Interview with Kirby Larson, Author of Hattie Big Sky

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Kirby Larson

Kirby Larson wasn’t expecting to write historical fiction when the story of Hattie Inez Brooks found her. Her books before Hattie Big Sky were written for younger readers, but as Larson says, “You never know where life is going to take you. Sometimes there’s a story that takes hold of your heart and there you go.” And readers have been happy to go with her. Recently Larson talked with Mother Daughter Book Club.com by phone from her home near Seattle, Washington. (From an interview in August 2007.)

Where did you grow up?

KL: I grew up almost entirely in Washington State. My family moved around a lot so I ended up going to five grade schools, two junior highs and two high schools, but it was all in Washington State.

How old were you when you started to write?

KL: Kids always ask me that. I’ve been writing for about 20 years, and I started when my children were small.

What attracted you to writing?

KL: I’ve always been a bookworm. As I mentioned, I moved around a lot, and one of the problems with being the new kid is it takes a while to make new friends. But I always had my books. There came a point when I wanted to try writing my own stories, but I didn’t know when I was younger that writing fiction could be an option for people (for a career). I wrote for newspapers and magazines, but not with the idea that I was going to write fiction.

How did you decide to try your hand at fiction?

KL: I remember the moment I decided I wanted to try writing something for kids. My two children were small, and we used to go to the library all time. We checked out a picture book by Arnold Lobel called Ming Lo Moves the Mountain. When we read it I had my son on one side of me and my daughter on the other, and we were sitting on our couch. When I turned the last page it was like a switch went off inside me. I said to myself, “I want to learn how to write a book that will touch other people the way this book has touched me.” That same day I called a really good friend of mine and asked her if we could trade babysitting. I’d go to the library while she had my kids twice a week for two hours and I wrote on a yellow pad with a pen or pencil. I did that for a couple of years.

Your earlier books are written for younger audiences. How did you decide to start writing for an older audience and write Hattie?

KL: I had no idea I was going to write the book. The book found me through my grandma, who was living in an adult care home near the end of her life. I was spending a lot of time with her, because I was one of her caretakers. We were sitting there one day when out of the blue she said to me, “The only time mom was ever afraid was in the winter when the wild horses stampeded.” I said, “Grandma what are you talking about?” But she didn’t even know she’d said that to me. I knew she was talking about her mom, my great-grandmother Hattie Inez Brooks.

So I started talking to my aunts, and my mom’s oldest sister said, “You know we did hear a story that Hattie homesteaded by herself.” I knew Hattie as this tiny little woman with white hair and thick glasses. I couldn’t imagine her as a homesteader. But I had a friend who was into genealogy research and she found the Montana Bureau of Land Management Web site that listed a claim number for Hattie. I sent that number to the National Archives, and within a couple of months I had all of Hattie’s homestead documents. I found out that she not only went to Montana, but she proved up on a claim there!

I was so fascinated about how a young woman could do this I started reading journals and diaries, and everything else I could find on that time period and on homesteading in eastern Montana. Before I knew it, there was a story there, and that started me on a three-year research journey. So I didn’t sit down to write a novel, in fact I would have been petrified if I would have told myself, “okay today you’re going to start working on a historical novel.”

Do you expect that you will write novels for older readers again?

KL: Of course. But I also have chapter books and picture books that I love and would love to find a home for. I still want to tell those stories. I don’t see myself writing in any one genre; I see myself writing stories in the form that best fit them. And sometimes that’s a novel and sometimes that’s a picture book.

It sounds like a fun career to be able to follow what your heart is telling you at the moment.

KL: I feel so fortunate that I’m able to do this. It’s lonely, too, because you’re sitting in your office most of the time not knowing whether your story will connect with anyone else. But I think if you find your passion and you go with it you are rewarded.

What is the most fun you have as an author?

KL: I think it’s twofold: fun for me is in feeling like I nailed something, like I really got the story right. With Hattie I feel like I really got the time period right, and I got her voice right. The other thing is, I get e-mails from people everyday who loved her story. Here I am sitting in my little office in Kenmore, Washington, and someone in Missouri or Kentucky or Vermont or Maine is reading my book and connecting with it. It’s mind-boggling.

Hattie was homesteading during Word War I. Did you feel like there was any correlation between the struggle that was going on in the broader world and the struggle that was going on with Hattie?

KL: Absolutely. When I first got the idea for Hattie it was just going to be a homestead novel. But the more I read about that time period, the more I became aware of the really strong anti-German sentiment and that people suffered harsh consequences not only for being German Americans, but also other folks who might question the treatment of German Americans or might question our being in the war at that time. It was also the struggle of answering the question, “How do you be a good citizen?” It was similar to the issue I was wrestling with in my own personal life in 2001 and 2002 when I was writing the book, which was when we first got into Iraq. I think writing about a different time period allowed me to explore some of the questions that were going on in my own life.

