Today we welcome Kevin McNamee, who is thrilled to be talking abut his latest children’s book, My Brother the Frog. This is Kevin’s sixth children’s book published with Guardian Angel Publishing.
Kevin, what is this story about?
This book focuses on sibling rivalry between two brothers. Sibling rivalry can be a problem in any family. But in this story, a little brother deals with this dilemma in a most unusual way. He changes his brother into a frog. He does have a bit of trouble changing him back though. He manages to change his brother into a variety of animals until he finally gets it right. Meanwhile, he starts to realize how much he cares for his brother, and how much his brother cares for him.
How did you come up with this story?
I wanted to come up with a wacky story that would be a lot of fun to read, and be something that boys would relate to. In my humble opinion, there are not enough books for boys out there. So I was happy to contribute one. The basic idea was: What if a boy could change his brother into a frog? What would happen then? I was thinking about using animals, but I’m not sure why I chose a frog as the first animal. Maybe it’s because frogs are funny and My Brother the Frog is an interesting title. But even though this book was a lot of fun to write, I wanted it to have a serious message.
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
To me, the hardest part was the pacing. In a picture book, every word counts. So it was a particularly difficult challenge to keep the action moving along using a minimal amount of words, while still being able to tell a complete story. Alexander Morris’s illustrations are top notch and really helped to tell the story. So I think that together, we were able to put together a story that both kids and parents will love.
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Relationships with siblings may not always be perfect, but this book points out some very good reasons to love your family … warts and all, especially if your brother just happens to be a frog.
This book is available as a print book, an E-book, or a book on CD from the Guardian Angel Publishing Children's Bookstore.
Books are also available from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or ask your local bookstore.
Kevin McNamee is a writer and poet living in Yonkers , N.Y.
Other books by Kevin include: If I Could Be Anything, The Sister Exchange, Lightning Strikes, The Soggy Town of Hilltop and What Is That Thing?
Kevin’s poetry has been published in the collection, An Eyeball in My Garden: And Other Spine-Tingling Poems.
To find out more about Kevin, please visit his website at www.kevinmcnamee.com or his blog at http://www.kevinmcnameechildrensauthor.blogspot.com/.
