Read Local Spotlight: Stanley and the Wild Words

By Anne Vaccaro Brady

Mona Voelkel’s debut picture book was published in November. A 30-year resident of Pleasantville, she and her husband now live in Dobbs Ferry. A reading specialist, she answers questions about the story, self-publishing, and how she found her illustrator and editor. 

What is “Stanley and the Wild Words” about?
Do you have a child who asks, “Why doesn’t spelling make sense?”  A student whose bad spelling cuts short their creative expression?

That was Stanley.

“I’m never writing again!” Stanley vows.

He crumples up his favorite dragon story and throws it into the trash. But a mysterious book hits him on the head and leads him into the Forest of Wild Words. There, Stanley learns that spelling is not all that hard. 

What inspired you to write this story?
Some of my elementary and high school students struggled with spelling. With traditional approaches, I always felt like progress was made more slowly than I would like, was extremely teacher-directed (instead of inspiring student agency), and involved memorization and not true understanding.  

In 2017, I came across research describing an approach to spelling called “Structured Word Inquiry.” Dr. Peter Bowers created a framework where students investigate a word using four questions: Meaning? Structure? Relatives? Phonology?

The answers to these questions help students discover that every word has a story and that the primary purpose of spelling is to convey meaning. Once my students understood the spelling system, their spelling skills rapidly improved. There is also a joy in this approach to spelling instruction that has students (and adults) delighting in finding out why there is an “i” in “friend” or a “g” in “sign.”

As a reading specialist, I love to introduce new concepts to students by reading a related picture book. I looked for a book that would introduce the principles of orthographic inquiry but could not find one so I decided to write “Stanley and the Wild Words.“

How did your background as a reading specialist help in the creation of this book?
As a reading specialist, I understand the power of collaboration and how much better instruction is when I, as a reading specialist, collaborate with students, classroom teachers, school staff, especially the library/media specialist, administrators, and families to achieve our shared literacy goals.

I brought the same spirit of collaboration to the creation of this book. Through my membership in organizations like SCBWI and Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 Picture Book Challenge, I was able to connect with my writing, critique, marketing, and accountability groups. All these wonderful people welcomed me into their circles as a writer and helped me make time for writing (thank you, Kimberly Marcus for those wonderful Monday Write/Sketch meetings), or read my work and gave me feedback. So many people collaborated with me, in some form, to help me make this book the best book I could write. 

As a reading specialist, I have treasured sharing picture books with my students. Together we have laughed, cried, seen ourselves and others on the pages, and so much more. I began creating this book filled with abject terror at the idea of not creating a book that was worthy of the incredible picture book genre, but then I remembered the advice I give my students and just wrote a sentence. You have to just get something on the page to begin.

What challenges and advantages have you found in self-publishing?
The biggest challenges of self-publishing have been learning how to format the book correctly for Amazon KDP and Ingram and figuring out how to market the book and myself (an ongoing challenge). Some advantages of self-publishing are that I learned new skills (Adobe Photoshop, Elementor, ISSUU) and was able to collaborate with the illustrator, Nancy Kincade, on book design and revisions, revising elements of the story with her illustrations in mind. 

I am also a member of a marketing group, Kidlit at Heart. We are five new writers who came together in January 2022 (over Zoom) to share our love of literacy and help each other market our picture books. The group, all SCBWI members (Leslie Eve Tayloe, Renee Bolla, Tarja Nevala, Dianne Koebel-Pede), was invited to and presented “Forming a Collaborative Marketing Group” during the Women in Publishing Summit in March where we shared our journey. 

How did you find your illustrator?
Nancy Kincade is my friend and longtime colleague at Kensico School in Valhalla. Nancy Kincade is not only a gifted art teacher but a gifted illustrator. She has illustrated several books, including the Christopher-Award winning, “Even if I Did Something Awful.” Nancy agreed to illustrate “Stanley and the Wild Words” and she brought layers of meaning and whimsicality to “Stanley and the Wild Words.” Nancy and I were co-creators of this book and collaborating with her was a joy. 

How did you find your editor? 
Marye Elmlinger is a longtime friend who I met when our boys were students at Collegiate School. She has edited many professional publications and worked tirelessly with me on this book for 18 months. Marye’s keen insights and her writerly eye were invaluable. 

You can learn more about Mona by following the links below:

Website

Twitter

Instagram