Welcome back to the First Stories blog, where I talk with children’s book authors about the stories that inspired them to dive into the world of publishing. Today’s post is SUPER SPECIAL, because I am interviewing BOTH an author AND illustrator together for the first time on First Stories! But before I introduce today’s special guests, just a little reminder that pre-orders for my second picture book, Backyard Stew, are available on any website (your local indie bookstore – do this one first!, my publisher – Gnome Road, B&N, Bookshop.org, and Amazon, to name a few!)
BUT…if you’d like to pre-order a SIGNED copy, scan the QR code below to place your order through my local independent bookstore, Snail on the Wall. They ship anywhere within the continental US!
If you’re not quite ready to pre-order a copy of Backyard Stew, I would be SO grateful if you would click the “Want to Read” button on the Goodreads page for Backyard Stew! This helps people find my book and consider it for their home libraries. Thank you!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246356868-backyard-stew
Today, I’m delighted to welcome my friend, Michelle Kennedy, and her illustrator, Bonnie Bright, who are both joining me to talk about their debut picture book, Cellphonitis, which released on February 26 of this year.
Here’s a little more about Michelle and Bonnie:
Michelle S. Kennedy is a children’s author and poet dedicated to creating stories that blend laugh-out-loud humor with heart. Her mission is simple: to help the next generation discover the joy of reading! Her debut picture book, Cellphoneitis, has quickly become an essential resource for digital wellness, praised by parents, teachers, and library media specialists for its relatable and rhythmic approach to screen-time balance.
Now an empty nester in Sugar Hill, GA, she draws inspiration from the world around her and the often unexpected “growing pains” of life.
To learn more about Michelle or to contact her for school visits, library readings, and more, search for ‘Michelle S. Kennedy Author’ online.
Bonnie Bright studied Fine Art at UC Santa Barbara and Illustration at Cal State Long Beach. Shortly after college, she was hired to illustrate backgrounds and animate characters for educational computer games. That launched a fifteen-year, full-time career as a computer game artist. Bright was the original artist and animator of Knowledge Adventure’s Jumpstart Educational Game Line.
In recent years, as a proud member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Bright has been fully focused on her career in book illustration, book layout and cover design, and has successfully illustrated more than twenty children’s books for self-publishing authors.
Bright makes time to visit elementary schools to read books, followed by lessons in drawing, animation, mural painting and book making. Click here to arrange a school visit.
Me: Welcome Michelle and Bonnie!
Michelle: Thank you, Heather!
Bonnie: It’s great to be here!
Me: It’s so fun having BOTH the author and illustrator of a book on the First Stories blog at the same time! Now, we all get to hear about the book from both perspectives. But before we get to Cellphoneitis, I’d like to hear about each of your first stories. You know the drill: Tell me about your “first story.” The one that really pushed you to consider publishing. What inspired you to write it? What was it about?
Michelle: My first story was inspired by my son (when he was about 3 ½ or 4 years old). He had run into my bedroom in the middle of the night, crying and terrified. Turns out, he had a nightmare about a giant spider being on his rocking chair and he was afraid it was going to eat him! I tried to console him and finally an idea came into my head—what if I could turn his nightmare into a funny story instead? So that’s exactly what I did! I took him back to his room and said, ‘Let’s try to reimagine your nightmare’. I proceeded to make up a wild story about how the spider wasn’t really after him, but that it was “stuck” on his rocking chair because he had been chewing bubble gum that got stuck onto his brand-new shoes. The story was silly and outlandish and had a happy ending. My son laughed and thankfully and more importantly, he went back to sleep. The next day I remembered the story, so I decided to write it down and then worked to make it rhyme (because who doesn’t love a great rhyming story?!)
Bonnie: My first story was called “The Tangle Tower”. I was inspired to write about tangles because my daughter struggled with hair brushing. She would ask to do it later, then later than later. This wasn’t new to me, I struggled with tangles when I was young as well…my mom would just cut off the worst ones!
Me: Both of these ideas are so creative and fun! Where are these stories now?
Michelle: That story has had many iterations over the years and is a manuscript in my current query package. Sadly, no takers for it yet, but it’s a story near and dear to my heart since it was my ‘first’ one.
Bonnie: When Amazon first started selling e-books, they actually reached out to me to ask me if I wanted to add my book(s) to their new e-book platform. At that time, authors would send their files to Amazon to be converted into the KPF e-book format. I will never know if it sold well because there were fewer digital books back then, or if it was because the movie, “Tangled” came out, but “The Tangle Tower” reached the top 20 in Amazon Kindle Books. And I was making about $1,200 a month for four months or so.
It’s still available on Amazon now, but I have re-vamped the illustrations.
Me: Wow, Bonnie!! That is AWESOME! And so interesting. As you say, we creatives can never really know what pushes sales of our books, but I’m sure the “Tangled” movie tie-in helped. 🙂 Michelle, I love that you’re still querying this story. Maybe we’ll see it out in the world one day. Next question: Are there any themes in that story that you can see in your writing/illustrating today?
