What Do Authors Do?

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         What Do Authors Do? Eileen Christelow—Nonfiction

·        Eileen Christelow has written numerous picture books, including both stories and nonfiction.  

·        I have been focusing on literacy instruction for a couple of semesters. This book could be an entertaining way to introduce young writers to the process of writing, revising, editing, and publishing. It shows the reader how long and laborious the task of writing and publishing a book is—in a way that offers encouragement to aspiring writers.

·        Some talk topics:

o       The story follows two neighbors as they each start with an inspiration to write a book about their pets. One is a man who wants to write about his dog, and the other is a woman who writes and illustrates a book about her cat.

o       They each struggle through the process of creating, revising, and editing until they are ready to submit their work to a publisher. At first they are both rejected, but that only spurs them to work harder on their stories until they each find a someone who will publish their books. But that’s only about half-way through the book. They continue to work with editors, designers, and illustrators until their work is finally published. A couple of years after the initial inspiration they are able to see their books in stores and on shelves. But that is not the end of their stories as writers—you’ll have to read it to find out what is next for them!

o       The illustrations are cartoon-y and lighthearted. The writer’s pets are on every page commenting on the writing process.

o       One thing that I noticed from the first page is that the characters are a black man and a white woman. At first I assumed that they were a couple. Within a few pages, however, I could tell that they were neighbors and that the woman was married to a white man and the man was married to a black woman. I appreciated that the main characters were of different races, without any attention being drawn to this fact, but would have appreciated a less divided racial mixture.

o       I liked this book because it showed how much of the writing process is not just getting an idea and developing it. It shows how long and hard each part of writing and publishing is-- but does so in a way that makes it seem worthwhile. It is intended to enourage young writers to work hard, knowing how long it can take and how satisfying it can be to publish a book.

o       I would recommend this book for 2^nd through 5^th graders. It could be used to talk about every aspect of the writing process. It is a graphic-novel style story that would be engaging for a broad age range of kids.