Posts Tagged Middle Grade Historical Fiction

Author Kate Hannigan discusses Boots, the third book in her League of Secret Heroes series

By on August 20, 2021   /   Articles, Author Interviews, Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, For Librarians, For Teachers, New Releases  

I’m so happy to present an interview with Author Kate Hannigan, who is known for her abilities to deep dive into history and write adventure packed stories for middle grade readers featuring girls with lots of agency. Today, we celebrate the recent release of Boots, the third book in the League of Secret Heroes which has been described as Hidden Figures meets Wonder Woman.

Congratulations, Kate, on your launching of Boots! You’ve been on quite a journey with your three main characters Josie, Akiko and Mae who have been fighting super villains, World War II enemies as well as racism and sexism. Welcome to the Mixed Up Files Blog. In this book, the girls find themselves in Chicago, Sweetwater, Texas as well as Paris–all significant places during World War II, during the time period that your series is set. Tell us a little bit about the research you did to conjure up each of these places.

I love diving into research—sometimes even more than the writing itself! So I had incredible fun pulling together this series. Spotlighting the real-life women from history drove the setting, so for CAPE(Book 1) it made sense to set it in Philadelphia since the ENIAC Six mathematicians were my focus. These women were programming the top-secret computer that was being built at University of Pennsylvania during the war. MASK(Book 2) is set in San Francisco because much of the story focuses on things happening on the West Coast during the war. And now with BOOTS(Book 3), I wanted to focus on the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) and other women pilots during this time in history, so it made sense to feature Sweetwater, Texas—where the WASPs did their training—and Chicago, where I live, and the remarkable women pilots here.

I’ve long been fascinated with the WASPs and their role in WWII history, so when I read about their homecoming celebrations in Sweetwater, where former WASPs take part, I jumped on a plane to see for myself. There was incredible warmth to the weekend, as history buffs, aviation lovers, members of the Ninety-Nines(an international organization of women pilots), and families and friends of the WASPs gathered to celebrate their accomplishments. I was lucky to meet WASP Jane Doyle, who was 96 years old at the time, and interview her for the book. My superhero girls fly with Jane.

Each girl in addition to superpowers, has real life powers such as the ability to do math (Josie), crack ciphers (Akiko) or lockpicking (Mae). Are these any of your superpowers?

My sister’s superpower is math, and I could imagine her jumping into an exciting role during WWII if she were there at the time! For me, I love puzzles and grew up solving ones in the newspaper during breakfast. But I have to admit that my current superpower is a bit less glamorous: parallel parking. After living in San Francisco and now Chicago, there’s no space too small for me to tackle!

I loved reading about Aunt Janet and Aunt Willa, and the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots). I must confess to not knowing very much about this history before. What do you hope readers take away about these fearless flyers?

First I hope young readers find these figures interesting and want to learn more. That’s the whole reason I write historical fiction: to show kids where we’ve been and how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go. And second, to show girls especially that they can succeed in male-dominated fields and that while it may seem that women haven’t been there historically, they have. Their stories just haven’t been told.

I love how you consistently don’t shy away from some difficult truths, especially racism and sexism. These are painful but you don’t talk down to kids. How do you handle discussing these difficult realities with your own family?

These are painful topics. And can make us feel small sometimes. But the only way to address difficult things is head-on. So I feel like finding something we can all relate to—wanting to sit down for pie at a restaurant—and looking at it from different perspectives can help us understand why things were the way they were and what we can do to fight unfairness when we see it.

The Infinity Trinity is such a wonderful concept–I appreciate how the girls operate as a superhero trio. How did you decide on three girls?

This was a deliberate decision. I don’t mean to shut out the boys, of course, but I do feel like males have been represented pretty well in literature, film, and everything else for . . . millennia! Haha! So I wanted to write a book where girls are the focus and girls have agency. Where they can feel like a part of something big, where they’re crucial to its success, where they have to use their own smarts and skills, and where they can kick evil in the throat. So as I began sketching out the story, I had to make some big choices: to see these kids battle evil and really wallop some baddies, I was heading into the fantasy genre; and to emphasize the role of women in this period of history, I was going to focus just on females. So I made the decision that the superhero trio, their comic book mentors, and the real-life figures from history they work with would all be female.

What are you working on next? Anything you can share?

I’m obsessed with the year 1920! A whole lot was happening then. So I’m working on a middle-grade mystery set at this time, with some fascinating historical figures walking around with my young detective. It’s been so much fun to research, and now I’m writing every single day to get a solid draft done. We’ll see what happens!

We can’t wait to hear an update. Thanks so much for being on the blog today, Kate!

