Author Interviews

A Chat About GLOOM TOWN by Author Ronald L. Smith & An Engaging Challenge For Readers!

By S. A. Larsen on March 25, 2020 / Articles, Author Interviews, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, Giveaways

Hi Everyone! How are you all doing? Social distancing and self-confinement is not something any of us expected to be doing, right now. Such an abrupt change to our lives can make us feel withdrawn and lonely. But there are ways to combat that feeling of isolation. One way is through reading and writing. Just as exciting is doing that with others through the internet. If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you’ll find a little creative exercise I created for you to do. Those who participate will have a chance to win a prize!

But don’t scroll yet! Take a peek at my next creepy book spotlight and what the author has to say about his writing journey. It’s seriously an amazing, creepy middle grade read.

GLOOM TOWN

by Ronald L. Smith

A delightfully creepy novel from a Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner imbued with magic and seafaring mythology. Lemony Snicket and Jessica Townsend meet Greenglass House, with a hint of Edward Gorey thrown in.

When twelve-year-old Rory applies for a job at a spooky old mansion in his gloomy seaside town, he finds the owner, Lord Foxglove, odd and unpleasant. But he and his mom need the money, so he takes the job anyway. Rory soon finds out that his new boss is not just strange, he’s not even human—and he’s trying to steal the townspeople’s shadows. Together, Rory and his friend Isabella set out to uncover exactly what Foxglove and his otherworldly accomplices are planning and devise a strategy to defeat them. But can two kids defeat a group of ancient evil beings who are determined to take over the world?

Another delightfully creepy tale from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award–winning author Ronald L. Smith.

Hello Ronald! It’s such a pleasure to have you visit us. Let’s begin with an area most readers are curious about: What is it about writing stories that makes it all worth it for you?

Selfishly, it’s a dream come true to do this for a living. I feel very lucky to have such a cool job. But what’s really rewarding is knowing that kids will read my books and (hopefully) like them.

Did any book(s) from your childhood influence or encourage you to . . .

1. Want to read more?

Absolutely.

1. Become a writer?

Yes. One of my favorite books as a kid was The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Elanor Cameron. I also loved Ray Bradbury, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. All of these books fired my imagination and set me on a path of becoming a writer.

How do you think authors, librarians, teachers, and parents can encourage a love of reading in middle schoolers?

I think they’re all doing a fantastic job. There has to be a story for every kid. The librarians and teachers are on the front lines in suggesting books that will appeal to every one of them, no matter their background. Also, it’s not just books. Comics, graphic novels and poetry also help kids become better readers of novels. So don’t discourage any kind of reading at all!

So very true!

Describe for us the town in which you set Gloom Town and why this story had to be told there?

Hmm. Well, I write organically, and just kind of discovered Gloom Town as I was writing it. I wanted a locale that felt out of time. Kind of like 19^th century England but with odd details in the mix as well. The seaside setting was a surprise to me, but once that came to me I really began to love it. Ships, mariners, the docks—it all came together to create a setting I really loved.

I love how the town revealed itself to you as you were writing the story.

What was your favorite part of the story to write?

I like the creepy stuff, so it has to be Lord Foxglove and his minions!

🧡

What makes your main character Rory different from other characters you’ve written?

He has a lot on his shoulders and will do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. He is bright and confident, brave and curious. His home life is different from that of my other characters. His mom is a singer, and her friends are artists and performers, so he has grown up in a creative, avant-garde community.

Why will middle schoolers relate to Rory and/or your other characters in Gloom Town?

Hopefully, they’ll see a bit of themselves in these characters and experience every bit of joy, fear and happiness that they do!

What do you hope readers will take-away with them after reading this story?

Be brave. Fight for your family. Don’t take a job at a spooky mansion.

*laughing*

Food advice: What’s your favorite writing snack?

I don’t really have one. I take a break at noon for lunch. I usually have some tea in the afternoon. But if I had to answer I’d say anything salty and crunchy!

Writing advice: What do you do when the writing just isn’t flowing?

Cry.

Walk away for a while. Read someone else’s novel. Take a walk and clear my head.

One favorite idea-generating method you use is . . .?

