It is Marine Protected Area Day and the perfect day to talk about a new book for children about the area we live in… surrounded by sea and glorious kelp forests and ocean wildlife. The South Peninsula is the perfect location for an adventurous children’s book.
The Boy and the Whale Shark
The book is about a young boy called Ben, who lives in the South Peninsula. Ben loves kayaking in the sea, and spends a lot of time on the water, heading out to the lighthouse at Roman Rock.
He also has a skin condition, psoriasis, that means he wears a long sleeved top at all times, not only for sun protection, but also he hopes to protect himself from the local bullies. Along with trips to the lighthouse and back he encounters a local whale shark…
This book is a great adventure, about a boy, who really wants to fit in and join the local kayak club. The book copes with bullying and all the feelings, but there is also an amazing adventure along our coastline with a whale shark. There is more to this whale shark than Ben could ever imagine and this friendship gives him the strength he needs to face his troubles.
It is a really wonderful, heartwarming, easy reading chapter book. The story is interesting and engaging. The illustrations, by the author, are delightful… an all round wonderfully giftable local book for kids of all ages to enjoy.
Interview with Cayla Lewis
I was lucky enough to meet Cayla Lewis at Penguin Kids Event and was thrilled to get to chat to her about her book and about her writing.
Tell us a little bit about your writing journey. How did you become a writer? Did you always want to become a writer?
I think I was always a writer, even before I knew what to call it. I grew up telling stories to my baby brother before bed, making up worlds and characters as I went. And before I could even write them down myself, my mom would transcribe them for me as I told them to her. So in a way, my writing journey started very young, in the most informal and lovely way possible.
I wrote stories throughout my teens too, but only began taking writing seriously around 2021. That was the year I made a decision that children’s books were what I wanted to pursue with everything I had.
Right after school, I worked in many different roles in the EdTech space, which later helped me pursue my own career path. Looking back, I can see how everything, even when it wasn’t obvious, helped get me to where I am now.
Who or what do you think had the biggest impact on you becoming a writer?
My mom, without a doubt. She fostered such a deep love of reading and storytelling in me from the very beginning. She took me to the library every single week, she transcribed my very first stories, and she always made me feel like the things I wanted to create mattered.
Beyond that, the children’s books I grew up reading shaped me enormously. I have always been obsessed with beautiful picture books and middle grade stories. The best ones made me feel seen and transported at the same time, and that is exactly what I want to do for readers.
Tell us about your work style: Are you compelled to write when inspiration strikes or disciplined, or do you just squeeze it in whenever you can?
Honestly a bit of all three depending on the season! When I am in the thick of a manuscript I try to be quite disciplined about showing up every day, even when I am having to look a bit harder for inspiration. I have learned that you cannot wait for everything to be perfect before getting it done.
There are also seasons where life is full, maybe I am deep in an illustration project, and I am squeezing writing in wherever I can. I think that is just the reality of being both a writer and an illustrator.
That said, I do have a notes folder on my phone that I am constantly adding to. I tend to get inspiration at random times, usually when I am out and about in nature.
Where do you work best? On the couch at a desk? While you are at it, tell us about your dream workday.
For deep focus work I love being at my desk, surrounded by my favourite children’s books and artwork on the walls. My window looks out into our garden and I often find myself watching our chickens scratching at the grass just outside, which is honestly a very effective form of procrastination.
That said, there are absolutely times I work on the couch, especially during illustration work when I like having a documentary or series on in the background. When I was working on The Boy and the Whale Shark I watched a lot of nature documentaries, things like Our Planet, which felt completely fitting for the story I was telling.
My dream workday starts with a walk around our local common with my dogs, which doubles as a way to get into the creative zone before sitting down. Then a morning and afternoon of deep work on something I genuinely cannot wait to create. My favourite feeling in the world is being so excited about a project that it is on my mind before I fall asleep and pulls me out of bed the next morning. That kind of excitement is what I try to chase with everything I make.
I love your characters, they are so full of life, where did you find them? Where do you get your inspiration to create them?
Ben came from me, really. He carries a lot of my own childhood experience of feeling different and wishing I could change something about myself that I had no control over. I was diagnosed with psoriasis at the age of five, and that shaped so much of how I moved through the world growing up. Ben’s feelings are very much my own feelings.
Whale sharks have always been my favourite sea animal, and they worked so perfectly in this story. They also have spots, just like Ben, and there is such a gentleness about them that felt exactly right for the friendship I wanted to build.
I find that basing characters on real people, or in this case on myself and drawing on real character traits, helps create characters that feel believable and genuinely alive. And I had so much fun bringing the other characters to life too, like Sipho and Liv, who each add their own colour to the world of the story.
What made researching for this book great, did you get to do any interesting interviews or visit any unusual places?
This is one of my favourite questions because the research was genuinely so much fun. I spent a lot of time in Simon’s Town and the surrounding area, snorkelling around Windmill Beach and Boulders, just soaking up the atmosphere and the wildlife. I also watched countless nature documentaries, my favourites being the ones narrated by David Attenborough, of course. I watch these for pure enjoyment anyway, so getting to call it research was a very welcome bonus.
The standout experience was going out on a kayak with my brother to Roman Rock Lighthouse and around Ark Rock, both of which feature in the book. Getting to see those landmarks from the water, the way Ben would have seen them, gave the story a completely different depth that I could not have found sitting at my desk.
Do you have something to tell our followers who think that they might have a book inside of them, a word of encouragement or some advice? And where can our readers find you…on instagram? Website?
Write the story that is closest to your heart, because that is usually the one that needs to exist. For me, The Boy and the Whale Shark is the book I wish I could have read when I was nine and going through some of the hardest parts of my skin journey in hospital.
My other piece of advice is simple: read as many children’s books as you possibly can. It never stops teaching you something new.
Where to find Cayla…
You can find me on Instagram at @caylalewis where I share some of the journey of being a children’s book author and illustrator, as well as updates on what is coming next! My website is caylalewis.com The Boy and the Whale Shark is also available in Afrikaans, and is in bookstores nationwide and online through LAPA Publishers, part of Penguin Random House South Africa.