Jennifer Bradbury is the author of the new children's picture book Nearly Exactly Almost Like Me. Her other books include Rock by Rock. She lives in Burlington, Washington.
Q: What inspired you to write Nearly Exactly Almost Like Me, and how was the book’s title chosen?
A: Both our kids were adopted, one domestically and one from India. The book was inspired over a decade ago when I was dropping my daughter off at kindergarten and a classmate made a comment similar to the one the character in the story has to navigate.
The book grew out of the conversation we had with our oldest about how much she and her brother shared and how the bond between them is incredibly special in its own way.
My kids are 18 and 16 now and they still face the same questions and curiosity, but they do so with a lot of pride in each other and their own adoption stories. And they both still hate crunchy peanut butter.
Q: How would you describe the relationship between the two brothers in the book?
A: Normal, I hope! The big brother is quietly but fiercely protective, and the little looks up to him. They're best friends who share a bond and plenty of normal sibling shenanigans and love.
Q: What do you think Pearl AuYeung's illustrations add to the story?
A: They add so much! I was really focused on the connection and the idea of the story and doing everything I could to communicate to kids how family bonds are formed in so many ways other than shared DNA.
Pearl's illustrations add so much life and whimsy to the story. And she really fleshed out the world and the setting and populated it with so many other kids and background characters who leap off the page and suggest their own stories.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?
A: I hope kids like my own see themselves and their own stories reflected here, and kids who have natural curiosity when they see siblings who may not look alike might have a new way to understand that family.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I've been working on another historical novel, another nonfiction picture book, and some curriculum related to my other job as a high school English teacher.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Thank you so much for the interview!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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