Border Crossings
BORDER CROSSINGS
Sneed B. Collard III (NASW Member), Howard Gray, illustrator
Charlesbridge Publishing, January 2023, $17.99
ISBN: 9781623542382
For readers aged 8-12 and their families
Collard reports:
When I heard of our ex-president’s plans to build an impenetrable steel barrier from one end of our southern border to the other, my first thoughts were of how that would impact the people who live along the border and relations between the U.S. and Mexico.
My next thought: “What will become of the millions of animals that cross back and forth between our countries every year?” It was clear the administration had not considered this—and Border Crossings was born.
Sneed Collard III
A proposal for a picture book generally needs to be accompanied by a completed manuscript. I wrote all of Border Crossings before sending it to my wonderful agent, Karen Grencik at Red Fox Literary. To illustrate the plight of border animals, I chose two fictional ocelots—one that was free to cross the border without hindrance, and another that was turned back by the border wall. These beautiful, highly charismatic creatures have small populations in both Arizona and Texas that will be dramatically impacted by the wall. The story must have struck the right note because Charlesbridge Publishing scooped it up.
The most difficult part of writing the book was finding details about the new wall and keeping up with its construction. The wall went up so quickly that by the time the book was published, the book’s “wall-free” section of Arizona had been solidly blocked by steel. Rather than trying to revise the story, I used this unhappy circumstance to discuss in the backmatter how simple-minded solutions often create far more problems than they solve.
Although Border Crossings is attracting positive attention, plenty of my other books have never seen the light of day. Even after thirty years in this business, I still often am mystified by which books get published and which ones don’t. I urge other writers to focus less on “getting published” and more on making their writing the best it can possibly be. Only then does one’s writing career have a chance to reach its full potential.
Contact info:
- Sneed B. Collard III: sbcollardiii@gmail.com; https://www.sneedbcollardiii.com/, Blog: https://fathersonbirding.com/, @sneedcollard, @SneedBCollardiii
- Book: https://www.charlesbridge.com/products/border-crossings, https://www.sneedbcollardiii.com/sneeds-books/sneeds-nonfiction/
- Publicist: Donna Spurlock, 617-321-2502, dspurlock@charlesbridge.com
- Agent: Karen Grencik, Red Fox Literary, https://www.redfoxliterary.com/
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Banner image adapted from original photo by Sneed Collard III, taken on one of the author’s trips to border wall construction sites while writing his book. The photo shows a then-incomplete section of the wall between the U.S. and Mexico in Southern Arizona.
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