Book Birthday Blog with Rebecca Grabill

Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog! 

Where we celebrate new books by Michigan's children's book authors and illustrators

Congratulations to Rebecca Grabill on the release of her new book,  A YEAR WITH MAMA EARTH!

Q#1: Congratulations on the release of A Year With Mama Earth! What inspired you to write a book about the seasons?

Thank you! I’m thrilled to see this book become a reality. I had the luxury of growing up in Michigan with our four vividly distinct, often unpredictable seasons, and so many of my childhood memories are “hooked” on a remembrance of the seasonal weather, like getting off the school bus in the afternoon, dripping sweat, because my sweater and corduroys that were cozy that September morning were now waaaay too warm. Or scuffing through a golden carpet of leaves, stuffing snow in my brother’s hood, catching the first spring worms after a rain.

For me, seasons are a way of telling time, a way nature communicates where I am in the year, where I’m headed. It felt natural to use that inspiration to encourage children to listen and see if Mama Earth is whispering to them as well!

Q#2: What’s something you hope readers will take away from your book?

Stillness. More than anything I want to cultivate stillness. It’s only when we put our devices down, turn off the video games, close Spotify, take the earbuds out that we can hear, truly hear: nature, one another, our own thoughts. Hearing is essential to experiencing, to living, to empathizing, to understanding. And our culture is sadly out of practice.

I also want kids to get outside, explore their area’s own seasonal uniquenesses. This book is set in Michigan because that’s my experience, and I have the benefit of living in an “idyllic” Hallmark-channel locale with brilliant fall leaves and serene winter snow. A book about seasons set in Hawaii or the Arizona desert, for example, would be very, very different. But if children develop stillness they can sense the subtle nuances no matter where they are. December smells different than July, even in New Mexico, Texas, Tokyo. The book won’t speak directly to every child’s experience (no book can do that), but it can help enhance their experience no matter where they are, and it can either broaden their experience by painting a picture of another place, or affirm it with its similarities! Both are valuable outcomes, both desperately needed.

One of Rebecca's photos, featured in
Sweetened Condensed

Q#3: Your writing for this book is described as “a poetic exploration of the seasons”. Where does the inspiration for that lyrical voice come from? Do you have any favorite poets, or are there certain themes in nature that you find especially inspiring?

Where to start? There are so many poets I admire, I can only begin to list them: Mary Logue, Jane Kenyon, Dorianne Laux, Ron Koertge… Rumi, Edgar Allen Poe, the ubiquitous Emily Dickinson. I’m drawn to poets who don’t use the form to show how educated or smart they are (i.e., poems full of allusions to “classic lit,” even when I get the allusion. Paint the form with words and leave Plato in his cave). I’m drawn to poetry that sees language as a means of communicating—to others, language that’s playful, meaningful, accessible.

As for themes, I find the cycle of nature inspiring (as it is exhausting). Every year the natural world is either improving upon itself or slipping more toward chaos, like my garden, now in a second year of neglect. It’s amazing how dominant mint can be! I also love exploring the sensory experience of nature, the silliness and unpredictability of it, the mind-boggling complexity and intelligence of it. Science has shown that even trees communicate, that nature it has a mind, or a mind behind it. I’m convinced that those who believe this living mind emerged randomly, no matter over how many millennia, have far, far, far more faith than I could ever summon. I love to witness and celebrate that stunning complexity, to feel my own smallness, to express what it feels like to be significant in the face of that grand insignificance.

Q#4: You make a lot of activity pages, crafts, and teacher’s resources. What inspired you to start doing this, and what do you hope it adds to the experience of reading your books?

The reason is largely pragmatic—I have a background in graphic design and over the years have made oodles of quick worksheets for kids because it’s so hard to find *just the right* worksheet, and to find it for free. Serendipitously, I stumbled upon Teachers Pay Teachers, a website where educators can sell the very resources they stay up late creating on Sunday nights. This led to imagining how my books might be used in the classroom. I realized I could save educators a step—they don’t have to stay up late making worksheets, because I already made them!

