What draws you to create for young readers?
My mother is a retired teacher and her favorite grades to teach were the elementary ones. I think that, in part, is what draws me to this audience. I write the kind of books that my mom would have liked to have had in her classroom. In that way, I feel like I’m helping the teachers, librarians, and my Mom, who is always with me in spirit when I share with kids.
Another image that resonates with me is the one C.S. Lewis created in The Magician’s Nephew. Lewis depicts the wonder of a newly created world in which the soil is so rich that if you drop an iron bar, it blooms into a lamppost. I think children’s minds and hearts are like that. You can drop a seed of hope, of kindness, of justice, of inclusion and it can take root and grow in extraordinary and swift ways as compared to what it takes to move their more resistant adult counterparts.
Finally, I think that like many authors I simply write in the way that feels right for the story. To quote the late, great Maurice Sendak: “I don’t write for children. I write and someone says it’s for children.” He is in this, as in so many ways, absolutely on target. I don’t think of myself as writing for young readers as much as I think of myself writing in a way that is accessible for all.
As a result, one of my joys is finding an audience that spans an unexpectedly large age range. Young readers, from preschool through elementary school can follow the straightforward storytelling, but middle school and high school readers have also enjoyed the way these books introduce them to lesser known, inspirational heroes. I’ve had adults tell me they are moved by these stories. And then there’s the treat of sharing books with senior citizens who also enjoy learning something new in a short, easily digestible form. One of my dreams is to team up with other picture book creators to offer more picture book programs to our seniors. They love these books! The seniors particularly like Irving Berlin, the Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing, especially when we finish up with a sing-a-long.
Please tell us about Dear Mr. Dickens (and any other new/upcoming work you'd like to share about).
Dear Mr. Dickens is a deeply personal work that grew out of a childhood longing. Growing up, I loved Charles Dickens, but it hurt my heart the way he wrote about Fagin and other Jewish characters. I’m Jewish. And long before people used the terms windows and mirrors, I can tell you how much it hurt as a Jewish child to see only ugly depictions of Jewish people offered up as my mirrors in books that overflowed with compassion, tenderness, and love for everyone else. It felt scary to think of how people reading Dickens might think of me and my family and my loved ones after reading his books. I knew there had to be more to this great writer and great man who had done so much good for children and the vulnerable in his community. I wished that I could write him a letter and ask him why he had no care for Jewish people and the discrimination we faced. I wished I could ask him to do better.
Years later, as an adult, doing research for books I wanted to write in the library, my attention drifted to an article about Dickens and I discovered that someone had written the letter I had dreamed of writing long ago: a Jewish woman named Eliza Davis. Not only that, their correspondence changed his heart. Because of her, he changed the way he wrote about Jewish people in his next and last published book, Our Mutual Friend, and in his magazine articles. He even changed the way he portrayed Fagin in his stage performances, dropping hurtful, stereotyped mannerisms.
I knew I had to write their story. I had to show the courage it took for Eliza, an ordinary person, to speak up to someone famous and adored. I had to write about the power that words can have on someone’s heart and mind, and how a more loving and understanding heart and mind can change the world. Because once Dickens started to speak on behalf of Jewish people, things started to improve for the Jewish community in a place where they had suffered for centuries against intolerance, discrimination, and unfair laws. I wrote my first version of the book in 2013. I did research at The Charles Dickens Museum in London in 2014. I vetted everything I wrote with three Dickens scholars and received permission from the University of Southampton in London to reproduce the only known photo of Eliza Davis in the back matter of the book.
I cannot express how gratifying it has been to see the Dickens Museum celebrate this book by creating a virtual educational program around it, teaching children to see and stand up against antisemitism and hate of any kind. How Eliza Davis and Charles Dickens would have loved that!
What message(s) do you want to convey in your work?
Each of us is unique with differences that should be celebrated. At the same time, we are all one human family and our differences should be treated with the same love and acceptance that we should show our siblings. Be an upstander – speak up if you see someone being discriminated against. Words matter – they change hearts and minds and that’s what moves the world.
Dig deep to find your dream of what you want to do, of who you want to be, of what you want to bring to the world and don’t let anyone laugh or mock you out of it. Too often people will tell you something can’t be done because it hasn’t been done yet. Respect your ability to conceive of something that others haven’t; maybe the world was waiting for you to do that thing that needs to be done. Persevere and you will get there. You only fail when you give up. As long as you keep going, it’s just a question of how long it takes you to succeed. And, most important, every time we help others, we move mountains. Find your way to move mountains – and do it. That’s how we bring light to the world.
What draws you to craft books based on true stories?
My first 10 books have all been picture book biographies and, in the case of Dear Mr. Dickens, an interaction between two people that changed history. These all sprung, in a way, from my first book, The William Hoy Story, which came about because of a promise I made to a friend, Steve Sandy, who is Deaf and a friend of the Hoy family, that I would write the story of this great Deaf baseball player. The joy I had sharing Hoy, who was new to most kids, made me think about other inspirational people whose stories had been left out of history books. Most of my books that followed have been the first picture books about these people with a dream who changed the world for the better: Dashrath Manjhi in Manjhi Moves a Mountain, Charlie Sifford in Charlie Takes His Shot, Laura Wheeler Waring in Beautiful Shades of Brown, Henrietta Szold in A Queen to the Rescue and even Queen Charlotte – who had never had a picture book – in The Queen and the First Christmas Tree.
My 2023 books will offer some variations, but a common theme. I write to build understanding and to break down walls between people. I write about people who inspire me, people I hope will inspire kids to be heroes and heroines of kindness and will persevere to change the world for the better. So next year, my three books will be a historical fiction picture book in which fictional characters show us the historical story of how Halloween came to America; a contemporary co-authored fiction book, based on a real family, in which a young child tells the story of learning about and living with her mother’s cancer throughout a year in which she waits for Mama to ring the bell that signifies her treatment is over; and my first board book -- a gentle and fun rhyming story about Shabbat, counting, and caring for others.
Where can we go to find out more about your work?
I love when people visit me on my website, nancychurnin.com. You’ll find separate pages for each book packed with resources, teacher guides and separate project pages where I encourage teachers, librarians and parents to send me photos of the great things their kids do so I can celebrate them on those pages and, with permission, on social media. I have separate pages for upcoming events, school visits, and a month by month guide of books with curriculum and timely connections. You can also find me on Facebook at Nancy Churnin and at Nancy Churnin Children’s Books, on Twitter @nchurnin and on Instagram @nchurnin I love being tagged by readers who want to share their experience with my books or their reviews, and I’m always happy to support and answer questions.