read by all ages and that they’ll inspire creative work in others. 

'How to Find a Bird' Proves the Perfect Pandemic Book for Kids

Who knew how much joy birds could bring? Hummingbirds flitting around my back garden were a daily highlight this summer. Oriole-spotting seemed to be the pandemic favorite for those of us who weren't baking sourdough bread. A friend in Austin can't get enough of the owl that's come to roost in her back yard.

Birds are everywhere, Jennifer Ward tells readers in the delightful How to Find a Bird (Beach Lane Books, August 2020). We just have to watch for them, listen, and stay quiet. Spectacularly illustrated by Diana Sudyka, the nonfiction picture book by this Illinois duo is possibly the perfect title to share with a child right now in our socially distanced world.  

Drawing inspiration from the outdoors and combining nature with STEM learning, Jennifer has published more than 25 nonfiction books (Mama Built a Little Nest, Mama Dug a Little Den, both from Beach Lane Books). And Chicago artist Diana is no slack: her stunning illustration style can be found in such titles as The Mysterious Benedict Society and What Miss Mitchell Saw. And visitors to the beloved bookstore Booked in Evanston, Illinois, will recognize her artwork adorning the charming door that welcomes bookbuyers both short and tall.

These wildly talented creators recently took a few minutes to talk about their book with me, and what inspired them. AuthorOf is especially excited (and grateful!) to be able to share the perspective of the author and the illustrator. For a chance to win a copy of How to Find a Bird, click here.

QUESTION: This book is so informative. How much time researching did you have to take to get down all the details? Can you talk about resources and your process?

JENNIFER WARD: Well, I’m such a bird nerd, truly. Each day of my life is immersed in birds. When I take a break from author-related work, I study bird behavior and read scientific bird publications, such as Living Bird published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I also volunteer at a wild songbird rehabilitation center in St. Louis. Each and every bird rescue is unique and presents opportunities to learn more about bird life. 

In my free time I garden for birds, photograph birds, and I go birding each day in some manner. THAT said, the text for How to Find a Bird came naturally—that’s not to say I didn’t do research for the book: Is the Ivory Billed Woodpecker truly extinct? Searches are still underway, but no success in spotting one so far. However, when I need facts checked, I often reach out to the great folks at Audubon, in addition to experts in the field of birding I’ve gotten to know over the years. Birders are like kidlit people—kind, passionate about their work, and eager to share that passion with others. As far as my process goes, I write at my kitchen table where I have a 180-degree view of old growth forest outside my windows. Needless to say, it’s remarkable I get any writing done at all because I will drop everything and head outside when I see something that piques my curiosity through those panes of glass.  

DIANA SUDYKA: The short answer is that I have been researching for this my entire life! 

The much longer answer: Since a very young age, I have been interested in natural history. I spent a lot of time outside as a kid, and was gifted my first bird field guide in second grade. I still have that Peterson guide with all on my notes scribbled in it. Many years later I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to volunteer in the Chicago Field Museum’s Bird lab, and work alongside the collection’s manager Dr. David Willard. David trained me and other volunteers to document and preserve salvaged birds (70,000 and counting) that had collided with windows of downtown Chicago buildings. My specific job was to use a form of taxidermy to preserve the bird’s shape and plumage for creating research specimens. It is something that required skills that I had developed as an artist. In my 10+ years there, I learned so much about our native species of migratory birds, and the impact urban landscapes and climate change are having on them. I had incredible access to these research collections, and would often paint from the specimens. I have held extinct species like Passenger Pigeons and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in my hand; not something I take lightly. 

Everything that I put into the choices I made for the illustrations for How to Find a Bird can be all traced back to those 10+ years in the bird lab. It opened my eyes to the incredible diversity and beauty of the birds that come through our Chicago area, and thus why my illustrations focus on North American species. Jen’s writing was so wonderfully clear that it wasn’t difficult to come up with particular species to match her words. I developed the roughs and when they were shared with Jen, I think she only had one or two requests for added species. 

As far as overall aesthetic, I love early Richard Scarry and Feodor Rojankovsky illustrations from the Golden Book era. I wanted my work for How to Find a Bird to reflect some of that influence. I work mainly in gouache paint on paper, as those illustrators did. While most of my work is done traditionally, I also do quite a bit of digital touch up in the final stages. How to Find a Bird is probably my most digital work to date. 

Q: We all have a favorite, spirit-animal bird. Which one is yours?

JW: Although I had a very cool, spiritual encounter with a Pueo once (Hawaiian Short-eared Owl), the hummingbird is my favorite spirit-animal bird as it's the one bird species that surfaces in my dreams a lot.

DS: I have many favorites, and oddly several are NOT in the book, whoops!

Sandhill Cranes
Brown Creepers
Chimney Swifts
Common Nighthawks

AuthorOf enjoying her favorite door,
at Booked in Evanston and painted by Diana

Q: How do you want kids to experience the book?

JW: I love to imagine young readers poring over each and every detail of Diana's  stunning art—again and again and again—maybe noticing a detail not noticed before or relishing a favorite illustration or bird species; it’s so great how Diana labeled each bird species she illustrated in the book! I hope kids are familiar with some of them and inspired to learn more about others. I like to imagine the kids imagining themselves as the children in the book having adventures with birds. 

I hope the experience with this book will also encourage readers to engage mindfully and playfully with their senses when out in nature, noticing and hearing things new to them, especially related to birds. It’s a big, wide bird-world out there (close to 10,000 bird species on the planet), and birding can be both a classroom and a playground for kids, rich with opportunities to wonder, discover, hypothesize and practice awareness, empathy and stewardship. 

