FAQs and More…
Familiar Questions!
When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Now that’s a BIG question! From the time I was six years old and wrote my name on my first library card, I knew that I loved both reading and writing. I grew up in Virginia, and the weather there was often … miserable: hot and humid in the summer; cold, slushy gray in the winter – with a few nice weeks each spring and fall. I spent a lot of time at the library, and even more time holed up at home, reading. My mother was Italian and my father was Irish, so there was always lots of lively storytelling – and drama (not to mention good food) – in my house! Plus, there were five children in my family – including my twin brother and me, the youngest of the lot – and we all lived in a tiny house, and I gratefully disappeared into books when there was too much hubbub all around me. I loved books that are still popular today – books by E. B. White, Beverly Cleary (featuring Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby), Betty MacDonald and Hilary Knight (hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle!), Edward Eager (Half Magic), Scott O’Dell, and P. L. Travers. And who wouldn’t want a baby-sitter like Mary Poppins?!
Taking names and keeping a list! Clockwise from lower right: Me, my twin John, my brother Bill, and sisters Shauneen and Kathleen, at home in Falls Church, Virginia.
What kind of books do you write? I’ve written quite a few young educational texts that are used in the classroom with kids who are learning to read and write. The first “trade” books – general interest books rather than texts used in schools – I wrote and published were a pair of middle grade novels for eight- to twelve-year-olds, The Top-Secret Journal of Fiona Claire Jardin and Fiona’s Private Pages. More recently, I’ve published a few warmly received picture books: Bartleby Speaks!, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes; Only You, illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Margaret Chodos-Irvine, who also lives in the Seattle area; and Little Mamá Forgets, illustrated by Stacey Dressen-McQueen;
How did you learn to be a writer? By reading a lot. I have three kids who are now young adults, and they all make gentle fun of me for being such a bookworm. (They thought it was hilarious when I was helping promote the idea of a new central library in downtown San Diego and turned up on the nightly news with a crawl along the bottom of the TV screen that described me as: Robin Cruise: Library Lover!) Although I enjoy listening to live music and watching movies, going to the theater, and exploring museums, I’m absolutely hooked on reading and writing. I’ve always liked making up stories, and writing stories, essays, and other bits to share. Sometimes I keep a journal. Sometimes I just write down morsels of conversation or interesting facts or things I think are strange or funny. I was a newspaper reporter in Denver, Colorado, for many years – and that was excellent training for me as a writer in lots of important ways: I learned to snoop for news and other information, and to really hear what people are saying. I learned how to research a story and check facts. And I learned to be precise, accurate – and how to write and revise quickly. Those are all important skills that I use when I write books for young readers.
What do you like better – writing novels or picture books? Oooh, that’s like asking which of my three children I like better – and of course, I love them all equally and profoundly while welcoming the traits that make each one of them unique. I like writing novels because there’s room in them for me, as the writer, to take my time and roam a bit; in a novel, there’s space in which to reveal a complex character, and to make the setting detailed and interesting. You can take some detours along the way as you tell the story. You can get into trouble in the pages of a novel, then figure out a way to work your way out of the confusion. But a novel is a really big undertaking, and you have to make sure you have the patience and the interest and the stamina to hang out for a good long while with the characters you invent and the plot you put in motion. I love writing picture books because they’re precise, and because I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of using text and illustration to tell and enrich a story. To me, a picture book is a lot like a poem: Everything counts – every word, every comma, every page-turn! Picture books may seem simple because the text is usually short and clear, but writing a picture book is as hard as putting together a really difficult jigsaw puzzle. The magic comes from creating something simple that a child wants to hear or read again and again.
What’s it like to work for a publishing company or a book producer? I feel fortunate to not only occasionally write and publish books for children but to also work for a company that creates terrific books for kids of all ages. It takes many skilled, hard-working, and committed people to create a book: There’s the author, who writes the story, and the editor, who buys the manuscript, shapes it, and then consults the art director to figure out just how it might be illustrated and turned into a … book. There may be an illustrator or a photographer involved in the creative mix, too. There’s the managing editor or project manager, who keeps each book on track, and the copy editor, who helps make sure the spelling and grammar and all the facts are right. There’s the book designer, who figures out what font to use and how the text and the art will work together – and the jacket designer, who creates a cover that makes you want to pick up the book. There’s the production manager, who thinks about what size the book should be, what kind of paper it should be printed on, which printer should manufacture the book – and whether there should be glitter or shiny foil or other fancy flourishes on the front cover. The proofreader is vital in banishing typos and other errors before they turn up in print. Then there are all the people in the marketing and sales departments, who make sure that booksellers, teachers and librarians, and everyone else who might be interested knows about your book and will want to buy it! Plus, there are the pros in the inventory and reprint departments – as well as everyone at the warehouse – who make sure that the customers who want your book can easily buy it! The experts in the finance department keep a close eye on the important business details as each book is developed and sent into the world. Everyone who works in the publishing business hopes (and sometimes prays!) that every book will be successful. With so many people involved – and with so many pieces to pull together to publish every book – it sometimes seems remarkable that publishers are still committed to turning ideas into books.
What are your favorite children’s books? Ahhh, another hard question. The answer depends a lot on my mood at any given moment. If I had to pick a few favorites, they’d include some of the books I’ve already mentioned (see the first question above about becoming a writer), plus Charlotte’s Web, the Madeleine books, almost everything written and/or illustrated by Kevin Henkes, the Frog and Toad books, the Maisy books by Lucy Cousins, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, and The Araboolies of Liberty Street, one of my all-time favorites, written by Sam Swope and illustrated by Barry Root. I guess I’m sort of old-fashioned when it comes to picture books. I’m underwhelmed by many of the popular books written by celebrities, or books that are supposed to be for children but somehow seem to be geared more for adults.
Where do you get the ideas for your books? Not long ago, a young boy asked me if I’d ever written a story about a duck in a truck. “Nope,” I replied. A pig in a rig? “Nuh-uh.” A brain on a train? By then, I was pretty sure that boy was someone who should be writing books for kids! There are so many terrific writers who dream up amazingly clever stories for children, and wonderfully rhythmic, rhyming texts. And there are lots of children’s book authors who are extraordinarily prolific – honestly, I don’t know how they write so many stories! But the more I thought about that boy’s questions, the more I realized that for whatever reason, the stories I write have to mulch for many years before they actually take root as fertile ideas for books. (Patience and persistence are really important traits for any writer who is determined to publish a book.) As for the stories I most want to share with others? They all somehow involve true experiences with the family members and friends whom I hold most dear in my heart.
Then and now! All three of my children – Andrew, Henry, and Hannah (from left to right in both pictures) – have inspired the stories I’ve written, as well as many great adventures.
When you’re not reading and writing, what else do you like to do? I have an eclectic cookbook collection, and I like to experiment in the kitchen and explore tasty little restaurants. I’m committed to yoga and Pilates, and to long walks along the banks of Lake Washington, with the skyline of Seattle shimmering in the sunshine (or drizzle!) across the lake. I enjoy movies and all kinds of music, live theater, and getting lost in museums. I typically read a book or two a week – mostly contemporary fiction, including young adult novels, as well as memoirs and lively nonfiction. I’ve been lucky to benefit from the give-and-take of two extraordinary writing groups over the course of almost 20 years. I love hanging out with my three beloved children, who have turned into kind and interesting young adults. And I especially enjoy spending time in classrooms and bookstores and libraries, with children and teachers and booksellers and librarians who love books.
