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Interview and Giveaway with Molly Burnham, author of TEDDY MARS: ALMOST A WORLD RECORD BREAKER

By on April 9, 2015   /   Author Interviews  

 

I am THRILLED to have debut middle-grade author Molly Burnham on our blog.  In fact, you might say I could set the WORLD RECORD in thrillsy-ness because Molly is the author of TEDDY MARS: ALMOST A WORLD RECORD BREAKER!

TM1-cover

Teddy is determined to set a world record, no matter what it takes!  What world record do you think you could conquer?  Do you have a favorite world record?  Did you do any unusual research for this book?

Teddy is the kid I wish I had been: persistent, determined, and obsessed. I’m certain I don’t have the qualities required to break a record on my own. Although one friend suggested I break the record for sleeping in a sweater for the most days in a row (I do sleep in a sweater all winter because I’m always cold).

Really, I’d like to do a community event-it’s part of my punk ethic-something where a group needs to chip in. I do better with loads of people around (this is true for many parts of my life except writing). So I think it would be a record for the largest group to pick up trash, or paint a mural, or create a park, or paint a school, or build a library.

I have to say, I don’t have a favorite record. I really appreciate the creativity of everyone who breaks a record. There are definitely records that don’t appeal to me as much, like having the most Twitter followers. It just doesn’t seem as amazing as running in flippers, or eating jellybeans with chopsticks.

Some of Teddy’s ideas are pretty outlandish – including a scheme involving pigeons and POOP.  Where did you get these ideas?  Did you have to go through a lot of ideas to get to the gems?

First off, I try to hang out with kids as much as possible. They are geniuses and they are hilarious. They remind me of all the creative ways we might approach life. Second off, I keep my eyes open for moments of funniness in everyone (including myself) like the fart scene with all the relatives. That came because my husband and I seem to fart a lot lately. (I definitely didn’t farted as much when I was a kid.) I thought it would be even funnier to have a whole family of grown-ups farting.  Because what’s funnier than that? And, yes, sometimes I go through a lot of ideas to find the best one. I often sketch these out in drawings instead of writing them down, because the book is very slapstick humor, and pictures help me with that.

Molly as a totally terrific seafaring kid!

Molly as a totally terrific seafaring kid!

When/how did the idea for Teddy first come to you?  Did the situation or the character come first?

Aspects of the story had been swirling in my brain for some time. I had taught third grade and was struck by how the students still loved The Guinness Book of World Records, and how much I had loved it as a kid. So I was interested in writing about a kid who loved the book. I also thought a lot about siblings and about feeling seen by your family. That came from my experience as a child, as well as with my children who sometimes do not feel like I see them, or understand them.

The first sentence came out of me like a satisfying burp. One day I was writing in my kitchen, at the time we had a cat and an enclosed cat box, and I thought, what if a kid liked climbing into a cat box? Right away Teddy started speaking, and he wouldn’t let go. After that, it was up to me to follow him and the rest of the characters around until the story was written.

Teddy has many siblings, including a little brother known as THE DESTRUCTOR, who is always ruining Teddy’s plans.  Did you come from a large family?  As a writer, was it hard to portray these dynamics/manage all the characters?  Do you use charts, index cards, Scrivener?

I come from a small family, just an older sister. I do have a number of friends from large families, and my husband has quite a few siblings. I found in talking with them that the emotions are very similar in whatever family size you’re from, but how much attention is paid to you changes with the amount of children. Although, I would say, as a child of the 1970’s, I don’t think parents paid a lot of attention to us no matter how small the family. But I’ll be curious how my kids reflect on their childhood. Most of the characters are little bits of me, or people I know, and then a lot of imagination.

I start writing by hand in notebooks. I keep those around and scribble in them. I love sticky notes for writing notes to myself, but I don’t carefully post them on a bulletin board. I don’t even own a bulletin board. I just make piles on my desk. Mostly my rule about writing is to not have any rules.  I have to embrace the chaos in my own life. Sometimes I write all day, sometimes my kids are sick, sometimes I have to go to the dentist, sometimes I get up at five in the morning, and sometimes I stay up late. I really don’t have any rules. (I tried Scrivener, but it’s too organized for me).

I do have a treadmill desk, and I walk when I’m writing. But when I’m editing I sit. Or else I feel like I’ll throw up.

Molly Burnham

Author Molly Burnham – NOT throwing up

 

Teddy has some fabulous tips on how to set a world record.  What are your tips for writing a FUNNY book?

I wish I could answer this question better than to say I read a lot of funny books. Then I keep them close to me so that whenever I get serious (which can happen rather more easily than I’d like) I open one of those books and read a passage and then remember I’m writing a funny book and revise with that in mind. Right now I have a Junie B. Jones book on my desk and Emily Jenkins’ book Toys Go Out. I also watch funny TV shows.