How much of what you knew of the real Hattie and her personality did you put into the character in the book?

KL: She died when I was 10, and I loved her to death but I didn’t know her as a person. If I had to pick one person who is most Hattie-like I think it would be my grandmother.

How did you feel when Hattie Big Sky was named a Newbery Honor Book?

KL: I burst into tears. I got the call very early in the morning. First I was speechless. I couldn’t even respond at first; then I was in tears. It’s such a significant honor. I read a lot so I know the books they were considering and to think that Hattie would have been selected was beyond imagining. I call this book a love letter to my grandmother who died before the book came out. I felt like there was so much of my connection with her caught up in this book, and to have that acknowledged by someone else was an emotional overload for me.

I understand you visited a mother daughter book club meeting with your daughter?

KL: Yes. It was really a fun evening. I am so impressed with the commitment that moms are making now to this concept. I think it’s an important way for moms to be together with girls, especially when they are pre-teen. You can talk about some tough issues that may be affecting your daughters, but since they are a character’s issues it’s a safe way to bring them up. I loved how the girls had their questions to ask and the moms had their questions to ask. They were all interacting as if they were equal. And I think it’s nice to have other adult women in your life when you’re growing up. I can see these book clubs working on a lot of different levels to help girls get through those tough pre-teen and teen years.

Interview with Author Zlata Filipovic

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Photo by Tobias Munthe

Zlata Filipovic’s diary of life in war-torn Sarajevo has been compared to the Diary of Anne Frank. Only 11 years old when she started writing, she is now a poised young woman of 26 who uses her voice to speak against the tragedy of war and its effect on children. Here she speaks to Mother Daughter Book Club.com about her war-time experiences and her new book Stolen Voices, a collection of young people’s war-time diary entries. (Interview from March 2007.)

How long had your family lived in Sarajevo before the war started?

ZF: My father’s family has been in Sarajevo for generations, all of them also being boys and lawyers on the Filipovic side. Both my mother and father were born there, and I was born in Sarajevo in December 1980, which means I spent eleven very happy years before the war started in April 1992.

Why did you start writing in a diary?

ZF: I started writing a diary because I got a very pretty notebook, and I saw some older girlfriends keep diaries and wanted to emulate them in that way. I had also read the Diary of Anne Frank as well as the fictional Diary of Adrian Mole (written by Sue Townsend) and became familiar with the diary-writing form which I liked. I was hoping my diary would be more like that of Adrian Mole, which was extremely funny, but it ended unfortunately being compared to that of Anne Frank.

When did you realize war had come to your city?

ZF: It is a very interesting question… Today, when I look at April 1992 and hearing gunshots for the very first time, I now date that to the beginning of the war. But back then, there was one month which felt quite ambiguous – we did not go to school or work, but we did not BELIEVE the war was really there, we still went out into the streets on peace marches and thought that it would all be 100% normal very soon.

Why didn’t your family leave?

ZF: This related to my answer above—we did not believe that the war would last very long, because we never think wars will happen to us. It was also impossible for all three of us to leave together (because men were not allowed to leave the city) and we did not want to separate. By the time we realized things were very serious, the city was completely shut down and under siege, so it was almost impossible to leave.

What was the hardest thing for you and your family to live without during the war?

ZF: Lack of security I think was the hardest, just not knowing whether any moment would be your last or would be the last moment of someone you really love and care for. It was also hard to think of what to eat, how to cook once the electricity was cut off, how to get water once the water was cut off… The winter was incredibly cold, and we could not see any way out of the war. It was also terrible to hope for cease-fires and be happy whenever we heard of peace agreements being signed, and then feeling that terrible disappointment when they were broken. Nothing worse than hope being brought up and then have it crash down.

What brought you the most pleasure?

ZF: Not very much, but I was happy we had a little kitten in the neighborhood, and also that we were sharing very strong moments with our neighbors who we casually said hello to in the street before the war. We were now sharing food, sharing their joys and fears with them, and it was incredible to see so much humanity and kindness in the midst of so much cruelty.

What was the most frightening part of the violence?

ZF: For me personally, it was not so much the fact that I would die, but that someone I really care for would—my parents, or grandparents. I was also ‘planning’ that should I have to be wounded and lose the use of my legs, as a little of people had, I would concentrate myself on my piano-playing and become a great pianist. What a strange thing for an 11 year old to have to think about!

How was your diary chosen for publication?

ZF: This happened completely accidentally. During the war, regular schools stopped working, but a small ‘summer school’ was set up in small areas of the city, and there I joined a literary section, as I always liked to write and read. One day, in summer 1992, my teacher asked if anyone was writing a diary, because UNICEF were looking for a diary of a young person to publish. I gave some parts of my diary, and they collected these all over the city, and ended up choosing one for publication, which was mine. It came out in a small number of copies in Summer 1993 (it contained only the first three months of the war and only extracts of the original which I kept with me). Because of the strong presence of foreign journalists in Sarajevo at the time, they all started writing about it and the story got out into the world, which is when foreign publishers became interested in publishing the diary in its entirety.

