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AN OCCASIONALLY HAPPY FAMILY: Interview with Author Cliff Burke & #Giveaway!

By S. A. Larsen on May 20, 2021 / Author Interviews

Welcome to my interview with author Cliff Burke and his heart-warming story AN OCCASIONALLY HAPPY FAMILY!

This title spoke to me from the moment I read it. I’m sure it can stir all sorts of family memories and thoughts; I know, it did in me. Let’s have an introduction to the book and then we’ll move on to the author’s thoughts on his adventure writing it. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to enter for your chance to win a copy of this #mglit book!

THE BOOK

LINK

AN OCCASIONALLY HAPPY FAMILY

by Cliff Burke

Gordon Korman meets The Great Outdoors in this funny and moving debut about a boy who goes on a disastrous family vacation (sweltering heat! bear chases!) that ends with a terrible surprise: his dad’s new girlfriend.

There are zero reasons for Theo Ripley to look forward to his family vacation. Not only are he, sister Laura, and nature-obsessed Dad going to Big Bend, the least popular National Park, but once there, the family will be camping. And Theo is an indoor animal. It doesn’t help that this will be the first vacation they’re taking since Mom passed away.

Once there, the family contends with 110 degree days, wild bears, and an annoying amateur ornithologist and his awful teenage vlogger son. Then, Theo’s dad hits him with a whopper of a surprise: the whole trip is just a trick to introduce his secret new girlfriend.

Theo tries to squash down the pain in his chest. But when it becomes clear that this is an auditioning-to-be-his-stepmom girlfriend, Theo must find a way to face his grief and talk to his dad before his family is forever changed.

THE INTERVIEW

Hi Cliff! It’s wonderful to have you stop by. Tell us: when did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Like most writers, I’m first and foremost a reader and grew up believing that ‘real writers’ were a special, untouchable group of people. Even though I majored in English in college and did some creative writing then, it wasn’t until more recently that I thought I might have the ability to write a full-length book that could be published. Specifically, I was inspired by my students’ creative energy and how involved they got during our writing units. I began writing short stories to serve as mentor texts for assignments, mostly just trying to get laughs (while still teaching the fundamentals of building characters, dialogue punctuation, setting the scene, etc.), and went from writing short sketches for my classes to drafting a book that is soon for sale!

Fantastic! Love that your writing evolution included your students’ fervor for their writing assignments. Very inspiring!

Tell the readers a bit about your main character Theo.

Theo is a thirteen-year-old budding comic book artist whose first graphic novel, The Aliens who Eat People But Never Get Full, was a big hit with his three friends. He is a Pisces who mostly goes with the flow and often serves as the peace-keeper between his bickering older sister and Dad. Something hinted at but not explicitly detailed in the book is Theo’s desire for, but difficulty with, connecting to other people.

Theo’s first comic book title is so great! Oh, the visuals.

Why did you want to tell Theo’s story?

I wanted to tell Theo’s story because I think it is a fairly common one. Many middle grade main characters take action, or are brash, or have strong personalities that lead them to a big change. But just as common (and just as interesting) are kids who are more reserved, and whose unique characteristics only become apparent once you get to know them better. The difference between what Theo communicates directly to the reader and what he outwardly communicates to the people in his life make him different from chattier or more outward-facing main characters.

BOOK GUTS

The quote by Tolstoy that opens the book ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’, screams volumes of what is to come on the pages of this story.

What defines this family’s happiness and unhappiness?

Without giving away too much of the story, I’d say the family’s unhappiness comes from the truly difficult experiences the family has gone through in the years before the book starts, and their inability to communicate openly about their feelings. Their happiness comes from the core of genuine care they have for each other despite their challenges in expressing this directly.

How do you think young readers will see their own families within this?

I am trying to reflect the reality of my own experiences growing up, and hope that even if readers don’t identify with the specific ways in which this family is imperfect, they can appreciate the importance of all imperfect families.

Grief, life changes, and acceptance are underlying themes throughout Theo’s story. What was one of your hardest scenes to write, which incorporated these? Which was your favorite?

