I had a fun surprise a few weeks ago when I heard from a past student, Jaclyn Friedlander. She was a 4th grader in my class a while ago so I was thrilled to hear from her. It turns out that Jaclyn has written two books for children! So exciting as a teacher to remember a child writing in 4th grade and then continuing that passion into adulthood! Jaclyn was always an amazing person--filled with life and ready to change the world. I am excited to be back in touch with her after all of these years.
Jaclyn has written 2 children's books in the
Friends With Fins series (
The Talent Show and The Fish Capturing Pirate) as a way to teach children about ocean conservation. She's also created an educational video and a book for the iPad. I love the story of how these books came to be and am excited to share Jaclyn's story with my new group of students this fall. I love to hear about the process writers use but even more interesting to me with Jaclyn's interview is the way she is using these books to teach kids about a global issue that she is passionate about. Her work is a great model for kids about how to use writing and media to make a difference in the world.
Enjoy the interview:
Franki: How did you get interested in
writing for children?
Jaclyn: When I was in 8th grade I
was voted in the yearbook “Most Likely to Write a Book.” I’ve always been a people pleaser so I added
it to my list of things to doJ That’s part of it, but in all seriousness, I
have always enjoyed writing. I’ve kept
journals, notebooks, poetry books and I’ve written for several newspapers. Writing is something I’ve always been
interested in and when I got the idea for the Friends with Fins series,
it just felt like the right time
Franki: How did you get interested in ocean
conservation?
Jaclyn: I’ve always been interested in marine
biology and if I hadn’t gone to school for acting, marine bio would have been
my #2 choice. When I moved to Los
Angeles, I called several aquariums looking for a place to volunteer. That was almost 4 years ago and now it’s
something I’m HUGELY passionate about, and extremely educated in. I now not
only volunteer for the aquarium, I also work with an organization called Heal the
Bay as a member of their speakers bureau and as a beach captain for beach cleanup
days. I could talk for hours about
conservation issues, ocean animals and the many different species.
Franki: Can you talk a bit about your
writing process? You have 2 books in the series. What process did you use to
get those to publication?
Jaclyn: Someone said to me, if you want to be
a writer, just write, so I did! I saw a
need at the aquarium for a current video that taught conservation in a fun and
exciting way for children, so I wrote and produced a video called Friend
with Fins that is basically ‘Sponge Bob’ meets ‘Blues Clues’ and focuses
heavily on West Coast conservation issues. It is now used at some aquariums and
in classrooms as a teaching tool. It was so successful that once I finished
that, I wrote a 22 minute pilot to try and have it turned into a children’s show
and from there got the idea to write the books.
Once the first book was written, finding an illustrator became a
challenge but after that obstacle was out of the way it was smooth
sailing. I decided to go the self-publishing
route for several reasons. The first
reason was because I didn’t want to risk the book never being seen. I have seen many extremely talented writer
friends look for a literary agent for years and sit on really brilliant stories
that never reach the public. Also, I
wanted to stay on my own time schedule.
I wasn’t interested in deadlines or having someone to answer to. I’m really glad I made the decision I did
because after I found my illustrator and completed the first book, I put it out
in paperback and Kindle form and then it was suggested to me that we make a
version that is read along for the iPad, which I also did. Shortly after that, a teacher here in Los
Angeles, Johanna Denise, reached out to me and offered to translate it into
Spanish so that it could be enjoyed by both Spanish and English speaking
children. Once it was out there, it took
on a life of its own. I did some author
visits at elementary schools and kids at every school were asking what the next
Friends with Fins adventure was going to be, so I decided it was time to
write the second book.
Franki: Which character in your books do you
most connect to and why?
Jaclyn: I connect the most with the character
of Amanda because in the stories she is a Marine Messenger who lives in an
airtight dome helping sea creatures. She
travels around with another Marine Messenger in their submarine and they send
conservation message back to the surface.
That’s something I wish could be real!
I would LOVE to spend time exploring the ocean and I wish there was more
that I could do to make a difference.
Franki: Can you tell us a little bit about the illustrator of your book
and how he came to illustrate your books?
Jaclyn: My illustrator, Christian Hahn, is an extremely talented 14-year-old
artist. He is my husband’s cousin and
it’s actually a funny story how I decided to use him. I had been meeting with adult illustrators in
Los Angeles and wasn’t finding what I was looking for. Many of them were very talented but their art
was much more mature and realistic than what I was looking for. I wanted something that had a youthfulness to
it and that I thought children would connect with. When I was talking with some of the family
about my artist search, he overheard, went to his room to show me some of his
sketches and drawings. I asked him if he would illustrate my book and he had
several rough drafts for me before I even left that evening! When I’ve done
author visits in the past, Christian has been able to come to a few of them,
which is a valuable experience for both him and the students. The students can see someone just a few years
older than themselves published and accomplishing his goal of being an artist
and he has learned public speaking and is being recognized for his talent.
Franki: What do you talk about when you do
author visits?
Jaclyn: When I visit schools my goal is to
make learning about conservation fun! After reading the book and making it come
to life for the students, I do an interactive presentation that educates and
entertains simultaneously. A highlight
of the presentation is four different varieties of sharks’ teeth to show
similarities and differences between species, which is always a crowd
pleaser. I also utilize the Friends
with Fins video and answer questions about green screen, animation, acting,
production and goal setting.
Franki: How do you hope that your books will
impact children?
Jaclyn: I would love for children to get into
good conservation habits and perhaps even teach their parents. Using cloth grocery bags, cutting apart six
pack soda plastic rings, and not using balloons (or at least disposing of them
properly) are just a few of the nuggets I try to teach kids. I also want these books to entertain and show
children some of the many interesting animal species that live in in the ocean.
Franki: Your books have some online features
and iPad apps. Can you talk about the process for creating the iPad version?
Jaclyn: I am lucky to have amazing technical support at home in my husband, Timothy
Riese! He helps me with all of the formatting for the electronic versions. The fun part was getting some of my actor
friends together to record the voices of the characters for the iPad version.
Franki: You were a big reader and writer
when you were younger. Are there any books from your childhood that you
remember loving?
Jaclyn: I have always loved children’s
literature and to this day prefer young adult novels to regular adult
fiction. I loved being read to by
parents and teachers. My favorite books
were The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, A Wrinkle in Time
and then series like Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, and the Bobbsey
Twins. My favorite picture books
were Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, DownBy
the Bay and Gloria Houston’s But No Candy.
Franki: Was there any work that impacted
your writing of Friends with Fins-any authors you learned from?
Jaclyn: When I was in elementary school we
watched videos called “The Voyage of the Mimi” that taught history and then had
companion workbooks and reading material.
That was a huge inspiration for me and that was the original idea behind
the Friends with Fins video. I
would still like to see it go in that direction as a series of teaching tools
that cross several media platforms. I was also really inspired by authors who
came to visit our school when I was a child likeMem Fox and Tomie Depaola.
Franki: Will there be another book in this
series coming soon? What are your plans for the series?
Jaclyn: Several kids have requested that I write a
young reader chapter book of Friends with Fins. I’m not sure if that’s going to happen or
not, but I’m definitely thinking about it.
I would like to put out at least one more Friends with Fins
picture book and I’m talking with production companies about turning the books
into a children’s series, so fingers crossed!