An Interview with Lise Lunge-Larsen

My cooperating teacher and I have been using the book Gifts from the Gods: Ancient Words and Wisdom from Greek and Roman Mythology in our classroom to support the teaching of Greek and Latin roots. I happened upon it in the bookstore a few weeks ago and discovered this magnificent folklorist and storyteller. Lise has written many folklore re-tellings and keeps a very informative blog. Her website also contains a wealth of information for teachers and story lovers alike. Click here to read a blog post she wrote containing tips for telling stories in your classroom. Lise has also posted a series of articles that essentially serve as a mini-course on folklore--valuable for any teacher. Since I am someone who believes almost anything can be taught using stories, I had to contact this woman. She was gracious enough to drop by for an interview. Lise, welcome to The River!

Lori: Your most recent book, Gifts from the Gods, has been an excellent teaching tool in our classroom. We are studying Greek and Latin roots! How did the idea for this uniquely formatted picture book about word origins develop?         


Lise: I got this idea many decades ago when I was a graduate student in linguistics at the University of Minnesota. I was writing my Master's Thesis on using storytelling to teach English as A Second Language and working as a storyteller round and about the Twin Cities. I also had the chance to teach a storytelling class at Hamline University and as part of that class I included the storytelling of myths. As I was working on this, I began to notice how many words in English, from the names of cars (Saturn, Mercury) to cleaning products (Ajax), to shoes (Nike) came from Greek mythology. I got pretty excited and actually worked up lesson plans for teachers to have their students go on scavenger hunts in the grocery stores and elsewhere finding references to Greek mythology. This was in the early 80's and I kept telling teachers this was a great idea and somebody ought to write a book. Nobody ever did, so finally I decided I had better do it. As I suspected, it was a ton of work. I jokingly call Gifts from the Gods my dissertation!!!


Lori: Oh man, I want those lesson plans! You grew up literally surrounded by books which must have influenced your interest in stories. Did you also love to write stories as a child? How did the writer in you develop?

Lise: Being surrounded by books and a family of readers, I always loved to read. However, I never thought that I would become a writer. That seemed like something only a few amazing individuals could do, like Henrik Ibsen or Shakespeare. It seemed unattainable so I never even considered it growing up. That didn't stop me from writing of course. I just never considered it as a possible career. But I wrote for the school newspapers,I wrote skits to perform at school and in my drama club and so on. But I never took it seriously. It was for fun.

Lori: Your troll story retellings, collected in, The Troll With no Heart in His Body, are said to retain the power of the originals without shying away from their sometimes violent nature. I love your thoughtful introduction about why children need these stories and the importance of folktales. Regarding the debate surrounding “sanitization” of folklore, why is it important to you that children are not necessarily “protected” from the violence in some of these stories? What important purpose does this treatment serve? (I know this is such an old debate, but there are teachers out there who are concerned about this.)

Lise: Well, it's because violence is a fact of life and in the stories it is presented in a metaphorical language that makes it tolerable for children. One thing I have learned as a storyteller is that you do have to be age appropriate with children. I would never have more violence than is found in Billy Goats Gruff for the younger children, but for the older ones, there can be more. But the thing is, children can handle the scary parts when it is part of the solution to a problem and once they hear that solution they realize they too could have figured it out. That's huge for them. When I tell Butterball, they love listening and I can hear them whisper as they try to figure out how Butterball is going to get out of being eaten. When they recognize that they had figured out at least part of the solution, all fear melts away and they have this enormous sense of competence. This is such a huge topic and i could go on for a very long time. I wrote a bunch of blog posts related this. Here are the links: http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/blog/sss/?tag=the-witch-must-die

http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/blog/sss/?tag=childrens-critical-thinking-skills

Lori: What else, other than the presence of trolls, is most distinctive about the flavor of Scandinavian tales?

Lise: Many things set Norwegian folktales apart. The language is very direct and there is a certain kind of folksy humor that pokes fun at everyone in a position of power. The king is usually not very clever, the parson is not to be trusted, the academic is totally lacking in common sense and so on. This is because at the time when the tales were written down, Norway had been a Danish colony for 400 years and every person in power was Danish or Danish educated, so naturally the folktales liked to poke fun of them. The sense of the dramatic landscape is also evident in the strong contrasts found in the stories - huge craggy mountains and deep fjords, endless summer nights contrasted with near constant darkness in winter. That contrast is clearly seen in the contrast between good and evil, which in the tales are nearly always the contrast between humans and trolls. 

