Episode 55: What do you think your writing muse looks like? -With Juana Martinez-Neal
Welcome! In this episode, authors Grace Lin and Juana Martinez-Neal answer this kid question: “What do you think your writing muse looks like?”
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle-grade novel, When the Sea Turned to Silver, and the picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today I am here with Juana Martinez-Neal, the author and illustrator of Alma and How She Got Her Name, as well as the illustrator of Fry Bread written by Kevin Noble Maillard and the illustrator of Swashby and the Sea written by Beth Ferry. Hi, Juana.
Juana Martinez-Neal: Hi Grace. How are you? How are you doing?
Grace Lin: I'm so good. I'm so glad that you're able to join me today.
Juana Martinez-Neal: I'm happy to be here.
Grace Lin: Okay, are you ready for today's question?
Juana Martinez-Neal: I think I am.
Grace Lin: Okay, today's question is from a person named Aidan. Aidan asks...
Aidan: What do you think your writing muse looks like?
Grace Lin: What do you think your writing muse looks like? And I think we could say what your artistic muse, your illustration muse, looks like too. I think we can extend that for all things. What do you think your artistic muse looks like?
Juana Martinez-Neal: I don't think I will have one muse, first. That's the first thing. I think I will have a few. Some will come up sometimes and then disappear as needed, right, or as they wish. I don't know. I think some of them will have like seaweed on their head. Some will be more like from the seventies, like with the hippy look. I don't know if kids even know what that looks like, like beads and crazy hair. And I don't know, I think some of them will maybe be... I think it will be more of a mythical creature. Yeah, I think so. Which one? I don't know. I think it will be a great idea to do it together with the children after they read my books and it will be a wonderful thing to just sit with them and then they just give me ideas of what do they think my artistic muse looks like [crosstalk 00:02:12]
Grace Lin: Well, another... Go ahead, sorry.
Juana Martinez-Neal: No, tell me, tell me.
Grace Lin: Oh, I was going to say, I love how you say there's many different ones. I almost feel like there could be a different muse for each book.
Juana Martinez-Neal: Yeah, I think so too. I think, yeah. I don't know but to me each book is a mood, like I get a strong feeling out of each book and that mood and that feeling changes according to what I'm working on and that will continue throughout that whole bookmaking process. So yeah, I need different ones, different muses.
Grace Lin: It's so funny because when you were saying that all of a sudden I was trying to think what my writing muse would look like and in my most recent novel, in my Mulan novel, I wrote about the Jade Rabbit and the Jade Rabbit in Chinese folklore is this rabbit that lives on the moon but it's sent down from the moon to the earth to help the humans get rid of a plague. And to do this, the Jade Rabbit changes into human form. And it changes it's human form and first it comes down as like a doctor and as the play continues and there's more sickness it changes into a young girl. It changes into whatever it can change into-
Juana Martinez-Neal: I love that.
Grace Lin: ... to best help the situation. And I was thinking, "Oh, maybe that's what my writing muse is like. It like, 'Oh, your book-
Juana Martinez-Neal: A Jade Rabbit?
Grace Lin: Yeah, it's like the Jade Rabbit but it comes and it sees the book that I'm trying to write and it's like, "Okay. It looks like you-
Juana Martinez-Neal: Shape of... You remember those cartoons.
Grace Lin: Oh, yeah. [crosstalk 00:03:54] The Wonder Twins.
Juana Martinez-Neal: Shape of... Just like that.
Grace Lin: Exactly.
Juana Martinez-Neal: I love it.
Grace Lin: Yeah, so it looks at your book. It's like, "Hm. I think you need somebody more like a mermaid [inaudible 00:04:07] with the seaweed and then it helps you with the [crosstalk 00:04:11]
Juana Martinez-Neal: You know what that seaweed one was for Swashby, and he's a man and he's just like Swashby, grumpy and done with life, but he's so sweet inside and that's exactly what Swashby is like. But for Alma, I mean, Alma is just all about, I don't know, life and your family and that bond with your dad and it's very warm, I think. Yeah, yeah.
Grace Lin: A very warm, I like that, a very warm, almost... I kind of see-
Juana Martinez-Neal: Homey.
Grace Lin: Yeah, homey.
Juana Martinez-Neal: Homey.
Grace Lin: I almost see it like a grandmother-y kind of-
Juana Martinez-Neal: Probably, yeah.
Grace Lin: Grandmother-y kind of muse, kind of patting your shoulder saying, "That's good."
Juana Martinez-Neal: "Keep going."
Grace Lin: "Keep going." Whereas sometimes when I'm writing something exciting, it'll be somebody like a boy going, "Come on. Go, go, go." So, yes, I think the muse moves. I like that idea a lot where it's a different muse all the time-
Juana Martinez-Neal: Yeah.
Grace Lin: ... so that's a great answer. So thank you so much, Juana, for answering that question-
Juana Martinez-Neal: Oh, well, thank you, Aidan.
Grace Lin: And thank you, Aidan, for asking it.
Juana Martinez-Neal: Thank you, Aidan, yeah.
Grace Lin: Bye.
Juana Martinez-Neal: Bye
Today’s BOOK REVIEW by Alison Morris! She’s reviewing Zoey and Sassafras: Dragons and Marshmallows by Asia Citro and Marion Lindsay.
How would you feel if suddenly, one day, a tiny dragon appeared on your doorstep, sneezing fire, and you had never seen a dragon before. That is what happens in the chapter book, Zoey and Sassafras, Dragons and Marshmallows, written by Asia Citro and illustrated by Marion Lindsey. Zoey is home with her cat Sassafras, when this tiny dragon appears, and she has no idea what to do with it. Her mom, as it turns out, has the very rare ability to see magical creatures, and Zoey has inherited it from her. Their dad has no idea this is going on.
The two of them use the scientific method to figure out what is going on in the environment around these animals that is making them sick and then do whatever they can to make it better. Dragons and marshmallows is the first book in this series, but as you read others, you will encounter animals like unicorns and merhorses and all sorts of other creatures. It's a great series for fans of books about magical creatures, about nature, about science, and about helping others.
Alison Morris is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal. She previously served as Senior Editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, Children's Book Buyer for Wellesley Booksmith and The Dartmouth Bookstore, and was the founding blogger of the ShelfTalker children’s book blog for Publishers Weekly. She'll be joining us from her home near Washington, DC where she spends LOTS of time discussing books with her husband, illustrator and graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.
Juana Martinez-Neal is the recipient of the 2019 Caldecott Honor for Alma and How She Got Her Name (Candlewick Press), her debut picture book as author-illustrator. She also the recipient of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal for Fry Bread: A Native American Story (Roaring Brook) and the 2018 Pura Belpré Medal for Illustration for La Princesa and the Pea (Putnam).
Juana was named to the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honor list in 2014, and was awarded the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase Grand Prize in 2012. She was born in Lima, the capital of Peru, and now lives in Arizona, with her husband and three children.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
