Diann Floyd Boehm is an award-winning international author. Diann writes children’s books and young historical fiction adult books. In addition, Diann writes books to inspire kids to be kind, like themselves, peace, and to “Embrace Imagination”. You can find all her books on Amazon.
Diann does speaking engagements, book signings as well as author visitations. Her creative flair encompasses the performing arts and performing in musical theatre productions in Dubai produced by Popular Productions out of the UK. In addition, Diann enjoys making guest appearances on various live streaming shows. Diann is the cohost with Dr. Jacalyn on her USA Global TV and Radio™®.
Hello Diann, welcome to BrandEducation! How did your experience as an educator influence your writing for children?
Being an elementary classroom educator assisted my writing immensely. You come to know what children are interested in, so you select books of interest and or sometimes make up your own stories. Teaching is one of many factors that gave me the confidence to enter the writing world.
Can you share a memorable moment from your time teaching that inspired a story or character in one of your books?
So far, my books deal with characters or experiences from my childhood and experiences of my children. For example, Charlie and the Tire Swing – How the Adventures Began draws from my son’s loving his tire swing. His imagination soared once he hopped on the swing.
What techniques did you use in your classroom to inspire creativity and storytelling among your students?
It has been a while since I have been a classroom teacher, so I really need to think about this question.
Let me answer this based on the various grades.
In Pre-K and Kindergarten, I set up the classroom in centers. All my centers were creativity driven. If it was a math center and they needed to count or do figure out all the sets for the number six, I had activities that had manipulatives that the children could not wait to get their hands on. I made most of them to match laminated pictures aligned to the current season. I spent an entire summer making all the items for that center.
Of course, the Home Center was a natural because you had the kitchen and other items for a home along with dress-up so that they choose an astronaut costume, a suit and tie, a dress, etc.
If the theme for that week was space, then in the creativity center all the items would relate to space for them to enjoy and, of course, had astronaut clothes in that center as well. We organized the centers according to the theme for the week or month. Story time matched the theme as well.
I enjoyed creative writing in my 3rd and 4th grade classrooms very much. I needed first to have my student become comfortable to express their imaginations and be free with their thoughts and ideas.
So first we spend a couple of days practicing oral storytelling. I would put a sentence on the board like, “I was walking to the park to meet my friends to play a game of baseball. When I arrived ……”
From there, one student would finish the sentence and start the next, and then the next student would finish the sentence and start the next. It continued on till each student completed a sentence. I would wrap it up giving the last student the opportunity to have a sentence that needed to be completed.
As each one stated their sentence, I would write the story on the board, filling both boards in the classroom with the class’s imagination. The giggle that would take place was always fun to hear. When I read the story back to them dramatically, the students were very excited to see where imagination would take them.
Sometimes, I would incorporate various vocabulary words into the story and would highlight each vocabulary word when I used it. This was a way of reinforcing their words for the week or month.
After two days of working as a class, then I would bring in pictures of various items I knew would spark their interest to help with the burning question: What should I write about? Two examples were: cars of the future and cars of the past. Sometimes I might even bring in toy cars of the past and present. Or they might see baking pans, a pan with dirt, a vase with flowers, glasses, etc.
They could pick whatever they wanted and, of course, some students selected the same item, so I took measures to prevent any creative thought from being smashed. The whole point was to let their imaginations soar, but to improve their writing and grammar skills.
How did your background in storytelling and performing arts shape your approach to writing children’s books?
When a person is taking part in theater, bands, and/or choir, you are doing storytelling. For me it is magical to tell a story through song, the way you deliver the song can make it powerful. Of course, being on stage, becoming a new character, and bringing the story to life for the audience is incredible!
Having those experiences and knowing the audience’s reaction to the performances made it easy to transfer my performing art skills to presenting stories on paper.
What role does storytelling play in your books, and how do you use it to engage young readers?
Storytelling plays the central role in my books. I use storytelling to catch readers’ attention and spur their imaginations. Young readers like to have the flow of a story, just as adult readers like to have a plot to follow. In my young adult books, the reader’s imagination is still captured by the story – what was it like for Ruby? What if I lived then? My children’s books are more fanciful – a thinking bunny or camel, people who live on the moon, etc. But always there must be a storyline.
Can you describe how your experiences living in different countries and cultures have impacted your writing?
