Celebrate National Wombat Day with Laura Roettiger!

Hello, readers and writers, and charming wombats, too! We're in the midst of celebrating spooky season, and tomorrow just so happens to be National Wombat Day, so we decided to invite an adorable wombat to our Halloween Party! We have the wonderful Laura Roettiger with us today sharing a look at her and illustrator Debbie Palen's book, An Accidental Hero: A Mostly True Wombat Story. Laura's book follows a wombat who sees a brushfire raging out of control. In order to help all those in need of a shelter, Wombat comes up with the perfect solution. Filled with fun STEM facts, and inspired by true events, this book and interview can't be missed. Want to know more about Laura, her wickedly cute wombat friend, PLUS want to know if they've brought along a trick or a treat? Read on if you dare...

 Q: Hi, Laura. Thanks so much for joining us to celebrate a very important holiday - National Wombat Day!  We’re excited to hear everything about you and your mostly true picture book. Can you share a little bit about your background in writing?

A: Thank you for having me here to celebrate World Wombat Day! I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil and my love of story goes back to my mom reading to me as a child. I enjoyed a lot of creative writing in school, studied communications, advertising, and journalism before a career in banking. Yes, banking. Then I went back to school for a masters in teaching and reading which allowed me to use my creative writing skills with my students. I really enjoyed learning about writing for children as a teacher but in 2016 I began pursuing writing for publication and learning from wonderful kidlit creators. 

Q: In An Accidental Hero: A Mostly True Wombat Story, Wombat sees bushes raging with fire and steps in to help animals in need of a shelter by offering them a place to stay in her underground burrow. 

What a fascinating book!  Can you share more about the story and what inspired it?  What part of your book is true and how did you fill in the gaps with the other pieces?

In January, 2020 one of the biggest international news stories was the devastating bushfires in New South Wales, Australia. Day after day, the news felt overwhelming until I saw a story that showed rescuers found other animal species sheltering in wombat burrows. I knew this was a story that would make an engaging picture book. I knew children were seeing the scary reports and finally there was a good news angle to the story. {It was early 2020, before the global pandemic and resulting shutdowns took front and center on everyone’s minds.} I only wanted to include animals that were found in the burrow so that part is accurate. I’m a teacher so adding the extra layer of the newscast format allowed me to include the animals North American readers expect to see in a book set in Australia: kangaroos, koalas, and emus so the newscast format felt natural from the first draft. 

This is SO cool, thanks for sharing!

Q:  You have two blended STEM (fiction/non-fiction) books published - how exciting! Can you share more about your first book and what tips you have for those writers who are looking to write blended fiction/non-fiction?

A: Thanks for asking. I find informational fiction is a sweet spot for me in writing and teaching. John Schu has a book, THE GIFT OF STORY, which explains why many people learn and remember information better when there’s a story woven with the facts. There’s a lot of nonfiction that’s written that way too, but so far I’ve been more successful with having a bit more freedom to be creative. My writing is always informed by my teaching and how I can add different entry points for readers and cross curricular opportunities for teachers. I often look at a manuscript and consider ways it works with published books, lessons I’ve created, how it will work for a school visit presentation … This is my target audience.

Q: What has been the most gratifying thing about being an author?

A: There have been so many wonderful moments connecting with incredibly talented people in the writing community, seeing complete strangers tell me they love my books, story times and school visits, glowing reviews, seeing pictures of children dressed up as Aliana for the Storybook Character Parade at their school … All of those things have been amazing and continue to fill my heart to overflowing.  But if I have to choose one memory, it would be a presentation I did at the Chicago Public Library in October, 2022 with Aliana Reaches for the Moon (before An Accidental Hero: A Mostly True Wombat Story came out) and the two girls who had been my first graders in 2015-2016 and inspired the name Aliana were in the audience. One of them I’d stayed in touch with over the years, but the other one I hadn’t seen since 2016. In my slideshow there’s a photo of the three of us when they’re in first grade when I talk about my inspiration for the book. Watching their faces see themselves on the screen … It was a magical moment. They came up to take a picture with me which is now part of my presentations. I think it’s important for children to know they have an impact on us just as much as we are making a difference in their lives as teachers and authors. 

Q: What tips do you have for those looking to add compelling backmatter to their story?

A: I love books with back matter. The most important thing to remember about back matter is the book needs to stand on its own without it. There needs to be enough information threaded through the story that it works without reading the back matter. Depending on the book, it serves as a wonderful supplement for the adult reader (parent, teacher, caregiver) or older child to expand their knowledge of the subject or acts as a springboard to whet their appetite for learning more about a topic. 

Q: BONUS QUESTION: What’s Wombat’s favorite candy? And what costume would they choose for Halloween (because I'm going to try to photoshop Wombat into a cute costume!)?

A: Wombats are vegans and love corn, so I’ll say Candy Corn would be their favorite candy or any candy like that.

Wombat should dress as a superhero (fitting for the book) and something with a cape would be amazing, thank you!

Love it, Laura! And what do you think, Readers? Do you think Wombat makes a great superhero?

Q: Would you like to offer a trick or a treat for our readers?

A: Definitely a treat! I am happy to offer a copy of AN ACCIDENTAL HERO: A MOSTLY TRUE WOMBAT STORY or a 30-minute AMA Zoom!

Whoa - thanks for such a sweet treat! And thanks again for stopping by - it was a pleasure having you both!

Giveaway Details: Readers, to enter to win this sweet treat 1) share this post on social media and 2) leave a comment below to thank Laura and Wombat for stopping by. Wombat or Halloween GIFs are totally appreciated, too!

Winners for the Trick-or-Treat event will be announced on 10/25, so make sure to enter!

Books will be shipped in the US only.

Note: Those who leave a comment on all posts will be eligible to win one (1) of ten (5) Rate Your Story Speed Passes, perfect for quick MS feedback, provided by Agent Mentee Lynne Marie & Author Heather Macht.

About Laura Roettiger

Bio: Laura Roettiger is a reading specialist and award-winning elementary teacher from Chicago, IL who weaves her passion for STEM learning and fostering kindness into stories for children. Her roots in Chicago remain deep but now her home and heart are firmly settled in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with her Goldendoodle Charlie. After moving to Colorado, Laura focused on writing for children, working in environmental education, and mentoring new teachers at a STEM school. 

Laura is the author of two books, AN ACCIDENTAL HERO: A MOSTLY TRUE WOMBAT STORY, a picture book told in the form of a newscast which skillfully balances the serious subject of forest fires with compassion and humor to help children navigate this important topic through the real events of 2020 and helping others. Extensive back matter about Australian animals and forest fires make this book perfect for educational settings. ALIANA REACHES FOR THE MOON, a picture book that draws inspiration from the moon and the natural curiosity of children invites readers to be creative, explore, and experiment.

Laura combines her enthusiasm for helping others with the knowledge and experience she’s gained along the way. This is most recently evidenced in her co-creating the promotion group https://picturebookgold.wixsite.com/website

For more about Laura, check out the below links:

X: Laura Roettiger on Twitter

FB: Laura Roettiger on Facebook

IG: Laura Roettiger on Instagram

BSKY: Laura Roettiger on Bluesky

Website: https://lauraroettigerbooks.com/

To purchase Laura's books on Amazon or to leave a review for them, click here.

---

A special thanks to David Rodriguez Lorenzo for the amazing custom-signatures!