Q&A with Mark C. Fava

  

 

 

Mark C. Fava is the author of the new children's picture book Andy the Admiral and the USS Shipshape. He also has written the book Lessons from the Admiral. He spent 30 years in the Navy, and is an aviation lawyer.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Andy the Admiral?

 

A: I wanted to create a fun children’s story that introduced some of the values I learned during 30 years in the Navy—teamwork, preparation, integrity, kindness, respect, and service. I also wanted to share a little of that Navy experience with a new generation of young readers.

 

Q: How much did your own experience in the Navy contribute to writing this book?

 

A: Quite a bit. I spent 30 years in the Navy, much of it in naval aviation as a Navy Reservist, and nearly everything in the book—from the characters and traditions to the sights and sounds—was influenced by those experiences. I wanted it to feel like a fun and exciting adventure first and not a textbook.

 

Q: What do you think Agus Prajogo and Yohanes Bastian’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: They brought the USS Shipshape and its crew to life in a way I could only imagine when I wrote the story. The illustrations are colorful, detailed, and filled with little surprises that I hope children will discover each time they read the book. They are exceptionally talented and great partners in this journey.

 

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?

 

A: First, I hope they have fun reading it and want to read it again. Along the way, I hope they pick up the idea that being a good shipmate—and a good friend—means working together, being prepared, treating others with kindness and respect, and doing your part. And of course, I hope they learn to say to each other, “Well done Shipmate!”

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m already working on the next two books in The Shipshape Shipmates series. Patrick the Pilot is next, followed by Riley the Rescue Swimmer, with each adventure introducing children to a new character, a new part of the sea services, and a new value. They are in the final illustration phase now and will be out in 2027.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Andy the Admiral and the USS Shipshape releases September 1 and is the first book in The Shipshape Shipmates series. My hope is that children simply love the characters and adventures—and that parents, grandparents, teachers, and military families find something meaningful in the stories, too. You can learn more at theshipshapeshipmates.com. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Mark C. Fava. You can enter a contest to win a hardcover copy of Andy the Admiral and the USS Shipshape; see the rules here. 

Q&A with Kerry Olitzky

  

 

 

 

Kerry Olitzky is the author, with Dori Weinstein, of the new children's picture book Queen Esther Rabinowitz. His many other books include Just Like Queen Esther. He is also a rabbi.

 

Q: What inspired you and Dori Weinstein to write Queen Esther Rabinowitz?

 

A: I am always looking for ways to deepen the Jewish holiday experience and its messaging, especially when dealing with a festival like Purim whose celebration and observance is too often trivialized.

 

As a trained social gerontologist -- and perhaps a result of my own status as a grandparent and a result of my own aging -- I wanted to use the ubiquitous Queen Esther beauty contest (that is happily losing favor) as a vehicle to emphasize the beauty of aging--in body and soul. 

 

I actually approached Dori to work with me on a different approach to the Purim story (which became my book published last year called Just Like Queen Esther). But Dori was more interested in developing Queen Esther Rabinowitz when it was still in its ideation stage.

 

I approached Dori because of her exceptional writing talent expressed in her YaYa and YoYo series of middle grade readers. 

 

Q: What do you think the book says about beauty?

 

A: Simply put, I think that the story tells its readers that real beauty like wisdom is a product of lived experience. And while much of the pop culture that surrounds us emphasizes the culture of youth and therefore its beauty, more profound beauty is evidenced in older adults. 

Q: What do you think Rachel Robinson’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: Rachel immediately took to the story and captured precisely the message of the narrative. I feel like the story could almost have been told without the narrative through her illustrations alone. Her illustrations added immensely to the story. 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I hope that the book will offer a deeper level to the Purim story than is usually presented to young children, in particular. In addition, I hope that the story provides them with a different lens for seeing the older adults in their own lives. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am always working simultaneously on multiple projects. Look for my book for very young children ABC Jewish Heroes and Me (written with my frequent writing partner Deborah Bodin Cohen and published by Apples and Honey) available for preorder and due out this fall.

