FAQs... From the Kids

The kiddos at Coverdell Elementary book reading

Whew! Three schools in two days! But I had a BLAST reading to all of those kiddos and Anne enjoyed explaining the illustration process. I learn something from Anne each time we read together!

From kindergarten through fourth grade, the kids have been asking some great questions. I thought I'd share those that I remembered with you. Here are the responses I gave along with the extended versions after some thought. A sincere thank you goes out to The College School, Coverdell Elementary and Monroe Elementary for two wonderful days!

Why do authors write books?
Because of YOU. YOU are the reason I write books. I always wanted to write children's books, but it wasn't until my son, Jack, started asking the questions which inspired these books. These are stories I have told to him and I wanted to share these stories with all of YOU.

Do you have any other books?
I have one other book that's already written and a few others that are partially written. Remember the spooky story I read to you all? The one that's partially written? Anne, my illustrator, is working on the illustrations to those other  books right now.

Will you come back when the others are written?
Absolutely! We would love to come back! How about we visit you this fall, close to Halloween, when the spooky book is written? And please know that it's really not a spooky book. It's about a little child, like you, and his imagination that made him scared, but their parent helped them figure out that there was nothing to be scared of. I can't wait to visit you when that book is done!

How long have you been writing?
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. When I was in first or second grade, I wrote a story called The Magic Piano. It was pretty bad. It was full of a lot of "and he said", "and she said", "and he said", "and she said". My dad was an English teacher; he taught me how to write poetry and I've been writing poetry on a regular basis for about 20 years. I have also been the editor for a few newsletters.

If you've written so much poetry, maybe you could publish that into a book!
Maybe I will. I've been thinking the exact same thing!

Did you always like to draw?
(Anne) Yes, for as long as I can remember. In fact, I can remember drawing a lot when I was your age.

How did you make the pictures?
(Anne) Becky sent me the story, her words, then I tried to picture in my mind how to illustrate those words. That's what an illustration is. It's like when you read a story, you know how you use your imagination to picture the story in your mind? It's like that. I sketched them in pencil, then when I knew that's what I wanted, I scanned it into the computer then used the computer to color in the sketches. The computer has tools to color in the sketches just like a paint brush is a tool.


Well, there were soooooooooooooooooooooo many wonderful questions, but that's what I remembered. If there are any kids out there with any other questions or if I missed your question above, feel free to reply to this post or email me at JacksBackBooks@gmail.com.

Thanks again, kiddos, for a wonderful week and HAVE A GREAT SUMMER. And remember: Read, read, read!