We’re back with my final three guest authors!
I’ve talked about why I wanted to feature works from friends (Part 1), we talked about how I approached the project (Part 2). Today I’m going to say something about trust. It might seem naive and, in light of yesterday’s post about control, contradictory, but I genuinely went into this collaboration idea with no concerns that it wouldn’t work. This wasn’t a huge leap of faith, I knew something of most every author’s work. And in the case where I hadn’t actually seen their writings, I knew them personally. And in the cases where I didn’t know their writing and barely knew them, I had the endorsement of people I trust. And in the case where I hadn’t seen their writing, didn’t know them, and wasn’t given an endorsement, I figured what the heck. What’s the worse that can happen?
How’d it all shake out? Well, in all but one case where I had to edit a bit for length, the pieces came back as near perfect first drafts. A word or two may have been tweaked, but for the most part, they are all presented as I received them. “Impossible,” I hear you say, “How can this be?”
I will say this: there is a chance I am an easy audience, have no taste, and wouldn’t know a gerund from a gerbil. But to suppose that would be also to suppose that the nine writers who so kindly contributed to my book, too, wouldn’t know gerunds from gerbils (the mark of a truly great author is knowing that difference, by the way). You really want to go around this earth insulting nine authors? The better course is to trust that I’m an incredible judge of character.
THE GAME!
Below are three of these fine humans, Sylvia Chen, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic, and Lissette Norman. Below them are the three donuts they used as a creative prompt. Which donut do you think each author picked? Read their bios, look at the donuts and see if you can match them.
SYLVIA CHEN!
Born and raised in New York, Sylvia Chen is an Asian American children’s book author with her upcoming debut picture book TRICKY CHOPSTICKS releasing soon on March 19, 2024 (illus. Fanny Liem; Atheneum/Simon & Schuster). Sylvia currently resides in the Seattle area with her husband and two sons. She loves crafting picture books that spark kids’ interest in STEAM and creative thinking, and often stays up late into the night puzzling away with wordplay and working on quirky ideas. www.sylviaichen.com
STEPHANIE V.W. LUCIANOVIC!
Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic writes books in the San Francisco Bay Area surrounded by a couple of cats, a couple of kids, and a husband. A writer for over two decades, she is the author of SUFFERING SUCCOTASH: A PICKY EATER’S QUEST TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE HATE THE FOODS WE HATE (NF 2012); THE END OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL (PB 2019); HELLO, STAR (PB 2021); THE LEAGUE OF PICKY EATERS (MG 2021); WHAT IS HOPE (PB 2023); HUMMINGBIRD SEASON (MG 2024), TOUCH THE SKY (PB 2024), ZOMBIE AND BRAIN ARE FRIENDS (PB 2025), and WHEN BREATHING IS TOO LOUD (PB 2025). You can learn about all her books and more at www.stephanielucianovic.com.
LISSETTE NORMAN!
Lissette Norman is a poet and author of the picture books My Feet Are Laughing and Plátanos Go with Everything. She is also co-author of the picture books, Until Someone Listens (w/ Estela Juarez), which was a 2023 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award finalist, and On the Line: My Story of Becoming the First African-American Rockette (w/ Jennifer Jones). Lissette was awarded the New York Foundation for the Arts – 2018Artist Fellowship in Fiction, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Grant, and the Millay Arts, Hedgebrook and Martha’s Vineyard Writer’s residencies. She was also an Author-in-Residence for the BookUpNYC program through the National Book Foundation. Lissette received her BA in English at SUNY-Binghamton and currently lives in New York City. www.lissettenorman.com
And here are the donuts:
What are your guesses? Which donut “spoke” to each author? Did Sylvia (youth recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats award) want to pay homage to young writers by choosing the Sesame Street Typewriter Guy? Did Stephanie (cloudy water child of Minnesota) want to honor the fog-giving Pacific Ocean? Did Lissette (author of MY FEET ARE DANCING and co-author of ON THE LINE) want to organize the wayward Touchdown Donuts into a tidy chorus line?
Put your guesses (and for bonus virtual points, your reasoning) in the comments below.
ps – If you want to see their donutty words, you will have to get the book! Available as a pay what you want pdf download or in delicious paperback.
Okay here is what I think:
The Great Wave Dount – belongs to Lissette because she just looks like she loves the beach when else do can your feet laugh other than touching he sand.
Touchdown Dounut – belongs Stephanie because when you deal with picky eaters, getting something in their mouth is at least 6pts.
Typewriter Dounut – belongs to Sylia as per Stan Lee NUFF SAID.
LOL, Delano! Does it change your answer that I not only “deal” with picky eaters but I used to be one? Hmmmm.
Well, Jerrold, perhaps this is more of a rorschach for me than the authors, LOL, but I’ll try.
I go with Stepahie and the wave, because the wave looks like a drooling dino wearing a baby bonnet…and that dino will only eat that donut. Nothing else.
I go with Sylvia and the touchdown donut, because it looks like her emoji bookcharts…if all of the emojis fell down the face of the chart, leaving one surprised emoji (donut) hovering above the others.
So that leaves Lissette with the rolling donut typewriter, having made it through all those hills it had to climb, with all four donut wheels intact. In fact, those hills can eat that typewriter’s dust. B-bye!