Author Interviews

MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT: Interview and Giveaway with W.H. Beck

By on January 14, 2013   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways  

W.H. Beck

W.H. Beck is an elementary school librarian by day and a middle-grade writer by night (well, actually, very early mornings). She lives and reads in Wisconsin, sharing her home and books with a husband, two sons, and a sneaky dog. MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT (Houghton Mifflin, 2012) is her first novel.

Previous books include the FOLLOW THAT FOOD CHAIN (Lerner, 2009) series, a choose-your-own-adventure interactive look at different habitats, and DR. KATE: ANGEL ON SNOWSHOES, a regional biography about one of first doctors in the northwoods of Wisconsin.

 

Watch the Book Trailer!

What’s your favorite thing about middle-grade fiction?

My favorite thing about middle- grade fiction is the same thing I love about middle- grade kids: they’re funny, they’re serious, they’re unexpected, they’re full of truth about what’s really important in the world. I love working with middle-grade kids because they’re sophisticated enough to think deeply about what they believe in, yet at the same time, a clever joke about toilets is always appreciated.

 Why do you write middle-grade?

I write middle-grade because that’s how my writing comes out. I don’t mean that to sound flippant, but I do feel like that’s my voice and an age I connect with. Middle -grade books have always been my favorites, even long after I had “outgrown” them. They’re why I became a teacher—and an elementary school librarian.

You’ve written a lot of nonfiction. What led you to write a novel?

Novel writing—middle -grade novel writing, in particular—has always been my first love and aspiration. It just took a while for me to learn how to write a novel that was worth reading!

That’s not to say I don’t enjoy writing nonfiction. I love learning new things and sharing that information with others. In fact, MALCOLM came about because of the nonfiction research I was doing for my FOLLOW THAT FOOD CHAIN series. It struck me that animals can do so many amazing things—they kind of have super powers, really. What if I wrote a mystery about an animal who used his “superpowers” to prove his innocence?

I did make a conscious decision to set aside my nonfiction writing, though. It was a gamble—I turned down some nonfiction offers to finish MALCOLM. I know that sounds crazy, but one of the things I learned was that I only have time for one writing project at a time. And if I really wanted to be a middle- grade novelist, then I needed to give it a chance.

As you were writing, did you imagine there would be illustrations? How involved were you in the decision and in the process?

Part of my own writing process is drawing doodles of my characters and settings, so I did dream that it might be illustrated someday (although I would definitely have “settled” for just publication!).

Malcolm sketch

My first sketch of Malcolm

When I sold MALCOLM, I was lucky enough to have more than one publisher interested in it. As I spoke to the different editors, Kate O’Sullivan told me not only did Houghton Mifflin want to have it illustrated, but Brian Lies had already read it and wanted to work on it.  Well, I almost fell over—I actually teach Brian’s bat books with the first graders in my library! So I knew his work, and I knew that he’d be perfect for my critters.

As far as input into the process, Brian and I didn’t talk directly until the whole book was pretty much finished. When he had questions, he’d ask our editor and she’d relay them to me. I’d see snippets of his work, but mostly, I tried to stay out of his way and let him do his magic. The only thing I did request (through my agent and editor) was that, even though it’s not stated explicitly in the text, Amelia was Amelia Vang—and she was Hmong. This was important to me because I really wanted to honor some of my students who don’t often get to see themselves in the books they read.

Midnight academy

Malcolm at Midnight artwork by Brian Lies (http://www.brianlies.com), courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Brian and I finally met for the first time last fall at some book events. It’s been great fun swapping stories about how we went about working on the book. It turns out we have a lot in common, and I now count him as a friend.

Why an iguana?

I don’t know where Aggy came from! There is an iguana that my kids visit at our local pet store, so maybe that’s it. Other animals are easier to trace. My dad raised oscar fish while I was growing up; my brother’s fifth grade teacher had a hedgehog; my own sixth grade classroom had a tarantula; and Beert came from a talk on owls at a nearby nature center.

How did you come up with the unique point of view?

I went through many, many, MANY different starts to this book, but I wasn’t happy with any of them. I knew the main events of the mystery, but the telling of it felt flat. One of the things I sometimes do to help me learn about my characters is write letters from each of them, explaining the outcome of the story—why they did what they did. When I wrote Amelia’s, it just felt right, and the whole story finally started to flow.