Lori: While folktales are retold for every age, in novels and picture books alike, why do you think the same few stories get retold again and again? Can you give us a few titles of overlooked-but-spectacular tales we should give attention to?

Lise: I guess the same stories get told over and over again because they resonate so deeply with us and parents want to make sure their children have the same profound experience as they had when they read the story. In a way it is nice, because it is an experience that's shared over time and space. A child can talk to a great grandparent about Cinderella and know they're talking about the same thing. It's not certain that great grandparent has read "The Hunger Games" or "Captain Underpants." So it becomes a shared language with shared metaphors ("If the shoe fits" for example) and that is always a good thing to have. At the same time there are so many great folktales that almost no children get to read or hear. The troll stories in my book are largely unknown to children, with the exception of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Every culture has a folktale that they consider the absolute classic folktale of their country such as Momotaro, the Little One Inch Boy from Japan, or stories about Baba Yaga and Vassilia the beautiful from Russia. I don't think most children read 1001 Arabian Nights anymore, do they? Yet the stories included about Sinbad the sailor and Aladdin are classics. Boy there are too many great folktales that remain largely forgotten to know where to start. That's why I'm writing my blog.

Lori: I will be referencing your blog often. Can you talk about what you’re working on currently? What stories are you finding most important to you right now?

Lise: I'm working on a couple of different projects right now, but I have idea if they'll go anywhere. I guess I'm not supposed to talk about it, but at least one them is about words and language. If you read my blog posts during January (an etymological abc!!!) you'll get an idea.

Lori: As a lover of words I will be watching for that at my bookstore for sure. It would be great to feature one a day in the classroom. What other genres do you enjoy reading for pleasure? Favorite authors?

Lise: I love to read just about anything. I'm a big mystery fan and at the moment I'm into what they have dubbed Nordic Noir. Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø is a favorite. I also love historical fiction and I just read "Shogun" for the first time. Great novel. Right now I'm in the middle of Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War."

Lori: Teachers must have data driven justification for everything we do. What research supports storytelling as a “best practice” in the elementary classroom? (As someone who is getting ready to interview for teaching jobs, I am very interested in presenting this. I have plenty of anecdotal evidence of the power of stories, but administrators also need to see the data!)

Lise: I think I covered some of that in that january course. There are some great books, but I actually am not familiar with any hard data. Try writers and scholars like Jack Zipes and Maria Tatar. Both are passionate about folklore and as academics, full of data!

Lori: I will definitely be looking them up. Do you ever come to Michigan?

Lise: You bet!!

Lori: I will be passing your name on to the people who organize our school visits. Now for the really important questions. Since we are both Dancing with the Stars fans, tell me, which dancing couple are you rooting for?

Lise: Oh my gosh. They are so good. I love many of them. I know I'm rooting for Katherine Jenkins and also Maria Menounos.

Lori: I know! There are a lot of great dancers this time. Now for the requisite culinary question: Assuming you enjoy chocolate, does your preference lean toward milk or dark?

Lise: I love dark chocolate! 

Lori: And what is a favorite dessert from your childhood?

Lise: A favorite childhood dessert/treat is Norwegian heart shaped waffles with jam. Yum.

Lori: It has been at treat to have you visit my blog. Thanks so much for your thoughtful answers and folkloric wisdom! 

Check out all of Lise's books here.

Check out more of my author interviews here.

Author Interview: Sue Stauffacher

Today I have the privilege of chatting with Michigan Writer, Sue Stauffacher. Her Donuthead books are favorites of mine. Welcome Sue!

Lori: What were your favorite books to read as a young person?

Sue: Secret Garden, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Lori: How does your job as a book reviewer affect your artistic process?

Sue: I don’t like to review books I don’t like because I know how it feels to get a bad review. I try to stick to the ones I can recommend. Also, it can get a little criticism-heavy at times and then I take a break from it.

