Drawing Together

I have wonderful agents and know a lot of kind editors. So I get briefs sent through...so and so is looking for this or that kind of story. Usually I read them, think about what I could write and...nothing happens. But sometimes I read them, think about them and then, when I'm doing something completely different, I get an idea.

That's what happened with Drawing Together. I was sitting one day, watching my daughter draw with her pavement chalks on our sunny back patio. I was looking at her working very hard on her drawing. She was completely absorbed. And then I started to think about how she'd soon be starting school and then I started wondering if she'd make friends easily and before I knew it, I was writing Drawing Together.

I needn't have worried, by the way. My daughter is very good at making friends (much better than I am).

One day, Libby Jo began to read Drawing Together for herself. She was delighted to be able to read the whole thing (she was almost six at the time) and read it quite a few times over three or four weeks. Later, she was using her pavement chalks again and looked up at me. 'Hey,' she said,'I'm just like Lucy!' I smiled and said, 'No, actually. Lucy was just like you!'

I like this book because it reads very real to me. I like how Ibrahim and Zack have their own problems, too. I like how the three sometimes have trouble communicating. But best of all, I like the magic of Lucy's imagination and the way the boys come into her world and then bring her out again. There's something very satisfying (though a little painful) about the animals getting washed away that I enjoy every time I read it.

Drawing Together appears in my PhD thesis about the ethics of transcultural representation. I felt much more able to represent Ibrahim after doing my dissertation. It may not show, but there's a great deal of research behind this book!