If there was one single thing that you wanted readers to get from MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT, what would it be?

That reading is fun. I certainly hope readers take away more—like not letting people label you and that you can choose to be the kind of person you want to be—but I’ve done some recent thinking about why I write funny talking animal stories, and what it comes down to is that I want kids to READ. I believe to be an adult with choices, you need to be a reader, and the only way to become a reader is to read. A lot. And it’s so much easier to practice something if you find enjoyment in it.

What books do you recommend to readers who enjoyed MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT?

Mysteries: HALF MOON INVESTIGATIONS, THE FOURTH STALL, THREE TIMES LUCKY, ICEFALL

Animal fantasy: BUNNICULA, THE RESCUERS, CHARLOTTE’S WEB, THE FAMILIARS, THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT, THE UNDERNEATH

Rats as heroes, NOT villains: NIGHTSHADE CITY, MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH

School stories: anything by Andrew Clements, BECAUSE OF MR. TERUPT, FLYING SOLO, the ORIGAMI YODA books, THE BOY PROJECT

 

GIVEAWAY!

Leave a comment to be entered in a giveaway for a signed copy of MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT and a cute little stuffed rat. Enter by midnight (how appropriate) on Wednesday, January 16. The winner will be announced on Thursday, January 17.

 

Jacqueline Houtman is the author of THE REINVENTION OF EDISON THOMAS. In her former life as a scientist, she poked at the insides of many rodents. These days, she can be found trembling on a kitchen chair whenever a mouse finds its way into her house.

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Here Where the Sunbeams are Green with Helen Phillips

By on November 16, 2012   /   Author Interviews  

Today we welcome Helen Phillips to the Mixed-Up Files! Her novel, HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN, just released on November 13th. Her official bio: Helen Phillips grew up in the foothills west of Denver with her three siblings. When she was eleven, she lost her hair due to the autoimmune condition alopecia, which was pretty hard at the time, but now she thinks there are some major advantages to not having hair (no shampoo in the eyes, for one). Soon after she lost her hair, she (like Mad) made a New Year’s resolution to write a poem a day, a practice she continued for more than eight years. Helen attended Yale University and went on to earn a master of fine arts in fiction from Brooklyn College. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, artist Adam Douglas Thompson, and their child.

About HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN: Mad’s dad is the Bird Guy. He’ll go anywhere to study birds. So when he’s offered a bird-tracking job in Central America, his bags are packed and he’s jungle bound. But going bird tracking in the jungle and disappearing completely are very different things, and when the Very Strange and Incredibly Creepy Letter arrives, Mad can’t shake the terrible feeling that her father is in trouble. Roo, Mad’s younger sister, is convinced that the letter is a coded message. And their mom is worried, because the letter doesn’t sound like Dad at all. But Mad is sure it’s a sign of something sinister. The only way to get to the bottom of it is to go to Lava Bird Volcano and find their dad themselves. Though they never could have imagined what they’re about to discover. (from IndieBound)

I loved that Madeline and Ruby are a sister team. Ruby, the younger sister, often comes across as the fearless leader. How does Madeline gain the courage to ultimately save her family from the evil corporation La Lava Resort and Spa?

Mad’s journey from scaredy cat to heroine is in a sense the central journey of the book. When push comes to shove, Mad has plenty of inner resources—it’s just that push has never come to shove until now. A lot of the struggle has to do with how she perceives herself; she has to overcome considerable self-doubt. All along she gives herself less credit than she deserves. She’s intelligent and creative and big-hearted. But in comparison to Roo, she feels weak and wimpy and un-magical. At the same time, Roo’s courageousness is what inspires Mad in the climactic scene.

Speaking of La Lava Resort and Spa, it purports to be an eco-friendly resort while it’s actually hunting the Lava-Throated Volcano trogon [a type of bird] to extinction for use in a stay-young cosmetic. What inspired this type of villain?

I thought it would be interesting for a place that seems like paradise to have a very dark underbelly. It was a fun writing challenge to depict the sinister qualities of such a gorgeous, “perfect” location. Moreover, as someone who attempts to tread lightly on the earth and buy green products, I’m fascinated/horrified by the trend of “green-washing,” in which companies falsely claim to be environmentally friendly and market their products as being greener than they actually are, taking advantage of well-intentioned consumers like myself.

