Why write a book?

Written By Alanna Bamber

Young adult fiction is very close to my heart. I was a big reader when I was growing up, and a lot of my all-time favourite books  are from that genre. There was always something so special and magical for me about escaping into a story when I was younger. I also appreciate the lack of cynicism that’s often found in adult literature.

However, I really never intended to write a YA novel. My original idea for this project was to illustrate a children’s story book, and writing it was just step one of that process. But I realized while writing that what I wanted to convey could not fit within the confines of a children’s picture book. So I just decided to let the project be what it wanted to be: a novel (with illustrations). I’ve been at it since August of 2023 and the tentative title is “June and the Star”.

What it’s about

What I’ve been writing is very inspired by many of my favourite fantasy books I read growing up: The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, the Discworld Series, and various Neil Gaiman novels (especially Coraline and Stardust). What I’ve written so far is a tapestry of my favourite parts of all of these books, with details that are significant to me woven in throughout. 

The story follows a girl who is accidentally transported into a magical world. Like Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first character she meets is a villain who manipulates her into betraying others. She then must navigate a world filled with deception to rescue those she unintentionally betrayed.

The details that are personal to me relate to the characters and the setting:

  • The main character, June, is pretty similar to me when I was a child (although she’s braver). Her name I borrowed from my late grandmother, a very lovely and kind person. 

  • When I was in first or second grade, my teacher read the class “Sideways Stories from Wayside School”, but swapped character names for the names of the kids in our class. I always remembered how special it made me feel to be part of a book, so I decided to name one of the characters after my niece so she could feel special in that same way as well. 

  • I walk in the woods behind my building almost every day with my dog, Lulu. Many of the animal characters and much of the scenery are based on the flora and fauna we’ve encountered there: magpies, coyotes, deer, moose, birch trees, and wildflowers.

The bigger why

The most important reason for writing is that I believe kids today are growing up in a world that did not exist a few years ago. The widespread adoption of smartphones and social media has massively changed how we communicate and consume information. We all have had to try and navigate this new information landscape as best we can, but it’s not at all easy or straightforward.

It’s especially complicated because our attention has been monetized. It doesn’t matter if what we’re looking at is making us feel interested, happy, sad, angry, or outraged, the only thing that matters is that we continue to look.

Another consequence of this new landscape is that the options for where we get our information have multiplied exponentially. Because there is so much choice, we can select to listen only to the people who tell us exactly what we want to hear. 

We are constantly bombarded with sensationalized messages, often reinforcing a single, narrow viewpoint of the world. This, in my opinion, is a perfect recipe for ideological capture. It’s a minefield for anyone to navigate, but children are especially vulnerable.

I want to offer young readers a thoughtful perspective about why people believe what they believe. I aim to explore how to navigate a world filled with conflicting ideologies and the pressure to conform. My main character is thrust into a world she doesn’t understand and has to navigate her way through, figuring out who and what to believe and developing her own internal moral compass along the way. Through her journey, I am hoping to help the readers both empathize with those who they disagree with and think critically about the information they consume.


If you are interested in my creative journey and thoughts on storytelling, sign up for my monthly newsletter. I am planning on sending it out on the first of every month, and the content will include illustrations, excerpts from the book, or my thoughts on a topic. Next topic is Feminine Evil. Sign up if you don’t want to miss it :)

Alanna Bamber
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