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White Rock author’s children’s books inspired by lived experience

It’s an old saw often quoted to the literary novice: Write what you know.

But it has worked wonders for Sherry McMillan, whose latest book, My S’s Are Messes was children’s literature winner in the 2024 Canadian Book Club Awards – the largest readers’ choice awards in the country – announced early this year.

The White Rock author’s current career as a writer of children’s books has come about directly from lived experience – including a moment of magical epiphany.

The life-changing experience that set her on a new and successful course took place in 2020.

McMillan – who admits she had been a frustrated writer for years while working in the technology field – was paddling her kayak in Semiahmoo Bay.

“I bought it during the pandemic,” she explained. “I usually kayak alone. I’ve found it a great relief for stress – something I do for ‘me’ time.”

She was at the westernmost end of Semiahmoo Bay, towards Crescent Beach, when something broke the water in front of her.

Suddenly she found that she was looking directly into the face of a seal – she’d never seen one so close before. Just as startlingly, she saw that the seal was looking right back at her with equal interest.

It was what McMillan describes as one of her “lightbulb moments of empathy” – a sense of kinship with another creature, and, by extension, all of nature.

McMillan, who said she had accumulated a closetful of unpublished manuscripts – novels, song lyrics and poems – over the years, had recently had advice that writing books for children was a good path toward publication.

That, plus her love of crafting poetry and the inspiration of her encounter with the seal quickly fused into a new project – a book that would both help children develop an appreciation of nature and would celebrate the wildlife McMillan was discovering daily near the shores of her home town.

To create the right visual elements to accompany her rhyming text she called on a childhood friend, Carla Maskall, who had become an award-winning artist (her mural can be seen adorning Crescent Beach’s iconic Sunflower Café).

The result was What The Seal Saw – literally a seal’s-eye view of life in the bay – in which Maskall’s charming illustrations formed the perfect counterpart for McMillan’s poetic text and empathetic, upbeat outlook.

Since its publication in October of 2021 through Friesen Press, it has been a bestseller on Amazon.ca, at Black Bond Books and at Indigo/Chapters, where it became one of ‘Heather’s Picks,’ a select list of 10 outstanding books per year chosen by CEO Heather Reisman.

The success spawned a land-based sequel, What The Raccoon Saw (also illustrated by Maskall) in what McMillan terms their ‘Naturally Curious’ series (a third volume, still under wraps, is currently being readied for publication by the collaborators).

But McMillan’s latest book, My S’s Are Messes, while a departure from the others, still hews to her mission statement “To nurture a love of nature and language in little ones with big imaginations.”

Again featuring the bright and imaginative imagery of Maskall, the book is aimed at children with speech differences – by someone who knows all too well what that is like.

It’s the kind of positive, uplifting book McMillan wished she’d had as a child growing up with speech differences, something written by somebody who understood, and could take the fact and make it, rather than a source of shame, a source of fun – even including some tongue-twisters.

McMillan pointed out that some 40 per cent of us will have some kind of communication challenge at some point in our lives – and for many that happens during childhood.

Speech differences or delays (which used, in less-enlightened times to be referred to as “speech impediments”) can include lisping, stuttering, articulation challenges or differences related to ADHD, ASD (autism), apraxia and more.

“I’m among five per cent of the population who have permanent speech challenges,”  said the author, who was born in New Westminster and raised in Langley and lived for years in Burnaby before she and husband moved to White Rock some 10 years ago.

“As a child I was pulled out of classes to go to a speech therapist (the preferred term today is speech pathologist) and embarrassed in front of my peers. The therapist would record my voice, which was also embarrassing. 

“Everything about my speech challenges felt heavy. Even when people were well-intentioned and wanted to help and encourage me, I felt alone and pressured.”

McMillan said she started thinking about the book when she discovered that speech pathologists were recommending What The Seal Saw to the children they were working with.

She reflected on the fact that even later in life, working in a field that involved video calls (even before the pandemic) she had learned to discipline herself to participate, even though it is still a source of stress.

Investigating the existing literature, she realized that there was a need for a book aimed at children learning to live with their speech differences.

“There were no other books like it – certainly none written by somebody with personal experience of a speech difference.” 

Maskall also had a personal stake in the book as the parent of a child with a speech difference, and McMillan noted that the book has also proven important in helping parents and other relatives gain understanding of the issue. 

