Birth Stories for Books, JUST LIKE CLICK, by Sandy Grubb

Back in October 2018, I started a blog series called, Birth Stories for Books, Posts About Paths to Publication from Published Authors and Illustrators. My first post featured Oregon author, Jody J. Little, and her debut middle grade novel, Mostly the Honest Truth.

Fast forward six years later (! -- I hadn't realized I'd been doing these features for that long!), and I received a message from fellow SCBWI-Oregon member, Sandy Grubb, sharing the good news of her debut middle grade novel, JUST LIKE CLICK. Sandy and Jody are longtime critique partners, which is how Sandy became familiar with my blog series (I love these kinds of connections!) 

by Sandy Grubb

Anyhow, Sandy goes on to congratulate me about receiving the Walt Morey Young Readers Literacy Legacy award, and shares with me that Walt Morey was the very first author she ever met in person back when she was a third grade teacher in Idaho. Meeting Walt Morey inspired Sandy to aspire to publish one day.

Wow! Does this tie into the remarks I gave this time last year when I received the Walt Morey award, or what?! 

So here we are today, and Sandy's debut book, JUST LIKE CLICK is now out in the world (Fitzroy Books, April 2024). I'm so excited to be able to share Sandy's birth story for this book with you here today. Congratulations, Sandy! Take it away:

A Boy, a Book, and a Superhero
by Sandy Grubb

I was in college when I dared to dream that I’d like to write and publish a book one day. As an English and French Literature major, I fell in love with the beautiful novels I read. Several years later, I was teaching third grade in Nampa, Idaho, when the author of Gentle Ben came to town. I walked my class downtown to meet Walt Morey. I was so impressed with him. I’d never met an author before. It was then, I was inspired to focus on writing for children.

Now that’s fine and good, but next I needed to figure out what to write about! So, the dream kept percolating for quite a few years. I snatched at ideas and places and premises and people and made a few scribbles in a notebook. 

It turns out, the idea for my story started nearly 90 years ago, of course long before I was born, when two creative, talented men, the writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, created my favorite superhero, Superman. Just as my book didn’t happen overnight, it turns out Superman didn’t happen overnight either. Jerry and Joe first pitched the idea for a superhero comic strip, hoping to be syndicated in the newspapers. They were met with rejection again and again. They tried for five years to sell different iterations of “The Superman,” the first version using superpowers for evil, the next striving to be more sensational but still evil, and finally the Superman we know today who uses his powers for good. 

Jerry and Joe gave up on selling to the newspapers and sold their Superman story to Detective Comics (which later became DC Comics) for $130. Unfortunately, they also signed away all rights to the story. The rest of their lives they (and their heirs) were in and out of court trying to retrieve as many of those rights as they could, which as you can imagine became worth millions of dollars. With that sale, no one could have anticipated the multi-billion-dollar industry that was birthed.

The first Superman comic was dated June 1938 and released in April of that year. The emergence of superheroes coincided with the end of America’s Great Depression and the beginning of WWII. One could reason this was a time when people were looking for a superhero to save the world, but many reflected later that superheroes inspired Americans to believe they could save their own world. Today, readers are drawn to them for entertainment certainly, but also to inspire them to believe they can become something greater, to give their worldview moral clarity, and sustain the hope that justice will prevail.

The majority of today’s popular superheroes were created in the 30s and 40s, with another surge in the 60s. Interestingly, most were created by Jewish immigrants, like Jerry and Joe. Jewish people were harshly discriminated against for many years in many countries, including the U.S., causing them to feel like outsiders. They felt forced to change their names to hide their identities in order to get jobs and housing. Many jobs, including positions in traditional publishing, were closed to them. Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, was one who changed his name from Stanley Lieber. Siegel and Shuster didn’t need to change their names; their parents had already done so. And so, it’s no surprise that most superheroes they created also hide their true identities, live as outsiders, and struggle to find their place in the world.

Image Provided by Sandy Grubb

Just Like Click is a type of superhero story. I’m calling it a superhero story for a new era. It’s not like the old Superman. It’s not in the DC universe, nor the Marvel universe—though my protagonist Nick idolizes all those classic superheroes. Stan Lee gives this definition of a superhero, “So in order to be a superhero, you need a power that is more exceptional than any power a normal human being could possess, and you need to use that power to accomplish good deeds.” In my book, Nick steps off the comic book pages he creates to become Click, a powerful undercover superhero, to save his dad’s job and his home at Black Butte Ranch, which would all be a lot easier if he had actual superpowers. At its heart, Just Like Click is a story of friendship, family, and finding yourself. 

