Lucy Branam is the author of the new children's picture book Monday. She also has written the picture book Roof Octopus. Also a graphic designer, she lives in Jacksboro, Tennessee.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Monday?
A: I don’t remember exactly what gave me the idea for Monday, other than the fact that it seems to be a universal idea that nobody likes Mondays. I guess I got to ruminating on that theme and from there started to imagine what it’d be like if the days were “alive” and had personalities. And that sounded like a really interesting story idea to work on!
Q: What do you think Kevin M. Barry’s illustrations add to the story?
A: They add so much! A picture book is pretty much nothing without art, and Kevin’s work in Monday is so colorful and fun. I didn’t have any concrete ideas of what I thought the days would look like in my mind, so it was very exciting to see how Kevin brought the days’ personality traits to life in form.
I did a school visit back in November and the librarian encouraged kids to dress up like a day of the week. It was really cool to see kids wearing a bathrobe like Sunday or sporty clothes like Thursday!
Q: What inspired the personalities of the other days of the week?
A: Part of the inspiration was the kinda established opinion of the days, like Sunday is a lazy day and everyone’s excited to see Friday come. For the other days I just used my imagination and came up with ideas that appealed to me.
I’m a big fan of ice cream, so Tuesday handing out cones sounded like something pleasant after a rough Monday. I also like to make and send greeting cards so I decided that was something Wednesday could be into, too.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?
A: I hope kids take away the idea that we all have different talents and were made for different purposes, and that we’re all needed in some way. And that it’s okay to not be great at everything, and that it’s also okay to be great at something that you really enjoy.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’ve recently been brainstorming a few new picture book ideas. I’ve also decided this year to try my hand at illustration (I’ve always been into art in some form and currently am a graphic design at my day job) in the hopes of illustrating one of my own stories.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: My first picture book, Roof Octopus, is still available. It was illustrated by Rogério Coelho and is the story of Nora and the giant octopus she befriends!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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