 

Deborah and I also have two fascinating biographies which are due out in '27 and '28, also from Apples and Honey. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: There are some small, independent publishers like Bedazzled Ink/Dragonfeather Books that are willing to take a risk on publishing books for Jewish kids which is, by definition, a smaller audience than kids books for the general public. For them to continue such publishing efforts, they have to be supported.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Kerry Olitzky. 

Sept. 7

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Sept. 7, 1885: Elinor Wylie born.

Q&A with Madeline Martin

  

Photo by Tori Stauffer Photography

 

 

Madeline Martin is the author of the new novel A Time of Witches. Her many other books include The Last Bookshop in London. She lives in Florida.

 

Q: You note that the idea for A Time of Witches came from a recurring dream. Can you say more about that?

 

A: When I was in high school, I had a recurring nightmare that I was being burned alive at the stake. Being an overly dramatic teenager with a wild imagination, I immediately assumed it was either me from a past life or possibly an ancestor who had suffered that fate.

 

It has stuck with me and for the last 25 years has been percolating in the back of my mind. I have wanted to write this book since then.

 

That question became the seed for A Time of Witches, which opens with Lilith having this same recurring dream, not yet realizing that she’s connected to ancestors across nearly 400 years.

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: I love research and utterly lose myself in it for months before I even begin coming up with the characters in drafting the book. I generally use over 100 nonfiction books for every historical fiction that I write. This one is no exception.

 

It’s important to me to try to be as historically accurate as possible and I try to create my fictional characters from amalgamations of a lot of different firsthand accounts.

 

One of the things that surprised me most was learning that Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General, did not view what he did as torture. He employed methods such as sleep deprivation, forced walking, isolation, and relentless interrogation to extract confessions, all things definitely considered torture that produced false confessions.

 

I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to travel to Bury St Edmunds, where much of the historical timeline takes place. Being able to walk the medieval grid-patterned streets, visit the Abbey ruins, and walk in the footsteps of my characters was invaluable.

 

The story opens in Savannah, Georgia, and I went there as well. I have visited Savannah many times, but this was the first time I had done it for research. It’s a completely different experience. While there for research, I was more mindful of all my senses, noting how things smelled and how everything felt, paying attention to what specific plants in the squares.

 

These are the kind of experiences that allow me to paint a vivid picture of what my characters are living through and create what I hope is an evocative experience for the reader.

 

Q: The author Eliza Knight called the book a “timely reminder that women who refuse to be silenced are the ones who change everything...” What do you think of that description, and how did you create your characters Sybil and Lilith?

 

A: I absolutely love Eliza's description because it captures one of the most important themes in the book. While researching the witch trials, I was struck by how little control women had over their own lives and how dangerous it could be for women who stepped outside what society considered the norm. Women who were outspoken, independent, knowledgeable, or simply different could make themselves vulnerable to suspicion.

 

This became an important part of creating Sybil. She has wealth, independence, and property and is considered dangerous as a result. She struggles with being silenced when she’s arrested and accused of witchcraft. Lilith lives nearly 400 years later, but her journey is also about learning to trust herself and not make herself smaller for others.

 

Ultimately, both women are learning that their voices truly matter.

 

Q: The book also includes animal characters—how did you create them, and what do you see as their significance in the story?

 

A: I love incorporating animals into my books. They are such a big part of my life and so it makes sense that they would be a big part of my stories as well. And writing witches, I had to include familiars.

 

I used my own black cat, Gunner, as inspiration for the cat in the story. He’s just the sweetest little guy who chirps and coos and is the best snuggler. I also wanted to incorporate black cats because I wanted to remind people what wonderful pets they are. They are often the last adopted in shelters and need loving homes.

