Interview #19: Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Today we are happy to share an interview with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen!  She has written over 30 books for children and also runs the blog Nerdy Chicks Rule.  I had the privilege of illustrating one of her latest picture books called Orangutangled.  Three of the Z-Girls and I chatted about the book, and then Sudipta joined in for an interview about the origins and inspirations behind Orangutangled.  As is typical, writer and illustrator didn't interact at all during the creation of the book, so this interview is the first time we've ever actually talked together.   Thanks for the conversation, Sudipta!  (portrait by Gracie)

Dad:  Okay girls, who can tell us about Orangutangled?

Evangeline (age 6):  Some monkeys wake up and are looking for food.  They see some mangoes.  They reach and try to grab them, but they all fall down.
Lily (age 11):  And when they fell out of the tree, it splatted all the mangoes. 
Gracie (age 14):  Juice everywhere.
Evangeline:  The monkeys all get sticky’d and tangled up.  Then they rolled, and some more persons got tangled up too.  More and more and more persons.
Dad:  Persons?
Evangeline:  Well, not persons.
Gracie:  A yak and a boar...
Dad:  So is that it?  Tangled up.  The end.
Evangeline:  No, no, no, no, no.  That’s not the end.  Because we still have to tell the part where there is a tiger, and they are all like, “Ahh! Teeth! The teeth are making me scared!”  The animals just don’t like the look of the scary teeth.
Gracie:  He’s going to eat them.
Evangeline:  They rolled and rolled and rolled, and the tiger gets knocked in the water.
Lily:  And at the end he’s floating away on a log in the ocean.  It’s kind of sad.  Poor little tiger.
Evangeline:  It’s an awesome story.
Lily:  Where does the tiger go?
Dad:  He’s going to look for Pi.
Gracie: (rolling eyes)  Gosh, Dad.  That was bad, Dad.
Lily:  He means, “The Life of Pi,” Grace.
Gracie:  I know.  That was such a bad joke.
Dad:  What’s your favorite part of the story, Evie?
Evangeline:  I like the biggest tangle.  When everybody is tangled, even the tiger.
Gracie:  The tiger is adorable.
Lily:  I think this story must have been fun to illustrate.
Gracie:  I like the baby yak and the little bird and the expression on the tiger’s face.   
Lily:  I like the fact that the yak is a mom and not just a plain yak.
Gracie:  The yak’s a woman.
Dad:  That’s something I would love to ask the author.  Why did she write “mama yak”?  She could have picked any adjective.  Hairy.  Sleepy.  Happy.  Why “mama”?  The fact that she’s a mom really doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the story.  But it led to big ramifications for the illustrations.
Lily:  Well, I think it makes sense.  Because a mother would be more likely to come help out than some random lady would.
Gracie:  A mom would be the first person to help.  A mom would be the most sympathetic.  She’d be the first person to say, “Oo – I have to help those poor people.” 
Lily:  It makes sense.
Dad:  Alright, we’ll ask and see!  Now, have you guys ever gotten tangled up before?
Gracie:  I got my head stuck in a chair once when I was little.
Dad:  I remember that!
Gracie:  Actually, it wasn’t my head – it was my whole body.  My waist got stuck between the rungs of a chair.  You had to use butter to get me out, and that didn’t work.  So you put shampoo in there, and that didn’t work.  And we didn’t want to cut up the chair because it was one of our nice dining room chairs.
Dad:  How did we end up getting you out?
Gracie:  You just kept putting more and more butter and shampoo on me.
Lily:  Hee hee hee!
Dad:  I think that sounds like a new book idea!
Gracie:  There were large clumps of butter all up and down my waist.
Lily:  Once at church I got my hair snarled around a button on Ashleigh’s shirt.  A teacher had to come save us.
Dad:  Was it a mama teacher?  Let’s put your theory to the test.
Lily:  Actually, yes it was.
Dad:  Any last words about the book before we start the interview?
Gracie:  It’s fun.  I think children would really enjoy this.  Kids love rhymes.  Kids love brightly colored animals.  And what kid doesn’t love juice?!? 

And now for our interview with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen!
 

Gracie:  Hi!!!

