Posts Tagged interview

Author Interview: Shea Fontana

DC Superhero Girls: Out of the Bottle Cover

DC Superhero Girls: Out of the Bottle Cover

As a proud comic book nerd, one of the coolest things about my job as a collection development librarian is  the opportunity to preview the latest in the DC Superhero Girls series, OUT OF THE BOTTLE, which was released in August, and SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS, which hits bookstores on October 2nd.

OUT OF THE BOTTLE highlights Harley Quinn as the comic book character she’s created for Ms. Moone’s art class comes to life and wreaks havoc on Superhero High. SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS introduces Raven and Mera to the team. Mera is a new student at Super Hero High, and as she and Wonder Woman becomes friends, Bumblebee becomes anxious that she’s losing her best friend. When the heroes discover that Atlantis has been stolen, the girls have to work together to get it back.

DC Superhero Girls: Search for Atlantis Cover

DC Superhero Girls: Search for Atlantis Cover

Then, I had a chance to talk to author Shea Fontana about the series.

MUF: Every book in the DC Superhero Girls series deals with an important life lesson. For example, OUT OF THE BOTTLE stresses the importance of mental health care, and SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS deals with accepting change. Do you feel that the graphic novel format makes these issues more accessible for young readers? If so, how?

The graphic novel format really gives us the space and intimacy with the reader to dive into big ideas. Plus, having these awesome, well-known characters explore these topics makes it accessible for kids. Our heroes are aspirational for kids reading the books, and we want to show kids that even heroes face hardships. When kids deal with those types of things, like mental health care or accepting change in their friendship groups, it can feel very lonely and it helps to know that superheroes are dealing with it, too! My goal with these types of stories is to always help kids feel less alone and empower them — like they have a team of superheroes that can fight and win every battle with them.

MUF: SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS has a couple of new beginnings. Both Mera and Raven are introduced, and the Teen Titans were essentially formed. Which of these new beginnings were you most excited about introducing? Was it fun brainstorming new names for the Titans? Were there any rejected names that didn’t make it into the book?

I loved integrating both Mera and Raven into this graphic novel! Both are such wonderful, and very different characters. From the beginning of the series, I knew that I wanted to build up to the Teen Titans reveal, bringing together the traditional Titans that kids know from the TV show as well as the comic book version that includes Miss Martian and Bumblebee. The misnaming thread was a fun way to build the tension toward what everyone knows is coming — of course their group name should be the Teen Titans!

MUF: Why was Brainiac chosen as the villain for this story?

We knew that Brainiac got away at the end of the DC Super Hero Girls: Intergalactic Games animated movie, so he’s been waiting in the wings for his next attack. Since in the Legends of Atlantis movie, we meet Mera and Aquaman under water on their “turf,” I wanted to do something different, but still Atlantis-oriented with this story. So, I decided to bring Atlantis out of the water. Since Brainiac is a collector of bottled cities, it seemed the perfect fit.

MUF: What was your favorite part of the story? What was the most difficult to write? What was the most fun?

My favorite part of the story is how Miss Martian steps up as a leader. She’s not the regular kind of leader that the heroes expect — she doesn’t seem as bold as Wonder Woman or as outgoing as Supergirl. But she has a quieter style of leadership that is just as valid.
The ending on this one was difficult for me to write. I really felt for and related to Bumblebee!

MUF: Who’s your favorite superhero? Who’s the most fun to write about? Why?

I loved writing Raven in this story! Her personality is a great contrast to a lot of the other characters. She has an edge and attitude that we don’t often see in kid superhero stories and it’s fun to explore that. 

MUF: Conversely, who’s your favorite villain? Who’s your favorite to write about?

We have had so many fun villains in this series, both in the graphic novels and the animation. I think my favorite is Dark Opal, because he went into villainy as a back-up career when musical theater didn’t work out. Mera’s sister, Siren, who we meet in the Legends of Atlantis animated move, is also great. She’s so controlling and manipulative.

