Librarian to See How Own Work Stacks Up

For the past several months, young patrons of the Fullerton main library having been asking children’s librarian Alison Jackson when a new book, “My Brother the Star,” would be available.

And Jackson should know: She wrote it.

“My Brother the Star” (Dutton; $12.95)--Jackson’s first book--was published last week. The Fullerton Library system ordered a dozen copies of the 105-page illustrated book and most of them already have been checked out, thanks in large part to students from St. Mary’s School.

“They’re right across the street from the library so those kids have been right on top of it all along,” said Jackson, 36, who conducts book talks regularly for the school’s fifth and sixth grade classes and kept the students informed of the book’s pending publication.

Aimed at fourth- to sixth-grade students, “My Brother the Star” is the story of sibling rivalry between Leslie Crane, a tall and awkward 11-year-old boy, and his cute-as-a-button, 6-year-old brother, Cameron, who makes TV commercials. But, as the author explains, “the older brother eventually achieves a measure of fame in his own right” when he tries out for the all-county basketball camp “and comes to feel better about himself.”

Although the School Library Journal gave “My Brother the Star” a lukewarm review (“all in all, an average story”), Jackson received an enthusiastic Kirkus review: “The first novel by a California children’s librarian presents believable kids in funny, realistic interaction that is sure to appeal.”

And, says the Booklist review: “This is light fare, but it moves easily and has the familiar, kid-next-door ambience that will appeal to young readers. One for the popular reading shelf.”

Not bad for the first time out.

But the biggest payoff for Jackson so far came last week when she joined 50 Southern California children’s book authors and illustrators for the Friends of the Huntington Beach Public Library’s annual Authors Festival, in which the authors visit local schools.

Jackson had sent out copies of her book ahead of time and the students at Star View Elementary School in Midway City were well prepared for her visit.

“They gave me this big welcome like I was a movie star,” she said. “There were posters and banners and they had a cake and provided lunch. It was wonderful.”

Jackson visited every classroom, reading portions of her book and presenting a slide show in which she described the steps a manuscript goes through in the process of becoming a book.

The idea, she said, was to show the students “that books don’t suddenly materialize. This one, from start to finish, took me about two years.”

Jackson, who lives in Huntington Beach with her husband, Steve, and two young children, hadn’t written anything since she was an English literature major at UC Irvine and wrote short stories while in the university’s writing program during her freshman and sophomore years.

But she said she never had “the courage” to send any of her stories to magazines or publishers and by the time she became a children’s librarian 13 years ago she had stopped writing altogether.

That changed in 1987 after Jackson had her first child and began working part time. “I just started thinking it would be fun to try to write a book,” she said. “I never seriously thought it would get published.”

Jackson got the idea for “My Brother the Star,” appropriately enough, at the Fullerton main library when a six-week class, “How to Get Your Child Into TV Commercials,” was held in the library’s meeting room.

Jackson and another librarian were watching all the mothers sitting outside the room, “bragging about how wonderful their children were. We thought it was funny.”

While they were talking, the other librarian mentioned that she knew a boy who appeared in commercials, saying “it’s a shame his older brother is overlooked.”

“I thought, ‘Isn’t that a wonderful idea for a book?”’ said Jackson.

Writing part time, she wrote “My Brother the Star” in six months.

She said it was a “miracle” that she sold the book: “I was a real novice at this; I didn’t have an agent or anything.”

Jackson nevertheless received a phone call from E.P. Dutton, the third publishing house she sent her manuscript to. Lucia Monfried, Dutton’s editor of children’s books, told her she was “really interested” in the book.

“She said she thought it was funny and had potential to be a popular book, but it needed a lot of work and polishing,” said Jackson.

Indeed, Monfried returned the manuscript to Jackson with a 10-page letter--”a chapter-by-chapter rundown of everything that needed to be fixed. Plus the manuscript itself was all marked up,” recalled Jackson.

When she saw all the work that needed to be done, Jackson said, “I thought, ‘What in the world does she see in this?’

“I basically had the plot and the characters pretty well set. My problem was in filling in the gaps. The characters were very one-dimensional and I needed to build them up and elaborate on the scenes--just basically fill them out. I sure learned an awful lot.”

Jackson said she did two major revisions of the book over a year.

“But there were whole months in between when there’s nothing happening,” she said, explaining that she would “work hard for two or three months” and then not hear from her editor for four or five months. After the revisions were done, she said, it took another year before the book was finally published.

One thing she has learned, Jackson said, is that the publishing industry moves slowly.

Jackson, who is still working without an agent, sent her editor at Dutton the manuscript for a sequel to “My Brother the Star” about a year ago. She said she has since done two revisions and it wasn’t until early this week that she received a call from Monfried offering her a contract for the new book.

“Crane’s Rebound” is scheduled to be published about this time next year.