Hillary Homzie is the author of the Ellie May chapter book series (Charlesbridge, 2018), Apple Pie Promises (Sky Pony/Swirl, 2018), Pumpkin Spice Secrets (Sky Pony/Swirl, 2017), Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster MIX 2016), The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009) as well as the Alien Clones From Outer Space (Simon & Schuster Aladdin 2002) chapter book series. She’s also a contributor to the Kate the Chemist middle grade series (Philomel Books/Penguin Random House). During the year, Hillary teaches at Sonoma State University and in the summer she teaches in the graduate program in childrens’ literature, writing and illustration at Hollins University. She also is an instructor for the Children’s Book Academy. She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page as well as on Twitter.

 

 

 

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Interview with Anne O’Brien Carelli on Brave Girls in History + Giveaway

By on December 21, 2020   /   Author Interviews  

I’m thrilled to share an interview with the fantastic middle-grade author Anne O’Brien Carelli. Anne’s debut novel, SKYLARK AND WALLCREEPER, came out the same year as my debut novel, THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, and I fell in love with the book’s characters. In the book, Anne brilliantly parallels the story of a girl helping the resistance during World War II and a girl trying to help her grandmother during Hurricane Sandy in New York. Anne has continued to write books about young girls in historical times, with two more released this year, ONE LIGHT and BENEATH THE HEART. I asked Anne about her new books and her writing choices.

Hey Anne! Welcome to From the Mixed Up Files.

Skylark and Wallcreeper by Anne O'Brien CarelliYou once told me that your brand has become “brave girls in danger (and spying!)” and that’s so true! What draws you to writing historical MG fiction and especially these types of stories with spying and brave girls?

Thank you, Samantha. I had not intended for that to be my brand, but it appears that I tend to write about courageous girls who are in the midst of challenging historical events like the French Resistance or the Revolutionary War. I have always loved history and have had a lifelong fascination with the WWII Resistance, plus my favorite museum is the International Spy Museum, so I guess it was inevitable that I write about those things!

ONE LIGHT and SKYLARK AND WALLCREEPER are set during WWII and your latest novel, BENEATH THE HEART, is set during the Revolutionary War. Why did you choose these wars to be the backdrop for these stories?

SKYLARK AND WALLCREEPER is about a girl who is helping to evacuate her grandmother during Hurricane Sandy in New York City and discovers that her granny was a spy in WWII. The story came from a conversation with a nurse who was responsible for relocating 400 elderly residents during the hurricane. I combined that event with the French Resistance in a story that goes back and forth between 2011 and 1945. ONE LIGHT is a companion Resistance novel with a young girl who helps Jewish refugee children who are hiding in the cellar of a monastery. All of these stories are based on the actual involvement of children in the Resistance. I don’t think kids get enough credit for how brave they can be!

BENEATH THE HEARTOne Light by Anne O'Brien Carelli came from the amazing discovery that my ancestors owned the house and barn that were used as the American headquarters on the Saratoga battlefield during the Revolutionary War. That fact is especially remarkable because I’m originally from Michigan and moved to the Saratoga area before I knew of my family history! When I walked that land, I wondered what it would be like to be a twelve-year-old girl living in that house, and a story was born.

These books must need a lot of research. What’s your biggest tip on researching?

Primary sources are the best, and fascinating to read. I always try to dig out journals, patents, newspapers, maps, and other publications of the time period. Plenty of them are online now, but museum curators, reference librarians, and college professors are always happy to help you do some digging. (But be careful not to exclaim, “Wow!” when you discover something surprising while conducting research in a quiet library.) My favorite “deep dive” was when a curator and I unearthed the black lace coat of the suffragist Susan B. Anthony in the Seneca Falls Historical Society attic. Very cool.

Historical fiction has its own challenges in that you’re still fictionalizing real historical events. How do you figure out what kind of fictional story you want to layer over the real history?

My stories are always based on historical facts, including references to clothing, transportation, language, food, and other details. I like to put children in the middle of historical events and provide them with problems to solve. Since I rarely outline my books in advance, my characters generally take over the story and off we go!

Beneath the Heart by Anne O'Brien CarelliSKYLARK AND WALLCREEPER, your debut novel, was published in 2018 through Little Bee Book’s Yellow Jacket imprint. For your next two novels, you chose to self-publish. Could you tell us about that decision and the differences between the two?

This was a big decision and the pandemic clinched it. I had worked with traditional publishers when I was writing nonfiction for adults but entered the world of children’s literature at a late age. I was thrilled when Little Bee published SKYLARK, but the publishing world operates at a slow pace and I’m not a spring chicken, so after a long discussion with my wonderful, supportive agent I decided to publish books myself. It has been challenging to handle the details and marketing, but I love the freedom of publishing according to my schedule. I could never have pursued this route if I hadn’t met so many incredible writers, teachers, librarians, and readers when I first started this journey.

I know you’re always working on a number of projects. What can we look forward to seeing from you next?

