|
Printed From Acorn-Online.com Wilton Bulletin
A child’s demand for a story gave birth to Richard Spalding of Westfield Road’s book, The Witch with An Itch. Mr. Spalding, a finance director at UBS, said when he first moved to the United States two-and-a-half years ago from Singapore, he was waiting for his family to come to the United States as well. In the interim, he spent time with another family, who had a three-year-old daughter. “She’d be looking up at me, ‘Tell me a story’,” said Mr. Spalding of the girl. And so he told her the story of a mischievous witch, a character he had picked up from a story his grandmother told him. Though he improvised several parts of the tale, the girl enjoyed the story. “I thought maybe I should put pen to paper,” said Mr. Spalding. And so it was that Wanda the Witch was born. In the children’s story, which is geared towards both boys and girls ages three to six, Wanda the Witch is a bit of a troublemaker. Finding herself bored one day, she ventures out into the woods and plays tricks on a squirrel and a frog. But the two animals conspire to play a trick on Wanda in retaliation. Wanda eats berries the animals have left out for her that cause her to itch all over, and the animals have their revenge. In the end, Wanda consults with her cat, Charky, on her day. The cat says there is a lesson to learn, but the book doesn’t reveal what it is, and instead allows the reader to guess at it. “I didn’t want to be moralizing,” said Mr. Spalding of the ending. At the same time, “I want them to be entertained, but I want it to be slightly educational.” He decided to publish the book through BookSearch, a subsidy of Amazon.com. But though he had written the story, he still needed to find an illustrator. For that he turned to guru.com, where he received 45 bids from around the world from illustrators, from places as far away as India and Argentina. He ultimately selected Sarah Davis from Australia to do the work, and it took about six months to complete. “We did change some of the storyline” while doing the illustrations, Mr. Spalding said. Though some may think writing a children’s book wouldn’t be terribly difficult, Mr. Spalding encountered several challenges on his way to getting the book published. Among them was writing the story in rhyming prose; originally it had been in plain English. There was also the desire to make the book a commercial success. “It’s got to appeal to parents and schools,” said Mr. Spalding. He said because the marketplace is saturated with children’s books, it’s important to come up with a storyline that is original. He also had to change parts of the story because you “take less risks as a first-time author.” “Sometimes you have to tone down certain aspects,” said Mr. Spalding. For instance, he thought children would find it funny if Wanda’s behind itched, but he was counseled against doing that as some parents might find it offensive. The experience of writing and publishing the book has been very rewarding, he said. “It’s satisfying to have that fun childhood memory I had and transfer it to something physical to pass on,” said Mr. Spalding. Mr. Spalding said he had sold about 80 of the books already, but he would like to sell about 2,500. He said if he sells 500, he’ll consider writing another Wanda the Witch book. He already has plenty of ideas for stories. He is hopeful that Amazon.com’s pairing of the book with Peter Yarrow’s illustrated Puff, the Magic Dragon will yield results. The book may be purchased for $16.20. Information: wandathewitchbooks.com © Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers |
