The Girl Who Swallowed the Sun

September 11, 2011 by elliottzetta

Ten years ago I was in Athens, OH. I won a dissertation fellowship at Ohio University, and had moved there about a week before 9/11. On that sunny morning I had gone for a run and when I returned to my campus apartment, my sister called from Toronto and frantically told me to turn on the TV. As I watched footage of the planes hitting the Twin Towers she kept saying, “It’s over! It’s over! You don’t understand—they’ve already fallen.” I finally hung up and tried to grasp what was happening—what had already happened—in the beloved city I had chosen as my home. I remember feeling very isolated in the weeks following 9/11; I wasn’t teaching, I wasn’t taking classes. I spent most of my days alone in my apartment—writing. Not my dissertation (on depictions of racial violence). I reread The Little Prince and immersed myself in stories for children. By November I was able to write this story, which has been rejected over and over by editors and won’t likely be published now. I think maybe today’s the right day to post it here on the blog. [ETA: I’ve decided to self-publish The Girl Who Swallowed the Sun so I’m taking it down from the blog.]

Posted in 9/11, children's literature | 13 Comments

13 Responses

on September 11, 2011 at 3:58 pm | Reply Edi

“It’s going to take some time,” said Mama, “but I think everything’s going to be alright.” in so many, many ways!
on September 11, 2011 at 4:02 pm | Reply rhapsodyinbooks

OMG, that is so good! I can’t believe that was rejected. I have to tell you I reviewed the most awful kids book for 9/11, and refused even to put it on my blog because it was so amateurish and bad. I think that now, publishers are taking *anything* for kids on 9/11. Maybe it’s time to try again! You and Shadra could make the sun come out again!!!
on September 11, 2011 at 4:38 pm | Reply amymckie

Wow, such a fantastic and emotional story. Thank you so much.
on September 11, 2011 at 5:36 pm | Reply SundayMorningReads | Crazy Quilts

[…] Taria shares a list of 9/11 books while Zetta shares her 9/11 children’s story. […]
on September 11, 2011 at 6:02 pm | Reply dacysmile

Your essay touched me. It was hard for me to read through the tears at one point and when i tried to wipe my eyes to continue reading they burned because silly me forgot i was making jerk chicken and now my eyes are on fire.
This was/is a great essay and the people who rejected it will regret it one day. I think you should still try to get it published.
on September 11, 2011 at 7:05 pm | Reply shellie

Beautiful
on September 11, 2011 at 7:06 pm | Reply shellie

Beautiful!
on September 12, 2011 at 4:03 am | Reply Lyn Miller-Lachmann

What a beautiful story! Thank you for posting it. Would you consider publishing it as a short story on Amazon?
on September 12, 2011 at 3:18 pm | Reply elliottzetta

Thanks for taking the time to read my story, everyone–and for the encouragement. How many 9/11 picture books feature children of color? I just had another story, Munecas, rejected—the reason this time was that the market for it is “too small.” And that’s a story about Latino boys who make dolls. This story, to me, needs illustrations so I don’t think I’d publish it as an Amazon Single. Hiring a professional illustrator is VERY expensive…my dream artist for this book is Brian Collier…so for now the story will just live here on the blog.
on September 12, 2011 at 11:46 pm | Reply Niranjana

Lovely. I will never understand how the minds of publishers work.
on September 13, 2011 at 12:52 pm | Reply shellie

I do understand how their minds work, the intent is to make money. As long as people of color are perceived as non-readers, we’ll continue to have this kind of attitude. Of course, people of color do read. I think the problem comes in marketing. We can’t read what we don’t know is out there. I have ask my local bookstore so many times to create an area just for their books by and for poc, but to no avail.

I found your blog while doing a Google search for a list of published poc books. Thank you Zetta!

In the mean finding publishers who are willing to invest marketing resources in books with poc characters remains a problem.
on September 13, 2011 at 6:10 pm | Reply navjot

I could feel the sun being released back into the sky – such a beautiful story, Zetta! It deserves to be published some day soon – I’ll buy the first copy:)
on September 14, 2011 at 12:54 am | Reply elliottzetta

Glad you found us, Shellie! Everyone who left a comment on this post is committed to seeing greater equity and diversity in children’s publishing. A big part of the problem is the fact that the publishing industry is 99% white–so they lack the motivation and the personnel that would enable them to DEVELOP markets within communities of color. The Latino market is HUGE in this country, but publishers don’t have Latinos on staff and they don’t want to transform their existing business model–which puts that untapped market out of reach (out of sight, out of mind). You’re right–marketing matters. I do think we have to develop better book-buying habits in our communities. We have to buy the books that ARE getting published if we want publishers to take a chance and publish more titles. The alternative is to start an independent press, which is what Navjot did–do check out Saffron Press. http://www.saffronpress.com/