Author Interviews

Getting Inventive with Authors Dylan Thuras & Jen Swanson

By on July 31, 2025   /   Articles, Author Interviews  
Today, authors Dylan Thuras and Jen Swanson stop by to chat with Melissa Roske about their forthcoming collaboration, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World (Workman Publishing, August 12, 2025), the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid.
The book, illustrated by Ruby Fresson, is a STEM-oriented exploration of the planet’s 50 most interesting inventions and scientific discoveries, sending middle-grade readers on an unforgettable trip to 94 locations around the planet and across time.

About the Authors 

Dylan Thuras is a New York Times bestselling author and cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, a travel database that gets over 8 million visits a month. Dylan’s Atlas Obscura podcast is the #1 travel podcast in the United States. 

Jennifer Swanson is a long-time contributor to the Mixed-Up Files blog and an award-winning author of nonfiction STEM books for children. She’s also a science communicator, podcaster, and lifelong explorer. 

Interview with Dylan Thuras and Jen Swanson

MR: Dylan and Jen: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dylan—and, of course, to host you on the blog, Jen.

As stated in the into, Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World is a follow-up to the wildly successful Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. What was the inspiration behind the original book, Dylan? I’m guessing you were a curious, STEM-loving kid?

Dylan: I was! Growing up I loved books like The Way Things Work by David Macaulay or the cutaway and exploded diagram series by Stephen Biesty. These books still hold up 30 years later! I still find them fascinating to look at, as do my kids. I also loved a BBC series called Connections, by James L. Burke that was a kind of mad trip through the history of science. This book is a nod to all of those influences, and for any kid (or adult) who wants to understand, how the modern world came to be.

In a similar vein, Jen: You have written and lectured widely on all things STEM. What sparked your interest in science, technology, engineering, and math? Also, what motivates you to share your passion for STEM with middle-grade readers? 

Jen: I was a very curious kid! As many people have heard me say before, I’ve loved science my whole life. I started a science club in my garage when I was seven years old. I am interested in everything and want to understand how things work, interact, and fit together. I think pretty much all kinds of technology are just cool. I hope to get kids (of all ages) to understand that science and STEM are all around them, all the time.

Picking and Choosing

MR: Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World offers a thoughtfully curated collection of scientific inventions from the printing press and gun powder to video games and artificial intelligence. With so many exciting inventions to choose from, how did you narrow it down to just 50? What did the selection process look like? 

Dylan: Honestly you could do this book a thousand times, ha. (Jen you up for some sequels?) There are so many fun and surprising connections, it was painful not to be able to include them all. (The first pressure cooker was a precursor to the steam engine! Without ceramics you can’t make spark plugs!) Some of the main concerns in laying out the outline of connections was that it not get too obscure or technical and that the inventions be broad enough that people were familiar with them. It was also important that there were opportunities to reset the clock, so when we get to satellites we can go to maps, which effectively lets us jump back a few thousand years. Otherwise we get to the end too quickly! With all that in mind, this was the path that made the most sense and didn’t have any dead ends.

Jen: Ha! A sequel, DEFINITELY. Dylan is so right. There are tons of inventions that didn’t make it into the book. The brilliance of this book is how it is structured to take you down the pathway of some inventions but then backtracks to a different invention“path.”  The vast majority of the inventions came from Dylan’s brain. He has a fabulous way of understanding the connections these inventions make with each other.

Making Connections

MR: Of all the inventions featured in the book, which fascinated you the most and why? On the flip side, what in your opinion is the most overrated invention and/or modern convenience you’ve come across?

Dylan: One connection that Jen clued me into was the link between particle physics and neuroscience. PET scans, MRI’s all come out of the hard physics fields, very often out of universities with particle accelerator labs. Even today the radio tracers we use to help diagnose diseases are made in a particle accelerator. I loved learning about that.

Most overrated invention… well, I really want this not to be the case, but fusion has been around the corner for a very long time. I really want it to work out but it seems like one of those things that might elude us for much longer to come. It’s an awfully hard problem!

