Interview with Author Jeanine DeHoney: This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church
Hello, friends! Happy June, and thanks for joining us today!
I’m so glad you’re here.
This month we are chatting with author Jeanine DeHoney about her book, This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church, illustrated by Robert Paul Jr., and published by Sleeping Bear Press in 2025 as part of their Own Voices, Own Stories collection that amplifies diverse, underrepresented, and authentic voices in children's literature.
This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church has a Kirkus Review and a Midwest Book Review, was chosen as book of the week by Successful Black Parenting Magazine's Book Club, and will be featured in the newsletter of Young, Black and Lit, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago that increases access to children’s books reflecting and affirming children of color.
The book is beautiful and warm in both text and illustrations, and brought tears to my eyes because of the love and care shown by the family at the center of the story. I can’t wait for you to hear more about it. So, without further ado…
Let’s grab a cup of something yummy, get comfy…and dig in!
SR: Jeanine, welcome to the blog! I'm so excited to chat with you. Could you tell us what inspired you to write This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church?
JDH: I was inspired to write This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church one day after thinking about my late father. I was always underfoot as a child, the youngest of two daughters. My mother, sister and I went to church every Sunday at a church in my grandmother’s Brooklyn neighborhood. My father never joined us on those Sunday’s, except if my sister or I had a church recital. I knew though he had a relationship with God for at times I would see him pray. I never wanted anyone to judge him because he didn’t attend church with us, thus I was inspired to write this picture book. I wanted to highlight the unconditional love of a family even when there are differences in how they choose to worship. The book is dedicated to both my father and mother.
SR: The illustrations by Robert Paul Jr. are rich and warm, and they convey the emotional tone of the book so beautifully. Did you get to work with the illustrator personally? Do you have a favorite spread?
JDH: Yes, the illustrations by Robert are spectacular and beautiful and I couldn’t have asked to be paired with a more talented, and award winning at that, illustrator. I didn’t work with him personally but my fantastic editor Barb McNally, who’s the senior editor at Sleeping Bear Press, would let him know if anything needed to be tweaked or changed, which was very minimal. I was so pleased with his illustrations and how he captured Omar and his parents and every scene as I envisioned it.
This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church.
Written by Jeanine DeHoney,
Illustrated by Robert Paul Jr.,
Published by Sleeping Bear Press.
SR: The themes in this book feel like a warm hug: faith, family love, community, service, acceptance, and even music and food! Is there anything you'd like to share about those themes? And, bouncing off the theme of community, could you tell us about your experience with the picture book writing community, and the writing community in general?
JDH: The themes in the story are all of the familial empowering themes I wanted to focus on. Especially faith and family love and community and service. Of course, when writing this story, I reminisced about the delicious food we shared as family and also the music I grew up listening to the most which was jazz. My father played the saxophone and the guitar and even made a jazz record once. Every Saturday morning while my sister and I did chores, he would also play all of the jazz legends on our console player.
I haven’t had a lot of experiences with the picture book community or the writing community in general because I haven’t joined any writing groups. I do listen to a lot of writers’ podcasts and I have an inbox of writers I subscribe to on Substack and try to support with a positive comment whenever they post.
This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church. Written by Jeanine DeHoney, Illustrated by Robert Paul Jr., Published by Sleeping Bear Press.
SR: Would you share a time when writing (or the process) felt easy, and why—and when writing (or the process) felt hard?
JDH: Writing has always felt easy to me, because I have loved writing since the age of seven and even if I am journaling, I tend to write something, even if it is a note about an idea, every day. I also find that when I am going through trying times, when my branches bend in a storm and nearly break, it is the writing about whatever is painful or whatever I am struggling with, that is cathartic and helps me press on. I also remember some words of wisdom my mother always said which is, “This too will pass.” And it does.
SR: You were awarded the 2022 Honor Award Sleeping Bear Press’s Own Voices, Own Stories Award. This is so wonderful, and I’d like to hear more about that experience!
JDH: I have always researched grants and awards for writers and when I came across Sleeping Bear Press’s Own Voices Own Stories Award, I said aha. I had several manuscripts I thought about entering but when I pulled up a copy of “This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church,” and reread it, I knew that was the manuscript I wanted to submit.
SR: You are currently querying agents as an already-published picture book author. How is that feeling for you?
JDH: It’s a process in which I have to remind myself that when it is my time, the right agent will want to represent me. In the meantime, I continue to send out queries but most of all continue to write.
SR: Are there any craft resources that you especially love that you’d like to share?
JDH: I have several writing books I like to read from time to time to stay motivated as a writer; On Writing by Stephen King, Elements of Fiction by Walter Mosley, Black Women Writers at Work edited by Claudia Tate and Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. As far as picture book resources, I usually read articles or blog posts from other children’s authors and editors/agents/publishers of children’s books, who share a wealth of information.
This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church. Written by Jeanine DeHoney, Illustrated by Robert Paul Jr., Published by Sleeping Bear Press.
SR: For our readers who are not writers, what is something you'd like people to know about picture books or the industry?
JDH: As a reader, immerse yourself in the world of picture books because you won’t regret it. They in so few words or no words at all, just illustrations, will uplift you, inform you, and make you laugh and cry and laugh again and help you stay in touch with your inner child. Picture books are not just for children; they are for us adults also. So, I hope you buy them, check them out of the library, fill your bookshelves with them and even try your hand at writing them if only to share your story, written on notebook paper, with those you treasure.
SR: Hear, hear! I hope that our readers will be inspired to look forThis Sunday My Daddy Came To Church. I know they will love it as much as I do.
And now, a LIGHTNING ROUND!
Favorite family meal?
Lasagna and fried fish. I must add a vegetable, right, (smile) so broccoli and carrots, since ketchup isn’t a vegetable and I love a lot of that.
What are you reading right now? Could be any age group or genre!
Right now, I’m reading the wonderful stories in a few of the online literary magazines I subscribe to. But I plan on reading before the end of the summer, Kin by Tayari Jones. (SR: I am currently number 177 on my library’s hold list for this one! 😊)
Do you have a favorite picture book?
It’s so difficult to name just one. But a few that I absolutely love are; Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, and A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
What is currently bringing you joy?
My supportive and loving husband, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, my sister who is a joyful warrior even while dealing with serious health issues, my closest besties and family members who I don’t see often but who send me lots of loving text messages and heart emojis, and my furry grandbaby Toby, a Great Pyrenees, my daughter and her family rescued, whose antics always make me laugh out loud.
GIVEAWAY!
Jeanine is generously giving away a signed copy of This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church. To enter, please comment, and/or if you’re not already a subscriber, please scroll down to the bottom of the page to subscribe!
To learn more about Jeanine and This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church, check out these other great interviews:
Susanna Leonard Hill's blog, "Tuesday Debut": https://susannahill.com/2025/11/18/tuesday-debut-presenting-jeanine-dehoney-plus-a-giveaway/
Deborah Kalb’s blog Q&A: https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2026/05/q-with-jeanine-dehoney.html
Help support Jeanine and This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church:
🎶 Buy the book for yourself, a friend or family member, a teacher or school library.
🎶 Review the book on Goodreads, Amazon, Bookshop.org, etc.
🎶 Ask your local library to purchase This Sunday My Daddy Came To Church, if they don’t already have it.
THANK YOU AGAIN TO JEANINE, AND THANK YOU FOR READING! 📖💕