What did it feel like to leave Sarajevo?

ZF: It was a very difficult day—being happy to finally have a chance to leave the city which almost no one could get out of, having a chance to actually be flown out as a family which was next to impossible and only happened because of the intervention on the part of the French publishers and French government—and being so sad to leave everyone behind, all our dear family members, neighbors, knowing very well what we were leaving them in, and not being sure if we will see them all again.

How did you adjust to life away from conflict and how long was it before you felt safe again?

ZF: The first days in Paris I could not believe that we had safety, we had food and water and electricity—it was truly unbelievable and I kept checking the taps to make sure the water was still running! What followed though immediately after my parents and I came to Paris was a very extensive book tour all around Europe and North America, so I was traveling a lot and speaking to a lot of people about my experiences and about all those who stayed behind and were not as fortunate as me to leave Sarajevo and Bosnia.

Where do you live now?

ZF: I live in Dublin, Ireland—since October 1995.

What do you do there?

ZF: I have just finished working on another book of young people’s experiences of conflict, called Stolen Voices. I have a Masters in International Peace Studies and am also a part-time research assistant for Governance Resource Centre at University of Birmingham, UK.

Do you still keep in touch with friends from Sarajevo?

ZF: Yes I do, this is very important to me. Thanks to email, Skype and other wonders of technology, this is really easy these days. Not everyone from Sarajevo is any longer living there, because a lot of people have left during the war and like me, ended up staying where they ended up.

Do you still have relatives there and do you visit the city?

ZF: Yes, I have been visiting the city regularly ever since the war stopped – since summer 1996, sometimes spending two-three months at a time. Keeping a relationship with the city is very important to me and there are many dear people who are living there that I look forward to seeing every time I go back.

If you could say something to the girl, your younger self, who is pictured on the cover of Zlata’s Diary, what would it be?

ZF: I’d say to her: “Keep on believing and hoping, things can and will get better!!!”

Tell me about your new book, Stolen Voices.

ZF: It is a collection of young people’s war diaries, starting during the WW1 and leading up through the 20th century all the way to the present Iraqi conflict. Having seen the impact that one story can have, it was hugely important and interesting for me to work on a project like this one, alongside my co-editor and friend Melanie Challenger. Everyone in the book is below the age of 21, they are young people who at times of conflict at different points in history decided to express themselves and record the changing and violent world around them. It was incredible to see the similarities between them, as well as hear their individual voices and their incredible stories – and in the process of researching and editing this, I have slightly ‘fallen in love’ with them all.

How did you get the idea to create this compilation from young diarists?

ZF: The original idea arose from my co-editor Melanie Challenger, since she was working with young people and using Anne Frank’s diary, and she too was thinking of this power of individual story. Mel and I met for the first time in Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam back in 2003, and started working on Stolen Voices, developing the idea further and making it grow into the book that it exists as now!

How do you feel reading the diaries of young people who didn’t survive their wars?

ZF: It makes me incredibly sad, of course. There is always so much life, so much youth, talent and hope in them, and it makes me very sad and angry to know that these young people did not have the lives in which they could have lived out their full potential.

What are your plans for the future?

ZF: I am currently involved in planning several celebrations—notably the International Day of Peace in New York and London 2007, and am working with Amnesty International USA to develop human rights education material around Stolen Voices. I am also looking for my next big project or a job, so fingers crossed!!

Interview with Author Gennifer Choldenko

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Gennifer Choldenko

My daughters and I fell in love with a Gennifer Choldenko picture book before we ever started to read her novels for young readers. Moonstruck, the True Story of the Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon, is a lovely story of what someone can accomplish when she puts her mind to it. Then we were delighted to read Al Capone Does My Shirts in our mother daughter book club when the girls were in sixth grade; it was one of the few books that everyone in our group liked. Choldenko delivers for young readers again with her recently released novel, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period.

Recently I spoke with Gennifer by phone about how she became a writer, how she creates her books and what to expect from her pen in the near future. (From a September 2007 interview. Since then, Choldenko has released Al Capone Shines My Shoes.)

Where did you grow up?

GC: I grew up in Southern California. Now I live in the Bay Area, near San Francisco in Marin County.

How did you decide to become a writer?

GC: I think it got decided for me. I always loved writing and I took every writing class I could get in. When I graduated I got a job writing advertising. I did it for quite some time, but after a while I felt I just couldn’t write advertising anymore. I decided to go to art school, because one of the things I really liked about advertising was putting together the visuals with the words.

At the time I didn’t have the guts to try to be a writer, because I felt that was going to be fraught with rejection. I thought, “There’s no way I can be a writer and write books.” I thought it would be easier if I was an illustrator. So I went to Rhode Island School of Design and got a degree in Illustration and as soon as I graduated all I did was write. I kept saying, “I’m going to do my portfolio tomorrow, but right now I’m going to finish this one novel first.” Something just opened up inside me and I thought, “I just gotta do this. This is who I am, and I can’t pretend I’m someone else.”