I also feel it’s an effective use of my (severely limited) time and energy. There’s tremendous value to doing events (and I do go to schools and bookstores, even to the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum!), but as mother of six children who are all busy and going in different directions, a school visit isn’t a simple “show and do” event. I have to arrange childcare for the toddler, the homeschooled 2nd grader gets a “day off” from school (homeschoolers don’t get subs), and my husband has to be available for the ECSE school bus, which means someone else has to pick up teens from high school, etc. It’s madness.

I can create printables at home, in my pajamas (though, confession, I don’t. I hate staying in pjs all day — sorry to all the pj fans out there). The added benefit of an online resource is that once that resource is online, it’s there FOREVER. A school visit lasts a few hours in a specific location with a limited range of influence; a well-designed printable is perennial, global, and as eternal as the internet itself.

One of Rebecca's printables, find it here

Q#5: What’s next for you? Where can we find A Year With Mama Earth, and how can people connect with you?

Ooh, good question! Next up is a book of poetry set to release October 10th. Flying Ketchup Press, a new indie publisher is launching with a select handful of books, mine included. Sweetened Condensed is about motherhood, daughterhood, the life of a writer, and is illustrated with my own b&w photos. I hope it touches on the universal—what it means to be a writer-mom who feels like one of those single-serve pats of butter that needs to cover the whole dang loaf of bread. That book will soon be available on Amazon, and I think could be a fun book group read! And wouldn’t you know, I’m creating a book-group-guide that will be on my website sometime next month. (Be warned: it’s *not* poetry for children! About them, yes, and so much more. For them, nope.)

A Year With Mama Earth will be available from bookstores and on Amazon. Plus, if anyone wants a SIGNED copy, just call Hopscotch Children’s Store in Grand Rapids. They can arrange for me to come in and sign, and either ship the book or set it aside for pick-up.

I’ll actually be at Hopscotch September 28th from 4-5:30 to lead a story time, read the book, and sign copies. I would LOVE to meet all of you in person, so stop on by! If October is better, I’ll also be at Baker Books in Grand Rapids the morning of October 10th for a special story time with crafts, snacks, and nature-related fun.

Otherwise, I’m active on instagram @rebeccawritesbooks, and present on twitter and FB. Plus, I hope everyone will visit my website, rebeccagrabill.com. You’ll see that I don’t do *just* printables. I have creative resources and an ever-growing collection of tools for writers, creatives, educators, and parents. Like the printable nature journal I’ll be releasing one month at a time all year!

One last thing, I would LOVE for you to friend me on Goodreads and follow on Amazon! Send me your links and I’ll do the same (we need some Goodreads and Amazon link list, don’t you think?).

A little bit about the book: In September, Mama Earth sighs out the first autumn frost, which crunches under children’s feet. Mama Earth looks after nature’s plants and animals throughout the year—singing lullabies to fat bears in the fall, dressing evergreens in icicles in winter, and waking up the crocuses in spring. And in the summer, Mama Earth sends warm sunbeams to her beloved children, so they can play outside and enjoy the amazing world around them.

With enchanting text and radiant artwork, A Year with Mama Earth offers a joyous celebration of nature’s beauty and the changing seasons.

A little bit about the author: Rebecca Grabill is an award-winning author of the picture books, Halloween Good Night (Atheneum, Simon & Schuster), Violet and the Woof (Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins), A Year With Mama Earth (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers) and the forthcoming poetry chapbook, Sweetened Condensed (Flying Ketchup Press). Her other publications include poetry and essays in a broad range of literary journals. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and is a Sustainable Arts Foundation awardee. Her children’s and general market works are represented by Victoria Wells Arms of Wells Arms Literary, and religious works by Karen Neumair of Credo Communications.

She lives in rural Michigan with her husband, six children, and two cats. Find the latest updates at her blog, Works in Progress. 