DS: I want kids to come away from the book understanding that birds are everywhere, and even the most undervalued, common species have much to offer. It’s why my first illustration spread in the book is of an urban setting showcasing two species of birds so many dislike: pigeons and House sparrows. Observing these most common of birds can lead to other questions and observations by kids: Why are there so many house sparrows and pigeons, or European starlings? What is the difference between a native species and something that was introduced? If they were introduced, who brought them here? Why? What is beautiful about them? Etc. 

Also, I want kids to know that you don’t have to live in a rural area or a forest to see and appreciate birds. You don’t have to travel thousands of miles away to see an extraordinary species of bird, and that there is incredible diversity right here in our cities and backyards. For example, Chicago is along a major migratory flyway: Lake Michigan. We get thousands of birds migrating through our area every fall and spring. I want kids to learn that nature is not other, or far over there. It is home to us and so many other species. So, let’s start at home, connecting to the nature that is here that we may grow to value and protect it. 

Rebecca Siegel Explores Space Race in 'To Fly Among the Stars'

Chicago-area author Rebecca Siegel takes a hard look at the space race in her non-fiction middle-grade To Fly Among the Stars (Scholastic Focus, March 2020). In fascinating detail, she contrasts the experiences of the all-male Mercury 7—the seven superstar test pilots of NASA's astronaut class—with those of the 13 female candidates who were accomplished air racers, test pilots, and flight instructors. While the women were put through the same astronaut tests as the men, their journey was conducted in secret, as they hoped to defy the norms of the day and and earn a their place flying among the stars.

For fans of nonfiction, this is a gripping read full of infuriating injustice, entrenched sexism, and an eye-opening look at both American history and women's history. Rebecca was nice enough to make time for a quick interview.

Enter here for a chance to win Rebecca Siegel's To Fly Among the Stars!

QUESTION: You flew in a single-engine plane in order to get a sense of what the pilots you were writing about went through. Can you talk about your creative process and what it was like to research and write To Fly Among the Stars?

REBECCA SIEGEL: My creative process is a little like a wild rollercoaster ride. Or, given the subject matter, it might be more appropriate to say it’s like an hour spent in the cockpit of an aerobatic biplane. There are highs, lows, and plenty of moments when I wonder if I’ll vomit. 

I’m an obsessive researcher-outliner. To craft my epic outlines, I read every book, memoir and website. I watch every video and documentary. I listen to every podcast and interview. I try to totally immerse myself in the world I’m writing about—to become not just an expert but an inhabitant—and it’s mostly pretty fun. I get such pleasure out of putting together stories like this, brick by brick, fact by fact. But I also tend to lose myself checking facts, then checking my fact checks, then checking my—oh god I’m going to throw up. 

To yank myself up and out of these information spirals and reconnect with the story I’m trying to tell, I’ve learned that I have to physically connect with my subject matter. For some books, that’s walking through a historic site, smelling the grass and listening to the leaves rustle in the wind. For others, it’s climbing into a cramped cockpit and practicing losing power at 3,000 feet. 

Finally, when I’ve armed myself with all the information I can possibly process, I let myself loose on the page. It’s awesome. 

Q: What made you want to tell this story? And did you consider writing it as fiction—either for middle-grade readers or young adult? Or even for the adult market?

RS: From the moment I stumbled upon this story, I knew it was going to be a middle-grade book. It just had everything I wanted in a MG story: youthful protagonists pursuing audacious dreams, adventure, danger, science, and so. many. fast. cars. It was *kisses hand in theatrical chef’s kiss motion* perfect.

I never considered making this book fiction because, frankly, the truth was spectacular enough on its own. I think I’d worry that taking liberties with this story might devalue the actual history. For example, if I decided that Jerrie Cobb got to train in a jet with John Glenn in the fictionalized version of this story, that detail might undermine the fact that in her real life, she flew in a Navy trainer as part of her Pensacola astronaut fitness tests. 

Q: How do you hope young readers experience your book? What do you hope they take away from it?

RS: You know that delicious feeling you get when someone hints that you won’t be able to do something, and then you go and do it on your own anyway? And you get that glowing warmth in the pit of your belly that comes from exceeding everyone’s expectations? You’re a tiny bit annoyed with them but mostly just really, really proud of yourself. And then you start thinking about the other things that you’ve been discouraged from trying, and you start wondering if maybe you could do those things, too? 

THAT’S the feeling I hope kids get from the book. 

Sally Walker Takes Readers into Chicago Fire with 'Fiery Night'

Sally Walker is the real deal. One of Illinois' finest children's authors, Sally has written more than 60 nonfiction books ranging from the history of climate change to the Mason-Dixon line, how Winnie the Pooh came to be to how Bessie Coleman took to the skies. And because of the high quality of Sally's research and writing, her titles earn recognition, making state recommended-reading lists, becoming Junior Library Guild selections, and earning prestigious honors like the Robert F. Sibert Medal as well as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction.

Her latest title, Fiery Night: A Boy, His Goat, and the Great Chicago Fire! and illustrated by Kayla Harren (Capstone Editions, August 2020), tells the story of a real-life boy who, along with his pet goat, survived the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Since I also published a Chicago Fire book for kids this year, I sat up and took notice of Sally's effort! It is fantastic, and I hope teachers will pair her nonfiction picture book with my nonfiction graphic novel, The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes, when they introduce the Chicago Fire to their students.

As a big fan of Sally's work over the years—Champion: The Comeback Tale of the American Chestnut Tree (Henry Holt and Co., 2018) and Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh (also Henry Holt, 2015) are two of my all-time favorite examples of top-tier nonfiction for kids—I was delighted she had time to talk about her Chicago Fire book.

Enter here for a chance to win a copy of Sally Walker's Fiery Night!

QUESTION: Fiery Night features an illustration done by Justin Butterfield of his family's escape from the fire. Was that the launching point for your decision to write the book? 

