Literacy Now

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in January 2012.

Australia Day is observed each January 26th; in honor of this, we posed five questions to Sydney native Melina Marchetta. Melina is the acclaimed and award-winning author of JELLICOE ROAD, which won the Michael L. Printz Award; SAVING FRANCESCA, and its companion novel, THE PIPER'S SON; and LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI. She lives in Australia, where FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK, her first fantasy novel, won an Aurealis Award. You can visit her online at http://www.melinamarchetta.com.au/.

FROI OF THE EXILES is the anticipated second installment in The Lumatere Chronicles (your much-celebrated, epic fantasy series that began with 2010’s FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK). It’s difficult to ask many questions about FROI without revealing FINNIKIN spoilers, so how about this—what are the Top 5 things you want readers to know about FROI?

It’s about redemption and forgiveness.
It’s a love song to relationships between fathers and sons and brothers and lovers and husbands and wives and enemies and neighbours and mothers and daughters.
It’s dark in places, but still full of hope.
It features the most complex characters I’ve ever written.
It was a joy to write.

Before FINNIKIN, all of your YA novels were firmly rooted in contemporary realism. So many fans of FINNIKIN have said, “I don’t like fantasy novels, but I love this book!” Yet FINNIKIN is by no means “fantasy lite.” Why do you think so many non-fantasy readers have connected with the story of Finnikin and Evanjalin?

It’s because I kind of cheat and stick to the formula I always use. Big family dynamics. Broken communities. A past that needs to be revealed before a future can be possible. I’ve said it before, the Finnikin and Froi novels are really the Finch-Mackee and the Spinelli and the Alibrandi families on a medieval road trip. So I think my audience is recognising my formula and they’re comforted by it.

Also, I knew I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel with both of the fantasy novels. I’m not good at that. I’m not good at inventing a language or trying to imitate Tolkein and the other great fantasy writers. I tend to rely on what I know. Students hear that all the time—“Write what you know”—and I know what it’s like to be brought up by migrants. Regardless of how successful we are today, it was upheaval. My father and his entire family came out to Australia in the 1950s with very little but each other. My maternal grandfather was in Australia during WW2 and was placed in an internment camp because he was born in Italy and considered “the enemy” for the first half of the war. So when I write about men losing their language and their identity in FINNIKIN, I’m talking about my family.

Writing fantasy is a tricky genre because of the conventions attached to it. Some readers are sticklers for rules. The map has to be perfect, the novel should end after the major battle, and watch out what you say in your writer’s note on the dusk jacket, or what poem you use before the prologue. Sometimes all the criticism of the novel happens before the first line is read. It gets even trickier when you’re a YA writer because sexual references make some readers uncomfortable. But the role of the writer is to block that out and write the story they want to write, and not worry so much about everything they may be doing wrong in the eyes of genre purists.

I think some readers see fragments of our world scattered throughout the novel and that’s what they’re relating to. And what I try to do most, in my work, is give the reader an accessible character. The women are never stunning or fought over by every second man they come across, and the men are never one dimensionally brave. It’s because I’m not stunning and was never fought over by every second man I came across, and I don’t know one-dimensionally brave men. So I stick with reality when constructing my characters. They may be flawed and very unlikeable at times, but I think they’re courageous and beautiful in a way that we all can be in our day-to-day life. So perhaps that’s also what my readers are relating to. I try not to analyse why readers react so powerfully to my work. I tried to do that with the success of my first novel and I didn’t write for another eleven years.

At the time of this interview, you’re getting ready to head out for several weeks of travels—research for QUINTANA OF CHARYN, which will be the third Lumatere novel. When you were writing FINNIKIN, you took sword fighting and dagger throwing lessons. Are you always such a method writer?

That makes me seem adventurous. No, I observed sword fighting and dagger throwing more than I actually took part in it. The closest thing to method writing for me is walking in the shoes of the character. I usually have a fair idea of what the setting will look like, so at first there’s a lot of surfing the ’net to find the place, and then I travel there. In the first chapter of FINNIKIN, I knew it would be Mont Saint-Michel in France and although my climb was nothing like Finnikin’s, the smell and the views and the atmosphere was all there including the room where Finnikin first sees the novice Evanjalin. I have to see it to write it.

I can’t write a novel about a medieval world from inner city Sydney. That’s the perfect location for LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI, SAVING FRANCESCA, and THE PIPER’S SON, and also for the Sydney section of ON THE JELLICOE ROAD, because I know those areas well. But the fantasies are inspired by overseas settings. Funnily enough, the very moment I decided that I would write Finnikin was when I was in New York and my first bit of research was visiting the Cloisters. There’s a unicorn room there and I thought my story was going to be about unicorns. The only reference to unicorns that survived in the novel was the belief by the young Princess Isaboe that they existed in the forest of Lumatere.

