How THIS book was made…Ethan Goes To Recess
So, we’re back with the second book in the Ethan Goes to School series, Ethan Goes to Recess, and happily working with a new hybrid press. I chose to work with Book Press because they championed me continuing my work with Bruce Arant, the illustrator of Ethan Eats Hot Lunch.
The collaboration between a writer and an illustrator is a critical piece many publishing houses omit, but thankfully Book Press respected my need to be involved in this part of the project. As the writer, the idea of someone interpreting the images my words intended to create, freaked me out. So finding an illustrator who shared my vision and respected my work the first time around made this second book possible. I was delighted to pick up where we left off, and like the first project. it was magical to see the words and characters come into view.
Because the characters are based on former students, and of course my delightful nephew Ethan, I found casting this book to be a blast. First I had to find someone to play the bully who not only pushes the main character down, but needs to possess a reflective capacity. I knew who I wanted it to be. but was unsure of his willingness to participate, so I talked to his mom first. Communicating with Mrs. Howe, my fifth-grade teacher, went well. I think she said something like, “he’s been waiting to be in one of the books.” My call with Jim was successful. I thought of this former second grader for this character because of something he said to me one day while I was driving through his neighborhood and he was on his bike headed home.
I asked how things were going at Cather since I’d left to go to grad school and he said the place wasn’t the same without me, but that he was doing okay. When I called him years later and we’d caught up, he shared he knew he wanted to be a polar bear who wore a bowtie. Colors didn’t matter to him like they did to some of the characters in the first book—check out Courtney’s eyelashes and plaid jumper—so putting him in purple stripes was easy.
Another new character, Ethan’s neighbor, Ruby J.—my good friend Jessica’s daughter, had very specific requirements for her character. As a frog, she required black paper bag shorts, yellow converse, and a yellow T shirt supporting one of her dad’s music venues.
Let’s see, Dr. H. was an easy character to develop. The mascot at Harrison elem. where I worked for a year as a Literacy coach, was a tiger and Dr. H. looks great in a black suit—a uniform of sorts for her. Katie, a former first and second grader at Cather joins the class as a sweet mouse in pink, and Mrs. A. aka Cathi Arnold, an extraordinary parent of kids who attended Cather Elem. and wife of my accountant, Gene, wanted to wear a track suit in Husker colors. Finally, Cindy, Ruby S.’s little sister from Maple Hill Elementary in Diamond Bar, California, asked to be a quokka. So we looked up this nocturnal marsupial found in Southwestern Australia and dressed her in overalls.
I’m excited to share this book with you and to hear your reactions to the storyline, the bully theme, and the new classmates. Thanks for reading.