I love lyrical picture books that can make a simple-yet-complex concept resonate for all readers.

Rebecca Gardyn Levington has visited my blog several times. She is a children’s book author, poet, and journalist with a particular penchant for penning both playful and poignant picture books and poems – primarily in rhyme. She is the author of WHATEVER COMES TOMORROW (which has been translated into nine languages and is the winner of a Crystal Kite Honor and a Northern Lights Book Award), AFIKOMAN WHERE’D YOU GO? (A PJ Library Selection), BRAINSTORM!, LITTLE DREIDEL LEARNS TO SPIN, WRITE HERE WRITE NOW, FINDING FORGIVENESS, SOME DAYS I’M THE WIND, and I WILL ALWAYS BE… with seven additional rhyming picture books forthcoming (so far!). Rebecca writes reviews and conducts author interviews monthly for the Picture Book Builders blog. Her award-winning poems and articles have appeared in numerous anthologies, newspapers, and magazines. She lives with her family in Summit, NJ, where she enjoys bouncing on a mini-trampoline, playing Mah Jongg, and eating chocolate-peanut butter ice cream (although not usually at the same time!). Find out more and sign up for Rebecca’s monthly newsletter where she answers questions from readers and offers advice learned throughout her writing journey. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or BlueSky.

SOME DAYS I’M THE WIND is a picture book all about emotions. Some days our emotions can feel just like natural elements like the wind or sun or sea. And each of those elements is different one day to the next. The book reassures young readers that strong emotions are okay, as is feeling any which way you feel. The concept is quite intriguing and one children will be easily able to relate to. This is a book that I can’t wait to add to my classroom collection so we can talk about those very same emotions!

Welcome back Rebecca!

Me: You have such an amazing gift of taking abstract concepts and making them concrete for young readers. I love the idea of elements in nature expressing different emotions. What gave you the idea?

Rebecca: Thanks so much for the wonderful compliment! SOME DAYS I’M THE WIND, much like WHATEVER COMES TOMORROW (and the majority of my books, in fact), started as a poem. I’ve probably mentioned this in previous interviews, but for years I participated in a Poem-A-Week Challenge with some fellow writers in which we took turns picking a word and tasking ourselves to produce a poem inspired by that word. One week in April 2023, the word of the week was “mild.”

As I tend to do, I began by creating a list of words that rhyme with the assigned word, and the first rhyme I thought of was “wild.” In pondering about things that were both “mild” and “wild,” I started thinking about the wind, and how, on some days, the wind is a soft, gentle, pleasant breeze, but on other days, that same wind can turn into a cyclone – forceful and wild! And then, I thought about how I’m like that too. On some days, I am peaceful and mild, but on other days I’m giddy and wild!

From there, I wrote the first two stanzas of what would eventually become SOME DAYS I’M THE WIND. I ended up writing five sets of stanzas in that first sitting, describing various natural elements and how they can be different on different days. As I wrote, I noticed more and more the connections between each natural element’s “behaviors,” “moods” and “feelings” and our own human behaviors, moods and feelings.

And then, things got even deeper. I started thinking about myself as a child, and how people used to think of me as a quiet, shy person, because often I was. But sometimes I wasn’t quiet at ALL. I loved being silly and telling jokes when I was spending time with friends I loved and trusted. And I definitely wasn’t always shy. In fact, I loved singing and performing on stage! It was at that point that I realized that this could be a book that might connect with young kids, who maybe need a reminder that there aren’t any labels that can define us completely. We can feel and be and act different ways on different days, and that is absolutely 100% normal and okay!

Me: Your text is quite a lovely poem that uses beautiful language and metaphors to describe so many different emotions. Yet you never once name a single one! Did you have a checklist to make sure you covered a variety of basic emotions? Or did you let the natural elements dictate the descriptions of emotions?

Rebecca: I love this question! While I was drafting, I just let myself play around with describing how each natural element acts differently in various scenarios. At that point, I wasn’t thinking too much about connecting those descriptions to any particular emotions.

But once I had a solid draft, I DID in fact spend a LOT of time with various lists of emotions (and the amazing Emotion Thesaurus – if you don’t know it, definitely look it up!) making sure I had covered a very wide array of feelings. As a rhymer, this part was tough because it required killing quite a few darlings!

