We’re excited to continue our children’s author series this week with one of our favorites, middle grade author Jamie Sumner. I’ve known Jamie for years, like “before she was famous,” so it’s so fun to get to chat to her about her work and her life. Jamie is a mom of twins and of a son with cerebral palsy, and she often writes about the disability experience. As a mom of a child with special needs myself, I so appreciate Jamie’s focus on kids like ours in her novels.
Books for Kids
Q&A with middle grade author Jamie Sumner
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If you aren’t familiar with Jamie’s books yet, go buy one now! You won’t be disappointed. She’s the best-selling author of so many books. She’s prolific! Some of our favorites are the Roll With It series, Deep Water, and Please Pay Attention, which she wrote in response to the Covenant School shooting which took the life of her dear friend. After the special needs classroom in Bend, Oregon, was targeted last week, this is deeply relevant.
Her new book Wish You Well just released last month, and it’s fantastic. It’s about three kids with quite serious medical diagnoses who feign friendship to scam a wish-granting foundation. It’s a hilarious concept with a lot of heart as these fake friendships start to mean a lot more than they anticipate.
Jamie tells us, "Wish You Well came out of all the hours I have spent with my son in the children’s hospital. It is an in-between space where time means a different thing, and I wanted to capture that for those who’ve never experienced it ... but more importantly for those who have. It is a love letter to nurses and doctors and the kids in those halls who are the bravest, kindest people I have ever met.”
CMP: What book have you given as a gift more than once, and why?
My absolute favorite children’s book to give to children and grownups alike is Elmer the Elephant by David McKee. If you’ve seen the cover, you know the book – Elmer is an explosion of multicolor patchwork and we follow him as he comes to learn that it’s okay to be different. Be colorful! Be brave! Be you! It makes my heart happy and it’s the book my son Charlie first loved.
CMP: What place do you most want to visit (or return to)?
I would love to go back to St. Lucia. It’s where my husband and I went on our honeymoon. The resort was perched on a volcanic ridgeline and our room was open to the sea. We joke now that we have three kids all in middle school that honeymoons are wasted on the young and well-rested.
CMP: What’s something that has brought your family closer together lately?
This is going to sound like a small thing, but it is huge for us. A few years ago we built a screened-in porch. It has a peaked ceiling with skylights, and it is where I do all my writing until the cold forces me inside. This summer we have eaten almost every dinner out there as the sun set and the lightning bugs begin to show themselves. It’s the place we gather. It’s where we share our day and it is literally a breath of fresh air after hectic days.
CMP: What is something totally ordinary that has brought you a lot of joy lately?
Please don’t laugh, but it’s our rescue cat Piper. She is three, a torbie (tortoiseshell with tabby stripes), and was found on the street. She sits next to me on the porch while I write and purrs in my ear. She is also my oldest son’s favorite animal in the world. Charlie has cerebral palsy and was skittish around almost any pet until Piper. She curls up on his bed and nuzzles his toes and it makes him laugh.
CMP: Last question (before the speed round): What is one thing you own that, if you lost it, you’d immediately buy it again?
I have two things: my AirPods and my Hoka running shoes. The first thing I do when I wake up is go for a run and listen to a podcast. It clears my mind for a day of writing. That’s when I figure out what’s happening with my characters that day.
Speed round!
Favorite Drink: Ice coffee (even in winter). If we’re getting specific, it’s a nitro cold brew because of the foamy top and extra caffeine. I need all the help I can get!
Favorite Cookbook: This is such a fun question! I have an old copy of my grandmother’s cookbook her methodist church in Oklahoma made. It doesn’t have a cover and the pages are falling out but it has all our favorite family recipes. It is a book of memories.
Favorite Art Supply: Fine-tipped Sharpies in assorted colors. This is how I keep track of all my people’s activities! It’s also deeply satisfying to cross things off that list in its matching color.
Favorite Children’s Book: Oof. This is a hard one. As you know, I love David McKee’s Elmer the Elephant but one that I always read to my high school students when I taught English was Peter Reynold’s Ish. As one is great for all the perfectionists out there.
Thank you so much to Jamie for taking the time to talk with us. The links in this post may generate