Does your design experience help with your writing projects?

GC: It helps with the picture books a lot, because I can visualize possibilities. Sometimes I come up with an idea that the editors forward to the illustrator. It was my idea of having a tree falling from the sky on the cover for If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period.

What do you like about being a writer?

GC: I love to write. It’s so much fun. I love playing around with the words and trying to get the voices and the characters right. I find it very fulfilling.

What made you decide to write books for children?

GC: Again I feel like that was decided for me. When I took writing classes in college I didn’t think about being a children’s writer, but my characters were all younger than 18. I didn’t think that I was writing for kids, but that’s the way my voice comes out. When I went back to art school and I saw people who were both artists and writers I really gravitated towards them, and that’s when I realized maybe children’s books are a good place for me.

How many children do you have?

GC: I have a 13-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter.

There’s a lot going on with Moose and his family in Al Capone Does My Shirts. How did you decide to write a historical fiction novel about Alcatraz that was about kids and included autism?

GC: I started out thinking I was going to write a book set on Alcatraz and I didn’t think there would be a character with autism. To learn about the history of Alcatraz I signed up to be a tour guide on the island, and once a week I worked there. One of the things I learned was how the convicts would be able to hear revelers in San Francisco during holidays, because sound travels differently on water. They would be in their cells and they would be hearing all these party noises but they couldn’t get out and participate. I also think Alcatraz is also one of the most beautiful pieces of real estate in the world. It reminded me of my sister who has autism. She was also quite beautiful, but she was locked in her own world. She could hear things going on around her, but it was like she couldn’t get out, like she was her own island. I pay attention to my intuition when I write, so I decided to create the character of Natalie.

Also, my brother, who loved baseball, was better with dealing with my sister with autism than anyone else in my family. It all fell into place, and I thought I would use a little bit of him in Moose.

Did you do much research on how people with autism were treated in the 1930s?

CG: I tried to, but autism wasn’t identified until 1943. It didn’t exist as a separate disease, so it was hard to find information. Sometimes people with autism were diagnosed as schizophrenic even though that’s a very different disease. But they really did not know what to do in that time. And they treated diseases differently. For instance, locking someone away, which from our viewpoint in 2007 seems horrid, was considered kind then. The thinking was, “They’re with their own kind, it’s better this way.”

That’s what’s really important about historical fiction. Times change and our perspectives on many things also change. So if you’re reading about characters who are true to their time period, their points of view on things can make you really uncomfortable.

Tell me about If a Tree Falls During Lunch Period.

GC: I had a lot of fun working on this book. My voice is naturally contemporary. It’s more of a challenge to get it to work in a historical setting.
There are a lot of issues in this book. You’re writing about classism and racism along with typical middle school issues of being popular and going through puberty.

How did you decide to write about these things?

GC: I think a lot of things came into play in this book. Classism bugs me, and yet I see it all around. Also, when I was kid I was bused from a predominantly white school to a predominantly African American junior high. All of a sudden I felt like I was the color of my skin wherever I went, and I felt like somehow I had to be representative of that. Or else people judged me based on skin color before they knew me. I had never experienced anything like that. I had never thought about the color of my skin. So it made a huge impression and I think that sort of seeped into this book also.

I struggled with getting the voices of Kirsten and Walk right. It was scary to create a character of a different race, because I felt like I was going to open myself up to criticism. But I also felt like not doing it was wrong. So I had to do the right thing for the book even if I didn’t feel like other people would necessarily agree with me on that.

I understand you’re in a mother-daughter book club with your daughter?

GC: Yes. I’ve really enjoyed it and I hope we continue on for many years. I think it will be fun as the kids grow and change and become more sophisticated and probably interact with books in a different way. My daughter is a voracious reader, but she doesn’t speak up much in the book group. She always looks forward to our meetings, and if for some reason I have to miss one she’s really unhappy about it. That’s the best indication that it means something to her.

What are you working on now?

GC: I have five books under contract. Three of them are picture books, and two are novels. One is a sequel to Al Capone Does My Shirts. There’s a lot of information that I wanted to use in the first one that I couldn’t. If all goes well with the sequel, I hope to write a third one and create a trilogy.

Anything else you’d like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club.com?

GC: What you’re doing is a great thing. I think you will reap benefits from it for many years beyond the years you spend in it. Because kids can talk about things within the safety of the pages of a book, I think it’s an important forum that really helps the relationship you have with your kids.

Interview with Frank Cottrell Boyce, Author of Millions, Framed and Cosmic

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Before writing Millions and Framed for young audiences, Frank Cottrell Boyce was already a well-known screenwriter, with scripts for Welcome to Sarajevo and 24 Hour Party People, among others, to his credit. But many people are glad he turned his pen to writing children’s books that are truly delightful for all ages. Boyce uses humor to help the life lessons sprinkled throughout the pages of his work go down easy, and his characters have a way of lingering in your memory long after the book is finished.

