Book Giveaway: MY GRANDPA, MY TREE AND ME by Roxanne Troup

Roxanne Troup has written a new picture book, MY GRANDPA, MY TREE AND ME, illustrated by Kendra Binney being published by Yeehoo Press on April 11th. They have agreed to send a copy to the one lucky winner in the US.

Just leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Let me know other things you did to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Sharing on Facebook, Twitter or reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. So, thanks for helping Nadia.

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. If you want to make sure you don’t miss seeing that you won, please click “Notify Me of Follow-Up Comments By Email” box. I will leave a comment in reply if you win the book. Thanks!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In this moving tale about the depths of love and care a grandfather and granddaughter have for one another, author Roxanne Troup and artist Kendra Binney deliver a timeless story sure to become a classic.

Of all the trees in Grandpa’s orchard, one tree is his favorite–a pecan tree, planted for his granddaughter on the day she was born.

As the seasons change, the leaves unfurl and fall again while Grandpa tenderly cares for each  tree in his orchard. Sometimes they need pruning, sometimes they need feeding. They all need harvesting, and the granddaughter loves watching the tractor hug the trees’ trunks and shake until leaves and twigs and pecans rain down.

But not the child’s tree–her tree is special. It is not a part of the orchard. It’s for just the two of them and all the ways their relationship grows as they care for this special tree: tending its roots, harvesting its pecan treasures, and creating something delicious together.

BOOK JOURNEY:

Thanks so much for hosting me on Writing and Illustrating! I’ve read your blog for years and am thrilled to share my new book, MY GRANDPA, MY TREE, AND ME with your readers.

The first story-spark for this book came as I was researching the commercial pecan industry. Sounds boring, I know, but I’d discovered a small hole in the market. There were lots of stories about apples and pumpkins out, but I couldn’t find any about another fall crop—and one native to North America—the pecan.

I had some experience with pecans (they grew wild where I was from), but I was struggling to comprehend how our method of harvesting (collecting them by hand in buckets) would provide enough pecans for grocery stores to sell around the world. As I was researching, I discovered a YouTube video of a farmer harvesting pecans in his orchard. He attached a padded arm to his tractor, grabbed hold of a tree’s trunk, and shook. Pecans thundered to the ground like torrential rain! I was flabbergasted.

Though I grew up in rural Missouri, and knew a bit about mechanized farming, I’d never thought to apply that scale to tree nuts. I was fascinated by the dichotomy of commercial harvesting versus home-harvesting and figured kids would be as well. Only I needed an organic way to highlight both processes at the same time.

I also needed a story mechanism that could take something interesting—pecan farming—and make it memorable. It wasn’t enough to show the growth and harvest process. The story needed a heart. And that’s where the family came into being.

As I was brainstorming different ways to tell this story, the phrase, “But not my tree,” came to me. Immediately, I knew this story needed to be told in first-person, from a child’s perspective. The “but” pointed toward a compare-and-contrast structure, and begged the question, “What makes ‘my tree’ so special? Is it a stand-in for the child herself? Could it be a vehicle for the relationship between the child and tree planter?”

Of course, I didn’t consciously voice those questions. I just started writing. Once I had, what I thought was a solid draft, I sent the story off to my critique group. No one had any workable feedback for me, so I reached out to a pecan expert at the University of New Mexico. (Fun fact: New Mexico produces over a quarter of the US’s pecans, second only to Georgia.) Dr. Richard Heerema graciously reviewed my story for accuracy, and after making a few changes based on his feedback, I began submitting.

To crickets.

In hindsight, I probably submitted too early. But, thankfully, one of the editor’s I contacted saw enough potential in the work to request an R&R (a revise and resubmit). Though I didn’t agree with the direction the editor wanted me to take, I tried to figure out what underlying issue they were pointing out. That’s when the lightbulb went off. The heart of my story—the family relationship—was not coming across as it needed to. It was there, especially in the first and last lines, but it played too minor a role.

So I went back to revision, this time with a focus on the language and relational aspects of the story. A month or so later I had the opportunity to submit my new draft to Katie Heit at Scholastic. My story was too quiet for Scholastic’s list, but Katie was so complimentary I knew I’d hit the right note with my revisions.

Yeehoo Press offered me a contract in 2021, and (after a title change) my little story about pecan farming and family—MY GRANDPA, MY TREE, AND ME—is available everywhere books are sold!

ROXANNE’S BIO:

Author of more than a dozen books for kids, Roxanne Troup writes engaging nonfiction for all ages. She lives in the mountains of Colorado and loves visiting state and national parks to hike with her family. She also enjoys visiting schools to promote literacy and teach about writing.

With a background in early childhood education, Roxanne Troup writes hopeful kids books that celebrate wonder and family.

She specializes in picture books and ghostwriting, as well as writing for the education market where her conversational voice and educational background combine to help publishers and packagers create books in series for preK-5th grade reading levels. She ghostwrites for nonprofits and education cooperatives, as well as individual children’s authors and IP properties; and is always happy to discuss kidlit writing opportunities. *Not currently accepting adult ghostwriting clients/projects.*

She also writes engaging nonfiction for children of all ages. Roxanne lives in the mountains of Colorado and loves spending time with her family or reading a good book. She often visits schools to promote literacy and teach about writing. Learn more about her (and her author visits) on her website: http://www.roxannetroup.com

KENDRA’S BIO:

Kendra Binney was raised in a small mountain town with no shoe stores. Most of her time was spent barefoot treading through the minuscule world of spiders, snakes and all things hiding in the grass. She transfers this closeness with the small and obscure into her paintings. Through scenes of dripping landscapes and insecure, vulnerable characters, she illustrates a world draped in memories, remorse, and fragile realities. Seen through pastel washes and shiny candy coatings of resins, her works evoke both nostalgia and contempt. They are at once gentle and cruel, sweet and unsettling.

Though her paintings have been exhibited, sold, and published around the world,  Kendra herself spends most days in a small studio in Portland, OR. There she paints, daydreams, and paints some more. Past clients include Microsoft, Sanrio, Vinyl Films, and Collage Greetings along with numerous commissions for private collections.

For questions about commissions, licensing artwork, or to request the link to my wholesale page please contact me here 

To keep up to date on new paintings, ideas, or to become new best friends please visit me on instagram

Roxanne, thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. This book is full of wonderful information about pecan trees. I love how much I learned, like there are over 1000 varieties of pecans that produce 300 million pounds of nuts every year, and got to see all the work a pecan farmer has to do to take care of the trees, harvest the crop, and get it to market. Ending the story with the little girl and her grandpa eating a yummy pecan pie the perfect touch. But most of all, I love the little girl and her grandpa and how Kendra’s illustrations captured all the sweet tenderness on every page between them. Parents, teachers, and children will love this book. Some may even be inspired to plant a  pecan tree of their own.  Good luck with the book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy