Chrissy Metge is the author of the popular Max and His Big Imagination books. Amy’s Dreaming Adventures: The Enchanted Forest, is the first book of a new series.
Chrissy is also a sought-after animator producer/production manager, and she has worked on the successful blockbusters The Hobbit Trilogy, Ironman 3, Hunger Games 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Fast and Furious 7, Alvin and the Chipmunks 4, and Jungle Book, which won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Chrissy talks to NZ Booklovers about her new series of books.
Tell us a little about Amy’s Dreaming Adventures: The Enchanted Forest
Amy is a little girl who loves adventures. Every night her dreams take her to a magical place filled with mystical creatures and beautiful scenery.
Children love a bit of magic, fantasy and imagination. This series is to remind us not to grow up too quickly, lets dream, imagine, enjoy friendship and the hope that your dreaming adventures can be real.
What inspired you to write this book?
A few things, my nephew Max had his series of books and I really wanted to do one for my niece, who loves animals, and is a bit girly loving pink and pretty things and a few friends have had little girls and they also really want me to do a book for girls, plus I love dreams and a touch of magic so it was putting it all together.
What was your routine or process when writing this book?
With all my books I usually write the first draft pretty fast then the fine tuning and working through takes the longest, especially with this book to get the rhyming and beat exactly right needed an editor expert in this field to work through it with me. I also then tested the book at my sons daycare with his teachers there to make sure it reads out loud well for the kids to understand and is easy for the teachers to read it.
How did you collaborate with the illustrator?
I am lucky, this is my 5th book with my illustrator so we know each other really well now, the last 10% is always the hardest! We communicate all online.
What do you hope children will take from the book when they read it?
That its ok to dream and have dreams that may seem unreachable at the time, but anything really is possible!
What did you enjoy the most about writing this delightful picture book?
Everything! Seeing words in your head come to paper with illustrations is so rewarding and knowing in your heart it is the book you wanted to write is an incredible feeling!
What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?
A lovely dinner with my husband.
What is the favourite book you have read recently and why?
We recently got The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright for my son. What a great kids book with a great heartfelt message that even the smallest of us has the heart of a lion!
What’s next on the agenda for you?
I am hoping to bring some of my books to screen this year if I can, it would be amazing to see them come to life. Also collaborating with other talented authors out there. We will have a fantastic adventure novel for 8-12 year old children coming out in April called Elastic Island Adventures plus Max book 5 will come out later this year and there will be another Amy book in the mix definitely somewhere.
Plus I aim to be at as many markets as I can to get to this year for feedback on the books, its invaluable to hear what readers think about the books!
Duckling Publishing, RRP 29.99