Author’s name: Dianna Wilson Sirkovsky
Illustrator’s name: Sara Casilda
What is your book title? Just One Pebble, One Boy’s Quest to End Hunger
Date of release: It was released on Sept. 15, 2023
Preorder or Order link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/just-one-pebble-one-boys-quest-to-end-hunger-dianna-wilson-sirkovsky/1143494785?ean=9781605377674
Also available on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca
Publisher: Clavis
Other book titles: James’ Reading Rescue
Agent: I am unagented
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1. What are 5 things you want people to know about your book?
- Everyone can make a difference, no matter their age
- Kindness is a choice – an easy one!
- Small, everyday acts of kindness can change someone’s day for the better – or someone’s life.
- Braeden was only 9 years old when he began his campaign to feed needy people in his community.
- Don’t be afraid to try!
2. What are 5 helpful hints or tips you wish you had known before starting this publishing journey?
Oh! Where to start?!
- What does show, don’t tell, actually mean?
- No adjectives or adverbs unless absolutely essential.
- Every single word needs to count!
- Don’t write anything that can be shown in the illustrations.
- Don’t be didactic!
3. What are 5 fun/quirky facts about yourself as an adult or child?
- I wrote my first book “Secret of the Barnyard” when I was 11 years old.
- I was lucky enough to have my first picture book manuscript printed when I was 62 years old, and my second was published on my 65th birthday!
- I’m a devoted animal lover and was involved in animal rescue for many years.
- My children were raised in a small house with 9 rescue cats and have become rescuers themselves, I’m proud to say.
- I love picture books and am always buying them for the littles in my life. And for myself as well!
4. What are five things you learned about yourself while on the journey to publishing this book?
- The joy of bringing a child’s true story out into the world.
- How to balance the truth of a story with the creative license needed to tie it together.
- How many people in the world are quietly working to make it a better place. There are so many unsung heroes.
- How much I love reading to children, either on zoom or with school visits.
- The pride, joy and humility of holding your own published book in your hands.
5. What are 5 must-read picture books?
So many wonderful ones! How to choose? But here are a few of my favorites…
- The wonderful Fern Hollow PB series by John Patience.
- I Don’t Want to be a Frog by Dev Petty and Mike Boldt
- ALL the Jillian Jiggs stories by Phoebe Gilman
- ALL the wonderful Bear and friends books by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
- James’ Reading Rescue by myself and Sara Casila. I hope you love it!
Dianna Wilson Sirkovsky’s other picture book, James Reading Rescue.