None of this would have happened without taking a few sabbaticals from work, which I highly recommend if you can swing it. Writing the draft and finding an agent took me a few years, but I eventually got representation from a connection over a random coffee one day. In between, I developed a read-aloud storytime app called “StorySnacker." And one of the snack-size stories from the app seeded the idea for Molly and the Machine. So it took me awhile to carve out the time and finally come back around to my first love, which is writing for kids. For many years, I was a writer and creative director in the ad business, which was also fun, but demanded a lot. But afterwards, I got busy with my day job. I published my first picture book, Dirt Boy, back in 2000, then a couple more after that. Was your road to publication long and winding, short and sweet, or something in between? And Molly has to use all of her ingenuity to track down the robot and save her brother. Molly’s got a knack for gadgets-just imagine if MacGyver were an 11-year-old girl from rural Ohio. That’s where the idea came from for a giant robot to scoop up Molly's brother and swallow him. But I grew up on old monster movies with special effects by Ray Harryhausen, as well as early mecha anime by Yoshiyuki Tomino. When I was a kid in the 70s, I was both terrified and fascinated with the prospect of being eaten by some giant creature. But some of the inspiration actually came from an earlier era. Molly and the Machine could be described as an 80s sci-fi action adventure, in the spirit of movies like ET and The Goonies, with maybe a girl-power twist. Crazy to think it’ll be out in the world soon, after living in my head so long, you know? Thank you! I’ll tell you, this book-with all of the weird things I got to put in it that are so close to my heart-is really a dream come true. She was right.Ĭongrats on your MG debut, Molly and the Machine! Tell us about the story and what inspired you. Then a brilliant writer and editor friend, Wendy McClure, suggested that my voice was more suited for middle grade. I started out writing picture books, and loved it, but after publishing three, I got a little stuck. So maybe it’s what I always wanted to do. Even still, it took me awhile to get there (both writing and growing up). I don’t recall saying this myself, but I trust Jimmy. If you ask Jimmy Adams, my good friend from second grade, he’ll tell you that he remembers me saying I wanted to children’s books when I grow up. Hi, I’m Erik Jon Slangerup, and I write books for kids. Tell us about yourself and how you came to write for children. Enter to win a copy!Ĭover art by Oriol Vidal/ design by Laura Lyn DiSiena We are excited to feature author Erik Jon Slangerup and his debut middle grade novel, MOLLY AND THE MACHINE (Aladdin/ Simon & Shuster), out on June 7.
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