As the story begins, Nick feels a kinship with undercover superheroes as he very much feels like an outsider, misunderstood in his own family and among the peers he’s grown up with. Superheroes, along with some new friends, help him dig his way out of the black hole he’s fallen into and find confidence and affirmation. With warmth and humor and fun comic-book-style illustrations, Just Like Click is a fast-paced adventure story. Kirkus Reviews tagged it “compulsively readable.”

So, I discovered my premise, my characters, my setting, and some fun twists and turns for my plot. My grammar and punctuation were impeccable, but I still needed to learn how to write a good story. After many SCBWI workshops and reading Lisa Cron’s Story Genius and Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel, the light broke forth. In all, I spent five years drafting and revising Just Like Click, four years searching for an agent, two years on submission with twenty-six rejections, and two years in production after signing a publishing contract. The result is my debut contemporary middle grade novel.

I hope every young person who reads Just Like Click will come away believing they are superheroes, with superpowers they can use to change the world for good.

On my website at sandygrubb.com, you can find discussion questions, activities related to Just Like Click, and some fun how-to-draw-a-comic templates. I hope you will enjoy my book and share it with young readers you know.

What an inspiring story-behind-the story, Sandy (and an important cautionary tale about protecting our rights)! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. I especially love that your book is set in Central Oregon and your hook, a superhero story for a new era. Brava! 

And now, dear readers, you know what to do. The best way to thank an author whose insights have been helpful and/or inspiring to you is to support their work. Buy their books. Request them from your library. Read and share them with others. JUST LIKE CLICK is available where books are borrowed and sold, including your own local, indie bookstore. 

Image Provided by Sandy Grubb

A former elementary school teacher and a longtime member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Sandy Grubb has an English and French Literature degree from Stanford University and a teaching certificate from U.C. Berkeley. Passionate about making life better for children around the world, she serves on the Board of World Vision U.S. Sandy and her husband live outside of Portland, Oregon, overlooking the beautiful Mt. Hood, where they enjoy hiking and skiing. Learn more at www.sandygrubb.com .  

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Birth Stories for Books is an occasional feature of Dawn Babb Prochovnic's blog. Dawn is the author of multiple picture books including, Lucy's Blooms, Where Does a Cowgirl Go Potty?, Where Does a Pirate Go Potty?, and 16 books in the Story Time With Signs & Rhymes series. Dawn is a contributing author to the award-winning book, Oregon Reads Aloud, and a frequent presenter at schools, libraries, and educational conferences. Contact Dawn using the form at the left, or learn more at www.dawnprochovnic.com.  

Birth Stories for Books: MOSTLY THE HONEST TRUTH, by Jody J. Little

Periodically, from now until next October when my two new books come out, I will be running a series of blog posts called "Birth Stories for Books: Posts About Paths to Publication from Published Authors and Illustrators." I'm so happy to welcome Jody J. Little, and her debut novel, MOSTLY THE HONEST TRUTH, as the debut for this series of posts! Jody calls her path to publication a journey of wonder. Here it is:

A Journey of Wonder
by Jody J. Little

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder. E.B. White

Getting a book published is hard.

Writing is just plain hard.

It’s really a wonder that we do it. The number stats are not on our side.

-I’ve attended 12 SCBWI conferences.
-I’ve worked with 13 amazing critique partners.
-I’ve read 20,290 middle grade novels (made-up number).
-I received 27 agent rejections.
-I wrote the 1st draft of my debut in 2008.
-It was my 2nd full-novel manuscript.
-It was rejected by 23 editors.
-I did 24 full revisions before it sold.
-I’ve cried 4096 times (made up number, probably higher).
-I was 50 years young when I received a first offer from a publishing house!
-I’ll be 52 when it is released on March 12, 2019.

I think wonder is the key to most writers’ journeys.

My wonder began when I was seven years old. I gleefully came home from school and announced that I was going to be an author when I grew up. I held my first story in my hand and showed my mom. It was brilliantly titled, The Nut and the Boy. Each page was lovingly adorned with a crayon-colored illustration. Here’s an exclusive excerpt:

Onse a pon a time ther was a boy. He whet to the store he said to his mom which fish shed I pik. don’t pik a fish pik a nut a nut yes a nut o.k. but nuts make a spot.