The final scene, without giving it away, was one of the hardest to write because I wanted to strike the balance between writing a scene that was hopeful and satisfying to the reader, but still honest in showing that people (and families) do not change overnight.

My favorite scene that incorporates these themes also takes place towards the end of the book, when the family is sitting under the stars of the Terlingua desert and speaking to each other honestly for the first time.

STORY CHARM

Why will young readers relate to Theo?

In a general sense, readers can relate to Theo as someone who is shy in public but inwardly bursting with creativity, as a younger sibling, as someone torn between allegiances to his sister and his Dad, as someone who loves his friends but also wishes they were a little different sometimes, or as someone forced into a car on a family vacation to a place he has little interest in visiting.

More specifically, I also hope he is relatable as someone who has gone through a major event in his life (the death of his mother) without understanding how to really talk about his response to it. He outwardly projects that he is doing fine and has everything under control but would like to let his true feelings to someone who would listen without judgement.

As we’ve pointed out, the book does deal with serious life emotions and events, it does also have a very humorous side. Care to share an example?

Thank you for pointing this out! One of my favorite parts of writing is finding ways to incorporate humor into the story. A scene that was particularly fun to write was Theo and his family’s encounter with French nudists in a public hot springs who reject the Dad’s insistence that they follow the “bathing suits recommended” park policy.

😂

What would you like young readers (and their parents) to leave Theo’s story with?

I hope readers will take whatever they would like from the book. There is a lot of info about Big Bend National Park and the history of Texas, observations on older sisters,

bumbling fathers, overzealous young influencers, amateur birders, and bear attacks. There is hopefully something in that list that will linger with readers, along with the above-mentioned message that expressing even the most difficult emotions can be very healing.

WRITING ADVICE

For our writing readers, share a piece of writing advice that you’ve found valuable throughout your writing journey.

I’ll offer this, from George Saunders’s recent A Swim in a Pond in the Rain – “doing what you please (i.e. what pleases you), with energy, will lead you to everything – to your particular obsessions, your particular challenges, and the forms in which they’ll convert into beauty…We can’t know what our writing problems will be until we write our way into them, and then we can only write our way out.”

I’m very guilty of trying to construct the perfect story in my head and flagging every possible problem rather than sitting down and starting to put words together. I’ve also talked to many people who have the best idea for a story but still need to write it. So my advice is just to start writing and see what happens.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cliff Burke grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He worked as a house painter, a parking lot attendant, and a sign-twirling dancing banana before graduating from the College of William and Mary. He currently teaches English in Austin, Texas.

Can’t thank you enough for joining us and for sharing your new book with us, Cliff! Best wishes from the entire Mixed-Up family.

Interested in more books about spending time with family? Check out this POST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway runs from today until May 27th. (US only) Good luck!🍀🍀🍀

Interview With Cory Leonardo, Author of The Hedgehog Of Oz

By Lisa Schmid on May 19, 2021 / Author Interviews, books

I’m thrilled to welcome Cory Leonardo to the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors to chat about her new novel, The Hedgehog of Oz. As a HUGE fan of all things OZ, I was especially excited to read this book. I was also keen to learn how she came up with the idea and if she was at all nervous about taking a trip down the yellow brick road.

Tell us about The Hedgehog of Oz.

I’d love to! The Hedgehog of Oz is a story about a hedgehog named Marcel who convinces himself that his beloved owner Dorothy no longer loves him, so he runs away during a picnic at the park. He instantly regrets it. Lost Marcel finds his way to the abandoned balcony of the old Emerald City Theater where he and two comical chickens spend their days eating popcorn and candy and where he’s constantly tortured by the Saturday matinee: The Wizard of Oz, his and Dorothy’s favorite movie. But when the animals are found out, all of a sudden, Marcel is boxed-up and kicked to the countryside where he finds himself in an all-too-similar plot. He lands in Mousekinland. He meets Scamp, a spitfire of a mouse who’s trying to prove her smarts to everyone (while brandishing a sling-shooter); Ingot, a grumpy old squirrel without a heart; scared baby raccoon Tuffy, lost and afraid in the forest. There’s Oona the Luna moth to guide him; Toto, well, Toto is actually a fairly useless cocoon; there are awful seagulls, terrible rats, and an owl named Wickedwing stalking their every move. And then there’s home. And what home is. Is it the place you live? Or the people you live with?

