Mom’s Choice Awards is excited to announce another post in our interview series where we chat with the inventors, designers, publishers, and others behind some of our favorite family-friendly products.
Welcome, Mom’s Choice readers! For today’s interview, we spoke with Jodi Meltzer, multiple MCA award-winner and most recently author of Your Face Lights up the World, a book for young people about self-esteem. Jodi has written for numerous publications, including HuffPost and Thrive Global, and she got her start as a television anchor/reporter. Her latest tale—a powerfully written and distinctively illustrated book—explores themes of self-esteem, sibling rivalry, and jealousy with flair, whisking kids off on an unforgettable journey toward self-acceptance. Complete with journal pages to capture renewed feelings of confidence, this inspirational book will help kids see themselves in a new light. It’s geared toward young readers, aged 4-8, but will appeal to those who are slightly younger or older than that range.
MCA: Jodi, thanks so much for joining us again today. What have you been up to since you interviewed with us for your earlier book, Goodnight Star, Whoever You Are?
I wish I could say I ran a marathon, but I only run if I am chased! (And then I am pretty quick.) Since we last connected, I contributed to some fun pieces on HuffPost; explored the picturesque, pristine corners of Alaska with my love; choked back tears as I dropped my son off on his first day of high school; attended some incredible concerts in several states; wasted copious amounts of time snuggling my high anxiety rescue dog during true crime documentaries; and wrote Your Face Lights up the World. That’s the CliffsNotes version, at least.
MCA: Sounds like you’ve been incredibly busy. In Your Face Lights up the World, it sounds like you’ve tackled other difficult topics for children—including sibling rivalry, jealousy, and critically important self-esteem. What was your inspiration for writing this book?
When I sat down to write Your Face Lights up the World, I didn’t have an angle or an outline. I just started writing. Intrinsically, this is the story I wanted to tell. If I had approached this title with writing fundamentals in mind and boxed myself in with an outline, I don’t know if these characters would have emerged. Harper and Hunter were developed through a journey of creative chaos and self-discovery.
Writing Your Face Lights up the World was such a liberating process. I let my imagination take me where it wanted to go without parameters, a key differentiator from my previous books, When You Lived in My Belly and Goodnight Star, Whoever You Are. Both of those titles were written with clear outlines and inspired by grief.
MCA: Is the new title part of a series, then?
We’ll have to see how Your Face Lights up the World is received. If awards and buzz are indicators, it could very well be a series. A recipient of a Gold Mom’s Choice Award, Gold Literary Titan Award, and Gold Readers’ Favorite Award prepublication, Your Face Lights up the World is currently a No. 1 New Release on Amazon. I can’t wait to get it in the hands of young readers on October 15!
MCA: For those who haven’t seen your earlier interview, won’t you tell us what your path to becoming an author was like?
I knew I had to write a children’s book after my beloved mom died of ovarian cancer. We were always inseparable, but the countless hours I spent as her sole caregiver made us even closer.
It was during that time she told me her dream was to write a children’s book. She didn’t live to take that first step, so I had to take it for her. The only problem was I was overwhelmed by grief and struggled to come up with an idea.
Thankfully, my son—who was four at the time—is an inquisitive child. It seemed like he was clocking one million questions a minute at that age, and one of them instantly cured my writer’s block.
“Mom, what was it like when I lived in your belly?” What a question! It’s one every child asks at some point.
When You Lived in My Belly—also a Gold Mom’s Choice Award winner—is a keepsake that features kid-friendly descriptions of the developmental milestones babies reach in utero, coupled with the corresponding physical and emotional changes experienced by moms. It gives kids a glimpse into a past they can’t remember and takes moms back to a time they will never forget. It did pretty well sales-wise, so I was encouraged to write Goodnight Star, Whoever You Are.