SALLY WALKER: It absolutely was the launching point. The Chicago Fire has interested me for a long time. Some years back, I was reading a book about the fire that included Judge Tree’s reminiscence of his experience during the fire. He was the Butterfield’s neighbor who gave them a ride. Tree mentioned offering the Butterfield family a ride, and that Justin had a goat with him. That made me curious. Immediately, I wanted to know more about the Butterfields and if I could find any further information about the boy and his pet. I was over-the-moon when I came across Justin’s drawing—conveniently labeled—of his family as the fled the fire. The text of Justin’s letter to his friend, which we couldn’t include in the back matter due to space concerns, can be found here. This website, The Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory, has tons of other great stories and photos of the fire.

Q: Can you talk about your creative process and how you approached the Chicago Fire story?

SW: My approach was to view the fire from Justin’s perspective. While Mother ran for family heirlooms, the most important thing to Justin was saving and protecting Willie. I empathized with Justin immediately: The first step in my family’s exit plan in case of a house fire is to grab our two cats!  

As I wrote, I tried to incorporate instances from other accounts of the fire. For example, one person remembered their dog running away from the family. Another described standing in the cold lake water for hours, surrounded by horses and people. Keeping the age of my audience in mind, I did not trivialize Justin and Willie’s fears, but tried to express them in ways that the reader could relate to without be terrorized.   

At times, I brought my own perspective to the story. For example, many of Chicago’s sidewalks were wooden. I don’t know that Justin had trouble getting Willie to step up onto the sidewalk. But I know, firsthand, that horses are often scared to step onto a platform or ramp. From that, I extrapolated that Willie might be too. By the way, Justin did not mention the goat’s name in his letter. I named him Willie, because at times he behaved almost as stubbornly as my sister’s cat, Willie.  

Q: Your subjects range far and wide, from sunken submarines to beloved bears to chestnut trees. How do you decide what you're going to write about? 

SW: I don’t always decide what I’m going to write about, sometimes a subject takes hold and insists that I write about it.  While I was researching for my book Sinking the Sultana (Candlewick, 2017), I “met” Louis Miskoguon and Amos Ashkebugnekay, two survivors of the explosion. They were Anishinaabe men who enlisted in a Civil War regiment of sharpshooters from Michigan. The enlisted men in the company they joined were all Native Americans. Their stories, and those of the men who served alongside them, filled my thoughts.  They just wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote about them. Their experiences during the war became my book Deadly Aim (Henry Holt and Co., 2019).

Ideas seem to find me. In the newspapers. On the internet. Talking with and listening to people.

Whenever I run across information that makes me think “Whoa!  I didn’t know that,” I usually have a million questions about it. I want to learn more. 

Q: How do you know when you're onto something good?

SW: Lots of the time, an idea doesn’t pan out.  It’s only when there is a good, solid story, one that continually intrigues me and one that I feel will reach out to young readers in some way, that I decide to write about it. I like stories that make me think; that tease my imagination in ways that make me happy, sad, or even angry. And in doing so, change me, and how I look at the world.

Q: Your nonfiction books are the gold standard. Can you talk about how you go about researching your books? 

SW: Whenever possible, I visit the places that I am writing about to absorb not only the atmosphere, but to get a real sense of the geography of the place.  For example, walking the area in Michigan where Amos Ashkebugnekay lived and on the battlefields in Virginia where he fought. The documents in online archives give me a chance to become familiar with the subject through census reports, war records, or old scientific papers.  BUT visiting an archive in person is even better.  That’s when I find the gems that are not digitized:  personal letters, health records, and plenty of photographs. If I had a few pizzas and some jugs of water, I’d happily camp out for weeks in the National Archives, in Washington, D.C.

Libraries and historical societies are my favorite hangouts.  It’s helpful to read what other authors have written about the subject that I’m exploring.  It’s kind of like brainstorming with the author for additional ideas and avenues for me to explore. Libraries contain published diaries and the kinds of books that contain reminiscences like those of Judge Tree, Justin’s neighbor. Historical societies have lots of unpublished documents and manuscripts that I can’t find elsewhere. And there are lots of maps, too.  I adore old maps! 

I also always talk with experts.  They offer wonderful insights and often lead to amazing adventures.  My interviews with experts led to working on an archaeological dig for my book Written in Bone (Carolrhoda Books, 2009) and to inoculating American Chestnut trees for Champion.

My filing cabinet has a folder filled with newspaper and magazine clipping of possible future books. And I have a similar file on my computer. I have no idea what Google docs is.  

SW: Finally, I have a question for you: When you decided to write a novel, were there any books regarding planning/techniques that you found helpful? Young writers might find it useful. Old ones, too!

KATE HANNIGAN: Like you, I turn to experts! When I was trying to figure out the magic, I attended many writing workshops, conferences, critique groups, anything I could find that would help unlock the mysteries. Three were tremendously helpful.

First was hearing the lion of children's literature Richard Peck talk about finishing a novel and then immediately throwing out the first chapter and rewriting it, since that was when he finally had the full picture. Second was hearing Holly Black talk about plotting and outlining, planning story arcs and thinking hard about when to hit the big notes in the story you're telling. And the third was working with Franny Billingsley, another Chicago author and incredibly helpful human! She talked to me about the story's beating heart, and how the pulsing arrows we shoot at the start of the book had better hit their mark. This advice, along with reading as many books as I can in the middle-grade genre, has helped me muddle along!

'Me & Mama' Author-Illustrator Cozbi Cabrera Does It All

There seems to be nothing Chicago multimedia artist Cozbi Cabrera cannot do. Her talents range from gorgeous illustration to lyrical written word to delicate textile art. Just glimpsing her website, visitors get an immediate sense that she is a special creative force to behold. In 2020, Cozbi has two children's books hitting shelves—Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks, written by Illinois' own Suzanne Slade (Abrams, April 7th); and Me & Mama, for which she is both author and illustrator (Simon & Schuster, coming August 25th)—joining a stack of others titles that she has either written or illustrated. And lucky participants in November's SCBWI Illinois Interactive 2020 virtual conference will get to experience Cozbi's incredible talents upclose, as she works with artists in breakout sessions.

