A SEASON FOR FISHIN’: A FISH FRY TRADITION Interview with Author Pamela Courtney + GIVEAWAY!

A Season for Fishin’: A Fish Friday Tradition is the not-to-be-missed debut of author Pamela Courtney, a lovingly told tale complete with vibrant illustrations by Toni D. Chambers. It’s the first Fish Fry Friday of the year, and Chér can’t wait to join her papere for the first time to catch her very own bream to be fried and savored at that evening’s feast. But when Chér experiences a devastating mishap, she learns that Fish Fry Friday is about more than how many fish you reel in.

Today we are lucky to have author Pamela Courtney with us on Picture Builders today to talk about the creation of this book!

Sara: Welcome Pamela! What is it about this fish fry tradition that makes it such a great topic for young readers? 

Pamela: Oooh, that’s a great question! There are a couple of running themes I feel kids will immediately identify with and find connection. Children want to feel like they’re just as big a part of family traditions, as everyone else. Children also long to hold a significant role in these traditions. As Chér waits to see if she “measures up” for the honor of going still water fishing on Ol’ Cane with Papére, she also fear that she won’t measure up.  Cher longs to go still water fishing AND she wants to bring back some bream for her Mamére. Everyone knows there’s nothing like bream on fish fry Friday. Can Chér do it?

Children love being around family. They don’t always show it, but they truly do. In this story, it isn’t just about being around family. It is the connection to family identity. It is the fish fry culture of still water fishing that Chér longs to be a part of. In her heart and mind, she’s sure that bringing in that bream is what it means to measure up. In the end, Cher realizes it’s really not about the big catch and that just being in the family makes her part of tradition. 

Sara: I love that theme of belonging throughout. This book takes readers through a traditional Natchitoches, Louisiana Fish Fry Friday. The fishing and the cooking are described in vivid and enticing ways. But some of my favorite lines in the book are, “Today is about family. About you. Not bream.” How did you go about balancing the sensory experiences of getting ready for Fish Fry Friday, while also highlighting the fact that tradition in itself is valuable? 

Pamela: My favorite thing about writing is finding those personal moments of intimacy. Connecting to how characters commune with each other and their world around them gives me the freedom to absorb everything in that character’s environment. However, it’s actually through my research that brings meaning and purpose to specific events I want to highlight in the story.  

For example Cane River is a man-made lake created from our Red River. Meaning the red-soaked watery bank of Ol’ Cane is a scape of silt, minerals and red clay. The same red clay that Cher splashes, stirring up globs of that same soupy red clay. I mean, how could I not add that particular sensory engagement to the story. Or (spoiler alert) when Cher loses every bream except one, Mamere fries that one bream. They both share in the sweetness of Ol’ Cane River and the sting of Louisiana spices on the crispy tail of that bream. Mmmm . . . tastes like Fish Fry Friday. 

Sara: You’re making me hungry, Pamela! The language in this picture book absolutely sings. Can you talk to us about the line-level writing and revising that it took to get to a place where every word sounds beautiful?

Pamela: Wow! Thank you, Sara. You’re so kind. I have to blame it on my southern rural neighbors and their diverse dialects. As a child my ears were filled with the language of people whose tongues reflected Tribal-Natives, African, and European heritage. My grandmother’s friends gather on her porch, and ohhh the way they strung words together. Literally musical poetry. Some talked in fast syncopations, others elongated vowels sound, holding you in that moment, demanding your attention. I’ve always wanted to pen the voices, tones, and the storytelling genius of my Louisiana neighbors. I want that authenticity from my childhood on the pages of my work. However, my mom says it’s in my DNA. She says my writing comes from her side of the family. My writing efforts is a long process. Too long. I’m still learning about pacing. And I fuss over every word—that truck, a truck, the truck . . . just forget it. We’ll walk.  

Sara: Ha! In the back matter you talk about your childhood full of Fish Fry Fridays on Ol’ Cane. Can you share one of your most memorable experiences participating in this tradition?

Pamela: Ha! Do you mean the time I got a tiny fish bone stuck in my throat? One particular Fish Fry Friday (and this must be capitalized) landed on Good Friday. MaDear, my grandmother, fried fish before church. Oh the aroma. I couldn’t wait to eat. I couldn’t stay still. But I had to. Just thinking about that fish in the oven wouldn’t do. “MaDear, I need to run to go to the ba’froom.” MaDear looked at me, then a peculiar grin made the corners of her mouth look weird. She nodded yes, then whisphered yell, Pam don’t you touch that fish. Wait ‘til I we get home. I gotta pick the bones? And don’t forget to wash your hands!” I was known for always getting a bone stuck in the back of my tongue, throat. It got so bad, I wasn’t allowed to eat until MaDear picked out the fine bones out. We didn’t do much fileting back then. Anyhow, I raced across the street. I really did have to use it. I used it. Haphazardly pulled up my underwear, washed my hands and headed straight for the oven. I skinched off a small piece, then a bigger piece and raced across the street. Just as I entered the small church I hurried and swallowed the evidence. And you guessed it. Bone caught on my always swollen tonsils. But people were laughing. Nobody noticed me gagging. I suddenly felt a breeze on the back of my thigh. I had shoved my dress down into my underwear. So there I was, gagging on a fish bone with my own tail exposed to Pastor Thrash and all the ladies of the Deaconess board. 

Sara: Nooooo! I’m almost scared to ask, but before we conclude this interview, is there anything else that you would like to share?

Pamela: I wrote this book to show the multicultural and multi-ethnicity that is the people of Louisiana. I love that I grew up saying things like,”His parrain got beacoup money, ye. Mais la, he don’t look it doh.”

Sara: I love it! Thank you, Pamela for this behind-the-fish-fry peek at this gorgeous new book. Author Pamela Courtney is offering one lucky reader a copy of A Season for Fishin’: A Fish Fry Tradition. Please comment on this post to enter. U.S. mailing addresses only please. Thank you, Pamela, for joining us today and for this kind offer!

And congratulations to Cathy Ballou Mealey for winning a copy of WOODS & WORDS: THE STORY OF POET MARY OLIVER written by Sara Holly Ackerman and illustrated by Naoko Stoop.