Now Andrews, 70, is working with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, on a series of children's books, and in doing so is finding the same sort of satisfaction singing gave her for many years.
Anderson's Bookshops brought Andrews to Naperville on Monday to celebrate the
publication of her latest book, "The Great American Mousical." During her visit,
Andrews addressed fans who packed the auditorium at Naperville North High School
for an event that benefited the Kathryn Bender Memorial Fund. Bender, a
Naperville North senior known about the school as a talented actress, dancer and
singer, died suddenly in November.
"I'm not able to sing, particularly not the way I would like to sing," she said. "I have about five notes in my voice which are very, very deep. I can speak, but singing, which is launching into a different kind of plateau, is not possible."
So Andrews said her books have become an extension of her singing.
"Writing is just an extension of what I do in the theater because it is another way of using my voice, so to speak," she said. "In other words, theater is all about the words, and so are the books. And you can have a beautiful piece of music in a song, but if the words don't mean something behind it, the song just falls flat."
Andrews said her new book, which is all about the theater, seems to have blended the two things she's most passionate about. It follows the adventures of a troupe of theater mice as they work to put on a show to save their theater from the wrecking ball. Broadway designer Tony Walton created the book's illustrations.
Andrews' previous book titles include "The Last of the Really Great
Whangdoodles," "Dragon," "Mandy" and the "Dumpy the Dump Truck" series. Andrews
said she is working on a morning children's television program based on the
"Dumpy the Dump Truck" series. She would host the show, which she said is slated
to hit the air in 2007.
"We've put interactive books for children on it, and outlines for lectures and for teaching on the books, and I actually did manage to record and put down a very, very low-key version of a song that was written about the latest book," she said. "If you go on to (the Web site) you'll hear the leading lady of the book, and it will be my voice, and she'll be singing, but it's in a little interactive game for children. It was fun to do."
What has also been fun is working on these writing projects with her daughter, Andrews said.
"That has proven to be the most enormous joy," she said. "Who knew that when she was a little girl she would grow up and I would have a lovely young woman sitting as my equal in front of me, and we would enjoy each other so much and finish each others' sentences and drink endless cups of tea together and laugh a lot? It is a wonderful gift."
Andrews said she is thankful she has had her children's books to turn to since she lost the ability to sing the way she once did.
"I'm so grateful that I could turn to something else because I was in a lot of denial, which helped because I didn't accept it, and to some extent I still don't, really ? witness this funny little song," she said. "But I managed to pull it off just (fine)," she said of the song she recorded for her Web site, "and I'm so grateful that I did."
But right now she said she is enjoying the new phase of her life: publishing.
"It has become something that has become very important to me, and the more
it grows, the more it seems to be having a life of its own," Andrews said. "I
really am enjoying it, especially at this time in my life."
Andrews said she is working on a morning children's television program based
on the "Dumpy the Dump Truck" series. For information on her books, visit www.julieandrewscollection.com .