Cozbi has drawn national attention with her handmade collectible cloth dolls, called Muñecas. And her growing collection of children's books (including Thanks A Million, written by Nikki Grimes and published by Greenwillow Books; My Hair Is A Garden, Albert Whitman) have earned starred reviews. We thought it would be interesting to hear from Cozbi about her creative process.  

Click here to enter for a chance to win a copy of Cozbi's new books!

QUESTION: Both Exquisite and Me & Mama feature such loving depictions of the everyday, as well as evocative images of sheer joy. Can you describe your creative process and how you approach a story and illustrating picture books?

COZBI CABRERA: When illustrating a manuscript I've received from a publisher, I'm careful not to "over-read." That first reading is simply to grasp the scope and nature of the content and to see if I love the language or can pinpoint its strengths. I'm reading only to say yes or no. 

In the case of Suzanne Slade's EXQUISITE, I fell in love with her rhythmic, inspired, and well-researched prose. I was delighted to dig in and tease out the visual details of Gwendolyn Brooks' life. I reserve that closer reading for when I'm ready to break the manuscript into page turning chunks. I'm relying on a fresh reading, or the power of the first impression. This is where I can imagine scenes in my head and sketch out thumbnails in a variety of ways. 

I want those drawings to be relevant while throwing the stone of intention a little further, a bit like a visual reading in between the lines or the visual body language for the message. Sometimes I'm able to capture something right away, or am alerted that I need to do further research. Other times, I'm doing what I call "putting the junk down"—getting those obvious solutions on paper. This immersion affords me the ability to scratch a little deeper to find a better answer, to find the heart, while I'm washing the dishes, or just waking up the next morning.

I think our everyday surroundings are steeped with insight and tell a story.  Anthropologists would agree, I love to insert those clues. As far as emotion is concerned—it's the artist's job to help rearrange the viewer's emotional furniture, as painter Jim Parker used to say, to reaffirm what connects us and reveal the heart of the matter.

Q: You're an artist in a variety of media. Do you prefer working with fabric, creating dolls and quilts? Or do you find painting more satisfying? Or does writing feel equally satisfying?

CC: I've always enjoyed working in a variety of mediums. Each discipline is like a plant in my garden, requiring its own care, attention, and tending. It keeps me humble as a wide-eyed infant tumbling into limitless rabbit holes. There is no end to the many levels of mastery and powerful distinctions in each discipline. Naturally, there are points of confluence, where my work in one medium feeds into the next. I think of it as facets of the same stone, or expression.

Q: Do you have multiple projects going at once? Or do you like to focus on one thing at a time? And what is the next project we'll see from you?

CC: I always have many things in the fire. I'm able to get it all done by prioritizing and eliminating unnecessary chatter, wasteful actions, and emotions. I keep returning to play and to laughter. It's my most productive frame of mind. When I was younger I'd answer my phone in sympathy and allow someone to do an emotional dump, zapping my energy allowance and polluting my creative headspace. That headspace is really like a garden, you can't let just any weed grow or anything waltz in and trample underfoot! It's the octane and every creative has a responsibility to stand guard to protect it so it can expand. 

So, though there are many projects, I throw everything into the one that I'm prioritizing—it's the only way I'm able to get those flashes of insight when I'm drifting off to sleep or just waking up. Those insights are like gifts, but they don't present themselves until I've done the heavy lifting, and sometimes that work is giving the task before me my full concentration, even if it feels like I'm knocking on the door and it's not letting me in, or stumbling in the dark. Will I show up the next day, and the day after that? At times, week after week, after week? That's when the gift shows up—once it's been earned and I've shown myself approved!

I can speak about one of the next picture books, a biography about Elizabeth Jennings Graham, written by Amy Hill Hearth, to be published by Greenwillow Books/Harper Collins. And of course, there's a doll commission and several textile projects quietly taking shape at my sewing table.

Patricia Hruby Powell's 'Lift as You Climb' Spotlights Ella Baker

Lots of Illinois authors have new books hitting shelves right now. And while so many important national issues are rightly demanding our attention, it can feel like new picture books or novels serve little purpose. But they do. Now more than ever, it's important that we talk to young readers about American history, about the brave members of society who fought for justice and pushed the national dialogue forward, who challenged the status quo. Patricia Hruby Powell's Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker (Margaret K. McElderry Books, June 2020), illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, does just that. 

Powell is the author of award-winning picture book biographies, including Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker, illustrated by Christian Robinson, and Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case, illustrated by Shadra Strickland. With Lift as You Climb, she turns her attention to one of the most influential female figures in the Civil Rights movement.

QUESTION: Ella Baker shunned the spotlight and preferred to work behind the scenes. Why did you choose to tell her story and bring her life to young readers' attention?

PATRICIA HRUBY POWELL: Ella Baker was a hero—both as a Black rights and women’s rights advocate. She believed that rather than one strong leader, it’s better to have many local leaders. What a great model for young activists! We need young activists more than ever right now. We need to remake our world. 

Ella Baker’s grandparents were enslaved people, who, once emancipated, worked, then bought the land on which they’d worked while enslaved. They became leaders of their community. The book includes stories of Ella working with Dr. Martin Luther King and a hundred Black preachers, of Ella and the young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee members, but one story that is not in the book is this: Ella Baker told Dr. King that she didn’t think that a movement run on one charismatic personality was a healthy movement. She asked him, what did he think would happen once he was gone? She was right, of course. Sadly, the movement pretty much fell apart when Dr. King was assassinated. 

