Six Questions with Lisa Rogers

Lisa Rogers became inspired to write for children during her career as an elementary school librarian. Her picture books have received multiple starred reviews and awards, including the Golden Kite Honor for Beautiful Noise: The Music of John Cage. Her debut, 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and "The Red Wheelbarrow," was featured in The New York Times. Two picture book biographies are forthcoming: Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony: La Grande Vallée Suite and Woody's Words: Woodrow Wilson Rawls and Where the Red Fern Grows, both from Calkins Creek. A former daily news reporter and editor, Lisa lives outside Boston and is a four-time runner of the Boston Marathon. Visit her at: lisarogerswrites.com Bluesky: @lisaljrogers.bsky.social Instagram: lisaljrogers

1. When did you first realize you wanted to write for young readers?

I was–and still am–a daydreamer. I yearned to be a writer since childhood. I studied English Literature and thought I might write a novel someday. I worked in a bookstore, became a news reporter, then an elementary library teacher. I shared thousands of books with my students during my teaching career. That experience of reading and discussing books with children gave me a deep appreciation of the craft. I began writing my own stories, and while it took time to find my voice, everything I did toward my goal helped me grow as a reader and writer.

2. How do you know your idea will make a good book?

I trust my intuition. When I have an emotional pull to a story, that gives me the impetus to research, write, revise and repeat that process until I can communicate the story's heart. Knowing the heart is the most important part of the process. A writer can have all the elements, but if the story doesn’t deeply resonate with you as the writer, it won’t resonate with readers either.

3. Did you have a favorite teacher when you were a child? What made them so special?

My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Harris, led our class in exploration and creativity. Our classroom had a gigantic tank filled with tropical fish. We made regular trips to the beach for our science studies. We folded paper into dodecahedrons and covered them with fluorescent paint so they would glow in the window at night. Mr. Harris had high expectations for us, and made our classroom an exciting place to be. In my own teaching, I hoped to emulate and encourage the same passion for learning that he did.

4. Where did you get the idea for Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony? What was your inspiration?

The idea for this book came as I was researching the artist Joan Mitchell for my middle-grade Discover Her Art: Women Artists and Their Masterpieces. I learned how Mitchell created a group of 21 enormous abstract paintings, inspired by a memory of an idyllic valley in France. But the memory was not Mitchell’s: it was that of her dear friend, composer Gisèle Barreau. Through the alchemy of her own memories and emotions, Mitchell was able to transform Barreau’s Grande Vallée into a mindscape of her own that found its physical manifestation on canvas. I felt deep wonder at this transmutative process and had to know more.

5. If you could tell readers one secret about this book, what would it be?

My secret is for writers, but impacts readers. Seek opportunities to get an expert eye on your work. When you, as a writer, reach out to experts, you’re asking them to help you make the book the best, most accurate book possible. The Joan Mitchell Foundation assisted me with photographs and research material and meticulously studied the text and illustrations, taking care to retain the integrity of the artist's legacy. It was an important, insightful process. One unexpected benefit: the Foundation is promoting this book as it commemorates the 100th year of  Mitchell's birth.

6. If you read this book to a room filled with kids, what message would you want them to leave  with?

I would want them to feel that their unique thoughts, memories, and talents, and ways of expressing them, are important, not only to who they are, but to whatever they might create. The amazing thing is that when we share our creative talents -- whatever we put our hearts into -- we reach others’ hearts, too.