Meet Melissa Rooney | Writer, Editor, ELA and STEAM Educator, and Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Rooney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, as a parent, what do you feel is the most meaningful thing you’ve done for them?
There are so many important things that impact a person during their childhood. To narrow down “the most important” thing I may have done as a parent is impossible.

I consider honesty and transparency the most important things in a relationship, and I have imposed both on my children throughout my life. I say “imposed,” because dishonesty and deliberate obscurity are signs of healthy brain development in children (https://theconversation.com/understanding-dishonesty-in-children-when-how-and-why-do-kids-lie-196247); so the deck was stacked against me from the start.

Throughout the years, at the risk of annoying the rest of my family to the point of self-imposed expulsion, I could never let suspicion or lack of communication fester. If it took all night or all weekend, we were going to talk until we got to the bottom of things.

There were sometimes actionable consequences to the inevitable truths that surfaced.. Prohibitions from going out with friends or using phones or other screens. But most the time, talking it out was punishment enough. More importantly, it ensured that, no matter their place on the family tree, every one was heard and understood, if not always agreed with. My children are now 22, 20 and 14 years old; and each one has told me, independently and to my heart’s delight, how much they appreciate the open, honest, and safe space that is our family.

This goes both ways.

I have always been the queen of Too-Much-Information (TMI), and I rarely have held back with my kids. My daughter, in particular, preferred not to know every shady or unwise life experience I’ve had.

“My job as a parent is not to make you like me,” I would tell her. “It’s to make you better than me.”

Of course, I risked my kids judging me. There are many times when they have.

For instance, upon seeing my friends and I getting drunk one night, my then 12-year-old daughter proclaimed with disdain, “”I’m never gonna drink alcohol.”

I poured myself another glass of wine, explained how alcohol is inextricable from the adult American experience and the American economy, and told her that–though it was too late for me– I truly hoped she would never touch a drop of the stuff.

This scenario repeated a few times before she turned twenty-one and discovered Moscow Mules. But, despite her party-school college experience, she consumes alcohol very moderately, which I like to think has something to do with our honest past discussions.

My 14 year old has taken up the torch, declaring his own determination never to drink alcohol or do drugs; and, though he questions any drink in my hand after 4 PM, I couldn’t be more pleased.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Just about everything you’d want to know about me is available via my webpage: https://www.melissarooneywriting.com/about. My entire CV can be viewed here: https://www.melissarooneywriting.com/s/MBR_CV_Lit_2024-5cx6.pdf .

My whole life I have wanted to be a children’s author – a *real* children’s author, not just someone who got a couple of books published. I’ve written for newspapers, magazines, theater reviews, scientific journals – but what I really want to write are purposeful, lyrically written children’s books like the ones I’ve collected over the years.

I learned a lot when I published “Eddie the Electron,” not the least of which was the general lack of intellectual respect and originality demanded– or even encouraged– by most children’s book publishers and agents. This still bothers me, not just because of what it means for what I want to accomplish with my own work, but because of what it means for the children these books are intended for. So much on the library shelves is the same.

I have a lot of ideas and several finished products. I submit these to agents every week; and each week I get at least one personal rejection email with just enough encouragement to keep me looking.

Writing children’s books is my top-of-the-list, if-you=could-do-anything dream. If anyone reading this is willing to glimpse at my portfolio, please contact me via https://www.melissarooneywriting.com/contact-me.

Of course, not everyone gets their #1 dream. Most don’t even get #2. Which brings me to where I am right now.

My mission, if I were to define it, is to bring Love, Scientific Literacy, and Environmental Sustainability to our youth as early as possible. I think the way my life has unfolded demonstrates my (sometimes unconscious) commitment in this regard..

Of course, I’d also like to make money serving this mission–at least enough that I can keep doing it.

Though it is technically a business, “MelissaRooneyWriting” is just me—that is, the sum of all my writing- and education-related sources of income.

I tried to build a “brand” years ago. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok…

I’ve been back and forth with the mass-marketing versus door-to-door approaches and decided that the latter is for me. Indeed, it seems that whenever my creative work takes a step forward, it’s because of on-the-ground work I am doing with teachers and students—not because I got 450,000 hits on my last TikTok post.

Perhaps more importantly, I’ve decided that, even if it means less money, I’d rather greatly influence a smaller number of young people than minimally influence a larger one.

It is this kind of presence and personal attention that continues to build my reputation with schools, parents, and the literary community.

For more information about my hands-on, science-based workshops and 6-session writing residencies for elementary- through high-school students, please see: https://www.melissarooneywriting.com/for-parents-teachers .

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh, I would take then to the Museums. All of them.

We’d start at the NC Museum of Natural History. We’d walk through the old section in the morning. From Coastal N.C, on the first floor to the NC Mountains to the Sea on the 2nd and Prehistoric NC on the 3rd, we’d traverse every corner and end with the Living Conservatory of Butterflies and its two-toed sloth inhabitant, before heading over to the *new* section of the museum called the Nature Research Center (NRC).

