Well, here's a post that's well overdue . . .
Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein, published by Tundra Books and illustrated by the amazing Júlia Sardà, has been out in the world for a few months now . . . and is getting a wonderful reception. Here are some of the ways the book has been honoured:
* Starred reviews in Publishers' Weekly and Booklist
* Best Books of 2018, Publishers' Weekly
* Best Books of 2018, New York Public Library
* Best Books of 2018, Globe & Mail
* Top of the List Picture Book of 2018, Booklist
* Betsy Bird's 2018 Calde-notts, Fuse 8, School Library Journal
* Best Canadian YA & Children's Literature of 2018, CBC Broadcasting
* Best Non-Fiction Picture Books of 2018, The Children's Book Review
I'm thrilled beyond words.
Just a bit of back story. Like most of my books, this one had a long gestation. It started in 2009 with a reading of Frankenstein, during which I found myself gripped and amazed by Mary Shelley's Author's Introduction. Two things stood out for me — Mary's daydreamy nature during her childhood, and her self-described writing process during the creation of Frankenstein. I was interested in Mary-the-writer . . . and her childhood habit of building "castles in the air" seemed to be key to her creative process as an adult.
I began to learn more about Mary and her life. Wonderful bios for adults have been written in recent years, and reading them, I started to wonder about writing Mary's story for kids. I poked along slowly, loving the research and process, and it was years before I handed a complete manuscript to my editor at Tundra Books — Tara Walker. It was Tara who brought Júlia Sardà in to illustrate, and who, with the help of John Martz's fine design, brought my words and Júlia's stunning art together to create the final book. As a timely coincidence, 2018 happened to be the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein — a perfect year to publish Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein.
I'm as delighted as I could possibly be with the final book. So beautiful!
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