Let’s go back to the beginning: Your first novel, LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI, is widely considered iconic in your native Australia, and all of your realistic fiction is set there. But your work is equally admired and beloved in the States (JELLICOE ROAD even won the 2009 Printz Award—the YA equivalent of the Newbery). In interviews, you’ve talked about the differences in how Australian and American audiences receive your work. How does that affect your writing process?

The difference between the U.S. and Australia is really only Alibrandi. Here in Australia, it has dominated my writing life and there are many people who think it’s the only novel I’ve ever written. That’s because it was a film and it was studied on the Senior syllabus. I suppose it touched a nerve. I think it’s my weakest work, but it’s had the most profound affect on my life and I never take for granted an Alibrandi fan.

SAVING FRANCESCA gave me my first profile in the U.S. really. I’ve told this story many times before, that Knopf [an imprint of Random House] flew me over to the U.S. and I was reading in-house at Random and someone approached me later and said it was strange to hear Francesca with an Australian accent. I laughed about that in Chicago, at another reading, and someone approached me later and said, “Oh no, Francesca’s a Chicago girl.” I love telling that story because it proves how universal this very ordinary teenager is. Two days ago I received a letter in the mail via my publishers, which charmed me to death because, really, who gets par avion letters in the mail anymore? It was from an 89-year-old woman in New Zealand who loved FRANCESCA. It made my day. All I could imagine was an 89-year-old woman speaking to a 13-year-old girl about my writing.

So audience doesn’t affect my writing process most times. I was just saying to a friend today that as ecstatic as I am about the FROI reviews, they also intimidate me and I try not to let them influence the writing of QUINTANA. So when a reviewer states that they love a particular secondary character, I try very hard not to change the course of the story to give that character more. Same when someone doesn’t like the novel. The most dangerous thing to do is edit yourself based on reviews when you’re in the middle of a trilogy.

You were a high school English and history teacher for ten years before leaving the profession to write full time. How has being an educator informed your fiction? Or was it the reverse—that writing for teenagers informed the way you taught?

I wrote ALIBRANDI before I went to university, so the freshness of Josie’s voice came from being a few years older than her. FRANCESCA was written 11 years later when I was teaching at a boys high school in the city. I started writing it in October 2001, pretty depressed like the rest of the world. Francesca was very much shaped by that time and the very multi cultural school I was teaching at. There’s a scene in the novel where Francesca is stopped in the playground by kids named Shaheen and Javier and they were all real names and personalities. But I never copied their words or tried to use colloquialisms. Such things can date a novel. Instead, I listen to the rhythm—that sing-song way they’d walk and talk. Tom Mackee is based on a bunch of boys who used to shuffle around with their school pants slung low on their hips and their boxer shorts showing. The teacher who had the office next door would laugh because he’d hear me yell, “I didn’t go to university for four years to say ‘Pull up your pants!’”

They were the best professional years of my life and I loved that world. But it wiped me out emotionally. Teachers don’t just teach anymore. They’re social workers, they’re surrogate parents. I had kids coming out to me about their sexuality, and the toughest boys in the school blubbering in my office because they thought they got their girlfriends pregnant. There’s a line in Francesca about her mother who used to be a teacher, where she’d come home from work with some kind of battle fatigue. If the world of Francesca seemed real, it was because part of it came from a real world. The rest was total construct.



5 Questions With... Michael Buckley (The Sisters Grimm and NERDS series)

Researching the Landscape in FROI OF THE EXILES

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in February 2012.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson received the 2010 Coretta Scott King Author Award for BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF BASS REEVES, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL (Carolrhoda Books 2009). WHO WILL I BE, LORD? (Random House 2009), ALMOST TO FREEDOM (Carolrhoda Books 2003), READY? SET. RAYMOND! (Random House 2002), and MAYFIELD CROSSING (Putnam 1993) are among her other books. She co-authored JUNETEENTH (Millbrook 2006) with her husband, Drew, with whom she lives in New Mexico.

The subject of your latest book, NO CRYSTAL STAIR, is Harlem bookseller Lewis Michaux, who left behind some mysteries (like his exact birth date). Can you describe your research process for uncovering the facts about his life?

This is a huge question about a process that extended over many years and continues, not only formal research but family history. In brief, I acquired source material from family members, the Schomburg Center in Harlem, Howard University, the Hatch- Billops Collection, court records, church documents, FBI files, census records, death certificates and other vital statistic sources, and oral stories. I traveled to New York City, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and Newport News, Virginia. Many questions went unanswered and will likely remain so. When faced with contradictory information, I weighed what I could, drew conclusions and made reasonable guesses.

NO CRYSTAL STAIR is billed as a “documentary novel,” and your first foray in writing for teens. Why did you make the decision to write this story in this particular genre?