I just finished THE SKELETON’S GOLD, which is a story told by a fourteen-year-old boy in the Civil War. It’s based on a little-known robbery in 1864 and it was so much fun to write! It will be released in the spring of 2021. (There are brave girls in that one, too.) A new middle grade book that is about two friends who bond over experiences with the tragedy of September 11th and a refugee’s journey, will be published after that. A lot of the story is based on personal experience and my years of working with refugee children. And there are many other works in progress!

These sound wonderful. Thank you, Anne!

Check out Anne O’Brien Carelli’s books on her website, and click the links in this interview purchase copies. Plus, make sure you enter the giveaway below for your chance to win a paperback copy of ONE LIGHT and BENEATH THE HEART. Ends Dec. 31. U.S. and Canada only.

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ELEANOR, ALICE, & THE ROOSEVELT GHOSTS ~ An Interview With Author Dianne Salerni

By on December 3, 2020   /   Author Interviews  

One of my favorite things to do is talk about spooky middle grade books! So welcome to my interview with author Dianne Salerni and her latest book release ELEANOR, ALICE, & THE ROOSEVELT GHOSTS.

The Book📚

Eleanor, Alice, & the Roosevelt GhostsELEANOR, ALICE, & THE ROOSEVELT GHOSTS

by Dianne Salerni

It’s 1898 in New York City and ghosts exist among humans.

When an unusual spirit takes up residence at their aunt’s house, thirteen-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt and her cousin Alice are suspicious. The girls don’t get along, but they know something is not right. This ghost is more than a pesky nuisance. The authorities claim he’s safe to be around, even as his mischievous behavior grows stranger and more menacing. Could their aunt and her unborn child be in danger?

Meanwhile, Eleanor and Alice discover a vengeful ghost in the house where Alice was born and her mother died. Is someone else haunting the family? Introverted Eleanor and unruly Alice develop an unlikely friendship as they explore the family’s dark, complicated history.

A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD GOLD STANDARD SELECTION

 

The Interview🎙️

It’s wonderful to chat with you again, Dianne! Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files. How about we begin by you telling our readers a bit about your two main characters, Eleanor and Alice.

Eleanor and Alice Roosevelt were both touched by tragedy when very young. Eleanor was orphaned by the age of eight and thereafter lived with an oppressive grandmother. Alice’s mother died shortly after her birth, and Alice thereafter viewed herself as an extra appendage in a large family consisting of an acerbic step-mother, five half-siblings, and a distant father.

Both girls felt abandoned, unloved, and unworthy. However, this manifested differently in the two girls. While Eleanor was introverted, awkward, and tried to blend into the wallpaper, Alice acted out in so many outlandish ways that relations described her as a guttersnipe, a hellion, and a wild animal put into good clothes.

I will say that I loved how you portrayed the girls so differently. Yet, as the story moves forward, their similarities also come to a ghostly light.👻

What five words best describes Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghost?

Feisty females versus deceitful ghosts.

Ooh . . . perfect!

Like most of your books, Eleanor’s story is grounded in historical elements. How do you see the value in history and its importance to stories like Eleanor’s?

Every time we remember that historical people were no different from people today – in temperament, in complexity, in motivation – we learn more about ourselves and our future. In fact, the appeal of the musical Hamilton is in how it humanizes people who have otherwise been reduced to icons by the weight of U.S. history. So, when we look at an inspirational American figure like Eleanor Roosevelt and remember that she was once a neglected, insecure adolescent, I pray that it gives hope to the neglected and insecure adolescents of today.

You share this really cool ghost or entity lamp in the book. Please tell the readers about it.

The Edison Lamp is a made-up invention in my alternate history. It detects the “eruption” of a ghost in a house, which seems like the sort of practical device Thomas Edison would invent in this alternate reality. The timely detection of a new haunting is essential for survival, because some ghosts are deadly.  Consider the Edison Lamp the equivalent to a smoke alarm or CO2 detector.

This was one of my favorite elements of the book! It’s super cool.

Did you discover any other eerie gadgets from the past?

In approximately 1901, Nikola Tesla invented a very basic radio receiver that was open to a wide range of frequencies. (For real, not just in my alternate history.) Apparently, the noises he picked up on this receiver disturbed him. He wrote, “My first observations positively terrified me as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night.”

Tesla historians later dubbed this device a “spirit radio.” I borrowed this invention for Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts, although I had to move the invention to 1898 and couldn’t call it a “spirit radio,” since radios hadn’t been invented yet.

“What is that?” Alice wants to know.

“A spirit telegraph,” Miss Bly says jokingly.

“It’s a means of hearing what the house has to say,” Tesla corrects her.

I remember reading something years ago about a “spirit radio”. Like I mentioned – super cool. You inserted a fun and effective ‘ghost world’ into your real-world building. Would you share how you made it all fit together?

