When You Find a Hope: How Allie Millington Turned Rejection into Art

In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, host Bianca Schulze interviews author Allie Millington about her picture book When You Find a Hope. They discuss Millington's unique brain drain morning practice, her long journey to publication, and how her own experiences with rejection and perseverance directly inspired this heartfelt story about hope.

Transcription: You can read the transcription on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Children's Book Review⁠⁠⁠

Highlights:

• The Brain Drain: Millington shares her morning writing practice that helps clear her mind for creativity
• Rejection Collection: How turning hundreds of rejection letters into art became a source of hope
• Childlike Perspective: The importance of maintaining connection to her younger self when writing for children
• Full Circle Moment: How a book born from hopelessness became her published picture book
• Creative Visualization: The process of making abstract hope into something tangible for young readers
• Illustration Magic: The powerful way Anne Lambellet brought the story's emotions to life
• Success Journey: How acclaim for her debut novel Olivetti has influenced her approach to writing
• New Release: Preview of her upcoming middle-grade novel Once For Yes featuring a narrator building

Notable Quotes:

• "Even if your hope doesn't look exactly how you thought it would in the moment, don't lose sight of it. Don't let go of it." —Allie Millington on perseverance
• "The more I started getting rejections, the more and more I wanted this dream to come true for me." —Allie Millington on her publication journey
• "I'm the only one who can decide whether or not I give up." —Allie Millington on perseverance
• "If hope had a color, it would be yellow." —Allie Millington
• "It's just my desire that it would encourage others who are feeling hopeless themselves." —Allie Millington on her book
• "Finding those glimmers of hope, finding people you can hold on to, that connection, holding on to each other and taking care of each other, I think that's all we can do right now." —Allie Millington

Books Mentioned:

• When You Find a Hope by Allie Millington, illustrated by Anne Lambellet: ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠
• Olivetti by Allie Millington: ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠
• Once For Yes by Allie Millington: ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠
• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron: ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠
• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne: ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠

About Allie Millington: Allie Millington is the bestselling author of Olivetti and now When You Find a Hope. Her writing journey included years of rejection before achieving success, with her debut novel receiving acclaim including a review from Tom Hanks in the New York Times. Allie's personal experience with perseverance directly inspired her picture book about hope.

Connect and Follow:

• Learn more about Allie Millington at ⁠⁠AllieMillington.com⁠⁠
• Visit ⁠⁠The Children's Book Review⁠ website⁠ for