Jen: That’s a tough question. At the moment, I am totally blown away by particle physics and space telescopes, so for me the invention path that humans took to get to both of these inventions is just amazing.

Most overrated invention in the book?  Maybe the Hellbrunn Mechanical Theatre. The Archbishop of Salzburg commissioned an amazing clockwork display and also set up pranks with water to inconvenience his guests and make himself laugh. While the technology created was used for a frivolous purpose, it did allow humans to understand more about how objects can be automated, which eventually contributed to the building of robots farther down the invention path.

That’s Using Your Brain!

MR: There are SO many fascinating tidbits in your book, including the weight of the Da Vinci robot (1200 pounds), the size of the sundial at Jantar Mantah (over 88 feet), and the speed of the space shuttle Endeavour (17,400 mph or five times the speed of a bullet). I was particularly interested to learn about the Cushing Brain Center, in New Haven, Connecticut, where 2,200 human brains were donated to Dr. Harvey Cushing for his research. Can a person just walk in and check out the brains?

Dylan: You most certainly can! It’s not even the only brain collection in the U.S. Cornell has one, too! There really are brains in jars, but both collections and especially Dr. Cushing have been important to understanding the physical structures of the brain. We don’t get into this in the book, but that collection was mostly forgotten about and degrading in a hard to access part of the Yale basement. For years it was something the med students would dare each other to sneak into and look at. It’s much nicer now. 

Jen: I wish! Learning about brains is soooo cool. I did a book about ten years ago called Brain Games by National Geographic Kids. That book is still around and going strong. Neurologists often give it to their adult patients to learn about how their brain works. I would love to visit the Cushing Brain Center one day.

MR: Also: As a person who’s afraid of heights, you couldn’t pay me enough to walk across the Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, in Zhangjiajie, China (it’s 1400 feet long, suspended above a 1300-foot chasm). Have either of you crossed the bridge or want to?

Dylan: I haven’t been to that particular bridge but have crossed some other glass bridges. I dunno, I kind of like the thrill 🙂 I did get a chance to cross the Keshwa Chaca, or the last Incan bridge (and earliest suspension bridge we know of), which is a 100-foot-long bridge woven from grass that only lasts a year, at which point it is rewoven. That one is in the first book!

Jen: While I appreciate the amazing engineering and technology that it took to create this bridge, I, too, am afraid of heights, Melissa. There is NO way I would walk across it, or even put a toe on it. However, it might be fun to just see it in person. You know, safely, from one side.

Let’s Work Together

MR: Collaborating on a book of this magnitude must have been incredibly challenging, particularly with so many moving parts in play (see what I did there? ☺). Can you tell MUF readers how the two of you worked together to pull it off so beautifully? What was the research process like? Also, was travel involved?

Dylan: Not a ton of travel, sadly. I have been to some of the places, and Jen has been to a few, but mostly it was all done via email and Zoom. I had gotten the outline mostly together when Jen came on, and Jen was very game to try this very challenging exercise. It’s tough to explain internal combustion engines, much less quantum computing, in 150 words but we did our dang best. I am so grateful to have been able to make this book with Jen as my co-creator!

Jen: Oh, I wish there had been more travel! Now THAT would be an amazing task—to visit all of the places in the book. But as Dylan said, we did this mostly over Zoom. He had already created a fabulous outline and I helped with the research of filling in the spaces. We worked really well together and had a lot of fun. I’m honored to have been chosen to collaborate with Dylan on this. It’s a wonderful book and I hope one that will inspire many kids (again, of ALL ages).

Traveling the Globe

MR: Speaking of travel, Dylan, you are the personification of the word “globetrotter,” having traveled to more than 30 countries all over the world. When did you first get bitten by the travel bug? Also, of all the places you’ve visited, which ones stood out the most and why? 

