Silver Spring children’s author Michelle Meadows has been busy. She published one book in 2003, has a new title, ‘‘Pilot Pups,” out this month, and has five — yes, five — other children’s books in the works.
‘‘Pilot Pups” is the story of three stuffed animals who find adventure by flying a toy plane and helicopter through a boy’s house. The three pups eventually fly outside and rescue two toy train workers and their train that the boy has left outside.
With the aid of illustrations that are detailed in their shading and coloration, the reader watches as the pups adeptly swerve around the ‘‘mountaintop” of the boy’s father’s head and navigate through the ‘‘patch of fog” caused by a steaming tea pot in the kitchen.
Next year, ‘‘Pilot Pups” will be followed by ‘‘Biker Pups,” in which the stuffed dogs will zoom through town as police officers on motorcycles, bringing order to the residents. Then, Meadows says, she has two books forthcoming about energetic pig siblings, one book about a mouse who gets lost and still another about hibernating animals.
About her recent burst of books, Meadows says she is always writing, developing new ideas and working on her craft. She has written more than 30 picture book manuscripts, most of which she expects will never be published. But she says she has used her past rejections as a learning experience.
Meadows sold her first book, ‘‘The Way the Storm Stops,” without the help of a literary agent, but fine-tuning her craft helped her find an agent who supports her work, she says.
The book, like Meadows’ first title, is written in rhyming poetry. She loves to read rhyming children’s poetry, so writing in this form was a natural choice.
‘‘I find writing in rhyme relaxing, and I enjoy the process of coming up with just the right word,” Meadows says. ‘‘I like playing with words to create certain sounds and rhythms.”
She wrote her first book after rocking her then-2-year-old son to sleep during a thunderstorm.
‘‘...It was a case where instant inspiration hit and the words pretty much rolled out of me in one sitting,” she recalls.
The idea for ‘‘Pilot Pups,” though, had to simmer. Meadows says her son always had stuffed animals and toy vehicles in his room that she was looking at for years. Eventually, she imagined the stuffed animals climbing into a toy plane, and the idea for the book was born.
The book is illustrated by Ohio-based artist Dan Andreasen, who worked from Meadows’ words to create the pictures.
‘‘A lot of people are surprised to find out that for many picture books, the author and illustrator never meet or talk,” she says. ‘‘...It’s always a fun surprise to see what images the illustrator comes up with.”
She did see some of his work at various stages so she could gauge how the project was coming along, but in the end, it was up to the editors at Simon & Schuster to combine the words and the art. Meadows says she loves how the illustrations came out and thinks Andreasen brought tremendous creativity to the project.
Meadows providing some good old-fashioned fun to encourage children to read.
‘‘It’s about a search and rescue mission, so I also hope that it reinforces the importance of teamwork and helping others,” she says.
But don’t expect Meadows to be entertaining mature audiences any time soon.
‘‘I don’t write adult poetry. It’s often said that writers should write what they love to read. And I think that is true.”
Meadows will read from ‘‘Pilot Pups” and ‘‘The Way the Storm Stops” at 2 p.m. Monday in the Kensington Park Library, 4201 Knowles Ave., Kensington. She also will read and sign books at 1 and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 17, at the National Air and Space Museum, Gallery 101 - Museum Shop National Mall Building, Washington, D.C.
‘‘Pilot Pups” is available for purchase for $15.99 at many book stores and online, including Politics & Prose and Amazon.com.