Madeline and Ruby’s father, the Bird Guy, is thrilled to discover the Lava-Throated Volcano trogon is a Lazarus species. This was the first time I’d heard of a Lazarus species, where a species thought to be extinct is rediscovered. Is this based on a true story? How frequently are Lazarus species discovered?

I write about this in my Author’s Note: in the early 2000s, my dad showed me a newspaper article about a recent sighting of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, otherwise known as the “Lord God Bird” for its spectacular appearance. Declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in the 1990s, it had supposedly been sighted in its former territory, causing a flurry of excitement in the ornithological community and inspiring a great search effort. Unfortunately, none of the searches for the Lord God Bird has proven that it still exists. Even so, this tale stuck with me, a tiny bright spot amid the disturbing news about the ever-decreasing biodiversity of our planet. It seemed as magical to me as the sighting of a unicorn or dragon. For years I knew I wanted to write a book about the thrilling possibility that a species believed extinct might have managed to survive. There are some wonderful examples of these so-called “Lazarus species” (Lazarus, in the Bible, was raised from the dead). The Bermuda Petrel, a bird believed extinct for 330 years, was found alive on small, remote islands. The Lord Howe Island stick insect, believed extinct since 1930, was rediscovered beneath a shrub on the world’s most isolated sea stack. The Monito del Monte, a marsupial believed extinct for eleven million years, was revealed in a thicket of Chilean bamboo. These are just a few from the intriguing list of thirteen Lazarus species on the Mother Nature Network site. Wikipedia also maintains a list of Lazarus species.

One thing that stands out in your story right away is how strong the rainforest is as a setting. How much research did you do to make it come alive?

Though I (sadly!) didn’t get the chance to travel to Central America for research purposes while I was writing the book, I lived in Costa Rica for two summers in high school and college, studying Spanish and doing volunteer work. As someone raised in the arid foothills of Colorado, those first encounters with the rain forest made a huge impression on me, and I drew on that stockpile of rich, quasi-magical images in writing Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green. My creation of the jungle setting got a boost when my brother and sister-in-law spent their honeymoon in Costa Rica while I was revising the book; they sent me about 200 pictures of birds, flowers, foliage, bugs, monkeys, etc. Aside from that, the Internet was helpful in terms of jogging my memory and enhancing the details.

In the rainforest, you describe an umbrella flower that blooms just in time to be a shelter for the rain. Does that exist? And can flowers really grow out of your toes, like they do for Ruby?

I wish! As far as I know, there are no umbrella flowers or toe flowers. But they’re both just believable enough …

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a collection of short stories for adults, and I have the idea for my next book for young readers, which will be set in a post-apocalyptic world.

What’s your favorite middle-grade book?

I have to confess that I adored From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler; now that I live in New York City and actually get to visit the Met, I think of that book every time I step through those doors. Other favorites include Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books. And everything by Cynthia Voigt. And Lloyd Alexander. And C.S. Lewis. And J.R.R. Tolkein. And … well, you get the idea …

To learn more about Helen and her books, check out her website and her book trailer. Leave a comment to win a copy of HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN (US only).

Karen B. Schwartz writes humorous middle-grade novels (and tween and YA) and raises humorous middle-grade kids (one is a tween that thinks he’s YA).

 

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A Passion for Literacy and Service, Knitted Together

By on November 12, 2012   /   Author Interviews, For Librarians  

Sabrina Carnesi is a middle school librarian with a passion for knitting. We met at a multicultural literature conference in Norfolk, Va., and when she started to tell me about her knitting program for students, I was utterly fascinated. You will be, too.

Tell me a little about your program.

The name of my student knitting circle is Knitting4Life. The rule for being a participating member in the circle is to knit four items of whatever project has been assigned: the first well-made item goes to the less fortunate; the second item goes to a friend; the third item goes to a family member; and the last to self. If the student does not have a friend or family member who can use the items, they are all contributed to someone in need.  Our first meeting was held in October 2009, at the beginning of my second year in the building.

What kinds of kids join your program? How do they grow in the program?


Most students come from various socioeconomic backgrounds with as varied a profile of personalities. (So far, the boys have not lasted too long, although they are made aware that there are male knitters in the world.) The circle seems to break everyone down to the same plane of existence, because each student depends on the other for their knitting survival. They have to help each other out with practicing their newly acquired skills. The loud aggressive girls learn how to speak softly. The quiet shy students learn to assert themselves. All the members come to realize that their skill is one that helps others across the age groups, because they work on projects used from infancy to adulthood.