Ask the Editor with Katherine Gibson

Welcome to our quarterly Ask the Editor feature! Katherine Gibson is an editor at Zonderkidz and was previously at Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. She's collecting questions from SCBWI-MI members and sharing her answers with our community. Did you miss her other Q&As? See the links at the end of this post.

Here's Katherine:

Hi everyone! Huge THANK YOU to everyone who sent me their questions! I hope all of you, whether you submitted a question or not, find this post helpful and informative.

As with my previous Ask the Editor posts, I humbly request that you take my comments in the spirit in which they’re intended. The advice here is meant to be friendly and helpful, and I don’t want anyone to finish this post feeling vulnerable or discouraged. We’re all in the process of growing and changing as writers, and that’s a good thing! 

Also, a general disclaimer that my thoughts are my own; I do not speak on behalf of all publishing. If I say something that you really don’t agree with, or you’ve received comments from an editor or agent that directly conflict with my perspective, you can disregard my comments if you so choose. What you find here is solely one editor’s perspective. 

Finally, if you have any questions about writing or publishing that aren’t addressed here, please feel free to email me. I’m always happy to gather questions for my next post!

Thanks so much, and happy reading/writing! 

With regard to quiet books, are there certain topics that are more marketable than others? What makes a quiet story stand out, and is a first-time author at a disadvantage by submitting a quiet book?

Great questions! For me, a quiet story that's gorgeously written is definitely compelling, and I think from a marketing standpoint, if the story focuses on a POC or a particular social issue (socioeconomic status, LGBTQ rights, etc.), then even if the story itself is a quiet one, it could still gain lots of attention since there's such a demand for diverse books in the marketplace. 

I do think that for a first-time author, a manuscript that's flashy/trendy/high concept could make a publisher more willing to take a chance on someone who's making their debut, as publishers generally want a strong hook for the book, and that's usually either the concept or the author's platform. That said, I've seen plenty of authors make their debuts with quiet books, so it can definitely be done! 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on illustration notes. I realize it's a very individual matter, but what’s the best approach in your opinion?

You're absolutely right to say that it's an individual matter, though I think for most editors, when it comes to illustration notes, less (or in this case, fewer) is more. Personally, I prefer that the only illustration notes in a manuscript are put in because they're important to the understanding of the book. For example, if the manuscript has a sound effect, like BANG or KAPOW, and it’s not clear from the text what’s happening to create that sound effect, an art note could help explain the physical action.

If the illustration note isn't necessary to the story, I generally advise writers to leave it out; artists like having room to be creative just as much as writers do, so most artists don't want the illustrations dictated too much.

Do you have a word count limit in mind when you evaluate fiction picture books?

I don't personally have a specific limit, though a picture book manuscript that's too wordy for the subject matter is definitely a red flag. Generally speaking, most editors and agents expect a fiction picture book to be less than 1000 words, so that's a good rule of thumb for writers to keep in mind. (Nonfiction picture books are typically longer, but not dramatically so — maybe 1300-1500 words for the norm.) 

I think it was Neil Gaiman who said that children's book writers have to be able to justify every word they use, and I think that's true — in picture books, every word has to do its job. Some fiction picture books are going to run longer than the average, and that’s okay, as long as it can be justified. But something that never fails to impress me is when a picture book writer manages to convey depth and nuance with just a few hundred words. 

The picture book biography market feels saturated, but I still hear about many people who are currently working on them. What should writers consider to ensure their picture book biography stands out in a crowded marketplace? 

You’re totally right to point out that there have been a plethora of picture book biographies in recent years, but while the market has definitely cooled, I wouldn’t say it’s completely saturated yet. I think publishers are still open to taking on picture book biographies; they’re just a bit more discerning about the ones they take on. I think for a picture book biography to make a splash, there needs to be something surprising about it. 