Boyce recently took time to answer questions in an e-mail interview for MotherDaughterBookClub.com. Here he talks candidly about writing, his characters, and new works to look forward to. (From an interview in April 2007)

How did you become a writer?

FB: How or why? I can remember the day that the decision was made. I was in year six (so I’d be 11) and we’d been given a piece of class work to do about Vikings. It was a lovely fresh February day and for some reason I decided that I’d make a bit of an effort with this piece of work. I put some jokes in and some nice adjectives and I illuminated the first letter making it look like the figurehead of a longboat. My teacher was a nice old nun called Sister Paul. She collected the work and the moment she picked it up I could tell she knew something was going on. After break she read it out to the whole class. I wish I could remember the jokes now but they must have been good because everyone laughed all the way through and that was a wonderful feeling. I imagine it’s the feeling you get when you win a race or something. If she’d asked me to read the piece out myself I probably would have wanted to become a stand-up comedian but there was something delicious about being able to sit back and watch her get the laughs. She was bright red by the end and her eyes were all twinkly. It was as though she’d briefly become one of the children, she was enjoying herself so much. I felt like a magician. And all I’d done was played about with the word order and thrown in a couple of unexpected metaphors. I’ve spent the rest of my life trying to regain the unexpected magic of that morning.

The main characters in both Millions and Framed are young boys. Why is that?

FB: Oohhh. I’m not sure really. In Millions it just worked out that way – it felt like a story about brothers. Then when I started getting letters and messages from people a huge number said the same thing – i.e. “my little boy would never read books but he read this one.” There is a problem in England about getting boys to read so I suppose in Framed I consciously decided to write something that boys would like but that wasn’t necessarily car chases and guns.

I believe you have seven children; how many are boys?

FB: Four.

Are you planning anything that will feature girls as main characters?

FB: Well I think Minnie is one of the best characters in Framed—she’s certainly taking up a lot of room in the screenplay.  And there’s a very vibrant girl called Florida Digby in my new book—Cosmic.

Do you talk to your children about ideas for your books?

FB: Yes. But they’re very harsh. I read my new book to them at Christmas and they hated it so much I had to start again. My ten-year-old son loves Millions and can more or less recite the first chapter.

Do you base your characters on people in your life?

FB: Not consciously but afterwards I recognize certain things about them. For instance Dylan is lonely for male company and my ten year old is just the same. He has three brothers but two of them are much older and one of them is a lot younger. So he has no one to play football with except me. So I guess there’s a lot of Dylan in him. Also because he has older brothers and sisters, he has a big vocabulary that he doesn’t necessarily understand. So I think a lot of Anthony’s talk about mortgages and tax relief etc. comes from that.

You wrote both the book and screenplay for Millions. Are you happy with the way the movie turned out?

FB: Well the movie took a lot more time that the book and we shot it over a glorious summer near my home in Liverpool. I’m in the film! I put so much of myself into the film that I can’t judge it at all. When I watch it now it’s like watching a home movie of a particularly happy time.

What would you do if you suddenly got millions of pounds?

FB: I would like to think I would be like Damian but I think there’s a bit of an Anthony in all of us. Seriously WaterAid is a great charity and some of the profits from both the book and the film go there.

The character Damian in Millions is a devout Catholic. Does religion play an important role in your life?

FB: Well I’m a Catholic too. I guess there’s a lot of me in both Damian and Anthony—I think if you add them up (or subtract one from the other?) you get me.

In Framed, Dylan unwittingly stumbles onto some of the greatest art in the world. Are you a big fan of art?

FB: I think so. My Mum and Dad used to take me to the local art gallery a lot (it was free!) and of course since becoming a filmmaker I’ve really learnt to appreciate people who can tell a story with pictures. Except in a film you get 25 pictures per second to do it with and if you’re a great artist you can do it with one picture.

I understand that Framed is being made into a movie. Did you write the screenplay and when can we expect to see it?

FB: I’m writing the screenplay and hoping it will be shot next Spring for broadcast the following Christmas. (Note: The film debuted in Great Britain in December 2009, but no word yet on a U.S. show time.)

Do you prefer to write books or screenplays?

FB: Screenplays are a lot easier to write but the politics – the meetings, the money etc. – of filmmaking is horrendous. It’s much easier to publish a book than to write a film – partly because even a small film costs millions.

Who would you recommend read your books?

FB: Anyone and everyone! I think because the books are narrated by children, adults read them differently. I think adults find them funnier and children find them more moving.

What are some of your favorite books to read?

FB: Blimey. so many. I love E. Nesbit’s books—Phoenix and the Carpet, Five Children and It, Railway Children and The Treasure Seekers. She’s my hero really. But I’m reading War and Peace just now and it’s astonishing how good it is. I had no idea.