MUF: If you could teach any class at Superhero High, which one would you want to teach?

Power Naps 101.

MUF: Right there with you! I think that would be my favorite class to take. Is there a superhero or villain that you’d like to write about that you haven’t yet? Who?

It had been Batman, as he is my childhood favorite hero, and he is not featured in DC Super Hero Girls. But now I’ve had the chance to write him in BATMAN: OVERDRIVE which will be published under the upcoming DC Zoom middle grade imprint! I can’t wait for everyone to read it — it’s some of the most fun I’ve had writing.

MUF: And finally, do you have any advice for aspiring writers and writers who would love to work on graphic novels one day?

Read a lot and do a lot! The best way to get familiar with story structure, dialogue, and how graphic novels work is by reading. But the best way to come up with stories is by doing! While the old adage of “write what you know” isn’t true (I don’t know how to fly or shoot lasers out of my eyes), the more you experience, the more you’ll have to pull from when thinking of story ideas. Whenever I need the courage to do something new, I tell myself, “Well, it could be a good experience for a story…”

Shea Fontana is a writer for film, television and graphic novels.  Her credits include developing and writing the DC Super Hero Girls animated shorts, TV specials, movies and graphic novels; Polly Pocket, Doc McStuffins, The 7D, Whisker Haven Tales with the Palace Pets, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz , the new Muppet Babies series; two Disney on Ice shows where she wrote new material for the worlds of Mickey Mouse, Inside Out, Disney Princesses, Finding Dori, Frozen, and other Disney and Pixar properties; and the feature film, Crowning Jules. Learn more about her and her writing at http://www.sheafontana.com/.

 

 

STEM Tuesday — Pair Up! Comparing Nonfiction Titles — Interview with Author Kay Frydenborg

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Kay Frydenborg, author of CHOCOLATE: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World’s Favorite Treat, a title in this month’s featured book pairs. School Library Journal gave it a starred review, saying, “This fascinating book presents a deep, multifaceted glimpse at a delectable dessert: chocolate. Engaging—even witty in places—and enlightening.”

Mary Kay Carson: How did Chocolate come about?

Kay Frydenborg: Chocolate was my second book for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), following Wild Horse Scientists—a project that I’d loved researching and writing both for the subject matter (a long-time interest of mine that I’d tried to write about in different ways for years), and for the opportunity to join the ranks of Scientists in the Field (SITF) books, authors, and editors I so admired. When I started thinking about my next book, I was drawn to other subjects that might lend themselves to the series. So when I came across an article in the New York Times about scientists searching in the jungles of Peru for ancient cacao trees previously thought to have been extinct, I felt that little zing of recognition. I immediately pictured the scientists hiking along a tangled jungle path, and imagined the oppressive heat and the buzzing insects, the sweat and physical exertion along with the anticipation and sense of discovery that must have propelled them.

I learned that one of the principal researchers introduced in that NYT article was a USDA plant scientist headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, within an easy drive of my home. I found his phone number and made sure he was actually there and would be willing to talk with me about his work, and I began to see a new SITF book take shape in my mind’s eye. But when I pitched the idea to my editor at HMH, I got a response I wasn’t expecting: she and her managing editor didn’t want the SITF book about chocolate scientists, but they did want a “big” stand-alone book about chocolate, for a slightly older (YA) audience. It would be longer, more complex, and broader in scope than what I’d originally proposed. Unlike wild horses, chocolate was a subject I knew little about except that I liked to eat it, so it would require a lot of research. I barely knew what a cacao tree looked like, or where it grew, or whether it was large or small. I thought about it for a bit, and then took a deep breath and accepted the challenge. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and luckily, I do love research.

MKC: Care to share a fun research moment or two?

