FINDING TREASURE Author Interview w/ Michelle Schaub + Book Giveaway by Eileen Meyer

Michelle Schaub's latest picture book!

Michelle, thanks for joining us today at the GROG Blog. Where did you get the idea for this book and the poems within?

I first thought about writing a poetry book about things people collect when I was participating in Tara Lazar’s STORY STORM a few years ago. In this challenge, writers come up with a new picture book idea each day for a month. 

One day, when I was short on ideas, I was perusing the items on my bookshelf, and my eyes landed on my grandmother’s seashell collection. I started brainstorming different items that other family and friends collected. My mom collected buttons. (I loved rummaging through her button box when I was little.) My father-in-law collected trains. My husband collected baseball cards as a child. The neighbor around the corner had a birdhouse collection that filled his entire front porch. Each of these topics ended up becoming a poem in the book. But I still needed something to hold the poems together. So, I came up with the idea of adding a protagonist who needs to bring in a collection for a class assignment. This gave the book an arc: a hunt for the perfect collection!

Poem featured in Michelle's new book

Which poem from the collection is your favorite and why?

I had so much fun playing with different forms in this collection, and each presented its own challenges and triumphs. I think my favorite of the lot is “Auntie Kate’s Vanity PL8S” because I thought “outside the box” or more accurately “inside the license plate rectangle” for this poem. Each line of this poem is a vanity plate puzzle that must be decoded.  The challenge with this format was maintaining a rhyme and meter within the constraint of each line being no more than 6 or 7 characters long (including spaces), which is the standard for vanity plates.

Are you a collector yourself, and if so, what do you collect?

My grandmother was a collector. She had an amazing giraffe figurine collection and a butterfly-themed collection.   She also collected teapots and cups. I used to spend hours studying all her different pieces.  As a result, I’ve always loved the idea of collecting. 

Michelle and one of her collectibles: tea cups

Over the years, I’ve started several collections:  a blue teacup collection, a blue Santa collection (I really like the color blue), but then my attention and interests change.  The only collection I’ve managed to sustain is my collection of children’s poetry books. I just had to buy a bigger bookshelf recently to hold all of the wonderful poetry collections written by my fellow children’s poets. I’m also really drawn to the idea of collecting non-tangible things like smiles or words or poems. 

Something folks might not know about you…

I also “collect” visits to farmers’ markets. Farmers’ markets are my happy place.  This statement, written on a tea towel my neighbor gave me, is absolutely true. 

Farmers' Markets & Michelle

The first thing I do when I travel to a new place is find the farmers’ market and see what local fruit and veggies treasures I can spy. I’ve even been known to plan vacations around farmers’ markets that are rumored to be spectacular. Walking down a row of tents at a market, taking in the bright rainbow of fresh produce and listening to chatting neighbors and lively musicians, fills me with joy.  

I channeled that joy into the poems I wrote for my last collection, FRESH-PICKED POETRY: A DAY AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET.

Michelle's debut picture book

Michelle, I know that you have some other exciting news to share ...

I just launched a blog called POETRY BOOST.  I’ll be sharing lesson plans, mentor text, and ideas for using poetry to boost literacy across the curriculum.

Here’s the address: https://michelleschaub.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY: For those who leave a comment on the blog post, we'll pick a lucky winner of Michelle's new book on Sept. 23rd! Stay tuned!

Find Michelle here on social media:

www.michelleschaub.com

Twitter and Instagram: @schaubwrites