Dad:  How are you?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Hello, I’m doing well.  There are a zillion of you…
Dad:  Well, three of the kids are here…  Three nerdy chicks...
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  It feels like a zillion to me.  I’m so happy with the way the book came out, and I hope you are too.  When my son saw the book, he said “I want to draw like that.”
Dad:  Aw, that’s cool!  A great compliment, especially coming from a family member of the author.  Well, does someone want to launch in with a question?  Do you want to go first, Evie?  This is the first time Evie has joined us for an interview.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I’m so excited – this is the first time I’ve joined you for an interview too.
Dad:  Go ahead…
Evangeline:  When did the idea for Orangutangled start? 
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I came up with the idea many, many years ago.  I really like wordplay, and I was sitting down with a list of zoo animals.  I got to “Orangutan” and thought, “What word could I change a little to make something funny out of this.”  And when I found “Tangled,” I immediately had this idea of orangutans with their big long arms all tied up in a ball.  But it’s a big journey from an idea like that to a finished story. 
Gracie:   It takes a long time.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Two years is a long time to spend on one story that can be read at bedtime in 7 minutes.  But it’s super cool that when I publish a book, my name is on the cover.  I think it’s important that when your name is on something, you are really proud of it.  You need to take the time until you get the right ideas.
Gracie:  I’m not a rusher.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Good for you.  So I had the idea of being tangled.  And that made me think about a big mess.  And a big mess made me think of a bad day.  And when you have a bad day it can feel like it’s rolling and snowballing out of control.  Sometimes when things look terrible, it’s really hard to remember that it gets better.  You can be covered in mango juice… and tangled up with an orangutan… and a tiger… and it looks like you are going to drown in the ocean… but then everything works out.  It’s about keeping the faith.  It’s easy to do when things are going well.  But when things are tough, it’s really hard to believe that it's all going to work out.
Gracie:  Woah.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Hah ha ha…
Dad:  Did you realize the story was so deep?  A picture of hope?
Gracie:    
I know there are books like that out there with  a bunch of symbolism.  But I never really expect that from children’s books. 
Lily:  It sounds all spiritual.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  There are a lot of things that authors do that no one else is aware of.
Gracie:  Sometimes we interview people and talk about silly things like giraffes on jet skis.  And sometimes we interview people, and within the first two seconds it’s like, we’re going to have to have an adult conversation...
Lily:  In a LOT of your books there are people who make messes.  I was wondering if that is inspired by your kids.  Or were you messy when you were younger?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I’ll tell you a secret – I’m still messy. My kids’ bedrooms are pretty clean because they have a mom who is yelling at them saying “Go clean up your room!”  But my room is just mess because no one yells at me in my house. 
Dad:  Any messes around our house? 
Evangeline:  Uh, yes.
Lily:  In every single room of the house.
Dad:  And whose fault is that?
(Everyone points to Evie)
Dad:  Oh!  All the fingers are pointing the same way...  And Evie doesn’t appear to be denying it...
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I have three kids, and yeah – there’s a lot of mess.  And different kinds of messes.  You can literally drop paint all over the floor, but you can also make mistakes that make a mess of things.  What is great about family is that when you’re with the people who love you, they can help you through the mess.  I think I try to work with that theme a lot in my writing because as a parent it’s what I’m telling my kids.  But as a person, I have to remind myself of that too.  It’s okay when I make mistakes; it’s not the end of the world. 
Gracie:  Woah, more deep symbolism... Family!  Love!  
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  We all have those moments -- in my life I’ve had a LOT of those moments.  In many of my stories I try to highlight the mistakes people make.  Not because I am trying to put them down -- I’m actually trying to show that in real relationships these mistakes shouldn’t matter.  A lot of times we can look back and laugh them off.  When you guys make a mess, even when your parents are upset, do you ever feel that they are going to stop loving you?
Evangeline:  Nope.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Isn’t that awesome?  Doesn’t that feel great to know there are people who are always going to love you no matter what you do?
Evangeline:  Yeah.
Gracie:  Are any of the characters in your books inspired by someone specific that you know?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Yes.  Although most of the time... the character is me.   I write about the people - and for the people - who are close to me. 
Gracie:  I never really thought about it, but I do that too.  My friend Katie and I write stories for each other.  And we write about things we know a lot about. 
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I write about things that are important in my life.  They are important, even if they are things I don’t like.  For instance, when I pick names for the bad guys in my books, I think about kids who are mean to my children, and I use their names.  That’s a lesson kids should learn!  If you are mean to my children, I’m going to make you a bad guy in my book!
Gracie:  Ha ha ha ha…
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  So that’s something important to me in a different way.  I don’t like what those kids are doing, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  I can’t go tell someone else’s kids how to behave.  In life you get what you get.  But when you write a story you have complete control.  You can give your characters the ending they deserve.  Sometimes they deserve to be happy.  And sometimes they deserve...
Dad: …to be floating on a log in the middle of the ocean.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Exactly!  That’s really powerful.  We can’t control the world.  That’s not what life is.  But when we write, we can make the world what we want.
Lily:  Which character are you in Orangutangled?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I am… the shorter orangutan…
All: Laughter
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I guess I am the orangutans. I’m definitely the characters who start the problems. 