Sometimes when I get stuck I imagine that the book is a film. What would happen next if this were a movie, I ask myself. Sometimes it works, Sometimes it doesn’t.

Sounds like a pretty effective method.

Care to share a favorite middle grade book of yours?

His Dark Materials from Philip Pullman and The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with us. All the best to you, from your Mixed-Up Files family!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ronald L. Smith is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award-winning author of Hoodoo, The Mesmerist, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, Gloom Town, and Black Panther: The Young Prince. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

GIVEAWAY CHALLENGE!

Dear Readers, thank you for joining in to learn more about Ron’s mysterious story of GLOOM TOWN! Are you ready for your home-schooling exercise? Create your own fictional town – Name & a brief Description – in the comment section below along with your Twitter handle for a chance to win a copy of GLOOM TOWN! I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Giveaway runs from today until April 1st, (US only). Winner will be announced via Twitter.

Interview with Anne Bustard, Author of Blue Skies!

By JROSEN on March 19, 2020 / Author Interviews

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Today, I am pleased to welcome to our site, Anne Bustard, author of Blue Skies, which came out March 17th from S&S Books for Young Readers!

JR: Hi, Anne and thanks for joining us today!

AB: Thanks for having me! It’s a special treat to be on this blog!

JR: First off, I was fortunate enough to read an advanced copy, and loved it. I felt both, happy, and so, so sad. For those who don’t know about the book, can you tell us a little bit about the book and the idea for this story came from?

AB: I’m quite touched by your compliment. Thank you ever so much!

Blue Skies is a story about 5^th grader Glory Bea Bennett, who has never given up hope that her daddy will return from WWII. So when the Merci Train boxcar from France is scheduled to stop in her small Texas town, she’s certain that Daddy will come too.

The idea for this book came by serendipity. I discovered the existence of the Merci Train during a summer teacher workshop over fifteen years ago, and I knew in an instant that I wanted to write a story about this magnanimous display of gratitude. The Merci Train was a French grassroots effort that thanked the U.S. for all we did for them before and after the war. So in 1949, they sent 49 boxcars filled with gifts to the U.S., one boxcar for each state, and one that was divided between Washington D.C. and the Territory of Hawaii.

JR: The book has some humorous parts as well. How difficult is it to summon humor when you’re writing some pretty emotional scenes?

AB: What a great question! Writing humorous scenes and conversations within this story was a welcome and necessary relief for me, and I hope for readers as well. The Gladiola Gazette columns were, dare I say, the easiest. I imagine that’s because they were written in Penny Pfluger’s voice, rather than Glory Bea’s. I was thrilled when my wonderful editor suggested I add more.

JR: I think your editor was right! You write a lot of historical fiction, which I love. What about that genre appeals to you?

AB: I like to think of myself as a lifetime learner and research is one of my happy places. Reading and writing historical fiction allows me remarkable access to the past, much of which is new to me. Not only do I gain insights into a particular time, I often have an aha! about my own past, as well as the now. Hopefully, readers do too.

JR: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey getting to this point?

AB: I had the desire to write l-o-n-g before I ever attempted to tell a story. About a year after I finally took the plunge, I realized I needed help. Since I love school, I took a class with Kathi Appelt. When it concluded, she recommended that we form a critique group. So we did. That was over twenty years ago and I’ve been in a group almost every year since.

SCBWI, Highlights, Rice Continuing Education, VCFA, and the amazing Austin writing community have all played a major role in my writing development, success, and life. I owe them all enormous gratitude.

The earliest “polished” draft of Blue Skies is dated March 3, 2003. Back then it was a picture book. Several drafts later, an editor showed interest and wondered if it could be a middle grade. I loved that idea. At VCFA in 2009 and 2010, I completed a draft of the “train” novel. I sent it to several agents, all of who passed. In 2017, I reread it, saw ways to improve it, and dug in again. With the help of my critique group and agent, it was revised many more times. My agent found a fabulous editor and then we worked and reworked it together.

JR: I read a lot of fascinating things on your website, https://annebustard.com/, such as that you grew up in Hawaii, and now live in Texas. I love both places, and have also lived in many different areas. How do you think that living in a variety of places has helped your writing?