For example, maybe it’s a significant, previously untold story (like Hidden Figures was when it was published). Maybe it’s a diverse, Own Voices story that the author can lend a particular insight to. Maybe it’s a biography that takes place entirely in a person’s childhood, or maybe it’s a biography about a thing rather than a person (such as Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover). 

I think the key thing that determines whether or not a picture book biography works is its relevance. How does it relate to our lives today? How did this person/event impact our world? Why is this a story we need to know about? If you have a strong answer to those questions, then you have a story worth telling, regardless of the market trends.

Is it better to do cold submissions as an unpublished author of picture books or find an agent to represent you? 

I think in general it’s advisable to secure an agent, as they have a ton of industry connections, which can help find the right publisher for your book, plus they can help you deal with some of the more unpleasant parts of the publishing process, such as negotiating contracts. 

That being said, everyone knows how tough it is to find an agent; I think most agents only sign a handful of new clients each year. So if you’ve been searching for an agent and haven’t had any luck, it may be worth sending your submission directly to a publisher. A lot of publishers won’t consider unagented manuscripts, but there are some that will, especially smaller independent presses. 

I think the key for submitting a project — whether it’s to an agent or a publisher — is to research the kinds of books they publish/are looking for. If you can make a strong connection between your manuscript and their list, they’re much more likely to take a closer look.

How are illustrators submitting their work for consideration these days, for both picture books and young adult art? Which social media sites are best for illustrators to use, and how often should you put up images?

You can send art samples digitally of course, but I know a lot of illustrators and artist’s agents who still send postcards featuring their illustrations. (Personally, I like the postcards, because I can tack my favorites above my desk and have an easy reference when I need to look for an illustrator — plus they make my office pretty!) 

For either format, you’ll want to be sure to include a link or URL for your website so agents and editors can scroll through the rest of your portfolio after they’ve seen your sample. Beyond your website, I think it’s great for illustrators to post their work to both Twitter and Instagram. Most designers, agents, and art directors are active on those sites, so it can be a great way to get their attention. 

You don’t need to post new images every day — I’d say once or twice a week would suffice. And it doesn’t have to be finished art, mind you; it can be a quick sketch or a small doodle. (I particularly love when artists post random drawings of their pets or houseplants, but that might just be me.) The point is to show you’re regularly practicing your craft and creating quality art. And the more illustrations you post, the more agents and publishers will feel like they understand your art style.

Which areas do you concentrate on in your editing process? Do you have any criteria that you follow?

The areas I focus on while editing tend to depend on the individual manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses, but in general I concentrate on macroedits in the beginning (plot structure, characterization, theme, etc.) and then work my way down to more microedits (grammar, word choice, and so on).

I’m not sure that I follow a set criteria, but one self-imposed rule I try to follow is this: The first time I read a manuscript through, I try not to do any editing. Instead, I read for comprehension and take notes on things that stand out to me, either good or bad. I like to think of it as the manuscript introducing itself to me. Then once I have a clear picture of the whole story, I’ll go back through it a second time and actually insert those comments where appropriate. 

I think reading the whole manuscript through first helps me to understand the scope of the project. That way, when I go back through the notes I took, I can easily see which issues are going to be the biggest things to tackle, and I know where and how to start the editing process.

Katherine Gibson is an editor for Zonderkidz, having previously worked for Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. She graduated from the University of Denver Publishing Institute in 2013 and has spent the last five years editing and publishing award-winning children’s books, including Sibert Medal and Caldecott Honor book The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus and Plume, which was a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book.

Thank you, Katherine!

To submit a publishing question, email Mitten blog editor Kristin Lenz with "Ask the Editor" in the subject line, and she'll forward your question to Katherine. Or, stay tuned on the SCBWI-MI MichKids listserv – Katherine will ask for questions a few weeks before her next post.


To read Katherine's previous Ask the Editor posts, click on these links:

• https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2019/05/ask-editor-with-katherine-gibson.html
• https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2019/02/ask-editor-with-katherine-gibson.html

Coming up on the Mitten Blog: 

Book Birthdays galore, a Writer Spotlight, a new Featured Illustrator, and another round of Hugs and Hurrahs. We want to celebrate your success! Please email your children's writing and illustrating good news to Patti Richards by Sept. 23rd.