Evangeline:  Do you like mangoes?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I do.  I do.  My parents are immigrants from India.  And when I was growing up we would go to India almost every summer to see their families.  They had big families – my mother had 11 brothers and sisters, and my father had 9 brothers and sisters – so there were cousins and aunts and uncles and all sorts of people.  And gosh, the mangoes in India are so luscious and juicy and sweet.  But for me, mangoes don’t just taste sweet, but they remind me of a lot of really sweet memories. 
Gracie:  So writing about mangoes was more than just a random choice?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I don’t think I sat down and said, “What is my favorite childhood fruit?”  When we write, we don’t think about… what is the most significant thing about my 2nd grade year? Our minds just automatically go to the important things.  I think that happened here a little bit.
Lily:  Why did you put a yak and a boar in the book instead of other animals?  Were they more than random picks too?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I am really, really nerdy.  Even though I’m writing a fictional book about orangutans that get tangled up and roll down a hill, I researched orangutan’s natural habitats to pick animals that would appear with them.  I didn’t want them to be chased by a lion, because lions don’t live in the same places -- but tigers do.  I am already asking you to believe something that doesn’t make any sense – that these orangutans would go rolling down a hill instead of finding something else to eat.  Since I’m asking you to believe one thing that’s unbelievable, I feel like it helps my readers if I give them a nice logical basis.  So the first step is to identify all the animals in the habitat; the second step is to pick which animals are easy to rhyme with.  Yak rhymed really well with things like “back” and “thwak.” 
Lily:  Why was it a MAMA yak instead of just a normal yak?
Dad:  That was a question I had as an illustrator.  Why that adjective...
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I needed another word for the syllable count.  So what’s the adjective to put in there?  She could have been a silly yak… some other adjective like that.  But I also thought her action seemed very maternal.  It seemed very much like what a parent would do.  A parent would come in and say, “Oh my goodness, I’m just going to fix this for you.”
Gracie:  That’s what we thought!  We thought it was motherly instinct.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Good for you!  That makes me happy.  Sometimes I talk about my inspirations and motivations, and people look at me like… Really?  The book’s about that?  So I like that you understand why I wrote it that way.
Dad:  I had just approached that word from the art side.  Okay, she’s a mama yak.  What are the ramifications for me as the illustrator?  Well, I have to show that she’s a mama.  Which means I have to introduce a baby.  But I didn’t want the poor little baby to be left all alone when everyone else gets tangled up.  So I gave the orangutans a frog friend that could later keep the baby yak company.  But if they both have buddies, the boar should have a buddy too -- so I gave him a bird.  The number of characters in the book multiplied, all because of one little word, “mama.”  None of those other little characters would have existed if you’d picked a different adjective.
Gracie:  So it’s a good thing you wrote “mama” yak!
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I love how you did that.  For me it also added another layer.  You had all these characters watching from the fringes, but in the end they share in the reward too.  And when I read this book to younger kids, I’ve seen them identify with those little characters.  Younger kids aren’t always in on their family’s adventure, but they do want to feel like they are part of things.  And those characters give them a proxy in a way that I didn’t think of – well, you know it wasn’t in the manuscript – you added those.  I think it added such a beautiful extra layer.
Evangeline:  What is your favorite part of the book?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  My favorite scene is when the tiger gets all tangled up.
Evangeline:  That’s my favorite part too!
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I think it’s funny and unexpected.  And you don’t know what’s going to happen – a little bit worried about how this is going to turn out...  Is there only going to be one orangutan at the end?
Kids: Ha ha heh hah!
Dad:  That would have been a very different book.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  And let me show you my favorite picture… I love this spread.  How you’ve got the tiger out there floating in the ocean.  In my head, I thought the tiger was going to be eating the mangoes with them.  But the truth is, that doesn’t make any sense.  Tigers wouldn’t do that!  So I think it solved the logical problem of the book.  But it also made me think of that movie, Life of Pi –
Kids:  GAAAAAASP!
Lily:  Dad said that!  I was like, where is the tiger going?  And dad said “He’s going to find Pi.”
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  Oh my goodness!
Dad:  And they all groaned at me!  The kids all made horrible noises.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  No, I totally thought that too!  I even called the publisher at one point and said, “I love the Life of Pi reference.”  And they were like…“We don’t know what you are talking about.”
Dad:  It wasn’t an intentional reference when I drew it.  This was just something I said RIGHT before we called you.  And the kids all groaned and shook their heads.
Gracie:  He was making jokes. “Dad Jokes” are not funny jokes.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  You guys would get along with my kids just fine… “My mother is not funny at all.”  And I’m like, “Are you kidding?  I go to schools and I’ve got 300 kids laughing – everyone thinks I’m funny!”
Kids: He hee hee ha…
Lily:  I have one more question.  I noticed that in a lot of your books the words rhyme.  Is there a reason for that?  Is writing in rhyme easier for you?  Or do you just like the way it sounds?
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  I love the way rhyming sounds.  And actually, yes, it is easier for me to write in rhyme.  It gives structure.  I know I want one verse per spread, so it forces me to write short and to really focus on the important things in the story.  When I’m not writing in rhyme and can put as many sentences as I want into a paragraph, I find that I write stories that are 10 times too long.  So for me, it’s easier to be a good writer when I have rules.  Probably because I went to school to be a scientist.  I’m used to following rules and procedures. 
Evangeline:  I like rhyming stories better.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  You can have a lot of fun with rhymes.
Dad:  Well thanks so much for talking with us!
Evangeline:  Yeah thanks!
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen:  It was very cool to talk to you guys.
Evangeline:  It was good, it was good, it was good.
Lily:  Bye! 
Evangeline:  She gave good answers!

