Susan Berger is the author of Jamie's Dream, a children's picture book on which she collaborated with her son. I was happy to have a recent opportunity to talk with her about her new book, about writing, and where you can buy a dream.
Did you always want to be a writer?
No. I wanted to be a ballet dancer. Then I wanted to be a nurse. (I was reading the Cherry Ames, Girl Nurse Series) Then I wanted to be a reporter. (I was reading the Beverly Gray, Girl Reporter series.) In my defense, I did not want to be everything I read. I never wanted to be an inventor (Tom Swift Series) or a detective (Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys) In my daydreams I wanted to be queen of the world so I could end all hunger and give all the orphans good homes. Then I wanted to be an actress. By this time, I was 12 and knew myself for a fickle person since I wanted to be so many things.
I did not want to be a writer. I knew I was a writer. I won my first writing prize at St. Cyprians School in Cape Town, South Africa in 1955. It was a very nice story about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. It began, "Far away in the land of Holidays, where no mortal child has ever been, lived the Easter Bunny...." I wish I could remember the rest of it.
In 8th grade, in Westport Connecticut, I had a poem published in an anthology of high school poetry. I suppose I wrote some more after that, but it must have been schoolwork. By the time I was in 9th grade, all my extracurricular activity was acting.
When I started to write again in 1992, the first story I worked on was Jamie's Dream with my son Christopher.
Tell us about your recent release. What was your inspiration for it?
I was attending the 1992 Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. They gave out an exercise. "Write about a saying as if it were real." (e.g., "There is a skeleton in my closet.") I chose "Buy a Dream". I came home and discussed it with Christopher. I asked him "Where would you go to buy a dream?" He gave me that LOOK that children give grownups when grownups are being particularly stupid. "Dream's R Us, of course" he answered.
And so our collaboration began. Chris was nine, but he was going to a school where writing was highly valued. His school mornings began with 20 minutes of creative writing. Then they read their work aloud. They critiqued each other, just as they did in my adult writer's group. He was a great partner. Over the next 12 years, Jamie was sent out many times. It was rewritten at least 16 times. Then Guardian Angel said they wanted to publish it. The joy of that moment is equaled only by the moment I first saw Kim Sponaugle's Illustrations.
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