I feel blessed to have lived and traveled in various countries, and undoubtedly, those experiences have contributed to my understanding and my imagination. I remember the first country I was in, I was teaching 4th grade in the Philippines. It was my first year as a teacher. I was teaching the seasons in science. One day I talked about the different color leaves for Autumn. I made assumptions; that was a mistake My students were from all over the world, including the Philippines. One student raised his hand to ask a question, or so I thought, but he wanted to let me know the leaves in the Philippines are always green or brown when they fall to the ground. My eyes were opened. Even though I had pictures to show Fall, it was hard for those students in the tropics to imagine. There was no internet from which to download or show photographs of a Vermont forest in October. I asked my principal if there was some way to get colored leaves from somewhere for my students to see. Lucky for me, he knew a teacher in the high school section that had a book of pressed colored leaves, and she loaned them to me for the next day. You should have seen the face of the student who inspired that lesson. So back to your question, I think about my characters and the world they live in to be sure my stories are relatable, and the characters fit the setting the story is in. I also want to add that no matter where I have lived or the countries I visited, there was one thing in common; we are all human. We all want to laugh, have a full belly and shelter, and to be loved. The geography and environment, together with the local culture and history, give rise to the wide variety of human ways of living and thinking, and different peoples’ unique perceptions and comprehensions of the world as a whole. If I had not traveled, I don’t think I could completely comprehend how one person’s world could differ from another person’s world.
What challenges did you face transitioning from teaching to writing, and how did you overcome them?
I never thought it was transitioning. The great thing about being a teacher is you are always a teacher. If you are writing, you are just teaching in a different format. I think about what I want the reader to take away from the story, to be kind to one another, to seek peace, and to believe in yourself. These themes are all themes that should be taught in the classroom every day. I really did not face any challenges because teacher skills only enhance your writing skills.
What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned from your humanitarian work that you incorporate into your stories?
Interesting, I never thought about my humanitarian work separate from my stories. I think it is because I really have always helped others ever since I was young. I gave my dolls to a young girl who did not have any dolls. I made a big bowl of Jello to someone so she could celebrate a big event in her life. I told my choir director about a family who had nothing for Christmas and before I knew it we were singing one night and delivering toys at their home. I have spoken about work in various countries, but I am truly proud of what I did as a young girl with parents and teachers, support that led me to my humanitarian work as an adult. I share this background because I feel it is important to know the lessons I learned happened as a young girl. So, when I put my stories in print, I remembered my family, and all the children I taught, met or observed in the world and came up with themes that works for everyone. Examples of some of my books and their themes,
Boomer Sees the Town – Curiosity
A Time to Fly -Know you can do it
Charlie and the Tire Swing – Embrace imagination!
Little Girl in the Moon -Like people even if they are different
Peace -Wish for peace on earth so all moms and dads can come home to their family
The Little Girl in the Moon -Kind to others even if they are different
The Little Girl in the Moon – The Big Idea – Kindness – Peace
The Ruby series – Rise a Girl’s Struggle for More
Ruby Takes Chicago -Believe in yourself -Go after your dreams no matter how long it takes
What inspired you to write Charlie and the Tire Swing?
In one of our first family homes there were trees, lots of tall trees, but one in particular tree in our backyard was perfect for a tire swing where my husband hung a tire swing for my son. He loved his tire swing, and his imagination would soar. He is the inspiration behind Charlie. There is a gigantic oak tree in my husband’s childhood home. I love that tree, as so many children do. I combined my son’s love of imagination on his tire swing with my husband’s childhood tree, along with my love for climbing and loving trees.
How do you think Charlie and the Tire Swing can help children understand the importance of family traditions and intergenerational bonds?
In all the years looking at the tree out my husband’s childhood kitchen window, I would see all the different birds, animals enjoying that tree, as well as my own children. I started thinking about how that tree grew so big over the years. Imagining the fun that took place in the tree and listening to various family stories told by different generations. It set the stage for the story.
Can you talk about the process of creating the characters of Charlie and Grandpa Jack? How did you develop their voices and relationship?
Once I had the story in mind, it was easy to come up with the characters. Many stories about the tree were told to my family by my husband’s dad, who becomes Grandpa Jack. The name Jack is the name of my Grandpa Jack who passed away before I could know him. Then Charlie, as you know, is my son.
What message do you hope readers take away from the story of the oak tree and the tire swing in Charlie and the Tire Swing?
There are many messages in Charlie and the Tire Swing. I want to inspire children learning about their family history. To learn about their grandparents and great grandparents and beyond if possible. It will give them insight to who they are and how they might like some of the same things as their great grandparents.
I want them to learn about the seasons, patience, how even though they can not see things happening quickly, things are happening and one day the seed they planted will grow into a flower, or tree, etc. By learning patience, it will help them understand not to give up. For example, to know that you cannot become a good ballplayer without much practice. It takes time as it will in anything they are interested in, like dance, playing the piano, etc.
Sharing takes place as the children discover the tree is home to birds and squirrels to build their nest. The tree might even provide food for various critters, like a pecan tree provides nuts to the squirrels.
I want the book to inspire readers of all ages to stop on their walk and look at the magic a tree does for all living things and the time it took for that tree to grow and think about what all that tree has seen and gone through to be the tree it is today. When we think like that, it is an example of human life. We start off small, we hopefully, learn to be patience, to believe in ourselves so we too can be strong and provide love and kindness to all.
Find out more at: https://diannfloydboehm.com/