jumping tiger, swinging ape; by Evangeline

sticky orangutans, by Lily

the little buddies, by Gracie

Author: Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Illustrator: Aaron Zenz
Published 2014: Two Lions
Like it?  Here it is!!!

Time for a Giveaway!  Leave a comment below about the interview for the chance to win 2 copies of Orangutangled - one for you and one for you to give to a friend - both signed by author and illustrator.  We'll announce winners at the end of October...  Good luck!

Review #123: "I Love Ewe" and "Hug a Bull"

Dad:  Today we’re celebrating two new books:  “I Love Ewe” and “Hug a Bull”!

Elijah (age 7):  I want to tell everyone something.  These books are written by my dad.

Dad:  Does that seem strange?

Gracie (age 12):  It seems normal to me.

Elijah:  Lots of dads make books.

Dad:  They do?

Gracie:  These books would be good for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Dad:  Thanks, “Marketing Department!”

Gracie:  You’re welcome.

Isaac (age 14):  These are also “learning books.”

Elijah:  They are about Daddy and Mommy animals.  The books tell you their names.

Dad:  So, animal moms and dads have names.

Elijah:  Of course they have names!

Dad:  Names like “Mac” and “Thorin” and “Darleen”?
Elijah:  No those are just the names of my fish.  My fish that died. 

Dad:  You’ve had a lot of fish that have died.

Elijah:  Yeah.  Also my fish Bob.  And Bob 2.  And Bob 3.  And Burp.

Dad:  So what kind of names are in these books then?

