Yes, I’m still alive! An editing project kept me extremely busy. But I’m here to reveal the cover of my good friend Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s upcoming middle grade novel in verse, Moonwalking, coauthored with Zetta Elliott (right). Lyn is represented by Jacqui Lipton. Feast your eyes, people!
The cover illustrator is David Cooper. Moonwalking will be publis will hed on April 12, 2022 by FSG Books for Young Readers/Macmillan. Here is a description:
For fans of Jason Reynolds and Jacqueline Woodson, this middle-grade novel-in-verse follows two boys in 1980s Brooklyn as they become friends for a season.
Punk rock-loving JJ Pankowski can’t seem to fit in at his new school in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as one of the only white kids. Pie Velez, a math and history geek by day and graffiti artist by night is eager to follow in his idol, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s, footsteps. The boys stumble into an unlikely friendship, swapping notes on their love of music and art, which sees them through a difficult semester at school and at home. But a run-in with the cops threatens to unravel it all.
Moonwalking is a stunning exploration of class, cross-racial friendships, and two boys’ search for belonging in a city as tumultuous and beautiful as their hearts.
I will preorder a copy of Moonwalking for one person who comments. Where were you in the 80s (if you were alive back then)? Comment below to be entered in the drawing. Winner to be revealed next week!
Cover and author photos courtesy of Lyn Miller-Lachmann.
With me on the blog today is the always lovely Kate Hosford. She’s here to talk about her latest picture book, How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea, which was illustrated by the amazing Gabi Swiatkowska. This book, published by Carolrhoda Books in March 2017, is too delightful for words.
Check out the book trailer:
Now, let’s talk to Kate!
El Space: Four quick facts about yourself? Kate: (1) I love the tea set that my grandmother left me.
Kate’s grandmother’s Spode china
(2) When I studied in India during college, I loved drinking chai on trains.
Indian chai at the launch party at Books of Wonder in New York
(3) This summer, I got to drink tea at the Buckingham Palace Garden Café, where they have really nice paper cups.
Fancy to-go cups
(4) My new favorite place in New York is the Japanese tea house, Cha-An, where they have wonderful Matcha and a great selection of desserts.
Matcha with something sweet at Cha-An
El Space: How did you come up with the idea for this picture book? Kate: At first, I simply had a vague idea about a queen going around the world and drinking tea with children from different cultures. But after several revisions, the story became about a lonely, pampered Queen who thinks she is searching for the perfect cup of tea, when she is actually searching for friends and meaning in her life. In the final version, tea still has a multicultural function in the story, but it is also a metaphorical device for tracking the Queen’s emotional state. Gabi Swiatkowska did such a great job showing the Queen’s many emotional states not only as she learns to make tea, but as she learns how to do other things as well, like snuggle a kitten.
El Space: This is your second collaboration with illustrator Gabi Swiatkowska. What was your process for working with Gabi? How long was the process from writing to production? Kate: Gabi and I met in an illustrators’ group in 2000, back when I was doing illustration. We were good friends before we became collaborators, which was probably helpful. This book has a complex emotional arc, with the Queen making a bit more progress in each place she visits, but then backsliding to her old haughty ways at the beginning of each visit to a new place. Gabi did an amazing job of conveying all the emotional complexity in the book. Sometimes I offered opinions that Gabi took, and other times, she would stand her ground. I have learned that when Gabi stands her ground, she is always right!
Gabi and Kate at their launch party at Books of Wonder
I started this book with my faculty advisor, Uma Krishnaswami, in 2009, when I was getting my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I sold it to Carolrhoda Books in 2013, and it came out this spring. In my original drafts, I had the children in each country giving the Queen little gifts, and acting deferential. Uma encouraged me to “turn colonialism on its ear,” and create child characters that are completely unimpressed with royalty. This is when the book really came together. When the children treat her like a normal person, the Queen begins to evolve emotionally.
El Space: Favorite tea? What, if anything, do you take in your tea? Kate: I drink a lot of peppermint tea and honey, lemon tea and honey, green tea, and chai.
El Space: In a discussion of why picture books are important, Kwame Alexander said
Picture books are the great experience equalizer. We don’t have to leave the comforts of the beds in the rooms of our houses, and yet we can still travel through time and place and circumstance.
