Celebrating the Book Birthday of "The Thing To Remember About Stargazing"

Did you know that books have birthdays? It is not a party with cake and candle blowing but it is a splendid send-off into the world on the day the book is published. Come celebrate a wonder-filled children's book, THE THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT STARGAZING, by one of my talented children's book author and poet friends, Matt Forrest Esenwine. October 3, 2023 debuted the arrival of Matt's amazing book published by Tilbury House and illustrated by Sonia Maria Luce Possentini. Matt has a magical touch when writing and his newest book combines the wonder of the evening sky and the lure of "just being" still on a starlit night. 

Let's take a look at the book trailer premiere that gave the kidlit world a sneak peek into "this picture-book ode to stargazing with an underlying message of awe for the wonders of nature". 

Nature provides wonderers with so many awesome sights to see in this world. If you look closely at the front cover of Matt's book you notice the glow of the evening sky. Does this bring you back to your childhood? Did you once upon a time, trace the sky with your eyes and listen to the sounds of stillness? In a poetic way, Matt offers a voyage back into time or a new experience for those who cannot now see the amazing pictures glowing in the sky. 

The intro to the book reminds us that not only humans look to the sky at night. All creatures do."The stars look down on us all, and we all gaze upward. The night sky binds us together." This one line makes me reflect on a world at crossroads and how important it is to remember we all live on this great big planet. This book with its mindfulness theme offers a gentle new way to reflect in silence.

The illustrations enhance the magnitude of Matt's choice of words and the simplicity of his message for all. "The most important thing to remember about stargazing is...to do it."

After the end of this beautifully imagined book is an informational text, The Stars In Our Eyes, written once again from the poet's perspective. A new word for most children, asterisms, is introduced. "Images and patterns that we see within constellations are known as asterisms. Matt even adds a whimsical game to the act of stargazing. ...You can find your own asterisms in the night-sky-just connect a few dots (i.e.,stars) and come up with a name for the image you imagine. Perhaps you'll discover the Leaping Platypus, the Great Pickup Truck, or the Ancient Crazy-Haired Teacher."  

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I posed the following Questions for Matt to answer.

1. When you began your journey of writing this book, how long did the total process take?

The book took nearly 10 years from the time I wrote the original poem to the date it was published. In-between, it went from a poem titled "A Beginner's Guide to Stargazing" to a picture book manuscript titled, "The Thing to Remember About Stargazing" - and there was a lot of revision going on there, as well! You can learn more about the backstory here: https://writersrumpus.com/2023/10/06/the-thing-to-remember-about-stargazing-a-lesson-in-learning-to-rewrite-revise-recycle/. Within this thought lies the truth about writing. "Passion, Persistence, and Patience Counts!"

2. What is your process when creating a title for your books? 

As far as titles, half the time a title will come to me and I'll write the book around that, and half the time an idea will pop into in my head and I'll get the book halfway done before the title comes to me. But I like having a title as early in the process as possible, because it sort of keeps me on track, focused on the story/subject, almost like a compass pointing north. In the case of Stargazing, I had no choice but to change the title, so I used a line from the book as the title because it summed up the narrative very nicely.

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A piece of interesting information about Matt's successful career as a writer, poet, children's author: Matt is sending out StoryWalk(R) copies of his new book to two dozen libraries across the state of New Hampshire.

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As a certified Wonderopolis wonderologist, I am constantly wondering. Perhaps, classroom children would like to find out Why Do Stars Twinkle?  Find the response at Wonderopolis' Wonder of the Day #1818. 

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Thank you, Matt, for allowing me to enter your big universe of stargazing as I used to do as a child. Your book inspired me to write a small poem.

Within this book, I found a small poem

found

within this book

a universe of stars

a pathway to wonder

awe-struck, stilled moments

©CVarsalona, 2023

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Today is a happy day at Bridget Magee's blog post, wee words for wee ones. She is not only happy to be the Poetry Friday host but celebrate another year around the sun. Bridget has "decided to lean hard into happy because right now the world needs happy".