Guest Post: An Author Conversation Between Cece Bell and Jamie Michalak

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Cece Bell: Can you describe how we first became connected?

Jamie Michalak: I’d love to. It was about 16 years ago (holy cow!) and I was an editor at Candlewick Press. Back then, as you remember, editors still received most of their submissions via snail mail and we had slush piles, which were these overflowing bins of unsolicited manuscripts. Reading from the slush pile felt like searching for Wonka’s Golden Ticket. Except instead of eating 1000 chocolate bars, editors read 1000 manuscripts and there was an inordinate amount about dogs with hands, for some reason.

I thought your story was hilarious, warm, and really different—definitely the most original manuscript I’d ever read. I immediately jumped out of my seat to share your dummy with another editor, who loved it, and it got passed around the editorial department. It was the first time I felt like I physically could NOT return a submission. Of course, I really wanted to know…who is this Cece Bell?

I quickly learned that you were just as sweet and funny as your story. Sock Monkey Goes to Hollywood was your first published book and also one of the first books I ever edited, so it was all super exciting and fun.

What do you remember from that first experience publishing a book? Do you remember when you first got the big news?

CB: Wow! That’s almost exactly the way I remember it. Except it was more like 19 years ago, as I completed that dummy (“polished” on purpose, ‘cuz I was totally trying to get noticed) in 2000. The book itself came out a whopping three years later, mostly because I didn’t have an agent then and so I had to find a lawyer to help me navigate Candlewick’s very British-sounding contracts. And that took so long that it was forever until you and I could actually jump into the book together.

El Deafo

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El Deafo

By Cece Bell

In Stock Online

Paperback $15.99

I’ll never forget when I found out that you were interested. You left a voicemail on our answering machine. Of course, I have no idea what the message said—if anyone reading this has also read my book El Deafo, you’ll know I’m deaf and a lip-reader, and there aren’t any lips to read for phone messages. Luckily, my husband was able to translate and we were BOTH freaking out. I mean, FREAKING OUT!!! I spent forever trying to determine how to spell your last name, and went with something like McCallick. It was just nuts.

I’ll never forget when I found out that you were interested. You left a voicemail on our answering machine. Of course, I have no idea what the message said—if anyone reading this has also read my book El Deafo, you’ll know I’m deaf and a lip-reader, and there aren’t any lips to read for phone messages. Luckily, my husband was able to translate and we were BOTH freaking out. I mean, FREAKING OUT!!! I spent forever trying to determine how to spell your last name, and went with something like McCallick. It was just nuts.

Tom called you back, I think, and got your email address (hallelujah, email was actually a thing then—I would have NO career without email), and so we started corresponding. I felt like we had an instant connection. So much of getting into kids’ lit feels like luck—and the most fortunate thing that can happen is that you find an editor who “gets” you. You got me!

It warms my heart to read that you enjoyed that manuscript that much. We went on to work on the second Sock Monkey book together (Sock Monkey Boogie Woogie)…but then you had to go and have a real-live baby, and then you broke my heart (hee hee—I can laugh like that now, but not then, heck no) when you decided to “take a break” from publishing to “take care of your baby.” Hmpf. But I got matched up with the amazing Sarah Ketchersid, who has edited all my other books at Candlewick. And she’s the one who edited Chick and Brain: Smell My Foot!.

Sock Monkey Boogie Woogie: A Friend Is Made

Hardcover $14.00

Sock Monkey Boogie Woogie: A Friend Is Made

By Cece Bell

Hardcover $14.00

Even though I am being a bit facetious, I will forever be grateful to you for giving me my start in kid lit. Beyond grateful.

Even though I am being a bit facetious, I will forever be grateful to you for giving me my start in kid lit. Beyond grateful.

Which leads me to my next question. I think your Frank and Bean is a masterpiece, and we’ll talk about it soon. But what inspired your transition from editor to writer? Do you still edit, too?

JM: Aww, thanks! I was a closet writer for years. Being an author felt like an unattainable dream. When I left my full-time editorial position at Candlewick, I took on some freelance editorial work, waited tables (badly—soooo many broken dishes), and began to write more and submit my work to publishers. Then one day, Joan Powers at Candlewick called to say she’d like to publish a story I wrote, and I FREAKED OUT too!!!

I rarely edit these days because I now work full-time as a copywriter, and I write my own stuff on the weekends. Plus, that baby is now a teenager and he has a brother! But I don’t waitress anymore, and dishes of the world are breathing a collective sigh of relief over that.

