It’s a pleasure to welcome back Joy McCullough to the blog, this time to share her heartfelt, hope-filled novel-in-verse, KESTREL TAKES FLIGHT. Like all of Joy’s books, this story draws readers in and takes them on a compelling journey. In KESTREL TAKES FLIGHT, that journey involves the wilds of Montana, a special breed of dog, and a girl learning to stand up for herself. Thank you to Joy for taking time to discuss her new book!
You’ve written in multiple genres, from picture books to middle grade to young adult to plays – and in both prose and novels-in-verse. KESTREL TAKES FLIGHT is told in a stunning verse form – how did that come to be? Was that the plan from its inception?
Yes, I always planned to write Kestrel in verse. While sometimes I’ll have false starts and begin a project in one format, only to realize it’s not the right one, I almost always know from the beginning through a gut instinct I can’t always explain. With Kestrel I think it was largely because I knew it was going to deal with emotional abuse. It’s a heavier topic than any of my previous middle grade books, but I have the experience from my young adult books to know that verse lends itself really well to difficult topics. The sparseness and white space give a reader plenty of space to breathe and process what they’re emotionally able to process without being overwhelmed by the trauma.
Some of Kestrel’s early thoughts about her mom were gutting to read – how Kestrel has been told she ruined her mom’s college and career plans and how their move is “…just the Mom Show” and Kestrel is “…just an extra.” How important was it to set up this early dynamic and how Kestrel sees her mom, and were there any challenges writing it?
I understood the family dynamic Kestrel was coming out of, having been raised primarily by her emotionally abusive grandfather. I knew he would have belittled her mother and undermined their relationship at every turn, in order to further isolate Kestrel and make her reliant on him. I can imagine it’s tough to read, but I can’t say it was tough to write—probably because I always knew Kestrel and her mom would grow together through the story. I was also really cognizant through the writing that while to Kestrel, her mom is an adult who’s letting her down, to me, Mom is also a survivor of Grandfather’s abuse. So in places where Kestrel feels like her mom is failing, I see her as coping the best she can.
Kestrel’s grandfather and his emotionally abusive treatment of Kestrel, her mom, and her aunt looms large throughout the book. Your beautiful author’s note explaining this type of abuse states, “…I know that sometimes, as a kid, you might feel like you don’t have any power to change your situation. That might be true – for now…” Did you have a specific reader in mind when you were writing these parts of the book, and what do you hope their takeaway is?
I’m rarely thinking about the reader when I’m writing. I’m more focused on the character. But I was certainly thinking of the reader who finds themselves in Kestrel’s story when I wrote the author note. It was frustrating, because emotional abuse can be tough to quantify, and the resources are slim for kids who don’t have the option to choose to leave an emotionally abusive situation. But for the child in that situation who comes across this book, I hope they come away from Kestrel’s story with the understanding that abuse isn’t always physical, and that home and family don’t always have to come from blood. The horrible truth is that knowledge might not be able to help them get out of the situation in the short term. But perhaps it will be some small comfort and help them in the long run.
Kestrel’s letters to her grandpa show so much insight into their relationship and his treatment of her – and her growth in how she sees herself. Were those letters always part of the manuscript, and how did you approach writing them versus the rest of the book?
Yes, I think they were always there. The letters are in prose, but my approach to writing doesn’t really change with the format. It’s all just getting the story out without censoring myself, and then crafting the messy draft into something that serves the story I’m telling.
I found myself on the edge of my seat heading towards the book’s conclusion, as the emotional stakes and physical confrontation land at the same time and intensity – including Doc (who I love!) and Karelian dog protectors stepping up to help Kestrel. Was it a challenge to thread together these emotional and physical conflicts?
For as emotionally difficult as the book is, it was really quite a smooth and lovely, instinctual process. I’m always focused on the character’s journey first and foremost, and I think I just really understood Kestrel—not only the emotional abuse part, but also the journey from fearful of dogs to relying on them for significant emotional support. That has been my personal journey, too. It’s a quiet story by nature, but also it’s set against the backdrop of these dogs who are trained to ferociously scare bears away from populated areas, so I knew there eventually had to be some sort of confrontation. Otherwise I would have set up a Chekhov’s bear situation that never paid off.
Your book ends on a hopeful note for Kestrel and her mom – did you always have that in mind, and is that a consideration for you writing Middle Grade versus other genres?
Absolutely. I feel strongly there’s very little we can’t approach in middle grade books, as long as we do it with care. My bottom line is that if there are kids experiencing something – discrimination, abuse, mental health issues, whatever – then they deserve to be able to find stories that reflect their experiences back to them, validate their feelings, and give them the hope of seeing a character survive. I think this is important both for the kids who experience these things, and for friends or family members who want to understand a kid who is experiencing these things.
Hope is, in my opinion, a crucial element of middle grade.
About Joy:
Joy McCullough writes books and plays from her home in the Seattle area, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is the author of the middle grade novels Across the Pond, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, Not Starring Zadie Louise, Code Red, Kestrel Takes Flight, and Basil & Dahlia, as well as the middle grade series Team Awkward, and the picture books Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers, Champ and Major: First Dogs, and The Story of a Book. Her debut novel Blood Water Paint was longlisted for the National Book Award and was a William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist. Visit her at JoyMcCullough.com.
I don’t know. It’s all creativity, isn’t it. I spend most of my time making stuff up, but annoyingly, I do also have to ensure my creative efforts occasionally make money. This year, I’m putting more of an emphasis on performance. I’m taking my Ministry of Mini Musicals on a tour of libraries and a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, putting on one-man musicals based on my picture books, but it’s a two-way street and sometimes the shows inspire the books. One of the inspirations behind the Solve Your Own series was a show called Mystery Makers, in which the audience improvises a brand-new mystery. I love doing that show and I wondered if there was a way of writing books that felt as anarchic and interactive—and that’s what I did. 
