MO Day #21 Lynne Marie Celebrates America

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Registration Post Hello March On With Mentor Texts!

An Application of Mentor Texts and American Pies

by Lynne Marie

UPDATE: AMERICAN PIE just received the first of hopefully many awards with the Reader's Favorite 5-Star Award.

Illustrator Dea Lenihan are happy to have

received this distinction and hope our little story of multi-cultural friendships reaches many readers.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled post:

As I have mentioned time and again <grin> I am the biggest fan of Mentor Texts. So when I saw this illustration by my friend Deborah Cuneo and got a story idea, I headed straight for the library.

I knew I wanted to feature a character who represented an immigrant, and likewise that I wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July. But before I spent a lot of time developing my idea, I needed to know what was already out there.

As usual, I made it my goal to come up with 50 - 100 books on similar topics and themes. These included: Picture books about celebrating Fourth of July, immigrants, America, and friendship.

A is for America by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Gerald Kelley (Price, Stern, Sloan 2011). This is a fun and clever alphabet book with engaging illustrations.

Of course, this was a concept book, which is one way to approach a topic. But my treatment would have a story, so, so far, so good.

I knew I wanted to approach ways to celebrate the day. I found Enzo and the Fourth of July Races by Garth Stein and illustrated by R. W. Alley (HarperCollins, 2017), which focuses on fireworks, family and car races. Another unique approach, but thankfully it still didn't encroach upon my idea. But it was clear that this author had infused a passion (racing) into the book. What thing I loved could I possibly infuse into the book? Hmmmm...what did I love? Baking! What did I love about 4th of July? Apple Pie! But there's not a lot of conflict in that, so I added some.

What if my main character was an immigrant who wanted to celebrate 4th of July in the customary way? And what if they had no family to picnic with, no friends to watch a parade and fireworks with, and no apples to bake in a pie? Hmmm...I liked where this was going. But were there already books that focused upon apple pie on Fourth of July?

Well, not exactly. There was How to Bake an American Pie by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Raul Colon (Margaret K. McElderry, 2007). While it featured animals making a pie, this proved very different from my idea and dealt more with the concepts that made America, all stirred into a pie.

But what amount my idea for my main character to be an immigrant? Was that overdone? I found Apple Pie and Fourth of July by Janet S. Wong, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. This proved another unique take on the holiday, but again, not like mine!

This is just a thin slice of the entire research pie, but you get the idea. It thankfully showed my idea to be unique and different. And in fact, my idea bloomed and grew with each piece of research into what it is today!

Not only did I share this process to show you an example of the use of Mentor texts, but also to inspire you. There are many, many ways to approach an idea and put a unique spin on it. So if you find a lot of similar texts, then maybe approach your idea from a new angle! And if that's not possible and your idea is overdone, perhaps try a new one on for size.

In this business, we have to be able to shift our focus, grow and change. When my first illustrator had to back out of the deal due to health issues, I got a new one. And to honor that, I decided to change my main character from a mouse to a...wombat! For more on that, keep an eye open for my The Story Behind the Story of American Pie blogpost on www.literallylynnemarie.com.

But for now, let's celebrate the hard work, the research, the changes, the journey, and the rewarding final product of all these efforts -- American Pie, written by me and illustrated by Dea Lenihan (Dancing Flamingo Press). It's now available for pre-orders and releasing April 12, 2022.

I will leave you with one final thought. Don't be afraid to test your idea and do the research and the work so that one day, you too will have a book to celebrate!

Best of luck to you all!

BIO: Lynne Marie is the author of Hedgehog Goes to Kindergarten - art by Anne Kennedy (Scholastic 2011), Hedgehog's 100th Day of School – art by Lorna Hussey (Scholastic 2017), The Star of the Christmas Play-- art by Lorna Hussey (Beaming Books 2018), Moldilocks and the 3 Scares -- art by David Rodriguez Lorenzo (Sterling 2019 and Scholastic 2019), Let’s Eat! Mealtime Around the World -- art by Parwinder Singh (Beaming Books 2019), The Three Little Pigs and the Rocket Project -- art by Wendy Fedan (Mac and Cheese Press 2022), American Pie (Dancing Flamingo Press Spring 2022), There Was a Blue Whale Who Tangled with Plastic (Dancing Flamingo Press Spring 2023) and more, forthcoming. She’s also the Owner and Administrator of RateYourStory.org and a Travel Agent. She currently lives on a lake in South Florida with her family, a Schipperke named Anakin, where she can be found daydreaming and fracturing fairy tales. Visit her on her website www.LiterallyLynneMarie.com. Lynne Marie is represented by Marisa Cleveland of www.theseymouragency.com Follow her on Facebook here and on twitter here.

PRIZE: Lynne Marie is giving away a twenty-minute zoom session to discuss YOUR idea to one lucky winner.