Introducing Our New Judge: Sue Heavenrich

We are pleased to announce our newest Rate Your Story Judge - multi-published PB author Sue Heavenrich who will be giving Ratings and Feedback on fiction and non-fiction manuscripts. Many of you may know Sue as one of the Gurus in our RYS Kidlit Creators Forum, as well as one of th voices of experience in our weekly Thursday Mentor Text Talks (more information here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2705342229746385).

Rate Your Story Members get 15 Ratings and Feedback from published Rate Your Story Judges and Guest Gurus per Membership Year and MORE. If not a Member, you are invited to sign up here: www.rateyourstory.org/become-a-member 

Q: What did you love most about being a child? 

A: I loved exploring my world and asking questions. That meant reading lots of books for fun, and to find out stuff. My favorite book, as a kid, was My Side of the Mountain. This was a perfect blend of adventure and real outdoor skills for me, a kid living near the mountains. I wanted to live in a hollow tree and learn how to start a fire using flint and steel. I actually became an outdoor leader later on.

Q: What do you love most about bugs?

A:  Aside from the humming and beautiful colors, insects and spiders (and their arthropod kin) fill important ecological roles as pollinators, decomposers and recyclers, and as part of the food web. Flies may be annoying, but if they suddenly disappeared there would be lots of hungry critters. Though I confess, I could live without mosquitoes.

 Q: What brought you to children’s books? 

A: My memories of the rhythm and rhyme of the books my mom read to me, and the fun language. Books I remember listening to: Madeline (I loved “two straight lines”), Cat in the Hat (I loved the shenanigans), and nursery rhymes like “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” (language!). When I could read on my own, I checked out armloads of fairy tales… I especially loved Tasha Tudor’s illustrations and wanted to illustrate storybooks.

Q: What do you love about children’s books? Or share a story about reading as a child. 

A: I love how children’s nonfiction books have evolved over the past couple decades. It’s like the entire genre woke up from a long winter’s nap, shook off the dust, and decided to dance. The language is more evocative, lyrical, fun. The illustrations are engaging, full of life and color. And the books that used to be encyclopedia-like have evolved into browsable books with larger type and better photos, making them accessible to readers at many levels.

Q: What is your most favorite bug book from your childhood, if any? Or current favorite. 

A: Bug books for kids were not a thing when I was growing up, so I am truly grateful that there are so many wonderful books about insects and spiders and the diversity of the arthropod world available to kids today. I have an entire shelf devoted to kid’s bug books… too many loved ones to choose a favorite, from picture books to YA!

(I have a photo)

Q: Share a little bit about your most recently-published book, THE PIE THAT MOLLY GREW.

How long was its path to publication?

What did you learn from this experience?

What is your favorite thing about this book? 

A: It took a few years to get from pumpkin seed to book. The phrase “this is the pie that Molly made” rattled around in my brain for a while, until I finally decided I had to write it down. And once I started writing, the rhythm of that line whispered “The House that Jack Built” and so I played around with that structure. And I tried to write it as straight prose because, honestly, there were a whole bunch of books with THTJB structure and I really, really wanted to do something different. But the story wanted to be the way it wanted to be.

I am so happy that it found a home with Sleeping Bear Press. Working with my editor, Barb McNally and team there was such a pleasure – it really felt like teamwork. I am so happy that in 2027 I will have another book with them!

I am so happy that it found a home with Sleeping Bear Press. Working with my editor, Barb McNally and team there was such a pleasure – it really felt like teamwork. I am so happy that in 2027 I will have another book with them!

Q: Share about 13 WAYS TO EAT A FLY and how you drew upon your interests or experience to research / write it. 

A: It began with an eye-rolling moment. I was at an event where metal folding chairs had been set out in a meadow. Many tiny yellow-and-black striped flower flies perched on the chairs, warming themselves in the sun. People were afraid to sit down because of “all the bees” – and that’s when I realized that people had no idea about the huge diversity of flies. Being a “bugologist” I wanted to show the different kinds of flies people might encounter, from pollinators to mosquitoes.

At the same time, I was playing around with the idea of a kid’s field guide to eating insects – that didn’t fly, but mashing the two ideas resulted in something else: a fly guide for hungry critters. I created a huge spreadsheet of fly-eaters and the kinds of flies they fed on. Then I discovered a zombified fly stuck to a window screen. Yes! Fungi eat flies, too! Once I decided to create a counting book, I knew that I wanted a fun number. Thirteen fit the bill. It’s prime, it’s a Fibonacci number, and (if you’re boxing donuts) it’s a “baker’s dozen.”

Q: Share about anything that may be on the horizon.

A: I have a picture book coming out in August 2027 from Sleeping Bear Press. It's about winter berries and the animals that eat them.

Q: What do you love about the genre of books you write in (please be specific)?