Ella Baker and Dr. King had huge respect for one another but they didn’t always see eye to eye.

While Dr. King was recruiting the “elite” into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP (that’s the lawyers, educators, preachers, doctors), Ella felt it was as important to recruit the “common” people and particularly, women (maids and clerks). At the same time Ms. Baker was showing the powerful Black men, who she worked alongside, to respect her as their equal. The preachers were accustomed to working with women who were subordinate to them—serving women. 

They had a lot to learn about respecting women as leaders. Poised, respectable, wise Ella challenged them and broke ground for women.

Book giveaway! Enter for a chance to win a copy of Lift as You Climb!

Q: What is your creative process like? As a dancer, you've spent a lifetime focused on movement. And even in your writing, movement and energy pulse through each line. How are you able to convey such vitality on the page?

PHP: I identify first and foremost as a dancer. I’ve been a dancer much longer than I’ve been a storyteller or writer. I live inside my dancing body. I am my body, which may sound a little corny. I don’t mean the shell of my body, but my kinesthetic body. My moving body. And I write from who I am, as we all do. 

I cannot sit still for long. I think best when I’m moving—walking, swimming or working out in water, bicycling, skating, dancing. I record notes on my phone or on slips of paper (or if necessary, in my brain;-). Then I return to my computer for the writing. But the thinking happens when I’m on the move. Sometimes I enact my characters, moving as I see them moving on film, and try to discover who they are, physically. I feel that I can “become” them by moving as they do. Try it.

I recommend turning on music, inserting earbuds, going a little ways out into the country where there are fewer eyes upon you and dance. I do this while watching my dog run through fields tracking bunnies and jumping into ponds. So nature helps too. Thoughts rush in. 

Q: “What do you hope to accomplish?” is a refrain throughout the story. What do you as a writer for children hope to accomplish?

PHP: I always want children to love reading. I hope that they’ll be fascinated by my stories and want to read extensively. But nowadays, more than that, I want young readers to become inspired to be social activists. I want them to figure out what they care about, and work for that. There is SO much in our society that needs correction. 

Activism? Maybe you’re excited or concerned about Black Lives Matter, the vote, police reform, gun control, zoning laws, segregated education, the health of the Earth and our environment, sustainable living, renewable resources. The list goes on and on. 

Helping other people gives you a life purpose—especially in this challenging time. We need to remake our world. Everyone will win.

We all need to ask ourselves, What do I hope to accomplish?

Things I Tried to Bring to 'The Great Chicago Fire' Graphic Novel

When I was presented with writing the script for The Great Chicago Fire: Rising From the Ashes, I was a little intimidated. Chicago school kids study this topic inside and out. They become experts. Their teachers are already experts. Stacks of books have been written about this subject. What could I possibly bring to this that hasn't already been done?

As I began compiling research into this fascinating moment from history, I couldn't help but be impacted by current events happening all around me. A ban on Muslims entering America. Immigrants turned away at the southern border. Condemnation of refugees. Looking back at 1871 Chicago, Irish Catholic immigrants like Mrs. O'Leary were at the bottom of the social pecking order. And therefore easy to scapegoat.

So that's how I landed on telling the story through the eyes of two poor immigrant kids. While the graphic novel is nonfiction in that it relays the facts of the fire and includes first-hand accounts, I did use a device for the narrative arc: The fictive Franny and J.P., our protagonists, take us through the story and, I hope, make readers feel as if they're there in the action. Together with these siblings—and an orphaned puppy because we need kids to really care about what happens in the fire—we race down burning streets, past collapsing buildings, and into the lake to cool off.

I wanted kids to identify with Franny and J.P. and think about how frightening this disaster would feel. Unfortunately, devastating fires are not a thing of the past, as we see with Australia's terrifying wildfires in late 2019 and ongoing fires in the American West. I also wanted young readers to think about social issues, too, like how their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents might have been treated when they arrived in America. And how we currently treat newcomers to our shores. The Irish who populated American cities in the middle of the 1800s were fleeing famine, starvation, and oppression, seeking a better life where their kids could thrive and prosper. How different is that from today's immigrants?

And through these protagonists' eyes twenty years later at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, we see the city reborn with skyscrapers, new inventions and ideas, and hope. This part of the story was essential to me, in that when we write books for children, we need to give them hope. And we need to show them that while devastating things can and do happen in life, we can move forward. We can emerge better for it. Chicago burned to the ground, and it was terrifying. But like the phoenix that became a symbol of the city's rebirth, Chicago rose from the ashes.

Why should a child read this book? To start to understand that history isn't an isolated moment but rather a continuum. A raging river. And that we, both as individuals and as a people, learn from the hard times and work toward making things better. In the current moment of pandemic, economic instability, and push for social justice that is Summer 2020, let's hope again that we emerge from this better both as individuals and as a society.

Heartbreak, Hope of a Better Life in Graphic-Novel Memoir 'Stars'

World Refugee Day is coming up this Saturday, June 20, and for parents and teachers who want to better understand the refugee experience as they talk with their kids, there are plenty of books to turn to. Among the best I've seen is the new nonfiction graphic novel When Stars Are Scattered (Dial, 2020), written by Somali refugee Omar Mohamed in collaboration with Victoria Jamieson, the Newbery-Honor winning author-illustrator of the beloved Roller Girl (Dial, 2015).

The story is told from the perspective of Omar, who was forced to flee his home at age four with his baby brother, Hassan, after their father was killed and they became separated from their mother. Their childhood was spent in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, and young readers might find it shocking to see how different life is for refugee kids compared to their own day-to-day concerns. The boys go to bed hungry, spend hours in line for basic necessities like water and food rations. School is something Omar can only dream about, and once he's able to attend classes, he feels conflicted that he has to leave his little brother behind. Especially powerful is what happens to Omar's female classmates.

