Most Popular Posts 2010 - Deborah Heiligman - National Book Award Finalist

I am a nut about creative nonfiction. I read it voraciously and cruise one of the most popular group kidlit blogs, INK (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids) to find good reads. This year one of the blog's members was nominated for one of the most prestigious literary awards, the National Book Award, for her book about Charles Darwin and his wife Emma, Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith. I am so pleased that Deborah Heiligman granted me an interview.

When and why did you start writing for children?

I started writing for children more or less by accident. I wanted to move to New York to be with a young man, and I got a job working at Scholastic News Explorer, a classroom newspaper for fourth graders. I loved it!

I learned so much about writing for kids at Scholastic News. They reorganized soon after I got there, so I wrote for grades 1 through 6--pesticides for 5th and 6th, princesses for first and second....in one day! It was a great training ground. (By the way, I married the young man!)

What is the most valuable advice you can give to a newly published writer?

Interesting question. My mind immediately goes to promotion. I guess I would say if you love your book, help it along in the world. But also--enjoy it all. Don't sweat the little stuff. There will be disappointments, but there will also be great moments. Celebrate the good moments.

What is one of your favorite children’s books that you'd like to recommend?

I think Charlotte's Web is an almost perfect book.

What are you working on now?

I am working on a YA novel, and also a new YA nonfiction project. I have a few more ideas lined up and they are pulling at me, too.

What is your favorite dessert and why?

I eat a little bite of dark chocolate every night. My husband does too, and he named it after my father, who used to eat a bite of chocolate after lunch and dinner. We call it our Nateleh (my father's name was Nathan).

I was born in Allentown, PA. I lived in the same house my whole childhood, mostly alone with my mother and father and my dog, Missy. My sister and brother were so much older than I was I don't remember much about them when I was little. Here's what I do remember: my sister got married in our living room when I was four.

My brother tortured me when he came home from college. Someday I will write a book about that...but not yet. I'm still scared of him. Doesn't he look scary? Actually he's a great guy, and is a wonderful uncle to my sons.

I was a good student, and loved school, although I was not the perfect child. Especially in junior high and high school. Let's NOT talk about it. Back to the good student part. My favorite grades were: Kindergarten because Miss Erie was like Mrs. Santa Claus and she let us chew bubble gum; Fourth grade because Miss Ryan let us read all the time. She had special reading nooks set up in her room. I read CHARLOTTE'S WEB by the great E.B. White under a table and in a (dry) bathtub. By the way, I think CHARLOTTE'S WEB is the perfect book. I loved Fifth grade, too, because we created our own country called Cowabunga and I was the first President. I ran in the Debbiecrats party. Also Miss Laudenslager read aloud FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER . E.L. Konigsburg is one of my author heroes. I think that book is one of the main reasons I became a children's book author.

Junior High: I'm sure I had some good moments, but I don't remember them.

High School: I loved all of my English teachers: Mr. Egolf, who taught me about point of view using a sports car, and was (and still is) a great guy; Mr. Deery, who read scenes from The Scarlet Letter out loud; Mrs. Thomas, who inspired years of students to become Thomas' English muffins and who comes to my book signings now with her grandchildren!; and Mrs. Appleton, who was the newspaper advisor, and a dear friend. I was the editor of the newspaper The Canary and--you know what? Let's not talk about the underground newspaper, O.K.?

Looking back I also love my calculus teacher because he pretended I wasn't flunking. I did not love him while I was there. I did have a crush on my chemistry teacher, though, and that made it very hard for me to pay attention. So I didn't take any science classes after that. You might find that surprising, since I write a lot of books about science. You never know....

I went on to BROWN UNIVERSITY, which I fell in love with at first sight. As is befitting a children's book author, I majored in Religious Studies. For about one week I thought about becoming a rabbi. I didn't. My best friend did. I had no idea what I would do after college. I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't think real people were writers. I thought writers were like movie stars and that regular people like me couldn't be writers. At Brown all the people who said they were going to be writers wore all black, smoked lots of cigarettes (something I never did: my father was a lung doctor!), drank endless cups of coffee, and used such big words I couldn't understand what they were saying (I don't think they knew what they were saying either). My bet is that most of those people are lawyers or stockbrokers or maybe ski bums. Anyway, I bet they're happy. And so am I.

My first job out of college was at a magazine called MOMENT. Then in 1981, I started interviewing for jobs in New York City, and found, quite by accident, a job at Scholastic News Explorer, the 4th grade classroom magazine. I got a trial assignment and discovered that I loved writing for children. I have never looked back!

Writing for Scholastic News was the best job I could have had. I had to write every day, all day, and on all kinds of subjects. Soon after I got there the magazines were reorganized, so I wrote for children in grades 1 through 6. I loved it. In the morning I would write about panda bears or Pac-man for second graders, and in the afternoon I'd write about war or pesticides for sixth graders. I also had the opportunity to interview famous people, to write fiction in the form of plays, and to do a lot of research. I stayed there until 1985 and by the time I left I was in charge of all the magazines and teachers guides! So why did I leave? I had a baby and I wanted to be home with him. That's when my life as a freelance writer began.

That baby is now 23 and is a college graduate. He majored in math and minored in creative writing, and can create computer programs and awesome short stories. He is just back from India, where he was training to be a computer software engineer. And his younger brother (see photo--he knows how to entertain himself and us) is a sophomore at Columbia University. He's already directing and composing music for plays. I think soon I will retire...No, no I won't because I love my job. During the years of being a mom and a writer I have written for magazines (Ladies' Home Journal, Sesame Street Parents Guide, Parents Magazine) and I have published 26 childrens books--going on 28, fingers crossed (hard to write with fingers crossed, by the way...) I loved working at Scholastic, but I am really glad I stayed home to be with my boys and to write. And now that they aren't here that much, I am getting a lot of writing done; but I miss them.