How did you come up with the idea?

Marcel came to me first. I was watching a movie with my daughter and one of the side characters was the sweetest (if a little bumbling) character I’d seen in a long time. I instantly wanted to write a book with a character like that. I knew he’d need characters unlike him to balance the story, so I found a loud, brave mouse and a crotchety old squirrel. The problem was, I had no plot. I’d done some extensive research on the Wizard of Oz for a historical novel I began eons ago and had, at one time, used its characters as archetypes. One day it clicked. THIS was the book that was begging for Oz magic. Once I realized that, the book seemed to write itself!

Have you read many of the Oz books? If yes, which one is your favorite?

I’ve actually only read the first!

Did you feel intimidated or anxious about writing a story that takes place in OZ?

Maybe I should have? But with such a classic story there’s a lot of reassurance in knowing the bones of it are good. And sort of like my first book where I took classic poems and reworked them, I absolutely adore exploring beautiful art deeply, tearing it apart, and then playing with the pieces.

Do you base your characters on people you know? If yes, spill the beans!

Oh yes. There are definitely pieces of people I know in them. My spunky 8-year-old niece came to mind a lot when writing Scamp. But I’ll pluck personalities, ways of speech, quirks, and hang-ups from anywhere. I love stealing TV personalities. There’s an awful lot of Betty White in Bertie Plopky in The Simple Art of Flying/Call Me Alastair.

How much of your real-life experiences play a role in the stories you tell?

I’m a big believer in drawing on the well of your life experiences. It’s the only well you know deeply. I write a lot about animals because I grew up with a veterinarian mom. I love to write beautiful settings because I live for a good walk in the woods. But the deepest experiences I draw on are feelings. Anxiety, love, wonder, frustration, feeling small, dreaming big . . . I think it’s diving to the deepest part of the well, the human condition, that ends up connecting with the reader in the most intimate way.

What books did you like to read when you were a kid? Do those books influence your writing?

I actually didn’t read a ton of different books as a kid! We didn’t have many at home (the ones we did, I read a million times though), and I went to a tiny private school without a library. Once a week we trekked to the public library, but I tended to borrow the same books over and over again because it was overwhelming and unfortunately, no one was feeding us a list of books to try. The ones that stick with me the most are the few read aloud by parents and teachers: Narnia and Little House. Once I got to middle school, I found my “thing.” The Babysitter’s Club was EVERYTHING. I’m not sure how much my childhood reading influences my writing other than my desire to create a world that makes readers want to melt right into it, just as every good book does.

What are you working on now?

Oh, lordy. A beast of a book that I think is trying to murder me? I sort of determined that before I started to write some of the more contemporary tales I’ve got swimming in my head, I wanted to cap off my animal characters, at least for a bit. This one is more of a gothic fantasy that jumps back and forth in time and has a missing prince, an unlikely hero of a girl, and magic, some of which has brought a few stuffed animals to life. If you don’t hear from me for a while, you know the book has succeeded in its diabolical murder plan.

What person, place or experience has most impacted your writing life?

Pitch Wars! Definitely. Being edited and mentored (by the brave Cindy Balwin and Amanda Rawson Hill–the best!) at that level of skill gave me an education that’s hard to get from craft books. You don’t know where your blind spots are until you’ve got a few pros pointing them out.

How long was your road to publishing and what happened along the way?

Long. I’d determined NOT to be a writer in college. I managed to avoid every creative writing course offered . . . and I have an English degree. It was too scary. I should’ve realized that the things you run from generally come looking for you in time. I stayed home with my kids, and when I got to the point where I needed to rethink careers, writing kept niggling the back of my mind. I tried to shut it up for a good eight years, even while researching everything about the business, the craft, writing in multiple genres, reading all the children’s books I never did as a kid, and querying picture books. The first novel I finished (there were many others I didn’t) was my Pitch Wars novel. And the rest is history. It was about ten years from start to seeing my book on shelves.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

This can change on any given day, but one thing I’m currently reminding myself is that while I am a writer, being a writer isn’t the total of me. There’s something about this business that can suck the soul from your chest at every stage–published or not. There’s always a height you haven’t reached, a book you haven’t written, meaning you haven’t found in it. Everytime you sit down to write, take off that weighty backpack of fear, guilt, pressure, and comparison, and give it a good kick. Write for the pleasure of writing. That pleasure will find its way into your work. That pleasure will attract people’s notice. And don’t neglect a good walk.

