Interview with Author Merry Lorenz
By Lior Shapiro
The best children’s books are deceptively simple: with a straightforward premise, they unlock discovery and delight in their readers.
That’s why we’re so proud to be publishing “Munchpie Morgan,” written by Merry Lorenz and illustrated by Kenneth Anderson.
Inspired by a flight of imagination on a car trip Merry was sharing with her granddaughter, Morgan, the book explores a curiosity within the English language: that so many of the ways we talk about food can also apply to our own bodies!
From elbow macaroni to heads of lettuce, Morgan, accompanied by a playful canine companion, romps (and chomps) her way through a lexical, and culinary landscape full of delight. As the tasty tale continues, it wanders beyond outright body-part names to homonyms—“eyes” cream for ice cream—always with a deft hand at rhyme and meter.
It’s the kind of book that your kids will want to revisit again and again, with their growing brains making new connections each time they come back to the story.
As our team enters the home stretch leading up to the launch of “Munchpie Morgan”—which will release soon, complete with educational extras for parents, teachers and kids, including a video game—we’ve caught up with Merry for an email interview in order to learn more about how the book came to be.
Lior Shapiro: So, tell us about the car ride with Morgan that brought this book into existence. Who came up with the first food comparison? How did the game of imagination unfold?
Merry Lorenz: The inspiration for "Munchpie Morgan" came to me during a delightful experience with my granddaughter Morgan when she was just shy of 3 years old. On a long drive to a family gathering for a birthday party, I sat in the backseat with Morgan. We began goofing around to pass the time and a boring drive wound up creating a memory we would cherish forever.
I looked over at Morgan sitting in her car seat and in a burst of whimsy, I playfully cupped her cute dimpled elbow in my hand and pretended to munch on it.
"Yummy! I think I'll have some elbow macaroni!" Her eyes widened in surprise, followed by the sweetest chorus of giggles. With every "munch," her laughter became infectious and we embarked on a delightful game of pretend.
We needed more than just elbow macaroni for our pretend eating so I suggested some other foods! I gobbled on her "head of lettuce" and "cherry toma"toes". Oh, how we laughed as we pretended to devour each delightful morsel! The joy in her eyes and the echo of her laughter still resonate with me, even after nearly 15 years. Morgan is now a senior in high school and will be graduating this month. But as she grows into a young woman, Munchpie will always be in our hearts.
Lior: This is actually one very effective little book—it teaches about homonyms, metaphor, and the love of lots of different kinds of food, without being preachy or over the head of little ones! Tell us about the process of taking the book text from concept to reality. Did you and Morgan come up with all the comparisons, or did you invent some new ones?
Merry: Children's imaginations are captivated by the things they love, and they yearn to relive those moments over and over again. The playfulness of the pun of body part fun transformed our boring car ride into a joyous adventure. As a parent, I had learned the power of naming food and getting my children to find eating proper food to be exciting. We imagined cauliflower as clouds and broccoli as trees, making mealtimes fun.
Our imagination is a wondrous gift, beneficial not only for the young but I also believe it keeps us all young at heart. With a touch of creativity, our attitudes can change our perspective, making mundane or challenging experiences joyous. The laughter Morgan and I shared during that car ride turned an otherwise tedious journey into a cherished memory. And thus, the idea for Munchpie Morgan and her delightful body parts was born.
Lior: The images by Kenneth Anderson are absolutely delightful. How did you and the illustrator connect, and can you share a bit about how the collaboration worked?
Merry: Kenneth Anderson is such a talented illustrator. He brought my thoughts to life in such a beautiful and delightful way. Nathan Bond/Fair Share Publishing gets all the credit for finding Kenneth. Nathan picked out Kenneth and introduced his art to me. We first received the character concept sketches from Kenneth, then my family and Nathan and I made sure we could not only give Morgan a distinct look, but we were able to have Kenneth add elements that are symbols of my niece's wardrobe from that time in her life. It adds an element of subtle authenticity and life to the character. It was such an interesting process to develop the book. We all live such distances apart that all communications were done by email, zoom meetings and phone calls. After we received the original sketches, these aforementioned characteristics were incorporated in a sequence from Publisher to Illustrator, then Publisher back to myself as the Author. Rinse and repeat.
Lior: What made you choose Fair Share for your first children’s book?
Merry: Fair Share has some remarkable ideas that harmonize perfectly with the dream myself and my family have had for over a decade. The forward thinking platform of Fair Share is one of the reasons why I felt we resonate so deeply. Myself and my son J.J. (who is also a creator and brand strategist) have always envisioned “Munchpie Morgan” as so much more than just a book! In the spirit which it began, so much of Munchpie has been a family affair. The creativity and enthusiasm and wellspring of ideas is shared throughout our family. My son has helped Nathan build a virtual world for children to explore and is even helping develop a video game that subtly helps children understand the impact of their food decisions. "Munchpie Morgan" will have an audio version online, lesson plans that Nathan's team are developing for educators, and is even connected to the world of digital collectibles and the blockchain. Many of Nathan's ideas are above my experience but I'm always happy when he shares his genius as I can't properly give all of his vision justice. Nathan's thoughts undoubtedly disrupt traditional publishing as it stands today and promise to give both authors and readers exciting new experiences.
I was introduced to Fair Share through my son J.J. Weinberg who had serendipitously met Nathan in New York City at the world's largest conference for NFTs. Nathan then told my son he was starting a children's book publishing company. My son was astonished and told Nathan that his mom had written a children's book that we'd been working on bringing to the world for over a decade. It wasn't until months later that J.J. submitted “Munchpie” to Nathan one late night without me even knowing it. The rest, as they say, is history!
I am profoundly humbled and grateful that such a beautiful memory is now a precious book. My greatest hope is that it will be held in little hands and hearts and bring smiles and memories to other families as fondly as it has for my own. My dream is that “Munchpie” can lead imaginations to fun, learning, laughter and the power of "pretending" to children and their parents alike.