Photo by Alison Sheehy
Alyssa Satin Capucilli is the author of the new children's easy reader book Biscuit Rides the Ferry. The Biscuit series first began 30 years ago, and there are more than 100 books in the series. Capucilli lives near New York City.
Q: What inspired the latest in your Biscuit series, Biscuit Rides the Ferry?
A: Biscuit Rides the Ferry was inspired by a family ferry ride around the NYC harbor when my grandchildren came for a visit. When I heard the ferry’s horn, saw the crowds of people, the ducks, and of course the sea gulls, I said to myself, this is something Biscuit would enjoy!
I did expand the setting for a broader sea adventure where we meet many other creatures. Of course, Biscuit makes a number of friends along the way!
Q: When your first Biscuit book was published 30 years ago, did you imagine you’d write more than 100 books in the series?
A: I honestly wrote the first book as a picture book and never imagined it would become a series, or that I would write over 100 books about this silly yellow puppy.
That said, I began to receive letters almost immediately from parents, educators, and children who shared that Biscuit was the first book they could read independently. I was immediately inspired to create a library for emergent readers. Fortunately, my publisher HarperCollins made the breadth of Biscuit’s world possible.
Q: Can you describe your partnership with illustrator Pat Schories?
A: Interestingly enough, Pat Schories and I met quite by chance at a writer's critique group. She mentioned she was working on a story titled Biscuit, and I literally said, that’s my book!
Unbeknownst to Pat, my inspiration for the book came from my daughter, who was dog-sitting a neighbor’s large dog. Pat just happened to draw Biscuit's owner as a young girl. I've never named the character because to me she is every child, any child who loves a puppy.
Throughout our thirty years together, I’ve learned that Pat loves to come to a story "fresh." I rarely discuss my ideas for an upcoming story with her and I love that we still surprise each other. I think we both pinch ourselves when the term iconic puppy is used to describe Biscuit.
Q: The first Biscuit book was also the first in HarperCollins’s My First I Can Read series. What do you see as the importance of this series in encouraging children to read?
A: Biscuit did indeed launch HarperCollins's My First I Can Read series. Over 54 million books later, and translated into many languages worldwide, Biscuit has been a wonderful friend to those learning to read. Empowering children to read independently allows them to explore and enter myriad worlds which is not only important, but powerful.
For me, it is humbling. I think Biscuit readers genuinely love to return to this gentle world filled with unconditional love, kindness, and a lot of humor.
And whether someone identifies with Biscuit or another character in the story, when a reader goes on a journey with a character, it allows them to take a story and let it resonate within themselves for their own needs.
One reader can navigate new feelings such as when a new baby arrives, another may experience a slice of big city life or a day on a farm. I like to think that every reader recognizes that our actions are meaningful, no matter how young we are, especially when we return a lost duckling to the pond, albeit vicariously!
Biscuit’s woof, woof is a consistent refrain throughout every story. Readers gain confidence when they can read those simple words again and again. I work to make the story illustrable, to support our young readers with every turn of the page.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on new stories about Biscuit (to infinity and beyond?) and two new series as well. One is about a "pink paw-ed" detective on a subway train!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Creating and sustaining Biscuit’s world for 30 years, 210 in dog years, has been one of the greatest joys and privileges of my life. I have met so many people for whom Biscuit’s been a meaningful part of their lives.
With each new story, I hope my readers will close the cover of the book and say, that was fun. I want to read it again. It’s important that they not only learn to read, but that they learn to love to read.
My website www.alyssasatincapucilli.com is filled with downloadable activities and of course Biscuit books are available at your local library or through your favorite bookseller.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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