Mary Payne Moran is the author of the new children's picture book The Vita Gang Mysteries: Who Stole Vita D?. A chef, nutritionist, and educator, she's based in Los Angeles.
Q: What inspired you to write The Vita Gang Mysteries?
A: The Vita Gang Mysteries began in 2009 when I launched a cooking tour to teach health, nutrition, and cooking, in parts of California and Oklahoma. I created the Vita Gang to help children recognize how each vitamin helped the body. The children were very opinionated about what the characters should look like, where they should live, and so many other wonderful ideas.
Over the years I collected all the ideas and added a lot of my own and wrote The Vita Gang Mysteries: Who Stole Vita D?. I began reading the story to hundreds of children while I taught cooking at The Agoura Arts Camp. The children once again offered ideas and opinions about the story.
Finally in 2015, I set out to illustrate my book. I found Milo Neuman, a well-known storyboard artist at Disney Television Animation, to illustrate my book. It was joyful watching my creation come to life. Like many artistic creations, it took time to find the right time to publish it.
In 2022 I launched my cooking school, The Silver Lake Kitchen, and it seemed like the perfect time to publish The Vita Gang Mysteries!
Q: One of the characters in the book is Chef Mary, but how did you create the other characters?
A: The characters were so fun. I had to take a deep dive looking into all of the health benefits for each vitamin and what colors of foods they were most prevalent in. The vitamin characters were exciting to develop.
Some were easier than others, because their superpowers were easy to portray. Vita C was the easiest, most children know Vitamin C helps you when you’re sick, and oranges have vitamin C and are the color orange. Therefore, her character was easy to build.
Vita K’s coloring was easy as vitamin K is prevalent in green fruits and vegetables, but his superpowers were very difficult. Vitamin K helps the body make scabs and heal, so coming up with a way to connect that healing process to something children would respond to was challenging. I finally came up with the idea of Vita K having a super sticky glue to represent scabs and healing; kids love and remember it.
I'd also love to share about Chef Mary as she was fun to develop as well. While I was teaching early on in my career, my cousin Bennett Berry, a prominent Oklahoma artist, drew a caricature of me. As the story developed, I wondered whether the character should exist and if she did should she still be named Mary?
The kids I read wanted me to keep her and I finally decided that “marry” is a kitchen term for adding two ingredients together, and one of the important characteristics about Chef Mary is she uses cooking terms in her conversations with The Vita Gang.
Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: There were parts of the story I knew before writing, but others naturally developed as I continued to teach and read rough drafts to different schools.
Teaching children over the years, I recognized getting kids to eat French fries was a lot easier than getting them to eat a plate of broccoli. It became important to visually show them why eating broccoli is good for their body.
I also knew I didn’t want Franco fry to be a “bully” and French fries to be deemed “a bad food.” There are so many indulgent foods out there that can be eaten without guilt as long as we have them in moderation, and paired with healthy foods.
Lastly, I wanted to share with kids of all ages (even adults) that eating new fruits, vegetables, and foods sometimes requires bravery.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the story?
A: There are many wonderful messages in this book, but if I had to choose a few, first and foremost, I want them to take interest in nurturing their body with good and healthy food.
Second, I love the last line in the book, “the brave always balance.” I’ve started using this motto in my everyday life since publishing the book. There are so many pressures in our busy world, and it’s important to not overindulge in one area and leave the rest untended to.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on the second book in the series, and I’m so excited about it. I’m also working on a cookbook to help children and parents cook together. Both have been a dream for years. No release dates yet, but hopefully by end of year for the cookbook and 2025 for the next Vita Gang Mysteries.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I will be doing a book tour the last weeks of September 2024 through the Midwest and there’s still slots available for your school, bookstore, or gift shop! I’d love to include you.
Book Tour Dates and Cities
Sept. 15, 16, Des Moines, Iowa
Sept. 18, Omaha, Nebraska
Sept. 19, 20, 21, Kansas City, Missouri
Sept. 23, 24, Wichita, Kansas
Sept. 26, 27, 28, Oklahoma City
Sept. 29, 30, Dallas, Texas
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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