Lori: We know all writers, even published ones, deal with rejection. How much rejection did you receive before your initial acceptance?

Sue: Thirty rejections on my first book and ten years between book one and book two. I am deeply acquainted with rejection

Lori: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now? Upcoming publications?

Sue: I have four books coming out in 2010—a series called Animal Rescue Team for Knopf about a family of urban wildlife rehabilitators. I studied Beverly Cleary’s books over and over to try to pick up her gentle humor and timing. And a picture book called Tillie the Terrible Swede, about the amazing long-distance bicycle racer of the 1890s, Tillie Anderson

Lori: Please tell us about any of your upcoming appearances.

Sue: I am focusing on writing this year…spending a lot of time as a volunteer with school kids and also volunteering in the costume shop for the ballet. Folks who want to keep track of such things in the future, can look for my newly revised web site suestauffacher.com this winter. I’ve engaged the talented folks at Winding Oak. They specialize in children’s book authors.

Lori: What books are you loving in 2009?

Sue: I just read Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork. It’s a young adult book. Really really good.

Lori: How would you feel about your book(s) being made into movies or plays? Is anything like this in the works?

Sue: The ‘exclusive right to review’ Donuthead has been sold three times : ), but so far no movie. I think I could handle it from this distance. Maybe right after publication would be hard.

Lori: Do you prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate?

Sue: Dark chocolate, definitely

Lori: Desserts or hors d’oeuvres?

Sue: Chocolate chip cookies and seven layer cookie bars—that was an easy one!

Lori: Describe a typical day in the life of Sue Staffacher :o)

Sue: Typical day…well, write, revise, work in my massively overgrown native plant garden, work on community projects, try to be a housekeeper, a mom of two teen boys and a wife of a college professor (he’s in the writing department)

Lori: Thanks so much for taking the time to appear at Quill today, Sue. I’m looking forward to your upcoming books and, for the record, I’d love to see Donuthead as a film!

An interview with N.D. Wilson, author of 100 Cupboards

N.D Wilson's debut novel, an adventure called Leepike Ridge, prompted comparisons to Mark Twain and garnered much recognition.  Now, with his 100 Cupboards trilogy, Wilson is dipping into the fantasy realm with great success.  Check out his blog and website for writing tips and all around great content.  He's also a fun interviewee:  

Lori:  I come from a family full of teachers.  How does your teaching inform the kind of writing you do?

NDW:  I've had to learn to shift and slide my verbal approach on the fly (tone of voice, inflection, comic vocab, sudden anecdotes, etc.) in order to keep students awake and interested. That forced me into a degree of versatility I might not have come by otherwise. I'm sure there are other ways that my teaching has influenced my writing, but according to me, right now, at this moment in time, that's the most notable.

Lori:  You seem like a ham (See author photo).  Do you have any theater in your background? 

NDW: Ham?  I'm quite serious about photos. . . Actually, I have (throughout the duration of my remembered life) been completely unable to take a "traditional" (note the scare quotes) photo without first ruining several shots. It's only one of the ways in which I have failed to grow up. As for theater, I have only a little in my background. Some junior high stuff (I'm sure I was amazing), and one community theater performance which I enjoyed immensely (a comedy called Leave it to Psmith). Not sure I could ever be involved in something that wasn't a comedy.

Lori:  What were your favorite books to read as a young person?

NDW:  Nothing original here. Narnia and Lord of the Rings from a pretty early age. In junior high, I expanded into C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy. The third book (That Hideous Strength) remains my all-time fav.

Lori:  What have you read lately (for adults or kids) that you'd recommend?

NDW:  Hmm. Define lately? On the kid side of things, I really enjoy Megan Whalen Turner's stuff. And Holes remains as close to perfect as a book can get. For adults, I recently read (and truly enjoyed) Truck: a Love Story by Michael Perry.

Lori:  I read that you've turned book three of the cupboard series in to your editor.  Can you tell us anything about what you're working on now?

NDW:  Too many things. But on the top of the pile, there is a picture book called The Wisdom of Ninja-Boy and a new five book series that I'm shaping (the name of which I am not currently sharing). Both are for Random House.

Lori:  If you had a secret cupboard in your house, where would it take you?