Dylan: Honestly, as a kid growing up in Minnesota it was all road trips around the Midwest. A trip up to Canada was very exotic! But those road trips made me fall in love with all the amazing and unusual roadside attractions. As I got older, I started saving my money and taking my own trips.

I did a big one all across Europe with a friend when I was 17 and then moved to Budapest when I was in my mid-twenties to teach English. Each trip made me realize how much more there was to see! It’s impossible to choose one favorite place, but I will say that on one of those road trips as a kid, we stopped by the House on the Rock, in Spring Green, Wisconsin. I was about 12 years old, and was the weirdest, most amazing  place I had ever seen. 🙂

AI: Help or Hindrance?

MR: Changing gears, in the introduction to the book, you state that technology is “capable of harm.” Can you speak more to this? Similarly, what about A1? Should people be worried?

Dylan: Without question, technology is capable of harm. This has always been the case. Often technology is dual use, which is to say a spear can get you dinner or kill your neighbor. It has also been the primary driving force bringing people into better living standards, driving down childhood mortality, reducing disease, spreading information, and making room for creative pursuit. I do think if you look at the industrial revolution you see both the start of rising prosperity and a lot of environmental and human degradation as well. People have to fight and demand change to mitigate the ill effects.

I think we are somewhere similar in our own computing and information revolution. I think we like aspects of it and very rightly hate other aspects.  I think AI, like the spear, is very much dual use. Possibly incredibly useful, especially in materials and biology research, and also potentially dangerous. But I am also a believer that these things are bit overhyped and diffuse a bit slower than people expect. It will change the world, but I don’t think things are going to change overnight. We are still undergoing the transition from a primary combustion world to a primary electrical world, and that will still be happening for our entire lifetimes. I also think the more you are worried about technology, the more having a deep understating of it helps you articulate what a positive vision of the future might look like! 

Jen: Excellent answer, Dylan. I look at it in a similar but slightly different way. To me, technology is all about perspective. If you are the first to, say, create a satellite that can move anywhere in space, on the one hand that’s awesome! But the question is, how will you use that technology? Will it be for good in that you can move dead satellites to a “graveyard“ to get rid of the debris? That is a positive. Or will you move your satellite next to another country’s satellite so that you can push that one out of its orbit or destroy it. That perspective is not as positive. Technology is a dual-edged sword and to me, it’s the way it’s used that makes the difference. But as Dylan said, we could debate this for a long time.

MR: What are you guys working on now? Do you have another Atlas Obscura project on the horizon?

Dylan: Atlas Obscura has an adult book coming out in summer of 2026 called America Obscura, which is a journey through the  places, people, and incredible road trips that make this country both beautiful, strange, and at times heartbreaking. Depending on how Inventing the World does, I am sure Jen and I would love to make a sequel, and Jen always has tons of exciting stuff in the works!

Jen: I’m totally game for a sequel, Dylan! My next book, Three Weeks in the Rainforest: A Rapid Inventory in the Amazon comes out this October. It follows the women-led team of scientists from the Field Museum in Chicago who work with Indigenous Peoples, local scientists, and non- governmental organizations to conduct a physical and social survey of certain areas of the Amazon rainforest. Readers get a firsthand account of real-life fieldwork in action and follow the scientists on their goal is to protect the Amazon rainforest from destruction.

Getting Inventive

MR: One last question: If you were to invent something in the future, what would it be? 

Dylan: There are so many things we know how to do but fail to make happen for disappointing political- and resource-allocation reasons. So, I would invent better ways to get people the vitamins they are deficient in! A huge number of people remain deficient in iodine, for instance, so getting iodine into salt worldwide has been a huge effort.  Getting people malaria nets! Stopping the advance of the screwworm fly! Vaccine access! All solved problems, except in actual application. It’s one thing to discover something and another to apply the good effects on the widest scale possible. 