Once in the NRC, we’d have lunch at The Daily Planet Cafe, which serves breakfast all day as well as yummy soups, salads, wraps, and 10 different signature sandwiches that are making my mouth water as I type.

After lunch, we’d walk through every hallway and inspect every corner of the Nature Research Center, starting with the life=sized “Dueling Dinosaurs,” then investigating all the hands-on exhibits and activities on its 3 floors for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner, we’d eat at Lemongrass Thai Restaurant, because I love Thai food and that place does it right.

The next day, we’d get dressed up and go to the Museum of Art. If it’s a nice morning, we’d walk the paths around the amphitheater and past the giant outdoor art exhibits. When we got hot and hungry, we’d have iced tea and a light lunch at the upscale NCMA Cafe. Then we’d tour the inside of the museum–starting with the old collections and ending with the new–until our brains hurt. For dinner, we’d get authentic barbecue and craft beers at The Pit on West Davie Street.

If it was a long weekend, and we weren’t too mentally exhausted on the third day, we’d go to the NC Museum of History, spending most our time listening to audio recordings of letters written by Civil War soldiers. We’d eat lunch at Centro (Mexican/Southwestern/Latin), then head to Pullen Park for a Swan-boat paddle and a ride on their 1912 Gustav Dentzel carousel. As for dinner, we’d probably just eat the leftovers from last night and hit the sack early.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Despite my family’s discouragement and the market’s over saturation and homogenization of the genre, my drive to write picture books and work with children has been inescapable. Many friends and organizations have helped me along the way.

After failing to entice me to rejoin his laboratory at UNC, my Chemistry Ph.D. Advisor Mark Wightman pressed me: “What are going to do then? And how are you going to make use of your Chemistry degree?” I told him I’d always wanted to write picture books, he gave me a deadline, and “Eddie the Electron” (my first published children’s book) was born.

Over ten years ago, while I was home with my young children, Nancy Cox (a friend and future Durham School Board member) told me that I *must* continue to build my resume and encouraged me to apply to become a “teaching artist” with the Durham Culture and Arts in the Public and Private School System (CAPS). I currently offer three one-hour STEAM workshops (Eddie the Electron and Your Future in Science; The Fate of the Frog and Your Waterway: The Australian Didgeridoo and the Science of Sound) and 6-week Writing Residencies for elementary through high schools and other organizations throughout the Triangle.

Kristin Wagner, my son’s first-grade teacher, was among the first to welcome me into her classroom to do CAPS workshops (based on my picture books) and writing residencies.

Nathan Hester, past assistant principal of my children’s elementary school, invited me to his new elementary school to do readings of “Eddie the Electron” and participate in their book fair.

The Creekside Elementary School PTA in Durham, NC, has invited me to participate in their school’s Science Nights/Weeks, utilizing my picture books “Eddie the Electron” and “The Fate of the Frog.”

The Durham Arts Council provided me with a $1500 grants for website design and publication.

The Durham Public Schools Foundation has provided me with substantial grant funding to do my writing residencies in underserved Durham County schools. They have also provided personal mentorship and encouraged me to apply for outside funding to pay for more writing residencies moving forward.

Courtney Carter Plaster, friend and education coordinator/director at the Science Museum of Western Virginia, The Virginia Museum of Transportation, and Clean Valley Council in Roanoke, VA, has invited me to do educational workshops based on my picture books at all of these locations.

The Kiwanis Club of Roanoke, VA, commissioned me to author the picture book, “Larry the Roanoke Logperch,” to bring attention to the plight of these adorable endangered fish in their watershed. The Kiwanis bought the first 1000 copies of the book and have been giving them to teachers, libraries and children in the area. From their billboards and story walk, which is lined with yard signs bearing the pages of “Larry the Logperch,” to the SpringFun Day at which I signed over a hundred copies of the book, this group enclosed me in their most positive, can=do community.

Elenco Snap Circuits provides the electronic-snap circuit kits that I use in my “Eddie the Electron” workshops and has hired me to write parts of the child-friendly manuals to their award-winning educational electronics toys/kits.

All of the people/organizations above seemed to support me at just the right times. Times when I was doubting my abilities and/or resolve to continue my creative journey. Times when, more than anything, I needed some indication that I was on the right track.

Website: https://www.melissarooneywriting.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissarooneywriting/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-rooney-7529a51/

Twitter: https://x.com/RooneyWriting

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@melissarooneywriting

Other: https://www.durhamartsnetwork.org/artist/melissa-rooney/

Melissa Rooney

https://www.scbwi.org/members/melissa-rooney
https://frowardpress.com/#children-s-anthologies

Image Credits
Melissa Rooney and Friends.