Picture books are also the groundwork for understanding innately how Story works, as the reader anxiously turns the page to see WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
Why do you think they’re important? Kate: Oh there are so many reasons! I agree with everything that Kwame and Erzsi said, and here a few other reasons as well:
Picture books can create intimacy. Often picture books are read out loud, either by a teacher or parent. This sort of intimate experience allows the child and adult to bond over the book together, which then gives the child yet another reason to continue reading.
Picture books hone a child’s ear. When picture books are read out loud, they allow children to hear the rhythms and cadences of beautiful language, which hopefully makes them want to read more.
Picture books are good for the brain. The child who is seated next to a picture book reader is synthesizing the words on the page, the language of the reader, and the illustrations. The constant toggling back and forth between these elements is stimulating and complex, forging the neural pathways that are essential for increasing intelligence in a young child.
El Space: Name a favorite picture book from your childhood. Why was it a favorite? Kate: Probably my favorite book was called Alexander and the Magic Mouse by Martha Sanders and Philippe Fix. It is a gorgeous, eccentric book about an old lady who lives on the top of a hill with a Magical Mouse, a Brindle London Squatting Cat, a Yak, and an alligator. One day, the Magical Mouse predicts that the town below will be endangered by thirty days of rain. It is then up to Alexander to make the treacherous journey into town to warn the mayor about the rain. The book’s illustrations are just spectacular, and I loved the fact that this eclectic group of animals lived with the Old Lady.
The cover where the Old Lady is serving tea
Strangely, I didn’t realize until I just reread the story that tea plays a rather important role in the book. The Old Lady gathers her friends every day in the drawing room for tea, she nurses Alexander back to health with ginger tea when he returns from warning the mayor, and at the end of the book, when the mayor comes to honor the Old Lady for saving the town, she gives the medal to Alexander instead, and invites the mayor and her animal family to tea.
The Old Lady, nursing Alexander back to health with ginger tea (left); the mayor, having tea with the Old Lady and her friends at the end of the book
El Space: What will you work on next? Kate: A poetry collection about how brilliant the octopus is! I read Sy Montgomery’s incredible book, The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonders of Consciousness. and then was lucky enough to meet Sy and interact with her namesake, Sy the Giant Pacific Octopus at the New England Aquarium. I also want to do something funny related to the life of a classical musician. This is a bit of a challenge since most of them had really difficult and tragic lives. However, Jonah Winter was able to do it in his fabulous picture book, The 39 Apartments of Ludwig van Beethoven, where he tries to figure out how Beethoven could have moved five legless pianos to 39 different apartments. It’s such a unique topic, and his treatment of it is wonderful.
I’m also very excited about a picture book I have coming out next spring with Abrams called Mama’s Belly. It’s about a little girl waiting for her sister to be born, and wondering if there will be enough love to go around. (Spoiler alert: There is!)
Thanks, Kate, for being my guest!
And thank you to all who visited this blog. You can find How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indiebound.
Want a curriculum guide for How the Queen Found the Perfect Cup of Tea? Click here.
One of you will find her book in your mailbox or tablet. Comment below to be entered in the drawing. You could name your favorite tea as you comment. The winner will be announced on May 1.
Kirstea, the tea-loving Shoppie, gives Kate’s book five stars!
Book covers, author photo, interior illustrations, and book signing photos courtesy of the author. The Soul of an Octopus, Surf’s Up, and Pumpkin Time covers from Goodreads. Kirstea photo by L. Marie. Kirstea Shoppie doll by Moose Toys.
Admit it. You tuned in to see who won a copy of Louise Hawes’s young adult novel, The Language of Stars. (The interview with Louise can be found here.) Well, I’ll get to that right after this.
The last five days have been wall-to-wall people days, starting on Wednesday with my weekly train ride into what’s known as the Loop in the city of Chicago. I left a crowded train station with thousands of people and blended into the well over half a million people headed to work or school.
I pass by this sculpture every week. If you want more information about it, click here.
On Thursday, a friend and I headed into a crowded mall for a quick merchandise return, then into a crowded theater to watch Star Trek Beyond.