This brilliance was followed by many other stories like, Tommy Turtle and Fanny Fish, Me the Dime, Melvin Goes on a Trip, and The Glerp.

By fourth grade, I was writing my first chapter book. It included the characters from the Boxcar Children and was set in the time of Little House on the Prairie. I worked on it every spare moment I had while in school. When my fourth-grade teacher asked if she could read it, I anxiously handed over the forty pages I had written, filled with wonder of what she might say. Would she love it? Would she tell me I was talented? Would she share it with the class? There was little to wonder about when she returned my story. I received a verbal lashing for my spelling, particularly my inability to distinguish long vowels from short vowels, and how with short vowels you must double the final consonant before adding -ed or -ing. That conversation is tearfully vivid in my mind. Clearly, if I couldn’t spell, I couldn’t write.

In looking back, I wonder if this moment instilled a misbelief in me, one that took me years to overcome. I never once thought of pursuing writing as a career. I was a good student, I loved school, and I followed in the footsteps of my parents and became a teacher. I taught middle school for nine years, and then had two wonderful children and decided to stay home. Up until my kids were born, my adult writing life consisted of required college papers, comments on student papers and report cards, emails, grocery lists, and thank you notes.

Being a stay-at-home parent is something I’ve never regretted, and I have fond moments of those years, but it was also isolating at times. I missed the professional world. I missed having a sense of self-purpose. I felt directionless. I started to wonder about writing, so I enrolled in a correspondence course through the Institute of Children’s Literature. During and after the course, I sold a handful of stories and articles to children’s magazines. A second course a few years later, offered me the guidance to write my first full-length children’s novel. I sincerely believe that these courses, along with The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators are responsible for putting me on my path to publication. I attended my first regional SCBWI conference in 2005 and joined an online critique group soon after. I continued to write and submit short stories, articles, and puzzles for magazines, selling a few of them, and all the while dabbling with that first novel.

Then in 2007, I submitted the novel to the Delacorte Contest for First Time Novelists. I didn’t win, but I was a finalist and was assigned an editor to work with on revisions. I was certain this was going to be the trigger for getting my novel published, but after a year, the editor left Delacorte leaving me no contact information and no directions on who to contact. I was crushed. I was certain that this writing business wasn’t meant to be. At least not for me.

Fortunately, my critique group would not allow me to quit. They’ve never allowed me to—not when I returned to teaching—not when my first novel didn’t sell. Never. They became my writing backbone, sending me virtual high-fives and real chocolate when needed. They knew all my stats on rejections, but they didn’t pay any attention to those numbers. They cheered with me when I landed my agent. They encouraged me when my chapters needed work—a lot of work. They are the best, and I never wonder about writing without them.

Published by HarperCollins

Last fall, on September 6, the second day of school, almost nine years after writing the first draft of  Mostly the Honest Truth, my phone rang. I was right in the middle of a math lesson, but when I went to silence my phone and send it to voicemail, I noticed the number was from New York. I checked the voicemail while the students were at recess. It was my agent, telling me to call him back. He said he had good news and bad news. I had forty minutes left in the day before I could call him, and I have no memory of how I made it through those forty minutes. I do recall exactly what he said, though, because I had dreamed of this conversation for years. It remains the best phone call of my life.

Hi Jody! I’ll start with the bad news. You’re no longer an unpublished author. The good news is you just received a two-book offer from HarperCollins!

I still have a long road to travel on my publication journey. Having a two-book deal is all-sorts of stress which I never imagined, but it’s what I’ve dreamed of, too. My books are going to be bound, and sitting on bookshelves, and in the libraries of teachers, and in the hands of young readers.

And I’m still filled with the wonder of what will happen around the corner.

How many more books will I write?

Will my students like my book?

What would my fourth-grade teacher think if she read it?

I’m pretty sure all the spelling is correct.



Thank you, Jody, for such an inspiring story! You've taught us to wonder, and then to persist and persevere to bring the stories we believe in to life. I can't wait to read MOSTLY THE HONEST TRUTH when it comes out next spring! 

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Jody J. Little is a third-grade teacher who loves sharing her joy of books and reading with her students. She lives in the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon with her family and an immortal pet rabbit. MOSTLY THE HONEST TRUTH is her first novel and will be published by Harper in March 2019. It was recently selected by the American Booksellers Association to be included on their Indies Introduce List for Winter/Spring 2019. You can pre-order through multiple vendors at HarperCollins. Visit Jody on Facebook @jodyjlittleauthor or follow her on Twitter @jodyjlittle.