Everybody has a comfort food they turn to when they are feeling down or need an emotional hug. Do you have a comfort book?

When I need to be reminded of the beauty and importance of a good story, or when I just need to sigh and look with wonder on the world, I will always pick up a Kate DiCamillo book. She’s a master.

Thank you for spending time with us at the MUF Files. It has been great getting to know you. I loved The Hedgehog of Oz and hope more adventures are coming our way.

To learn more about Cory Leonardo, please visit her website.

STEM Tuesday– Geology — Writing Tips & Resources

By STEM Tuesday on May 18, 2021 / Geology, STEM Tuesday

STEM Tuesday

Layering It On

This month’s #STEM Tuesday book list focuses on geology, which Merriam-Webster defines as “a science that deals with the history of the earth and its life especially as recorded in rocks.”

In reading this month’s books, I was struck by all the images of rock layers, including this one from Jen Swanson’s OUTDOOR SCHOOL: Rock, Fossil, and Gem Hunting.

I learned that every layer gives us a piece of information about the Earth’s history. Some layers have fossils revealing how long ago the layer formed. Others contain rocks and sediment that tell us if water was involved in deposition. Taken together, these layers help us see the big picture about Earth’s history.

Text Features — A Book’s Layers

Books are layered just like the Earth. Text features are the layers that help readers understand the book’s content. These text features include elements like captions, graphics, and labels. Let’s take a look at the graphic below from from DIRTMEISTER’S NITTY GRITTY PLANET EARTH by Steve Tomecek to learn more about text features.

Table of contents – Normally found at the beginning of the book, a table of contents is like a map. It tells you the topics the book will cover and how to find them by listing the page numbers.
Subheadings – Often nonfiction chapters are carved up into smaller chunks, each with its own subheading. These subheadings tell you exactly what the next section of text is about.
Illustrations/photographs – You know that saying, “A picture’s worth a thousand words?” Just think how much easier it is to show you the tectonic plates in the image above, rather than trying to describe what them using text. Illustrations and photographs convey information that may be more difficult to describe in the text.
Captions – These are most often found under an image. They normally are a sentence or two long.
Labels – These are snippets of information placed on an image itself. Labels call out parts or features of an image, like the labels I’ve used in this graphic to call out the various text features.
Sidebars – Sidebars have additional information related to the main part of the text.
Graphics like graphs and charts– These organize information visually. They are especially helpful for showing processes or giving meaning to numbers.
Maps- Show you important locations mentioned in the text.
Special print (typography) – Sometimes print is bolded, like glossary words the author wants you to know. Italics and underlines provide emphasis.
Index – Found at the end of a book, an index is alphabetized, helping you quickly look up ideas, concepts, and names and find which pages will tell you more.
Glossary – Gives definitions for bolded words in the text. Think of it like a little dictionary in the book.

Teaching About Text Features

Have students look at some of the books on this month’s Geology list, then:

Consider creating a bingo card of text features for students to cross off as they find them.
Ask: Did students find any other text features not mentioned? How do they add to their understanding of the book?
Without reading the main text, have students look only at the text features and make some guesses about what they believe the main text is about.
Challenge students to incorporate text features in their next piece of informational writing.

Kirsten W. Larson

Website: kirsten-w-larson.com

Biography

Kirsten used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes books for curious kids. She is the author of WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: EMMA LILIAN TODD INVENTS AN AIRPLANE, illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, February 2020), A TRUE WONDER: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything (Clarion, Sept. 28, 2021), illustrated by Katy Wu, and THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle, Spring 2022), as well as 25 nonfiction books for the school and library market. Find her at kirsten-w-larson.com or on Twitter and Instagram @KirstenWLarson.