A: I love writing about science and nature in a way that invites kids – and adults – to explore and ask questions. 13 WAYS TO EAT A FLY may look like a counting book, but it’s is also a fly field guide – introducing different fly families – as well as an exploration of food webs in the ecosystem. For sure, THE PIE THAT MOLLY GREW is about growing a pumpkin so you can bake a pie, but it’s also about how a seed germinates, how plants work, and pollination. What I like about writing picture books is the hunt for the best words to put on the page: the words that will make kids want to listen to or read the book again. (My sincere apologies to the parent who told me their kid asked them read 13 WAYS TO EAT A FLY four times in a row!)  That means finding words that are fun to say, that have rhythm and maybe rhyme. Even if it takes me a couple years to find the right words or the best way to structure the story.

Q: What does a story need to make it a favorite for you?

A: It has to be fun to read. There are some books that beg to be read aloud – I love those – and others that are best read while snuggled under a quilt, drinking hot cocoa. I like them both. As far as kinds of books, I am pretty eclectic. I’ve enjoyed stories in haiku, and biographies. Stories told through letters, and some written in rhyming couplets. I like stories that make me think, and stories that are entertaining. All I ask is that if they are STEM-related, the science be accurate.

Q: Share a story that you love and why. 

A:  There are so many, but one of my recent faves is WORM MAKES A SANDWICH, by Brianne Farley. The first time I read Worm Makes a Sandwich, I laughed out loud – because, seriously, how can a worm even make a sandwich? They don’t even have hands! And yet. Worm is SO earnest. He so much wants to make a sandwich. He just needs one thing…

And then he’s all ready… nope. He needs one more thing… or three. Some of the things he needs (garbage, dirt) are not for your sandwich.

The second time I read WORM MAKES A SANDWICH, I slowed down. I didn’t want to get indigestion! Spending more time on the page allowed me to savor the words and gave me time to explore the illustrations. That’s when I realized that this is a brilliant book about composting. But also about patience and friendship and bugs. Also, it is 100% scientifically accurate! I loved this book so much that I just had to interview Brianne – you can read that over at the GROG

Link: https://groggorg.blogspot.com/2025/09/brianne-farley-answers-questions-about.html

Q: What is a common issue you see in the manuscripts you critique or have reviewed?

A: What are you trying to say, and is this the best way to say it? Sometimes a writer imposes a structure that, while a neat idea, doesn’t mesh with the story. So try a different way into your book.

Q: Please share a Submission Tip with our Members. 

A: I am a member of the “100 Rejections are a Good Thing” club. The idea is to challenge ourselves to send things out (to agents, primarily) by setting the goal of garnering 100 rejections over the course of the year. So every January I draw a grid of 100 squares and check of a box every time I send something out. Of course, this requires me to research the agents and editors I submit things to, and then craft the best cover letters I can. Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

·      there are 52 weeks in a year, so that comes to about 8 submissions a month.

·      I often have three manuscripts at any one time, so I’m not sending out the same thing all the time

·      I include things like SCBWI grants and other opportunities in my tally

As the great Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

[Editorial note: This is great advice for FINISHED and READY TO SUBMIT manuscripts. Please be objective about this before flooding everyone's inboxes.]

Q: Please share a Revision Tip for our Members. 

A: Think about the feedback. Does it make sense? And does it honor the heart of your story? If so,,,, revise. When you’ve got it to where you think it’s done, read it out loud. Then ask someone else to read it out loud and listen to whether they stumble or stop.

Q: Name subjects you would like to read about. 

A: While I am passionate about bugs. I am open to reading anything, from biographies to math (seriously, I am math-lexic, so if I don’t understand it, I’ll let you know) to stories like Don’t Trust Fish.

Q: Name subjects you would not like to read about.

A: Anything overtly religious

Q:  Share a fun fact about YOU! 

A: I have a trilobite on my desk that is about 450 million years old.

Thanks so much for this opportunity to share with the RYS community! 

NOTE: Please return these questions, along with a bio, headshot, booklist and any bookcovers / spreads you may want to showcase, to me as soon as possible. 

BIO: Sue Heavenrich is an award-winning author of books for children and their families. On her journey to writing books she taught high school science, coached an elementary math team, and worked as an environmental journalist. She is passionate about insects and once spent a month trying to trade seeds with harvester ants in the Chiricahua desert. Sue’s picture books include The Pie That Molly Grew, illustrated by Chamisa Kellogg (Sleeping Bear Press, 2023) and 13 Ways to Eat a Fly, illustrated by David Clark (Charlesbridge, 2021). Her next picture book, featuring winter animals, releases from Sleeping Bear Press in the fall of 2027.

In addition to volunteering for RYS, Sue currently serves as ARA and PAL Coordinator for her SCBWI region in West/Central New York

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website - www.sueheavenrich.com

Archimedes Notebook, a blog exploring science and books - archimedesnotebook.blogspot.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/SueHeavenrichWriter