Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog!

Where we celebrate new books from Michigan's authors, illustrators and translators.

Congratulations to E.F. Meyette on the release of The Go to Sleep Tree

How did you come up with the idea for your book?

The Go to Sleep Tree is based on two things: a childhood fear I had, and a dream.
As the youngest of nine children, I would lie awake and listen as each sibling came
upstairs to go to bed. With each one, my dread of being awake alone in the middle of the
night grew. And, of course, the more the fear grew, the harder it was to fall asleep.
Sometimes my mother would lay down with me until I finally dozed off.

Years later, during my time as an elementary librarian, I dreamed I was afraid again, but I
could hang my fears on a tree outside my bedroom window. The next morning, when I related this dream to the paraprofessional who worked with me in the library, she said, “That sounds like a children’s book.” The wheels started spinning, and the seed for my book was planted.

What is something you hope your readers will take away from your book?

I hope my book will open up discussion with children about their fears and ways they can
overcome them, or at least feel empowered to face them and look for solutions. I also
hope it will be a fun bedtime story for children. After all, Sam is so cute.

What was the most difficult part of writing this book?

Initially, I had Sam’s mother suggesting solutions for Sam. My editor said Sam had to be
the agent of the action, so I had to rewrite the story so that, with his mother’s support,
Sam came up with the solutions himself.

What are your marketing plans for the book?

I will use Amazon Ads and discount promotions as my main marketing tools as I do for
my novels. I am already booking school visits and author events.

My dream is to create a companion kit with a tabletop model of the Go to Sleep Tree and
papers and ribbons or yarn so children can draw a solution to their own fears and hang
them on the Go to Sleep Tree. I don’t know where to start with this idea, so I’ll have to
do some research.

What's next for you?

Besides finishing two novels I’m working on, I have seven more children’s books in the
hopper. One of them is based on another childhood experience, this time having a
“second home” at my neighbors where it was blissfully calm and orderly unlike my home
with children and teens running all over the place.

A little bit about the book . . .

Six-year-old Sam cannot go to sleep because he is worried. He worries about the bully at
school, he worries about the big dog down the street, and most of all, he worries that
everyone in his family will fall asleep before he does. Sam is afraid that he will be alone
and awake in the middle of the night. Then Sam discovers the power of the Go to Sleep
Tree.

Amazon

A little bit about the author . . .

When E.F. Meyette first heard, “Once upon a time…,” she knew storytelling would be
a part of her life. One of her favorite positions as an educator was as the school
librarian at an elementary building where she could have green eggs in the morning,
visit a dinosaur in the afternoon, and learn everything she needed to know from
kindergarteners. Though she taught literature at all grade levels from K-12, her love
for children’s picture books led her to write her own.