Jen: Great suggestions, Dylan; I agree with them all. This is a tough one because as I see it, we will keep inventing new and amazing things because we are innovative and curious to solve problems. But what we really need is perspective to make sure inventions are used in the best and most helpful ways. So, I would ask that we just keep creating more STEM-focused people that are curious, inventive, and also are great critical thinkers and problem solvers so that they can really think about how their invention can help people positively.

Lightning Round!

MR: And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack?

Dylan: Tortilla chips!

Jen: A cup of tea and an oatmeal raisin cookie

Coffee or tea?

Dylan: COFFEEEEEE

Jen: TEA!!!

Best invention of all time? 

Dylan: Electricity generation. Insane. 

Jen: Fire. Without it, we wouldn’t have survived to this point.

Robot takeover: Yea or nay?

Dylan: Robots everywhere, yea. Take over as in terminator? Nay. 

Jen: Robots are COOL! But no takeover.

Superpower?

Dylan: General enthusiasm?

Jen: Flying! (which is funny, because I don’t like heights)

Favorite place on earth?

Dylan: In the heat of summer its my local swimming hole!

Jen: Edinburgh, Scotland. The view from the castle is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?

Dylan: A sailboat, a satellite phone, and a year’s supply of MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) haha. Be off that island in no time!  

Jen: MRE’s? Ugh. I’ve had them. I’ll pass. But yes, a way to get off: a boat, a satellite phone, and a telescope. Seeing the night sky from an island would be incredible!

MR: Thank you for chatting with me today, Dylan and Jen. And congrats again on the forthcoming publication of Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World!

Author Melissa Roske smiling and signing a book at a bookstore event. She is seated at a wooden table in front of bookshelves, wearing a sleeveless purple dress.Melissa Roske is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest (just the funny ones), and received certification as a life coach. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean (Charlesbridge), Melissa’s short story “Grandma Merle’s Last Wish” appears in the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories (Albert Whitman). Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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Author Interview: Goldy Moldavsky with Bubblegum Shoes

By on July 24, 2025   /   Author Interviews  

Goldy Moldavsky photoWe’re excited to have New York Times bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky on here today to talk about her new release: Bubblegum Shoes: The Case of the Contraband Closet. The title intrigues me so much, I can’t wait to find out more.

Hi, Goldy, thank you so much for joining us here today. We’d like to learn more about you, and then we’ll talk about your book.

Did you have any childhood dreams for when you became an adult? If so, did they come true?

As a child I wanted to become an archeologist. Partly inspired by my aunt, tia Becki, who was an archeologist and a professor, a little bit like Indiana Jones. But also because I dreamed of digging up something very valuable one day. I did not become an archeologist, but I have found cool things buried in sand!

Did you love to read as a child? If so, can you tell us some favorite books?

I was what you might call a reluctant reader. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that English was my second language when I came to America as a child. The first books that I ever read were Spanish picture books. But there were some books that my teachers introduced to me through reading assignments that have stuck with me. I adored Caddie Woodlawn, and I fell head over heels for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Well, you’ve come to the right place for an interview. This whole blog is built around the book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It’s great to meet another fan.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I would tell myself to keep a diary. I tried to a few times, but alas, I thought my day-to-day life was so boring. Looking back, I know it wasn’t at all, and I wish I could pore over my words and feelings about that time in my life.

Is your past woven into the story? If so, how?

My childhood experience is very different from the one portrayed in Bubblegum Shoes. I was a shy (though relatively well-liked!) kid who was deeply afraid of trouble and confrontation. and I never stuck my nose where it didn’t belong. Maya Mendoza, the main character in Bubblegum Shoes is the polar opposite. She chases trouble, thrives on confrontation, and is kind of a social pariah. But it was fun imagining a child who was so unlike me, standing up to authority and telling it like it is!

Would you be willing to share an embarrassing grade school moment?

