Jo Dabrowski lives in Melbourne, Australia and started her writing career in advertising. Jo loves reading adult books and kids books in all genres, but the books she gets most excited about are the ones where she can see a tiny bit of herself in one of the characters. Today we’re thrilled to be chatting to Jo about her novel: The Making of Martha Mayfield.

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.

From the publisher:

Martha Mayfield has always been the quiet kid.
Martha is, after all, her mother’s daughter. The shy child of an even shyer mum. And she likes it this way. That is, until Martha’s mum loses her job. And Martha’s teacher overlooks her at school. And soon, Martha realises something has to give. Can she really go through life being so quiet that nobody takes her seriously? Should she really keep all her good ideas to herself forever? Putting yourself out there is every quiet kid’s worst nightmare, but Martha is determined to make the most of it. And perhaps to make something of herself along the way …

Martha is much quieter than most of her classmates. How did you come to write about Martha – someone who is usually in the background?

Loud, confident characters have had plenty of chances to shine, I thought it was time a shy person was in the limelight! The Making of Martha Mayfield is definitely the most personal book I’ve ever written. I borrowed lots of things from my own life and included them in the book. The biggest one was that I was shy when I was in primary school. Not quite as shy as Martha, but I could be very quiet and anxious. I always had lots of ideas and things that I wanted to say but, quite often, I was too worried about making mistakes or embarrassing myself. Writing about Martha came very naturally to me because I clearly remember all those anxious feelings as well as the frustration of staying quiet when I so badly wanted to speak up.

Group projects! Are you a fan yourself, or do you prefer to fly solo?

When I was at school, I definitely preferred to work on my own. I had very specific ideas about the way I wanted things done and that can be tricky when you’re working in a group. Now that I’m older I appreciate that I can’t do everything and I genuinely like teaming up with people who have different strengths and skills. When I write my books, I love sharing my work with my editor. She always has lots of ideas of how can I push myself and make the story more interesting. That’s the best part about working in a team –discovering different ways of doing things and making the work better.

Martha loves stationery and paper craft. What’s your favourite item of stationery on your desk right now?

Where do I begin?! I love stationery. It’s hard to pick one favourite. I have a Mr Fueki glue pot (just like Martha). I bought it in Japan.

I have a tiny tin with a picture of Miffy on it that has little note cards inside. They’re so cute that I’ve never actually used one because I never want them to run out!

And, I know this isn’t stationery, but I also love googly eyes. I have a giant pair stuck to the wall above my desk:

Do you have any tips for kids who find themselves part of a group project?

Try to be flexible. This can be hard, I know. But no one has the exact same vision as you. Share your ideas and make sure you listen to everyone else’s too, then do your part to the best of your ability. Try not to worry if it doesn’t turn out exactly the way you imagined it. You never know, it might even turn out better! 

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

Right now, I’m mostly working on more picture books. I have a new one coming out in September about a boy who makes a lot of bad decisions. I’ve also started a rough outline of a new middle grade novel about a boy who really loves rules!

The Making of Martha Mayfield is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS

Visit Jo Dabrowski’s website for more about her and her books

Download the Teachers’ Notes for this book