Fast forward 16 to 19 years. You’re a famous and beloved children’s book author. It’s been exciting to watch your star soar over the years. Even if I didn’t edit your books, you’d still be one of my favorite authors. El Deafo really is a masterpiece. And let’s not forget Bee-Wigged. The “It was the wig!” page belongs in the “The Best Page Ever” wing of the Picture Book Hall of Fame. That scene was a bombshell!

Bee-Wigged

Paperback $6.99

Bee-Wigged

By Cece Bell

Paperback $6.99

Let’s cut right to the chase here. Chick and Brain. Hilarious. Where the heck did they come from? As an author-illustrator, do your characters spring from your drawings or do you create them through your writing first?

Let’s cut right to the chase here. Chick and Brain. Hilarious. Where the heck did they come from? As an author-illustrator, do your characters spring from your drawings or do you create them through your writing first?

CB: Aw, thanks so much for your kind words. And yeah, I still think Bee-Wigged is my personal favorite of all my books.

Chick and Brain is my attempt at a Dick and Jane book. I kid you not. And hence, these characters sprung out of whatever rhymed with “Dick and Jane.” (They could just have easily been Stick and Train.) I was really making an effort this time around to actually help kids learn to read, and the Dick and Jane books, stilted language and all, are the books that taught me how to read. Most of the time, though, that’s not really my goal. I’m usually selfishly just doing whatever the heck I think is funny. My goal is always to make people laugh.

Most of my characters spring from the daily walks that I take: when I get an idea on a walk, I jot it down on a piece of paper when I get home, and then I cram the piece of paper in a drawer. So there’s a drawer stuffed with ideas, most of them bad, but a few of them decent starting points for something good. (Bee-Wigged was a combo of two ideas I found in the drawer: a giant bee tries to make friends and wiglet is a real word.) I rarely do the drawings first, because if I did that, then I would stay away from writing stories that have things in them that are difficult for me to draw. There would be no books about adults in cars, for example. Not that I have any good ideas about adults in cars. Or any desire to draw adults in cars.

George and Martha

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George and Martha

By James Marshall
Illustrator James Marshall

In Stock Online

Paperback $6.95

I love Frank and Bean! Can you tell me where they came from? I noticed that you dedicated the book to Frank and Mary. Are they your parents? Is your mother a bean??

I love Frank and Bean! Can you tell me where they came from? I noticed that you dedicated the book to Frank and Mary. Are they your parents? Is your mother a bean??

JM: *spits out coffee*

Ha! No. Mary is the human bean mom of my husband, and Frank was his dad.

The real Frank and Bean are my sons when they were 5 and 7—and the unexpected things they were deeply passionate about. Like kazoos. The introspective Frank is based on my oldest son, who was into sporks, yoga, and soft jazz. My chatty younger son, a Bean, planned to live in a bus in Canada. He’d also sell donuts out of his bus. Oh, and be a famous drummer.

I had the characters, but it took a while to find their story. At that time, I was paying attention to the amount of time kids spent on devices. I wondered how phones were affecting their imaginations because creativity is often born in boredom. Quiet time is so important for kids. So I wrote the story around the idea of how quiet and creativity are connected, but I tried to do it in a subtle way. Like you, my goal is to make kids laugh and enjoy reading.

OK, back to you. Dick and Jane … Chick and Brain! Of course! SMELL MY FOOT! is a deceptively difficult story to write. You’ve used a limited pool of sight words and incorporated lots of repetition, but the story never feels stilted like a Dick and Jane book. It feels 100% like a Cece Bell book. Kids are going to die laughing. I’m interested in how you say you selfishly just write whatever makes you laugh. That’s what I love about your books—they’re fearless. Where does your offbeat sensibility come from? What inspired you or made you laugh growing up?

CB: I loved your answer about your sons being the inspiration for Frank and Bean. How true, that you need quiet sometimes in order to be creative. I guess I’m lucky that I can turn off my hearing aids and be in The Quiet whenever I need to. I often DO work without my hearing aids in my ears.

Joe and Sparky Get New Wheels

Paperback $3.99

Joe and Sparky Get New Wheels

By Jamie Michalak
Illustrator Frank Remkiewicz

Paperback $3.99

Thank you so much for your kind words. I’d never in a million years call myself fearless. I’m afraid of just about everything! I think maybe I just like pushing my absurdist sensibilities onto unsuspecting people.

Thank you so much for your kind words. I’d never in a million years call myself fearless. I’m afraid of just about everything! I think maybe I just like pushing my absurdist sensibilities onto unsuspecting people.

