Meet Our July Guest Guru: Nancy Churnin

Every month, Rate Your Story features one Guest Guru who will give Ratings and Feedback to each of four lucky Members! Those who want to be considered for this opportunity should read this article, consider its contents when choosing your manuscript, submit early in the month and be sure to request consideration for a Guest Guru Slot.

To really learn about Nancy, please consider buying one of her books here: https://amzn.to/45XHnU8

What do you LOVE about children’s books?

Children are our future. Children's books have the potential to provide them with hope and joy, a chance to see themselves and others, to appreciate the power of words to take us on journeys of imagination and knowledge, to bring us all together and let them know they are important and can do great things.

What brought you to children’s books?

Children's books are magical in the way they can inspire and delight kids. They are unique among books in the way how they will address larger issues of life, love, community, or bring history, science, and philosophy to life in a simple, often poetic, unforgettable way that makes people of all ages turn to them again and again.

Name something you loved / enjoyed as a child?

The first book my mother read to me was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. That's a story I think about even when I write nonfiction and historical fiction. In many ways, Dorothy, who yearns for something more and walks through a door to a colorful new world called Oz -- much as children enter a new world every time they open the pages of a new book -- is a perfect example of a compelling heroine. Her story follows a classic structure as she goes on a quest and faces challenges until she solves her problem and returns home, changed for the better.

What do you look for in a project to make it a favorite?

It has to be a story that resonates in my heart with urgency. It has to be a story I believe will make kids' lives better for knowing it, that I believe might not be in the world if I didn't put it there. No one person can put all the stories a child needs in the world. It is up to each of us to put the stories that only we can write in the way we write them.

Share a story that you love and tell us why.

I have so many that I love! And the list keeps growing. That said, Charlotte's Web may be one of the most perfect stories ever written for kids. Author E.B. White takes what seems like a straightforward story and tells it simply, yet profoundly. On the surface we have a suspenseful story of a pig trying to survive and making it through threat after threat with the help of others -- first, a young girl named Fern, then the spider named Charlotte. But layered in this story is so much more -- a story of friendship, of the power of words, of what endures after death, and the healing joy of paying it forward. Creating delicious layers, assembled and baked with such care that you barely notice how much nourishment is enriching the pleasure of the confection, is a lofty goal to which I always aspire.

The biggest problems or when writers have not articulated to themselves the story they want to tell or have not found the emotional heart of the story. The story and the characters have to resonate with you if you want them to resonate with your reader. You have to know what you are trying to say if you want the reader to understand where you are going and follow you on the journey.  

Our Word of the Year is Professionalism. In terms of becoming a writer, what does this word mean to you?

Professionalism means preparing and sending submissions in the proper format to agents or editors that have requested or opened their door to your submissions. But just as important is professionalism in how you receive critiques and the inevitable rejections of manuscripts, or bad reviews on published work. This is a challenging business and some critiques, rejections, and reviews may not make sense to you. But a professional writer accepts whatever comes with patience and appreciation, takes what is helpful and puts aside the rest, and perseveres whether that means revising what would benefit from revision or knowing that a rejection from one reviewer, agent, or editor is just a step along the path to the one that will be the best match for your work and vision. 

Please share a Submission tip with our Members.

Having a critique group or friends with whom you can swap manuscripts is essential. Run your submission by a group or people you trust and then when you think you are finished, put it down for a few days, like dough you are allowing to rise, and read it again. If you think it's ready after that reading, send it along.

Please share a Revision Tip for our Members. 

Read your story aloud and see if you stumble over any of your words. Remember that board books and picture books especially are meant to be read aloud. Sometimes what makes sense to you on the page is not as clear when it is spoken. If you are lucky enough to have a child to read your manuscript to, try it out and see if they are engaged or there are places where they are confused.

Name subjects you would like to read about, or, if you are an Editor or an Agent, see in your in-box.

I am happy to read stories that come from the heart. I love to be surprised. As Ms. Frizzle says in The Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole: "Take chances. Make mistakes. Get Messy."

Name subjects you would not like to read about, or, if you are an Editor or an Agent, see in your in-box.

While I know there is a place and an interest in villains, I am not interested in reading about them. I think the world needs more light. I prefer to spend my time reading about people who make the world a better place.  

Share a fun fact about YOU!

I was a theater critic and a movie critic for many years. I love Broadway musicals. I also spent time covering children's literature as a journalist and had the pleasure of interviewing incredible authors for the newspaper including Maurice Sendak, Kate DiCamillo, Judy Blume, Jenny Nimmo, Barbara Park, Judith Byron Schachner, Robert Munsch, Richard Michelson, Patrica MacLachlan, Mo Willems, Bruce Coville, E.L. Konigsburg, Judith Viorst, Holly Black, Christopher Paul Curtis, Louis Sachar, Norman Bridwell, Jane O'Connor. I interviewed Daniel Radcliffe for a story about Harry Potter and Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil about Les Miserables.  

Also is there anything in particular you want or don't want to give rating and feedback on?

No rhyming manuscripts, please. While I write rhyme, I don't consider myself enough of an expert to judge others.

Nancy Churnin writes about people that inspire kids to make a positive difference and encourage kids to be heroes, too, in genres encompassing board books, picture books, chapter books, and middle grade. She is best-known for her nonfiction narrative picture books, from The William Hoy Story, on many state and school reading lists, Manjhi Moves a Mountain, a South Asia Book Award winner, and Dear Mr. Dickens, a 2021 National Jewish Book Award and 2022 Sydney Taylor Honor winner, which is featured in an educational program at The Charles Dickens Museum in London, teaching kids to recognize and stand up to discrimination. Other honors include: Junior Library Guild selections, Sydney Taylor Notables, National Council for the Social Studies Notables, Silver Eurekas, Mighty Girl lists, Kids Choice Award finalists, a Sakura Medal finalist, a Notable Book for a Global Society, an Anne Izard Storytellers Choice Award, multiple Bank Street College Best Books for Children lists, and starred reviews. A former theater critic for the Los Angeles Times and The Dallas Morning News, Nancy is now a full-time children's book author and experienced presenter at conferences, museums, libraries, and schools who lives in North Texas. You'll find free teacher guides, resources, and projects on her website at nancychurnin.com 

Social Media

Facebook: Nancy Churnin

Facebook: Nancy Churnin Children's Books

Twitter: @nchurnin

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To thank Nancy for her time and expertise, please consider buying one of her books here: https://amzn.to/45XHnU8

Photo Credits to Kim Leeson: https://kimtakespictures.zenfolio.com/nancychurninphotos