AB: Guess what? I’ve moved! After decades in Texas, I reconnected with my college sweetheart and we married. Now I live in Canada, and travel back to Texas often.

You’ve asked a terrific question and I’m not sure I know the answer.

Did living in each new environment increase my curiosity, heighten my senses, or powers of observation? Maybe. I am certain that each move presented an opportunity to grow. Perhaps that has helped my awareness of the need for my characters to grow and change.

JR: Congrats on the move and the marriage! But have to ask, can you still hula well?

AB: Haha! I don’t know about well, but I did dance at my wedding reception a year and a half ago.

JR: This is perhaps the MOST important question of this interview. I read that you used to own your own bookstore. How awesome was that?

AB: I loved the bookstore! It was a children’s-only store and we had the best staff and customers in the world! Opening up boxes of books, hand-selling them, interacting with other booksellers, and meeting authors and illustrators was the best!

JR: What’s your writing process like?

AB: I am not a plotter, though I do have a feeling about how I want the story to end. I dive into a first draft with joy. Somehow I’m able to turn off my critical brain because it’s a first try. I know that revisions, oh so many revisions, will follow.

I generally write in order, but at some point I leap ahead and write the last scene. After that draft, I do extensive journaling in order to delve into the characters and their motivations. Then the rewriting begins and I share the first chapters with my critique group. Eventually they’ll see a whole draft or two.

Often I’ll seek more outside readers before sending it to my agent. She’s editorial, yay! so we work on it until she thinks it’s ready to send out. (Note: everything I’ve sent her has not made the cut.) I research a lot up front, and continue in a lighter vein after the first draft through the last.

JR: I also have to have the last scene in mind before I write anything. What’s your favorite book from childhood?

AB: I have several, but I’ll mention two because I can’t decide: The Secret Garden and My Side of the Mountain.

JR: What’s your favorite movie?

AB: When Harry Met Sally. Besides the main storyline, the vignettes of older couples talking melt my heart every time.

JR: I watch When Harry Met Sally at least once a year! Something people would be surprised to learn about you?

AB: My superpower is hanging pictures on walls without measuring.

JR: A superpower that every little kid dreams about! 🙂 What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received and is there any advice you can give to writers looking to break in?

AB: The first lecture of my first semester at VCFA, Louise Hawes spoke about character desire. She asked us to wonder: What does your protagonist want? The answer, she said, should drive our stories. This question guides and grounds my work.

As for advice to writers looking to break in: never give up, it’s okay for a manuscript to rest for years, and a reminder that you only need one yes (from an agent or an editor)!

JR: What are you working on next?

AB: I’m writing a middle grade story inspired by an unconventional (and historical) public event in Texas.

JR: How can people follow you on social media?

AB: I’m on Facebook, as of last fall, Twitter, and earlier this year, Pinterest. Come by anytime and say hi!

JR: Thanks so much for stopping by and chatting and the best of luck with Blue Skies!

AB: Thank you, mahalo, and merci beaucoup, for this interview!

JR: Thanks again to Anne Bustard and make sure you go out and get Blue Skies!

American as Paneer Pie: Interview with Author Supriya Kelkar

By Patricia Bailey on March 13, 2020 / Articles, Author Interviews

I’m thrilled to get the chance to talk to Supriya Kelkar about her upcoming book AMERICAN AS PANEER PIE. Get your pre-orders and library requests in now because you are going to want to read this novel as soon as you possibly can. 🙂

Will you tell us a little about your upcoming book, AMERICAN AS PANEER PIE?

As the only Indian American kid in her small town, Lekha Divekar feels like she has two versions of herself: Home Lekha, who loves watching Bollywood movies and eating Indian food, and School Lekha, who pins her hair over her bindi birthmark and avoids confrontation at all costs, especially when someone teases her for being Indian.

When a girl Lekha’s age moves in across the street, Lekha is excited to hear that her name is Avantika and she’s Desi, too! Finally, there will be someone else around who gets it. But as soon as Avantika speaks, Lekha realizes she has an accent. She’s new to this country, and not at all like Lekha.

To Lekha’s surprise, Avantika does not feel the same way as Lekha about having two separate lives or about the bullying at school. Avantika doesn’t take the bullying quietly. And she proudly displays her culture no matter where she is: at home or at school.

