Children's Book Author Janice Spina Talks Inspiration and the Countless Stories in Her Head

This article is part of Palabras, the Latin Post Latino Author Series.

Janice Spina begins with a title.

The Portuguese children's author, who is a mother of two, must have a title before she begins writing her colorful works that often tell the story of evolving characters and plucky animals who always manage to take the writer and her readers on an edifying journey.

Raised in a warm family-oriented Massachusetts home, Spina's youth centered on food, fun, music and a love for rhythm and poetry. Her participation in the Sweet Adeline's Chorus, a cappella -- without music -- and her design of rhyming Mother's Day cards was early proof of a love for melody. That love morphed into a love for writing rhyming stories.

Spina's rhyme books, which are illustrated by her husband, John, employ baby animals who teach life lessons through the story. The underlying themes in the books vary. Sometimes it's "Listen to your mother", while in others, it's "Don't be lazy", "It is okay to be different", "Friends are important" or other moralistic lessons. Each book carries topics that encourage good behavior, tolerance, acceptance and creativity.

"Louey the Lazy Elephant," "Ricky the Rambunctious Raccoon," "Jerry the Crabby Crayfish" and "Lamby the Lonely Lamb" were inspired by the adventures of her and her husband's grandchildren: Daniel, Jason, Leah and Joey, while "Jesse the Precocious Polar Bear" was inspired by a little boy she met while on vacation in Aruba in 2013.

An adult novel, "Hunting Mariah," teaches a much darker lesson than the ones to be found in any of her other books. Inspired by a need to encourage child safety, "Hunting Mariah" warns parents to dissuade their daughters from travelling alone late in the evening while on college campuses.

"Having had two children that went through college, I know the dangers of campus life, especially for young woman. The story is not based on anything real but just came to me 20 years ago when my son was in college," Spina said to Latin Post. "I dedicated the story to my parents who are deceased but were alive when I was writing the story. They would have been happy to hear that I finally finished it."

"'Hunting Mariah' began more as a love story, but evolved over many edits into the crime/mystery/thriller that it is today. The killer wanted to tell his story," Spina concluded with a chuckle.

The author has been inspired by many writers and friends, including Deanie H. Dunne, Chris "the Story Reading Ape" Graham, Mike Wells, Richard C. Hale and Mary Higgins. Their works have encouraged her test her bounds and pen her two unpublished works, a spiritual mystery and a YA fantasy.

"Over the next two years I plan to begin a middle-grade series for children 9-12, edit three novels that are in draft form and publish a short story that I recently wrote for my friend's blog for Christmas," said Spina. "I like to write in different and multiple genres to keep everyone on their toes. There is always another story running around in my head just waiting to be written down."

J.E. Spina will be doing a signing of "Hunting Mariah" at a local coffee shop, Coffeeberries, in Londonderry, New Hampshire from 11:00 - 1:00 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014. She will have a reading and book signing the following day at Londonderry Leach Library in Londonderry, New Hampshire from 4:00-5:00 p.m. Also, Goodreads Giveaway will be giving away three signed copies of "Hunting Mariah" through Dec. 16.