As kid’s manager, I get to meet amazing young people who are as smart as tacks. Two of those amazing people are Lauren Allen and Tracy Rappai. Not only are they good readers (they are both in my 6th/7th grade book club!) but also have published their own book of poems (penned by Lauren) and illustrations (drawn by Tracy) entitled Me, My Thoughts, and You. Last time I saw them, I got to ask them a few questions about their book and their publishing experience:
Emily Grossenbacher (EG): What drove you to want to publish this book and where did y’all get your inspiration? Lauren Allen (LA): Our school was taking the seventh and eighth grade to New York City for a trip but it was an expensive trip. I had a collection of poems just sitting in a corner of my room, so I thought I could sell them and help pay for the cost.Tracy Rappai (TR): And most of the inspiration for this project came from Lauren’s Great Grandmother, and from Harriet Whitehouse, our sixth grade English teacher. EG: How long did it take y’all to get everything ready for publication? TR: We started work on the book at the end of May, and continued to work on it throughout the summer. The summer went by so fast that it was hard to keep track of the days. Everyday was an exciting blur. LA: We spent most of the summer preparing for publication. We only received the shipment about two or three weeks before school started, I think, sorry that summer was a blur. EG: Tell us a little bit about how y’all went about publishing your book? LA: My mother is a graphic designer, she designs logos and book covers, so she knew quite a lot about the publishing system. In the end, she pulled through for us and helped us publish the book. TR: We usually received email updates from Heidi [Lauren’s mom] about how the publication process was going, and it was fun to choose the paper and color scheme for the book. We received the books about two weeks before school started, so about late July or early August. EG: Are y’all working on anything else? TR: Lauren is, as usual, writing poems, and I am doodling every second of the day. The only setback [for publishing another book] is the financial cost of the printing.
LA: Like Tracy said, I am currently working on a couple of poems, I have around a dozen finished, but there is no way that anyone can do anything about them until someone is financially ready to take on the burden of publishing a book. TR: Yeah, since the minimum number of books that can be printed is 1000 books, we would need to find a way to pay for the publishing and printing. EG: And lastly, is there anything about yourself that might have affected your writing or illustrations? LA: This book is a collection of poems that I had been working on since my parents’ divorce when I was six. That was also the time that I became a complete bookworm and I found Lemuria. The poems range from a six year old’s broken heart to a very confused sixth grader. My inspiration comes from my experiences and emotions from the world around me. I take ballet at Ballet Mississippi, love to run, like camping and hiking, and someday hope to change the world. TR: I guess you could say so. I absolutely love to draw, and fell in love with Lemuria at first sight. My parents have been reading to me ever since I was a baby, and so I ended up being a total book-lover. The drawings in the book are me trying to interpret Lauren’s poems. I take ballet at Ballet Magnificat, play the piano, and love to sit outside with my dog and draw.
Lauren and Tracy’s book is beautiful, inside and out. Come meet Lauren and Tracy today at Lemuria at 4:30! Cupcakes and great company will be in abundance!
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