When my first circle started, they were teased unmercifully by students calling them granny…until they produced their first hat… and their first scarf…then the requests rolled in to make them a hat or scarf too…and it became a status to wear a handmade hat by their new friend. Nowadays there’s no more name calling, but the requests definitely roll in.

K4L students at a daily knitting session

What is your own history with knitting?

My experience with knitting started in my grandmother’s house by simply observing and assisting in rolling the yarn that she got from her brother’s sheep. This yarn was seldom dyed or treated, but made the warmest hats and bed socks you can imagine. When I reached the magical age of 9, I made my first hand-sewn monstrosity that was referred to as a dress (I had to wear it in public too). I knew the knitting was soon coming and was absolutely delighted that my first knit project (a hat) was not as poorly made as my first dress. My grand also knew how to crochet, can veggies and fruit, and make potpourri from her rose petals and apple peelings and cores (from the apple tree in our yard, of course) and poor little me had to learn how to do it all.

Now almost 50 years later, I am so grateful for what my grandmother taught me. I even have my own sheep that I pay for the feeding of so I can now have winter hats and bed socks just like the ones I use to have as a little girl.

How / why did you decide to start this program?

Initially, I wanted to use the group as a catalyst to help change the culture of my school building. I observed many students, at that time, showing much interest in sporting elite brands but not harboring a sense of giving back to their community. As a child, I constantly saw adults in my hometown giving back. This was also something that was verbally communicated…that everyone, no matter how small or humble the talent, was responsible for using that talent to share with others.
What I soon came to understand was that many students didn’t realize they had something of value to share or give back. They underestimated the strength of their abilities and were more aware of their voids and weaknesses. My heart was so torn. As the school librarian, I used checkout time to have quick book chats and human interest chats about service empowerment…nothing overbearing… for example, I spoke to my cookbook squad about their love for cooking and how they could use that to help others. The more I spoke to the students one-on-one, the more I thought about what I could do personally. That’s when the idea of knitting came to mind.

What kind of community support do you get? What kind of support do you give back?

We have annual projects that we work on each year: children’s scarves for Christmas baskets at our town’s “Downtown Christmas Party” and preemie hats for NICUs in our two area hospitals. The preemie hats are our most popular projects, because no one believes that the hats were knitted by middle schoolers. I also like the circle to practice their technique on the baby hats, because if they can successfully make an infant hat, they can then make one for themselves.

My first community cheerleader was Sheila Reuben, the owner of one of our local knitting shops, the Village Stitchery. She allowed our girls to come to the shop and sit in the back room for a session. She also gave us leftover yarn and loads of yarn for give-away prices. Her own knitting circle started coming down to share their projects with my knitters. Word has gotten around and we are constantly finding bags of yarn left at our door with no name…just a bag of yarn.

A lot of people are going to think, knitting is really nice, but what does that have to do with literacy? How do you make that connection in your library?

When K4L knitters began to conduct research for new knitting patterns, they use both print and digital resources and communicate with each other via emails, text messaging and social networks.

A school library’s program is deeply entrenched in providing guidance for students to successfully access information for academic and personal needs. For academic purposes, the steps for accessing information and completing a final project are called the inquiry process. Knitters go through the same exact same steps for each new knitting project as students go through to complete a research project, from generating questions and collecting information, to organizing materials and evaluating the project. (For a complete list of how knitting develops research skills, read Carnesi’s article, A Common Chord in Our Beliefs, in Knowledge Quest, Journal of the American Association of School Librarians, starting on page 62.)

What hopes do you have for the future?

Members of the circle impact the lives of everyone around them with their skills. Parents come to me all the time with testimonies of how K4L has totally turned their child around as a person. What I wish for in the future, is that one day my older knitters that have gone on to high school will feel a need to start a Knitting4Life circle in their schools and pass the skill and service tradition on.

K4L also has a photo blog at http://cmsk4l.edublogs.org/research-skills-and-knitting/. You can also visit Carnesi’s main library web page at http://mariehollandlibrary.edublogs.org/.

Wendy Shang just may attempt her first knitting project for the holidays.

 

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