I am a Jill of many trades and a wearer of many hats. Two things have always been true, though. I have always been a writer and I have always been an educator. I continue to be both! I hold a Masters degree in English and a Masters degree in Library and Information Science. Before I was a school library media specialist, I taught English at the high school and college level. Two of the great honors of my career have been to be named the 2005 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the University of Michigan Dearborn School of Education and to be named the 1999 Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year
I write many things including children's books, professional books, and many professional articles. I’ve published five children’s books and seven professional books and have four and three more (respectively) in the pipeline.
I also speak at schools, conference, and inservice trainings all over the country. In fact, next spring I will be speaking in Berlin, my first international speaking engagement, though I have taught in Morocco.
You can read more me and my books on my website at www.tonibuzzeo.com
2. Tell us something about each of your books...
I have published five picture books for young readers so far:
Little Loon and Papa
(Dial 2004) is a story of fatherly love and the courage of one little loon who must learn to dive despite his fear. Dawdle Duckling
(Dial 2003) and Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling
(Dial 2005) are companion books about a loveable little duckling who is a champion dawdler and dreamer, but whose strengths lie in knowing when to get on board and when to enlist the help of one’s friends. The Sea Chest
(Dial 2002) is the retelling of a mid-coast Maine legend about a baby who washes ashore on a lighthouse island and the keeper’s family who adopts her. Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything!: A Mrs. Skorupski Story with Book(s)
(Upstart 2006) draws on my library experience and tells the story of a librarian who won’t tell her students anything--though she will teach them anything they need to know to become independent library users. 3. What books do you have in progress? Still forthcoming are:
Fire Up with Reading: A Mrs. Skorupski Story (Upstart 2007) in which Mrs. Skorupski sponsors a schoolwide reading incentive program.
Adventure Girl Goes to Work (Dial, 2009) is about a spirited young girl who has to go to work with her mom when the “big report” is missing. She causes chaos AND find the report.
A Lighthouse Christmas (Dial 2009) is based on the Flying Santa Service and is about a lighthouse family whose Christmas may not be possible when the supply boat is weeks late.
No T. Rex in the Library (McElderry, forthcoming) features a young girl whose “time out” turns into an adventure when she pulls a T Rex from a book and joins him on a library rampage.
In addition, I have some unsold and in-process manuscripts that I’m working on including a third grade chapter book and a picture book about a little puffin who learns to make her way in the world.
4. Many of my readers are writers or aspiring writers. Tell us when and how you first started writing, when and why you started writing books for children, and how you first got published.
I started writing in junior high--poetry. In fact, I was first published as a poet in my college and graduate school literary journals. I credit my success as a picture book author with those early years of writing poetry. Picture books aren’t all that different!
I started writing for children in 1995 because my husband reminded me that I’d always professed a desire to do that and I ran into a priceless story of a giraffe in a swimming pool when I was touring for a month in Kenya.
The reason I am published, I think, is that I have talent as well as an enormous amount of perseverance! There’s absolutely nothing quick or easy about being published (I have 150 rejection letters from the early years), but if you systematically divide your time by writing new manuscripts, seriously revising and improving your completed work, attending conferences and joining a critique group, and making connections with editors (at conferences) and building relationships with them over time, I believe you will get published. And by all means, join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators www.scbwi.org, both the national organization and your regional chapter. Take advantage of all they have to offer you.
5. Is there a question interviewers don't ask you that would be a smart question for them to ask?
What’s the most important thing a children’s author can do?
I think the most important thing a children’s author can do is to read widely and critically in the field. As a children’s librarian, I have always done that, but I think it is essential for us all to be aware of, involved in, and excited by the work of our fellow writers, to note creative trends as well as marketing shifts.
Sadly, too many people who aspire to write for children don’t take time to invest themselves in the world of children’s literature!
Happily, though, that world has become more and more credible in society at large and more readily available to us all!
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