JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I've always been amazed by my friend Gail Donovan; not because she's a terrific author - I have lots of friends who are terrific authors - but because she writes for kids between second and fifth grade. I don't recall being that age, and I don't particularly want to recall my kids being those ages (it seemed like an endless stream of wrinkled school work and birthday parties.)
How do you write from the viewpoints of little kids? I've asked her. Today, she explains how: by tapping into her own life. And she's brought a special treat - she's giving away three Advance Reader Copies of Sparrow Being Sparrow! All you need to do is leave a comment sharing a moment from your first job.
My daughter came home from her
first job working the concession stand at a minor league baseball stadium—hot,
smelly work done in very close quarters—and complained, “I am literally breathing
air that was in someone else’s mouth ten seconds ago.”
Little did I know that in a few years, that would be a valid complaint. But this was 2013, pre-pandemic, so I just said, “Your first job isn’t supposed to be your dream job. You’re learning the value of a dollar, and why you should go to college.”
I don’t know why I thought I had anything to teach my kids about the value of a dollar. I had always dreamed of being a writer, and though my father didn’t discourage this he counseled, “have a trade you can fall back on.” Reflecting on this wisdom, I set off for art school to learn how to be a potter. Feel free to laugh.
My first job, like my daughter’s, had been in the food services industry. Friendly’s. Picture late ’70s suburban Connecticut, blue-and-white polyester houndstooth uniforms. I waited tables, washed dishes, and took turns on “the make,” where ice cream sundaes were concocted and cones were scooped. I was soon warned that I was cutting into profits by making the cones and sundaes too big, and after repeated warnings was told, “Donovan, you’re off the make.”
Now you know that the first line of my book jacket bio, “Gail Donovan was fired from her first job for making the sundaes too big” is, in the words of David Sedaris, “true-ish.” I wasn’t fired fired, but I was forbidden to pick up a Friendly’s ice cream scoop. My editor liked the line, though, saying it sounded like Sparrow, the main character of my new book. And it does.
Sparrow is a lively, compassionate kid who would definitely make you an oversized sundae if she could. And when the neighborhood cat lady falls and breaks her hip and her seven cats need homes, who’s on the job? Sparrow. That’s just Sparrow Being Sparrow.
Ages 7-11
Sparrow loves to dance and leap around. She loves cats. She
has a million questions about the world, and she’s not afraid to ask them. But
she’s just moved to a new town and a new school, and her busy parents have no
time for her to get “carried away.” Suddenly, she feels totally out of place.
Sparrow’s favorite thing in all this newness is her neighbor, Mrs. LaRose, who has seven cats and always has cookies and lemonade to share. But after Mrs. LaRose falls and breaks her hip, she decides to move into assisted living—where the cats aren’t allowed! Sparrow has to help.
Determined to find new homes for all of Mrs. LaRose’s cats, Sparrow forgets about her own troubles—but the cats just might be the key to Sparrow finding a home for herself in this town, too.
Gail Donovan was fired from her first job in an ice cream shop for making the sundaes too big. She now works in a library and writes middle grade novels, including Sparrow Being Sparrow, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award winner Finchosaurus, and In Memory of Gorfman T. Frog, named to the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing list. She has also written for the Rainbow Fish & Friends picture book series based on the bestselling work of Marcus Pfister. Donovan lives on the coast of Maine, where she jumps in the ocean all year round. She has shared her home with a dozen birds, a few dogs, a rat, and a cat named Cookie. Visit her at GailDonovan.com.
Congratulations, Gail, on your newest book . . . I’m definitely looking forward to reading Sparrow’s story.
ReplyDeleteMy first job? Jean [my twin sister] and I both worked at the local motel [and, no, making beds and cleaning up after departed guests was definitely not our idea of fun . . . scooping ice cream sounds like a much better job . . . but it was close enough to home to be able to walk there and back. Both of us working there together was simply an added bonus.] Certainly not a fancy job, but it was a real one, so we got working papers and spent the summer making practically perfect hospital corners on beds. And, of course, just to keep everything perfectly perfect, the place was owned by two of the teachers from our school, so it seemed almost like an extension of the school year . . . .
Thanks, Joan! I have a twin sister, too. That's a lovely memory.
DeleteMy first job was working at McDonald's. The work wasn't that great as it would get so hot when cooking, no microwaves in my day. The people I worked with was the best part and I am still friends with some of them today. I have 8 year old twin granddaughters that I think would love your book. I think I would like it too. Thank you so much for the chance at your giveaway. pgenest57 at aol dot com
ReplyDeleteTwin granddaughters -- what fun! I'm a twin, too.