Lily (age 10):  I know!  I know!  Boy and girl names.  They teach you lots of animal names you never knew before.  And some of them are fun to say – like “Gobbler.”  And “Peahen.”

Dad:  Let’s all say “Peahen” together.

Elijah:  And a mommy octopus is called a “Hen.”

Gracie:  The little baby octopus on this page is the cutest little thing ever!  He’s adorable.  And I’m falling in love with that little crab.  I love all the little underwater babies!

Lily:  I know another name!  Guess what a mommy cow is called?  A Rhino!  Wait – I mean a mommy rhino is called a Cow.

Dad:  Yeah – it doesn’t work in reverse.

Lily:  Hee hee hee!  A mommy cow is just called a Cow.

Dad:  Simple and confusing at the same time.

Isaac:  Is a girl goat called a “Hootin’ Nanny” or just a “Nanny”?

Dad:  Nanny. 

Isaac:  Because “Hootin’ Nanny” sounds awesome!

Dad:  Well, a hootenanny is like a southern… music… party… thing.  See, I made it into a pun for the book.  There's lots of puns and wordplay.

Gracie:  I hate puns.

Dad:  Oh!  A glowing endorsement for these books!

Gracie:  I do like the puns in these.  I only hate annoying puns.  Like when they are on Valentines cards.

Lily:  I just made up a rhyme: “The Mayor of Horse / is the Mare of course.”

Gracie:  Dad, you had to draw a horse for this book.  You hate drawing horses.  Which do you hate more?  Drawing horses or cows?

Dad:  Cows.

Gracie:  And you had to draw cows twice.  For the Ewe book and the Bull book.

Dad:  I had to do both of them twice.  A cow and a horse for each book.

Gracie:  Actually even more!  Parent cows and baby cows for both books.

Dad:  Four of each.  Wait – and then there are cows on the cover too.  And in the charts in back.  And on the title page.  Even more!

Gracie:  Poor Daddy.

Dad:  Six horses and nine cows all together.

Gracie:  Nine cows!!!

Lily:  I like drawing horses and cows.

Dad:  Well, I’ll have you do it next time!  I paid my horsie due.

Gracie:  Horsie doo?  That sounds disgusting.

Elijah:  I never noticed that it’s called “Hug a Bull” and there’s a Bull on the cover!

Lily:  You just thought it was because cows are huggable?

Elijah:  They hug and snuggle.

Dad:  How do you think cows hug each other?

Gracie:  They just rub together awkwardly.

Dad:  I had wanted to put an elephant Bull on the cover because it could hug with its trunk.  I think cows might just stab each other with their hoofs if they tried.

Lily:  Ouch.

Dad:  I almost put a turkey on the cover and called the book “Wobbly Gobbler.”  That’s what I originally wanted to do first.

Gracie:  That would not have been as good as “Hug a Bull.”

Dad:  But it’s so fun to say!  Imagine… “Here’s my book, “Wobbly Gobbler.”

Gracie:  It does match the title of your “Chuckling Ducklings” book better. 
Lily:  (flipping through the pages)  Kangaroos!  Boinggie – boinggie!  They are so cute!

Gracie:  Oh my word!  I love the little possums.  Every time I see your tiny animals, my heart melts into little possum puddles. 
Lily:  And this page has a baby mole!  We actually saw a little tiny mole once.  He was so cute!  Even though he was dead.  Remember when you ran over one with the car in the driveway?

Gracie:  The little donkey baby is adorable.

Lily:  He’s got Elijah-hair!

Gracie:  He does!  He does!  You made the donkeys look like Elijah!  The little donkeys have his hair and the same expression he gets all the time.

Elijah:  “Ee-honk!  Ee-honk!”

Gracie:  That is NOT a donkey noise!  I don’t know what that was.

Lily:  It’s more like a squeaky rocking chair.

Dad:  So now I’ve done a book about Baby animals, one about Moms, one about Dads…

Elijah:  Next you have to do Grandmas!

Dad:  I’m sure there’s a big list of grandma animal names out there.

Kids:  Ha ha ha!

Dad:  Well, thanks for the review, guys!