The back matter makes Omar's experience even more real, as he talks about where he's living now and the life he leads today. And how he's working to help other refugees who also dream of a better future. I found myself close to tears throughout. This is an important book for all readers, no matter the age, and for every day—not just World Refugee Day. As we work with children to understand the covid pandemic and how it impacts populations in our cities and around the world, as well as the anti-racism protests and calls for social justice, this is another part of that conversation about building a more just and inclusive world.

'Go With the Flow' the Graphic-Novel Period Book We All Need

Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann are the brilliant team behind Go With the Flow (First Second, 2020), the informative graphic novel that examines periods in all their embarrassing, confounding glory. While the four friends featured in the story are sophomores in high school, this book is the perfect thing to hand to middle-schoolers who want to learn more about the mysteries of menstruation, cramps, tampons, and fighting the system. While I know it's a fictional tale of friendship, I read it as a nonfiction primer on periods.

Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha challenge their school to put feminine hygiene front and center, and keep the tampon and pad machines stocked as a basic service (basic human right) for their students' well-being. Thought-provoking, humorous, spot on (okay, my puns are terrible), you can see how these talented author-illustrators did it via First Second's Comics Relief discussion. Well-written and beautifully illustrated in a palette of reds, Go With the Flow is the book I wish I'd had back in the day—and wish I could have shared with my daughter in her preteen years. A great pairing with American Girl's The Care and Keeping of You.

Marc Tyler Nobleman Explores WWII History and a Fairy Hoax

There's the dream of completing a manuscript. Then maybe landing a literary agent. And finally, imagining the day a book publishes and appears on a bookstore or library shelf. For Marc Tyler Nobleman, 2018 proved to be a doubly satisfying year with the publication of two fantastic nonfiction picture books from Clarion. His Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story was illustrated by the wildly talented and prolific Melissa Iwai and — fulfilling another dream: winning awards — was named an ALSC Notable Children’s Book and an NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Honor. His Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real was illustrated by the also wildly talented and prolific Eliza Wheeler.

As a fan of picture book biographies and historical accounts, I was thrilled to come across the story of a 1917 photograph "documenting" a fairy sighting. I'd heard snippets of this account over the years and was completely intrigued. And as someone obsessed with WWII stories, I was eager to read about a Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland. When I realized Marc was the teller of both these tales, I had to reach out.

Question: Fairy tales, a WWII bombing run over Oregon. In 2018 you published two very different but equally fascinating nonfiction picture books. What was that experience like?

Marc Tyler Nobleman: I'm honored anytime a book I wrote gets published, though there is indeed something special about having two books out in one year. Though put out by the same imprint, I sold the manuscripts at different times and did not know at first that they'd come out within six months of each other. I like that they're both unconventional topics for a picture book and quite different from my previous two nonfiction picture books (both on creators of superheroes). It's fun to show range.

Q: What drew you to the story of the Cottingley fairies? Why did you want to write that book?

MTN: I'm drawn to true stories that haven't been done in picture book format, and I love a good twist — even better if there's a supernatural element involved. My previous few books had male leads, and I was happy to focus on females. I felt the story would be a great springboard for discussions with kids on the nature of belief, the necessity of verifying information as best you can before disseminating it, and even the gray areas of lying!

Q: The story of a Japanese bomber’s missions over U.S. soil is equally fascinating. Were you hooked from the moment you read about it?

MTN: Yes. I learned of Nobuo Fujita's bombing raid when he died in 1997; a friend showed me his obituary from The New York Times. I'm not a war buff or a Japanophile, which made it even better — I learned on the go. It just goes to show that we don't always know what we're interested in! And in any case, this is not your typical war story.

Q: Writing nonfiction for children, the bar for authors is set very high. Can you talk about how you research and write your books? What is your creative process like?

MTN: Research is hide and seek with the world, and just as addictive as playing hide and seek with your friends in the back yard. My nonfiction is heavily researched, calling upon as much primary source material as possible. I read as much as I can, take copious notes all in one long Word doc, and then pull out all of the info I would like to include to form an unstructured outline of sorts.

Of course given my preferred format, I can't fit every juicy nugget I include on that wish list, but that's part of the fun/challenge of writing: not what you put in, but what you leave out. I write my nonfiction as a narrative, trying to drop the reader in at an exciting moment, and I avoid forward-looking statements ("Little did he know that one day, what he was about to do would be infamous," etc.). I want the reader to be immersed in the story as if it's happening live, and teasing the future like that pulls some readers out of the world you're (re)creating, albeit subtly.

Q: Why nonfiction for young readers? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you hope kids take away from your books?

MTN: I consider my work nonfiction for all ages, but with special focus on young readers. I want to remind them as best I can that
a) history is exciting
b) history still matters today
c) nonfiction is non-boring.
It has that stigma among many kids, and my fellow writers and I are always looking for ways to overturn that misperception. Of course nonfiction CAN be boring; the way we tell it counts for a lot. I hope kids who read my books will realize that struggles are valuable, persistence is essential, and some heroes are very quiet about it.

Alice Faye Duncan on Beloved Prize-Winning Poet Gwendolyn Brooks

Author Alice Faye Duncan is on a roll right now. Just last month her nonfiction picture book Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop (Boyds Mills Press, 2018), illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, won a Coretta Scott King Honor for illustration, among a bouquet of other honors. And now she's out with another powerhouse book, A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks (Sterling Children's Books), which published last month.


Here on the South Side of Chicago, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks is a patron saint. She attended local schools, began her writing career at age 11, and called Chicago her "headquarters." A neighborhood park displays a statue in her honor, one of just two statues in the entire city featuring a representation of a real female historical figure rather than a female ideal. Anything "Gwendolyn" is worth exploring, frankly, so stumbling across a new book celebrating the life of this wildly talented writer, I was enthralled. 

