Page 67 - Novelist Post – J.D. Barker and more

done with my toys as a child. It’s easy for me to think of a situation and then people it with toys. Then I can use photoshop to bring to life what I see in my head.
What emotions or messages do you hope children take away from "Saving Oliver: The Elephant Who Went to Sea"?
Oliver is a real stuffy I found floating by my boat. I thought there must be a child somewhere missing him. I wrote the story to help child- ren deal with loss and devastation. Oliver loses his family. He ends up in the ocean trying to survive. He asks for help and learns that he will live. Even when the worst happens, I wanted kids to understand that they can be happy again.
How do you balance teaching important life lessons with keeping the stories light and magical for young readers?
I think it’s important to balance the explanations for life lessons with easy-to-understand situations and some magic and comedy. Children need to learn there can be a solution to problems and not be afraid to look for them. To unders- tand that all of us suffer in some way but that we can and do make our way through. I think learning to find the fun in situations can help. It certainly will ease the pain.
What was the most challenging part of writing a series like Jack the Bear compared to writing a standalone book like "A Gremlin Lives Here”
These are stories I told my kids and then wrote. The gremlins were real life children in my house. I just had to document their actions! The Jack the bear books evolved because the kids wanted more. Scarlet really was a beautiful bear with a fabulous hat, and it was easy to think others might be jealous
of her. George came from a thrift
store so that real event played into the creation of his story.
Can you share a memorable reader response that deeply touched or surprised you?
“Peanut’s 5th birthday was last night and she got a ton of gifts, but all she wanted to do was to crawl in her great grandma’s lap and read the Jack books, and Oliver is her favorite story!”
One of my people doing an audi- tion for the audible version of Jack the Bear read the first chapter to his granddaughter who then insisted he buy the book so she could find out what happened to Jack!
How do you choose which life experiences or imaginative ideas to transform into stories?
I choose instances important to me where I felt it was an experien- ce worth sharing. I have always thought “things” inanimate objects, had a voice and they speak to me in some fashion. In Jack the Bear, he chooses Emily Ann. I felt when I was in the Bear Factory looking at all the bears that Jack chose me. I swore I could hear Oliver saying “help!” when he was in the water.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors who want to turn their childhood memories into children's books?
Tell stories to your kids. If they like them, write them down. Re- member the thoughts and memories you had as a kid and write those down. Think about funny things that happened in your family and write it down. When you put your thoughts on a page, you can see what works and embellish. Just keep writing!
Growing up, I was taught to think
creatively or ‘out of the box.
– Lynne Roberto
Photo: Lynne Roberto, weaving childhood wonder and heartfelt life lessons into stories that inspire and comfort young readers across generations.
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