You Made Me A Mother by Laurenne Sala #authorinterview and #giveaway

Some links in this post may or may not be affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link I will earn a commission which supports this site.

Viral Video Now Avaiable In Picture Book That Makes Moms Cry You Made Me A Mother, Illustrated By Fancy Nancy’S Robin Preiss Glasser -NOW AVAILABLE

In this beautiful celebration of motherhood, You Made Me A Mother, the universal message of unconditional love for a child shines through. Laurenne Sala’s heartwarming text, accompanied by New York Times bestselling artist Robin Preiss Glasser’s charming illustrations, creates a firsthand look at the powerful bond between mother and child from pregnancy to birth and beyond.

I felt you.
You were a pea.
Then a lemon.
Then an eggplant.

You Made Me a Mother
Harper Collins
March 8th, 2016
ISBN-10: 0062358863
ISBN-13: 978-0062358868
$15.99

Preorder on Amazon

When Boba baby carriers released a promotional video that was quoted by the press to “put the emotional truth of moth-erhood into words,” Harper Collins heard the sound of a million mothers’ tears. Shared 40,000 times on Facebook in just a week, the ad was deemed NSFW due to viewers’ intense emotional reaction— tears of joy.

Harper Collins was quick to hire Fancy Nancy illustrator Robin Preiss-Glasser and use Laurenne Sala’s original words to create a beautiful celebration of new baby joy and motherhood in one 32-page book. The first few hardcovers have al-ready proven to be just as emotional.

For kids ages 4-8, You Made Me a Mother is a must for any mom who’d like to 1) cry happy tears 2) explain her motherly love to her child 3) show her child how special she/he is 4) give her special kid an idea of how s/he came into the world 5) give a perfect baby shower or Mother’s Day gift.
“Nailed It,” Michelle Maltais of the LA Times.

Interview with author Laurenne Sala – You Made Me a Mother

Please summarize your book in 20 words or less.

You Made Me A Mother – All the emotions of motherhood captured in 32 pages. A celebration of family from pregnancy to birth and beyond.

Is it true you wrote a book about motherhood when you’re not a mom yourself?
Yes! I wanted to capture motherhood in one poem, and luckily I love writing from all different points of view. In fact, I really recommend doing that in so many situations. Say you’re in a fight with someone. Before you yell that them, go to your computer and write about the inciting incident from their point of view. That changes my perspective almost every time.

I think being a copywriter in advertising early in my career helped me learn how to write and think from different perspectives. I’ve had to pretend I was a gamer or someone who liked fast food or a mom or a driving enthusiast (I’m none of those things! Okay, I do LIKE fast food, but I try not to eat it.). So, when it came time to write with a mom’s voice, I did all the research I could. I interviewed my mom and all the moms in my family, asking them what it was like to bring a new little baby into their lives. Their sweet responses got me all teary, so I sat down, closed my eyes, and wrote a poem. I basically made myself a mother! And it worked! You Made Me a Mother is a culmination of my imagination, my mom, my aunt, my cousins, my friends, and my whole clan of powerful mommas. And then Robin Preiss-Glasser, now my favorite new friend, brought her own motherhood to the table, drawing her knowledge and love onto the pages (Plus, she added a dog!).

Did you like being a mom when you imagined what it would be like?

YES! I definitely have the mom bug. I hope to be a crafty one too! I’m getting married in September, and we will see how it goes. We are both totally ready to be parents. I plan to read this blog often for ideas!

I remember seeing You Made Me a Mother as a video first. Is that correct?

Yes, my poem was first used by Boba baby carriers to capture motherhood for a video they were making to show that their brand understood mothers. The final video was shared so much and caused so many moms to cry that Harper Collins called me and asked to publish my poem in a picture book.

Then I cried!

You can pretty much see the book if you watch the video

And… it’s already been proven. The book makes moms cry just as much as the video did!

What’s your favorite part of the book?

The love part! When I was little, I wanted so badly to be loved by my mom. The thing is, she DID love me. She showed me all the time in her cute and meaningful ways. Still, I sometimes forgot, and I needed a reminder.

This book is that reminder! This book is SO special to me because it reminds kids how much they are loved every time it’s read. Kids get that juicy validation they need, plus they get to see how their very existence changed their parents’ lives for the better. Parents get to tear up and remember why they did it all, and kids get to feel safe again. Everyone wins!

What is in the future?

So far I have written You Made Me a Mother and You Made Me a Father, which will follow soon. If those sell well, I hope to write a ton more— for all kinds of families. Adopted parents, gay parents, sisters, grandmas, aunts, uncles, everyone! We’ll see!

Laurenne Sala began her career at an ad agency writing funny commercials for the fast food chain, Jack in the Box. She was a devout vegetarian, but this first job taught her how to write as if she were in someone else’s shoes. This came in handy as she then went on to write commercials and content for video games and headphones and other stuff she doesn’t use. She took everything she learned in advertising to write a memoir of her father’s life from his point of view and then You Made Me a Mother, which placed her in a mother’s shoes.
Her empathy led her to host and produce a stage show called Taboo Tales, which in-spires storytellers to get on stage to tell their deepest secrets.

She’s written articles all over the internet for places like Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha, Salon, and GOOD magazine.
Laurenne lives in Los Angeles with her fiance and a yellow cat named Cheddar.
www.laurennesalabooks.com

Robin Preiss Glasser, the Children’s Book Council’s “2013 Illustrator of the Year,” has had two successful careers in the arts, the first as a ballet dancer, and the second as an award-winning children’s book illustrator. After 11 years performing with the Pennsylvania Ballet, Robin returned to school at age 30 and began illustration.

In 2005, Robin was paired with author Jane O’Connor for the now classic Fancy Nancy series, of which there are more than 60 books, including a chapter book series for older children, the latest entitled Nancy Clancy: Soccer Mania. Fancy Nancy books have been on the New York Times Bestseller list for more than 330 weeks and have sold over 28 million volumes. Robin has two grown children, Sasha and Ben, and lives in San Juan Capistrano, California, with her husband, attorney Bob Berman.
http://www.robinpreissglasser.com/