The weekend featured activities that fit the full spectrum life, starting with a funeral in a crowded chapel one day, and a baby shower the next. (I ducked out of the baby shower, due to feeling under the weather.) In between those events were a dinner at a crowded restaurant with a family of friends and a lawn/garage party with another crowd of people. (Almost 200 people were invited.)
Getting back to Chicago, I realize the difference between what seems “crowded” in Chicago, versus “crowded” in New York City, or “crowded” in Shanghai, having been to all three places. Though I grew up in Chicago, I felt dwarfed by the sheer mass of people on the streets in New York and Shanghai.
But walking through the Loop each week, I can’t help noticing the diversity of the crowds. Now, I realize the word diversity gets some people’s hackles up for various reasons. Some see the outcry for diversity in literature or other media as an attempt to shoehorn people of various ethnicities into stories, as if staffing a meeting at the UN. Others see it as a challenge they can’t surmount, and resent being told what they “need” to add in their stories, particularly ethnic or gender perspectives they know next to nothing about or may not want to know anything about. Still others might want to add the perspectives of people different from them, but fear insulting those cultures by the use of careless, uninformed language. I understand the latter desire all too well, since I struggled with that issue in my WIP.
Walking in an area with wall-to-wall people helps me see what diversity looks like on a daily basis. It’s not tokenism, but rather, a natural occurrence. The crowd is what it is. But I live near a city that is a melting pot. I’ve walked the streets of other cities or towns with a very different ethnic profile—one that is homogeneous, rather than diverse.
I can’t pretend I know “all about” the perspective of someone who is different from me—even if I have a diverse group of friends. But I know my own perspective in a diverse world, and can address my observations. And I can keep asking questions to get to know people who are different from me.
What are your thoughts about diversity in literature, the movies, or elsewhere? While you think of that, I’ll move on to the winner of The Language of Stars.
The winner is . . .
Is . . .
Is . . .
Is . . .
Lyn Miller-Lachmann!
Congrats, Lyn! And thank you to all who commented!
Star Trek Beyond poster from ign.com. South Park image from nakanoasam118.wordpress.com. Photos of the My Mini MixieQ’s figures and the Calder stabile by L. Marie.
Lyn Miller-Lachmann is no stranger to El Space. She’s been a welcome guest here many times, especially when she has a new young adult novel to discuss. Like here. She also has her own blog here. Today, I’m thrilled to present her guest post for the Stanton series. At the end of the post, I’ll announce the winner of Amy Rose Capetta’s book, Unmade. But first, let’s hear from Lyn.
Thank you to the awesome L. Marie for inviting me to be part of this series. When I listened to Andrew Stanton’s TED talk, the point that stuck with me was, “Give a promise that your story will take the reader somewhere worthwhile.”
One of the moments that inspired me to take writing seriously enough to seek publication occurred in my first year teaching in Brooklyn, New York. My school was in a historic building that over years of deferred maintenance had become quite dilapidated, to the point that the third floor teacher’s lounge was a glorified broom closet with mouse droppings between the floorboards and plaster flaking from the ceiling. I had brought a collection of short stories to read during my free period, and as I read a story by Joan Silber, I no longer sat in this grim teacher’s lounge but in a kudzu-filled garden somewhere in the Deep South—a place I had never physically been.
Most of us can’t pick up and go wherever we want, whenever we want. But stories can take us to those places and make us feel as if we are there. Whether it’s the desert in Lawrence of Arabia, a world long gone, or a world that has never existed, effective stories make us believe we are part of that world. Stories transport us from our ordinary lives into a grander and more beautiful place. Or into a more exciting and dangerous place where we would never choose to venture on our own because we have families and school and jobs and responsibilities.
The advice, “Give a promise that your story will take the reader somewhere worthwhile,” certainly informed my forthcoming novel, Surviving Santiago (Running Press Kids, debuting in June 2015). I traveled to Chile in 1990 to witness the transition from a brutal 17-year-dictatorship to a democratic government. I saw the excitement of people enjoying their hard-won freedom while nursing wounds that had not healed. At times I was scared; at times I was awestruck; at times I was humbled. I crossed into an unfamiliar culture and heard stories of struggle, sacrifice, and courage that would have pushed me beyond my own capacities had I lived through those times.
