Happy Halloween month! Welcome Janet Nolan (GET READY FOR HALLOWEEN & BATS BENEATH THE BRIDGE), and co-authors Brenda Sturgis and Lynne Marie (BROOMMATES). We are excited to chat with these three kidlit authors and share their fun and fascinating new books.
But don’t take my word for it!
Reviews:
GET READY FOR HALLOWEEN by Janet Nolan, Illustrated by Amy Zhing (Albert Whitman)
“This delightful Halloween-themed story would be a wonderful addition to any library’s collection, perfect for sparking excitement and enthusiasm about the spooky season.” —SLJ
BATS BENEATH THE BRIDGE by Janet Nolan, Illustrated by Emily Cox (Albert Whitman)
“[Nolan’s] straightforward narrative is set on colorful full-bleed spreads of mixed-media illustrations. The enthusiastic bat watchers pictured are a diverse group, and the bats are engaging…” —Kirkus
BROOMMATES by Lynne Marie & Brenda Sturgis, Illustrated by Nico Ecenarro (The Little Press )
“Electric hues give a punk vibe to Ecenarro’s drawings of the siblings facing off and then coming together, while bits of pop culture tucked throughout (a poster of Taylor Swift look-alike “T. Sweep”) make the quarrelsome sisters feel contemporary…Marie and Reeves Sturgis succeed in showing the particular magic that is compromise.”– Publisher’s Weekly
Meet the Authors!
Let’s ask some questions…
Q 1. What were the inspirations for GET READY FOR HALLOWEEN and BROOMMATES?
Get Ready for Halloween/ Janet Nolan: My publisher was interested in a follow-up book after Get Ready for School, illustrated by Maria Neradova, Albert Whitman & Company, came out last fall 2023.
I decided to take on Halloween, a wonderfully busy holiday, filled with numerous get-ready activities. The concept for Get Ready is that planning and preparing can be as fun and exciting as the event itself. In a fictional community of adorable creatures, the community works together before the school day begins or children head out to go trick-or-treating.
BroomMates / Lynne Marie: Like many of my other books which have seeds from life that change and grow, BroomMates was inspired by sisters with whom I shared a room in my childhood and teenage years. Many of the situations in the book actually happened, but making them “witchy” made them more fun and entertaining, and provided a holiday hook for the book. I truly loved writing this story, as well as it’s predecessor, TombMates, which I hope will also be in print one day soon!
A question for Janet Nolan
Q 2. How did you first become aware of the true story behind Bats Beneath the Bridge?
Janet: I was in my kitchen, talking to my daughter’s friend about his upcoming move from Chicago to Austin, Texas, when my husband mentioned, “That’s where they have the bats.”
“Bats!”
It wasn’t long until I was on my way to Austin to see the Congress Avenue Bridge bats fly. Watching 1.5 million bats fly was as awe-inspiring as you can imagine. How could I not write a book about the amazing bats?
ED Note: Nolan recently traveled to Austin where she had the honor of presenting Bats Beneath the Bridge, about Dr. Merlin Tuttle and his team’s efforts to save the Congress Avenue Bridge bats, to Dr. Merlin Tuttle on Austin’s official Merlin Tuttle Day! (Photo Alyson Yates –per Nolan permission)
Collaboration
A question for Brenda Sturgis & Lynne Marie
Q 3. How did you end up collaborating on BROOMMATES? What was this process like?
Brenda: Lynne Marie and I have known each other for about 20-years. We met at my very first SCBWI conference and became friends. She approached me and asked to join her as a co-writer on BroomMates. Being a rhyme lover and passionate about good-storytelling in rhyme, I was elated to join her on the telling of this manuscript. It was a lot of fun to work on together. It was originally in prose, and then it was turned to rhyme. We use Google docs a lot, and leave notes for each other, what works, what doesn’t and we collaborate that way.
