Super Me by Charissa Coulthard and Sam Usher
We recently sent some questions to author Charissa Coulthard about her latest book with Sam Usher, Super Me.
How did you find writing a second book? Was it more or less challenging than The Fun We Had?
I definitely had second album syndrome with this book! We felt it would make sense to have book two feel tonally not too dissimilar to the first (while perhaps being a little more mainstream and accessible), but this wasn’t easy given the sensitive subject matter of The Fun We Had. It was a book very close to my heart, so I struggled to have as much of a personal connection to book two. Luckily, my brilliant editor helped with that a lot.
Did it feel comforting to work with Sam Usher again as the illustrator?
It did, because I knew how beautifully he would bring the words to life, but seeing the proofs still felt like a nice surprise. The Fun We Had was set in nature across the seasons, and Super Me is a lot busier – cityscapes and people and lots of things to look at. His detail, colour and characterisation are gorgeous.
What inspired you to write about superheroes?
I have two young boys, so superheroes and superpowers and costumes are pretty regular in our household. Without being a fun sponge about it (because who doesn’t love a superhero) I wanted a confidence-building book that could gently say ‘you are already enough just as you are’, wrapped up in an adventure story that they would find appealing.
It’s so great to see a father-son story without technology- just exploring, playing and chatting- was this purposeful?
It was. I noticed that I hadn’t seen many books with a father-child relationship at its core. I also quite wanted the main character to be a boy, because there has been a lot of dialogue lately around what it means to be a boy growing up. As a mum of boys, I wanted to tap into that. The duo start by watching superheroes on telly, but they go out into the real world and the boy learns – through gentle encouragement from his dad – that he already embodies qualities like strength and bravery, and these don’t always look how they do on screen.
What do you hope young readers will take from reading this story?
I simply hope they enjoy getting lost in the illustrations, and come away feeling uplifted and happy.
What do you hope grown up readers will take from reading this story?
Exactly the same as above!
Are you planning to write a third book?
I have written more picture book texts and have a few works in progress! Having a child read something you’ve written feels like the biggest privilege, so I’d love to be lucky enough to have a third published.
