Courtesy Micheal Anderson
Micheal Anderson
Courtesy Micheal Anderson
Author of Zoey Lyndon's Big Move to the Lou and Zoey Lyndon and the Sticky Finger Bandit, Micheal Anderson has been positively overwhelmed by how her stories have resonated with readers.
The Amazon review pages for her books are flooded with kind words. STEM features heavily in the Zoey Lyndon books, and Anderson recalls a note from a teacher that said several girls in her class inquired about joining a science club after reading one of the books in class. Parents leave comments telling her their girls are reading the books, and one even sent photos of readers re-creating a science experiment that took place in the book.
She eventually had to set up a P.O. box because similar messages were cluttering her email inbox. Now when she goes to the post office, she finds stacks of letters from readers with questions about the characters, when the next book is coming, and hand-drawn pictures.
Why and when did you begin writing? I started writing a few years back. I was hitting a milestone birthday, and I wanted to have 50 new experiences before I turned 50. I actually started writing when I was blogging about those 50 new experiences. And what I discovered was I just really enjoyed the engagement and the freedom of pouring out onto paper, screen, what I was feeling and my thoughts. Probably several months into the blogging process, I thought about writing a children’s book, and [it] just kind of evolved and morphed from there.
What was your inspiration to write these stories, specifically with Zoey Lyndon’s character? Definitely my daughters. I have two girls, and they are both STEM majors. I have encouraged my daughters to pursue STEM because I knew that was going to be something that would sustain them that they could do and they could make a good living. My oldest daughter is a scientist for a local company here. My youngest is a chemical engineer pursuing her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.
When they were younger, they read everything from Junie B. Jones, Amelia Bedelia, Beacon Street Girls, [and] so many book series that were popular. But the thing is, there was no protagonist that looked like them. There were no Black or Brown girls that were on the covers or even in the stories. I actually asked them—now that they’re grown—the question, and they were like, “Oh, you know, it didn’t even matter. We didn’t even know.” But as a parent, as a mother, you want your children to read books that reflect them and look like them. It’s empowering, it’s inspiring, it’s encouraging. I was intentional about writing a story about a Black girl who was passionate about science because STEM is one of those fields where there’s only about 27 percent across the board that are women. And when you break that down to minorities, it’s even fewer. This is a fun way to expose and introduce science to kids and let them see that these are fun experiments in here that they can try.
What has the response been from readers in seeing a young Black girl interested in STEM? The majority of my audience has been Girl Scouts, and most of those girls are white. In my very first meeting [with a girl scout troop], someone asked the question, “Why did you write this book?” And I was like, “Oh, my goodness,” because there wasn't a Black face in the group. But I was honest, and I said, “this is why I wrote it.” The parents were on the call, and they were just nodding their heads because it resonated with them. They understood as a parent, you want to see your children inspired and encouraged, but you want your children to see themselves in the stories that they read. The feedback has been phenomenal.
How do you feel about the power of giving St. Louis kids local authors to read from and look to for inspiration? I think literacy is powerful because it opens doors, it creates exposure and opportunity that you didn't know before. Just by simply opening a book, it takes you to a different place. But not everybody can afford books, and not everybody has home libraries. For me, it's important because I was one of those children who grew up loving to read, but not really having access to books. We just didn't have them in our home. And so what I have done is, with every 1,000 sales that I get, I donate. I've donated to Julius Anthony's Believe Project, and I've donated to Girls Inc. Every time I hit 1,000 sales, that's my way of giving back. I wish I could give back more books, but that's how I remind myself that literacy should never be considered a luxury. It's so valuable, so important. And people that are impoverished, people that really don't have home libraries or even access to that, they still should have that available to them.
How do you feel about the importance of literature for middle school-age children? I think it's important. I think these are relevant stories. And even though like I said, the story is written from a Black girl perspective, the majority of my audience has not been Black and Brown girls. But what's powerful is that the stories that I'm writing are resonating with young people period because the stories are relatable, they're relevant. And so when you're talking about issues like anxiety, Zoey was experiencing anxiety. She was apprehensive about going to school. Will she make friends? Will she fit in? Will she connect? Those are real concerns that real children have every day.
How do you make time for writing, is it a full-time job? What does your process look like?
Right now I have a full-time job, [but] writing to me is still full-time. I'm a night writer. And in the literary world, they would refer to me as a pants[er] because I write off the cuff. I will create an outline, [but] that's just to help me to stay on task and to know the direction that I want the story to go. I get my outline, figure out what my conflict is going to be in the story, [and] a couple of different storylines, but nothing is hard and concrete. I really write how I feel, and if when I'm reading it back I don't like it, I scrap it. And with the second book that I was writing, I was typing and I was cracking up. I was like, “Oh my god, this is so good.” But I think what happens is when kids read that, that same energy comes through. And so they're like, “Oh, this is so good.” And they're laughing, too.
How do you intend to continue exploring Zoey Lyndon’s story in future books? One unique thing about the series is each book is a STEM focus, and so the first two were science. There was a science fair in the first one, then there was a science week [in the second book]. The third one is going to be at a summer camp, but the component of STEM I'm bringing in is engineering. And for me, although I've encouraged my daughters to pursue STEM, I'm an accountant by trade—that is what I went to school for—so STEM is not natural for me. I have to research what I put into my books, so I came up with several engineering activities that can go into the book.
I have met with so many Girl Scouts because they earn a badge by reading the book, and then they get to meet with me. It's so funny because they give me ideas, and they're telling me, “We want to see a crush and we want more drama.” I feel like they're actually giving me material for my next book, so I'm taking my feedback that the girls give me. As long as they're still excited and energized about the books, then I'm just going to continue, and there's always that STEM component I can find to bring into the book.
Anderson’s books can be found in-store at several local Barnes & Nobles locations, EyeSeeMe, The Novel Neighbor, and online. Teacher study guides for both books are also available to download for free on her website.
