Guest Post by Normal Norman author, Tara Lazar

Today kicks of the blog tour for Normal Norman (Sterling Children's Books), written by Tara Lazar and illustrated by S. Britt.  I'm delighted that Tara Lazar agreed to write a guest post for Kids Talk Kid Lit.   

Enjoy!

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“Where do you get your ideas?”

It’s the most common question asked of authors. Sometimes we can name the exact moment lightning struck and why, how—all the myriad things surrounding that creative epiphany. And sometimes we have NO IDEA where that IDEA came from! Zero. Zilch. Nada.

I get hit with titles. BONK! They land on my head. One day I got smacked with “Normal Norman”. I have no idea where I was and what I was doing, but this character asked me to take note. And then, he kept bugging me.

Although I didn’t know from where Norman came, I did know that he was most definitely NOT NORMAL. I didn’t set out to write some grand statement about being different and accepting it, but Norman just didn’t want to behave. His repeated avoidance of all things considered normal, besides being hilarious, also gave the story a lovely message that I think everyone needs to hear: there’s no such thing as normal. We’re all different, so how could there possibly be just ONE WAY TO BE?

I wasn’t a normal kid. I was loud and creative and studious and wildly inappropriate and quirky and into theatre, impersonations and accents. I loved writing and reading. I was a teacher’s pet. I was a different religion than most of my classmates. My hair was super-duper short. Other kids could spot my differences from a mile away. And therefore, they often stayed away.

I hope kids who read about Norman not only fall in love with his adorable nonconformity, but also realize that what makes us all different isn’t so scary. Once Norman’s junior scientist friend gets to know him better, she discovers that despite his quirks, he has one abnormally large heart. We should all learn the same lesson.

Norman and Tara

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Normal Norman will be available on March 1, 2016.  Click here to order.

Be sure to follow this blog tour (#NormalNormanBlogTour) for interviews, reviews, giveaways, art reveals and much more!

You can follow:

Tara Lazar on Twitter @taralazar and on her blog taralazar.com.

S. Britt on Twitter @StephanBritt and on his website sbritt.com.