This week we spent some time with acclaimed author Jennifer Gennari to talk about the cover reveal for her upcoming book, MUFFLED. Read on to learn a bit more about the book and the process that brought it all together.
First, tell us about your book!
I’m happy to be sharing the cover of Muffled with you; a big thank you to The Writing Barn for featuring it! Here’s what this middle-grade novel is about:
Amelia does not like noise. From subway brakes to squeaky sneakers, she is sensitive to sound, just like her dad. Amelia has always worn noise-canceling headphones, but now that she’s going into fifth grade, her parents want her to stop wearing them. To make matters worse, she also must learn to play an instrument! Or, as Amelia sees it, make noise on purpose. To help cope, Amelia wears earmuffs every day, even to trombone class, where she is surprised to become friends with loud, bold, and goofy Madge. When their friendship is threatened, Amelia finds a way to let in the noisy world she’s muffled for so long.
The inspiration for Muffled came from my understanding of my husband’s sensitivity to sound. I grew up in a gregarious family of interrupters and critics, the exact opposite of his experience. Learning to listen more and to leave space after speaking has been a great gift. I was also moved by a blizzard I experienced as a child in Boston, where Amelia’s story takes place. Have you ever noticed the silence that falls after a snowstorm? I wove in my love for everyday and unexpected quiet moments.
Muffled had an interesting path to publication: It started as a novel-in-verse when Associate Editor Catherine Laudone fell in love with Amelia’s story. I decided to accept her challenge to rewrite it in prose, and what’s amazing is that I love it even more now. Much of the lyrical language and imagery remains, and I added so many new scenes, deepening all the characters and the plot.
I’m also grateful to my agent Andrea Cascardi. We teamed up in 2017, after a dry spell following the release of my first middle-grade book, My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer. I knew I wasn’t done telling stories, and she saw my potential, too.
What is your connection to The Writing Barn?
The Writing Barn is a magical place! I participated in a Writing Outside the Box workshop in 2014, which kept me writing through rejections. In 2018, I was pleased to teach an online class on using free verse to deepen your fiction. All along, I have been inspired by Founder Bethany Hegedus’s mantra of persistence and her recognition that it takes courage to create. The Writing Barn gives you space to experiment, learn, and dream. I’m proud to have my signature on the beams.
When and how did you see the cover? Did you see initial sketches or designs, or just the final version?
Catherine solicited some ideas from me last fall and I sent her a link to my Muffled Pinterest page, for fun. The Simon & Schuster marketing team provided much guidance, so the first time I saw the cover, it was nearly final. I love the earmuffs! The adorable and clever cover gives a nod to music, with five lines of a musical staff behind Amelia’s head.
Time for props to the team behind the cover!
The cover is illustrated by the remarkable Javier Pérez. An illustrator from Ecuador, he is known for combining photographed objects with whimsical line drawings for a simple and powerful effect. In an email, Perez wrote that he worked collaboratively with Simon & Schuster Art Director Krista Vossen and “the process lasted several months until we got the desired face illustration and design composition.”
I am a new fan! You can follow him on twitter and on Instagram.
Where can readers find your book?
As always, I hope readers support local independent bookstores by ordering all their reading needs through one. To preorder Muffled, please go to indiebound.org. Mark it today as “to read” on Goodreads.
Where can we follow you online?
I’m fairly active online, mostly on Instagram and Twitter.
Website: https://www.jengennari.com/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/jennifergennari/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenGenn
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jenngennari/
More About Author Jennifer Gennari:
Jennifer Gennari is the author of Muffled (Simon & Schuster, 2020) and My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012), a Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year selection and an American Library Association Rainbow List title. An engaging speaker and thoughtful teacher, she has presented at schools, SCBWI workshops, The Writing Barn, and the National Council of Teachers of English conference.
Her poems have appeared in Orange Quarterly, The Lascaux Review, and numerous issues of the Marin Poetry Center Anthology. A member of SCBWI since 1999, she serves as the Marin County Co-Coordinator for the SF North and East Bay Region. She is represented by Senior Literary Agent Andrea Cascardi of Transatlantic Agency. A graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, she lives on the water in the San Francisco Bay Area.