Prior to motherhood, I worked on two films in Boston, for the syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition in New York City, and in Burlington, Vermont, as a television anchor/reporter, among other positions. I was all over the place, working endlessly and tirelessly to get ahead. When I decided it was finally time to get pregnant at age 37, I shifted my career accordingly. I knew I would only have one biological child, and I wanted to take a couple of years off to be a mom.
The only problem was my mind never fully got on board with my plan. I always say I am so grateful there are no thought bubbles above my head because my internal banter is quite colorful.
Even exhausted, I wasn’t the type who could sleep when my baby slept. A master multitasker, I’d pen funny stories and brilliant mom tips—filing my baby’s nails on the “Daddy’s scratchy face” page of his Pat the Bunny book, for example. I decided I wanted to write about my experience as a mom … not in terms of logging feeding times (I was the worst at tracking that type of information), but how this new gig swallowed me whole.
I decided to launch a blog, Mommy Dish, and I gained some traction. Turns out there are quite a few moms who are unapologetically themselves, fluent in sarcasm, and unafraid to admit they’re hanging by the thinnest of threads. They are my people. I found them through writing.
As my readership grew, I was invited to guest post on other sites, boosting my credibility. I started pitching stories to large publications and websites to keep getting my name out there. My first big hit was a piece I wrote after the Boston Marathon bombing called “We Are Boston.” A viral post I penned for HuffPost followed shortly thereafter, “Top Ten Rules for Dating a Single or Divorced Mom.”
Now, I write for both adults and children.
MCA: What is the key lesson found Your Face Lights up the World?
Your Face Lights up the World is a book I needed to read when I was a young girl. I had conflicting feelings about the spray of freckles that appeared on my face during the summer. One day, I embraced them. The next, I tried to scrub them off. I was all over the place, with pangs of jealousy over a friend’s porcelain skin. Alternatively, I envied another friend’s beautiful face full of freckles. I just didn’t feel that comfortable in my skin, which is something I still struggle with at times, though I have made significant strides at age 51!
Your Face Lights up the World addresses self-acceptance, a timeless issue we all grapple with as we are coming of age and beyond. It encourages kids to see their own individual beauty, to embrace perceived flaws, and to learn to love themselves. It also touches on themes of jealousy and sibling rivalry, making them reexamine the dynamic, the root cause of teasing, and conflict resolution.
MCA: What about lessons found in your other books?
Goodnight Star, Whoever You Are teaches the reader many lessons. Chief among them are kindness, empathy, and connectivity. Some crippling pain is invisible, but those in the throes of it deserve understanding and compassion. In my opinion, is our collective responsibility as parents to raise humans who support other humans, to leave this world a better place than we experienced it.
It is my sincere hope that increasing awareness and understanding of childhood grief will spare other kids some insensitive and unkind remarks that stung both of my children during their formative years.
When You Lived in My Belly teaches children to celebrate who they are and where they came from. It’s a story that not only educates children about the pregnancy journey but also reinforces the eternal bond and love they share with their mom.
MCA: Can you share any memorable feedback from readers that have touched you or reinforced the impact of your work?
At a book event, I had a child tell me he reads Goodnight Star, Whoever You Are to his deceased brother at his gravesite. I will never forget his face or his story. I’ve also had parents tell me their children read the book every night for comfort. Grief therapists and organizations inform me fairly regularly that they rely on it as a treasured resource.
I had a reader tell me her teenage son insists on reading When You Lived in My Belly every year on his birthday! One year, she was on a business trip, and he insisted they maintain tradition via Zoom. Others have shared it’s the one book their child wants to read over and over because it incites such moving and meaningful conversations.
These are just a few examples of why writers write … at least this writer. It’s why I write.
I will keep contributing to publications such as HuffPost, working on my memoir, and brainstorming about my next children’s book. I never stop writing or dreaming!
MCA: Such poignant, heartwarming feedback from readers you’ve clearly touched. Thanks so much for joining us today, Jodi. We can’t wait to see the next book you come up with!
You can learn more about Jodi Meltzer and her award-winning book, Your Face Lights up the World, by visiting her MCA Shop page.