 What’s next for you?

There are two more Teddy Mars books coming out. The second book, Teddy Mars Almost a Winner, is with Trevor Spencer (the extraordinary illustrator) right now. And I’m working on the third book. I have lots of other stories I’d like to offer the world. But Teddy Mars is my priority right now.

Thanks, Molly!  If you have a world-record contender in your life who would like a copy of TEDDY MARS: ALMOST A WORLD RECORD BREAKER, leave a comment about what world record YOU’D like to break!

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Meet Carol Weston, author of Ava and Taco Cat

By on April 8, 2015   /   Author Interviews, Fiction, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Welcome Carol Weston, author of the new novel AVA AND TACO CAT. On top of her middle grade novel writing career, Weston is also the “Dear Carol” advice columnist at Girls’ Life Magazine and a prodigious letter writer to The New York Times (40 published and counting). She’s here to discuss palindromes, Judy Blume and where she got the inspiration for Ava’s hometown.

Carol Weston, author of Ava and Taco Cat

Carol Weston, author of Ava and Taco Cat

Why kids’ books?
Back in college, when I studied French and Spanish literature, I dreamed of being a writer, but I didn’t imagine that I’d find my voice while impersonating a fifth grader. And yet I am so happy that after numerous magazine articles and books for teens and adults, I started writing for children. When my own daughters were little, I wrote a series about Melanie Martin and her brother Matt the Brat, and now I tell the tales of Ava Wren and her sister Pip and their word-nerd parents. Melanie lived in Manhattan; Ava lives in Misty Oaks.

Why Misty Oaks?
For 21 years, I’ve been the Dear Carol advice columnist at Girls’ Life Magazine. About five years ago, I received a snail mail letter and I remember noticing that the return address was “Misty Oaks.” Misty Oaks! It is evocative, isn’t it? Somehow a seed was planted. When I’m overwhelmed with my real life, I tell my husband, “I’m going to Misty Oaks,” then head into our daughter Emme’s room–now our guest room–and I wrestle with the latest manuscript. Fiction writing is hard work but oddly calming too.

Did you say Emme?
Yes! Emme is our second daughter. It’s not Emma or Emily; it’s Emme. When she was ten and grownups misheard her name, I’d sometimes hear her say, “It’s E-M-M-E. It’s a palindrome.” Maybe that planted a seed too! Note: Emme is now a grownup herself and she’s an important reader for me. I’m about to hand her the third Ava book, AVA XOX, to get her notes and input. It’s wonderfully lucky to have trusted family members read a manuscript before my “real” editors. Emme gives me great feedback and knows she can say, “This page doesn’t work” and that I will still love her to pieces.

Ava and Taco Cat

Ava and Taco Cat

What can you tell us about the new book?
In AVA AND TACO CAT (note the palindrome!), fifth grade Ava really really wants a cat, but when she and Pip sneak into the rescue center, complications begin. Ava becomes obsessed with her new pet, and her semi-neglected best friend Maybelle ends up making a new friend. This is hard on Ava (as it is on so many kids that age). To distract herself, Ava starts collaborating with Pip on a picturebook about fish. Ava rhymes and Pip draws, and they have high hopes that it will get published. But nope, nothing is that easy and there are lots of twists and turns before things work out.

Things work out?
Hey, it’s a kids’ book! One of my favorite things about writing for kids is that it’s not like a Shakespeare play where you almost expect corpses to litter the stage at the end. No way. Lots of page-turning adventures, but when you are reading a book for kids, spoiler alert, things usually do turn out okay.

Even for their picturebook?
Oh no! Alphabet Fish does not go the distance. Nor should it. Truth told, I found a similarly fishy manuscript in an old file in my filing cabinet –so maybe I did aspire to write for kids sooner than I’d remembered. But without telling you much more, let me say that when Ava finally starts to write about a subject closer to her heart, the story she tells finds a much wider audience. Including one person who–oops, I’d better stop before I spill too much!

Carol Weston and kids meet Judy Blume

Carol Weston and kids meet Judy Blume

Is there one living children’s book author you admire?
There are many! But Judy Blume is right up there. Here’s a photo of her with me back when my girls were… girls.

 

 

 

 

 

Want more Carol? Here she is with her cat talking about Ava and her cat.

Andrea Pyros is the author of My Year of Epic Rock, a middle grade novel about friends, crushes, food allergies, and a rock band named The EpiPens.

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The Detective’s Assistant by Kate Hannigan

By on April 7, 2015   /   Author Interviews, Fiction  

We’re so happy to host author Kate Hannigan on the Mixed-Up Files today. She’s the author of the Cupcake Cousins series, and today is the release date for her thrilling historical fiction adventure, The Detective’s Assistant.

