The Building Blocks of Jennifer Buchet

This month, we'll be highlighting the Donors from Our Rate Your Story *Build-A-Story* Contest (August 1 - 31st). Each will share a little bit about themselves and the building blocks of their career, tell you about their latest project and leave YOU a building block to help build your stories! Be sure to check them out! AND don't forget to enter our contest (more info here) to be eligible for prizes!

INTRODUCING JENNIFER BUCHET:

Jennifer Buchet is an award-winning kidlit author, pre-kindergarten educator and imagineer. She is a feature contributor for Faces magazine while also creating new picture books and chapter books.In her elusive spare time, she loves whipping up magic in the kitchen!

INTRODUCING LITTLE MEDUSA:

My debut picture book, “Little Medusa’s Hair Do-Lemma” is what one would call an “evergreen” book. The themes behind my mythology mashup are relatable to everyone, young and old. Little Medusa deals with family tradition, friendship and finding one’s own path. With humor and hissy kissies, it’s a really fun read

An easy way to support an author is to leave Book Reviews and ask your Local Library to carry their books!

IN THE TRENCHES WITH JENNIFER:

Over the summer, I am determined to finish several works-in-progress, including two picture book stories and a chapter book. I’m looking forward to typing “The End” before Labor Day! Interspersed will be a few appearances & lining up author visits for the coming school year.

JENNIFER'S BUILDING BLOCKS:

ON MENTOR TEXTS: Read, read, read and read some more!! Read mentor texts, read what the kids are clamoring for, read what the adults are hoping the kids will read! It’s amazing what you can soak up by sitting with a pile of picture books for half an hour. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to take your tale in a different direction, or perhaps you’ll finally figure out what’s been blocking your story. You never know! But hopefully, your reads will be enjoyable on one level or another..

ON TRENDS: Since it can take several years from inspiration to book publication, I think it’s really hard to write to a current trend. For instance, once unicorns, mermaids or talking tacos become the “it” read, the trend is already trending out.

On the other hand, incorporating important topics or themes may be “easier” to write to because while topics may evolve, they don’t necessarily vanish into the ethos like talking tacos. An example of this is SEL picture books–Social Emotional Learning. They’re definitely on the upswing. Are they trendy, a hot-market item? Yes. Are they needed in classrooms, libraries and homes? Absolutely! Is SEL an evergreen topic vs talking tacos? I think you can answer that one!

And who knows…perhaps you can incorporate a current trend, like unicorns, into an SEL book. That’s a win-win all the way around!

ON GIVING UP: You may feel, sometimes, like giving up. Don’t we all at some point or another? It’s only natural. But rather than giving up, I take breaks. This may be a few hours to a few months. At my core, I have to write & I enjoy the process.

ON SUBJECTS SHE AVOIDS: After all this chatter about talking tacos, I don’t really want to read about one; I’d much rather eat one! Plus I can’t imagine having a great conversation with a talking taco, what with all the salsa & sour cream spitting everywhere during that confab!

Hey wait a minute….this idea just may have some legs to it. A talking taco with legs trying to outrace a burly burrito….pass the queso, please!