 

During the witch hunts, something as innocent as a woman's relationship with an animal could be twisted into evidence against her. This is something I definitely had to incorporate into the story. I wanted to play with that history while reclaiming the idea of the familiar as what my animals are to me — sources of companionship, loyalty and love.

 

The animals also bring warmth to the story when some of the historical subject matter becomes quite dark. Including a skunk named Lord Wimbledon the third.

 

And because I am an animal lover myself, I will reassure fellow animal lovers: the familiars do not die or get hurt! Your heart is safe in loving them.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My next novel is The Forgotten Pages, which is scheduled for fall 2027. It’s set in the Yorkshire moors in a women’s reformation home in Victorian England. I describe it as a blend of A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, but for grown-ups.

 

I traveled to Yorkshire earlier this year for research and spent time walking the moors around Haworth, which was so incredibly atmospheric and inspiring. This book is part Gothic and part whimsical, with a touch of magic.

 

The tagline I’ve been using is: The women history wants you to forget. The magical books that record their history. It’s the adult fairy tale you didn’t know you needed.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I think one of the most important things I’d want readers to know about A Time of Witches is that, despite its subject matter, this is ultimately a hopeful story. This is a story about the importance of self-love, the strength of a woman’s voice, and the power of friendship.

 

On that note, as a fun little aside, there are some spells and charms in the back of the book that you can either do by yourself or with friends or with your book club. After all, there’s a little witch in all of us.

 

I hope everyone enjoys A Time of Witches.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Madeline Martin. 

Q&A with Rebecca Wait

  

 

 

Rebecca Wait is the author of the new novel I'm Sorry You Feel That Way. Her other books include Cry Havoc. She lives in Buckinghamshire, UK. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write I’m Sorry You Feel That Way?

 

A: My great aunt suffered from schizophrenia, back when the treatment was even more rudimentary than it is now, and I grew up with a strong sense of the devastating impact her illness had not only on her but on her family.

 

Then I was very depressed as a teenager, and became morbidly worried about a genetic link, the idea that mental illness ran in our family. So it had been on my mind for many years, this sense of the ripple effect an illness like that can have within a family.

 

I was also very interested in the dynamics between siblings, and especially twins – there’s such an expectation of closeness there that I thought it would be interesting to explore what happens when the opposite is the case.

 

Q: The story features two pairs of sisters--how would you describe the dynamic between Alice and Hanna, and also between Celia and Katy?

 

A: Both sibling pairs have damaged relationships in the book, and in each case it’s probably more down to the overall family dynamic and circumstances rather than the individual personalities.

 

Alice and Hanna have been pitted against each other by their mother since they were very young; Celia has a need to be everyone’s emotional priority, so she doesn’t want her daughters to ally with each other. She takes a “divide and conquer” approach. Part of the novel’s arc is the question of whether there’s any hope for Alice and Hanna’s relationship as adults.

 

And then, going a generation back, I wanted to suggest how Celia herself was messed up first by the comparisons with her “perfect” sister, and then later, more devastatingly, by the impact of Katy’s illness, which sidelined Celia further.

 

It’s a dynamic that played out in my own grandmother’s life, and the repercussions aren’t confined to a single generation. Everybody is reacting against everybody else, all the time. And of course you can get stuck in those dynamics from childhood, and it derails your relationships as an adult. 

 

Q: The review of the book in The Guardian says that “this sharp, wise comedy explores difficult family dynamics, from all-too-relatable emotional patterns to the inexplicable agonies of mental illness; yet it's also one of the funniest novels you'll read this year.” What do you think of that description, and what do you see as the role of humor in your novels?

 

A: I really appreciate that description (thanks, Guardian). Writing this novel was a strange experience, because I was about halfway through it when Covid hit and the UK, like many places, went into a pretty stringent lockdown.

 

Like most people, I was very anxious. I was worried about my students (I was teaching high school English at the time), I was pregnant and anxious about the baby, I was worried about my mum, who has some health conditions, and worried about my brother, who was an ICU doctor on the Covid wards – I was just a big ball of worry, really.