Lily:  (Starts rapping) 

  Pssh -- pssh -- pssh…

  This is a book

  Which is about

  Lots of fuzzy animals

  And they love to shout!

  It tells all the names

  In poems and rhymes

  And I love to read them

  All of the time!

Dad:  Word.

Lily:  It’s about Dads and Moms and such

  And barely any of them…. are… Dutch!

Kids:  Hah ha ha hah…

Dad:  How about:  Cows can’t hug

  But their heads can touch!

Gracie:  Yeah!

"Ee-honk!" by Elijah

 

 bull and calf, by Isaac

 

vixen, kit, and tod; by Gracie

vote Mare for Mayor, by Lily

Author/Illustrator:  Aaron Zenz
Published, 2013: Walker Books
Like them?  Here they are!


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This week, some wonderful blogs have highlighted "I Love Ewe" and "Hug a Bull."  I'm so very thankful!  I invite you to stop by and leave these folks some thoughtful comments:

Mon May 6:  Bookie Woogie
Tue May 7:  Reading to Know
Wed May 8:  Playing by the Book
Thu May 9:  Sharpread 
Fri May 10: City Book: Hug and Ewe
Sat May 11:  From the Mixed-up Files

Also very cool news!  "I Love Ewe" and "Hug a Bull" were featured on my favorite NPR program "A Way With Words"!  You can listen to the episode's intro below...

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And now time for a Giveaway!  Thanks for your support over the years!  Just leave a comment on this post and you'll be entered to win one of three prizes:

Prize Pack #1:  signed copies of "Hug a Bull" & "I Love Ewe" + three other books I've authored/illustrated: The Chimpanseeze, The Hiccupotamus (new in boardbook!), and Chuckling Ducklings (new in boardbook!)




Prize Pack #2:  signed copies of "Hug a Bull" & "I Love Ewe" + three other books I've illustrated:  Nugget on the Flight Deck, Skeleton Meets the Mummy, and Five Little Puppies Jumping on the Bed




Prize Pack #3:  signed copies of "Hug a Bull" & "I Love Ewe" + an original piece of artwork - crafted specially for you - depicting the animal of your choosing!  for example:




To be entered, just leave a comment here!  
The Giveaway will run through the end of the month, May 31, when we'll randomly select three winners.  Best of luck!

Interview #15: Laura Ripes

 
I'm happy to announce the release of Laura Ripes' debut children's book: "The Spaghetti-Slurping Sewer Serpent"!  I fell in love with the story the moment I read it, and then was given the extreme privilege of bringing that story to life with illustrations.  To celebrate the book's arrival, the kids and I invited Mrs. Ripes to chat with us over Skype.  It's the first time author and illustrator have actually met, and the kids had some great questions for her.  (Thanks to Gracie for the portrait of Mrs. Ripes!)

First off, a review of "The Spaghetti-Slurping Sewer Serpent" by the kiddos:


Isaac (age 13):  This book is about a kid named Sammy Sanders  He thinks there's a serpent in the sewer slurping all his spaghetti.
Lily (age 9):  So Sammy is trying to solve the mystery.
Elijah (age 6):  He knows there is a serpent because he's got all those clues.
Dad:  Sammy has photographs of all the evidence he's collected.  Meatballs and sauce splatters...
Isaac:  And Dad labeled all the photos with our birthdays!
Evangeline (age 4):  That's mine!  I got a noodle!  I got a noodle for my birthday!
Lily:  I got... mold.
Dad:  It's not "mold."  It's "molt."
Lily:  What is molt?
Dad:  Snakes shed their skin when they grow.
Lily:  Ewww!
Dad:  All their old skin peels off.
Lily:  That's still as gross as mold.
Dad:  What is the really cool thing about this book?
Lily:  It's a super "S" book.  It has tons of S's.  On every page there are at least 10 S's.
Isaac:  Like "Sammy's sister Sally."
Lily:  And his friends "Scott Sullivan and Steve Strauss."
Isaac:  And "salty snacks."
Gracie (age 11):  That's called alliteration.
Lily:  It tricks your tongue sometimes.
Gracie:  It makes your lips slip. It's a lip-slipper.
Isaac:  We should count how many S's are in this book.
Elijah:  100.
Dad:  It's funny...  I'm always very aware of every "S" I say after I'm done reading this book.
Gracie:  Me too.  It's SSSstrange.
Isaac:  Thisss SSSstory is SSSstupendous.
Lily:  SSSsuper SSSsuspenseful.
Isaac:  SSSsuperb.
Gracie:  If you don't like the letter S, you should burn this book alive.
Dad:  Oh dear.
Gracie:  But if you do like the letter S, then you should read it to all your kids and elect it for president.  Or senator.  SSSsammy SSSsanders for SSSsenator!
Isaac:  His glasses are hilarious.
Gracie:  His glasses look like big spotlights coming out of his head.
Isaac:  Sammy has super silly spotlight spectacles.
Gracie:  This book is so fun.
Dad:  When I first saw the manuscript, I thought it was one of the most fun stories I'd ever read.  I thought, "I would LOVE to illustrate this!"
Gracie:  You love drawing dragons.
Dad:  Did you know this is Mrs. Ripes' first book.
Gracie:  She is starting off swell.