Lyn in 1990 (left); the cover of her forthcoming novel
Stories are ideal for crossing borders of all kinds and opening up a world of people, places, and experiences. This is what I seek to do with my writing, most of which is historical fiction set in diverse countries and cultures. It’s a challenge to evoke a setting well enough that readers can see themselves within it and appreciate having made the journey with me. And if they book a flight to Chile after finishing Surviving Santiago, I know for sure I’ve convinced them that it’s worth the trip!
Thanks, again, Lyn, for a great addition to the series. The other posts in the series are here, here, here, and here.
And now to announce the winner of Amy Rose Capetta’s young adult novel, Unmade.
The winner, thanks to the random number generator, is . . .
Is . . .
Is . . .
Is . . .
Charles Yallowitz!
Congratulations, Charles. Please confirm below. Thanks again for commenting!
Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of talking with wonderful authors. That’s definitely the case today as I talk with the marvelous Coe Booth, who today will discuss her latest book, a wonderful middle grade novel (her first)—Kinda Like Brothers, published by Scholastic Press.
Coe is represented by Jodi Reamer at Writers House. Here is a synopsis of Kinda Like Brothers:
Jarrett doesn’t trust Kevon. But he’s got to share a room with him anyway.
It was one thing when Jarrett’s mom took care of foster babies who needed help. But this time it’s different. This time the baby who needs help has an older brother—a kid Jarrett’s age named Kevon.
Everyone thinks Jarrett and Kevon should be friends—but that’s not gonna happen. Not when Kevon’s acting like he’s better than Jarrett—and not when Jarrett finds out Kevon’s keeping some major secrets.
Jarrett doesn’t think it’s fair that he has to share his room, his friends, and his life with some stranger. He’s gotta do something about it—but what?
Cool, huh? Let’s talk to Coe!
El Space: Four quick facts about yourself? Coe: (1) I’m seriously afraid of moths (and all kinds of creepy flying bugs!) (2) I’m a vegetarian, but I enjoy letting my characters eat meat. (3) I have a somewhat unhealthy addiction to fountain pens and pretty notebooks. I have more notebooks than I could possibly use in my lifetime! (4) I go on at least one week-long meditation retreat every year—a silent retreat where reading, writing, and even talking are not allowed.
El Space: Awesome! You’re well known for young adult novels like (Tyrell, Kendra,Bronxwood). What inspired you to write a middle grade novel?
Coe: When I was really young, I hated reading. I loved writing my own stories, but I didn’t like reading books because I couldn’t relate to any of them. That all changed in fourth grade when my teacher gave me a copy of one of Judy Blume’s novels and I discovered that books could actually be fun. Ever since then, I recognized the power that middle grade books can have, and I’ve always wanted to write for that age group. My hope is that I can write something that can grab kids who don’t like to read and possibly change the way they think about books, too.
El Space: Kids in blended families will relate to Jarrett and Kevon. How has your background prepared you to write their story? Coe: Several years ago, I worked as a child protective caseworker, investigating child abuse cases. Sometimes I would have to remove kids from their homes and place them in foster care. Working with foster families is what sparked the idea for Kinda Like Brothers. I was always curious what being a foster family was like for the biological children in the home, the ones who had to adapt to kids coming and going from their lives over and over again. Jarrett is one of those kids. He’s used to the foster babies because his mom has been taking them in ever since he can remember. But when Mom takes in Kevon, who is a year older than Jarrett, this is a little more than he can handle!
El Space: What was the most challenging aspect of writing this book? Coe: With all my books, I struggle the most with characterization and voice. This book was no exception. I spent so much time writing and writing, and then I got to the point where I felt like I knew who Jarrett was and what he sounded like. Unfortunately, everything I had written up to that point wasn’t really the story I wanted to tell, so I ended up deleting the whole thing and starting all over again. That was really, really hard. But in the end I’m glad I let go of what wasn’t working so I could make room for what was.