What’s the best part of being an author?

FB: Being able to work in bed. And also reading to children in schools.

What’s your next project?

FB: I’m working on the films of Framed and of Terry Pratchett’s Truckers. And I’m finishing my next book (Cosmic note: released in July 2008)

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers in mother daughter book clubs?

FB: Keep it up. I think sharing books with someone can be really special. I’ve got a son who is living in rural Peru at the moment on a project for poor people. And I’ve decided to read all the books that he is reading – he took great big fat books with him because he has no phone, no TV, no radio and is living with a family. So once a week we email each other about where we’re up to. It’s hard to keep up with him but I’m loving trying.  That’s why I’m reading War and Peace. I don’t think we’ll ever forget doing that together.

Interview with Kelly Beatty and Dale Salvaggio Bradshaw, Authors of Firestarters

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Dale Salvaggio Bradshaw (left) and Kelly Beatty (right)

Kelly Beatty and Dale Salvaggio Bradshaw are the authors of Firestarters: 100 Job Profiles to Inspire Young Women. The book is a resource that can help girls see the possibilities of different careers and get an idea of the skills needed to work through a day on the job. It also helps them see the kind of educational background many professional women have. In a recent e-mail interview, the authors talked with MotherDaughterBookClub.com about what they hope to accomplish with the book, and the value it offers to young women as they think about their futures. (From an interview in November 2007)

How did you choose women to profile?

KB/DSB: When we first started, we wanted to show young women unique careers that maybe they didn’t know existed. So we sought out people with unique jobs. But we also wanted to show the power of networking, so we started with our friends and the contacts just snowballed.

Were you looking to represent a mix of careers with the women you included?

KB/DSB: Yes. We wanted to show all different kinds of careers that we didn’t know existed when we were younger. The idea was that if young women knew early about a career that interested them, they could find out more and be prepared (i.e. take the right classes in high school and college and know where to intern).

Did you know all the women profiled in the book?

KB/DSB: No. We knew several of the women, and they would give us recommendations, so one interview led to another.

Did you contact some of them specifically so a certain job would be represented in the list?

KB/DSB: Yes, we did seek out specific professions. For example, we really wanted to have a judge, so we contacted Debra Sasser, and Molly Rogers was sought out because we wanted to have a costume designer.

The format you created is great! The job description, day on the job, likes and challenges give a good snapshot of what it’s like to work in a position like the one described. How did you decide to present the jobs that way?

KB/DSB: With the fast-paced world in which we live, we knew that our format would need to be easy to read for teenagers to stay interested. There was so much information compiled from the women, and we wanted the format to be visually interesting and concise.

Why did you also decide to include the hobbies and interests for each woman?

KB/DSB: We thought it would establish a connection between the reader and the profiled women. It made the women in the book human, and the reader could see that a person is not defined by her job.

I noticed that some of the women profiled are working in jobs that are totally different from jobs they originally started their careers with. What do you think girls can learn by reading about that?

KB/DSB: It’s good to know that nothing is set in stone. Once a person is in a career, she may find out that she’s not suited for it, or it sparks an interest in something else, or her life circumstances change. Don’t be afraid of change. It’s never too late to explore a path that leads in a completely different direction from where you started.

Is there anything that surprised you as you were compiling information for the book?

KB/DSB: We were completely surprised by how generous people were with their time. A lot of these women didn’t even know us, and yet they were willing to speak with us because they thought the book was important for young women. A lesson that young women can take away from this is that it’s o.k. to ask people questions, they want to help you figure it out.  They’ve been right where you’ve been, and they understand how daunting it can seem to decide what it is you want to do for a living.

What challenges did you come across as you conducted research for Firestarters?

KB/DSB: Most careers have their own language, and it was sometimes challenging to write about the careers in layman’s terms. It required a lot of time researching the jobs so we’d have a better understanding and could convey that in a way that our readers could grasp. For example, when we interviewed Holly K. Dressman, the assistant research professor who studies breast cancer, we had to educate ourselves further about DNA microarrays and gene expressions so that we could write about it correctly.

Why did you decide to feature women by first name rather than by last name or career?

KB/DSB: It made the women more real to the readers, and we thought this format would encourage them to read the whole book. They couldn’t just flip to the marketing section or the science section.

Was it difficult to work as a team? How did you divide your responsibilities?

KB/DSB: We thought it was a great way to expand on our relationship and we didn’t find it difficult at all. Our individual strengths helped propel the book. For example, Dale is the organized taskmaster and Kelly is the wordsmith. We literally split the work in half. Each of us did 50 or more interviews. After we wrote each profile, we would e-mail it to the other person and she would edit it. We could not have done this without e-mail because we live four hours away from each other. The other information in the book, the introduction, “words of wisdom” and the conclusion we also wrote together. One of us would get the ideas down on paper and through numerous e-mails and some weekends together, we were able to work together to finish those sections.

