Blog Tour: Toni Buzzeo Visits Kidlit!

We’ve got a special blog tour post today from author Toni Buzzeo, whose latest book, ADVENTURE ANNIE GOES TO WORK came out in February from Dial.

This is the fourth stop on her blog tour and she wants to tell readers a little bit about how this book was inspired by her own life as a working mom. Toni, take it away…

Do I know the challenges of working motherhood? You’d better believe I do!

I was a working mom from the day my son Topher was born. As a faculty member in a college external degree program, I had welcome flexibility with my work hours and it just made sense to work through his birth and infancy. However, when he was four years old, I returned to my early roots in libraries and landed the perfect job as a children’s librarian in a neighboring town. So I made the decision to jump back into the full-time work force. Little did I know then that the path would lead to a subsequent full time school librarian job and pursuit of a second master’s degree—this time in library and information science. By the time my child was five, I was working a full time job and taking two graduate courses every semester for the next two years. Whew!

On the other hand, my mother never worked outside the home when I was growing up. None of the mothers in my 1950’s and 60’s working class neighborhood did. I grew up with a mother always just inside the door who didn’t shoulder the added responsibilities of a job and its demands. When my editor, Lauri Hornik, asked if I had any ideas for a book about a mom who has to take her child to work one day, I turned, as I always do first, to my own childhood experience. I came up lacking. But as I stewed the idea on the back burner of my mind, I turned to my adult experience as a mom with two sets of responsibilities.

As a result, when I came up with the perfect scenario, I was fully equipped to run with it. My new book, Adventure Annie Goes to Work, is based on a personal understanding of the challenges working moms face. And Annie’s mom has an enormous problem on her hands. The challenge isn’t her high energy daughter (though every parent will understand the subtext there). Instead, the big report is missing at the office, and she’s got to find it immediately. Unfortunately, it’s Saturday—the one day of the week completely devoted to mother-daughter adventures in this family.

Think about it. What could she do? She could quickly find a babysitter, perhaps tapping her mom, her sister, or her best friend, and give up the precious day with her daughter. Or, she could think creatively and make the day a treasure for them both. Of course, you can guess which she chose. In fact, since Annie is pretty focused on adventures (her moniker, Adventure Annie says it all), Annie’s mom decides to take her daughter along on a Big Report Treasure Hunt at the office.

Keep in mind that Annie is a high energy girl. She doesn’t buy into Mom’s plan to seat her at a desk to draw and color quietly. There are hallways, closets, and offices to be explored! There are maps to be made! There are treasures to be found!

To Annie’s mom’s credit, she manages it all with her good spirits generally in tact despite her own mounting tension as one location after another proves fruitless in the search for the report. Annie’s not worried, though. She’s confident in her skills—and in the end, it’s a worthy confidence. As you may have guessed, it’s Annie who finds that missing report, ending the book in a moment of complete triumph.

What’s the message here? There are several. One is a reassuring pat on the back for working moms. Yes, someone knows your path and understands how difficult some days can be. One is a thumbs-up for working moms who manage to balance family and work responsibilities successfully despite disastrous days. And, of course, there’s a full ladle of support for the high-spirited Annie—and for her long-suffering but amazingly supportive mom. No, it’s not easy to raise a child who possess a strong spirit and a will of her own. But in the end, the rewards are worth the effort.

To find out more about Toni Buzzeo and her books, check out her website: www.tonibuzzeo.com. Thanks for stopping by!

No related posts.