Author Interview – Linda Hornberg – middle school non fiction

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Book Title:  Picture A Garden by Linda Hornberg
Category: Middle-Grade Non-Fiction (Ages 8-12), 160 pages
Genre: Children’s Non-Fiction. 
Publisher: Peanut Butter Publishing
​Publication Date: January 28, 2025.
Content Rating: G: Topics only include gardening and being outdoors. ​

What springs to mind when you hear the word GARDEN? Would it surprise you to learn that the world just outside your door is overflowing with art, science, humor, drama, intrigue, and colorful personalities? Nature has you surrounded. It’s time to come out with your hands gloved and your feet galoshed, ready to sow some spinach, pick a peony, mulch a maple, root a rose, graft a grape, stake a spruce, water a walnut, and hug a hemlock.

Set down your screens and take up your trowel.

Adventure awaits!

The stories inside this book are nearly all true. I have never actually seen a chorus line of worms decked out in feather boas, but I can guarantee that there are plenty of real-life larvae out there merrily chewing up the scenery. You can turn orange from eating too many carrots, and there really is a tiny plant island called a liverwart–although there probably are no tiny castaways living on it. Welcome to gardening for smarties. Never stop thinking, wondering, and digging, and you’ll never be bored. Have fun.​

Author Interview with Linda Hornberg

When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve been writing for as long as I can recall. Thinking on paper has always helped me sort things out. There is that constant inner dialogue going on, and one day I overcame my natural reluctance to share the chatter with the public. Picture a Garden is my first book length work to make it into print, and I’m still getting used to the idea of being an author. She muses, she dabbles, she scribbles and doodles, but how many books can she complete?

When not writing, what other hats do you wear? What do you do for fun?

My public hats include Emotional Animal Supporter. I have been a shelter volunteer, pet sitter, dog walker, cat piller, and foster kennel host. Some of those rescues and strays have suckered me into permanent adoption, and I live in a fur-coated, litter-sprinkled wonderland. I read to (and with) other people’s children, as a primary school reading coach. Adults have sat in rapt attention as I’ve read aloud ‘just one more story’ at my neighborhood book shop. I am an avid gardener, but, admittedly more energetic about it in the warmer months, as I get older. Seattle’s climate normally lends itself to year-round planting and maintenance, but our globally shared new normal is rendering the air too chilly for winter enthusiasm on my part.

What is your favorite genre to read? What about it draws you?

I’d like to think of myself as an equal opportunity reader, and I tend to have bookmarks in two or three wildly contrasting volumes at a time. Romance interests me the least, although I worked my way through Wuthering Heights last year, for the first time. I’m not sure I can recommend it. (Pity, because I’ve re-read Jane Eyre at least twice. Different Bronte— I’m aware.)  I read a considerable amount of nonfiction, and am essentially willing to try anything except sportswriting. I’m interested in learning! 

What is your vacation destination? Why?

Take me to any city with big museums. History, art, innovation, cultures; I can wander for hours. I was spoiled, as a child, by living in or near New York, Philly, Boston, Chicago; plenty of school trips took us to great museums. My grandfather worked in Washington D.C. for a few years, and we would spend entire school holidays at the Smithsonian. Teddy Roosevelt’s house was pretty cool, too, except for all of the trophy heads. (Cornelius Vanderbilt’s was creepy. Most of his specimens are floating in jars.) Keep your noisy amusement parks. Give me a musty old Institution! 

Who did you have in mind as you wrote this book?

Picture a Garden was largely adapted from a series of monthly children’s garden club newsletters I helped create during my twenty-five year tenure at West Seattle Nursery. It was popular with parents, as well, and I endeavored to educate as well as entertain. As one of a small handful of Master Gardeners and Certified Nursery Professionals on staff, I fielded questions across the horticultural spectrum. The book is my opportunity to expand the content, as well as my audience. 

As a former K-12 school librarian, I’d like to know your favorite children’s book.

That’s a tough one. I still maintain quite a collection. Arm in Arm, by Remy Charlip can be recognized as an influence in my drawing style. Another book my sisters and I regularly checked out of the public library was Rain Makes Applesauce, by Julian Scheer, illustrated by Marvin Bilek. I could study a single page for ages. I just learned there is a new, remastered edition of this absolute classic (still in print after sixty years!) 

Your advice to a child or teen who wants to be a writer?

Don’t worry about what anyone else is writing. Write about the things that interest you! Even if someone else comes up with a similar idea, you will season your work with your own, unique spark. I, for one, refuse to settle into any one genre. Experiment, jot down any and every idea, large or small, and don’t stress over finishing anything right away, unless it’s for an assignment. You are the first audience for your own writing. If you don’t care enough to re-read it, it’s not likely your reader will, either. Don’t become discouraged— I didn’t publish until I retired!

Thank you so much for joining us today. It is fun to learn more about the authors behind the book.

Views expressed in this interview/guest post do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog host.

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