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An Interview with Jane Yolen

By on November 5, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Hi Mixed-Up Filers!

I know, I know. You’re thinking, wait a second, Jonathan. Aren’t you around eighteen months too early for your next turn in the rotation? Well, yes. But, this was a special occasion, so I was given a one-time exemption to go. In return, I had to agree to forfeit my next turn until May, of 2072. But, ha! I’ll show them! I have a piece I plan on sneaking in, in April of 2043. They’ll never suspect!

In any event, I recently had the pleasure of having one of my favorite authors, Jane Yolen, graciously agree to answer several questions.  Like most of you, I am a huge fan of all of her books, but there are a few which particularly resonate with me, which I had always wanted to talk to her about.

jane yolen

JR: First off, I’d like to thank you for making the time to speak with me. I’m just amazed by your career. Besides being in total awe, I was amazed when I looked at your website and profile and saw that you had over two hundred books written.

JY: Actually, it’s over 335 now. I have been working too hard on writing books and not hard enough rewriting my website.

JR: 335? Wow! If I start now, I think I can probably catch up in around the year, 2157. For you, when is your best time to write?

JY: Depends on the day, my mood, and whether I have a doctor’s appointment or a book signing to go to. Though mornings and early afternoons are my best time.

JR: I am not going to ask which is your favorite, because I’m pretty sure that you won’t or can’t answer that, but is there one that you perhaps are most fond or proud of and why?

JY: Depends which day and which hour you ask.

JR: Fair enough. I read that your first book was Pirates in Petticoats, which was about women pirates. Seems like a fascinating topic. What made you decide to do that one and how easy/difficult was it doing research for it?

piratesip

JY: Then it was difficult to research as Pirates in Petticoats was the first ever book written about it. Today there are a number of books about female pirates, including two others of mine: Ballad of the Pirate Queens and Sea Queens.

JR: On the same line of questioning, how much research do you wind up putting into all your novels?

JY: Depends on the novel: Devil’s Arithmetic is about the Holocaust–so LOTS of research. The Wizard of Washington Square a light fantasy about two kids in New York and a wizard–not so much!

wizard of ws

JR: I have read how your favorite story is the one you’re doing now. So, what are you working on now?

JY: I am finishing up (with my son Adam) the last revision of a fantasy novel that’s the second book of the Seelie Wars trilogy (book is The Last Changeling); working on poems for Hedge/Briar/Rose; workng on the verse novel, Finding Baba Yaga; working on the first book of a graphic novel YA trilogy (again with Adam) called Stone Cold. Working on several other books of poetry, a nonfiction book with daughter Heidi called War Girls, and a book of adult poems about political topics: The Bloody Year. Have four chapters of another Holocaust novel called House of Candy and six chapters of a fantasy novel called Plague of Unicorns. And anything else I can think of.

JR: I see that you have written several books based on Jewish themes. The first story I wrote had a Jewish mythological element to it. It’s a topic that’s always special to me. Is that topic important to you? Did you grow up in an observant home?

JY: Totally non-observant though whenever anyone calls me (as Newsweek once did long ago) the Hans Christian Andersen of America, I tell them I’m the Hans Jewish Andersen! But I have about eight or nine Jewish-themed books including one (Devil’s Arithmetic) that won the Jewish Book Award and one that was an honor book (Naming Liberty).

JR: Love the name Hans Jewish Andersen! 🙂 And speaking of Devil’s Arithmetic, I’m a fan of it, and have used it in classes I’ve taught. It was a powerful book and I also included it in a Holocaust-themed post on this site. I think for anyone, but especially for someone who is Jewish, the Holocaust has to resonate in a deep way. It was a country coming right out and saying that they wanted to systematically eliminate a people. For you, what was the impetus for that book and was it personal in any way?

devil's arithmetic book

JY: My family–on both sides–came to America in the early 1900s so we were safe from that hideous time. But my father and many uncles were in the army and navy during WW2 so they were not unaware of what was going on.

JR: How did you like the movie based on it?

