In Jake’s Shoes follows a grieving father who discovers his late son through a hidden notebook of childhood letters, uncovering the life, pain, and love he failed to see while his son was still alive. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

For a number of years I’d been writing picture books, middle-grade novels, and songs about, with, and for children.

In the early 1980’s, my mother died, rather suddenly from cancer. I felt like a light had gone out.

At the time, my wife, Judy, and I were team-teaching in early childhood, multi-age classrooms. I was seeing and working with young children…plus my own daughters, every day. As I watched them and spent time with them, I found myself wondering how they might cope with the same kind of struggle I was going through.

As I struggled to cope with the loss of my mother, and how to keep her light on, I needed some way to bring meaning to her death…something that would honor the “light inside” that made her such a special person in my life.

I decided I wanted to write about it. But didn’t feel like a personal journal or a memoir was my route. I decided I’d write about a young boy, who had just lost his grandmother, with whom he had developed a very special bond. Writing as a young boy (I named him Jake), he writes letters to her telling her how much he misses her, shares both his sad and happy days, his struggles at home and at a new school…letters that honor her by acknowledging the positive impact she had on his life.  I decided the time frame would revolve around a difficult year in his life, as an eleven-year-old, whose family moved to a new town, new school, and new friends. Over the course of several years, I used these letters in several presentations I made to parent groups. It was only later, that I felt these simple letters might serve as a springboard for a story, which eventually became, IN JAKE’S SHOES.

Marshall is flawed but not villainized. Why was it important to write him with that complexity?

In Jake’s Shoes is a story about a normal family going through the normal struggles of learning to live each day together. I want readers to identify with Marshall, not vilify him and think about how their personal complexities project their own humanity…in how they deal with others, see the world…see themselves in it. The story should serve as a laboratory for reflection as the reader travels along on Marshall’s journey through loss, grief and the possibility for redemption.

The book explores emotional restraint, especially in men. Was that a conscious thematic focus from the beginning?

That theme, naturally, does weave itself throughout. I recall, when I began my career as a young teacher and as a parent, I would find myself responding to what I perceived as “misbehavior”  as if it were a personal affront. But I found my response most effective when I could “take a breath,” and choose how I reacted to situations instead of, in essence, being at the mercy of impulse. I hope readers will consider how this theme might be reflected in their own lives as they ponder Marshall’s responses to his son, his wife, his other children.

The book leans into sincerity rather than irony. What do you hope readers feel when they finish the final pages?

I wanted to project Marshall as a normal father, whose internal conversations are genuine and real, as he struggles to understand his child. As I believe all of us do as parents, understanding what it means to be a parent while pursuing your own personal goals and identity is not a simple task.

I want the readers to feel that the story has taken them on a journey into their memories. That it has helped them to appreciate the complexity of family relationships, loss, grief, communication, and understanding.

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