Abby HanlonsDory Fantasmagoryseries is some of the best childrens literature in years.
Dory Fantasmagory: Cant Live Without Youis out September 26 from Dial Books for Young Readers.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
The characters looked like vampires and elves rather than kids.
So Hanlon went about rounding the teeth and ears.
After she handed in the book, she found herself doodling vampires and elves.
If her drawings already looked too elfin, she might as well go with it.
Just them gravitating toward the dark and scary and needing that.
Mrs. Gobble Gracker is the imaginary villain in what would becomeDory Fantasmagory,Hanlons chapter-book series.
That a criticism Your drawings dont look right!
Youre acting like a baby!
For children, Dorys antics and worries If I tell the truth, Ill get in more trouble.
Dory has hints of Ramona Quimby and Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes.
None of these quite scratch the same itch asDory, though.
From the beginning, the books have embraced the uglier parts of childhood and of raising children.
Hanlon knows kids have weird little minds: They say uncomfortable, unpleasant things.
Their humor skews scatological.
They throw tantrums and annoy their siblings.
Her first teaching job was in Harlem, where she stayed for two years.
107 in Park Slope.
It showed them their little experiences had value, Hanlon says.
She would write her own stories, complete with stick-figure art, as examples for the class.
One day, a parent came up to her after school and told her he was a childrens-book agent.
He just kind of paused, like waiting for my reaction or my Wow, she says.
That wasnt what he was trying to tell her at all.
He was trying to tell me he could get me free books for the classroom.
Still, she went home from school that day and decided to write a childrens book.
So she started to teach herself how to draw.
(He was not impressed.)
She didnt want to give me her email, so we just communicated by postcard, Hanlon adds.
That becameRalph Tells a Story,and its brilliance is that it never feels like vegetables to kids.
All the little moments in the story are hilariously specific.
The book has kid brain.
She would park herself within earshot and take dictation while they played.
Kids are easy to study because theyre not holding back what theyre thinking, she says.
Theyre constantly telling you how they feel.
The Dory books became a secret document of their childhood filled with private jokes.
Like the cow costume Dory refuses to take off in book one.
My son was wearing a cow costume from Halloween until May or June, Hanlon recalls.
Hed be on the subway platform sweating and wouldnt take it off.
Her children eventually became not just her inspiration but her co-writers.
It was the twins who suggested Mrs. Gobble Gracker drink coffee Hanlon had originally had her drinking blood.
Hanlon knew this wasnt true.
Kids always want to read like older kids, she says.
Thats what gives them currency.
The publishers who didnt reject it for being a chapter book rejected it because there was no plot.
It was little vignettes, she says.
They just write but therefore, but therefore and then fill in the plot points between it.
The unintended consequence of each action leads to the next action.
It was the first chapter book they read on their own.
Theres something deeply familiar in Dory.
More than one parent I know has mentioned their child spent a prolonged period pretending to be a dog.
I caught myself laughing in recognition in book six when Dory covets her sisters ChapStick.
(What is it about ChapStick?
Why do they want it so badly?)
things that have also come out of my mouth.
She does a lot of annoying things you wouldnt want your child to start doing.
I admit I also bristled.
My oldest child was maybe 5 at the time, and her younger brother was still a baby.
Did I really want her walking around the house saying butt baby?
She has also become more attuned to whats considered inbounds for childrens literature.
In the beginning, I didnt realizestupidwas a bad word, she says.
Ive wondered as we reprint those stories if its a thing where we changestupidtosilly, Garrison says.
I think a lot of parents sub insillyforstupidas they read aloud.
Were all just a little bit more caring and mindful about how were using words now.
The new book centers on separation anxiety.
Dory gets momentarily lost in the hardware store and after eavesdropping on some teenagers learns that Mozart isnt alive.
(Another plot point taken from Hanlons own children: My kids both cried about Mozart.
They were like, We wanna see Mozart.
Im like, What?
They were 3.)
Soon after, Dorys mother informs the family shes going back to work.
These events send Dory into a tornado of worry that her mother will abandon her forever.
If you die, Im going to trap your ghost inside my locket, she tells her mother.
So she can always be with me, she tells Luke and Violet.
I might have to put a special oil on it so it doesnt rot.
My daughter actually said that, says Hanlon.
Thats how I can always keep your heart inside my body.
Hanlon was a little surprised the death theme made it past the editors.
But I also wanted to push for this death thing because kids talk about it, she says.
These kids just lived through a pandemic.
What is the pandemic if not about that?
(She didnt need to worry.
Absolutely loved it, Garrison said about the death theme.
I had fielded the same questions from my 9-year-old when he was about 6.)
Hanlons twins are now 16 and no longer making pillow forts in the living room.
I just need to hear how kids speak, she says, and what theyre thinking about.
They tend to be good at plot, too.
She says, I was like,Oh my God.
Theyre one step ahead of me.
Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
