Welcome to the Back Matter Break Down! Today, I am happy to bring an interview with Lindsay Farley! Her book is unique in so many ways as it brings together sports and social-emotional learning, plus math in the back matter! I’m excited for you all to learn more about her journey, so let’s go!
Book: An Above Par Day
Author: Lindsay Farley
Illustrator: Anglika Dewi
Publisher / Year: Kiddywink Crew, 2023
Topics: Golf, Sports, Social-Emotional
Blurb: Does practice really make perfect? And is perfect really what it’s all about? An Above Par Day is an engaging and relatable story about a boy, Liam, who thinks he will be as good as the pros when he goes out on a real golf course. Liam’s frustration gets in the way of enjoying his family golf outing. Will he be able to turn his attitude around and make some memories with his sister and parents?
Word Count: 762
Back matter word count: 309
At what phase of the drafting/revising/publishing process did you decide to add back matter in your book?
I think I always knew I would add some type of back matter. But I was all over the place with what I wanted it to be for a while! In the very beginning stages I wanted to include a “board game” in the back. Then I went back and forth about adding in more information about the actual game of golf (i.e. explain par, bogie, etc). I also thought about having readers figure out the scores throughout the book, but I felt that took away from the storyline.
I ended up adding in the back matter right at the end, right before it was published. After what I thought was the final read through, I felt like it didn’t showcase the math in golf as much as I wanted it to. I didn’t want to interrupt the actual story with too much math, so back matter felt like the perfect place for it.
What did the first draft of the back matter look like? Can you show us snippets?
The very first draft of the back matter was a board game. Here are pictures of what I had initially envisioned. I had the thought that you would go to my website to download and print the cards (a few of the cards are pictured here), but then I thought maybe it would be better to bring this game and activities to visits instead of having them in the book.
Tell us about the back matter revision process. Why did changes occur?
Initially I was publishing this book on my own. And then, in a twist of fate, I met my now business partner, Julianna Bria. We created Kiddywink Crew together, and this book was published as part of our kids entertainment company.
A big part of what we do with Kiddywink Crew is promote the importance of conversations between kids and adults. That helped me think about the back matter differently. That’s a big part of why I changed it to questions for kids and adults to talk about from the book.
Is your back matter aimed for kid readers or adults? What do you hope readers will take away after reading your back matter content?
It’s aimed at parents and kids so they can talk about the math in the book. I hope kids and adults see the math throughout the story, and use some of the questions to inspire questions they can ask their children the next time they play golf!
Have you heard back from any readers about how they are using the Math Connections?
I’ve heard from a few teacher friends that they’ve used it with their classes! As a parent, I totally get why it might be hard to use with your kids, especially when you are reading at night and are ready for it to be bedtime! But I do hope that more people refer back to the questions as they reread the book!
Reflecting on this process and what you learned, what tips (if any) can you offer picture book writers for writing back matter?
I think my biggest tip would be to wait until you’ve finished the manuscript. It might even be best to wait until it’s illustrated too. I think you figure out the best back matter for your book once it’s as final as possible.
Thank you, Lindsay! It’s so interesting to see your thought process! Hopefully it will help other authors as they are problem-solving their own back matter.
Please support Lindsay!
You can purchase copies of An Above Par Day here: https://www.kiddywinkcrew.com/shop
Find Kiddywink Crew on Instagram and Pinterest
Listen to Kiddywink Crew podcast on any podcast platform! https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/kiddywink-crew-podcast/id1691379364
Now for the giveaway! Here is Lindsay’s generous offer: We have kids as guests on our Kiddywink Crew podcast. I would like to offer up a kid spot on our podcast for a lucky winner! Best for kids ages 4 – 10. To enter: Leave one comment on this blog post by February 26, 2024 at 11:59pm PT. A winner will be chosen at random and notified on February 27, 2024. One entry per person!
UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed.
Thank you for reading!
Don’t miss future posts! Subscribe to my blog!
Judy Campbell-Smith 