What if you could actually taste your words?
Part 1 of an interview with Bonnie Clark,
Author of Taste Your
Words
Clark tells the story of young Amera who is having a
bad day. Amera’s best friend, Maddie, ruined her cupcake by accident, and they
both say mean things. When Amera brings her bad mood home with her, her mom
tells her to “taste her words.” Amera’s mean words taste like rotten eggs,
spoiled milk, and lemons! As she realizes that her mean words make her feel bad
and others feel worse, she starts saying the kindest, sweetest words she can
find.
When Amera notices the difference in the words she
uses, her attitude changes, and the whole day starts to turn around. The next
day, she greets Maddie with sweet tasting words and an apology. By sharing
kind, yummy words everywhere she goes, Amera’s day goes much better than the
one before. “I’m sorry.” “I’ll help.” “I love you.” The words taste better and
better, like cherries, bananas, ice cream and chocolate.
Q: Tell us a
little bit about your new book, Taste Your Words.
Taste Your
Words is a flavorfully fun picture book
about speaking kind words. In the story, the main character exchanges mean
names with her best friend and when she comes home upset, her mom gives her
some advice: “Taste your words.” Through a series of yucky events, Amera
discovers that unkind words taste gross—like spoiled milk and rotten eggs! When
she finally realizes that it’s her poor choice of words that are leaving
unpleasant tastes in her mouth, she makes an important choice to speak kindly.
From then on, Amera decides to use her palatable power for good and make the
world a sweeter place one kind word at a time.
Animator
Todd Bright knocked the illustrations out of the park! Each imaginative and
colorful spread pulls the reader/listener into the story and helps them feel
and see what the main character is experiencing.
Everyone!
Kidding. Sort of. The book is geared towards five-to-eight-year olds, but I’ve
heard positive reviews from three-year-olds and twelve-year-olds! The concept of bad flavors being tied to unkind words and
good flavors being tied to kind words is something that kids understand very
quickly. There is also mention of adults tasting their words, too, which was
important to me to include. We could all use the advice to “taste your
words.”
The idea for Taste Your Words originated with my children when they were much
smaller and learning how to use their words to communicate. Inspired by
Proverbs 16:24, I would tell them to taste their words before they let them out
of their mouth. The idea that we could taste our words was fun, and I was
surprised at how quickly they understood the concept. There are few things that
kids really understand, and one is food, especially sweet treats. It became a
game in our home to politely encourage each other to taste our words. (The whole
family needs reminding!) I thought that if my kids can get it, then other kids
might also like the idea of tasting your words and choosing sweet kind ones.
Q: The main
character in the book, Amera, is named after one of your children. Is there a
backstory about your own daughter that inspired the book?
Amera is my youngest daughter’s name, but there isn’t a
backstory specifically involving her. However, I had no idea that the book
character would necessarily look or act like my Amera. Lucky for me, my stepbrother
is the illustrator, and although the main character is his creation, I think he
intentionally illustrated her to resemble my daughter. It was a sweet surprise.
Now when I read the story, I totally think of my Amera. She has a very
spunky and expressive personality, and even her body type and face look like
the character! How many second graders can come to school dressed as themselves
for Book Character Day?
Q: What important
lessons does Amera learn about talking to friends and family, especially when
having a hard day?
The
biggest is kindness. We can never have too much
discussion about being kind to each other, starting with our words. We may not
be able to control our circumstances or what others say to us, but we can
always choose to be kind and considerate.
One
discussion point that I hope others will notice is the ripple effect of words.
Amera has a bad day at school and, when she comes home, she takes it out on her
little brother! Sometimes that happens. So, when someone says something unkind
to you, it may just be that someone has recently (or repeatedly) been unkind to
them! We can stop the cycle and choose our words carefully. The opposite is
also true: Kindness is contagious!
Q: Have you ever
found yourself in a parenting experience where you had to take a moment to
taste your words?
Yes! Just ask my kids! Seriously, this why I included the
mom tasting her words in the story. The message
is for all of us, perhaps adults especially! I get reminded as much as they do
to taste my words. I think the close quarters of quarantine and navigating
homeschool have certainly added to the family stress. But I do think that the
idea of tasting our words has been a fun way to talk about and understand the
importance of speaking kindly. I can definitely appreciate their teasing, and
if I can dish it out, I can take it!
Q: What are your
personal favorite and least favorite tastes?
Ah! I love chocolate of course, but my favorite flavor from
the book is caramel. I can eat it on anything or just by itself! Actually, an interesting fact from a book
creation aspect is that the initial manuscript was a little too sweet so to speak.
There were a lot more candy flavors, and there was concern that that would not
be well received by health-conscience parents and professionals. (A valid
concern!) So, with that feedback, the team added in more fruit! After all,
fruit is sweet, delicious and healthy! One example of a change that was made is
in the caramel spread. Instead of ooey-gooey caramel blocks, dipped-apples and
popcorn were added!
Q: Where can our
audience find out more about you and your books?
You can find out more about me and my books on my website, bonnieclarkbooks.com.
There you can sign up for my newsletter
to stay up-to-date on any book news and events. If you are an educator or
parent, you will find color pages and activities that go along with Taste Your Words under the “Fun Stuff”
tab. There are discussion questions, a kindness activity and even a Mad Lib.
I also created
a YouTube channel for my readings of Taste Your Words, including the American
Sign Language version and the #TasteYourWordsChallenge. Go to YouTube and
search for Bonnie Clark Books.
You can also find me on Facebook
(Bonnie Clark Author), Twitter (@bonclark), and Instagram
(@bonnieclarkbooks).
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