So many embarrassing moments. The one that sticks out to me is when a middle school teacher invited everyone in the class over to her house for Sunday brunch. I walked over, was a few houses away, and my teacher saw me from her stoop. She waved at me, and I responded by turning around a running away. I don’t know why I had a fight or flight response, but there you go. Social situations totally frightened me.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I guess I realized I wanted to be a writer when I started writing fan fiction for my favorite shows as a teen. Fan fiction to me was just an upgrade on playing with dolls. The characters are already there, and all you had to do was bring more life into them. After that, I had so many ideas swirling around in my head that I had to get them down on paper.

What is your favorite or most challenging part of being a writer?

My favorite part of being a writer is the shiny new idea. There’s nothing like getting an idea so good that you’re willing to devote the next year of your life to making it into a reality. The most challenging part is closely related to that—getting the idea out of my head. Sometimes I’ll stall and actively avoid writing because I’m convinced that the idea is too pure, and the moment I try to put it on paper it won’t hold up. It will be messy, boring, hard. And at first it always is. But that’s also part of the process. I have to remember that a first draft is always going to be bad, but it’s an essential step.

Have you had any careers besides writing?

I wouldn’t call it a career, but before I was a writer, I was a nanny! I wrote part of my first book while waiting for those kids outside their dance/soccer/rock-climbing classes.

Can you tell us a little about the novel?Book cover: Bubblegum Shoes

In Bubblegum Shoes: The Case of the Contraband Closet, self-appointed investigator Maya Mendoza must solve the biggest mystery that ever hit her middle school—who stole all the precious items out of the school’s contraband closet—or risk getting expelled. Maya and three other misfit girls are the only suspects, so they band together to clear their names, and in doing so become the Bubblegum Shoes, a group of investigators-for-hire.

Are any characters based on anyone you know?

Nope!

Did you have to leave anything out of this book that you wished you could have included? If so, what?

Not specific scenes, but there is so much backstory I have in my head for the core four girls in the book. I dream of including some of their backstories in future books (this is a series, so hopefully I’ll get to!) but I love thinking of what the characters are like at home with their families. Here’s something that isn’t in the book: Jordan is named after Michael Jordan, and her four older brothers are also named after four great athletes, Ronaldo (Christiano), Brady (Tom), Williams (Serena), and James (Lebron).

I love this secret peek into your character names and the way you’ve honored great athletes. What fun!

Do you have any message or advice for the teachers and parents who will be sharing your book with their students and families?

My message for teachers and parents and librarians is first and foremost THANK YOU for putting books into kids’ hands. And then I’d tell them that this book is perfect for kids who want something lighthearted and funny, and also for kids who feel like they’re on the outside looking in. They might feel like they’re not the most popular, or they’re not that good at making friends, and in that way, Maya is a very relatable character. The great thing about her is that even though she’s a little rough around the edges socially, she’s still so confident and cool and someone who is self-assured and likes herself. I hope other kids can find themselves in her.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

The book is a who-dun-it caper, but at its core it’s really about friendship. It’s about a group of girls who are bobbing along in school by themselves until they find each other. And in forming their private eye group they also find a purpose. I hope readers can relate to the power of friendship and what it means to put your friends first.

Can you tell us about some of your other books?

Bubblegum Shoes is my middle grade debut! But I’ve written six other books before it, all for young adults. They range from dark comedy (Kill the Boy Band) to horror/thriller (The Mary Shelley Club) to satire (Lord of the Fly Fest) to romance (Just Say Yes; Of Earthly Delights.)

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on something I’ve put off for about ten years because the scope of it is so large. It’s a middle grade period piece based on a real-life institution in my hometown of Brooklyn. I’m still in the drafting stage and trying to wrestle the idea into something readable, so wish me luck!

We definitely wish you luck with getting that idea into book shape. Drafting and rewriting can be so challenging, and even more so when the project has been simmering for so long. It also sounds as if it will take a lot of research, but if it’s been in your heart this long, it must be very special. I hope you’ll let us know when it’s finished.

