Jennifer Trafton

Is there an author inside of your child waiting to be awakened? From the first spark of an idea through setting, character, and conflict, the Sleeping Giant Summer Camp is a fun exploration of stories for elementary and middle-school students. This year's camp has a special artistic twist: each student will walk away with a book they have written, illustrated, and hand-bound themselves! Camp sessions will be held throughout the summer in Franklin and Nashville. See my Writing Classes page for details, dates, and registration.

Lately I've had glue everywhere . . . on my fingers, on my desk, in my hair, on half a dozen paintbrushes and wads of paper towels, in my bathroom sink . . . I've been making hand-bound books, which means I've been as happy as a five-year-old with a fistful of crayons and a mountain of coloring books.

Yes, I admit it: I'm in love with paper. Silky paper, textured paper, swirly-flowery-spotty-speckly-patterned paper, every-color-in-the-rainbow paper. With all that the digital world has to offer, it can never take the place of the feel of paper between your fingers. Making a book from start to finish—crafting its cover, filling its pages with words or pictures, getting glue all over my fingers and stitching it all together with ribbon or cord— somehow sends me back to my writing desk with a fresh burst of energy to craft a story that's worthy of being clothed in papery, book-scented beauty.

And that's why I can't wait to teach the kids in my summer camps how to make a book—starting simple at first, of course. Perhaps the same creative enthusiasm that glues their papers together will glue their hearts to the stories they tell.

The door to my home office is completely covered with illustrations of The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic drawn by kids. I go to work each morning tiptoeing past an army of crayon-colored Leafeaters, Rumblebumps, poison-tongued jumping tortoises, and pepper-loving kings.

Most of these pictures come from kids who have heard me speak at their schools, which I consider one of the great privileges of my job as a writer of children's books. I absolutely love the outpouring of imagination I witness when I stand before a group of students prompting them to ask the question "What if?" in their stories and in their lives.

The highlight of my recent string of school visits was a thank-you letter that ended this way (punctuated exactly as the letter-writer did):

"Someday I might be an author write a book ask you to read it what if I was a giant thank you."

What a fantastic job I have! Not only did I inspire this child to become an author, I inspired him to become a giant. Now that is worth the writing of a book.

If you're interested in having me come to your school or library, see my Visits page.

This definitely wins the prize for most creative fan art. Made on the 100th anniversary of the Oreo by the inimicable Rebecca Reynolds, these delicate carvings of King Lucas, Persimmony, Mount Majestic, a pepper shaker, and a giant's nose definitely take the cake . . . er, cookie.