money, dead dogs, and school visits (oh my)

My Top 7 Favorite Questions 

Or, Kids Ask Me About Money and Dead Dogs

7. What’s your favorite book you’ve written? This one makes the list purely because it's the only question I’ve gotten at every single school I’ve visited. My honest answer—that they’re too different to pick—disappoints them, but if they ask which book I’m proudest of, I tell them Jennifer Chan. 

6. Is your childhood dog still alive? My presentation includes a story about my childhood dog, so I probably should have anticipated this. To say yes would’ve stretched the realm of reality a little too far, so I answered, gracefully, Ummmmm. Well. I watched their smiles fade into horror. I have a new dog, though! I said. She’s a Jack Russell puppy. They awwwed. Nailed it. 

5. Is it difficult to adjust your language for kids? This is one of the most insightful, interesting questions I’ve gotten, and a little mind-bogglingly impressive to hear coming from a fourth grader. My favorite part of this question, though, was when he followed it up with, I often have that problem when I write, too. 

4. Who’s your favorite family member? And you can’t say all of them. This kid really wanted the tea. I cheated and said, Remember that puppy I mentioned? They awwed. 

3. Do you like your sister? Bless this child who followed up the previous question with such a softball. Yes, I do, in fact, like my sister. 

2. Voted most likely to make teachers groan (beating out close second, How old are you?), How much money do you make?  

The first day, when a kid asked, I stumbled through an unsatisfactory answer about how writing is a hard job but it’s still possible and anyway, next question.

Later that night, I asked Jasmine Warga how she answers it. She said she tells them that she makes a different amount every year because it depends how many books she sells, and she makes roughly $1 for every book someone buys.

Obviously, I stole this answer.

Just a dollar?! The kids responded at the next school, suddenly indignant on my behalf, tiny businesspeople. How unfair! 
 
Okay, let’s talk about that dollar… I said. And unexpectedly, this became one of my favorite questions to answer, because we talked about all the many, many people who go into making a book. The artist, my editor, marketing and publicity, the people who format pages, the people who create physical books, the people who package books into boxes, the people who drive those boxes to bookstores, the bookstore employees who help get books into readers’ hands. Now if they ask about money, I get to tell them, When you buy a book from a bookstore, or when your library buys a book for you to read, you’re supporting not only the writer but also all the people who make books possible. 

1. This is more of a comment than a question but… (the phrase that strikes fear into the hearts of authors when it’s coming from adults, but when it’s coming from a kid, you know you’re going to get a random and delightful piece of information.) One kid finished the sentence by saying, I think…I just realized…(and then he stood up, in dramatic fashion) you inspired me to write!

It’s the kind of thing that would be far too cheesy for fiction, but sometimes kids actually do say something that heart-meltingly wholesome. 
 

***

In honesty, tour is exhausting. Every day I visited three schools, flew to a new city, got in late, got up early and did it all again. There were moments on planes, in cabs, in hotel rooms when all I wanted was to be in my own bed. And yet. 

Nothing really beats the time with kids. I feel so lucky to get to do this. It has been such a joy to share stories with kids, to hear about what they’re reading and writing, to hear about how their little siblings are so annoying but sometimes cute I guess and how they have the best dog even though he peed on the floor this morning.

I like this job a great deal. 

And now, I’m going to sleep. 💙

A Note on School Visits

Aside from tour, I've been closed to school visits for 2022, which I needed to do for my writing time, and also just my...living-life time. But this tour reminded me how much I love them, and I'm opening back up for virtual visits and a limited amount of in person visits.

I've also been considering how to make my school visits as beneficial as possible, and I've landed on this: For every school visit I do, both in person and virtual, I'll be using half of my visit fee to donate a wide selection of books to lower income schools in the same area. I know not every school can afford books and author visits, and I want to do my small part to bridge the gap.

If you'd like to book a visit for the 2023-2024 school year, let me know! Email me at tae[a]taekeller.com or my school visit manager, Lisa McClatchy, at liske[a]aol.com.

When Mihi and her new friends Reese and Savannah discover that their librarian’s refrigerator is actually a portal into a fairy tale land, they expect: 

• A world filled with magic

• A chance to meet (and maybe even become) princesses

• A shot to prove, once and for all, that they belong in their favorite fairy tales

They do not expect: 

• Scheming mice

• Dangerous ladies-in-waiting

• An apple that casts unexpected curses

• And...zombies??

But when they find all that and more, they must ask themselves: Do they have what it takes to create a fairytale of their own? And even more…do they have what it takes to survive it? 

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