Michelle: Yes. Themes of resilience, overcoming obstacles and finding humor in awkward situations are at the heart of most of my manuscripts today.
Bonnie: Yes, I love to write books that teach important life lessons in a fun way.
Me: Ooooh, both of these things – humor in awkward situations, important life lessons – I think we’ll get to circle back around to those soon! Looking back, what elements of that first story made it unmarketable? Did you receive feedback on that story? What did that feedback teach you?
Michelle: Originally, my story also included a boy and a mom. It was basically a retelling of what happened to my son and the fantastical story I came up with about the spider. But I soon learned that it was a big ‘no no’ to have the mom solve the child’s problem and that it would never make it in today’s market for that reason. Also, the meter was in pretty bad shape on my first several revisions. I was unanimously told to remove the boy and mom from the story and to concentrate all my efforts on the spider story itself. It taught me that I had a lot to learn about writing for kids! It also taught me how to receive feedback without taking the criticism as a personal attack on me as a person.
Bonnie: I didn’t market it much, but I have brought it to school visits for years. I read the story and follow that with a fun, messy art project where the kids draw their faces, then glue on yarn hair and whatever they want to glue into their tangle tower.
I received some good feedback at a Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators (SCBWI) workshop and wound up re-illustrating the book with more interesting points of view and variety.
Me: Yeah, Bonnie, that “unmarketable” aspect didn’t really apply to you, did it? Ha! But thanks for sharing your marketing tips and that you didn’t actually DO tons and tons of marketing, but it still found it’s way onto the Amazon Top 20 list. Why is that “first story” special to you? How was it important for your writing journey?
Michelle: Because it was written for and about my son. That story was super important in my writing journey! I had never considered writing before then. Without that story, I never wouldn’t have gotten into learning and studying meter or writing in rhyme (and that is pretty much what I’m known for now).
Bonnie: Because it was successful and because it has been well-received at schools, I have been motivated to continue on my journey. My own books always take a back seat to the books I illustrate for clients. So, I have rushed through some in the empty spaces between clients and making a living. I love going back to my older books to see how they could be improved and will probably always take advantage of the fact that I can update, tweak and re-illustrate my books over time.
Me: I’ve LOVED hearing about your First Stories and the ways that they have shaped your writing journeys! Now, let’s pivot and talk about Michelle’s debut book, but not your first time around, Bonnie. Cellphoneitis is available on Amazon. Tell me all about it! How did you come up with the idea for this book? Does it relate at all to your “first story”?
Michelle: My debut picture book, Cellphoeitis, released in mid-February of this year. It’s a story about a child who gets his first cellphone and soon it starts causing isolation and unintended consequences. The boy is oblivious at first, but it’s obvious to everyone— Owen’s got a bad case of Cellphoneitis! The story subtly offers a valuable lesson on managing screen time through light-hearted rhyme and humorous page-turns. It’s actually a rewrite of a story concept that was originally created by the illustrator, Bonnie Bright. It does not relate to my first story, but it does have lots of humor and heart, and it’s also written in rhyme, so there are some similarities!
Bonnie: The original version of “Cellphoneitus” (with a “u”), was one of the books I mentioned above. A passionate idea and a lesson I needed to share, but not enough time to really give it the attention it needed or deserved. I put it out into the world in 2012, but the illustrations were rushed and the characters were too old. It barely sold on Amazon. I always knew I would revisit it one day. I felt inspired to re-write and re-illustrate the book after an SCBWI conference and created this painting in acrylic:
Then I started going back through the original book and story, when a lightbulb went off. I had asked Michelle to make some rhyme tweaks on “The Tangle Tower”, so why not ask her to tweak “Cellphoneitus”?! After that, things snowballed into Michelle re-writing the story and me re-illustrating it. I’m very happy with how the book turned out and it finally feels like I can check it off the list in the back of my mind…it’s now out there with the message I originally wanted to send all those years ago…now known as “Cellphoneitis” (with an “I”).
So far, “Cellphoneitis” has been a big hit with the schools I have visited. I also bring this book with me when I substitute teach, and I read it to the class every chance I get.
Me: What a fascinating story behind this book! I love how it illustrates the importance of revision and re-imagining an idea; how that can breathe new life into a story; and how collaboration can provide a unique spark that can really make a project come together. Thank you both so much for being on First Stories and sharing a part of your writing journeys! Where can we find both of you online?
Michelle: You can find me online at www.michelleskennedy.com, or on X at MichelleSKenned or BlueSky at MichelleSKennedy.
Bonnie: And you can find me at https://www.brightillustrations.com/. I’m also on Instagram @bonniebrightillustration.
Me: It’s been great having you both on the blog! Thanks for stopping by and best wishes on your new book!
Michelle: Thanks, Heather!
Bonnie: Thank you for having us!
If you’re interested in picking up a copy of Cellphoneitis, you can find it on Amazon at https://a.co/d/06FZwuzb. First Stories will return in July/August with more interviews! Have a very happy summer!
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