 

But I noticed that the more anxious I felt, the more jokes seemed to creep into the book. I hadn’t set out to write a comedy at all, but it just got more and more absurd as it became an escape for me, and eventually I was sitting in my tiny, hot flat in London that had started to feel like a prison, staring at my screen, and thinking, “What this party needs is a ferret on the loose.”

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I wanted a funny title, and I love how this phrase is so steeped in passive-aggression. It captures the dysfunctional family dynamic perfectly.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve just finished a novel set in Gloucester, UK, during the 1990s, at the height of the Fred and Rose West investigation – this was one of the largest serial killer investigations in English history. That’s only the backdrop, though. Mainly, it’s an unconventional love story between a Jehovah’s Witness and a sociopathic ward of the state.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My previous novel is called Cry Havoc and is a dark comedy set in a failing English boarding school. If you like dysfunctional women and buildings on the brink of collapse, it might just be the book for you.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Rebecca Wait. 

Q&A with Haley Neil

  

 

Haley Neil is the author of the new middle grade novel Greta Grimsdark and the Normal New Neighbor. Her other books include the YA novel Planning Perfect. She is also a children's librarian.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Greta Grimsdark and the Normal New Neighbor?

 

A: Greta Grimsdark and the Normal New Neighbor is dedicated to my best friend growing up. When we were little, we lived two houses away from each other. I was the one who got to be the not-so-normal new neighbor in that case. I moved down the road when I was 5 and she was 6 (a whole grade ahead of me, which at the time seemed like a big deal at the time).

 

Greta lives in a very different world. Human things are confusing to her. Though I would argue that human things can be awfully confusing to a lot of kids, even if they don’t have parents who are dragons. Agnes is a touchpoint into what a reader might think of as “normal.”

 

But even if they come from different backgrounds, they can still go on adventures and have fun and possibly even save the world together. Friendship is a magical thing, for any kid.

 

There’s something so special about growing up with someone else, with discovering the world together. I was lucky enough to have a partner, someone to learn and grow with, living right on the same street.

 

And while we no longer live two houses apart, we still get to grow together. I was the maid of honor at her wedding, next month she will be the matron of honor at mine. A friend like that is worth writing a book about.

 

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Greta and her family members?

 

A: I love these two questions back-to-back, because the answers are different! Greta and her family members came first. So, the idea of Greta and her world was around for YEARS before this particular story took shape.

 

This might be silly, but sometimes, as a writer, it feels like you can tap into some otherworldly place. I remember the beginning feeling a bit magical. I remember thinking this one, this idea, is special.

 

I honestly can’t remember if it was around Halloween when I started to write the original version of the story (at the beginning, it was called “The Children of Grimsdark Castle”). The root of all this is a bit muddled in my mind. Was it because of the season? Was it because I was working with kids?

 

At the time, I was working one-on-one with a little boy in Manhattan, who loved listening to stories. I had just left a position as a preschool teacher so I could go to graduate school and study writing for children and young adults. The very first version of this story was told to that little boy and then submitted as a grad school writing assignment.

 

I remember sitting in the Starbucks in Union Square, writing the opening to that old version of the book, which introduced the Grimsdark family. A ghost, a part-zombie, a possible vampire, and, scariest of all, a human child.

 

They were the core of the story that I loved. So much evolved in the editing process, the characters grew, gained depth and texture; the story shifted and changed. But that foundation remains.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Greta and Agnes?

 

A: Greta and Agnes complement each other in such great ways. They come from two very different worlds, but ultimately that doesn’t prove to be an obstacle. Sure, it leads to some fun shenanigans. But I think that is what you need in a friend. Someone who makes life interesting.

 

I think they are often on the same page, but they got to that page in wildly different ways. The plot lives in the ways that they navigate those differences.

 

Q: You’ve written for different age groups--do you have a preference?