Thanks ever so much for agreeing to this interview, Goldy. I know our young readers, as well as teachers and librarians will enjoy learning more about you and Bubblegum Shoes: The Case of the Contraband Closet.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Maya is a trouble-maker, but she never stops paying attention. She knows who’s passing notes. She can spot which teacher wore shoes a half-size too tight. And she certainly notices when her former best friend Jordan suddenly stops talking to her. But that’s because of The Incident.

Then, the legendary Contraband Closet is robbed. Every Hotwheels car, spray paint canister, bouncy ball, and other prized possession teachers have collected since the dawn of time are seemingly lost forever—including an item of Jordan’s. When Maya, along with the rest of the girls in detention, are accused of stealing the treasure, they band together and make a deal with their principal to find the missing items and the true culprit. If they do, they’ll be off the hook for their crimes. If they don’t, Maya will be suspended from Marlow Middle School. With the stakes so high, Maya is on a mission to solve her biggest case yet.

9:48 AM. Math class. Marlowe Middle School.

Life isn’t easy on the streets, er, hallways of Marlowe Middle School. Luckily, private eye Maya Mendoza never stops paying attention. She knows who is passing notes in class. Spots which teacher wore shoes a half-size too tight. And she certainly notices when her former best friend Jordan suddenly stops talking to her.

Then, the legendary Contraband Closet is robbed. Every Hotwheels car, spray paint canister, bouncy ball, and other prized possession teachers have collected since the dawn of time are seemingly lost forever–including an item of Jordan’s. Suddenly, Maya sees a case that may set things back to the way it used to be because contraband–and friendships–don’t vanish into thin air…right?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Goldy Moldavsky was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she lives with her family. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller Kill the Boy Band, No Good Deed, The Mary Shelley Club, Lord of the Fly Fest, and Just Say Yes. Bubblegum Shoes: The Case of the Contraband Closet is her debut middle-grade title and was inspired by black-and-white noir movies.

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Interview with Jeanne Birdsall, award-winning author of The Library of Unruly Treasures!

By on July 21, 2025   /   Author Interviews  

Jeanne Birdsall’s THE PENDERWICKS is as highly acclaimed and beloved as a middle-grade series can be, earning the National Book Award and becoming New York Times bestsellers. With her newest novel, THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES, she creates a new world: one of tiny, winged creatures called Lahdukan and the adventures a girl named Gwen has with them in a library outside Boston. It’s a wild, fun, and heartwarming ride that is sure to delight Penderwicks fans and new readers alike.

Read below to discover the inspiration for this new book, thoughts on Lahdukan pronunciation and (incredible!) art, and the real Pumpkin the dog(s) in Jeanne’s life!

Book cover of THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES by Jeanne Birdsall

The opening of THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES grabs readers with a series of diary entries that tease some of the magic to come. When did you decide to open the book like that, and what are you hoping readers will glean from it?

I knew I’d have to open the book in 1860s Edinburgh, if only to justify the research trip I took to Scotland. That’s only kind of a joke. Truly, once I’d wandered the neighborhood where my diarist lived, she became too real to be shoved aside as mere backstory.

I thought it would be fun for the readers to know more than Gwen does at the beginning of the story, to have them impatient for her to meet the Lahdukan. When she finally does, the reader already knows the Lahdukan are real and thus can enjoy watching Gwen become convinced. From that point on, the reader knows only what Gwen knows. They can be puzzled together, and I hope they are. I like a bit of a mystery.

Gwen is a character readers immediately pull for—what was the process like of creating her? Was she fully formed from the start, or was it a longer process, and how did Matt Phelan’s interpretation of her (and the other characters!) come to be?

I knew Gwen right away. It took me a while, though, to work out what made her who she was—both despite of and because of her rotten parents and lonely childhood. And even longer to figure out how to explain her past without a lot of exposition. I wanted the reader to understand how difficult it had been for Gwen, but without piling on too many gruesome details.

