Looking for a hilarious chapter book series full of illustrations? Look no further! Ava Lin is here!

Vicky Fang has visited my blog a few times before.  In fact, she stopped by to talk about the very first Ava Lin book not too long ago. She is the author of the Layla and the Bots chapter books series, the Best Buddies early reader series, the I Can Code board book series, and the picture book Invent-a-Pet. She is the author-illustrator of Friendbots, AlphaBot, and the Ava Lin series. A former Google product designer, she now writes and illustrates children’s books full-time. Vicky Fang lives in California. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Blue Sky, or Facebook.

AVA LIN, ONE OF A KIND & AVA LIN, SUPER-DUPER HAPPY are the latest installments in the Ava Lin chapter book series that Vicky has both written and illustrated. Book #2 is all about Ava Lin learning about Kindness and what that really means. Book #3 is all about her relationship with her grandma (which doesn’t work as smoothly as she was hoping). Those would be the simplest plot descriptions I could possibly give because there are SO many layers to each story. And frankly, this is the most well-rounded 1st grader I’ve seen in fiction in a while. Ava Lin feels SO real! I swear I’ve taught this kid! And her quirks and misunderstandings are downright hysterical (and again, SO realistic!). I think this is one of my favorite chapter book series right now. Seriously!

Welcome back Vicky!

Me: I am completely baffled by how real Ava Lin feels. How did you do that for 3 books in a row? How did you come up with the plot ideas for all 3 books?

Vicky: Oh, you are so kind! I wrote Ava Lin differently than I have written my other books. These books are strongly inspired by my kids and my own childhood, which is probably why she feels so real. I keep a running list of ideas of funny things Ava Lin might be interested in, or misunderstand, or try to do. Whenever some hilarious but relatable thing happens with my kids, I write it down in my list. With each book, I picked one or two main themes from that list, and pulled in more ideas along the way as I wrote.

Me: I have to say that this is one of my favorite chapter book series with a real-life character (which surprises me as I’m usually drawn to fantasy). I’m desperately hoping there will be more because I want to build up a classroom set of these. Please say that #3 won’t be the last book! Are there more in the works yet?

Vicky: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me. There have been some discussions about possibly continuing the series, but nothing in the works yet! I’m hoping there will be though.

Me: I understand you recorded your first audiobook of this series recently. With the unique setup of these books including text and illustrations that tell different parts of the story, how did that work? Did you read the speech bubbles as part of the audiobook too?

Vicky: Yes! Recording the audio books was a very nerve-wracking but fun experience for me. For the illustrations, I read the callouts and dialog out loud. For the wordless panels, I made sound effects to show how Ava Lin was feeling or reacting, like when she’s slurping her bubble tea or spitting it out, for example!

Me: That makes sense. One of Ava’s many quirks that make her feel real is her desire to say big words her own way, like “pommygrammy” instead of pomegranate. I know there are rules (and lots of editing) for vocabulary in a chapter book. Did you get push back on “invented” words like that? Have you had any big grammar battles with a critique group, agent, or editor (like over long run on sentences that explode out of Ava Lin when she’s upset)?

Vicky: What a good question! Usually, the copy editor would check to make sure those words were intentional. Sometimes, in Ava’s lists where she writes things incorrectly, they would make a note to fix it. Usually, in copy edits, you might push back with something like “stet for voice” (to be honest, I don’t even know why we put “stet” to leave it as is, but that’s what we put) but for Ava’s spelling and grammar mistakes, I would write something like “stet because I think it’s funnier!”

Me: I love all the different foods you’ve incorporated in the series (and explanations for how to pronounce them in kid-friendly language), but apple sushi surprised me. I’ve never seen or heard of that! How fun! Have you ever eaten it? Where did that idea come from? 

Vicky: Oh, this is something that my kid’s friend made up! Or maybe his parents did. I just remember my kid coming home from a playdate all excited about eating apple slices wrapped in seaweed. They probably don’t even know it’s in the book! (Thank you, Hugo!)

Me: Each story sucks me in with some giant want that Ava has. “Will she achieve it?” is always at the back of my mind. And sometimes your endings surprise me (like in #2) with a heart-felt “aww!” moment that blows me away. So I have to ask, are you a plotter or a pantser for chapter books like these?

Vicky: I think I very lightly outlined, like a dozen phrases to link my thoughts together into an arc, and then I pants-ed my way though. I generally knew the type of resolutions I wanted, but I really had to find the right ending for each one once I got there. To be honest, my editor helped me find the ending for Book 2! My editor, Sarah Ketchersid at Candlewick, is really amazing. When a manuscript isn’t quite working, she just gives me one really thoughtful, insightful note that makes it so obvious what I need to do to make it ten times better! And then we will continue on our way.

Me: That’s awesome and just shows what a good editor can do! What is one thing that surprised you in writing or illustrating either book 2 or 3 in this series?

Vicky: I think I was surprised at how much I enjoyed writing and illustrating these books. I know they say to write what you love, and also what you like, but I think I really saw that in action with these books. Ava’s characters is a blast to write stories for! And then she’s so expressive and interested in so many fun things that the illustrations are always entertaining to create as well. I’ll sometimes crack myself up when I’m drawing, because she’s so dramatic in completely relatable ways.

Ha! Yes. And I love her drama. Thank you for stopping by my blog again today Vicky.

Dear readers, Ava Lin #2 came out in January, but Ava Lin #3 comes out June 10th. Keep an eye out for this series. It’s a great chapter book series for young readers that will have them laughing up a storm and asking for more. Trust me when I say, you won’t want to miss them!