“For My S’s Are Messes, I had to go on an internal journey – what does this feel like; what am I really trying to say,” McMillan commented.

“I tried to describe the experience authentically. One thing I tried not to do was become didactic – I just write poetry, and it’s wonderful to see children reading it for themselves.”

McMillan’s kayaking not only helped provide the inspiration for What The Seal Saw – it’s also become an important part of her creative process.

“There’s something about the rhythm of kayaking that’s conducive to poetry,” McMillan said.

“I have a voice-recorder with me and I will speak out what I’m writing to make sure that it’s as clear and simple to read as I can make it. I usually manage one verse for each kayak trip, and much of it will be about what I’ve seen.”

Book To Screen: 12 Adaptations To Watch Out For

It’s a bumper year for book to screen adaptations …

Mary Shelley is having a moment with two adaptations of her Gothic novel Frankenstein, originally published in 1818. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s version is called The Bride and stars Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale.

Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein (his favourite novel) is coming to Netflix in November with Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaacs, Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz. Fun fact: Shelley wrote the legendary story when she was just 19-years-old!

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is regarded as one of the greatest Italian novels of the 20th century, which is now available to watch on Netflix. Billed as an historical drama, it’s set in Sicily during the Risorgimento of the 1860s when Giuseppe Garibaldi, the leader of the Redshirts, swept through the island with his proletarian army known as the Thousand.

Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie have been waiting for over fifty years for this adaptation – the first since the original 1970s TV series starring Michael Landon in the role of Pa and Melissa Gilbert as Laura. The original will be a difficult act to follow, but I predict an uptick in #cottagecore décor and fashion this summer.

Our collective appetite for crime knows no bounds, running the whole gamut from police procedurals to psychological thrillers such as The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Set on a luxury cruise liner travelling through the Norwegian fjords, it stars British starlet Keira Knightley, so will be one to watch.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore appeared on Barack Obama’s best books of the year when it was published in 2020. Amanda Seyfried stars in the adaptation as a cop in Philadelphia where an opioid crisis precipitates a series of murders. Seyfried also stars in the much-anticipated The Housemaid, originally written by Freida McFadden. Read an exclusive interview with the author of the novels here.

So-called “cosy crime” is a huge trend that tends to divide opinion. Are they brilliant or just too twee? Fans will no doubt enjoy an adaptation of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club starring an incredible ensemble including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Celia Imrie and David Tennant.

For devotees of Irish crime writer Andrea Mara, a film adaptation of her page turning thriller, All Her Fault, starring Succession‘s Sarah Snook, Jake Lacy and  Michael Peña will premier soon. Also in the works are adaptations of books by a trio of my favourite crime writers: Lisa Jewell (None of This Is True and Then She Was Gone), Fiona Macintosh (The Pearl Thief), and Alafair Burke’s The Better Sister with Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks.

And if you haven’t seen it yet, Apple Cider Vinegar is based on the non-fiction book The Woman Who Fooled the World by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano. It relates how an Australian influencer, Belle Gibson, faked a cancer battle for followers and built an empire based on a lie … it certainly had THE GLOSS team talking!

Fans of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, a fictional story about William Shakespeare, will be eager to see Paul Mescal star as the young playwright alongside Jessie Buckley, as his wife. Directed by Chloé Zhao, Joe Alwyn (Taylor Swift’s ex-husband) is also in the cast, which seems like an unusual choice. If you haven’t read it a real treasure awaits, but be advised to keep tissues at hand.

A Dolly Alderton adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is heading for Netflix and The Other Bennet Sister, a fresh spin on Mary (the awkward, preachy sister) which has been adapted from Janice Hadlow’s book is in the works. These should nicely fill the break in Bridgerton transmission (based on Julia Quinn’s Regency romance novels) with season 4 out later this year starring our favourite, Nicola Coughlan.

There’s also a new series based on a Harlan Coben book coming to Netflix, Run Away, with James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones and Minnie Driver. It’s bound to be another hit following his success with Missing You, Fool Me Once and Gone for Good, among others.

Finally, for Marian Keyes fans her bestselling novel Grown Ups is being filmed this year to launch in 2026. Jamie Dornan will play identical twins in the series, which should be interesting!

SEE MORE: How To Celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th Anniversary