When a racist incident rocks Lekha’s community, Lekha realizes she must make a choice: continue to remain silent or find her voice before it’s too late.

You tackle a lot of big issues in this novel, including racism, micro and macro aggression, and allyship, as well as dilemmas such as friendship pressures, team expectations, and discovering your own way of expressing yourself. How did you balance it all – both in the early stages and editing stages of writing this novel?

This was one of those rare writer moments for me where strangely a lot of things fell into place very neatly while drafting this book, like a puzzle I could solve, even though normally I’m really awful at puzzles! I think because I felt these issues so profoundly, and because so much of Lekha’s experience comes from my life, it somehow came together after I forced myself to really dig deep and go back to memories I had buried. During the editing stages, I was really lucky to have super smart notes from my brilliant editor at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, Jennifer Ung, that pushed me to look even further into all of these issues and create even more connections to those themes.

One of the things I really loved about this book was the parents. All of them were so engaged, involved, and accessible (even when the kids would prefer them not to be). Would you talk a little about how you created the parents to be so three dimensional, believable, and key to the story and why you thought that was important?

Thank you! I am so glad you found them to be that way! I thought it was really important for the parents to be realistic, caring, flawed people because when I was a kid, I didn’t really realize my parents were individuals who had their own hopes, dreams, and fears. I wanted Lekha to come to that realization a lot earlier than I did so I made sure to try to make them as real as possible. I also thought it was important because racism affects people of all ages and we are constantly evolving and growing and challenging our own prejudices, even as adults.

One of the things that really stood out to me was how you managed to give the reader many entry points into the immigrant experience. As the daughter of an immigrant, I could relate to a number of Lekha’s struggles (Halloween! Sleepovers! Dress!). Are there some aspects of that experience you feel are universal? If readers could come away from this novel with one realization about the immigrant experience, what would you like it to be?

Yes! And now I’m having a flashback to a fight with my mom about a sleepover at a new friend’s house, ha! I think that struggle of wanting to carve out your own identity and independence as a middle schooler while occasionally butting heads with your parents who may want you to do things differently is definitely universal.

I also think sometimes some people overlook immigrants and the immigrant experience, discounting them and othering them, when only one type of story is told about them by nationalistic people and racist, influential people in power. I would hope readers would come away from this novel realizing nobody should be treated as less than.

Oh my gosh, the food! You describe so many amazing dishes in the novel. How much fun was it to write with such attention and care about food? Which of the dishes you mention in the book are your favorites?

It was so fun! I think it was the first time I had ever described so much food in a book. As someone who was teased any time I brought Indian food to school until I no longer brought it, it felt really great and almost powerful to be able to take such pride in describing the Indian dishes in great detail when decades earlier, I would have been mortified to even say their names at school. Samosas with chincha chutney, and mattar paneer are some of my favorite dishes mentioned in the book.

In the acknowledgements you mention that this is the “book of [your] heart. Would you be willing to talk a little bit about that?

This was the most personal book I have ever written. Like Lekha, I grew up in a small town in Michigan that didn’t value diversity. We were taught to not talk about race and to not see color, all while racist incidents were going on all around us. Like Lekha, the words used in the racist incident that rocks her small town were words that have been shouted at me. Like Lekha, I was also guilty of othering Indian-Americans who had recently immigrated here. And like Lekha, I had a deep pride and love for my culture at home and in spaces within the Indian-American community, and an overwhelming sense of shame about it when I was being bullied or othered for it at school.

Writing the book helped me fully embrace who I was as a child and who I am now. It also helped me have a really deep appreciation for everything my parents and our family friends went through when they first arrived in this country. The lines Maya’s grandfather mentions at Thanksgiving that were said to him when he arrived from India in the 1960s and knocked on someone’s door were words that were actually said to my dad when he came here for his Ph.D. in the 1960s.

It felt therapeutic to let out a lot of the microaggressions, othering, and racist incidents that had hurt me as a child but I didn’t really talk about back then because talking about it meant acknowledging I was different or less than. And it felt empowering to say what I wanted to say about these incidents as a kid through Lekha, and to help her find her voice earlier than I had found mine, to speak out against hatred and speak up for what is right.