Kay: The first was when I met and interviewed Lyndel Meinhardt, the United States Department of Agriculture plant scientist with the unusual name. He was so knowledgeable and generous in sharing his knowledge of all things cacao, and he introduced me to my first in-person cacao tree, which was actually living in a big pot on the floor of his office. Photos almost don’t do justice to this tree and its fruit, which seems about as different from chocolate as a spare tire is from a rubber tree. After introducing me to “his” cacao tree and showing me slides and maps from a couple of chocolate expeditions to the Amazon jungle, Lyndel led me to a climate-controlled greenhouse on the sprawling USDA campus, where rows of carefully-tended young trees of varying heights were thriving more than 3,000 miles from their natural habitat near the equator. Lyndel told me about the many diseases to which cacao trees in the wild are susecptible, about the closely guarded storage vaults where precious plants are stored in a few places in the world, and about how advances in genomic testing have opened a whole new world of chocolate science.

Another favorite moment? The day I received a surprise package in the mail from Dan Pearson, a California-based chocolate entrepreneur who was a major character in the book. He’d sent me a stash of his own fine Peruvian dark chocolate, in several forms, and even included some raw cacao beans. I didn’t eat the beans (although Dan told me you can), but I sure did enjoy the chocolate bars and nibs! A little went a long way, so they lasted forever, and knowing about where they came from and how they were created made them even more delicious. I could almost close my eyes and see that little tree in a steamy Amazon forest when I tasted that amazing chocolate.

MKC: What approach did you take for Chocolate and why did you choose it?

Kay: I wanted to approach this very big subject from the dual perspective of history and science—the approach I’ve followed for all of my nonfiction books. I’m equally fascinated by both ways of looking at just about everything, and find that starting by tracing the history of a given thing or event naturally leads into exploring the science around it. In the case of chocolate, the history is ancient and complex, and I was soon enthralled by stories of the ancient Mesoamerican peoples who first figured out how to transform cacao pods into chocolate, and then about the dramatic impact that European conquerers had on those ancient, rich civilizations.

Following the trail of chocolate opened a whole, fascinating world to me. This is why I love writing narrative nonfiction! I guess I write for myself, first—to satisfy my own curiosity, and I hope others—both young people and not-so-young readers—will be just as curious as I am. I read many books and articles over the course of my research, but fairly early on I also identified and began interviewing original sources, like Lyndel Meinhardt and Dan Pearson, as well as many others. Personal interviews make the story come alive for me.

Kay Frydenborg is the author of several books, including They Dreamed of Horses, Animal Therapist, Wild Horse Scientists, Chocolate: Sweet Science and Dark Secrets of the World’s Favorite Treat, and A Dog in the Cave. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two dogs, who are always hungry but are definitely not allowed to eat chocolate. When not writing, she enjoys spending time with them and riding her horse as often as she can. Learn more about her and her books at www.kayfrydenborg.com.

MKC: How is your book different from other books about chocolate for older kids?

Kay: There actually aren’t a lot of other nonfiction books about chocolate for young adult readers (although H.P. Newquist’s is a good one), while there are quite a few books on the topic for younger kids and for adults. I think one thing that sets my book apart is its narrative approach. Once I started writing, the cacao tree itself assumed a prominent place in the narrative. It became a “character” in my mind—the central character in the long story of chocolate. It provided a specific image and focus that I thought made a vast, multifaceted subject more accessible—at least, it did for me! So I started by picturing one individual tree growing in a particular place, just as one might choose one particular person to be the central character of a novel. I spent a lot of time visualizing that tree and its surroundings and then describing the particulars of its fascinating features, and I often came back to that original image as I wrote. I imagined the forest animals breaking open and feasting on the cacao pods, and then the first humans to discover the tree and its remarkable fruit. Later in the book, when I introduced a larger cast of human characters past and present, I tried to ensure that the connection to that wonderful, fragile cacao tree was a consistent thread to pull the reader through the layers of history and intricacies of the science, the technology, and the business of chocolate. The little tree that opened the narrative reappeared in the form of the cacao tree in a remote Peruvian canyon that began a kind of odyssey for one of my central human characters, Dan Pearson, as well as Lyndel Meinhardt, the USDA scientist. I enjoyed tracing all of these connections through time and place.