Matt illustrated a picture book of mine, Flora’s Very Windy Day, so I knew that our instincts and visual aesthetics were in sync. He got Gwen right away. (And gave her freckles. I pretend this was in honor of my freckles, but it may have been a coincidence.) We had to go back and forth for a while with Pumpkin, but that was my fault. My original text made her sound like a mythic monster, a tiny griffin with impossibly mismatched parts. Matt’s Lahdukan are masterpieces. Their combination of goofiness and dignity is right there in every painting. And the Lahdukan in flight! There’s one spread of them aloft inside the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum that makes me catch my breath every time I see it.

The detailed worldbuilding of the Lahdukan is such a joy to uncover in the book. You mention Mary Norton’s delightful The Borrowers as an inspiration for these tiny, wondrous creatures, but did you have any other influences on this world?

The Borrowers are an obvious reference point. Not only were the books written during my childhood—we were allreading them—but Beth and Jo Krush, the illustrators, lived in my neighborhood, a mile down the road. But the Lahdukan were woven from dozens of myths and stories, enriched by my fascination with Scotland, particularly the Highlands. Some of this came because of my Scottish blood, but lately I’ve been re-reading T. H. White’s The Once and Future King. He goes deeply into the Scottish Gaels (Gawaine and his peculiar brothers) and their resentment of the English. This must have lodged in my brain years ago, to come out now.

Plus, I’ve always wanted to be able to fly, haven’t you? The closest I could get was bestowing eagle wings on my Lahdukan.

Pumpkin the dog is a force throughout the book, and you mention in the introduction that you can’t write without a canine companion. Was Pumpkin always such an integral character, or did her role change through the drafting process?

Pumpkin was always going to be important to the story, but not being satisfied with mere importance, she upped her own role until she was vital. Just like my real dogs.

[Editor’s note: to see pictures of Jeanne’s own dogs, visit her website!]

I appreciated the pronunciation guide at the end of the book and had so much fun with the Lahdukan names and background. Is that something you had thought through while writing and sounding out these splendid details?

No, but I should have! Because I don’t like reading my own writing out loud and I don’t listen to audiobooks, I didn’t think about it along the way, just merrily dreaming up names and words. It was only toward the end, when my own husband still couldn’t remember how to say Abarisruk or Zarakir, that I realized I’d need a pronunciation guide.

Although I don’t listen to audiobooks, I hope people will listen to this one. By an incredible stroke of luck—or maybe magic—we found the perfect narrator. Sorcha Groundsell grew up on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides, west of Scotland and close to the Isle of Rùm, where the Lahdukan lived a thousand and more years ago. (See? Magic!) Her voice is gorgeous—light, quick, musical—exactly what the story calls for. Just wait until you hear her as the Lahdukan.

Do you have any other adventures in mind for Gwen, Pumpkin, and the Lahdukan, or are you returning to other book worlds (or elsewhere!) next?

I have dozens of other adventures in mind, going forward and backward in time. But speaking of time, alas, I don’t have enough of it. The Penderwicks took twenty years of my life, and almost certainly I don’t have twenty more to spend on another series. Where I’m headed next is still a bit fuzzy, but there will be pie and a dog, and I’ll have to learn some Italian.

Author photo of Jeanne Birdsall

Jeanne Birdsall is the National Book Award–winning author of the children’s book The Penderwicks and its sequel, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, both of which were also New York Times bestsellers. She grew up in the suburbs west of Philadelphia, where she attended wonderful public schools. Although Birdsall first decided to become a writer when she was 10 years old, it took her until she was 41 to get started. In the years in between, Birdsall had many strange jobs to support herself while working hard as a photographer. Birdsall’s photographs are included in the permanent collections of museums, including the Smithsonian and the Philadelphia Art Museum. She lives with her husband in Northampton, Massachusetts. Their house is old and comfortable, full of unruly animals, and surrounded by gardens.

THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES is available for pre-order until August 5th, 2025 and then wherever books are sold. Visit Penguin Random House for more information and to order!

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