DeleteThe book sounds delightful, Gail. I'd love to share it with my little Birima, who is a Sparrow kind of girl.
ReplyDeleteMy first job at home was picking weeds for my dad, a nickel a box, then babysitting. But my first "real" job was as a Fuller Brush Girl. We lugged around catalogues instead of the big case of brushes. I had to cold call at houses and take orders. I hated it. (I won't do political canvassing, either. Hate cold calls.)
Oops - can't believe I mentioned the name of formerly little Birima, now 17 and tall and willowy. I meant Cosima, six and energetic and curious.
DeleteHi Edith, thanks for this blast from the past. Paper catalogues and Fuller Brushes! And I love both those name, Birima and Cosima.
DeleteEdith, you're a winner! Please go to my website where you'll find my email on the About tab. Write and let me know your mailing address and I'll send you an ARC.
DeleteMy first job, if you could call it, was when I was maybe 9 or 10. Picking up potatoes and putting them in a basket earned me a nickel for each basket I filled. A nickel doesn't sound like much but we could do quite a bit with it. Luckily, it wasn't too long before all the potatoes were picked up and ready for the cold cellar. Sometime after that my father paid me a nickel to wax pallets he made. A nickel per pallet. That was a rather mindless job but I hated the way the wax got into my little stubs of fingernails. It did make them shiny though, if I rubbed them. I didn't know the word buffed then.
ReplyDeleteI've written some stories for kids the ages who have written about so I would love to read Sparrow Being Sparrow as well as your other books!
Judi, sounds like you really learned the value of a dollar. :)
DeleteOr a nickel at least!
DeleteThis sounds wonderful Gail, I bet my granddaughter would love this book and this character! Like Joan my first real job was cleaning motel rooms. Ugh. Apparently they'd flunked their certification because the owner came to check the toilets with a mirror after we'd cleaned.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lucy (aka Roberta). That sounds like a real "value of a dollar" job.
DeleteLucy, you're a winner! Please go to my website where you'll find my email on the About tab. Write and let me know your mailing address and I'll send you an ARC.
DeleteCongratulations on your new book. It sounds absolutely terrific! I'm already making a list of kids who need copies.
ReplyDeleteGAIL: Scooping ice cream at Friendly's sounds like a pretty good first job.
ReplyDeleteFirst paid job was working as a student librarian at my junior high school from the age of 13. In the beginning, I shelved returned library books. In my second & third year, I took on more senior duties such as working the circulation desk & processing new library books/repaired damaged books in the back room. It was a dream job for this book nerd.
Hi Grace, that does sound like a dream job. Did you keep working in libraries?
DeleteYes, I did work part-time in libraries in both high school and university but those jobs were never as good as the first one.
DeleteGrace, what a great opportunity - working in a school library and getting paid. I would have loved that job, well who wouldn't! As I recall our jr. high school, kids worked at the library but I think it was for elective credit.
DeleteI still use those skills to add protective transparent book jacket covers on my hardback books and repair my own books. And the pay was well above minimal wage, too!
DeleteI volunteered in our school library one year of high school, maybe my junior year? It was so peaceful there compared to the rest of the madhouse!
DeleteGrace, I am with Anonymous above. I worked in my jr. high school library for credit. My older sister was working for the public library and always had fun stories about her job so, of course, I wanted to work in a library, too. Mine was the opposite of fun, but I attribute that to everything in those pubescent years being hard. Four years later I followed my sister’s footsteps and worked in the same branch library. The librarians were the best! Years later I became an elementary school librarian which was the best job - aside from being a mom - I ever had. (To clarify, working at Jack-in-the-Box was my first paid job, though.) — Pat S.
DeleteWhat a wonderful premise for your new book. I love the cover too! Makes you want to open the book right away.
ReplyDeleteI was 12 when I had my first job as a babysitter of 4 kids all under the age of 6. I love it, loved the kids and they were apparently crazy about me as well. A kid watching kids. At age 17, my second job was working at Orange Julius. I was fired and I'm not sure exactly why - but I have some vague recollection of giving someone too much change.
So glad you like the cover! Your first job sounds like a huge amount of responsibility. That's impressive.
DeleteFrom Celia: Hello Gail, great to see you on JRW and congratulations on Sparrow Being Sparrow. Loved the Friendlys clip. It was our go to Saturday lunch when daughter was small. But a first job, one for which one got money. Teens having jobs was not the thing in England so I never got paid any any work till I was actually ‘trained’ and in the job market. I’m sorry my g’sons are all growed up though they did enjoy your first book and I remember the launch party at the Portland Public Library.
