Oh, I always wanted to write for children, always, because when I was a kid, books saved my life. But I felt that they were the most blessed audience. You couldn’t cheat them in any way. You couldn’t patronize them in any way. You had to be the best to give it to a child. And I had the opportunity of reading some of the very best stories written by children’s book authors.
So, I would write my adult novels practicing and I would speak to my agent and say, “I’m going to write a children’s book one day.” And they’d say, “Whenever you’re ready, Jewell. Whenever you’re ready.” And I didn’t get the call until the day that Hurricane Katrina hit. And that day I had an adult novel being published about New Orleans. And I went to New Orleans two weeks afterwards and I saw this beloved city that I had been writing about since I was 19 years old. And all of a sudden, it was then that I knew the call had come.
I can’t write not unless I get this call. I can’t write not unless I hear this voice. And when I heard Lanesha’s voice, it came out of a dream, I knew I was on my way. And I felt, “Wow, it took you 30 years to get here, girl, but you made it.”
So, me, I am having the best writing career of my life because I’m trying to write books that last and that children can appreciate and that can open up conversations with their parents and in the classrooms. And it seems as though my books are doing that and I’m so happy.