The most frequently asked question for any author must be, "How did you come up with the idea for this story - or for this character?" A simple answer is that I started working on a story about how a young girl and her mother resolve a conflict over a cup of tea by sharing a memory of the girl's grandmother. As I worked on that story, Emma Lea and her family became so real to me that I didn't want to write about Grammy in the past tense. And the series of stories came very quickly.
"Why tea?" This question is often asked in writers' groups and bookstore appearances - never when I visit tea shops. The popularity of tea for children is spreading across the country. Thousands of tearooms are hosting special birthday parties for young girls who want to dress up in frills and boas and spend an elegant afternoon with their friends. Families are gathering together for that relaxing time of the day around a simple tea table. In other countries this has been a tradition for hundreds of years. In the US, we are just now realizing the joy and the benefits of scheduling tea time at home.
It is the idea of families and friends gathering for quiet time and conversation that inspires the Emma Lea picture books. It is what has given me my greatest reward from writing the books.