ReplyDeleteHi Celia and thanks! Glad the Friendly's piece brought back some memories. It was fun to see you recently. Give our best to Vic.
DeleteHi Celia! Glad the Friendly's piece brought back some memories. It was nice to see you recently. Give Vic our best.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your latest release!
ReplyDeleteI almost lost my restaurant kitchen job for the same reason--making the ice cream scoops too big. Someone had removed the usual scoops and replaced them with extra large. I did master cutting a pie into nine (not eight) perfect pieces, keeping the crust intact. And using every scrap of lettuce that wasn't brown in salads. And hand-mixing lard with flour in a big tub for piecrusts. And continuously stirring hasty pudding while dribbling in cornmeal, one pinch at a time.
Thanks, Margaret! Sounds like your extra big scoops were not your fault!
DeleteMy three little grand nieces would love Sparrow! Their dad, who I started giving books to when he was an infant, loves to read to his little girl gang.
ReplyDeleteAs one of the oldest of a slew of cousins, my mom started farming me out for babysitting when I was 10. My aunts never paid much, alas. My first real job was spending a summer cleaning classrooms in a convent school with another girl. I was 14, and she was 15 and the first Black girl I'd ever spent time with. She was quite a character, and in the local and elite unicycle troupe. I was in awe.
I kept cleaning classrooms after school for two more years until I got a co-op job as a waitress in a local diner in my senior year. That job made scrubbing blackboards seem like child's play, and it made me a good tipper.
It seems that the blog is taken over by twins today! <3
Hi Karen! Yes, lots of twins today. Thanks for sharing all your job stories -- sounds like you learned a lot.
DeleteThe time between second grade and fifth grade… I’m really thinking about that now. I agree, it’s sort of..vague. My first job was at the Dairy Queen! I made dilly bars in the back room, and worked at the counter, taking orders and filling them. I absolutely loved it… I think it was the first time I had realized that I could do something that would make people happy. Almost everyone who came to the Dairy Queen was happy, and I really profoundly remember that.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh, I had a big altercation with the owner about those polyester uniforms! I refused to wear one, and wore a white mini skirt and a white button down oxford shirt. When the owner complained, I told her: you said, wear white, this is white. She was very frustrated by that, I remember :-) and never quite knew how to respond. Little victories. Congratulations on the book! How do you put your mind back at that age?
Hi Hank, I remember Dairy Queen, too! And I, too, hated my polyester uniform. Not sure how to answer the question of putting myself back. I don't remember events that clearly, but I do remember how it felt to be that age. Thanks for sharing your job story. :)
ReplyDeleteGAIL: Welcome to JRW! Your ice cream story reminds me of a relative who was fired from a day care center because she let the children have two cookies instead of one cookie each.
ReplyDeleteLove Children's books even though I am a grown up now.
Trying to remember my first job. I was going to say babysitter. If you are asking about my first job after college, it was working at a tech company doing Accounts Receivable, which was paperwork. and the commute was 2 hours by train and bus EACH WAY, so it was a total of four hours out of my day to go to work!
Now I am working as a law assistant for a law firm.
Diana
Thanks, Diana! Great story about the cookies -- so unfair! I continue to love children's books, too.
DeleteI love this! My first job was at a fast food place and I think I lasted a couple of weeks. After that, I ran to retail! Congratulations on your newest release.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Abigail!
DeleteMy first job was at the age of 17 during the second semester of my freshman year of college; it was washing dishes by hand (no dishwasher) at a very crummy restaurant. Since my best friend worked there with me, I remember it as a huge amount of fun.
ReplyDeleteWashing dishes by hand sounds like you really learned the value of a dollar!
DeleteHi Gail. I may have eaten one of your oversized cones one summer in Connecticut in the late 70's. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYour book looks wonderful. My grandson would love it! Perfect age, saving the neighbor's cats sounds like the best idea for a story!
My first real job was working as a life guard and swim instructor in the summer of '65 at Camp Shalom, at their original location in New Hartford. I loved it. Loved it. We had a wonderful Waterfront director who was a gym teacher at Buckley High in Hartford. He had stories! I got the best tan! Pay= = $25/week. Kids today would laugh at that.
My friend who had a tough real job at one of the Connecticut Training Schools, earned enough over the summer to pay for a year at UCONN and a car and nights out at Friendly's.
Thanks, Judy. $25 a week -- wow! A different era.
DeleteJudy, you're a winner! Please go to my website where you'll find my email on the About tab. Write and let me know your mailing address and I'll send you an ARC.
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DeleteThanks to all who shared their first job stories! I've chosen 3 winners at random—Edith, Lucy and Judy—and will write you to get mailing addresses.
ReplyDelete