NDW:  When I first pondered this question (in adulthood), I came up with far too many answers. Eventually, I was able to narrow it down to 98 possibilities, and the 100 Cupboards trilogy was born. Currently, I think I would want it to take me up to my daughter's palace in the sky. She's been inviting me to a picnic up there, and I just haven't been able to find my way.

 

Lori:  How do you feel about your books being made into movies?  Is anything like that in the works?

NDW:  I feel conflicted. There is no greater marketing tool than a film. Incidentally, there is also no greater tool for inflicting authorial pain. Various movie types are eager to chat, but nothing's in production.

 Lori:  Do you write every day, and do you have any of those quirky writer rituals like, say, the required company of a rubber chicken?

NDW:  I don't write every day, but every day contributes to my writing (research, reading, sketching, etc.). No rubber chickens here, but I do have a large, smooth, 1911 British penny that always stays with me while I write. I also tend to find a single album for each project. That album is the only one that gets played until a project is finished, so it's important for me to choose wisely. (Example: Coldplay's X&Y provided background for Leepike Ridge.)

Lori:  What books do your kids love?

NDW:  My son (who just turned seven) has been sucked completely into Dandelion Fire. Obviously, that's a lot of fun for me to watch. We generally have to pry it away from him to get him into bed, and he gets up early to read it before we wake up.

Lori:  Please tell us about any upcoming appearances.

NDW:  The L.A. Times Festival of Books is next on the slate. I'll be on the Target Children's Stage at 4:4o in the pm on April 25th. I'm wrapping up a hectic spring and am looking forward (hopefully) to a quiet summer.

Lori:  Finally, do you prefer milk chocolate or dark?  Dessert or hors d'oeuvres?

NDW:  Dark everytime. But dessert or hors d'oeuvres? My stomach is an inclusive operation. There's room for both.

Lori:  Anything I didn't ask that you have an answer for?

NDW:  Notta. Cheers, and thanks so much for the grilling.

Lori:  Thank you.  It was a pleasure!

An Interview with: Janet Taylor Lisle

This week’s author is highly acclaimed Newbery Honor and Scott O'Dell award winning author, Janet Lisle. Her latest book is HIGHWAY CATS (you can see my review here). Welcome Janet!

Lori: Where are you from?

Janet: I'm a New Englander with deep roots in Rhode Island. My home is in a small, rural town, on the coast. I love the fields, ponds, beaches and woods surrounding my house and many of my stories contain passages that describe real places I walk every day. Near my home are ocean coves where rum-runners like those in my book BLACK DUCK once landed on moonless nights. The magical garden featured in THE LOST FLOWER CHILDREN is off my side porch. The forest that provides the scene for my novel about how wars start, FOREST, is just down the road.



Lori: Tell us a little bit about your writing process.


Janet: I wrote my first books with a pencil, pages that I then typed up on an electric typewriter before mailing them to my editor. I work entirely on computer now. Otherwise the process is the same. Writing is like fishing: first comes the small tug of an idea, then a cautious reeling in, a stronger pull from the water and then a big fight (usually about mid-way through) where the story tries to get away and you have to play it with cunning and patience. Finally, if you're lucky, you land a creature that isn't at all what you thought it would be, but you're so relieved the fight is over that you don't care.

Lori: Do you listen to music while you write?

Janet: I love music, and sing in several choruses. But I don't listen to it while I write. It tends to drown out the voices of my characters. Also, I like to read my work out loud from time to time to hear how it sounds. Words, sentences, even whole chapters, make music of their own.

Lori: Do you ever work on more than one book at a time?

Janet: No. Once I'm into a story, I can't think of anything else.



Lori: Tell us about the play adapted from your novel AFTERNOON OF THE ELVES.
Janet: AFTERNOON OF THE ELVES was optioned by a children's theater company and written as a script for stage so quickly that I didn't have time to participate. I would have liked to. It's been a big success and I like the play a lot, but I find it both sadder and less magical than my story. I'm basically an "awe and wonder" writer, someone interested in the power of imagination. It's why I love writing for children. They're more in touch with this side of themselves than adults. In the play, Sara-Kate's backyard elves are no longer real by the end. They've become a way to describe Sara-Kate's terrible social problems. In the book, I leave room for my readers to imagine what they please about the elves. Personally, I've always believed that, within the scope of the story, the elf village is awesomely and powerfully alive. This is what gives the story its imaginative depth.

