A few weeks ago I posted
a review of one of my favorite new children's books, Z is for Moose. I had the wonderful opportunity to interview
the illustrator of the book, Paul O. Zelinsky, and today I have the pleasure of sharing my
interview with the author, Kelly Bingham.
Ms. Bingham is the
author of highly acclaimed Shark Girl (2010) and the
much anticipated sequel Formerly, Shark Girl (released
in May 2013) for young adult readers. She is also the "mother" of
Moose, the main character in Z is for Moose!
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Z
is for Moose
by Kelly Bingham
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What made you switch
gears and begin writing for young children?
Well, funny enough, I
didn't. I wrote Z is for Moose first! I wrote and sold Moose
in 2004. I was working on Shark Girl at the time and it was
mostly done, but I hadn't submitted it anywhere yet.
I read on your website
that you put Shark Girl away following the shark attack
on Bethany Hamilton and that Jane's character is not based on anyone. I love
how you explain the process of writing for Jane, "Her voice took over and
I found myself following her lead." I guess Jane needed to be heard and
you were her voice.
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Moose making an appearance
at a book signing in NYC. |
How did you come up with
the character, Moose? Is he based on anyone?
When my son was three,
he was learning his alphabet. We read every ABC book we could find. Back then, there
weren't that many. Most of them were pretty straight forward and only a few
were funny. He loved the funny ones and asked me to find him a new funny ABC
book. By then I had exhausted all the ABC books in our library. The idea for
Moose came to me very suddenly and I wrote it all down. I knew I wanted the
alphabet to fall apart around the letter M, and I decided that Moose would be a
fun character to see go crazy. (As opposed to Mouse, or Monkey, with I also
toyed with.)
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Moose on vacation
in Cozumel |
As for Moose being based
on anyone...I think any parent can relate to having children who have a hard
time waiting their turn, or who succumb to melt-downs once in a while, or who
really just want to be part of the activities going on around them and can't
take "no" for an answer. To some degree, Moose is inspired by my
kids. But mostly, he is just himself, and came to me with the perky personality
he already has.
It's possible that Zebra
may be slightly based on all the parents in the world who have their own Moose
to deal with. But mostly Zebra is just simply who he is, which is a good
friend.
I love this description
of Moose. That is exactly what I envisioned, a young child having a meltdown.
Being a librarian for over 700 four-year-olds I can completely relate. I have
seen many Moose-like meltdowns when all of our copies of Z is for
Moose are checked out. Sadly, I can't purchase a copy for all of
my students to have their very own.
You have a degree in
animation and worked for Disney for twelve years.
Did you ever consider
illustrating Z is for Moose?
Not really. I have never
been a fine artist with skills that extend to great understanding of design and
color and executing artwork much beyond sketching and simple coloring. My
comfort zone involves Sharpies and colored pencils, and that's about it.
When I "wrote"
Moose, I did so by storyboarding it out, which involved making a small dummy
and drawing the pictures and finding my story that way, through making all the
visual things happen from page to page. I made that "book" with the
sole purpose of reading it to my son at night.
Later on, I showed it to
author friends, who encouraged me to submit it as a manuscript. So I typed it
up and sent it off. I never showed the dummy to anyone other than friends and
family. It's not much to look at and is very rough, but it helped me get the
story written.
I have a similar comfort
zone with Sharpies and colored pencils. When I am not reading, I like to color.
I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it is very relaxing for me. I especially
love the color by numbers. Not the really easy ones though. My favorites
are Color Counts by Mindware.
What would you want your
readers to take away from your books?
Laughter would be nice.
And hope. And maybe some personal connection, a moment of "Wow, I've felt
that way, too!"
Making a personal
connection with a book seems to always keep the book and characters in your
heart. When an author develops a character to whom the readers can relate or
build a bond with, the author can seem like a friend. One who understands, even
if not on a personal level. Characters can take on a life of their own. They
can make the reader see events, ideas, even other people in a way no one else
could ever personal convey.
Are there other picture
books in your future? How many books do you currently have in the planning
stages?
I have several books in
the sloppy stages of planning and drafting. There will be at least one more
picture book in my future: there is a second Moose book on the way!
Yes, Paul O. Zelinsky,
told me in his interview he was "largely done" with the illustrations
for the second Moose book. No hints were given by him, and now by you. I guess
we are all going to have to wait and see what kind of adventure, or mischief
Moose will be involved with in his second book. I can't wait to see it. It will
definitely be a book I spotlight on this blog!
Before working on any
kind of project, be it writing an article for my blog or lesson plans for
teaching my students, I always do some kind of investigating to see exactly
what I am getting into with the task. I don't want to go into something without
at least an understanding of what I am in for.
What kind of research do
you do before beginning work on a project?
It depends on the
project. For Moose, I read every ABC book in my local library several times
before writing one of my own. And that was not really concentrated research as
much as filling a need for my son, and then having our little story evolve into
something totally unexpected.
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Shark Girl
by Kelly Bingham |
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Formerly, Shark Girl
by Kelly Bingham |
For Shark Girl, I studied tons of poetry, and had to do research on
lots of things. I researched shark attacks ad how and where they happen, and
looked through many gruesome photographs. I studied a lot of medical facts. I
read autobiographies written by people who had had their lives changed by
disabling accidents and diseases. I reviewed "the five stages of
grief." I interviewed amputees, doctors, physical therapists, and talked
to a man who makes prosthetic limbs. All of that was quite educational!
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Most readers, I’m sure,
would be surprised to learn of all of the research that goes into writing a
book. Thank you for sharing these details. I think it is very important for
readers to understand authors don't have all of the answers or details when
writing. They are, however, able to find the information and pull it all
together in order to make a meaningful and entertaining story for the reader.
