sue alexander > children's book author

Marc the Magnificent

This book began when my son Marc watched a magician friend of mine do some magic tricks. When we got home, Marc had me take him to the library so he could get books and learn how to do magic tricks. As he practiced one trick or another, he talked about what he would do when he got to be a famous magician. It reminded me of when I was his age and dreamed about what I would do when I got to be a famous reporter. And so the story was born — and almost wrote itself.

Finding Your First Job

When my son Glenn received his first paycheck from his after-school job, he was unprepared and therefore very dismayed to find that deductions had been made from it. His distress made me realize that there were probably thousands of kids who didn't know much about finding a job or what that entailed. Glenn and his friends supplied the anecdotes I used and my husband put me in touch with employers who hire teenagers. Marc and Stacey helped me make sure that my writing was clear and understandable. It became a project my whole family was involved with.

Peacocks Are Very Special

My daughter's remarking that I couldn't make minestrone soup as good as her friend's mother sent me to the cookbook looking for a recipe. When I found it, all I could think of was that all the chopping of vegetables that was required was going to make me very tired! And then I heard a voice saying "if you're going to cook me, then you must do it with DISTINCTION." I knew the speaker was a peacock... but who he was saying it to and what happened from there I wasn't sure. So I closed the cookbook, and went to my desk to find out. The writing went very quickly but the story sat finished, without a title, for three months before I plucked a phrase from it to use.