Lori: What do you like to read?

Janet: My favorite books growing up were J.R.R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT, and his RING TRILOGY. I loved his invention of an alter world complete with history, geography, moral code, and even a literature. The writing in those books, with its over-elaborate, mock heroic tone, isn't the best, I see now, but I still admire the sweep of Tolkien's imagination, and the sinister creep of evil that shadows his plots.

Lori: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now?

Janet: At the moment, I'm writing a history of my town for the local historical society. The town is one of the oldest in America. This fall, I've been researching what happened to the Indians who lived here first, back in the 17th Century. There's a mystery about where they went. Were they simply killed or deported, or did they gradually blend in with the newer inhabitants? I may use these ideas in a fictional book later.

Lori: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your writing life?

Fiction is a kind of writing that's best done on a full tank of ideas and emotion. I need time between books to fill up. For me, the best stories have meanings that go deeper than the surface narrative. It isn't enough that characters are "well developed", as the critics often say. Or that a story is deftly plotted or a fast, exciting read. Ambiguity, voice, the uneasy thrill of teetering at the edge of reality, are things I've learned to treasure in novels written for adults, and I work to bring them to my stories for children and young adults. This doesn't make me the most popular writer out there, but for those who care to look, there are special sights to be seen.

Lori: Thank you so much for dropping by. Your books are worth the wait! (Janet has a wonderful, informative website with more interviews here).

An Interview with Patrice Kindl

This Friday’s author is Patrice Kindl, author of OWL IN LOVE, GOOSE CHASE, THE WOMAN IN THE WALL, and LOST IN THE LABYRINTH. Welcome Patrice!

Lori: Your theater background is interesting to me. Do you ever do any acting (besides character creation on the page), even though your career went in a slightly different direction?

Patrice: A few TV commercials, some off-off-off Broadway and a few months with an improv. group. Not much, really. Like any of the arts, it's hard to break in and a hard way to make a living.

Lori: What were your favorite books to read as a young person?Patrice: I was an Anglophile. I loved MARY POPPINS (the books, NOT the movie), THE BORROWERS, the Narnia books, T.H. White's THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING. Actually, I was an omnivore; I devoured nearly anything I got my hands on.



Lori: Do you write every day? On more than one project at a time?

Patrice: I am a slow, lazy writer with a severe shortage of ideas.

Lori: Ha! I guess the number of ideas isn't important, as long as you have a few great ones! We know all writers, even published ones, deal with rejection. How much rejection did you receive before your initial acceptance?

Patrice: Not too bad, actually. I wrote one novel that disappeared into some publisher's filing system and never reemerged. Then I wrote OWL IN LOVE, which was published by the first editor I sent it to.

Lori: Can you tell us anything about what you're working on now?

Patrice: I wish I could. I repeat: I am a slow, lazy writer with a severe shortage of ideas.

Lori: Have you read any books recently that you'd recommend?

Patrice: Lying face-down next to the computer as I type is Joan Aiken's THE SERIAL GARDEN. Many of the stories (the Armitage family) are old, but there are four new ones (Ms. Aiken died in 2004, so the proper way to put it, I suppose, is that they are being published for the first time) and all the stories are collected here under one cover.


Lori: Would you ever write a memoir?

Patrice: Goodness! The thought never occurred to me. I am too fond of the quiet life for my doings to be of much interest to anyone outside of a severely restricted circle.

Lori: How would you feel about your book(s) being made into movies or plays? Is anything like this in the works?

Patrice: Oh sure. I'm all for it. Is anything like this in the works? Maybe. At last count there have been ten separate inquiries of varying degrees of seriousness. Some were single emails about the availability of film rights, some were initiatives that came quite close to actually happening. So you never know. It always cheers you up to get an inquiry, anyway.

