I didn’t want to write another story that parents read to children, because there are already hundreds of thousands of wonderful books like that. I wanted to write something that could help children read at a younger age, or with less struggle.
Larry Baum – 27 December 2019
The Back Flap
The first step in learning to read is a big one: from single letters to whole words. That’s a lot to ask of young children. To make the transition to reading as simple and easy as possible, why not use the shortest words possible, at least in the very first books that children read? How short can words be and still make a story? Three letters? Two letters? “Bo, Go Up!” uses words no longer than two letters to tell a very simple story, with characters, action, and humor, to help young children cross the threshold into the world of reading.
About the book
What is the book about?
It starts with children playing with a ball and ends with a much larger ball, because one kid’s mom runs a hot air balloon company and gives them a ride. The aim of the book is to teach reading more easily by using only very short words, no longer than two letters, which children can learn quickly. Reading this book by themselves will give kids confidence in their reading ability and encourage them to read other books.
When did you start writing the book?
June 2016
How long did it take you to write it?
Revising the text took a bit of time spread over several months. The pictures took far more work, and Joanna Pasek, the illustrator, finished in May 2019.
Where did you get the idea from?
I’ll use this answer to give a longer version of the story behind the book. The idea came in 2009, when I was teaching my own children to read. Thinking that long words would trip up my kids, I looked for books with only short words. But I had trouble finding books like that. Could I write one myself? If I limited word length to 3 letters, could I write a story? Sure. What about 2 letters? That would be a challenge. There are so few 2-letter words to work with. But I juggled them until I came up with a story, with characters, action, and even humor.
The story gathered dust on my computer for several years until I decided to start ticking items off my bucket list, starting from the easiest ones. A children’s book using only very short words should be easy, right? I thought so, but it took several more years to reach publication! First, I found Joanna Pasek, who beautifully illustrates children’s books in a semi-realistic style I liked (http://akwarelki.net/), so we set to work, eventually producing our book, WE GO TO BO: https://www.wegotobo.com/.
“Wait,” you say, “that’s a different book!” You’re right. What happened was that teachers who saw WE GO TO BO told me it would be even easier for children to read if I used only the simplest sounds, and consistently used one sound for each letter. That started me wondering whether I should write another 2-letter word book following that advice. Meanwhile, at a public reading of WE GO TO BO, I asked the children if someone could write a book with only 3-letter words, and they said yes. 2-letter words? Again yes. And then one smart aleck said “1-letter!” My first impulse was to ignore him, but then I thought, “Why not 1-letter?” If I use the letter “C” to mean “S-E-E” and the letter “U” for “Y-O-U”, maybe. And if I write both a 1-letter word book and a new 2-letter book, maybe I can add a 3-letter book for a 1-2-3 series. Joanna and I finished the 3 books: Y, BO, GO UP!, and Cat Egg. They comprise “The Bo Books” series: https://www.bobooks.org/. You can get the e-books for free and the paperback books at about my cost.
The 1-letter word book is about a curious kid, asking her dad “why?” about things in the park. Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? He doesn’t know, but she opens his eyes to the world. With only 1-letter “words”, Joanna’s illustrations do the heavy lifting of telling this story. The 2-letter word book is BO, GO UP! Using all capital letters avoids confusing children about when to use upper case or lower case. In the 3-letter word book, one kid has a cat, and when her friends play with it, they think it’s laid an egg.
Once children can read the alphabet, they can read the 1-letter word book, Y. That accomplishment gives them pride in reading a whole book, and gives them confidence to continue reading. Then they can read the 2-letter word book, BO, GO UP!. I used very simple vocabulary: less than half the alphabet, and only 11 different words. That makes it easy for kids to feel good that they can read a real book. Next, the 3-letter word book, Cat Egg, teaches 39 words, including 17 of the 100 most common words.
Millions of people worldwide take a long time to learn reading, or never learn. I hope these books help remove obstacles to reading.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
No. It’s such a short book that the whole story came to me at once. It took much more time and effort to do everything else: study how to produce a children’s book, look for publishers, investigate how to self-publish, compare illustrators, discuss and produce the illustrations, assemble the book, upload and adjust the e-book and print-on-demand versions, and publicize the book. It wasn’t very difficult; it just took a long time to figure out everything because it was the first time I did it.
What came easily?
Once I assembled the extremely limited palette of suitable words, actually writing the story was fairly easy.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
They’re fictitious.
Do you have a target reader?
Children who are ready to learn how to read. Other targets could be adults who hadn’t learned how to read and children with reading difficulties.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I listed all the common two-letter words that are easy to pronounce, sorted them into parts of speech, and considered some of the few possible combinations to build sentences and construct a story. There was only one verb, go, so the combinations were very limited!
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
No. The story was too short to need an outline.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I did both.
Did you hire a professional editor?
No. I’m in a group of children’s book writers that help each other by critiquing our writing. They were very constructive and supportive.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Yes. I tried several agents for my original children’s book, WE GO TO BO. But they all rejected it.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
The rejections of publishers and agents led me to self-publish.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
Professionally. Joanna Pasek, who illustrated the interior of the book, also designed and painted the cover.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I made a spreadsheet listing a variety of places to publicize the book. I had conducted a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, more to publicize the Bo Books than to fund them. Although that campaign gained generous support from several friends, family members, and strangers, it didn’t reach my goal. But it did start to spread the word about the books. I’m now writing to many bloggers to ask if they’d like to review my books.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Talk with other indie authors to get their advice. I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and their local critique group of authors, who gave very helpful suggestions, as well as companionship in the lonely work of writing and publishing. Don’t pay to print a batch of your first book; instead, use a print-on-demand service so that if you don’t sell many copies, you won’t lose money on the printing.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Los Angeles.
Where do you live now?
Hong Kong.
What would you like readers to know about you?
I like to do things that are different, to try to make a big difference. Almost always I fail, but it’s worth an attempt. With children’s books, I didn’t want to write another story that parents read to children, because there are already hundreds of thousands of wonderful books like that. I wanted to write something that could help children read at a younger age, or with less struggle.
What are you working on now?
Publicizing the Bo Books
End of Interview:
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Get your copy of Bo, Go Up! as a free ebook from Smashwords or as paper books from either Amazon US or Amazon UK.