BESTSELLERS & BEST FRIENDS
My book publishing blog, with murder mysteries woven through it.
If this is your first visit, be sure to start with “1. Let’s do it!”
______________________________________________________
Yesterday, depressed by the current state of book publishing, I promised to start a blog about the hardwood floor business.
But damn it! There’s already a terrific hardwood flooring blog out there.
This Dave guy absolutely nails (get it?) the flooring business.
With great guidance like, “Keep your dog’s nails trimmed” and “Seasonal floor squeaking should subside when humidity levels return to a stable level between 40%- 60%.”
I can’t compete with that sort of stuff.
So it’s back to book publishing.
Or better yet, a bit of my own news.
This just showed up in Publishers Weekly, the journal of the book publishing industry.
Even after my more than 40 books, this moment is a HUGE thrill.
Poof that what was long stuck in a file on my computer, will actually show up to bookstores, classrooms, libraries, and family bookshelves.
If you’re curious about how this book happened….
And I love how the announcement looks on Twitter.
It began while I was listening to NPR, close to Memorial Day, and there was much talk about parades, memorials, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It struck me, “Do kids know what the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is?” Why would they? Is it in the curriculum? Do all kids get to travel to Washington, D.C. (like I did as a high school senior) and visit Arlington National Cemetery? Is there a book out there for kids?
I looked for such a book. Nope, none.
There should be.
Sure, there are websites for a curious kid to learn about the history and traditions of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
But the few times I visited the Tomb, and witnessed its changing of the guards, mine was a powerfully emotional reaction. I wanted to poke around at that emotional response, and thought a story would best serve the purpose.
So I figured I’d write about a kid visiting the Tomb. I started typing.
This wouldn’t be easy and might quickly fail—as most manuscripts do. After all, the story of the Tomb begins with bodies horrifically destroyed beyond identification. Those are bodies of loved ones. Somebody’s parent, or brother, or child, or best friend, or the love of a lifetime. How the hell do you write to kids about that?
Body bearers carry the unknown Soldier from the USS Olympia to the horse-drawn caisson which transported the body to the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 9, 1921.
My niece’s son, Jack, is a curious and thoughtful kid (I adore him). His father has served in multiple war zones. So for the story’s protagonist, I imagined Jack. (My father who served in the Pacific in World War II was also named Jack.) So I had a name, and an inspiration, for the kid.
At the same time as I was thinking about the possibility of this story, my beloved older brother, JK, who served during the Vietnam era, was dying. He had been stationed at Ft. Myers, next to Arlington National Cemetery. When I’d visit him, we’d also visit the cemetery with him. And so my emotions were into this. This one was personal. But would that matter a damn to my typing fingers or a potential reader?
I soon had a story I liked. With each read of the manuscript, the story continued to work. I’d even tear up at my own words. Perhaps that sounds weird, but to me it seemed a damn good sign. I thought my story of the Unknown Soldier should, and could be, a book.
Luckily, I knew Yolanda Scott, Editorial Director at Charlesbridge Publishing.
I’ve long been a fan of Charlesbridge’s publishing. Yolanda was going to be in New York City for a conference. I emailed her a couple of things I was working on, and we scheduled a drink at Sally’s (and Randy’s) and my favorite bar, The Drunken Horse. Recall this posting.
The Drunken Horse
Yolanda cut to the chase, “I want the Unknown Soldier.”
Wonderful! She imagined it being presented like Eve Bunting’s The Cart that Carried Martin (which I love, so better yet!).
We agreed to terms, finished our drinks, and she caught a train out of Penn Station back to Boston.
And although it took a while (publishing is like that), when Yolanda got to editing it, she nailed it. Just what a guy like me needs and hopes for.
Yolanda and Charlesbridge’s art director came to me with three possible illustrators. We went with Jamie Peterson and again I couldn’t be happier. Jamie is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and on the Board of the United States Veterans’ Artists Alliance. I was struck by how expressive Jamie’s young faces are. My story of young Jack visiting the Tomb gets emotional, a bit overwhelming for Jack, there’s concern and questioning and a final realization. All that sort of stuff which I feared my words would fail. But Jamie will surely complete wherever I fall short (see images.)
Oh, and the last words I typed into the manuscript, was its dedication to my late brother, JK.
This one feels right.
Tomorrow: My new Robert Parker