Coming 2021: illustrated chapter book for younger readers
The very first book that I ever wrote was never published. It was a pet project shared between myself and my brother when we were young, each page written by hand with sketched illustrations to go along with the story. At the time, it felt like a lot of work. Looking back, it was merely a “shadow of things to come” when I now consider all of the books that I have come to publish over the years. Now, with an experienced hand, I am revisiting that project for publication this year.
“Father and Mother Mouse” was my salute to a couple of my favorite books in my childhood. It was my Stuart Little, or my answer to The Borrowers. Even as a child I was captivated, not only by the stories themselves, but also by the stories behind the stories. Famously, Stuart Little was written “in the hope of amusing a six-year-old niece of his,” but E.B. White took too long in the writing of it and she grew up before he had finished it.
I vowed that the same would not happen with “Father and Mother Mouse.” Even at that young age (I think eleven or twelve) I wanted it to be something that my future children would enjoy. I was writing the kind of story that I enjoyed, and I wanted them to enjoy it in perpetuity.
Currently I am transcribing those handwritten pages into a Word document, and next I am going to edit and expand as I go. It’s not publishable in its original form, but when I am finished it will be what I envisioned.
One of the next steps will be hiring a professional artist. One color illustration for the cover and a bunch of interior sketches. Honestly I am giddy to put the whole thing together!
Q: Did you ever read The Borrowers, or Stuart Little?