Lori: Describe a typical day in the life of Patrice Kindl :o)

Patrice: Well, hmm. How about if I give you a snapshot of myself at this exact moment? I'm typing at a computer in a big old house in a small, rural village, in an intensely green room filled with books and birdcages. There's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel asleep on my lap (this is the largest breed of lapdogs, so he overflows a bit -- his head is on my wrist, impeding my typing, and, as he shifts in his sleep, his foot presses down on the sp ace bar). He barks in his sleep and twitches all over; he's dreaming about the dobermans next door. From time to time a bright green parrot (a Panama Amazon) perched on top of my head says abruptly in a threatening tone, "I SEEEE you," and digs her claws into my scalp. Behind the three of us, Clyde the eclectus (another parrot) makes a sound like a foghorn.

Above my head -- Oops. Bree the Amazon just took careful aim and pooped on the dog's head. Those two are always squabbling over who owns me -- interval for damp paper towels required.

Above my head my much beloved husband is packing to go to the Philippines (again!), watched mournfully by the cat and our other dog, Boufe the gigantic Newfoundland, both of whom understand the significance of suitcases. Outside an ice storm beats steadily down; the frozen rain making little tinking sounds as it hits the ice-slick snow.


The radiators all wail in chorus.See what I mean? Not much scope for an autobiography here. Mostly just animals, a husband leaving for foreign climes, reading and (very little)typing.However, for what it's worth, there it is: my life. I hope you can do something with it.

Lori: Thank you so much, Patrice, for sharing your writing life (and your menagerie) with us!

An Interview with Emily Jenkins

This week I’m so happy to have Emily Jenkins visit for a Friday Interview. Her young middle grade novel, Toys Go Out, with illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky has been called “Toy Story meets Winnie the Pooh.” It’s sequel, Toy Dance Party, is in stores now. She is the author of many picture books and novels.

Lori: Welcome Emily! You’re very active in the Children’s Lit world. How does your work, reviewing picture books in The New York Times, inform your own art?

Emily: It forces me to think critically about what I think makes a good picture book -- something that teaching did, when I used to teach, and that being on the Ezra Jack Keats Award committee does. If I articulate my values and opinions, I have a clearer sense of what I want to do myself.

Lori: Do you write every day? On more than one project at a time?

Emily: I write most weekdays. Usually picture books are procrastinations of larger projects. As in, I can't write today -- oh, a picture book sounds fun! I will try to work on one of those. But then, of course, picture books are as hard as anything else to write well. I'm just deceiving myself.

Lori: I just finished reading Toy Dance Party, and loved it just as much if not better than Toy's Go Out. Will there be more “Toys” novels?

Emily: Yes, there will be a third book! It's a prequel.

Lori: We know all writers, even published ones, deal with rejection. How much rejection did you receive before your initial acceptance?

Emily: The first thing I ever shopped around was a proposal for an adult book which was never published. So maybe a year's worth of consistent rejection before my first-ever acceptance, which was for a middle-grade book, The Secret Life of Billie's Uncle Myron. But I have continued to have rejections. Even recently.

Lori: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now? Upcoming publications?

Emily: I am working on that third Toys book, and then a series of chapter books about a kid with an invisible friend. In the Spring I have a picture book with Giselle Potter called Sugar Would Not Eat It, and I'm doing picture books with illustrators G. Brian Karas and Barbara McClintock.

Lori: Please tell us about any upcoming appearances.

Emily: I have none! I don't tour much.

Lori: What have you read lately that you’d recommend?

Emily: For kids, I like Wild Boars Cook, by Meg Rosoff and Sophie Blackall. Those wild boars are so disgusting! I love them! I also just read Educating Esmé, by Esmé Raji Codell. It's a brilliant and heartbreaking diary of a first year teacher in an underserved Chicago public school.

Lori: Do you think the declining word count over these past years has been an overall improvement in picture books being published today?

Emily: I think it means there are more high quality books for very very young readers, which is a great thing. I mean, it's all good with books like I Kissed the Baby! or Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, just to name two with real meaning, charm and low word counts. But it's sad that it's hard to find picture books with longer texts for older readers. And I have one or two in a drawer that I wish could find a publisher.

Lori: How would you feel about your book(s) being made into movies or plays?

Emily: I would like the paycheck, I suppose. But it seems unlikely that it would be a satisfying artistic experience.

