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From my grandmother I learned there is no one way to bake an apple pie. Her pie was always perfect, but if you asked her for the recipe, she had nothing to tell you. Grandma added varying amounts of sugar, depending on the tartness of the apples; she added water, depending on the touch and feel of the flour and butter mixture. She arrived at the perfect apple pie through trial and error. Though she had no recipe to share, she trusted that all who attempted to imitate her would come up with their own mix of ingredients.
As the publisher of Blue Apple, I am, like my grandmother, the head pastry chef. And like her, I have learned there is no one way to make a children’s book. The recipe changes depending on the qualities of the main ingredients—the author and the illustrator. My job is to make it possible for both of them to meet and talk, so that as their experience of each other grows, so does the book.
A book, like dough, can be ruined by too much handling and too much time in the “kitchen” before it’s deemed ready for press. There’s nothing worse than an overcooked and overworked picture book—or pie, for that matter.
I personally am not fond of cooking or baking. But like a good chef, I understand the necessity of having pots on all four burners and several dishes in the oven to serve up a good meal. My job is to coach, edit, challenge, and support all the players who work together to make each Blue Apple book happen.
-Harriet Ziefert, Publisher
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