A Song celebrates Gwendolyn Brooks' life — the role her parents played and how the community influenced her — in free verse while at the same time showcasing a few of her poems for young readers to discover. Illustrated by Xia Gordon, A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks is certainly worth spotlighting for Black History Month, but it should be part of classroom discussions the whole year through —for lessons relating to poetry and language, perseverance, barrier breaking, the Great Migration, the Great Depression, Civil Rights struggles, to name just a few.

I reached out to Alice, who works as a school librarian in Memphis, to find out what inspired her to write about this Chicago literary luminary. Creative wonder that she is, Alice answered in an acrostic rather than traditional Q & A format. Enjoy her response below!

Gwendolyn Brooks lived on the South Side of Chicago for ALL of her life.  However, she was born in Topeka, Kansas.

When I was a kid, I read her poems in Poetry Anthologies and English Text Books. Song in the Front Yard was a favorite. 

Etheridge Knight visited my Memphis school when I was in the sixth grade. It was 1978. He was my first encounter with a living poet. 

Nobody knew Etheridge Knight when he showed-up that day. Poet Phyllis Tickle made the introduction, and I was smitten. 

Digging around Knight's life in 2015 turned my attention to Gwendolyn Brooks. She nurtured his poetic genius from an Indiana jail. 

Only Good Friends love you through incessant mess-ups. Miss Brooks remained devoted to EK through all of his flubs and foibles.  

Love is like that. I learned from research that Gwendolyn Brooks practiced kindness as a religion. She was not churchy or holy-rollie. 

Young people weighed heavy on her heart. She wrote about them and for them in poems like We Real Cool and Life of Lincoln West.

No poem swings alliteration, assonance, and allegory like a GB poem. She mastered figurative language with undulating grace. 

Brooks won a Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for her poetry book Annie Allen. She was the first Black writer to win the prestigious prize. 

Reviewers praised her skill for composing polished sonnets, while she also exalted the earthy language and spirit of common folk. 

One is inclined to compare Miss Brooks to a Black Candle giving light across the ages. She said, "We are each other's harvest."

One is inclined to compare her to a flower, furious and flourishing, teaching us how to BLOOM during these inhospitable conditions. 

Keziah Brooks (Gwen's mother) prophesied to South Side Neighbors back in 1925 that Gwen would be a poet, "Like Paul Dunbar."

Spirit NEVER told my Mama that I would rise to meet Dunbar's star. I was a lazy student until...one college teacher called me, "Gifted."

An Acrostic Poem by Alice Faye Duncan (2019)

Stepping Up to the Plate With Heather Lang's 'Anybody's Game'

In celebrating Women's History Month, we've heard about bold women who changed society through their ground-breaking actions, from astronaut Mae Jemison to marathoner Bobbi Gibb to "dangerous" activist Jane Addams. Through the #31Women31Books campaign, we have stacks and stacks of picture book biographies ready to introduce us to even more historical figures who upended traditional roles and set women on entirely new and exciting courses.

One of those figures is Kathryn Johnston, who broke barriers for young baseball fans in the 1950s. In Heather Lang's exciting Anybody's Game: The Story of the First Girl to Play Little League Baseball (Albert Whitman & Company, March 2018), illustrated by Cecilia Puglesi, we see how this dynamic girl changed Little League forever.

Heather is no stranger to topics like this, offering up an impressive list of titles spotlighting barrier-busting women: Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark, Fearless Flyer: Ruth Law and Her Flying Machine, The Original Cowgirl: The Wild Adventures of Lucille Mulhall, and Queen of the Track: Alice Coachman, Olympic High-Jump Champion. She took a few minutes to talk to us about her fascinating books.

Question: Who is Kathryn Johnston, and how did you learn about her?

Heather Lang: Kathryn Johnston was the first girl to play Little League Baseball. Back in 1950 girls weren’t welcome on Little League teams. Kathryn loved baseball more than anything and wanted desperately to play on a real team. So she cut off her braids and tried out as a boy!

As a child, I adored baseball. I didn’t go anywhere without my mitt and played catch constantly with my father and brother. I played on a travel softball team in fifth grade, and I continued to play throughout middle school and high school.

When my kids began playing Little League, those special memories came flooding back. I decided to see if there was a story there. When I read about Kathryn’s struggle to play, I tried to imagine what my childhood would have been like without baseball and softball, and that was the spark for Anybody's Game.

Q: What is your creative process like? How do you find ideas, and how do you take them from spark in your mind to bookshelf?

HL: Sometimes I go looking for ideas, and sometimes they find me. When I go looking for a person to write about, I usually start with a subject that interests me. One day I made a list of my top five fears, and two picture book biographies came from that exercise: Swimming With Sharks and Fearless Flyer. Exploring and researching personal fears (like sharks and flying) is challenging, but so rewarding!

I read widely to identify the right person to write about, but I always have a gut feeling when I’ve found them. Next the treasure hunt begins, and I dig into the research. No two research experiences are alike. One of the things that surprised me most is how generous experts are with their time and knowledge. And I try to do experiential research for every book, which can be a little scary sometimes. I have been paragliding, scuba diving, and horseback riding all in the name of research! My favorite research moments by far are meeting with the women I am writing about. I was so fortunate to spend time with Alice Coachman, Eugenie Clark, and Kathryn Johnston.

I don’t start writing a first draft until I have done a lot of research, thinking, and free writing about the book. What is the story going to be about? How am I going to enter this story? What’s my angle? Is it going to be focused on an event or cover a larger time period? What are the themes? What narrative style suits the story? Will I incorporate quotes? What’s the narrative arc? There are so many choices, false starts, twists, and turns. I am fortunate to be in an awesome critique group who supports me every step of the way.