  And now for the interview!

Laura Ripes:  Hi!
Kids:  Hi!!!
Gracie:  SSSsalutations, Mrs. Ripes!
Dad:  It's nice to meet you!
Laura Ripes:  It's so nice to meet all of you - to see you in person.  It's exciting!
Gracie:  Congratulations on your first book!
Laura Ripes:  Well thank-you very much.  I'm very excited about it!  Congratulations to you too, Aaron.
Isaac:  We were wondering... how did you get the idea to write this story?  What was the starting point?  Were you wanting to write about S's?  Or did you start with the characters?  Or did the plot come first?
Laura Ripes:  Wanting to write a tongue-twister story came first.  And I think S's are very tricky, so next I said, "I'll do an 'S' one."  The actual story - the serpent in the sewer - came from my childhood.  We used to go to a park by our house, and there was this big, huuuuge sewer opening.  You wouldn't see them nowadays because they don't make them like that anymore.  But it was big... like you could climb in it.  I grew up with all boys -- brothers, cousins -- I was the only girl.  And they used to always tease me and say something lived in the sewer.  And I SO believed them.  There would always be sounds, and I'd be like, "Something's IN there!!!"
Gracie:  Is writing your full-time job?
Laura Ripes:  I do write all the time, so I feel like it's full-time.  My real job is that I do voiceover commercial work.  But I've always loved writing.  I love any kind of story.  Movies.  Books.  I love commercials.  Commercials are fabulous!  They are teeny, tiny, quick stories with a beginning, middle, end, and a solution.  So, commercial voiceovers are my real job, but I would love to write more.  If I sell more manuscripts, maybe I could say it's full-time for me.
Lily:  Since you have been working with S's so much for this book, do you start saying S's more?
Gracie:  Or do you notice "S" words more?  Because whenever we look at this book, we start saying "S" words all the time!
Laura Ripes:  You don't realize how many times you use S's in sentences!  And the letter S can be very difficult.  When I do my voiceover commercial work, they can come out sounding very tricky -- you have to be very careful.  So I thought it would be fun to have a tongue-twister story to practice working on all those S's.
Lily:  How long did it take you to write the book?
Laura Ripes:  That's an excellent question...  I don't really know.  I hop around.  I go from story to story.  I'll start to write a piece, then I'll put that one down and pick up another story I'm working on.  I'll grab my notebook in the middle of the night and jot stuff down.  Things are written upside down.  Initially, I probably got the story figured out on paper in about a week.  But I will rewrite and rewrite and rewrite.  It's a long process for me.
Gracie:  After you were done, how long did it take to get this book published?  Did it get snatched up by the first person you sent it to?  Or did you have to wait for a long time?
Laura Ripes:  I sent it out to 4 places, and didn't hear back from anyone.  Then we moved, and I had to change my email address.  It had been months and months since I'd sent it out, and I didn't think I was going to hear anything.  We were in our new house, and I got a call on my cell phone.  I almost didn't pick up the phone because I didn't recognize the number and it was a weird area code.  But it was the editor saying they wanted to buy the story!  She said they'd been trying to contact me for a while... emailing me and calling my old house.  I had forgotten about the story because it had been so many months.
Gracie:  How did you feel when they called you?
Laura Ripes:  I was very, very, very excited.  It's a good feeling.  She said, "We want to buy your manuscript!"  And I was so embarrassed because I had to say, "Which one?"  I had so many out there.
Isaac:  Did the alliteration make it easier or harder for you to write the story?