It’s a book that comes from my heart, one that I would have loved to have had as a kid, and I hope it becomes a beacon of hope for kids who need it.

You write screenplays and picture books in addition to Middle Grade. Can you tell us how your writing process changes depending on the project (if it does) and how you balance so many different forms?

I actually plot novels the same way I write screenplays. I start with character journals, getting to know each character while writing a journal entry from their point of view. I then use the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet to get my important beats down. And then I work on a detailed outline using the three-act structure I was taught to use in my college screenwriting classes. For picture books, I usually just write the story, without trying to outline or do character journals. I find I get the characters’ personalities while writing the actual manuscript for picture books.

One thing I did struggle with when I first made the change from screenwriting to writing novels, (and I probably still have issues with it today), is that in screenwriting, you’re taught to not waste time describing the set or clothing or physical reactions unless they help the plot or are needed for the flow of the script because the script isn’t the final product, a movie is. And a set designer and costume designer and actors and director will be handling the way the set looks, or the clothing, or the physical reactions. So when I had to actually pause to describe all of these things in a novel, it took/(takes) me a while to get it right. I enjoy switching between the forms. It helps keep the creativity flowing. Sometimes I even write a script version of a novel I’m drafting and I’m able to get ideas for the novel from it.

You are also a talented visual artist. (I’m a huge fan of your mixed media/collages). Would you like to talk about how you started doing your art and how it helps or informs your writing?

Thank you so much! I’ve been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember but I started making mixed media/collage art about ten years ago. I started feeling bad about recycling the gorgeous wedding invitations from India that I had been saving over the years any time we would get one in the mail. That’s when I decided instead of getting rid of them, I’d start making mixed media and cut paper collages with them. Lately, whenever I’ve been really stuck with writer’s block, I’ve been making a collage at night. I work on them from about 9pm to midnight and then by the morning, or maybe after another day if it is a more involved collage, I’m able to come up with a solution for what I’m stuck on oftentimes. I think switching up your creative outlet can be really helpful when you feel stuck.

Is there a question you wished I asked, but didn’t?
Does paneer pie taste good? (The answer is a huge yes!)

Can you tell us what’s next for you?

Up next is STRONG AS FIRE, FIERCE AS FLAME, (Tu Books, fall 2020), historical fiction set in 1857 India that challenges who we center in stories and “classics.” In spring 2021 I have a picture book called BINDU’S BINDIS (Sterling) about a young girl who loves to match the shape of her bindis to her grandmother’s. And after that comes THAT THING ABOUT BOLLYWOOD (Aladdin/Simon and Schuster, 2021) about a Bollywood-loving girl who isn’t good at expressing herself, who suddenly gets a magical condition after her parents announce their separation, that causes her to break out into Bollywood song-and-dance numbers to express herself in the most obvious way possible.

Supriya grew up in the Midwest, where she learned Hindi as a child by watching three Hindi movies a week. Winner of the New Visions Award for her middle grade novel AHIMSA, (Tu Books, 2017), Supriya is a screenwriter who has worked on the writing teams for several Hindi films, including Lage Raho Munnabhai and Eklavya: The Royal Guard, India’s entry into the 2007 Academy Awards. She was an associate producer on the Hollywood feature, Broken Horses. Supriya’s books include AHIMSA, THE MANY COLORS OF HARPREET SINGH (Sterling, 2019), AMERICAN AS PANEER PIE (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2020) STRONG AS FIRE, FIERCE AS FLAME (Tu Books, 2020), BINDU’S BINDIS (Sterling, 2021), and THAT THING ABOUT BOLLYWOOD (Aladdin/Simon and Schuster, 2021). Supriya is represented by Kathleen Rushall at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and Kim Yau at Paradigm for film/TV rights.

Follow Supriya on Twitter @supriyakelkar_, on Instagram @Supriya.Kelkar, and on Flipgrid.

You can learn more about Supriya and her work (including some of her art) at her website. AMERICAN AS PANEER PIE releases May 12, 2020 and is available for pre-order now. Just follow the link. (Shop your local indie bookstore)

Author Interviews