JY: A good movie though much was changed from my book, which had to do with money and time.

devil's movie

JR: Have you been to the sites of the concentration camps and how do you feel about going? I know growing up, I was always told not to go and give money to those places, but now I have a different view and perspective, and feel that I want to go and pay my respects to those who were murdered there, as well as show a free, Jewish person is standing there after their murderers have come and gone.

JY: I have been to two of the museums (Washington DC and New York) and seen sites in Hamburg, Heidleberg, Paris of atrocities. But cannot bring myself to go to the actual camps.

JR: Is there any topic that you haven’t yet hit, but have always wanted to? You have a home in Scotland, a place I loved visiting, how many stories have been inspired by places you’ve lived or been to?

JY: I am inspired all the time by place, though I don’t always write successful pieces (poems, stories, novels, picture books) about them.

JR: Which writers were your inspiration and who do you admire today?

JY: Main inspirations: Isak Dinisen, Emily Dickinson, James Thurber, W.B. Yeats. Minor inspirations: Alice Hoffman, Ray Bradbury, Elizabeth Wein, Patricia MacLachlan, Jo Walton, Lisel Mueller. And Terri Windling is my muse.

JR: I’d like to once again thank Ms. Yolen for taking the time to speak with me. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed asking her the questions!

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Interview with Greg Pincus, author of The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.

By on November 4, 2013   /   Book Lists  

ImageToday at the Mixed Up Files, we interview Greg Pincus, the author of The 14 Fibs of Gregory K, his debut novel about 11 year-old Gregory Korenstein-Jasperton, a poet, struggling with math anxiety.

Greg Pincus is a poet, a screenwriter, a volunteer elementary school librarian and social media strategist. He can be found online at http://gottabook.blogspot and on Twitter at @GregPincus.

1) In the book, your character Gregory Korenstein-Jasperton truly dreads math, yet everyone in his family thinks math is mathemagical. His father is an electrical engineer, his mother an accountant and his siblings Owen and Kay play with numbers for fun. How did you come up with this character? Is math something you also fear?

I have no fear at all of math. In fact, I love math… though I’d say that what I really love is the beauty of how it can explain things in the world, not so much the computational stuff like subtraction and multiplication. I also love writing, and I knew from the start that Gregory K. was a writer. At the same time, I knew that there was going to be Fibonacci poetry in the book, and that Gregory would write it, so math and writing would have to collide in the story. I wanted this collision to be a surprise to Gregory, and since he loves writing, I figured it would be most interesting to make him hate, fear, or dread math. To make the situation more “fun,” I added in the bigger idea of being a kid who loves something – in this case, writing – that they think no one else in their family loves or respects. The combination of all that led to Gregory K.

2) What was the most challenging thing about writing this novel? What came the most easily?

Math and poetry are not necessarily the best starting points for an action-packed book, so for me, the most challenging thing in the writing process was making sure the story kept moving forward. In the end, I accomplished this by having the aliens land and… oh, fine, that didn’t happen. I think it’s the relationship between Gregory and Kelly that helps keep momentum going, and coincidentally, that turned out to be the part of the writing that came the easiest. As Kelly’s story grew, too, the “plot” issues became less of a challenge for me.

3) You worked with Arthur Levine on this novel. What was something that you learned from working together?

I learned conclusively that a good editor will help me write a better, richer novel… and will be able to get something very different out of me than I might have expected. I also learned that changing from first person to third person will not cause your brain to fall out of your head. This is valuable knowledge for future endeavors, I figure.

4) In Gregory’s family has Weird Wednesdays where Mom tries out a new and very wacky recipe each week. Does your family have any odd traditions like this?

Other than the fact that all Reese’s cups that appear in our home have to be taste-tested by me (hey – quality control is very important!), we do not have anything I’d consider an odd tradition.

5) Math is Magic Camp is Gregory’s worst nightmare what was yours as a kid?

