Ahmet Zappa: On Celebrating Parenthood
New York Times bestselling author Ahmet Zappa discusses his wife’s inspiration behind his new children’s book, Because I’m Your Mom.
Ahmet Zappa is a New York Times bestselling author, musician, film producer, screenwriter, and radio talk show host. His first picture book, Because I’m Your Dad, is both a tribute to his happy childhood as the son of Gail and legendary rock star Frank Zappa, and a promise of love to his daughter, Halo. Zappa’s second book in this series, Because I’m Your Mom, is inspired by his wife, Shana, and their son, Arrow.
Zappa grew up with a learning disability and now writes books to help children discover how wonderful reading can be. He lives in Los Angeles and loves pancakes, heavy metal, and all five of his smushy-faced dogs. Find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In this post, Ahmet discusses his wife’s inspiration behind his new children’s book, Because I’m Your Mom, his advice for writers, and more!
Name: Ahmet Zappa
Book title: Because I’m Your Mom
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: March 28, 2023
Genre/category: Children’s
Previous titles: Because I’m Your Dad, The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless, The Star Darlings Series
Elevator pitch for the book: My new book Because I’m Your Mom is a follow up to my previous book Because I’m Your Dad. Both books are loving celebrations to my Mom and Dad, honoring their unique parenting styles, highlighting many of the fun experiences I had growing up and about how my wife and I parent our two children now, continuing these traditions but with our own evolutionary spin on them.
What prompted you to write this book?
My son Arrow was the real motivator for me to write Because I’m Your Mom. I felt terrible as a dad that I wrote one for my daughter Halo and then our second kid comes along, and it took me forever to get this book finished. I’m so glad I did because it was the first book Arrow read. We both cried tears of joy and happiness together. A proud memory I will never forget.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
As we all know, kids can be a handful. Once I finally sat down to write, it was a pretty wonderful experience, and it doesn’t suck when your editor and publisher are awesome! They all were incredibly enthusiastic and helpful.
There weren’t any consequential changes from my original intentions, so it came together rather quickly once the wheels started rolling. Plus, it’s always a joy to work with Dan Santat, whose illustrations are amazing.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Originally Because I’m Your Dad was published by Disney, but Little Brown gobbled up the title, so I found myself working with a whole new team, and it was joyous. There was no friction, and I felt supported through the whole process. I’m very grateful for another opportunity to write a children’s book.
This book in particular highlights how important special moments were with my own mother, and I feel like I’m honoring her. My books are love letters to my children as well, and I think it’s important that we have story time before bedtime, or anytime! What’s better than that?
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
When the first book was written, I really didn’t have any parenting under my belt. My daughter was still tiny, and we hadn’t had our son yet. Now, my daughter is 12 and my son is 6.
This book is personal because it’s a lot about how wonderful my wife is with our children, and I think it speaks to our values as parents, and my experiences with parenting alongside my copilot Shana. I’m trying to praise my wife as much as possible here because she is 100 percent the gasoline in my engine, and this book would not have been possible without her continuous joy and her love for our family.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
There are a lot of different kinds of families out there. Some have two moms, some have two dads, and my goal with Because I’m Your Mom is really to spotlight how magical it is to be able to be a parent of any kind.
I hope to bring a little joy and love to the world, as well as inspire future parents to be adventurous with their little ones, play with them on their level, and of course endlessly love your kids.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
This follow-up book took six years to make, so my advice is don’t give up. Just like I tell my kids, you can do anything you put your mind to.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
