Say Goodbye to the Vanderbeekers With These Fun Facts About The Series
Every story must come to an end, and it’s time for readers to say goodbye to the beloved Vanderbeeker family because the final book in the series, The Vanderbeekers Ever After, is almost here!
The Vanderbeekers series by Karina Yan Glaser has been an instant hit from the very beginning. There’s a very good chance that you’ve read at least one book in the seven-book series or spotted it on the shelves at your school library. Readers have followed this family’s adventures through everything from fighting grumpy landlords and creating community gardens to road trip mishaps and uncovering family secrets. But as it comes to an end in The Vanderbeekers Ever After, this tight-knit family is about to face their biggest challenge yet when planning the wedding of their two favorite people turns into an unexpected diagnosis and trip to the hospital, the family will need the resilience, warmth, and community readers know and love from the Vanderbeekers series is what will see them through this major event.
The Vanderbeekers have been through it all, and readers have loved devouring these heartwarming reads. With the series ending, we invited author Karina Yan Glaser to share some fun facts about the books that you might not know – even if you’re the biggest Vanderbeekers fan!
Author Karina Yan Glaser Shares 5 Vanderbeekers Fun Facts:
Fact #1:
Did you know that the Vanderbeeker books were not originally planned to be a series? When I was in the middle of revisions for the first Vanderbeeker story, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, my publisher asked for a second book. Then, when I was revising the second book, they asked for a third book. Then, when I was revising the third book… well, you get the idea!
I ended up deciding that seven books would be the perfect number of books for this series. Seven is also my lucky number, so it seemed like the right thing to do!
Fact #2:
The Vanderbeekers Ever After prominently features a therapy dog program. When I was writing that part into the book, I realized that I didn’t have all the information I needed to accurately portray therapy dogs in the story. My dog Lalo was one-and-a-half years old at that time, and I thought to myself, what better way to do research than to enroll my own dog into a therapy dog program! That is how my dog Lalo became a therapy dog, and how I got some valuable information for the book.
Fact #3:
The Vanderbeeker books have two different cover artists. Karl James Mumford created the covers for the first two books, and Katya Longhi created the covers for books three to seven. I adore the covers. Can you tell that the books had two different illustrators?
Fact #4:
Sometimes I use the names of friends and family in my books. In The Vanderbeekers Ever After, Dr. Scharf is named after a dear friend of mine. She is a pediatrician, and she was also someone I consulted about some of the medical details in this book. Dr. Ayoub is named after a podiatrist I saw after a running injury. I love her name!
Fact #5:
While I don’t create the covers to my books (see fun fact #3), I do make the illustrations that go on the inside of the books. I have no art training, but I’ve always loved to draw. I do a mix of drawings and writing in my journals, which is great practice for my books.
My favorite drawing subjects are my pets (I have one dog, a corgi, and three cats).
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