Author’s name: Melanie Wick Singer
Illustrator’s name: Natalia Jiménez Osorio
Other book titles: Upcoming (2027) THE PERFECT GIFT FOR MAMI
What is your book title? MARTINA’S MUY BAD DAY
Date of release: Feb 4, 2025
Order link: Martina’s Muy Bad Day – HarperCollins
Publisher: HarperCollins
Agent: Naomi Davis and Ramona Pina
Agency: BookEnds Literary Agency
Hometown: Sheboygan, Wisconsin (currently residing in Ann Arbor, MI)
Social links: X: @MelanieWSinger
Instagram: @wickmelanie
Website: wickmelanie.wixsite.com/website
1. What is the premise/pitch for your book?
“Martina just had the worst day, ever. She fell in a mud puddle, swallowed a bug, stepped on un grande wad of gum, and ruined her lucky calcetines forever!
When she tells her grandmother all about her muy bad day, Abuela has a few ideas for how to handle all the big feelings. Will anything be enough to turn her muy bad day around?
With humor, love, and a little bit of music, anyone can turn un día muy malo into a fiesta—because even the worst days are worth celebrating!”
2. What are 5 things you want people to know about your book?
-This book was inspired by the way my daughter and I handle our MUY BAD DAYS!
-The name Martina was chosen because one of my critique partners (Martina) helped greatly in bringing this book to life. (Also, alliteration!)
-This was one of the first manuscripts I wrote, and it went through 26 revisions prior to publication.
-I include words in Spanish because my mom is from Colombia and I think picture books are a wonderful way to learn vocabulary!
-Abuela is one of my favorite characters because she is a total rockstar! As a speech-language pathologist who works with the geriatric population, it was important to me to include an intergenerational relationship that is warm and fun!
3. What helpful hints or tips can you offer fellow writers about writing, publishing, and promoting a book?
-Critique partners are a lifeline! Find a handful of writers you trust, and invest in those relationships.
-Keep all old drafts of the manuscript and be mindful of the way the story is changing during the editing process. Sometimes we can take too much feedback and the heart gets lost. When this happens, I find it helpful to go back to an earlier draft when the heart was fresh and raw.
-The querying and publishing process requires some thick skin. Take breaks as needed!
-When editing, think about literary devices. In picture books we want to keep word count in mind, but also use words that bring magic.
4. What are 5 fun/quirky facts about yourself as an adult or child?
-As a child I was very into nature, always climbing trees. Rather than a stuffed animal, my ride-or- die companion was a stick that looked like a giraffe!
-I was very active in forensics in high school, and competed in oral interpretation of literature. This has come in handy as I do book readings!
-I was always into singing (cue show choir jazz hands!) and as a teen and adult participated in a lot of karaoke contests.
-I enjoy art of all kinds, and my daughter and I love to make different projects. We just finished a couple of pebble art wall hangings!
-I am a lucid dreamer, though I can’t do it as often as I want to! It’s a most fascinating and soul-fulfilling phenomenon.
5. What did you learn about yourself while on the journey to publishing this book?
I learned to be more assertive in voicing my opinions/wants. It can be a little intimidating as a debut author to speak up, but it is important during the various stages of publication. I also learned to be more open about the fact that I had written a book and it was going to be published. It always felt a little weird to mention this in conversation, but being a little brave led to some great opportunities!
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