“Ask the Wide World is not just a story but a journey of independent thinking and learning. It encourages children to explore, question, and seek answers on their own, instilling a sense of empowerment and inspiration.”—The Children’s Book Review
From the Publisher: “There once was a little girl who was full of questions.
What? How? Why? The little girl is so full of questions that they run out of her mind like water overflowing from a tub. So full of questions that they pour out of her mouth from the second she wakes up until the moment she falls asleep. So full of questions that she’s unable to find anyone who can possibly answer them all. Until, one day, she learns a secret that leads her to the answers she is looking for.
First-time author Dana Griffin writes a tale of searching for knowledge and discovering the world in Ask the Wide World.
Learn more about how you can ask the wide world for answers to your questions: visit dsgriffinbooks.com for news and activities.
More info About the Author: Dana Griffin has been—at various times—a teacher, soldier, doctor, scientist, and writer. She has lived in seven states, three countries, and three continents, but currently resides in Pittsburgh with her husband and three inquisitive children.
She began writing her debut children’s book in college, while studying bird migration along the Texas bayous. Twenty years later, she finally completed it, proving that some stories take a long time to grow up.
When she isn’t writing or doing experiments, she stays busy reading, cooking, playing the piano, singing, hiking through the Pennsylvania woods, and traveling the world with her family.
Author Site
How did you decide to become a writer?
As a kid, I lived for books. I went to the library every Saturday morning and checked out a stack of 10-20 books, which were (mostly) finished by the end of the next day. I constantly wrote stories and poetry, which I read to my librarian mother. Becoming a published author was on my dream “bucket list” but so were many other things! I wanted to be a doctor, a scientist, a mom, a world traveler, and an adventurer. (I have trouble focusing on just one thing.) I figured I’d just keep writing for fun – even if nothing came of it, I’d satisfy my creative side. I wrote through medical school and fellowship, while I got married and had kids, and definitely while I traveled around the world. I tried submitting stories to publishers, failed, tried again, failed, focused on other things for a while, tried again, and eventually succeeded.
What inspired you to write this story?
I started to write this story when I was in college, babysitting for a family with two very young and very inquisitive children. At the time, I was really stressing about finals and entrance exams, and it was a breath of fresh air to interact with kids who just wanted to enjoy learning because it was fun and interesting. So, I won’t lie – my initial inspiration was a little bit of envy and nostalgia for that joy of discovery. After I had my own kids, I also saw how often they just wanted to have an adult answer their questions – and how rewarding it was to steer them towards independent discovery and exploration. That became my major inspiration when I came back to the book a few years ago and rewrote it as an older, more mature writer.
How long did it take to get your first book deal?
It took a LONG time, especially if you include the hiatus I took during my medical and scientific training. I wrote the first draft of Ask the Wide World when I was in college, in 2000. I submitted it to a publisher for the first time in 2003 and kept trying until about 2005. Then, medical school really picked up and I took a ~15-year hiatus that lasted until I was done with residency/fellowship and had 3 kids of my own. My youngest kid was born in 2014, so I started reading the book to my kids and soliciting their (very blunt) feedback around 2020. I submitted the book again in 2021, and it was taken up by a publisher (Mascot, 2024) in 2022.
What did you do to get from rejection to acceptance?
As I mentioned above, I tried (and failed) to get my book published several times before it was accepted. To move my story forward, I had to learn how to write for kids and accept that many publishers wouldn’t be interested in my story – and that it might be a matter of finding the right “home” for my book. I also had to accept that I couldn’t dedicate all the resources and energy to my book that might be available to a full-time author, since I have a ”day job” in another field. So, I could have some of the things I wanted all the time or all of the things I wanted some of the time – but not everything I wanted all the time.
What do you recommend to aspiring writers?
I’d give the same advice to aspiring writers, doctors, scientists, and parents: be persistent, and be resilient. Unless you’re one of the lucky few, this field comes with a lot of rejection. But there are also a lot of opportunities and pathways to getting there, and many resources for feedback, publicity, and critiques.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
For the purposes of this interview, I’m going to stick to children’s books since I have a really hard time picking favorites out of so many well-loved books. I really enjoy whimsical, humorous books by authors like Mo Willems, Leyuen Pham, and Oliver Jeffers. But I also love the lyrical, more serious books that I grew up with, and which shaped my own writing style. This includes works by Paul Fleischman, Tomie dePaola, and Uri Shulevitz.
What’s your favorite thing about writing?
I really enjoy the process of disconnecting from the world and focusing on the story as it develops. There are so many electronic and real-life distractions that it can be wonderful to get a couple of hours of mental silence when I can just focus on letting a story grow and develop.
I’m hoping that sharing my book with new readers will be a new favorite thing this February!
Sections of this book have been published here courtesy of the author and publisher and should not be reprinted without permission.
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