Behind the Book: Dear Mr. G
Patience pays off
We thought it would be fun to give some more in-depth behind the scenes of our published books. Vicky previously shared how she wrote THE BOO CREW NEEDS YOU in this post.
Today I’m sharing the journey of my picture book DEAR MR. G by me and Gracey Zhang (published by Union Square Kids, April 2023).
FYI This is a long post so it won’t all fit in an email, read in your browser or in the Substack app to see the whole thing!
About DEAR MR. G
“A gentle and moving story about an intergenerational friendship between a young child and their neighbor told through a series of letters, for fans of Ida, Always.
When Jackson’s soccer ball accidentally lands in his neighbor’s rose bush, he thinks he’s ruined Mr. Graham’s roses forever. So he quickly writes a letter to Mr. Graham that blossoms into a marvelous friendship. Jackson writes letters, highlighting the everyday moments to make them feel larger than life, and Mr. G keeps writing back until the very end of his life, encouraging Jackson to live each day to the fullest.
This breathtakingly beautiful epistolary story shows the strength of letter-writing and intergenerational bonds. The text is accompanied by tender and evocative artwork to remind us that even as seasons change, our loved ones always stay in our hearts.”
Idea
DEAR MR. G came out in April 2023 but the journey started in early 2019. I have always loved epistolary books and wanted to write one of my own. The main character, Jackson, came to me pretty quickly and I knew he’d be a soccer player (except I called it football in my first few drafts—I might have lived in the US for nearly 13 years but I still think in British English!) I also drew on my childhood where I had older neighbors and my grandad had an allotment (a plot in a community garden).
First Draft
I wrote the first draft in early February 2019 and shared it with my critique partners, Vicky and Faith.
As you can see, I jumped straight into the story with no scene setting. And Vicky and Faith had lots to say. Who is Mr. G? What is there relationship? Why do we care about the roses?
Revison
So I took their amazing feedback and wrote a new draft! I sent it to my agent, Elizabeth Bennett, for her feedback. This is the version we submitted. I always add a short pitch for Elizabeth that she then uses for the submission to editors:
In hindsight, I still jumped in to the middle of the story with this version. But not to worry, there’ll be plenty more edits later!
On Submission
Elizabeth initially sent the manuscript to my editor at Sounds True (they published my second book, Emily’s Idea) as they had an option on my next picture book.
When they turned it down, we went out to a wider submission list. This was at the end of July 2019.
And then…
Patience
So many nice rejections came in saying it was lovely, it made them cry, and so on. Plus a few of the usual “Not right for my list” responses. We got lots of nibbles through 2020, even a revise and resubmit. 2020 was of course when DEAR MR. G became particularly poignant for editors but it was also a hard time in publishing with a lot of uncertainly. Ultimately, we ended the year with no offers! Despite it being on submission for so long, Elizabeth didn’t give up.
In all we received over 40 rejections from US, Canadian, and UK publishers! Until…
Three Offers!
Elizabeth sent the manuscript to an additional editor she thought might be interested and indeed she offered on it! When Elizabeth circled back to everyone who hadn’t responded yet, we also got interest from two other publishers.
In the end, after an auction and lots of back and forth, we finally accepted an offer from Eve Adler at Sterling (now Union Square Kids). This was in March 2021. Yes, over two years from when I wrote the manuscript and just short of two years on sub!
Editorial Process
Looking back over my emails and notes it looks like we revised the manuscript six or seven times starting with the first editorial letter in September 2021. I consulted with a psychologist and got her feedback on the manuscript too. We particularly went back and forth on the ending several times to get it just right. We decided we wanted to leave the ending open for caregivers to be able to have the conversation with kids about what happened to Mr. G. In the meantime, Gracey Zhang signed on as the illustrator and we were able to make the announcement.
Keen eyes will notice that we had an editor change at this point. Esther Cajahuaringa joined the team and shepherded our book to publication. I loved working with both Eve and Esther on this book and they both made it the beautiful book it became.
Illustrations
If you’ve seen any of Gracey Zhang’s work, you know how amazing she is! So it was a big thrill to receive her sketches for the first time and see Jackson and Mr. G’s story come to life. At that point I made a few comments and we tweaked some of the text.
The opening letter in the final book changed a lot from the first draft!
“Dear Mr. Graham, I am sorry for kicking my soccer ball into your garden. I was trying to score my tenth goal of the day. I hope your roses are okay. Mom and I made these scones for you. Sorry again, Jackson.”
There were lots of other milestones on the way to publication including the cover reveal:
And reviews:
If you’ve ever experienced the lead up to a book being published you know how nerve-wracking it is waiting for the first professional reviews to come in. Thankfully they were good! We even got a star from School Library Journal.
Party!
And then at last in April 2023 it was celebration time! Over four years from the first idea and draft for the book.
I held a launch party at Linden Tree Books and as always it was lovely.
And I did several promotional school visits in conjunction with another local bookstore, Hicklebee’s. (See Vicky’s post about promotional versus paid school visits).
Final Words
I’m so proud of DEAR MR. G. It was a Golden Poppy award finalist and won a SCBWI Crystal Kite Honor award. But more than the awards, I’m so happy that it has touched so many people’s hearts. Anytime someone reaches out to tell me how much they love it, that’s what makes me proud. It’s also a lesson in perseverance - Elizabeth never gave up on DEAR MR. G so a big thank you to her for everything she did for our book!
If you have any questions about the journey for DEAR MR. G, I’d be happy to answer!
Ahh, I love this book and I forgot how long the submission process was! It's an inspiring pub story. ❤️
I get emotional every time I read this book! It’s perfect!