Come and visit Seashell Key where mango trees sway in the salty breeze and the sand sparkles. You know you want to!
Lourdes Heuer holds an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is an associate professor of English at Broward College in South Florida. She is the author of several books, including On This Airplane and Esme’s Birthday Conga Line. Heuer grew up in a city apartment above a little toy shop before moving to South Florida, where she spent many of her summers making sandcastles on the shore of the Cape Florida Lighthouse of Key Biscayne. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram.
SEASHELL KEY is now a three-book-series of young chapter-books. They are full color and each one explores a different season with the same set of characters: Mateo; sisters Sasha and Sophia; and siblings Eli, Ezra, and Elana (and their dog). That’s right! There are six kids that show up in every book in the series! That’s quite a feat! They’re all set in the island town of Seashell Key (which seems as foreign to me in Alaska as another country, but I imagine is exactly what life in Florida is like).
THE LUCKY DAY is the third book in this series. Where the first book explores Summer stories with the kids, and the second book explores Storm season stories, the third book explores stories with all the kids on the last day of school before Spring break. They are climbing the walls, eager to play and not interested in learning. The teachers tap into their interests and creative learning ensues. I love that! AND there’s a new character who is introduced: Mei, who is new to town. I ate this series up! They’re full of creativity and imagination (as well as sand and sun). What’s not to love?
Welcome Lourdes!
Me: For those who might not be familiar with your work, can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey? How has that brought you to this book series?
Lourdes: I published my first children’s book in my forties, but I’ve always thought of myself as a writer. I still hold on to work I wrote as a kid! I studied English as an undergrad and earned an MFA in Writing immediately after. At that time, I would have primarily identified as a poet. It’s a poet’s love of language that eventually brought me to picture books and books for children in general. In Seashell Key specifically, I think that comes through in the repetition and structure I’ve tried to build in to support early readers.
Me: I love SeaShell Key and all the kiddos who live there! It feels like a real place I could visit, with real people I could meet. What inspired these stories?
Lourdes: Thanks for loving our series and sharing it with your readers! I’m so glad Seashell Key feels like a real place. Place is very often what I start with when I write. Seashell Key is inspired by summer days in Key Biscayne by the Cape Florida lighthouse, as well as visits to the Florida Keys. It’s inspired by sunny days and sticky sand and imagining what it would be like to spend all your days by the seashore.
Me: This is a young chapter book series with different chapters from different points of view. Each book starts with Mateo, then goes to Sasha and Sophia, then goes to Eli, Ezra, and Elana, before culminating in all of the children together somehow. I haven’t seen this done before in a young chapter book series, let alone with such a large cast of characters. What gave you the idea for that framework? Is this a vastly different writing experience for you than some of the other genres you’ve written (i.e., board books or picture books, etc.)?
Lourdes: To be honest, it’s something I wondered about, whether an early chapter book like ours could contain this large cast. But the large cast was there from the start – that’s how the idea came to me. There was a version of Seashell Key I played with that featured just two characters and read more like an early reader than a chapter book. That two-character structure, I think, is more typical, but it didn’t feel authentic to me for this project. Actually, this isn’t very different from much of my other writing in that I seem to gravitate to writing stories where community plays a big role. It may be because I’m one of six kids!
Me: I love that! The illustrations by Lynnor Bontigao are amazing. I love the wonderful colors she uses, and all the details she includes. Any favorite illustrations in this book? Any illustration surprises?
Lourdes: It was a dream to make these books with Lynnor. That’s always been the best part of the process, starting with when I first saw the character sketches and “met” the cast myself. I’m always especially fond of Sasha and Sophia! In The Lucky Day, they look too adorable wearing their new hats!!
Me: I love that each book explores a different season. It makes it easy to imagine what life is like in Florida (the opposite end of the country from myself in Alaska). Yet there are some bigger words included because of that and this is a series for beginning readers. Did you have to work hard to make sure the text wasn’t too difficult? Did you have an editor help with the reading level of your vocabulary?
Lourdes: I don’t remember discussing vocabulary so much as part of the editing process, but certainly it’s something we paid attention to. We want these stories to support early readers, and we want to include great, fun language! I think we get away with it thanks to Lynnor’s illustrations, which are what really bring Seashell Key to life!!
Me: This is the third book in your series and you introduced a new child to the mix, Mei. Will there be more (please say yes!)? Will we get to see more of the residents of Seashell Key?
Lourdes: I can’t promise it, but, of course, I’d love to complete the series one day with a winter book. The Seashell Key kids would love decorated palm trees, sand angels, hot cocoa and latkes, and a captain in charge of a winter boat parade, don’t you think?!
Me: Oh my gosh! Yes, please! Any advice for new writers who might be interested in writing a young chapter book series like this?
Lourdes: One thing I would recommend to writers interested in writing chapter book series in general is to study television writing; in many ways, it’s helpful to think of the story arcs within a book and the way the books “go together” more so in the way episodic television works than traditional fiction, where a main character changes in some ways. The Seashell Key kids don’t change so much from one book to the next: they’re always, happily, up to shenanigans!
As all kids should be! I love that. Thank you for stopping by my blog today Lourdes.
Dear readers, if you haven’t yet had a chance to check out this series, this third book was just published this week. They’re such a fun read and an incredible example of the potential a young chapter book series has to hold such a big cast of characters that espouse community. It’s a heart warming series with adorable illustrations. You won’t want to miss them!