Synopsis: Eleven-year old Nell Warne arrives on the doorstep of her Aunt Kate, the first ever female detective for the famous Pinkerton Detective Agency. With huge events unfolding in the Civil War era nation, Nell uncovers truths about her past and also helps her aunt solve mysteries in the present. Based on the extraordinary true story of Kate Warne, this is a tale filled with nail-biting suspense, adventure, and history.

Q: Hi Kate! Tell us how you came up with the idea for this story.

A: It seems that 1856 is my year. I was researching another story altogether when I sort of stumbled onto a sentence about Kate Warne and how she was hired as a Pinkerton detective. It was just a quick aside about her, but it struck me as a fascinating tidbit. I wondered why I’d never heard of her — America’s first woman detective? And she’d had a hand in saving Abraham Lincoln’s life? I began to dig deeper into the history of Allan Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency, reading anything I could find on the cases that involved Kate Warne. It didn’t take long for me to get hooked. Then I began to worry that I was going to get scooped. So I sat myself down and wrote like a madwoman!

Q: Your Cupcake Cousins series is not historical fiction. Was it hard to switch to a different genre?

A: At first I wanted to write Kate Warne’s story as a picture book biography. But I quickly realized the story I wanted to tell couldn’t be contained to 32 pages! I felt like a middle grade audience was the right one for this. They’re the right age to appreciate a clever heroine and perhaps want to be as bold and courageous as Kate Warne.

It wasn’t hard to switch gears into writing a history-rich story. The whole experience writing The Detective’s Assistant was really fun. Being a complete nerd, I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the pre-Civil War era. I checked out stacks of books — from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to Godey’s Ladies Book. I wandered around the Chicago History Museum and even called a railroad museum for details about what exactly my characters would be sitting on while riding a train in 1860.Detectives Assistant cover medium

Q: You feature strong girl characters in your books. Did you set out to do this, or did it happen as you were writing the characters?

A: I do love writing strong, clever, resourceful girls. I was a big Charlie’s Angels fan growing up, and while that show can be dismissed as nothing but fluff and great hair, back then it was groundbreaking. Women detectives solving crimes, fighting bad guys, doing all sorts of exciting things! I loved that they could save the day. Fast forward to The Detective’s Assistant. I wanted to present a female heroine who was smart, clever, able to fight bad guys using her wits and intelligence, and I wanted her niece to realize that she had those same traits within herself.

My hope was to write a book where girls can see themselves at the center of the action, not relying on boys to handle the dangerous parts. The protagonist, Nell Warne, who is 11, puts all her cleverness to work, and the results become enormous as the stakes continue to rise. I hope young readers feel a bit more powerful after reading the book.

Q: Can you share a favorite quote from The Detective’s Assistant?

A: Okay if I share three?

“Just a girl?” retorted Detective Webster, the smile never leaving his face. “There’s no such thing as just a girl, is there?”

“Be fearless, Nell,” he whispered. “In everything you do. Fearless.”

“His accent was bouncy and strange, and I figured he must have come from somewhere exotic. Probably Texas.”

Q: As a middle grade author, what do you love about writing for this age?

A: I believe middle grade books are where the truths are. There is so much growing and searching and imagining at this age; to be able to present possibilities to readers on the cusp of everything, that’s pretty special. I also love writing for this age because it takes me right back to my own younger self. I am still very much an 11-year old wanna-be detective, though I’ve never been able to get my hair to do the same thing as Jaclyn Smith’s.Kate Hannigan Head Shot medium

Q: Same for me! She had amazing hair! So what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

A: I hope readers will realize that women were great contributors to American history, but often their stories were dismissed or forgotten. It’s important that we’re willing to explore for ourselves and come back with new stories to tell, stories that perhaps might feature non-traditional heroes.

Q: What three words describe The Detective’s Assistant?

A: Madcap, rollicking, heartfelt.

Q: Can you tell us what you’re working on next?

A: I’m excited for Cupcake Cousins Book 2, titled Cupcake Cousins: Summer Showers, which comes out in June. I’m in the process of writing Book 3 in that series, which publishes fall 2016. I’ve also just signed with Calkins Creek for a nonfiction picture book biography for spring 2017.

Q: Finally, fill in the blanks:

1) I’d love to go to… San Simeon, California, and whale watch.

2) If I had the chance, I would… learn how to speak Gaelic.

3) In my spare time, I… cook for my family while we’re all together being goofballs.

Thanks so much for visiting with us today, Kate. Check out more at katesbooks.com.

Michele Weber Hurwitz was a big Encyclopedia Brown fan as a kid. She’s the author of The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days, and Calli Be Gold. Visit her at micheleweberhurwitz.com.

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