What do you do to help
inspire yourself when you are creatively blocked?
Usually I take a break.
I read. I do other things. You can't force solutions to come to you when you
need them. And for me, that's what being "creatively blocked" comes
down to. I have a situation that needs solving and I don't have an answer.
During those times I try
to be patient. I have found that doing things not related to writing are a good
way to free up my brain to work on a solution for the story problem I am
facing. Often, a solution will come to me while driving, or when I first wake
up in the morning.
On rare occasions it
helps to talk the story problem over with someone. But mostly I find it
unrealistic to present a story problem to someone and expect them to come up
immediately with something you haven't already tried and rejected. For the most
part, I let things gel and cook, and keep the faith that the block is only
temporary.
Also, it helps to start
working on something new, even if it's rough and clunky. Sometimes switching
gears to a new story will help me figure out the obstacles in another story.
I am a bibliophile and a
self-confessed bookworm. I constantly have a book with me so I will never be
caught without reading material. It seems people are more influenced today by
factors outside of books and reading.
How do you respond to these
changes in order to get people back to reading?
Hmmm, what a good
question. I have to admit, I haven't given this a lot of thought.
I hope it doesn't sound
lazy, but I guess I don't really see myself trying to lure anyone back into
reading. I feel that people will read when they want to, or they won't. I am
totally out of the loop on all the new animated storybook apps out there, and
all the various digital things that combine reading and games, or reading and
movement. I am aware there are websites paired with some books that look to get
readers reading a certain book, then exploring and socializing and game-playing
on a related website. That's a great idea. But that's not me, and that's not my
thing right now. I find it hard to write good stories and I continually find
writing an enormous challenge. It's enough for me right now to simply focus on
creating good books. I sincerely hope readers find them.
I think all authors, to
some degree, really look to librarians, booksellers, teachers, and parents to
encourage a love of reading in a child, hopefully from an early age, and to
match children with books that are just right for them. Without all these team
players in place, each doing their part, not only would "traditional
books," (for want of a better term) fade away, but readers might fade
away, too. There's nothing wrong with the distraction of games, eBooks,
animated apps, websites, and even TV and movies. But it's so very critical that
we keep our kids readers as well.
Yes, I believe it is a team
effort, and extremely critical to keep our children reading. One of my favorite
things to do is connect people with books. Reader’s advisory is one of my
favorite ways to help people in the library. Learning about their interests and
locating the perfect book or author for them always makes you feel like you
have handed them the world. I am so thankful to authors for sharing their gift
of words in order to bring a smile to the faces of the library patrons,
especially the children.
Were you an avid reader
growing up? Did reading influence your decision to become an author?
Oh year, I was a huge
reader. I read all the time and usually read the same books over and over and
over. My friend and I often wrote our own books together, and made
illustrations, and stapled them up, and we felt as proudly professional as any
eleven-year-old can feel.
There's no question that
my love of reading influence me to want to write and to tell stories. From an
early age that's all I wanted to be a part of. It was such a joy to work at
Disney as a story artist. I was surround by other storytellers and they were
all so incredibly talented. To spend all day crafting stories is a pretty
special experience. Even on the days we'd shred everything and start over. And
I learned so much!
It was a big, scary step
for me to leave Disney and set out to write stories on my own, but it was a
good choice. I love doing what I do and my work allows me to be home with my
kids, too. And I still get to work with amazing, talented people. I would be
more than happy to continue working with Paul O. Zelinsky forever! He's
amazing.
What was the last book
you read?
These are great
books. The Scorpio Races was named a 2012 Printz Honor
Book and Bomb was a Newbery Honor book for 2013.
This next question is
unusual, but I ask it at the end of all of my spotlight interviews just to see
who has an inner rock star. Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) loves
to sing 80s hair band songs while he does karaoke.
What would be your
featured song?
Really? Wow. Good for
Jeff! And how daring for anyone to tackle karaoke, in my opinion, since I am
the worst singer ever!
Is there anything else
you would like to share about yourself?
No - I can't think of
anything remotely interesting. Thank you so much for this interview. It's been
fun.
Well, thank you Kelly. I
have enjoyed the insight especially the creation of Moose, your writing through
storyboarding, and your research for the Shark Girl book. I truly appreciate
the time you took for this interview. I can't wait to see what you have in
store for Moose next.
Ms. Bingham has received
starred reviews from Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Children's
Books (BCCB), The Horn Book, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and School
Library Journal for her works. Shark Girl was
on Oprah Winfrey's Book List for Kids and was nominated for The Inky Award
in Australia. From the American Library Association Shark Girl was
nominated for a Schneider Family Book Award (ALA - "for a book that embodies an artistic
expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent
audiences") and was named an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. It was
also nominated for nine state book awards, including: Florida, Illinois,
Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Tennessee;
and awarded the Iowa Teen Award in 2011 by student readers.
Z is for Moose is an ALA Notable book and was named one of Amazon's Best Books of
2012. It was nominated for the E.B. White Award which “recognize(s) books that reflect the
playful, well-paced language, the engaging themes, and the universal appeal to
a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White's collection of beloved
books." It has also been named to the 2013 Texas 2x2 Reading List.
As the weekend progressed the backs of the banners were used by the festival attendees to show their own creativity and artistic expression. Even though the banner idea was not my own, I felt a great deal of pride seeing everyone having fun coloring together on images I brought together. The conversations of the young and old and the smiles were powerful to see as the weekend progressed. Everyone who colored on the banner walked away with a smile.
