Victoria Monét stopped by CBS Mornings to discuss her new children’s book.
The singer-songwriter’s Everywhere You Are, illustrated by Alea Marley and published last week by Putnam, tells the story of a moon who acts as a parental figure to a star; the star becomes sad when night turns to day and the moon is no longer visible. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a soothing bedtime reminder of a parent’s unconditional love.”
Asked by CBS Mornings co-host Vladimir Duthiers what made her want to write about separation anxiety, Monét said, “The first experience I had with separating from my child was…right at birth. I had an emergency C-section, and they took [my daughter] Hazel to the NICU for four days. So immediately I’m triggered into mom guilt, like How can I help? What can I do? How can I be there? And then, as they grow, every separation that you have to say, you know, I’m going to see you later or Bye. They don’t technically understand yet, so it just became a growing focus point for me.”
Co-host Gayle King asked Monét if she had talked to Hazel about the book.
“I actually was reading her the book [in] its early iterations as I was tweaking things, so I guess she was kind of like my editor,” Monét said with a laugh. “Eventually, I was able to show her the book with the images. She really resonated with the pictures; she loves the artwork by Alea, so it was really sweet.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
