Stories for Children Magazine

Meet Author Audrey Penn

Audrey, please share your background and how you embarked on your career as a children’s writer.

I grew up in a family of musicians and theatrical performers. Music was played in our home and in the home of my grandparents from morning until night. Because I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and my fingers would easily stiffen, I wasn’t able to study a musical instrument, so I learned to dance. Dancing was my whole life and I had a wonderful career until my illness became too severe. In 1976, while still dancing and performing, I turned my creativity to another passion—writing. I started writing when I was a child. I wrote about everything, but mostly about my brothers and all the funny things they would tell me or do to me, and my dog Frisky, who won the longest tail contest. I incorporated what I found with my imagination. By the time I was too ill to dance, I had published my first book, Happy Apple Told Me. 

Your character, Chester Raccoon is the focal point in several of your books. Is he based on a person in your life?

We live near a beautiful park in Wheaton, Maryland. I was with two of my children when we stopped at the park to take a ride on the train. During the ride, the conductor was forced to stop the train because there was an animal on the tracks. I thought it was a deer. But when the conductor left the train to get a park ranger, I got out of my seat and tiptoed to the front of the train to take a peek. I was surprised to see a mother raccoon and her new cub. I stood there long enough to see the mother put her muzzle in the baby’s hand and then watched as the baby raccoon put his hand up to his face. When my daughter was leaving for her first day of kindergarten we did “the kissing hand” just like the raccoons did. I put a kiss in her palm and told her when she needed the kiss to put her palm to her face and my kiss would jump to her cheek. She spent her entire first day with her hand on her face. It was then I decided to write the book.

The latest book in the “Blackbeard” series is accompanied with a CD. How do you feel the CD enhances the reading experience?

Both The Kissing Hand and Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully are accompanied by a CD. For younger children, it’s an opportunity to read along with the story and perhaps gain a reading vocabulary. The songs at the end are for the children to sing along with each other or with the CD. They drive home the points of the books.

You are a well known keynote speaker and school visitor. Please share a memorable moment from of your engagements. The funniest?

Just before The Kissing Hand was published, I had several of my favorite illustrations made into posters to show the children. One day a fifth grader raised his hand and told me I couldn’t use one of the pictures in my book. I told him, “Sure I can. It’s my book,” just to sound funny. Then he argued, “No you can’t.” I asked him up to the stage to show me why I couldn’t publish one of the illustrations. My artist Ruth Harper had drawn Chester Raccoon dancing in the colorful sunset. He pointed to Chester surrounded by the pinkish-red sunset and said, “It looks like he’s road-kill.” I quickly looked at the illustration and gasped. Chester Raccoon did indeed look like road-kill. Ruth Harper redid her illustration. Then I had her draw tire tracks on the poster and we gave it to the boy with many thanks.

If you had to pick a character from one of your books most like your personality. which would you choose?

This is an interesting question and I thought about it a long time. I’d have to say that a part of me is in every single character. When I write, I put myself in their place. I talk like they do, walk like they do, and behave like they do. I take everything that is alike between my character and myself and use it in my writing. Sometimes I surprise myself. I’ll write something in my manuscript I had no idea I felt so strongly about. It’s as though the character pushes me aside and writes the story himself or herself. As a mother, I’m most like Mrs. Raccoon and I kiss the palms of all my little raccoons.

What obstacle did you need to overcome to achieve your publishing successes?

I had to learn that other people’s opinions and feelings about my writing were one person’s opinion and not the world’s. I had to believe so completely in my work, no one else could rock that belief. The Kissing Hand was turned down by almost every publisher in the country. After it came out, the first review was horrible. But in the review, the writer described the book, what the message was, and how dear it was. The reviewer who so disliked my book actually helped sell the book by her review.

What advice would you give to new writers?

The first thing I tell new writers is to fall in love with rewriting. Very few writers get it on the first try. I rewrote my first novel two hundred times. That’s because everything you write affects what you’ve already written so you must go back and alter your words. I love rewriting. The hard work is already done. Now it’s time to spruce things up, added dialogue or description. It’s like building a pizza. Don’t leave it at the crust. Go back and add layer upon layer. Then go back and take off the anchovies. Now you have a story.

What advice would you give to parents of a reluctant reader?

Reluctant readers aren’t always reluctant. Some children have a very hard time focusing on a words and stories. I was one. But when my next-door neighbor introduced me to books that were exactly my interest, I plodded through them, each one making me a better reader. I would have gobbled up everything there was to read if I could have. Many young people who don’t read would, especially if they have a good imagination and like to talk on the phone. It means that their minds are open to ideas and hearing stories. Help your child read by finding a book that captures their imagination, something or someone they could dream about becoming. Allow them to continue enjoying picture books. Books with fewer words are comfortable and still give them the practice they need to learn to read well. I love reading picture books as much as I love writing them. I learned to read by practicing on younger children. Have your children read to you.

Please share with us your current work-in-progress.

I am finishing my first full draft of Blackbeard’s Legacy: Shared Time. Blackbeard had a commonality with the Civil War. Daniel, Billy, Stefanie, and Mark find a mirror in the third book, Blackbeard and the Gift of Silence. They promptly get into trouble trying to be helpful and find themselves in 1861 on Ocracoke at the fall of Fort Hatteras. I’m also working on the next Chester Raccoon book, Chester The Brave.

What do you do for pleasure when not writing?

When I’m not writing, I’m reading or doing something with or for my family. Whether I’m watching my daughter ride a horse, or my sons play the drums or piano, I take great pride and enjoyment being with them. I also love to drive and travel. Our second home is Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, where my “Blackbeard” mysteries take place. I love to boat and fish and check out the brand new pelicans. They have a face only a mother could love.

What are a few of your favorite books and why?

I have read the Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew books a hundred times each. They take me back to my childhood and bring me back to earth when I’m writing and I get carried away with too much description and too big a vocabulary. They are simple and fun, the way I’d like to write all of the time. I truly enjoy English mysteries and science fiction. I take my imagination, fly to those places, and join the cast of characters. I also love children’s books and read both the old and the new. They usually have an uplifting message or story and put me in a good mood. I’m at present reading The Life of Jane Austen. Maybe I’ll find just the tiniest bit of me in her such as what time she awakens to write. Then I can say, “See, I’m just like her.”

Where can our readers purchase your books?

My books can be purchased through Tanglewood Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or many local bookstores. If the store isn’t carrying the book, they will usually order it. Thank you for asking.