Children’s book author Dean Robbins thanks the Council for Wisconsin Writers for recognizing his work–two years in a row–and sends an excerpt from his honorable-mention biography picture book, Margaret and the Moon.
There’s no denying Wisconsin is a literary state. Laura Ingalls Wilder chronicled our big woods, Lorrie Moore our small oddities.
I’ve found Wisconsin a hospitable place to be a writer, having contributed to Isthmus, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee Magazine, Wisconsin Public Radio, and other broad-minded media outlets during my long career as a journalist.
Two years ago I entered uncharted territory as a children’s picture book author and, just when I needed it, received support from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. The Council recognized me in 2017 for Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass (Scholastic) and this year for Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing (Knopf).
In an industry where the most common sounds are “nope,” “sorry,” and “can’t use it,” a round of applause at an elegant awards ceremony falls nicely on the ear.
The Council has an impressive record of spotting great authors like Kevin Henkes and Jane Hamilton before they become icons. Does this mean I too might become an icon? It’s a long shot, but my Council for Wisconsin Writers awards give me the courage to keep trying.
From Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing
Margaret Hamilton loved to solve problems.
She came up with ideas no one had ever thought of before.
Why were there only daddy longlegs?
Margaret had a solution.
She would call some of them mommy longlegs, too.
Why didn’t girls play baseball?
Margaret had a solution.
She would join the team herself.
Why didn’t more girls grow up to be doctors?
Or scientists?
Or anything else they wanted?
Margaret had a solution.
She would study hard in every subject in school.
Reading.
Music.
Art.
And especially mathematics.
She learned as much as she could about addition and subtraction, multiplication and division.
Margaret’s father was a poet and philosopher who talked to her about the universe.
She asked about how the planets moved.
When the galaxies formed.
Why the stars shone.
She gazed at the night sky in wonder.