And YES, I purposefully did not mention by name any of the emotions I chose to feature. I did this because it was important to me that kids form their own opinions about what emotions THEY feel are being described.  I want kids to see themselves in the pages and to empathize with the main character. I also hope it will serve as a discussion tool for grown-ups to use with kids about different ways they might describe their complex feelings and also how to recognize how others may be feeling.

I also intentionally mixed up the order of the stanzas so that there wasn’t any pattern to the way the emotions were presented. I didn’t want kids to think that one side of the page presented the “good” feeling, while the other side presented the “bad.” All feelings are good feelings because they help us better understand ourselves and what we need in a particular moment.

Me: I was surprised to see the natural elements progress from sky to ground to sky and ground again. It’s hard to see a purposeful flow which I know some writers cultivate with picture books (like day to night for a “goodnight” story). I was surprised several times when the elements kept coming, and yet, it all somehow felt written exactly the way it was supposed to be, as wild as nature itself. Did you think about flow of elements or emotions in writing this one? Or did you let the rhythm dictate the flow? How many revisions did this manuscript take?

Rebecca: What an astute observation! Actually, if you really look closely at the text, you will see that I did indeed have a pattern in mind initially. When I submitted, I’d imagined the book following the arc of the seasons – summer (wind, sun, and sea), fall (clouds, rain, trees losing leaves), winter (snow, moon), spring (seed sprouting).

While the text ended up staying in that order, Dinara took the illustrations in a completely different direction, so that’s why that seasonal arc isn’t as apparent in the final product.

In terms of revisions, I see 14 versions saved on my computer. For me, that’s actually not a lot. In fact, I remember exactly where I was when I first started turning my initial poem into a picture book draft: At the desk, looking out at the beautiful trees outside the window of Cabin 21 at the Highlights Foundation retreat center. I remember thinking: “Hmm…I think maybe this might actually be something.”  

Me: The illustrations by Dinara Mirtalipova are glorious. I love how she interpreted your lines which could have gone so many different directions. Did you have any art notes for her, or did you leave everything open to interpretation?

Rebecca: I didn’t have any art notes with this one, and I’m actually quite amazed (and pleased!) by how Dinara interpreted my text. Given that all the metaphors involve natural elements, I was fully expecting that the illustrations would be depicted in outdoor settings. I know Dinara did initially play around with a variety of concepts, and some of those did take place outside, but ultimately, she chose to bring the outdoors into the child’s home and imagination. I think it’s really pretty brilliant. Just another example of how we authors need to trust the illustrator’s process because that’s really when the magic happens.

Me: I love how Dinara illustrated the snow metaphor, among so many others! Were there any illustration surprises and/or favorites for you?

Rebecca: As I mentioned above, Dinara’s whole idea of bringing the outdoors in was a huge surprise for me! And I too really love that snow spread! My other favorites are the spread where the MC imagines the washing machine as “the sea” and the one where her nightlight is “the moon.”

Me: Once again, this book has back matter. There are some great activities and discussion starters to help young readers talk about emotions.  Was that your idea or the editor’s?  Did that require any research?

Rebecca: I love adding back matter to my books! I think its super important, especially with a book like this, to give kids a way to delve deeper into the content. I knew from the get-go that my publisher (Barefoot) would want to have back matter similar to WHATEVER COMES TOMORROW. I did create and come up with some of the ideas for the activities, but in the end, I decided it was better to let Child Development Specialist Stefanie Paige Wieder write the back matter on my behalf since I’m not an expert. Stefanie also did the back matter for WHATEVER COMES TOMORROW so I knew she’d do a fantastic job. 

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing this story? 

Rebecca: I guess the biggest surprise was that this one flowed out of me rather quickly (after the initial poem, the first draft was mostly done in a couple of sittings, which pretty much never happens!).

Another surprise was that I had two offers on this book. It was a REALLY tough decision, as the other offer was from a Big Five, but I ultimately decided to go with Barefoot because I had had such a great experience with the making of WHATEVER COMES TOMORROW. My editor, Lisa Rosinsky, was literally shaking with excitement and full of incredible ideas for the manuscript when we had our first Zoom meeting together. The Barefoot team overall cares so much about making beautiful books and they also put so much effort into the marketing. They really want to be sure the books get into the hands of all the readers who need them. I couldn’t be happier with how this one turned out!

I agree! It turned out very well. Thank you again for stopping by my blog today Rebecca.

Dear readers, this book publishes next week. Keep an eye out for it. It’s an intriguing take on Social Emotional Learning with natural elements that is sure to start many great conversations with young readers. You won’t want to miss it.