Hmmm. I don’t recall dreading a situation like Gregory K. does, though I do remember a recurring fear-like experience. One year on Halloween, I went as a giant aspirin because we’d come into possession of this gigantic cardboard aspirin box. I used that big box to carry my candy… but at some point in the night, unbeknownst to me, the bottom opened up. I had no candy when I got home. In future years, believe me, I was obsessively careful about how I gathered candy for fear that I’d once again find myself candy-free at the end of a long night of hunting and gathering.

6) In researching this book, what did you learn about math that you didn’t know before?

I don’t think I truly knew how many math (and writing, actually) competitions/camps there are out there at the local level. It’s fantastic… but who knew?

7) You are a poet and keep a popular blog on poetry. When you were a kid were you like Gregory and wrote poetry?

From a youngish age, I wrote poems for family birthday cards and other occasions, but if you want to know a big secret… I wasn’t really much of a writer or a reader at Gregory’s age. That came much later in life – proof, I believe, that there are multiple paths to the same result.

8) What has writing poetry taught you about math?

There’s beauty everywhere, sometimes best expressed in equations and not in metered rhyme or free verse!

9) Any words of wisdom out there for kids (and adults too) who want to write poetry?

I think to really get started, it helps a ton to read and hear a lot of poetry first. Luckily, there is amazing work out there for kids and adults alike (often the same thing, by the way!). Also, it’s okay if your first draft is awkward or blah, even for the shortest poem. You can rewrite (and probably will do so over and over if you’re like me). From the start, don’t be shy about writing honestly about the way you experience life. We all experience things differently and can see the same situations in different ways. Poetry is a great way to let everyone know what you see and feel when you move through the world. Most of all, if you want to write poetry… write poetry! It’s a good thing.

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Hillary Homzie‘s second tween novel for girls,The Hot List, was published by Simon & Schuster’s Mix/Aladdin imprint. She has three boys so she must become a spy to write about tween girls and remember her own experiences, which is easy since Hillary claims that she’s still thirteen.

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November New Releases

By on November 1, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Parents, For Teachers, News  

As you search for a way to unwind from the excitement of Trick-or-Treating last night, pull up a piece of carpet or plop in a comfy chair with a new book. These new releases are a great way to take the edge off that sugar high you are surely having today.  🙂

 


The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Book 8 by Jeff Kinney

Greg Heffley’s on a losing streak. His best friend, Rowley Jefferson, has ditched him, and finding new friends in middle school is proving to be a tough task. To change his fortunes, Greg decides to take a leap of faith and turn his decisions over to chance. Will a roll of the dice turn things around, or is Greg’s life destined to be just another hard-luck story?


The Ranger’s Apprentice:  The Royal Ranger by John Flanagan

Will Treaty has come a long way from the small boy with dreams of knighthood. Life had other plans for him, and as an apprentice Ranger under Halt, he grew into a legend—the finest Ranger the kingdom has ever known. Yet Will is facing a tragic battle that has left him grim and alone. To add to his problems, the time has come to take on an apprentice of his own, and it’s the last person he ever would have expected. Fighting his personal demons, Will has to win the trust and respect of his difficult new companion—a task that at times seems almost impossible.


The Sandman and the War of Dreams  by William Joyce

In their fourth chapter book adventure, the Guardians recruit Sanderson ManSnoozy, the sleepy legend also known as the Sandman, to their cause.

When the Man in the Moon brought together the Guardians, he warned them that they would face some terrible evils as they strove to protect the children of earth. But nothing could have prepared them for this: Pitch has disappeared and taken Katherine with him. And now the Guardians are not only down one member, but a young girl is missing.
Fortunately, MiM knows just the man to join the team. Sanderson ManSnoozy

 

 


Survivors: Stranded by Jeff Probst

Eleven days down, and no end in sight. How long could YOU survive?

It’s been days since Buzz, Vanessa, Carter and Jane were stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the South Pacific. Four kids left to fend for themselves. No adults. No supplies. They’ve managed to make fire and they’ve even found food. But they’ve just lost their only shelter, and quite possibly their one chance at being rescued. Now they’ll have to venture even deeper into the jungles of Nowhere Island just to stay alive. But the island holds secrets of a dark past. With danger lurking at every turn, they must rely on each other like never before it they are going to survive.

 

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