{"id":12919,"date":"2023-08-08T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=12919"},"modified":"2023-08-08T10:15:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T14:15:36","slug":"tap-into-your-inner-child-with-this-alumnas-three-new-picture-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2023\/08\/08\/tap-into-your-inner-child-with-this-alumnas-three-new-picture-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Tap Into Your Inner Child With This Alumna&#8217;s Three New Picture Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get to know author Alexandra Dean \u201907 Hinrichs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"842\" src=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/LobsterLady_CVR-1024x842.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"12923\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/LobsterLady_CVR.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?attachment_id=12923\" class=\"wp-image-12923\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/LobsterLady_CVR-1024x842.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/LobsterLady_CVR-300x247.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/LobsterLady_CVR-768x631.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/LobsterLady_CVR.jpg 1168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"12924\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?attachment_id=12924\" class=\"wp-image-12924\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1.jpg 960w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/pocket_book_cvr-1-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"12922\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?attachment_id=12922\" class=\"wp-image-12922\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr.jpg 960w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/I_AM_MADE_OF_MOUNTAINS_final_cvr-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An unusual local news story aired in Maine, in July 2021. It told the tale of Virginia Oliver, a native Mainer with curly gray hair, red lipstick, and a twinkle in her eye. At 101, she was the oldest lobster trapper in the state and had no plans to retire from the open sea.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the many viewers of the documentary special was Alexandra Dean \u201907 Hinrichs, a children\u2019s book author always hungry for a new idea. Immediately struck with inspiration, Hinrichs tracked down Oliver\u2019s phone number and dialed. \u201cI met her the very next day and we sat down for four hours,\u201d Hinrichs recalls.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That conversation evolved into <em>The Lobster Lady <\/em>(Charlesbridge, 2023), which covers Oliver\u2019s 93 years spent lobster trapping, mixed with anecdotes about her life growing up on her family\u2019s island off the coast of Maine. Hinrichs serendipitously stumbled upon a Maine illustrator, Jamie Hogan, while scrolling through Instagram during the book\u2019s development. They combined forces to create a book through which children ages 5\u20138 can learn the determination and passion it takes to catch&nbsp;crustaceans as a centenarian.<br><br> <em>The Lobster Lady\u2019s <\/em>summer release&nbsp;date isn\u2019t the only item on Hinrichs\u2019 agenda \u2014 it\u2019s one of three books the Colgate French\/history major is releasing this year. <em>I Am Made of Mountains <\/em>(Charlesbridge, 2023) is a lyrical picture book exploring America\u2019s National Parks, and <em>The Pocket Book <\/em>(Cameron Kids, 2023) details the little stories of the items we put in our pockets day-to-day. This recent uptick in book publishing is in part due to COVID-19 delays, and in part because Hinrichs has dedicated more of her time to writing in recent years (she spends her days as a children\u2019s librarian).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/Virginia-Oliver.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/Virginia-Oliver.jpg 640w, https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/Virginia-Oliver-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hinrichs\u2019 journey to becoming a children\u2019s book author began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While earning her dual master\u2019s degrees in library and information studies and history, she took children\u2019s literature courses and studied the history&nbsp;of childhood. She\u2019d always had an interest in writing for children, but didn\u2019t know how to make it happen. That is, until she took a part-time job at American Girl as a historical&nbsp;researcher. \u201cThat really taught me about the children\u2019s publishing world because I was seeing books go from an outline form through to a published book, and I was working with editors and art directors and authors and illustrators,\u201d Hinrichs says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When she moved to Maine for her husband\u2019s (Brian \u201907) new role as the executive director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Hinrichs\u2019 American Girl supervisor connected her with an editor at the Getty Museum, who commissioned her to write her first book, <em>Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Makes a Tapestry <\/em>(J. Paul Getty Museum, 2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was a lot of work and there were a lot of obstacles along the way,\u201d Hinrichs says of forging her path to children\u2019s book writing. Even today she searches for pockets of time to write outside of her full-time job \u2014 though she\u2019ll have a bit extra during an upcoming, yearlong leave of absence from the library. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as Oliver has with lobster catching, Hinrichs has found her life\u2019s work: creating imaginative worlds for children to experience through her books.<br> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alexandra Dean \u201907 Hinrichs is releasing three children&#8217;s books this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1222,"featured_media":13139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[684,729,1716,886,165],"coauthors":[168],"class_list":["post-12919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-author","tag-book","tag-book-publishing","tag-french","tag-history"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3mn","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/08\/IMG_7736.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12919"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12947,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12919\/revisions\/12947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12919"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}