Bestselling Minneapolis writer wants to help kids find 'courage' in tough times

Minneapolis writer/illustrator Cori Doerrfeld needed to learn that "we are not just our fear, but also our courage." So she created a book about it.

"Nellie's Big Splash," out Tuesday, is about a sea turtle who (like real-life hatchlings) must brave crashing waves as she travels through the ocean to be with her fellow turtles. But it's also about how everyone needs to have faith, even non-turtles, that they can make it through tough times.

Doerrfeld knew she wanted to make a book set on a beach and thought sea turtles would be fun to draw. She also knew turtles hatch in underground nests and then have to swim continuously for up to 36 hours to reach their community.

"Sea turtles start in a dark place, emerge, have this journey and face these huge crashing waves before they can make it to anywhere that feels safer," said Doerrfeld, who wrote "Nellie" in late 2023 and early 2024. "It was such a good metaphor for how I was feeling in life at that time. There were things I didn't want to face in terms of family issues, and I had to crawl out of a dark place."

For Doerrfeld — whose husband, Tyler Page, also has a book out this month, graphic novel "Extra Large" — making "Nellie" was stressful, since it came together while their family was dealing with issues she prefers to keep private. But it also was a balm.

When Nellie waddles to a pile of rocks that gives her perspective on the journey ahead, it represents Doerrfeld figuring out the trickiest part of any of her books: how a character finds inner strength. It's also a reminder for her own family.

"If you stay down at the level where everything is difficult and never rise above it, you can't see that there will be a different time ahead. It's a reminder that there's more out there and that sometimes we get stuck in the scary parts of life," said Doerrfeld, who kept encountering similar reminders when she was researching the new book. "There were lots of times I just looked up sea turtles and saw that monk seals are their friends and that was a fun distraction."

The St. Olaf College graduate, who jokes that she should write a book called "It's Hard to Be a Person," is excited to share Nellie's story when she visits schools and stores to promote the book, just as she has with previous books "The Rabbit Listened" and "Goodbye, Friend! Hello, Friend!"

"I love when you can create something from a problem," said Doerrfeld. "I hope people who are going through something hard can see that underlying message in there. It becomes rewarding for me that I made something that helped me and maybe can help others."

That's the potential for many books, of course. But Doerrfeld is especially attuned to her books' impact on readers because hers are so young and because picture books, unlike the more solitary process of books intended for adults, are meant to be shared.

"When I wrote 'The Rabbit Listened,' I definitely wasn't thinking about anything other than making the book. But when I started to read it [to kids], I realized, 'I get to be a chicken and a bear and an elephant.' And I loved it. It was so fun!" recalled Doerrfeld. "With 'Nellie,' I started to think about, like, the crash of the ocean sound, which me and the kids can make together. It becomes something fun for them to look forward to, and for me."

Whether it's her childhood favorite book, "Barbapapa," or Tim Burton movies such as "Edward Scissorhands" that she loved later on, Doerrfeld has always been attracted to stories about lonely people who struggle not to feel like outsiders. It's a message she knows kids respond to.

"It's really why I like to write books — so we have tools and can maybe feel more comfortable dealing with loss, grief, dark times," said Doerrfeld. "I feel like the best you can do is be comfortable with the uncomfortable, because otherwise you feel alone. And kids sometimes think they're the only ones who are going through something, which is just not true."

She vividly recalls reading her book, "Beneath," to children. In that book, an older man and a sad child go for a walk. Inevitably, young people wanted to know why the child was sad and would ask if it was because the man's wife, the child's grandma, died. Those ideas were not necessarily spelled out in the book, but young readers found them.

"Nellie's Big Splash" seems likely to hit for readers in a similar way. Even if those readers don't include Doerrfeld's two children, who are now teenagers. They used to love it when she would do voices for them and ask questions about characters in her books. But now?

"That's a hard moment as a parent when you realize your kids — this happens and you almost don't notice — don't want you to read the book anymore. They want to read it themselves," said Doerrfeld. "I'm proud and happy for them, but it's also kind of sad when that happens. But I guess I'm lucky I still get to read my books to other kids."

Nellie's Big Splash

By: Cori Doerrfeld.

Publisher: Dial Books, 40 pages, $18.99.

Events: 10:30 a.m. April 12, Red Balloon Bookshop, 891 Grand Av., St. Paul. Free. 10:30 a.m. April 15, Wild Rumpus, 2720 W. 43rd St., Mpls. Free.