I started with the children’s primer, Types of Ghosts and How They Fade, which was the very first thing I wrote when I started brainstorming this book. It describes the types of ghosts: Friendly, Unaware, and Vengeful. Since my premise is that ghosts are part of ordinary life, I set about weaving ghosts into the fabric of this world. Ex: a nursery rhyme to teach the children the types of ghosts, technology to detect ghosts, ghosts inserted into well-known literature (I tweaked Great Expectations), government agencies to deal with hauntings, ghosts inserted into historical events (Was the U.S.S. Maine destroyed by a Vengeful?), and even a branch of law enforcement called SWAT teams – Supernatural Weapons and Tactics.

What was the hardest part about writing this book?

In question #6, I described what was necessary to weave ghosts into this world. This book contains interstitial material – text between the chapters – consisting of newspaper articles and ads, letters, and census tables. Earlier versions went a little overboard. I included extra world-building interstitial material like textbook excerpts, slightly altered contemporary literature, etc. But it was too much.

The hardest part was letting go of all the world-building content that didn’t enhance or advance the story – no matter how clever (sob!) it was.

Ooh, I hope you saved that WB content for another story!

For Our Teachers and Authors🍎🏫🎒

As a former schoolteacher, what do you see as the greatest challenge for students, today?

This year, it’s the same as it is for the rest of us – grief for the loss of our lives before the pandemic. Extroverts are feeling it the worst, I believe. But even introverts—like me and Eleanor—are feeling the loss of everything we hoped to do and can’t. Whatever we can do to encourage and maintain personal connections with even the shyest of us students is more essential than ever.

With the current educational challenges facing teachers and parents, how can they encourage middle schoolers to engage in more independent reading and writing?

Authors have been available to readers online since the advent of social media, and many readers (on their own or encouraged by teachers) have used this opportunity to connect. But others have not, simply through lack of time. Now that so much of the educational experience is, by necessity, online, why not make use of that opportunity? If authors are offering virtual visits and online workshops, schedule them! If there are writing opportunities – contests, NaNoWriMo, seminars – help students connect with them.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know🦋

From your personal experience, what middle grade book is a must read?

With a publication date of 2000, it’s getting dated, but during my last ten years of teaching, I read No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman aloud to both my reading classes at the beginning of every year. Written in 4 different POVs (including an adult – gasp! – isn’t that forbidden in MG books?!), it’s not only an opportunity for POV discussion but also a remarkably funny mystery and scathing review on classic literature. In the words of protagonist Wallace Wallace:“The dog always dies. Go to the library and pick out a book with an award sticker and a dog on the cover. Trust me, that dog is going down.”

*Note to self – No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman

Have to ask: do YOU believe in ghosts?

I didn’t. I was a big skeptic, until I took a ghost hunting class from my local community college, went on a field trip to a supposedly haunted house, and came back with an unexplained voice on my audio recording. Nobody else who was present recorded this voice. The other recordings registered silence while mine – and only mine – includes a ghostly but humorous message.

You can hear the whole story AND the ghost voice on my YouTube video: https://tinyurl.com/yxnhjgja

Whoa . . . Everyone, you can head over to watch right after our last question. I know I’m going to check it out.

Lastly, what can readers expect to see from you next?🔮

My next book, Jadie in Five Dimensions, will be published in the fall of 2021 from Holiday House. It’s a twisty, multi-dimensional sci-fi adventure based on the premise that our 3-dimensional universe exists inside a larger 4-dimensional universe, the way Russian dolls nest together.

Jadie Martin, an abandoned infant, was rescued from certain death by benevolent beings from the fourth dimension and placed into a loving adoptive family. Now age 13, Jadie serves as an Agent for the four-dimensional Overseers, performing missions calculated to guide her world toward a brighter future.

Except — when Jadie switches assignments with another Agent, she discovers her origin story is a lie. Her birth family has suffered multiple tragedies engineered from 4-space, including the loss of their baby girl. Now doubting her benefactors, Jadie anonymously observes her long-lost family. Why are they important? What are the true intentions of the Overseers? And what will huge, all-powerful four-dimensional beings do to a small rebellious human girl when they realize she’s interfering with their plans?

This sounds so exciting! Can’t wait to read. Thank you so much for joining us and for sharing Eleanor and Alice’s story with us. 

If you’d like to read about another #spookymg book, you can go HERE.

About The Author✒️

DIANNE K. SALERNI is the author of middle grade and YA novels, including Eleanor, Alice, & the Roosevelt Ghosts, The Eighth DayAuthor Dianne Salerni Series, The Caged Graves, and We Hear the Dead. Her seventh book, Jadie in Five Dimensions, will release in the fall of 2021. Dianne was a public school teacher for 25 years before leaving the profession to spend more time hanging around creepy cemeteries and climbing 2000 year-old pyramids in the name of book research. WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

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