Q: Your stories spotlight remarkable women from history who many people might never have heard of.  What are you trying to accomplish with your books?

HL: I always try to create a book that will teach and inspire kids. There are so many lesser-known women from history who have accomplished extraordinary things. I hope kids will see how these brave women from the past made things better for us today. Nothing makes me happier than when kids want to dig deeper into a topic or person. And I hope my books will inspire kids to follow their own dreams and persevere through challenges.

Q: Who has been the most fascinating woman you’ve written about?

HL: Yikes that’s a tough one. If I had to choose, I’d say Eugenie Clark, who was the first scientist to dive in and study sharks in their natural environment. I was amazed at her courage and the depth of her knowledge and passion. I got lost in the research. I read dozens of her scientific publications, even though I knew I didn’t need to for the book, and I have become a huge shark fan. I began the project with an intense fear of sharks and could never have anticipated that journey from fear to passion—all inspired by Eugenie Clark.

Q: Who’s next?

HL: My next picture book biography is about tree canopy biologist Margaret Lowman, and it is near and dear to my heart for so many reasons. Meg was one of the first scientists to really climb up into the canopy and explore its enormous biodiversity. She has done such important work to protect our trees, and she works tirelessly to mentor girls and women interested in the field. Last summer I spent an incredible week with Meg in the Amazon!

She is a phenomenal person and scientist.

Cynthia Grady on a Librarian for Japanese Internment Children

On this date in American history—on February 19, 1942—President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced relocation and incarceration of more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry into camps located in the the western interior of the United States. Specifically targeting Japanese residents living along the Pacific coast, an estimated 60 percent of those rounded up and imprisoned were American citizens. 

History is fascinating but also useful. Crucial. Essential. If we don't know it and learn from it, we truly are doomed to repeat it. 

That's why stories like Cynthia Grady's Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind (January 2018, Charlesbridge) is such an important book. Illustrated by Amiko Hirao, it tells the moving story of Clara Breed, a librarian in San Diego who corresponded with her young Japanese American library patrons during World War II when these children were locked up in internment camps. 
It's a a hard story for kids to understand, but it's useful, crucial, essential for them to know. And to realize that even in the United States, a shining beacon to the world of the principles of tolerance and freedom, that an entire population could be so cruelly treated and see their individual rights as American citizens so heartlessly and systematically trampled.

Author Grady (Like a Bird: The Art of the American Slave Song, I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery) pulled powerful direct quotes from the children's letters, which are archived at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. I reached out to her to find out more about her creative process in bringing Miss Breed's story and those of her young friends to a new generation of readers.

Question: How did you come across this story? 

Cynthia Grady: I first learned of Clara Breed's story in about 2002. I had read a review of a documentary that had been put together by the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. The film featured her work on behalf of Japanese Americans during World War II and long afterward, and the children she knew and corresponded with during the war.

I had been a librarian for about three years by then, and I was learning quickly how many librarians, past and present, have worked for social change. I wanted to be that kind of librarian. I wanted to know more about Clara Breed, but I couldn't find anything published—I did find articles written by her and a book she had written, and I learned more about her life by digging into some pretty old documents, but nothing that satisfied my curiosity about her. So, I decided to try to write a book about her myself.

Q: Everyone has a different way of going about gathering information. What was your creative process like?

CG: I began my research with secondary sources—reading all kinds of books about the war against Japan. Then I read published memoirs and poetry written by those Japanese Americans who lived in the prison camps. I visited museums and attended historical society lectures. I read government reports and I listened to congressional hearings that took place decades later.

Finally, I read the letters that the children wrote to Clara Breed. More than 250 letters are held at the Japanese American National Museum. While I knew I wanted Write to Me to be a picture book, I was mistaken, at first, to think I should only use the letters from the youngest children. The teens and young adults detailed the experience of their confinement in a way that the younger children weren't able to, and I'd wanted the letters the children wrote to tell their story as much as possible.

Q: This book is deeply researched, which takes so much time. Did you have some hiccups along the way?

CG: Unfortunately, at that time (about 2006 by now), the letters had not been digitized, so any further research would require me to return to LA. I was living and working in Washington, D.C., at the time, so that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Like so many stories you hear, this book had a long road to publication. I began sending it out in 2006 and it was promptly returned with kind notes of "this is too slight" or "It feels more like a magazine article than a book." That sort of thing. One publisher asked me to expand it in very specific ways, which I appreciated. I worked on it for another year and resubmitted it. That editor kept it for a year and a half, but finally decided against it, another year later.

In the meantime, I re-worked it as a picture book biography in poems. I'm more comfortable with poetry than anything else, so I decided to play to my strengths. But I heard more of the same from still more publishing houses: "This should be a verse novel rather than a picture book of poems..." "The writing is lovely, but . . . ."

I'd all but given up on the Clara Breed manuscript, and I had expressed my exasperation about the whole thing at a writing retreat in 2014. An editor eating lunch at the same table overheard my conversation and asked me to send the manuscript to her. She had me cut, cut, cut the manuscript so it was back to nearly what I had written in the first place! Then over the following two years, we reworked it, especially the back matter.

Q: Writing teaches us many things as we see a project through. What did you learn along the way?

CG: I discovered through this whole process that I love doing back matter! Writing nonfiction still terrifies me, but I might try it again because I loved writing the end-notes so much.

Each project I've taken on comes together differently, so it's hard to comment on my creative process. I do have regular (almost daily) writing sessions that always begin with poetry, and then afterwards, I dig in to my current project. When the creative juices stop flowing, I usually need to stop, go for a long walk, and begin work on a new quilt, so my writing output is slow going, and my quilting progress even slower.