But to answer your question, when I was a kid, my mom and my older brother made me laugh harder than anybody. So my sense of humor comes from them. These are two of the funniest, silliest, wittiest people you could ever meet. And they both go for the potty humor whenever they can, and often when they shouldn’t. Which of course makes it all the funnier.

So as you can imagine, I thought one of the funniest parts of Frank and Bean was when Bean shows up with his horn and goes, “toot!” Beans, beans, the musical fruit…SO good. Obviously we both enjoy coming up with the silly stuff. But you mentioned that it took a while to find Frank and Bean’s story. Finding the story is often the hardest part of writing…what are some of the other challenges you have when you’re developing your early readers?

JM: I love that your mom is a fan of potty humor too. The potty humor was also big in my house growing up. I never really outgrew it, obviously. There’s something universally and timelessly funny about the toot, right?

Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover

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Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover

By Cece Bell
Illustrator Cece Bell

Paperback $3.99

Other challenges writing early readers? Hmm. I think the best early readers work as read-alouds. So the challenge is to make a book that new readers can read independently with relative ease, but they can also enjoy hearing someone else read it to them without sounding like a robot. Unless they’re reading Rabbit and Robot, of course! I use a lot of dialogue and sound effects so the story is like a little play when you read it aloud.

Other challenges writing early readers? Hmm. I think the best early readers work as read-alouds. So the challenge is to make a book that new readers can read independently with relative ease, but they can also enjoy hearing someone else read it to them without sounding like a robot. Unless they’re reading Rabbit and Robot, of course! I use a lot of dialogue and sound effects so the story is like a little play when you read it aloud.

Speaking of early readers, they often star unlikely pairs. Who’s your favorite unlikely pair? You don’t have to choose one from a book. Although you could. Do you have a favorite early reader? I don’t know how to stick to one question. I’ve had a lot of coffee this morning.

CB: Your sound effects are the bomb! (Pun intended.) I agree, sometimes the repetition in early readers can sound pretty monotonous when read aloud. That’s what makes the Dick and Jane books unintentionally funny. I have two favorite early reader pairs: James Marshall’s George and Martha, and Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad. I could prattle on and on about these books. Masterpieces!!! I really, really wish I could have had a chance to meet both of my kid lit heroes.

And hey, your Joe and Sparky are pretty special, too!

The Monster in the Backpack

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The Monster in the Backpack

By Lisa Moser
Illustrator Noah Z. Jones

Paperback $3.83 $3.99

Do you have a favorite early reader? Someone in the kid lit world you’d love to meet, or wish you had the chance to?

Do you have a favorite early reader? Someone in the kid lit world you’d love to meet, or wish you had the chance to?

JM: Yes, yes, yes to George and Martha & Frog and Toad! My favorites! James Marshall’s books kill me. I also love Amelia Bedelia, The Monster in the Backpack, Rabbit and Robot, Owl at Home…so many! Early readers are my favorite format. I guess because those are the first books that I read on my own. I felt like kind of a big deal to read a book with CHAPTERS.

I wish I had the chance to meet James Marshall, for sure. I’d like to have met Louise Fitzhugh and Edward Gorey too.

Please tell me you have another Chick and Brain book in the works.

CB: I love James Marshall’s Fox stories, too. And Lobel’s Owl at Home is one of my all-time favorites. Those lumps in the bed…tear water tea…

Edward Gorey!!! Louise Fitzhugh!!! So great. And Alice and Martin Provensen for me, please.

There IS another Chick and Brain book that is actually completed and will come out later: Chick and Brain: EGG OR EYEBALL? It is possibly the silliest book I’ve ever done.

How about Frank and Bean? Will they be taking their rock-and-roll show on the road?

JM: Hooray for another Chick and Brain adventure! I can’t wait to read it. You had me at EGG OR EYEBALL?

The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot

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The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot

By Alice Provensen , Martin Provensen

Paperback $7.99

And yes! There will be another Frank and Bean. The second book introduces some colorful new characters, and Frank and Bean write another song. The book hasn’t officially been announced yet, but it should be soon!

And yes! There will be another Frank and Bean. The second book introduces some colorful new characters, and Frank and Bean write another song. The book hasn’t officially been announced yet, but it should be soon!

Well, we’re getting the cane. This has been so much catching up, Cece! I think Chick and Brain and Frank and Bean would be great friends. Frank and Bean could write a song about the smell of Brain’s foot. And Chick could play the tambourine.

CB: Thank YOU—and even more, thank you for literally giving me my start in the best and only career I could ever imagine for myself. Talking to you was so much fun. Jamie, I hope I’ll get to see you at some book thing or another. Love to you!