Hi Sharon, welcome to my blog! Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you came to
write children's books?
Sure, I would love to 😊. I am the youngest of eight children and grew up on a farm
in South Australia. My childhood was spent reading, making mud pies, exploring
the salt lake and swimming at the beach. Now I am a part-time teacher of
children who have a developmental language disorder and best of all a full-time
writer. I started writing children’s books when my first child was born in 2006
but it wasn’t until 2015 that I started taking the idea that I could become an author seriously. I joined Julie Hedlund’s 12x12 picture book challenge,
enrolled in children’s book courses and started my journey towards becoming a
published author.
Wow! SEVEN older brothers and sisters. As it happens, I grew up near a salt lake as well! Floating on the water is a pretty interesting experience. And I'm so glad you decided to write. Please tell us about your book!
Bedtime, Daddy! Is a humorous role reversal story, where the little bear in
the story puts their daddy bear to bed. To do this the little bear must wrestle
daddy bear into his pajamas, read just one more story, battle endless excuses,
and use go-away monster spray to finally get daddy to bed. The story has a
great balance between heart and humor. It would make a perfect bedtime and Father’s
Day book, and there's even a Teacher's Guide.
I loved the role-reversal in Bedtime Daddy! What
inspired you to write it?
My husband and my children. Over the
last fourteen years my husband and I have taken turns reading to our children
and putting them to bed. During the
nightly bedtime routine, I had a lightbulb thought… ‘wouldn’t it be funny if our
children put us the parents to bed.’ The idea for Bedtime, Daddy! was born.
I love those lightbulb moments! And the steps of getting Daddy to bed are hilarious. One of my
favorite parts is the monster spray. Do you have a favorite part of the story?
My favourite part of the story is
when Daddy Bear and Little Bear are snuggled up in bed reading a story and
Daddy Bear interrupts the story with these questions…
‘Why don’t ducks have arms?’ Or ‘Do
sharks sneeze?’
They were awesome questions! I love the randomness of it all. So true to life! And let's talk art. The art is so whimsical, and fits the book perfectly. It really
helps the reader feel that the advice is coming from a kid. Did you have any
input on the art or illustrator? What was your reaction at seeing the art?
EK Books asked Katrin Dreiling to
illustrate Bedtime, Daddy! Before I signed the contract, they sent me
Katrin’s early sketches of the characters. There was a daddy bear, a human
dad, a little bear and a little child.
Anouska the editor made a suggestion that perhaps using bear characters
would have a more universal appeal. I trusted Anouska’s advice and am very
happy with the bear characters. I love Katrin’s illustrative style and colour
palette and she has illustrated my words and vision perfectly. When I first saw
the storyboard for Bedtime, Daddy! I was ecstatically happy.
How interesting! Very cool that you had a choice on that. Can we talk writing for a minute? How many picture books
would you say you wrote before finally getting a deal on this one?
My first picture book I wrote was in
2006, I then went on to write nine more before I signed the deal for Bedtime,
Daddy! Since signing the deal I have written four more picture book
manuscripts and one chapter book manuscript.
That is a lot of books. This business takes a lot of perseverance! What helped you the most on the path to publication?
Not giving up and believing in
myself! As well as the support of my critique partners and the Kidlit
community. Surround yourself with like-minded writers.
That is great advice. Having that support makes all the difference!
One last question. I have a fascination for personalized
license plates. What do you think Little Bear might choose for
his personalized license plate? You have 8 characters. Go!
Zzzzzzz!
Bedtime, Daddy! is now available to order around the world:
Thanks so much! And for my readers, see below for where to find and follow Sharon on social media platforms.
Sharon Giltrow grew up in South
Australia, the youngest of eight children, surrounded by pet sheep and fields
of barley. She now lives in Perth, WA with her husband, two children and a tiny
dog. When not writing, Sharon works with children with Developmental Language
Disorder. Sharon was awarded the Paper Bird Fellowship in 2019. Her debut PB Bedtime,
Daddy, released May 2020 through EK books.
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4 comments:
Thank you Janet for interviewing me :-).
Sharon, thanks so much for being on my blog! :)
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