Annette Pimentel is a trustee of the Latah County Library District, where she has served as treasurer and is on both the finance and planning committees. She writes nonfiction picture books for elementary school-age children. I had the lovely opportunity to talk to Annette about her work as a children’s author. As you eavesdrop on our conversation, you’re sure to see how passionate she is about her work and about serving her community.
Michelle: Can you tell me a little about who you are, both as a writer and as a library board member?
Annette: I write nonfiction picture books for kids. I spend a lot of my life in libraries doing research, and I have always loved community libraries. We moved a lot in our family’s life, and it’s always one of our very first tasks in a new place — to go and get a library card. We moved to Moscow seven years ago, and I immediately started using the Moscow library. When there was an opening on the library board, I decided that I would love to contribute to our community that way. It seemed like a really exciting prospect to be able to contribute to something that I value in our community, to be able to make sure that the generations that are coming up are also going to have access to those great things. My husband is a professor at the University of Idaho. He’s on sabbatical this year so we are living in Graz, Austria, where he does his research. I am continuing to serve on the library board. It means I have middle of the night meetings, but it’s lovely to have a connection with Latah County in these months when I’m not physically present there.
Michelle: I admire that, and I think our community can really respect someone getting involved for those reasons. How did you get into writing in the first place?
Annette: I’ve always loved writing; I studied English literature. I have six children and was a stay-at-home mom for a lot of years. I wrote and published some then. I realized that as my children got older and started aging out of picture books that I really liked reading picture books, even if my children felt like they had moved beyond them. And I particularly love nonfiction picture books. I think most writers would agree with me that you should write what you like to read. So when my youngest child went off to school, I decided that I would try to write. I write stories about change-makers, about people you might not have heard of who’ve made a difference in the world.
Michelle: What is it about these change-makers that you are so excited to write about?
Annette: For example, I decided that the Americans with Disabilities Act was a really important law that had passed in my lifetime. I started researching its history, and I came across the story of an 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who helped lobby for the Americans with Disability Act.
She very famously climbed out of her wheelchair and climbed up the steps of the Capitol with other protesters. They were trying to show how inaccessible government buildings could be, and what a great need there was to provide accessible entrances. When I read her story, it made me really excited. I wanted to tell my family as soon as they came home, because she was somebody who was unexpected, who did something that nudged the world in a new direction. That’s a sign to me, when I want to literally go and tell someone, then maybe it’s a story I should write.
Michelle: I know you mentioned you read picture books to your kids, but why do you think children’s books kept you interested even as your children outgrew them?
Annette: Well, one thing I love about picture books in general is the collaboration between beautiful words and beautiful art. I think it’s definitely a situation where the sum is much greater than the parts. When I see the art, it shapes the story in new ways that I couldn’t have done by myself, and in ways that I wouldn’t have thought of by myself.
Michelle: I can see how passionate you are in your work. Thank you so much for sharing with us all what you’re up to and all you do for our community.
Miller is a circulation assistant and the marketing coordinator for the Latah County Library District.