El Space: What do you hope readers will take away after reading your book? Coe: There are so many foster families, and so many kids living in foster care. I hope I’m giving readers a little insight into a world they may not have thought about. But more importantly, of course, I hope readers fall in love with Jarrett and Kevon, and enjoy the story of how these two boys become (kinda like) brothers!
El Space: You’re on the faculty at VCFA. Yay! You usually have to give advice to students. Lately many people have addressed the need for more diversity in books. What advice do you have for aspiring writers on this topic? Coe: Diversity is one of those things that’s easier said than done. Achieving diversity in the world of children’s books is a complex matter. It is so challenging getting these books written, published, and placed into the hands of children, and attention needs to be placed on each of these stages. As writers, we don’t have to force diversity into our novels. All we can do is make sure our writing reflects the world in its entirety and diversity would be accomplished in a natural way.
El Space: What’s some of the best advice you’ve received about writing? Coe: You don’t have to know where you’re going to get started. Just sit down and write.
El Space: What are you working on now? Coe: Right now, I’m working on another YA novel. I’m still in the thinking-on-paper stage, so I’m not really sure what it’s about yet, but it’s fun discovering what this novel wants to be.
Coe, thanks so much for stopping by! You’re welcome anytime! And thanks to everyone else who took time out to join us. I’m giving away a copy of Kinda Like Brothers. Anyone who comments will be entered in the drawing. Winner to be announced Wednesday, October 8.
Can’t wait for that? If you have to have Kinda Like Brothers right now, you can find it here:
The other day, while thinking about how difficult times cause me feel as if I’m in a chrysalis waiting to emerge, I immediately hoped I would emerge as a butterfly instead of a moth. After all, I was aware of butterflies like the following, which appear on many “most beautiful butterflies” lists:
Red lacewing butterfly
Blue morpho butterfly
Purple emperor butterfly
Sadly, my preconceived notions are based on ignorance about moths. But look at this moth:
Royal walnut moth
Pretty isn’t it? I learned about the Royal walnut moth when I searched the Internet to find out what’s great about moths so that I could let go of any misguided thinking concerning them. Among other sources, I found a great article online: “7 Things You Don’t Know About Moths, But Should.” That’s how I learned about another moth:
Atlas moth
The Atlas moth is the largest moth in the world, with a wingspan of over ten inches! How’d you like a moth that large to land on your arm? Or how about the Cecropia moth (not mentioned in the article, but pictured below), with its six-inch wingspan? Still, it’s beautiful too! Like the Royal walnut moth (which has a wingspan of over three to six inches) and the Atlas moth, the Cecropia moth is one of the Saturniidae or saturniid—a family group boasting the largest moths around.
Cecropia moth
Another saturniid is the Tussah moth—a silk moth.
Tussah moth
So moths come in a larger variety than just the tiny brown creatures circling light fixtures in the summer. There are over 12,000 different moths in North America alone.
A couple of the great things about moths unfortunately involve their being food for other creatures, which isn’t a plus if you’re a moth.
So, now I know a little bit more about moths, but I’m still a novice on the subject. But I figured that I could at least make the effort to learn more about them, rather than remain satisfied with my previous level of ignorance.
While researching the different kinds of moths, I immediately thought about diversity and how I make assumptions or sometimes coast on ignorance, rather than make a concerted effort to learn about other cultures. I spent more time looking up facts about moths than I did brushing up on Spanish or Mandarin. (I don’t know much Mandarin, so I’m not impressive in the least. One of my nephews, however, is studying Mandarin. He’s cool.)
The world is such a big place. There are close to seven thousand spoken languages in the world, Mandarin being the most widely spoken. Spanish is second. Don’t believe me? Check here.
It’s time for me to return to learning about other cultures and languages. I’m sure my life will be the richer for it. And someday, when I bust out of that chrysalis, maybe being a moth might be pretty cool too.
Moth or butterfly? Which would you choose? Why?
Royal walnut moth photo from freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Atlas moth photo from Wikipedia. Red lacewing butterfly from mflowers.chromesphere.com. Blue morpho butterfly from hdwallpapersarea.com. Purple emperor butterfly from kamranweb.com. Cecropia moth and chrysalis from commons.wikimedia.org. Tussah moth from Wikipedia.
El Space--The Blog of L. Marie 