Are you planning more projects together?

KB/DSB: Yes. We have lots and lots of ideas. We have some other non-fiction book ideas, and we both also enjoy writing children’s stories and songs. So maybe we’ll explore those opportunities as well.

What are you each working on now?

KB/DSB: Dale is doing marketing for a medical services company part-time, marketing the book and of course, taking care of her two children. Kelly is mainly working for her new baby, but she also enjoys freelance writing interior design articles for a community magazine and marketing our book.

Do either of you have daughters?

KB/DSB: Dale has a daughter, Sophia. Sophia loves to read and Dale looks forward to starting a mother-daughter book club with her and her friends when she gets a little older.  When writing Firestarters, Dale was encouraged to know that her daughter might one day use the book as a resource and guide and be able to use some of the advice from these women.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers of Mother Daughter Book Club.com?

KB/DSB: There are so many opportunities for young women. We hope the book will allow the readers to look at their mothers and their friends’ mothers in a whole new way. Firestarters could start a dialog between mothers and daughters. Some discussion ideas after reading the book are: finding out what dreams mom had at her daughter’s age; discussing what careers the young women are interested in and if there are any networking connections in the book club to help them find out more; figuring out how to pay for education and talking about how important it is; what direction the daughter should take to learn about and start to prepare herself for a career that interests her. We want young women to know how lucky they are to live in a country where their dreams can actually come true, and we hope that our book can be a springboard that helps them explore their endless opportunities.

Book Review: Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop

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When her daughter Liz runs away from home on the eve of her 15th birthday, Laura decides to pass the excruciating hours waiting and hoping for her to come back by writing Liz a letter about her own troubled teen years.

Through her words, Laura reveals herself to her daughter completely: the difficult relationship she had with her own parents, how she resented her mother most of all, her relationship with a boy named Tim, and the consequences to her life because of that relationship. She talks honestly about her own sexual choices and why she rebelled against authority. And Laura is candid about her mistakes with Liz, and she makes a plea for understanding, saying parents don’t always know what they are doing when raising their children. They often get by doing the best they know how to do.

Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop is a great book for mother-daughter book clubs with girls in high school to read. Daughters often tend to think their mothers can’t possibly understand what they’re going through, but this book encourages girls to see their moms in a new light. Pre-book club discussion may be even more valuable, as moms and daughters may talk candidly about the mom’s formative years and how it affects her parenting now. It could also prompt conversation about the daughter’s world, and pressure she may feel from her friends or boyfriend.

When I started to read Letter to My Daughter, I was skeptical that a man could write well about a mother-daughter relationship. But that concern quickly went away as Laura’s strong voice brought me into her story. It’s a story that doesn’t include details about the years between her teen life and this letter, but that focus on a specific time period helps define the era she lived in as well as the circumstances she faced. I found it totally engrossing, and I highly recommend it as a mother-daughter book club pick.

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Interview with Loretta Ellsworth, Author of In a Heartbeat

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Loretta Ellsworth

Years ago, author Loretta Ellsworth gave up her job as a middle school Spanish teacher to write books for young adults. Her newest to be released is called In a Heartbeat, a story about a young organ donor, the girl who receives her heart, and how one small everyday action can have ripple effects. I reviewed In a Heartbeat yesterday, and announced that I’m giving away a copy of this book to one reader who comments on my post. Now here’s an interview with Loretta that will help you learn more about the author and her books.

How did you become a writer?

LE: I always loved to write but never considered it seriously until I worked part-time at a local library—being surrounded by books can do that to you. I started out slowly, writing articles for magazines and taking classes in fiction writing. My first article was published when I was 30. It took more than 10 years after that to sell my first book.

Tell us a little about how you spend your time writing.

LE: I try to write every day, but I’m very flexible about when I write. With my first two books I had four teenage children and a teaching job, so I had to write whenever and wherever I could; at soccer practice, doctor offices, etc. I usually start with an idea or character and go from there—I never know where the story is going; that’s part of the fun of writing, to discover the story as I go. It also means quite a bit of revision, though.

Has your life been affected by an organ transplant, either through a donor or recipient?

LE: I started this book shortly after my mother died of congestive heart failure and my nephew was killed in a motorcycle accident. We were surprised to find out that he had signed up to be an organ donor on his license— he’d never told his parents about his decision to do that. Although they couldn’t save his heart for transplantation, many of his other organs were donated. These two events happened within a few weeks of each other, and for a while I couldn’t write. When I did start writing, I felt compelled to write about an organ transplant and I wanted to include the donor’s voice. I think it started out as therapy for me; a way to write through my grief.

What kind of research did you conduct to write In a Heartbeat?

LE: I read books and hospital websites, and did a lot of research on organ transplants, talking with doctors, nurses, transplant coordinators, and recipients. I also conducted research on skating, since none of my children were skaters. I spoke with coaches, moms, and competitive skaters, and spent time at the rink.