Pinterest: An Introverted Marketers Dream Platform

If you’re not currently familiar with the marketing potential of Pinterest, you ought to be. It’s not only one of the most powerful social media platforms on the planet, it’s free, easy, and great fun to use. All of this and it was recently reported that over 300 million people worldwide are using Pinterest! My friends, it’s time to join the Pinterest parade. We all stand to benefit by doing so.

Infront.com defines Pinterest as being a “social media network that allows users to visually share, and discover new interests by posting (known as pinning) images or videos to their own or others’ boards (a collections of  ‘pins’, usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned.” In a nutshell, users find or create images that represent their interests. These images are then posted on their personal Pinterest platform, intentionally creating a display to be shared by other like-minded users. A savvy marketer adds valuable content to their pins, helpful information that ultimately guides users to purchase their books and services.

I’ve been using Pinterest regularly since 2016 as a platform to showcase books I’ve had the honor to create teacher guides for. Since January of this year, I’ve made a concerted effort to use Pinterest strategically as part of my book launch marketing plan and, I have to say that, I’ve been thrilled with the results. Using Pinterest in this way has broadened the reach for both the Guides by Deb projects and my debut picture book. With time and patience, whether you’re pre-published or a super star, Pinterest can do the same for you, too.

As I see it, there are basically two approaches to using Pinterest as an author or illustrator – one being to create a visual representation highlighting aspects of one’s works in progress. Is your protagonist a mountain climber? Then find and post breathtaking images of the heights she scales. Are you deep in research focused on the brilliance of butterfly wings? Or, are you steeped in a scientific breakthrough or a historical setting of some sort? Whatever your interest, Pinterest can support it. Create themed boards, search the web for stunning images, and pin to your heart’s content. Then invite those who visit your website to stop by your Pinterest platform to be wowed by your masterpieces!

The second approach involves a more systematic plan to attract specific users to one’s platform. In my case, I want educators and homeschoolers to discover the books and guides offered on my website. I also desire to invite those individuals, as well as female athletes and organizations that serve them, to purchase my book. In order to do this, I consistently post and tag what are called “rich pins” that consist of valuable content – blogposts, podcast episodes, videos – that, hopefully, users will find to be informative.  Truth be told, using Pinterest in this strategic way does require more planning and some additional tech background, but I’ve found the end result to be incredible! My once little, lost and lonesome www.guidesbydeb.com website is now host to a large number of hits every single day!

So what do think? Are you ready to give Pinterest a whirl? Create an account. Make some boards. Share some pins. Join in the fun!

Debbie Gonzales is a career educator, curriculum consultant, former school administrator and adjunct professor, and once served as the SCBWI RA for the Austin Chapter.  She's the author of six “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge, and the forthcoming non-fiction picture book Girls with Guts: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records (Charlesbridge, 2019). Deb creates teacher guides for new releases and is the host of The Debcast, a podcast dedicated to the tenacious spirit of the female athlete. Deb earned her MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Subscribe to her podcast on iTunes and/or stop by www.debbiegonzales.com or www.guidesbydeb.com to check out her painlessly promotable content.

Want to learn more? Come to the SCBWI-MI Shop Talk in Ann Arbor for Pinterest Basics for Authors and Illustrators this Saturday, Sept. 14th, 10am - noon.

Debbie Gonzales will give an overview of Pinterest, show you how to manage your own Pinterest platform, and teach how to use a Content Calendar to manage your professional social media. Read more about this free workshop at: https://michigan.scbwi.org/events/scbwi-mi-ann-arbor-shop-talk-11/

Coming up on the Mitten Blog:

It's time for our quarterly Ask the Editor feature where editor Katherine Gibson answers your questions about publishing for children. See you Friday!