MKC: Do you have a favorite chocolate treat?

Kay: I guess I most love a really dark fudgy treat like, um, fudge! The old-fashioned kind that is hard to find and tricky to make. Or a good, fudgy brownie or my grandmother’s recipe for fudge pie (which appears in my book!)

 

Win a FREE copy of CHOCOLATE: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World’s Favorite Treat!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host this week is Mary Kay Carson, unapologetic chocoholic and author of Mission to Pluto and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

 

We’re talking nonfiction with a librarian!

As an author of primarily nonfiction, I thought it would be interesting to interview a librarian about all-things nonfiction for middle grade readers.

Rachel Stewart, the children’s services librarian for the Maumee (Ohio) Branch of the Toledo Lucas County Library was kind enough to answer questions I had about the topic from her perspective. Rachel has been with the TLCPL for five years. Her background is in elementary education, taught in traditional as well as a Montessori school, where she also served as an administrator. As you would expect, she is an active reader, enjoying various genres and subjects

As a children’s librarian, what nonfiction titles/subjects do you find appeal to middle grade readers the most? Middle grade readers are drawn to books about making and doing. When filling our new nonfiction displays, I notice that books related to STEAM subjects go fast, especially those that involve LEGO building or crafts. The DK book series is a constantly popular one. It is so popular that we have a designated, ongoing display of those books for customers to browse. This tells me that kids have a natural curiosity about a wide variety of topics and enjoy the graphic layout and photographs within these books.

I know that in our library system, the biographies for children, from PB to YA are shelved with biographies for adult readers. Does this lessen the exposure to young readers? (As opposed to shelving them in with children’s books?) We keep a constant display of the “Who Was/is…?” series, which has been very useful to parents and children alike. We often do temporary displays of PB bios and are currently doing a long-term display of YA/adult bios. Most often, when a child asks about bios, it is about a specific person and we can point them in the right direction (if such a book exists). We frequently do juvenile nonfiction displays on a wide variety of topics and usually include bios. There are pros and cons to interfiling, however, a major positive is that interfiling encourages young readers to choose books that they may not be exposed to in the juvenile section. Interfiling also allows adults with a lower reading level to feel comfortable browsing for books on a topic of interest.

Do you find that MG readers are borrowing nonfiction titles simply out of curiosity or because of school assignments? I believe that MGs are borrowing for both reasons. The NF displays that we keep up are heavily trafficked and browsed. I will often recommend narrative NF to reluctant NF readers just to open that door.

Does the library do much programming in nonfiction for middle grade readers? Nonfiction programming is a priority within the Toledo Lucas County Public Library system. At Maumee we have a popular programming series for grades 1-8 called “No School? No Problem!” that is focused on STEAM activities and scheduled when the local schools are off. When presenting those programs, we always include a large selection of related books for attendees to browse.

Do you have any amusing experiences with middle grade readers relating to nonfiction topics you care to share? I enjoy loading a child up with books on a favorite topic. I witness visible excitement and anticipation as if taking that stack home will be like opening a gift. 

 I also happen to have an 11-year-old that is a voracious reader of both fiction and nonfiction. He is spoiled by new books almost daily and I love when he asks what I brought for him. He is a fan of the Nat Geo and Guinness Books about world records and amazing facts. I am amused when he feels the need to share (at rapid-fire pace) interesting trivia from those books while I am driving or getting ready for work in the morning.

What are some of your favorite middle grade nonfiction titles? I have a love of cookbooks and am thrilled whenever we get new juvenile titles. Cooking encompasses so many practical life skills and supports emotional well-being. I believe learning to cook and bake should be a core part of childhood.

Thank you Rachel for your time and input!