Did you consult with organ recipients? Did you talk to families of donors? What about doctors or other experts?

LE: I spoke with two different recipients, who were both kind enough to share their experiences and feelings. I also spoke with doctors, nurses, and transplant coordinators.

What do you feel is the most important message of In a Heartbeat?

LE: I don’t write with a message in mind—message-driven books are often heavy-handed, and teens don’t want more lecturing. In this book I just wanted to explore character and relationships while creating a compelling story.

This book is as much about the relationships between mothers and daughters as it is about organ donation. What were you trying to convey through Eagan’s mom and Amelia’s mom, who both seem to have very different approaches to mothering?

LE: Someone I know lost her mother when she was young, during her turbulent teenage years, and they didn’t always get along. After going through those years with my own mother, and now with my daughter, I realize that if her mother had died when she was older, after they’d gotten through those difficult years, it would have been so different for her— this was how I approached Eagan’s mom. Having a child with disabilities and medical problems, I’ve often felt that I had to be strong enough for both of us, to keep my child going when he’s down. I think this was how I approached Amelia’s mom. Both mothers have their strengths and frailties– it just comes out differently.

What other books have you written?

LE: My first book was The Shrouding Woman, a story set in the 1870’s in Caledonia, Minnesota. It’s about a girl whose aunt is a shrouding woman—someone who prepared bodies for burial. It’s a time-honored tradition that dates back thousands of years. My second book was In Search of Mockingbird, a story of a girl who travels by bus to Monroeville, Alabama, with the hope of meeting of her favorite author.

Are you working on anything now?

LE: I’m working on two stories right now— one is about a boy with a perfect memory, and the other story, set in the 1960’s, is about a girl looking to make her mark on the world.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to members of mother-daughter book clubs?

LE: What a great way to connect and communicate! I wish I had belonged to one when my daughter was young—now that she’s in her twenties we share books back and forth and she has become one of my first readers. And I also have two daughters-in-law who are both avid readers, so we all read the same books and discuss them—we’re currently reading The Hunger Games series (by Suzanne Collins).

(Note: Book giveaway is closed. See the previous post for winner info.) Don’t forget to comment about Loretta or her book on yesterday’s blog post for a chance to win a copy of In a Heartbeat. The contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada, and I’ll choose a winner from entries posted before midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on Friday, February 12.

You may also be interested in checking out other blogs where Loretta has appeared this month as part of the blog tour for the release of her book. Here’s where you can find her:

Bildungsroman: http://slayground.livejournal.com

Elizabeth Dulemba: http://dulemba.blogspot.com

April Hamrick: http://aprilnichole.com

Library Lounge Lizard: http://www.libraryloungelizard.com

Butterfly Book Reviews: http://butterflybookreviews.blogspot.com

Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf: http://laurenscrammedbookshelf.blogspot.com

Books by Their Cover: http://booksbytheircover.blogspot.com

Shelf Elf: http://shelfelf.wordpress.com

Read This Book (coming February 13): http://readthisbook.wordpress.com/

Book Review: In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

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In a Hearbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

Eagan is a figure skater. She’s athletic and talented and headstrong. Amelia’s world is limited by her failing heart. No longer even able to walk up and down the stairs of her home, she is homeschooled and spends a lot of time in her room drawing horses. In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth opens with Eagan’s story. We know immediately she dies after hitting her head on a board while making a jump in competition. Amelia is the girl who receives her heart.

The storyline goes back and forth between Eagan, who is caught between life and death, and Amelia who is learning to live and experience new sensations every day because of the strong heart beating in her chest. We learn about Eagan’s life through her memories of the times before her death. Amelia starts to suspect that some of her post-operation dreams and her new interests may be those of the donor.

In addition to the stories of the two girls, In a Hearbeat is also about Eagan’s and Amelia’s relationships with their mothers. Eagan feels her mother is too controlling and too invested in how she performs on the ice. She wants time to skate, but she also wants to pursue interests off the rink. Amelia is totally dependent on her mother, who has gone to great lengths to care for her while she waited for a new heart. Now she wonders how she can start to assert her own independence.

Even if you have not known someone who has donated or received an organ, you will be moved by this story of life for one that is not possible without loss for the other. The book never falls into a preachy tone advocating for organ donation, but instead takes a look at what it means from the human and emotional point of view. And it does a good job of showing the different perspectives that teens and parents may have about life and death.

While the focus is mostly on the girls, since it’s told from their perspective, Ellsworth does a great job of showing the ripples of impact on both families and friends. There are many things for mother-daughter book clubs with girls 13 and up to talk about after reading In a Heartbeat. It should certainly open a dialogue between moms and daughters about organ donation and all it entails for both sides—feelings of hope, grief, guilt, and the possibility of a connection between donor and recipient.  I highly recommend it.

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