Author Interview: April Graney

It was a real treat having April Graney as my featured author for this month! April is a US based children's writer I 'met' as a member of the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA). She is real about faith and life, and her kids books are focused on helping kids grow in compassion no matter their context. Her newest book is also available here in Australia - something I was very excited to discover! 

Penny: How would you sum up your author brand and what do you believe your books offer your readers?
April: When my five children were little, I loved reading them picture books. We loved books that made us smile, or laugh, or even cry, but also taught us something significant about ourselves, God, and humanity. My books are tools for feeding our children important spiritual truths that can be applied to everyday life. My first book, The Marvelous Mud House is a journey of finding joy through contentment and compassion. My second, The Marvelous Maker, tells the story of creation, fall, and redemption in a way that kids can understand why our world is broken, and how we can follow Jesus. My latest book, If Jesus Came to My School, is written to encourage kids to shine the light and love of Jesus in their schools, or wherever they are! 

Penny: Does your Christian faith impact how you write, and if so, in what ways?
April: I absolutely have relied on prayer and surrendering the things that I write over to the Lord with each of my books. I hope that I have been faithful to the Spirit’s leading as I write and that the messages are consistent with Scripture. Each step of the way has been a journey of trusting the Lord’s leading in my life to open doors to the right agents, editors, and publishers so that these books could be brought into the world for families to use and benefit from. 

Penny: Tell us about your most recent book and what you love most about it?
April: If Jesus Came to My School is about a little girl who imagines what it might be like if Jesus came to visit her school as a boy. She imagines how he would treat everyone with love and kindness. She then realizes that even though Jesus can’t come to her school in person, she can share his love and light with everyone as she lives as he would. I love the delightful illustrations and how they picture the message of compassion and kindness in a classroom setting. I pray that kids will really take the message to heart and love each other rather than the teasing, cliques, and bullying that can be prevalent in schools today. 
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"I pray that kids will really take the message to heart and love each other rather than the teasing, cliques, and bullying that can be prevalent in schools today."
- April Graney

Penny: Were there any lessons you personally learned during the writing of this particular book? How do you think that influenced how the book ended up?
April: I learned a lot about trusting the Lord when my children first went to public school after we had homeschooled them for 7 years. I saw the Lord protect, and bless, and use them to reach their classmates with the love of Jesus. When I started teaching in a school for at-risk students, I was challenged to see my students the way Jesus sees them with love and compassion, for who they could be and not who they were currently. These things all influenced my desire to write this book. 

Penny: What's an author you love to read, and why?
April: I love reading biographies of great men and women of faith who served as missionaries in countries around the world. I love to see how the Lord led and provided for them, and the impact their lives had on the communities they touched. 

For more information about April visit: www.aprilgraney.com
Best place to purchase If Jesus came to my school: ChristianBook in the USA, or Koorong in Australia.