Michelle Jordan Carpenter
About the Author:
TASSEL MOSS is Michelle's debut novel. Raised in a family of storytellers and athletes, Michelle is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she played Varsity golf while earning her BA in theater. She lives in Southern California with her family--including a terrier mutt, a min-pin imposter and a slithery, green snake.
About the Illustrator:
Austin grew up with a paintbrush in one hand and the reins of a horse in the other. Her sculptures and paintings have shown in local galleries, upscale boutiques, and the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Her collaboration on TASSEL MOSS brings imaginative richness and delivers the essential element of any fairytale: intriguing artwork.
An Author's tale: Here's how it all started...
"Mom, I wanna go to camp!"
Thanks! Lindsay Lohan (during her youthful, innocent days) and the stellar cast of THE PARENT TRAP. My little sweetie, Ellodee, watched and re-watched that movie until she started begging, "Mom, I wanna go to camp." No surprise there; who wouldn't want to spend days-on-end immersed in outdoor activities with friends galore and smiling counselors.
"Can we swing it?" I asked my husband. "Can we send Elle Belle to camp?"
Being the proactive husband of the century, he got right on it. He knew the perfect camp. Wonderful, I thought...not realizing he was talking about a camp in his home state--all the way across the country! (Hmmmm... Do you feel the cold sweat of motherly paranoia setting in?)
Long-story-short, that's exactly where Ellodee wound up--for a month : Camp Seafarer in North Carolina. (Google it; it's AMAZING) Amazing or not, that didn't stop Mother Hen from flipping out due to the distance. I vowed to write her postcards every day--and did. By week two, fearing I'd bored her with postcard-size chit-chat, I decided a short story was in order. A scary one...
After finding an enticing card at a bookstore (remember those?) I was instantly fired up by the Erte´ sketch of a regal woman with up-swept hair, wearing a flowing cape adorned with golden tassels. She looked like a beautiful be-yatch, the kind that despised children: statuesque, gorgeous--and intimidating. The perfect wicked visual for sparking a pencil into action...cause I love writing with pencils. Adding to the fun, Ms. Disdainful came with a golden envelope.
I quickly filled the card, back cover too, and discovered my cautionary fairytale had only just begun. OK, I thought, a cliffhanger. How cool. Back to the store I drove for another card.
In her remaining two weeks (in addition to daily postcards), Elle received four Erte´ vixens in four golden envelopes. She later confessed that she didn't read the last card because it was getting too scary, especially since her cabin sat nestled against woods.
Well, well, I smiled, my long-distance mothering achieved: reminding her that even in ideal settings, bad things can happen--so stay safe and stay with your friends!
And that's how my third child, TASSEL MOSS, was conceived...