 

A: What a great question! Writing for different ages can be so different. I feel like I’m working a different part of my brain.

 

I have to say, there is a special place in my heart for writing for kids. In addition to being an author, I’m also a full-time children’s librarian. I absolutely adore working with kids and writing for them, too.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m editing the second book in the Greta Grimsdark series! I can’t wait for readers to see what Greta and Agnes get up to next.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Visit your local library and talk to your librarian! Librarians want you to talk to them. They want to help you find just the right book or a bit of fascinating information or connect you with a free program or resource.

 

As a children’s librarian, I’ve seen many kids hesitate to talk to whoever is on desk. I want them to know that they don’t have to be worried. Your question is not silly, we probably can find a book or series based on a vague description, and we definitely want to help you discover your next read. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Haley Neil. 

Q&A with Charlotte Parent

  

Photo by Justine Latour

 

 

Charlotte Parent is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book Muriel and the Mystery. She lives in Montreal. 

 

Q: What inspired you to create Muriel and the Mystery?

 

A: In the weeks before writing this story, I had been thinking about the unknown, uncertainty, and risk-taking (in my life and in my creative work).

 

I read a long-form interview with Anne Herbauts, a Belgian picture book author and illustrator, who talked about creating with one’s head “in the hedge”: she says, “It's the fact, in one's own work, of not staying in the middle of the garden, in one's known, where one risks getting bored and repeating oneself. You have to rub up against the hedge, to go into the hedge.”

 

The idea of the hedge is so wonderfully weird; it feels so true to my experience of creativity. The hedge around a garden is both a domestic and a liminal, slightly scary space.

 

The evening after reading the interview, I sketched a mouse having tea with what I thought of as “the Unknown.” I’m pretty sure this was my way of exploring the limit between the domestic and the mysterious, between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

 

The mouse became a shrew and the unknown became a mystery, but that scene is at the heart of Muriel and the Mystery!

 

Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “Parent’s enigmatic work promotes the open-minded embrace of the unknown.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: That sounds right to me. I don’t know if Muriel truly embraces the mystery in the end. She certainly makes room for it in her life, but her expression in the last spread is a little inscrutable; I’m not sure she is at the “open-minded embrace of the unknown” level yet. She’s working on it, though! 

 

I appreciate that they called the book “enigmatic” – with this book, I tried to leave just enough strings untied, and to make interpretation a true collaboration between the reader and the book. I am a firm believer that children can handle weird, open-ended stories.  

 

Q: Why did you decide to make Muriel a shrew?

 

A: Actually, the shrew came first! I drew a shrew one night, just because. She looked tense. I remember thinking right then that her name could be “Murielle.” Murielle is my grandmother’s name, and I think the apparent nervousness of little shrew I drew reminded me of her.

 

In French (my first language), a shrew is a “musaraigne,” and I liked the alliteration in “Murielle la musaraigne.” The name stuck, and so did the shrew. 

 

My agent, Jennifer Laughran, would later tell me that shrews are notoriously very fearful animals that can apparently die from fright when startled. (She specified that she did not recommend incorporating this into the book.) It seems very fitting for Muriel, a nervous character who loves nothing more than a consistent routine, to be a shrew.

 

Q: Did you work on the text first or the illustrations first--or both simultaneously?

 

A: I wrote the text first. I was lying in bed with a Covid-induced fever. It took me 15 minutes to write– that’s not a huge feat in itself considering that it was a little over 300 words, but it felt huge because I had been laboring over the same picture-book texts for months before this story came to me!

 

Once I had the text, I drew a storyboard. Throughout the whole process, as I worked on the illustrations, I tweaked the text to make sure both elements worked well together. That’s one benefit of being both the author and illustrator!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am currently working on the final illustrations for an Early Reader series written by my brother, Félix. They tell the story of a large dog and a tiny mouse living together in a small apartment. I’m using watercolour for this project, and I am learning a lot!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb