On Wednesday, September 10, the New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council held the first of two children's author breakfasts at NEIBA's Fall Conference. NECBA co-chairs Alyssa Raymond from Copper Dog Books in Beverly, Mass., and Sara Waltuck of Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, Mass., welcomed four authors: C.L. Herman (co-author with Amanda Foody of A Fate So Cold, Tor Teen), Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason (Grandmother Moon, illus. by Trisha B. Waters, Augsburg Fortress Publishers + Beaming Books), Jenan A. Matari (Everything Grows in Jiddo's Garden, illus. by Aya Ghanameh, Interlink), and Kate Messner (Camp Monster, illus. by Falynn Koch, Bloomsbury).
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| C.L. Herman | |
All four discussed their upcoming books and shared a few connected personal anecdotes. C.L. Herman described how both she and her co-author, Amanda Foody, have "always been riveted by Chosen One narratives." The co-authors "homed in on why we thought they were so interesting," together deciding it is because the Chosen One has so much power, but is also under so much pressure. She explained, "We could imagine how difficult that would actually be to deal with. For all that we call them Chosen Ones, they have so few choices of their own. What does it really mean to put the world before yourself?"
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| Wunneanatsu Lamb-Caso | |
Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason (an enrolled citizen of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation) told the audience that Grandmother Moon was inspired by her own grandmother, a storyteller, historian, and anthropologist. "Every moment was a teachable moment" for her grandmother, and Lamb-Cason recognizes "the gift I was given growing up at her hip. In writing this book, I wanted to pass that gift forward." Grandmother Moon, she said, "is a love letter to the woman who gave me so much, and also a message of continuity--Native peoples are not in the past but very much present and will continue into the future."
Jenan A. Matari's Everything Grows in Jiddo's Garden was also inspired by a grandparent--her grandfather. It wasn't until Matari was in her 20s that she learned her grandfather had been displaced from Palestine and she began to understand her own heritage. Her debut picture book was inspired by weekends spent with Jiddo and Teta, playing games, making food, hearing bedtime stories, and unknowingly discovering the beauty of her Palestinian culture.
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| Kate Messner | |
Camp Monster "originally started as an epistolary illustrated chapter book," said Kate Messner. When her editor asked if it could instead be a middle-grade graphic novel, Messner said yes. Then she googled "how to write graphic novels." As the title suggests, Camp Monster is about a monster summer camp. "It used to be just a yeti camp," Messner said, "but there weren't enough yetis--times are tough everywhere--so they opened up to all monsters." Messner focused on two main themes in relation to her first graphic novel: "Laughter and grief and joy are not incompatible with each other" and "graphic novels are reading." If you're writing a book that is sad, Messner said, "your saddest books also need to be your funniest books because readers need that release." And "kids who love graphic novels are readers, whether or not they will pick up anything else right now." Children need "light stories in their lives," Messner finished, then expressed her gratitude "to all of you for handing the exact right books to kids when they need them." --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness