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Once again, I love how life works sometimes. One of our favorite children's book authors, Asia Citro, just happens to live close to me and posted about her upcoming book festival in one of my Seattle-area Facebook groups. Surprised that she was local, I messaged her and asked for an interview. Although her schedule precluded us from meeting in person, we met via Skype for my child's first author interview.

By "my child's first author interview," I mean that my almost six-year-old kiddo came up with the questions per Asia Citro's request.Scannable Fake ID, What a fun idea! I've edited my child's questions only ever-so-slightly and summarized the responses.

First, though, what do we like about her books?

As I told the author, I love that I don't need to edit or reword the content to make it appropriate for my child when I read to her. Long before I'd even met Asia Citro, however, I'd put her Zoey and Sassafras series on our list of Best Books for Kids to Build Self-Esteem and Confidence. Be it this series or her other books, they all make us think. They're all fun. And they're all incredibly engaging for the whole family. The quality of the writing and the humor are rock solid. I've even caught my husband paging through them when no children are around. He'll freely and proudly own up to that.

I confess that I'm a go-to-the-library-kind-of-mom, but these books, we purchase. We put a lot of reading miles on them. Here's her ever-growing list (afflinks):

Author Interview
Zoey and Sassafras book series

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 1: Who reads your stories first?

Usually my family; my kids. And my mom, too. My mom used to be a second grade teacher, so she has a lot of good insight.

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 2: Why do you write books?

I used to be a teacher in a school, but when I became a mommy, I decided to stay home with my baby girl. I started a blog that people liked, and eventually I started writing books, too. The first one I wrote was called 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids. I'm still writing. In fact, I'm almost done with Zoey and Sassafras #7! Plus, I care about book access for kids. A lot of my work is about that.

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 3: What does your work area look like?

[She pans the camera around her workspace, showing her desk, a door to her right, and a picture with pretty rainbow colors behind her.best fake ids, Perhaps most importantly to our young interviewer, she shows us the wonderful cat who's been on her lap the whole time we've been talking. The cat declined to comment, but seemed sincerely engaged in the conversation. He winked at me. True story.]

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 4: What was your favorite book [when you were little]?

I loved so many books! Beverly Cleary, Judy Bloom / Ramona...oh, wow. So many!

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 5: What's your favorite [children's] book now?

There are so many great children's books! Some of our favorites have been the Elephant & Piggie series and Du Iz Zak.

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 6: Do you like to dance?

With my kids, yes.

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 7: Are you friends with your illustrator?

Marion (Lindsay) is wonderful. We love her. She lives in England, though, so pretty far from here in Seattle.

Asia Citro Author Interview Question 8: Can we meet you?

Yes! I'll be at the book festival on September 28 in Seattle. You should come! So many amazing authors are going to be there.

Here's the flyer about the book festival---hope to see you there! We'll be there and listening intently for the magic doorbell. (Zoey and Sassafras fans will understand.)

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You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but my daughter is "five and three quarters" years old, as she'll tell you. However, she is tall. As in, she wears clothes made for eight year olds. As she whispered to me when someone asked her age recently, "Even my underwear says it's for kids who are eight." Underwear doesn't lie. She's really tall for her age.

While there are certain benefits to being a tall little kid---hey, she can reach all the chocolate in the cabinet by herself!---there are certain drawbacks, as well.

The most obvious drawback is that people assume she's older than she is, and they expect her to behave like someone who's three years older than she is, too.

Case in point: last week, we went somewhere that had some amazing kiddie rides. If there's one thing my child loves, it's pretending to drive a "real" car (real to her, anyway, even if it's on a track and the steering wheel only spins in circles).

She doesn't like jumping into new situations alone, however. She saw that most of the other young "drivers" were chauffeuring their parents around in the cars with them. So, that's what my kid wanted to do, too. Plus, the role reversal is fun for her. She likes taking mama out for a spin!

We walked up to the entrance and waited in line. As soon as it was our turn, however, the ride operator (whom I'll call the "bouncer") blocked me and claimed, "She's tall enough to ride this alone."

The panic entered my little one's eyes. Little did the bouncer know that my girl had just taken a big fall on the adjacent mini-golf course and had barely recovered from that. She wanted her Mommy near her, for sure.

Holding my ground, I replied, "She'd prefer that I go with her."

Bouncer: "Nope. The rule is that if she's <this tall>, she rides alone. You wait over there." My child and I both looked at the other cars full of kids with their parents.

I'll be blunt: some rules are incredibly dumb.

My daughter melted into a pool of tears, now saying that she didn't want to ride anymore. I knew how much she did want to ride.

While I comforted her, my husband went and spoke with the bouncer. Shortly thereafter, the bouncer was beckoning us to return.

She smiled apologetically and said, "You go on in."

I smiled back, genuinely, and noted that just because someone looks "too big for something," it doesn't always reflect their real age or what they're ready for.

It's about kids being ready when they're ready.

They might be five, or they might be eight---or any age at all. Tall or short; that's not the point.

It's about tossing out the textbooks and the measuring tape and trusting that kids will find independence at exactly the right time for them. It's okay not to need Mommy; and it's okay to  need her, too.

We rode in that car together joyfully. My tall five-year-old took her driving very seriously, never taking her hands off the wheel or her eyes off the "road." At one point, she leaned over and said with an ever-so-serious smile, "Aren't I a responsible driver? What would you do without me?"

Truth be told, I'd probably still be stuck on believing some textbook version of motherhood. I'm so thankful she's taught me otherwise.

childhood independence
Great for pinning!

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Continue the Journey!

Follow us!

Shop With Us!

We appreciate your support! Click here to see all the children’s books, parenting books, toys and games, travel necessities, holiday fun, and wellness-related items that we’ve used and loved. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. However, pricing (including sale prices) and shipping are still from Amazon. Once you click the checkout button from your Dandelion Seeds cart, it’ll direct you to Amazon to complete your purchase.

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