Meeting Jerry Spinelli and Clare Vanderpool

Author Visit with Newbery Winners Spinelli and Vanderpool

PickyKidPix and I were excited to meet Newbery-winning authors Jerry Spinelli and Clare Vanderpool who have been on the road together promoting their latest works.

At first glance, they are a pair of contrasts.

Clare looks like a young mom. She has two chapter books under her belt. I had met her at a Random House LiveChat along with Rebecca Stead, yet another Newbery winner. Not a real-life meeting per se, more of a Twitter Party-like atmosphere. But she remembered it, and if she didn’t remember me exactly — I was one of a half-dozen co-hosts — she was as gracious and charming as she was on the LiveChat.

Jerry is a seasoned veteran who has authored dozens of lauded books. He has this connection with children that is palpable. I think my daughter would have crawled into his lap and had him read to her if the line for his autograph wasn’t so long. Kids understand that he understands them.

In the front row of the auditorium was a gaggle of young girls, perhaps 5th or 6th grade, who were clearly Stargirl Spinelli fans. You could tell that they coerced a parent to drive them to this event — 8 pm on a school night —  for a chance to meet and ask Jerry questions about what happens to beloved characters. He appreciated their enthusiasm, in fact, his whole demeanor changed. He perked up and sat up straighter. And he even gently hinted at the outcome much to the girls’ delight!

Spinelli and Vanderpool both belong to a rarefied club with only a few dozen living members: Winners of the Newbery Prize! The road to this exclusive club couldn’t have been more different for each of them.

Jerry: 12 years and 4 books that nobody wanted and it was the fifth that got published.

(His fifth published book is Newbery winner Maniac Magee but I suppose there were books penned along the way that haven’t been published yet though I imagine that anything he’s ever written would sell like hotcakes now!).

Clare: Her debut chapter book won the Newbery and her second book has received rave reviews including predictions for another Newbery award.

Moon Over Manifest took the children’s book community by surprise. It was a dark horse win… even A Fuse #8 Production didn’t have it on her radar and she’s my go-to guru.

But anyone who’s read her book would agree that, of course, it should have won. It’s an exquisite book, reminiscent of Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons, another Newbery winner.

The author event was moderated by a local children’s librarian who asked them adult-like questions about their craft and specifics about their new books. It was difficult to get into unless you had read both books — I hadn’t and neither had my 5th grade daughter.

It was a shame it couldn’t have been more conversational to allow for the authors to banter back and forth. They had clearly developed a friendship from their week spent together. Instead, it was a list of questions read from a well-researched piece of paper that each author dutifully answered.

It reminded me of the short story by Jon Scieska and Kate DiCamillo, Your Question for Author Here, in Guys Read: Funny Business. In this short story, children’s author Maureen O’Toole writes a young boy back saying:

You have posed some questions. And you want some answers, answers that will result in your receiving a grade higher than a C-. I don’t know if I can help you, Joe, because I don’t feel like answering questions. The older you get, the more questions you get asked the more weary you become of answering the questions, and the more elusive the answers — any answer, every answer — seem.

Joe had written her:

1. Why do you write books?

2. Where do you get your ideas?

3. What got you started writing?

4. Your question for author here.

I have an idea! I’d love to see Jerry Spinelli and Clare Vanderpool write a short story for Guys Read. And then, when they go on a press junket, they can answer questions like:

• How did you come up with your story idea and who did what?
• What lessons about the writing craft did you learn from each other?
• What would the one piece of advice you’d give to each other?
• Who’s funnier either in person or in their writing?
• If you could pick a different writing partner, who would it be and why?
• What is something that you have in common with each other that you didn’t expect?

As luck would have it, someone in the audience was able to ask a #4 type of question. You can tell how much they enjoy each other’s company from the video!

Click on image of any book to view more closely at Amazon or here for Barnes and Noble.

p.s. I bet you knew that Jon Scieszka won a Caldecott honor and Kate DiCamillo, a Newbery honor for their respective books. What a small world!

p.p.s. I am half way through Navigating Early and it’s so good. Who would have thunk that a story involving the number Pi, a high functioning austistic boy, and an unlikely friendship would make for riveting action adventure? Only in the hands of a master storyteller! It’s a difficult chapter book to describe but a pleasure to read.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Multicultural Books for Kids on Pinterest.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Children’s Book Activities on Pinterest.

My books:

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

• Junior Library Guild Gold selection
• Massachusetts Book Award Long List
• Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
• Starred review from School Library Journal
• Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
• 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
• Green Earth Book Award Long List
• Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

 Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me