A graduate of Kansas State University who married her high school sweetheart, Tammi Sauer is the author of several humorous picture books such as Cowboy Camp and the award winning Mostly Monsterly. In addition to being skilled in dancing and capturing escaped pigs, she has also been a teacher and a librarian.
Q: How does it feel when you see the illustrations for one of your books for the first time?
A: That is one of my favorite parts of the process! I feel excited, nervous, and hopeful all at the same time.
Q: You sometime make visits to children in schools. What has been you most memorable, exciting, or humorous school visit so far?
A: Wow, there is no way I could pick one. I go to dozens of school visits each year, and every visit brings with it something special. I love when a school makes my visit an event. At Marlow Elementary, for instance, the school mascot is the Outlaw. One of the fun things that school did was to have the kids dress up as outlaws right down to the handlebar mustaches. Then they tweaked the title of my book Cowboy Camp and created a big banner welcoming me to Outlaw Camp. At Truman Primary, the entire school population learned my dance move "The Librarian," which was created in honor of my book Chicken Dance, and they boogied with me. Talk about feeling like a rock star! At Clegern Elementary, the entire school held a silly barnyard talent show in my honor. I could go on and on...
Q: What do you best like to do with kids during school visits?
A: I love to get kids excited about reading and writing. I do this with a lot of audience participation, humor, and fun.
Q: What tips do you have for children or adults who would like to write books?
A: Read. Read. Read. Write. Write. Write. Revise. Revise. Revise. Create characters people can care about and make your readers feel something.
Q: Do you have any new books coming soon that you can tell us about?
A: I have five books that will be coming out in 2012. The first of these is Me Want Pet! (Simon & Schuster) which is illustrated by the amazing Bob Shea. In the story, Cave Boy goes in search of the perfect prehistoric pet. Ooga!
Tammi Sauer has sold nine picture books to a number of major publishing houses: Bloomsbury, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon & Schuster, and Sterling. One of her latest books, Chicken Dance, received the 2009 NAPPA Gold Medal Award and the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award. It was also named a 2009 ABC Best Books for Children book as well as the 2010 Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best book. Chicken Dance has been recently released in French, which makes Tammi feel extra fancy.
Tammi's books:
- Cowboy Camp, Sterling, 2005
- Chicken Dance, Sterling, 2009
- Mostly Monsterly, Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, August 2010
- Mr. Duck Means Business, Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, January 2011
Coming soon:
- Bawk and Roll, Sterling, 2011
- Princess-in-Training, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
- Oh, Nuts!, Bloomsbury, 2012
- Me Want Pet!, Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, 2012
- The Twelve Days of Christmas in Oklahoma, Sterling, 2012
Drop by Tammi's website to get to know her and her books. You can check her books out locally at the Batavia, Bartlett, Schaumburg, Poplar Creek, and Gail Borden libraries.
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