Using your witchy powers for picture book inspiration

Hello, Word Wonder-ers! I am a huge fan of witchy books so for today’s interview on Finding Inspiration, I summoned Gayle C. Krause, author of the newly released picture book, ZADIE AND THE WITCH’S TEA. Welcome, Gayle! How did you find the inspiration for your spooky, kindness-centered Cinderella retelling?

Gayle: My sisters and I tease each other about our “witchy” powers. (When one calls, the other already has the phone in her hand, or when one is thinking about the other one, the phone rings.) To celebrate our sisterhood and our sibling thought-waves, (which we got from our grandmother) we gather every summer for fun, food, wine, and of course, ‘dress-up.’ We call it our Witchy Weekend.

Candice: How fun is that! I love it. What is your favorite part of the creative process?  

Gayle: For rhyming picture books, my favorite part is finding multi-syllabic rhymes that make the poetry interesting and not just end rhymes. Sometimes, I use internal rhyme as well. And I always try to incorporate theme-specific words. Examples in Zadie’s story are: 

fa-boo-lous frocks, bone-tingling beads, cobwebby capes, specdracula tea, zombie meringues

Recognize all this lovely use of color? The illustrator is Kate Talbot who we talked with in a previous interview! Find it here.

Candice: One of my favorites was “glamour-ghoul gowns”!  Do you have other creative outlets or hobbies? How do they cross into your writing?

Gayle: Yes. I’m a quilter and a dollmaker. I make anything that’s fantasy related. It helps me fill the well in between manuscripts. While I waited for responses from editors, I turned my creativity to dollmaking and designed and created Zadie, her sisters, and the Grand Witch. Really, anything that has to do with fantasy. 

Candice: Adorable. Filling the creative well is so important. Do you have any tips you’d like to share about finding creativity? 

Gayle: Keep your eyes and ears open. An idea can spring from a person you see, a place you visit, or a saying that you can turn on its ear to make a punny picture book, i.e. The Sound of Moosic, featuring cows, of course. Sometimes a TV commercial will spark an idea. And dreams are always a source of inspiration for me.

Candice: Your “Hairy Godspider” was my favorite pun from your story! Can you tell us about a future book project you’re working on?

“…you’ll need a gown of bewitched spider lace…”

Gayle: I’m currently putting the finishing touches on my MG Fantasy (also about a witch), which was born from a 200-word excerpt I entered in the 2022 KID’S CHOICE KIDLIT WRITING CONTEST, which won 1^st place nationally. The judges were MG readers, and that’s who I want to please with my MG novel writing.

Congrats, Gayle! I can’t wait to one day see it on a bookshelf.

To see ZADIE AND THE WITCH’S TEA on your bookshelf, request it at your local library, indie bookstore, or online at bookshop.org (helps support indie bookstores), Barnes & Noble, or Books a Million.

Named the 2022 MG first place winner of the Kid’s Choice KIDLIT Writing Contest,
Gayle C. Krause is a PAL SCBWI member and a past member of The Historical Novel
Society, and The Poets’ Garage. She served on the National Rhyme Revolution
Committee, choosing the best rhyming picture book from 2015-2018. She teaches writing seminars to published kidlit creatives and new children’s writers. She’s a former
Education Academy Chair in an upstate NY Career and Technical school, where she
taught prospective Early Childhood educators and directed a Laboratory Pre-K in
conjunction with her program. She writes PB, MG, and YA and has six published books.

Kate Talbot is a Children’s Book Author and Illustrator who has a passion for quirky stories, especially when told in rhyme. She has a degree in filmmaking and spent several years as a Film Producer (the highlight of her career was spilling an entire tray of drinks in Russell Crowe’s lap before falling butt-first into a fountain). In 2011, she made the shift to children’s writing and illustration, when she moved to Germany with her Spanish husband. Until recently she lived there with her family, but has now relocated to New Zealand. https://www.katetalbotbooks.com

Call to Creativity: Do you and your siblings/family members/found family have a special power all your own? How could that uniqueness magically turn into a story?

Words Matter

“We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” Toni Morrison

As readers, we are drawn to words. Over the years I have been drawn to Michener, Uris, Tolkien, Barbara Kingsolver and Barbara Ehrenreich. As a youngster in Poland, I was raised on the works of Janusz Korczak, the poetry of Jan Brzechwa, Maria Konopnicka and (in translation from Spanish) Monro Leaf’s The Story of Ferdinand. After we arrived in the United States, I read Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Books, Hugh Lofting’s Dr. Dolittle stories and Maguerite de Angeli’s Door in the Wall. And of course, there were all the classics – the Brothers’ Grimm, Johanna Spyri, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens. Who are some of your favorite authors?

As writers, we know words matter. I often say, “Words are my world”.  “In the beginning was the word.” We paint the world through words. We develop characters and plot with words.

As parents and teachers, we teach children to use words wisely.

This is increasingly important when our country’s leaders use derogatory, negative, foul language and resort to name-calling. As someone who was called names, tormented and bullied due to cultural and neurological differences, I’m sensitive to this type of language.

What message does it teach our children? How should we respond?

I suggest we respond with love by teaching kindness. Being kind can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

Some books that teach the importance of our words, kindness and inclusivity:

The Big Umbrella words and pictures by Amy June Bates. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers 2018. 32 p; 89 words

There is always room for everyone under the big umbrella that loves to gather people in. This free verse, beautifully illustrated poem shares the message of inclusiveness in a fun way. Our hearts have the same capacity to expand – there is no limit to how many people we can love and include.

Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller ill by Jen Hill. Roaring Brook Press 2018. 32p; 400 words

When Tanisha spills grape juice all over her dress, her classmate tries to be kind. But it is not always easy. Examples of kindness include giving, helping, and paying attention. These small acts are important and build more acts of kindness.

If you plant a seed words and pictures by Kadir Nelson. Baker and Bray 2017 (an imprint of Harper Collins).

In this short poem, we learn that the things we plant grow and grow and grow. They can be carrots or tomatoes, selfishness or kindness.

Words and Your Heart words and pictures by Kate Jane Neal. Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, 2017.

In her debut, Kate Jane Neal explains simply and directly the power our words have. She shows how our words impact others – both for good and for evil.

Here is a poem I wrote about words:

WORDS: HANDLE WITH CARE

As children, we were told to say:

“Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but words can never hurt me.”

Yet words often cause injury and pain…

The scars don’t show,

but the wounds may never heal.

Words

 or their absence

have power:

They can hurt, or they can heal.

They can bruise, or they can mend.

They can kill – or give new life.

Words

evoke image, smell, taste, sound, mood, feel.

Words have power.

Words are real.

 

Words

tell a story,

convey a message,

convince the skeptic,

stir up mood and feelings.

Words.

Use them with care

to encourage, engage, enrich.

It is said: “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

Words

can change lives.

You

can change the world

one word at a time.

What is a quote or poem that resonates with you?

What are some of your favorite books that teach kindness?

How can your words help change our world?

Share it in the comments to pass along the power of words.