About viviankirkfield

Writer for children - Reader forever - Mom of 3, educator, author of FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK (PomegranateKids, PIPPA'S PASSOVER PLATE (Holiday House), SWEET DREAMS, SARAH (Creston Books); MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: THE INSPIRING FRIENDSHIP OF ELLA FITZGERALD AND MARILYN MONROE (Little Bee Books); FROM HERE TO THERE: INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WAY THE WORLD MOVES (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Jan 19, 2021); PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER: Annie Londonderry, First Woman to Bike Around the World (Calkins Creek/Astra, Feb 20, 2024) picture book junkie, lover of travel, hiking, fly-fishing, cooking, and playing Monopoly with my grandson.

Suzanne Williams – Will Write for Cookies

Posted on June 20, 2015 by viviankirkfield

WILL WRITE FOR COOKIES

INSIGHT – INFORMATION – INSPIRATION

FOR WRITERS

TODAY’S GUEST

SUZANNE WILLIAMS

FLASHBACK!

It’s 2009. My book is almost ready to go to the printer. I try to get in touch with the authors of the picture books I am recommending to see if they would like to read an advance copy and give me an endorsement. One of the books is Mommy Doesn’t Know My Name. The author is Suzanne Williams. She has an awesome website. I go there. I connect with her. She says…YES!

Fast forward to this year! I thought, wouldn’t it be great to shine the Will Write for Cookies spotlight on this wonderful author? So I contact Suzanne and she says…YES! That’s right…she’s a pretty special woman!

Suzanne Williams lives in Renton, WA and is the author of nearly 60 books for children, including the award-winning picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg). Together, she and Joan Holub write the Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Grimmtastic Girls series.

I’m so happy to have her here to share her thoughts with us.

Welcome, Suzanne!

ME: Who were your favorite authors/illustrators when you were a child?

Suzanne:

I was one of those children, as writers often are, who read constantly as a child. So picking a favorite is difficult. That said, I remember with special fondness, the I Can Read book, Little Bear by Elsa Minarik (illustrated by Maurice Sendak), a gift from my grandparents when I was seven years old. Later favorite reads included Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski, the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren. P.L. Travers’s Mary Poppins books, and series like Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins, and Trixie Belden. I was definitely more of a fiction reader than a non-fiction reader, so it’s no surprise that’s what I’ve chosen to write. Continue reading →

#PPBF: Medusa the Rich

Posted on June 19, 2015 by viviankirkfield

It’s the beginning of a special weekend. Today is Perfect Picture Book Friday (although Susanna Hill is taking a summer hiatus, you can still access her incredible Perfect Picture Book resource list here.Tomorrow is Will Write for Cookies with my very special guest, author Suzanne Williams. And Sunday is Father’s Day AND the first day of summer. Woo-hoo!

Today is also the first day of Kristen Fulton’s NonFicPic Week…a challenge to get all you nonfiction picture book writers…writing! Can you do seven rough drafts in seven days? http://www.kristenfulton.org/nonficpic.html

I just mentioned that tomorrow’s WWFC’s guest is Suzanne Williams. She’s the author of over sixty books for kids. And today’s review (even though it is not a picture book) is of her latest book in the GODDESS GIRLS series.

MEDUSA THE RICH

Written by Suzanne Williams and Joan Holub Continue reading →

PPBF: Tough Eddie

Posted on June 12, 2015 by viviankirkfield

Hurray! It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday! For more picture book reviews, please visit Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog.

And while you are hopping around the blogsphere, please please please hop over to Darlene Bock-Jacobson – I’m guest posting there today: Summer Activity Tool-Kit For Your Kids.

I’ve got a special book to share with you today – it has to do with being honest, with yourself and with others. Continue reading →