Reading Time reviewer Laura Holloway chats to WA children’s author Sharon Giltrow about her latest titles, Let’s go Shopping, Grandma! published by Dixi Books and Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt, published by Clear Fork Press.
You’ve been very busy lately with two books published in late 2023! Can you tell us a little about your new books?
Sure thing, thanks for asking 😊.
Let’s go Shopping, Grandma is a picture book. It is a companion to my first two picture books Bedtime Daddy! and Get ready mama!. All three books are role reversal, how to, second person point of view stories. In ‘Let’s go shopping grandma!’ the main character, a child, takes grandma shopping. This proves to be very challenging and hilarious. Grandma acts like a child and does all the things that a child might do at the shops. Firstly, she refuses to go, then asks to push the trolley, and just as shopping is nearly done, grandma needs to go to the toilet. There are also tantrums when grandma doesn’t get chocolate. Most of the book is based on real life events that I experienced when taking my children shopping.
Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt is an early middle grade book for 6–12-year-olds. Samara makes a wish to be brave when the school bully Toby steals her lunch. Her wish comes true when on her 11th birthday she receives a mysterious utility belt. The belt contains all the tools Samara needs to be brave and to stand up to Toby. But it comes with a list of rules and a deadline. Samara has seven days to use all tools otherwise… Otherwise, what? You will have to read the book to find out. The belt also comes with a cute sidekick gecko, who Samara names Madi.
You write both picture books and middle grade. How do you find juggling different genres?
I started out writing picture books and transitioned to writing middle grades. One of my critique buddies suggested a picture book I wrote would make a great middle grade. As a children’s author I wanted to diversify my writing, so I took this as a challenge and great opportunity. I still love writing picture books but writing middle grade is taking all my time at the moment. I also found that when I did write my last picture book, I had to re-learn how to do it. So, it is difficult to juggle the different genres at the same time. I have to focus on one or the other depending on what works best for the story. But I now get to write stories for 0–12-year-olds and that is amazing!
Both of your titles have been published by overseas publishers. How did this come about?
I am currently un-agented so I do all my own submissions. Through online writing communities I have discovered publishers from all around the world. If they look like a match for my stories, I submit to them. I first heard about Clear Fork Press while completing a middle grade course, which I took to write Samara.
Who do you hope Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt will appeal to?
Everybody, especially reluctant readers who may be put off by longer middle grade books. Or for younger advanced readers who want to read a book that is longer than a chapter book. However, I believe that all readers will be able to relate to Samara. The story is set in real life and the challenges that Samara overcomes are ones that the reader could also face. After all, haven’t we all faced challenges where we wanted our very own utility belt full of magical tools?
Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt is the first in a series. What else can we expect from Samara?
Well, there is quite a twist in Samara. I don’t want to spoil the story for readers but let’s just say that book two is Toby’s story and Samara is in it. Book two is called Toby King and the Utility Belt. Towards the end of Toby’s story, we meet another character. Her name is Kaya and she is the main character in book three Kaya Bell and the Utility Belt. Samara and Toby are in this book too. Both books are scheduled to be released this year. There will be more challenges, utility belts, tools, and cute sidekicks.
Q: What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on another early MG series which involves time travel, human evolution, greatest tools ever invented and a chicken.
Q: Do you have any advice for young readers and writers?
Read, read, read and write, write write!
The more you read and the more you write the better writer you will become.
Also collect ideas, develop your characters, create worlds, and then start writing.
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Bio
Sharon Giltrow, an award-winning Children’s Author, grew up in South Australia, the youngest of eight children, surrounded by pet sheep and fields of barley. She now lives in Perth, Australia with her husband and two children. Sharon has taught for all her career and now teaches young children with Developmental Language Disorder. Her humorous picture books include Bedtime Daddy! and Get ready, mama! which is a SPEECH PATHOLOGY AUSTRALIA shortlisted BOOK OF THE YEAR and Let’s go shopping, Grandma! awarded The Paper Bird Fellowship for Writers in 2019. Sharon used this time to write Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt, book one of her debut early middle grade series, which released in August 2023. Book two and three are scheduled be released in 2024. Connect with Sharon online at her website, Instagram and Bluesky.
See Barbara Swartz’s review of Let’s go shopping, Grandma! here, and her review of Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt here.