Lori: What typically happens on Wednesdays in the real life of Emily Jenkins?

Emily: What Happens on Wednesdays is a true story. Except of course, I am the mom and not the kid. Thanks for having me on your blog, Lori!

It's an honor, Emily. Thank you so much.

There are many more books (Emily also writes for adults) on her website. Check it out here.

An Interview with Linda Urban

This week I welcome Linda Urban, author of the very charming novel, A Crooked Kind of Perfect. A forthcoming picture book, Mouse was Mad, will be published in 2009 by Harcourt. Linda was kind enough to take a moment from work on her second novel to talk about writing, reading and chocolate.

Lori: How has the process of writing your second novel been different from A Crooked Kind of Perfect? Do you write every day and on more than one thing at a time?

Linda: I have been so much more self-conscious while working on my second novel, and that has really gotten in the way of the work. I write best when I'm totally in the story and not thinking about structure or rules or audience. I had great good fortune to have a well-received first novel and I spent a lot of last year enjoying that, but also worrying that my second novel would not live up to expectations. I think I'm finally at the stage of clearing my head and focusing again on just the story. I sure hope I am, anyway. I work best when I write every day, but I did take large chunks of time off over the summer when we had family and friends around visiting. I have two small kids. They come first.

I work on whatever calls me. Most of the time that is a single project, but I do like when I have a short project and a long project going at the same time. It gives me the feeling that if one isn't working, I can turn to the other. Don't ask what happens when neither is working.

Lori: I won’t! And I certainly understand the challenge of trying to write while you have young children around. Everyone knows it takes time to get published. How much rejection did you collect before an acceptance?

Linda: Once I started writing seriously and submitting, I got very lucky and had many positive responses and an acceptance within a few months. That said, I've had plenty of rejection since then. I still have a lot to learn.

Lori: Now a process question: Do you listen to music as you write? If so, what inspires you?

Linda: I can't. I find it distracting.

Lori: How do you structure your writing day to be most productive?

Linda: Right now, I'm finding it helpful to get up early and write before the concerns of the day take over. If I can go from bed to teakettle to computer and just start typing, I often will have a much more productive day than if I read email first or scan the newspaper or think about packing school lunches or talk with my husband.A couple of mornings a week, my youngest is in preschool or with a sitter and I try to focus and write then, too, but I often find that I have a more critical mind then. It is usually a good time to look over and revise the early morning work. Once my boy is home for lunch, my writing day is over.

Lori: Please tell us about any upcoming appearances.

Linda: I have some school visits planned and I believe that Harcourt is working on scheduling some New England booksignings for MOUSE WAS MAD. I'll also be in Michigan in April to receive the Michigan Library Association's Mitten Award. I'm very excited about that.

Lori: Would you ever write a memoir?

Linda: My life is not so interesting as to warrant a memoir. There are little bits of memoir in every bit of fiction I write, but then I have to make a whole bunch of stuff up to make it worth reading.

Lori: What have you read lately that you'd recommend?

Linda: I love Richard Russo and just went on a fiction binge with his Mohawk, The Risk Pool, and Nobody's Fool. Reading him is to study characterization and dialogue. And humor. I'm always amazed at the way he is able to balance realism with humor. So many writers turn to surrealism or fantasy in order to be funny. Russo knows how to show us the everyday humor in regular people, and the ways so many of us turn to humor when things get tough.

I also adored The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is perfect historical fiction - I learned so much about the occupation of Guernsey during WWII, but every bit of that was filtered logically through the characters and plot. And characters! Oh, such characters!

As for writing for young people, I haven't read as much this year as I usually do, but I did love Ingrid Law's Savvy, Emily Jenkin's Toy Dance Party, and Dannette Haworth's Violet Raines Almost Got Hit by Lightning. I've also just finished reading a manuscript for a book which will be out next year, Kate Messner's The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. I think tweens will love it.

Lori: For you, what is the most challenging aspect of telling a story well?

Linda: I think it is plot. I like character. I like the way characters talk to one another. I like finding moments that resonate with that. Making those moments all add up into a compelling plot, though, is tough. I often tell people that my drafts get wider rather than longer. Sometimes I'm just setting moments beside other moments but not one of them is leading to the next.

