Our Story Begins: Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids

(Paperback, Reprint)

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From award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman comes a collection of quirky, smart, and vulnerable childhood works by some of todays foremost childrens authors and illustratorsrevealing young talent, the storytellers they would one day become, and the creativity they inspire today.

Everyones story begins somewhere

For Linda Sue Park, it was a trip to the ocean, a brand-new typewriter, and a little creative license.
For Jarrett J. Krosoczka, it was a third grade writing assignment that ignited a creative fire in a kid who liked to draw.
For Kwame Alexander, it was a loving poem composed for Mothers Dayand perfected through draft after discarded draft.
For others, it was a teacher, a parent, a beloved book, a word of encouragement. It was trying, and failing, and trying again. It was a love of words, and pictures, and stories.

Your story is beginning, too. Where will it go

Reviews

"Twenty-six notable authors and illustrators of children's booksincluding the book's editorintroduce themselves via their childhood memories.The short, straightforward introduction begins with the editor sharing her inspiration for the book.... Two years of interviewing, collecting, and collating produced the accessible, enjoyable text that follows. Each creator shares a childhood photograph, a brief memoir, a short biography, and a photographed sample of a creative work from childhood.... The art and writing samples from childhood are occasionally exciting but more often typical of the age representedand thus encouraging rather than intimidating to young creatives. The memoirsall (unsurprisingly) engagingrange from humorous to serious, and some slip in good advice, both about the tools of the craft and about self-marketing. There is a wide diversity of ages and backgrounds, from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor to Alex Gino, from Eric Rohmann to Rita Williams-Garcia. Thanhh Lai is especially memorable; as a Vietnamese refugee, she had no box of writings: "But it turns out, I don't need tangible objects. I have my memories." Her recollection of an oral prose poem from age 8 is one that stands out because it is indeed remarkable for one so young. Good for aspiring writers and artists." * Kirkus Reviews, May 2017 *
"Firsthand accounts from 26 childrens authors and illustrators describe how their earliest writing or drawing experiences resulted in a career in kid lit.... An attractive cover, glossy pages, and writing tips will make this a great addition to collective biography or career sections. VERDICT: An authentic, generous, and inspiring selection for tweens who wonder where their doodling or journaling might take them." * School Library Journal, May 2017 *
"The best authors and artists make their work seem so effortless that its easy to assume theyre allpreternaturally gifted; its easy to forget the inevitable time and labor that went into their work, and thiscollection is the perfect remedy to that misapprehension. In short sections, childrens literature luminariesoffer short essays about their early artistic efforts and snippets of their early work...the maintakeaway, of course, isthat hard work and practice, as well as a lot of inevitable failure, is always part of honing acraft. A sweet,inspirational anthology for any kid who dreams of one day having their own name on the cover of a book." * Booklist, June 2017 *
"This collection offers a lively glimpse of the artistic starts of twenty-six writers and illustrators for youth, with notable contributors such as Kwame Alexander, Dan Santat, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and Linda Sue Park . . . The snapshots of the artists as young men and women are engaging and irreverent . . . There are a lot of shoutouts to influential teachers, a lot of early imitation (rightly recognized as a valid exercise), and a clear message throughout that this early work counts, whether you finish it, whether its completely original, whether it wins you the regard you hoped this has curricular use written all over it (theres even tips for young writers at the end) and the encouragement is strong and valuable. Plenty of young readers will salivate at the notion of living the dream described by Jarrett J. Krosoczka: 'What I do now for my job is exactly what I did for fun when I was a kid.'" -- BCCB * July/August 2017 *
"Twenty-six childrens book creators reflect on the stories and art they produced in their youth. Each section includes a brief essay by the author or illustrator, images of the work in its (often handwritten) original form, and a bio that shows what came out of that work in the contributors adulthood. Many entries are amusingly self-effacing: Dan Santat remembers a tantrum at age five because he couldnt draw as well as Norman Rockwell, and Candace Fleming recalls transferring the Newbery sticker from The Witch of Blackbird Pond to her own short story. Young aspiring writers and artists should find reassurance in the early foibles of those now successful in the field. But the volume also shows examples of developing talentcheck out teenaged Ashley Bryans drawings!"
* The Horn Book Magazine, November/December 2017 *

Author Bio

Elissa Brent Weissman is the author of The Short Seller, Nerd Camp, Nerd Camp 2.0, Standing for Socks, The Trouble with Mark Hopper, and the editor of Our Story Begins. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Visit her at EBWeissman.com.

Other contributors include Kwame Alexander, Tom Angleberger, Kathi Appelt, Ashley Bryan, Tim Federle, Candace Fleming, Marla Frazee, Chris Gall, Alex Gino, Chris Grabenstein, Gordon Korman, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Thanhh Lai, Peter Lerangis, Gail Carson Levine, Grace Lin, Yuyi Morales, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, R.J. Palacio, Linda Sue Park, Eric Rohmann, Dan Santat, Brian Selznick, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Rita Williams-Garcia.