THANK A FARMER and FUNGI GROW – Interview with Maria Gianferrari & a Double Giveaway!

Maria: I cannot take the credit for THANK A FARMER—that was the brilliant and subversive idea of Norton publisher, Simon Boughton. He wanted to take the conservative bumper sticker concept to a new level, to explore gratitude and a sort of farm-to-table geographical survey of where our food comes from, which I gave my own spin to. I do have a dual connection to farming: my paternal ancestors in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy were dairy farmers and I’ve visited them there and stayed in the house where my Nonna was born; I also grew up near Barrett’s farm in Keene, NH, where the nearby cornfield was our playground—we slapped cow patties for fun and even had a maple sugar house right across the street! 

While researching my book, BE A TREE! I learned about mycelium, the roots of fungi and mycorrhizal fungi, the type of fungi that partner with trees to share resources, and I became fascinated and delighted by this hidden world beneath our feet. I was curious to learn more and really excited to share all of this amazing information with readers. 

Maria: I would characterize it as free verse. I’m not really sure if I consciously decide what kinds of devices to use—I sort of hear the lines forming in my head as I am drafting and when I am in the so-called zone. When I revise, I do pay careful attention to the sound, and line breaks, and white space since picture books are meant to be read aloud. I gravitate towards assonance and this kind of flowing rhythm, since I love the sounds of the internal rhymes, and the occasional rhyming couplet. In general, I am not a fan of writing that uses a strict pattern (such as a narrative or piece of writing that is exclusively written in rhyming couplets, since I feel like this type of writing tends to be dictated by the rhyming pattern itself, rather than the idea or emotion, if that makes sense).

I am a big fan of using concrete and vivid verbs in all of my writing. A strong verb is concise, precise and is able to paint pictures, evoke emotions, store sounds, and the sound of those verbs is crucial when writing lyrically. There is nothing that’s quite as effective and evocative as a verb that can create an image as well as a feeling through its flowing and sonorous syllables.

Maria: Thanks, Andrea 😀.

For THANK A FARMER, I did a ton of research on all kinds of farming, and my first discovery draft was a huge hodgepodge of information that I had to sort through to find pattern and shape. It’s not unlike sculpting—you start with a blob, and you chip away at it until a pattern emerges. Once I came up with the “thank a farmer” opening and closing refrains for each spread it helped me to pare and hone and polish the material and discard things that no longer fit (some of which ended up in the back matter). 

My discovery draft for FUNGI GROW focused on mushrooms—in fact, it was initially called MARVELOUS MUSHROOMS. But in the end I really wanted to explore the underground world of fungi, the magical and mysterious mycelium, so upon revising, I came up with “fungi grow” as a refrain, and then it evolved into a natural type of life cycle structure, beginning and ending with spores, the “sort of” seeds that form into hyphae and mycelium and eventually fruit into mushrooms.

I love using main text that is spare and poetic while incorporating STEM language. Some scientific language, ideas and phrases can in and of themselves be quite poetic. The use of white space gives readers the chance to reflect and really pay attention to the sound of the language as it is being read aloud. Science and poetry really complement each other quite well—it’s imagistic and ideas can be distilled and pared down to their essence. The sidebars (or layered text) is where I can add more specific scientific information and elucidate it in detail. I had a ton of information and so the back matter is quite extensive too, even with all of the sidebars throughout. Plus, I am a back matter nerd 😀.

Maria: Cornucopia is an apt word for both of these projects! In the beginning it’s always quite overwhelming to figure out where to begin, what to/not to include.

As I mentioned above, the THANK A FARMER discovery draft was all a bit of a mess—just trying to collect and assemble all of this information in one place (and it was huge and unruly). One thing that helped was that Simon wanted it to have a more overall geographical feel—like a journey—so that helped me to try and focus and find different kinds of farming and farm workers and cultures/traditions to represent. Since the book is a celebration, and is literally about giving thanks one thing was an easy omission for me. I am an animal lover, and have long been a vegetarian. I just could not celebrate meat farming—even so-called “humane” small, family farms, so that was an easy thing to cut. I did end up including dairy farmers though, perhaps as an unconscious nod to my Italian ancestors. 

Growing up in NH, and living across from a maple sugar house was wonderful—the smell of those cotton-candy clouds in the late winter air was so inviting, but I also wanted to pay tribute to and honor indigenous cultures and the origins of maple syrup collection. It was important to include foods like rice that are a staple in many different kinds of Asian, Latin American and African cuisines that are also part of the American experience, and peanut butter and jelly too. It’s a farm-to-table kind of book, and Monica threaded the image of a family at a table throughout, and I also had in mind the democratic idea of a table—as an invitation and symbol that all are welcome as I wrote. 

There are so many different types of fungi and cool mushrooms—I tried to be as comprehensive as I possibly could, and made a selection of the ones that I found most fascinating. The book is a celebration of all kinds of fungi and mushrooms, from their wild and wonderful names (velvet foot! Witch’s butter! Bleeding tooth! Destroying Angels!) to their ability to digest plastics and petroleum and other chemical and biological waste, and their medicinal and deadly properties too.

For example, in the spores section, I wanted to include the kind of fungi that actually creates its own wind, called puffing, to allow its spores to spread further. Or with the melanistic fungus humorously dubbed “Hulk Bugs” since it’s thriving on radiation at Chernobyl. I was also intrigued by parasitic fungi like cordyceps, popularized in the recent TV series, “The Last of Us,” though the manuscript was written prior to the airing of the series. It basically zombifies an ant, taking over its brain until a mushroom pops out of its head to produce more spores and infect the ant colony below—truly other-worldly stuff!

Maria: My next dog book releases on December 19^th, in time for the howlidays this year, TO DOGS, WITH LOVE, with adorable doggie art by Ishaa Lobo who’s based in the UK.

This is my website, with lovely landing page art by Hannah Salyer. Her beautiful picture book, ANCESTORY, released earlier this year. We’re doing a book together called RAIN AND THE READING HORSE, coming from Clarion Books in spring 2025.

You can find me on these social media platforms (for now!):

Instagram: @gianferrari_maria_author

Twitter/X: @Gianferrari_M

Facebook: mariagianferrari 

I’ll also be at the NCTE 2023 Conference, “Conexiones,” this year on two panels, with FUNGI GROW & THANK A FARMER signings:

*Friday, Nov 17th at 12:30 PM: “Interconnectivity, Immersion, Connection, and Collaboration in Nonfiction” Roundtable

* Signing 3-4PM: FUNGI GROW, Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane

* Saturday, Nov 18th at 8:15 AM: “2023 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts” (Ice Cycle)

* Signing 4:30-5:30PM: THANK A FARMER, Norton Young Readers

So pop by and say hello if you’re there!

Thanks again for featuring THANK A FARMER & FUNGI GROW here, Andrea!