Lynne Marie: BroomMates was a story that I had in my treasure chest of tales. When a publisher requested a spooky story I pulled it out and knew it was the one I wanted to work on. But when I saw that they published rhymed stories, I decided to team up with Brenda, my friend and partner in rhyme. We ended up not going with that publisher, but Michele of The Little Press quickly acquired it! Notably, BroomMates is not the only story Brenda and I worked on together. We have several more, near and dear to our hearts, that we hope to find a home for.
Illustration Surprises
Q 4. What surprises did your illustrator(s) bring to the project?
Brenda: I was thrilled with the illustrator of BroomMates (Nico Ecenarro) and we were asked if we had any suggestions. We were able to weigh in on the characters, which rarely happens for an author so it was a ton of fun.
Nico is a creative visual genius in storytelling and his work brought the characters to life. I love the color palette he chose, and think it was the perfect choice for opposite sisters, Malin and Matilda. He is very puny, and came up with some great word-play. I think kids will LOVE his illustrations and especially his page on how to draw the characters. There are so many wonderful surprises! It’s a visual feast.
Lynne Marie: From the conception of the idea of BroomMates, I had an entirely different vision for the art in my head. But this is how it always is for our characters and I was very surprised and pleased to see such a fun and cartoony-style! I can’t get enough of the graphics! I want totes, and pins and stickers and bookmarks with these two! Nico Ecenarro brought his own wonderful vision, but also inserted some really fun puns into the art, which I love! Grab a copy and find them!
Janet: There can be a delicate balance between accuracy and creativity in nonfiction illustration. Emily Cox got it just right. Her illustrations for The Bats Beneath the Bridge capture the magic, excitement, and suspense of waiting to see the bats fly while staying truthful to the bats and the bridge. And the credit here goes to the art director. I love the endpapers. They’re filled with bats!
Amy Zhing’s delightful illustrations for Get Ready for Halloween are filled with adorable characters creating homemade costumes. There are hand-drawn butterfly wings, spools of ribbon for a unicorn, and the final touches of paint being put on a robot costume. My favorite is the mummy giraffe wrapped in toilet paper.
Takeaways
Q 5. What do you hope readers will take away from reading these books?
Brenda: It is my hope that BroomMates readers will all get the take away that compromise is necessary as an adult and as a child. It is a skill that should be taught at a young age, because it follows us throughout our lives. It is always important to understand the perspective of another person.
Lynne Marie: I hope that BroomMates readers will see that it’s okay for sisters to be different, and it’s also okay to give in and compromise (just a little LOL). Seriously, learning to compromise is a very important skill that will help children as they interact with others. I would love to make a difference in a child’s life by showing them that. Looking back, I think I learned the hard way ; ) But now that I know, I wanted to share.
Janet: For Bats Beneath the Bridge, my hope is that readers understand the power of education to change hearts and minds. Were it not for the work of Dr. Tuttle and his team, the bridge bats may have been eradicated. Such a loss would have denied Austinites the chance to become the “Bat Capital of America” and the rest of the world the opportunity to experience the bats.
For Get Ready for Halloween, I hope readers appreciate that working together for a shared experience multiplies the joy.
What’s Next?
Q 6. Please tell us about your other projects in the works.
Brenda: I have a book coming out next year, titled After the Shelter, this is a story about how a family rises up from poverty, a companion book to my Still a Family, a story about childhood homelessness. Lynne and I just finished a second book titled TombMates that has been submitted to the publisher at the publisher’s request. Our fingers are crossed for this title. It was a lot of fun to take out of prose and put into rhyme.
Lynne Marie: My next book that comes out is Henny Penny’s Weather Worries, which is another fun one! I love the art in this book as well, and truly can’t wait. It features more characters from Fairy Tale Elementary. It also incorporates weather myths, as well as deals with class hysteria, so there is an SEL takeaway to it.
Learn more:
Check out their websites to learn about these SPOOKtacular authors, and follow their social media.
AUTHOR WEBSITES:
http://www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com
http://www.brendareevessturgis.com
Happy BOOKtober to all!
Up next: We chat with Mia Wengen about We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court illustrated by Victor Bizar Gomez (Red Comet Press)!
Thanks for this fun look at two books, three authors, and Halloween!