Lori: And now for an important question: Do you prefer dessert or hors d'oeuvres? Milk chocolate or dark?

Linda: I'll say dessert because I have tried to type the other word three times now and I keep misspelling it. Dark Chocolate. Always.

Lori: Thanks so much for dropping by, Linda!

An Interview with Kirby Larson

Welcome to the first in a series of Friday Morning Author Interviews! We kick off with the formidable Kirby Larson, whose debut novel, Hattie Big Sky, received a Newbery Honor for 2007. Her newest book, co-written with Mary Nethery and illustrated by Jean Cassels, is called Two Bobbies: A True story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival.

Lori: Welcome Kirby! Where are you from originally?

Kirby: While I'm tempted to give a smart aleck answer (like Mars), I am from Seattle. I was born in an army hospital that's now a park; does that count as interesting?

Lori: Very. And certainly better than being born in a park that used to be an army hospital. Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now? What about the story behind Two Bobbies?


Kirby: Since the current novel is giving me such fits, I'll opt not to talk about it except to say it's an historical novel. Of sorts. And the story behind the Two Bobbies is best described on our website, http://www.twobobbies.com/. Let me just say that it is a tremendous joy to be able to write a book with a very dear friend.

Lori: Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what inspires you?

Kirby: I don't listen to music because if I hear any words, I get totally distracted. Jennifer Holm, however, said she couldn't have written Our Only May Amelia without the Dixie Chicks -- so to each our own!

Lori: What about your own reading pile? Have you read anything lately that you’d recommend?

Kirby: I've posted some recent reviews at my blog, http://www.kirbyslane.blogspot.com/, about The Humming of Numbers, by Joni Sensel and Unwind, by Neal Shusterman. After those two fabulous but extremely intense books, I needed something lighter so I just picked up Confessions of a Serial Kisser, by Wendelin Van Draanen and so far have laughed my way to page 17. Not a kids' book, but I heartily recommend The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's a heart-warming and heart-breaking epistolary novel which any writer should study for voice.

Lori: And of course, we’d like to know if you are doing any author appearances. Where can people meet you?

Kirby: I am doing my best to turn down appearances right now to stay home and work! Mary and I will be making a rare joint appearance at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington on February 2, at 7 pm. I will be at a Young Author's Conference in Idaho, Feb. 16-21; then, March 14-17, I'll be at the Children's Literature Festival in Warrensburg, Missouri, and in April, I have the amazing opportunity to speak at international schools in Doha, Qatar and Beirut, Lebanon.


Lori: That sure sounds adventurous. How would you feel about your book(s) being made into movies? Is anything like this in the works?

Kirby: There have been nibbles now and then about Hattie Big Sky. If that happens, fun. If not, no big deal. Books are my passion and I've got lots more to write!


Lori: Where do you keep your Newbery Honor Medal?

Kirby: Uh, I hate to break it to you but there is only one medal, which went to the lovely Susan Patron the year HBS won. I do have a lovely plaque from the ALA, however, to acknowledge the Newbery Honor award, which is on the wall next to my desk. I know-- I'll take a photo of my award wall and post it on my blog!

Lori: Clearly my ignorance has no limits. Although the shiny silver medal stickers on the books themselves may have fed into this “Medal Myth” I apparently created. I’m glad we could clear that up! On a completely unrelated, but equally important topic, do you prefer desserts or hors d'oevres? Please elaborate. . . :o)

Kirby: Life is too short to choose!!! I can never say no to brie and never say no to homemade pie -- if they are both served at the same meal, well, I just walk a little longer on the treadmill the next day.

Lori: Aside from a meal of brie and pie, describe your idea of a wonderful day in the life of Kirby Larson.

Kirby: I'd start off with long phone calls from (notice I say from and not to) both my adult children, then I'd watch the hummingbirds outside my window, go for a walk with my husband around Green Lake, return to my office, tall, nonfat, extra hot latte in hand, where I'd produce many pages of work. At day's end, I'd find myself at a dinner party where I'd actually get to talk, face-to-face, with writers I admire.

Lori: Thanks so much for hanging out in my tiny corner of the blogosphere today. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you, Kirby!