The two authors, in attendance to accept Midwest Booksellers Choice Awards – Vanderpool for Moon Over Manifest (Delacorte) and Small for Elsie’s Bird (Philomel) – set the tone for the rest of the show in their acceptance speeches, paying tribute to the power of the imagination to release the creative juices inside all of us. "I’m not the first person who dreams big," Vanderpool declared, who compared winning the Newbery Medal in January to "having a baby when you didn’t know you were pregnant."
That theme – the importance of imagination for both writers and for readers – carried over into the next morning’s Children’s Author Breakfast, featuring one children’s book author, one middle-grade book author, and two YA authors.
Bonny Becker, who wrote The Sniffles for Bear, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton (Candlewick, Sept.), told the crowd of 136 booksellers that writing the four Bear and Mouse Books has been "the most fun” she’s had in 20 years of writing children’s books. Armed with slides, Becker revealed the inspiration behind the curmudgeonly Bear and his irrepressible tiny friend, Mouse. Bear was inspired by her husband, Becker said, as well as “Donald Duck, who starts out so suave in whatever he tries to do." Mouse was inspired by her father, who, she insisted, "looks like Mouse," and by her two dogs. But it’s not all about Becker’s imagination, she explained, "Kady MacDonald Denton brought as much to the characters as I did." Before leaving the podium, Becker invited booksellers to provide her with ideas for Bear’s future adventures."I’ll be here today, and I’d love to hear them," she said.
Heather Brewer (Slayer Chronicles: First Kill, Dial, Sept.) spoke about her childhood in Michigan, and of being bullied by her classmates “every day” while teachers looked the other way. Books saved her life, she said, describing spending time in the local library, which was “made of kryptonite” and protected her from the bullies outside. Books made her feel so safe, in fact, that when she was 12 years old, she told her blue-collar parents that she wanted to be an author. “They said I couldn’t, I needed to get a real job,” she recalled, “But [writing] was a part of me, a part of my soul.”
When Brewer told her husband she wanted to become a writer, instead of a stay-at-home mother, "he said three words that changed my life forever. 'So be one.' It took one person to tell me to follow my dreams." And follow her dreams she did. Brewer has written five novels in the Chronicle of Vladimir Tod series, and just launched the Slayer Chronicles series, featuring Vladimir Tod’s former friend turned enemy. A third series, Bloodbound, which she calls her "answer to Twilight," will begin in fall 2012.
In contrast to Brewer, Gordon Korman (The 39 Clues: The Medusa Plot, Scholastic, Sept.) followed his dream of being an author at 12 years old, when he wrote and had published his first novel, This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall. Since then, he’s written about 60 books. At his high school reunion, he said, he was the only person doing the exact same thing he was doing 30 years ago: signing a contract for Scholastic to write a book."I’m the Mick Jagger of kids’ books," Korman declared. The author of three novels in the middle-grade 39 Clues series, Korman discussed the connections between "real history" and "fiction elements" in the popular adventure series, though he fears its fans are turning into "conspiracy theorists."
The morning’s final speaker, Scott Westerfeld (Goliath, Simon Pulse, Sept.), also discussed the impact of history upon his fiction. But in his case, he explained how he’s using artwork to complement the text in his Leviathan series, set in a world eerily reminiscent of the actual early 20th century. Westerfeld pointed out that up until the early 20th century, books and sales catalogs typically included hand-drawn illustrations. This trend disappeared as cameras became more commonplace. "Technology changed the ways novels are prepared and stories are told," Westerfeld said, explaining that since Leviathan is set in 1914, he wanted "an old-fashioned book," complete with old-fashioned artwork. He and his illustrator, Keith Thompson, became "collaborators” in creating the world of Leviathan, working together closely to make sure that
Westerfeld’s text "meshes" with Thompson’s illustrations."Images don’t shut down imaginations, they open them up," Westerfeld insisted, describing how, due to the Internet, more and more readers are responding to books by creating fan art inspired by their favorite characters."We’re all in this world where we can write and illustrate novels together," Westerfeld said in conclusion. "Visual art is coming back and people are using the Internet to share it."The breakfast authors’ emphasis on the importance of art to stimulate the imagination must have made a strong impression on booksellers. Illustrated books were hot at MIBA this year. Of course, picture books for young children enticed booksellers as always, especially Big Little Brother, Kevin Kling’s picture book, illustrated by Chris Monroe (Minnesota Historical Society Press/Borealis, Nov.), and 12 Owls by Laura Erickson, illustrated by Betsy Bowen (University of Minnesota Press, Oct.).
Two quirky illustrated books from Chronicle also received a warm reception: The Life of Fly by Magnus Muhr (Chronicle, Aug.) and Press Here by Hervé Tullet (Mar.). And Ellen Scott, children’s book buyer at the Bookworm in Omaha, said that Fish on a Walk by Eva Muggenthaler (Enchanted Lion, Jan. ’12) was her favorite book of the show.
Booksellers were just as enamored with illustrated books for middle-grade and YA readers. Besides Goliath by Westerfield, illustrated by Thompson, booksellers talked up Wildwood by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, Sept.); Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver, illustrated by Kei Acedera (HarperCollins, Oct.); Wonderstuck by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press, Sept.); and Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony, illustrated by Rodrigo Corral (Razorbill, Feb.), which Cynthia Compton, owner of 4 Kids Books and Toys in Indianapolis, called “a phenomenal love story” told entirely through letters and artifacts."It’s interesting, how a talk in the morning can have such an effect on your immediate decision-making," noted Chris Livingston, owner of The Book Shelf in Winona, Minn., who disclosed that he’d just bought "a lot of retro reprinted old-style" books from David R. Godine.