Laura Ripes:  It was hard.  I was very limited in what I could say.  I'd want to say a specific word, and there wouldn't be any "S" word that would fit.  That was kind of tough.
Lily:  Did your kids give you any suggestions on the book while you were writing it?
Laura Ripes:  They did give me suggestions.  My kids liked trying to make the tongue-twister harder all the time.
Gracie:  When Daddy read it to us earlier, he slipped on a couple words.
Laura Ripes:  I love that!  As a kid, I loved to hear a teacher make a mistake reading something.
Gracie:  That's the best!  Last night Daddy was really tired, but he was reading us a story anyway.  He kept falling asleep and misreading the words.  There is this character in "Marty McGuire" named Annie, and he kept calling her "Arnie... Arnie... Arnie."  And we were like, "Annie! ...Annie! ...Annie!"
Laura Ripes:  That's fun to me!  And I think it's fun when adults have a hard time with tongue-twisters.  Of course kids can nail them.
Dad:  Absolutely!
Laura Ripes:  When I originally wrote this book, I wanted it to be really, really hard to say.  But in the editing process, it was reined in a lot.  The editor wanted it to be quite a bit easier.  When "S" words were being pulled out, I was like... "Aghh... I'm losing my S's!"  That was hard for me.  But the story is still tricky.  I did have the word "Scrumdiliumptious."  But that got chopped.
Gracie:  Scrumdiliumptious!  That's a fun word!
Laura Ripes:  It didn't make it.  That word was on the chopping block.  But that's alright.  I couldn't believe it... they let me keep the word "spork" in there!
Gracie:  Do you have a favorite picture from the book?
Lily:  *I* have a favorite one.
Laura Ripes:  Which one is that?
Lily:  The slurper on the swing set.
Laura Ripes:  I was just going to say that one was my favorite!  I wasn't going to say it out loud - I was waiting for you to go first.
Gracie:  That's my favorite too.  It's the first full picture where you get to see the serpent.  He's all twisted around the swing set, eating spaghetti.  The moon is behind him, and you can see all the lights and shadows where the moon is hitting him.
Dad:  Even though it's in the middle of the story, that was the very first picture I made for the book.
Gracie:  Who says 'save the best for last'?
Dad:  I had a ball working on this book.  I don't think I've ever turned down a manuscript because... we've got to eat.  But this one was especially great to work on because I loved your story so much!
Laura Ripes:  Of course, the publisher didn't give me any say in illustrators.  But when they told me the artist they had picked, I said "Oh, I love The Hiccupotamus!"  I knew your books - I'd seen them before, and I thought, "Oh good!"
Dad:  That's nice to hear!
Laura Ripes:  And I was excited to see your illustrations for this book.  When I write, I have an idea of what it's going to look like... and you were right on!  I was very excited you were on the same page.
Dad:  Good - I'm glad to hear that.  Well, I think that's all the questions we had...
Isaac:  Thank-you for the interview!
Laura Ripes:  Thank-YOU guys!  It was so nice to meet you!  It's my first interview - I was really nervous.
Gracie:  You did a very good job.

Sammy spies spaghetti, by Isaac
 slurping from a spaghetti stand, by Gracie

Scott Sullivan and Steve Strauss see the serpent, by Lily

Author: Laura Ripes
Illustrator: Aaron Zenz
Published, April 2012: Marshall Cavendish
Like it?  Here it is!



And now it's time for a giveaway!
• The prize: TWO copies of "The Spaghetti-Slurping Sewer Serpent" - one for you and one for you to share with a friend - both copies signed by Laura Ripes and myself.
• Entering is easy!  Simply leave a comment on this post.  For a bonus entry, include at least 7 "S" words tucked away anywhere in your comment - not random words, but relevant to the interview above...
• We'll take entries through April 22 -- Good luck!