My early drafts, written as straight biography, lacked the emotion I was reaching for. The fictionalized documentary format gave me the flexibility to reveal Lewis’s spirit, intelligence, charm, and weaknesses. By the way, I consider my novel POSSIBLES as my initial foray into writing for teens.

The title NO CRYSTAL STAIR is taken from the Langston Hughes poem “Mother to Son.” What’s the connection between the two?

Hughes’s poem addresses the struggle to overcome long odds, the spirit to keep climbing, and in this case, Lewis’ journey from troubled young man to “Professor.”

In your Coretta Scott King Book Award-winning BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS, you wrote about another lesser-known historical figure—Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves. What drew you to Reeves as a subject?

His character. His absolute commitment to doing his duty. His unwavering devotion to what was right. Also, he lived in a time and place that has always intrigued me—the Old West.

How does your position as a youth services librarian influence your writing?

On the downside, my full-time library work creates a time obstacle to my writing. On the upside, it keeps me immersed in the literary world, abreast of what is current, as well as classic, and in touch with the mood of my patrons. It has also proven invaluable in meeting and interacting with other writers.



5 Questions With... Doug Abrams (DESMOND AND THE VERY MEAN WORD)

Putting Books to Work: Joseph Lambert’s ANNIE SULLIVAN AND THE TRIALS OF HELEN KELLER

Doug Abrams was Desmond Tutu’s co-author for GOD HAS A DREAM and for his children’s books, GOD’S DREAM and DESMOND AND THE VERY MEAN WORD. He was also the editor of Tutu’s CHILDREN OF GOD STORYBOOK BIBLE and MADE FOR GOODNESS. Abrams is the founder of Idea Architects, a book and media company that works with visionary authors to create a wiser, healthier, and more just world. Previously he was a senior editor at HarperCollins. His novels THE LOST DIARY OF DON JUAN and EYE OF THE WHALE have been published in more than thirty languages.

You co-wrote the recently released DESMOND AND THE VERY MEAN WORD (Candlewick, 2012), with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Previously, you’ve worked with several other influential spiritual leaders and activists. What is it like to collaborate with such esteemed individuals?

It is quite a privilege to spend time with, learn from, and create with someone like Archbishop Tutu. It requires a kind of creative communion that is a rare and profound gift. The Arch—as his friends call him—is one of the truly great moral leaders of our time. He was a hero of mine when I was in college—the anti-Apartheid struggle was the Vietnam of our generation. It is a deeply rewarding experience to meet someone who is even more extraordinary and more inspiring in person than from afar. This is often not the case, but it is with the Arch.

He’s also much shorter than one would think.

DESMOND AND THE VERY MEAN WORD (illustrated by A.G. Ford) is based on an event when a group of boys hurl a racial epithet at a young Tutu. The story emphasizes forgiveness over retaliation, which is a core principle of the Archbishop’s mission. How challenging was it to convey the concept of Ubuntu in the picture book format?

Wonderful question. I’ve written all kinds of books for all different ages, and there is nothing harder to write than picture books. It is like writing a sonnet. Every word matters and every word must be just right. One cannot assume anything when writing for children and one must really crawl into the thought world of young children.

At the same time, children understand Ubuntu—that we are deeply connected to one another—which is why it is so hurtful to be left out or excluded. So, yes, it was difficult in form—we must have gone through three dozen drafts—but easy in conveying the content.

Early reaction to the book has been mixed; KIRKUS praised it for delivering a “thought-provoking lesson for young readers on the destructiveness of bullying and racism,” while PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY questioned the book’s lack of historical context. What was behind the decision to limit references to apartheid in this South Africa-set story?

Ah, reviews. It’s always easier to critique than to create, and I say this as an editor who gets paid to critique. Our decision was to make this a universal story about forgiveness and bullying, which KIRKUS understood. The goal of this book is not to teach children about a racist system in a far away country from an era before they were born.

At the same time, everything in the story is completely accurate to the time and place (we worked very hard with the Arch to make sure that the houses and the clothes and every detail) was historically accurate.

At the end of the day, all children have experienced their own “mean word” and this story allows them to discover how to deal with their hurt, and shame, and anger. Our goal was not information but identification, and this is what we are hearing from young readers, who ultimately are the most important reviewers!

The tag line on your website is “Fact based fiction for a wiser, healthier, and more just world.” What role can children’s literature play in affecting positive change?

Children are the pivot point of history. The messages and images and ideas we give to our children determine the world that will come to pass. This is why teachers, and librarians, and children’s literature are so important. Archbishop Tutu loves to meet with and connect with young people; nothing energizes him more. I think this is because they are full of life, hope, and possibility.

I think that children’s literature can channel that life in positive directions. I had dyslexia growing up and so books were for many years a locked room, but when I found the key, I discovered the treasure inside. Our responsibility is to make sure that every book a child opens is a treasure.

After publishing the ecological thriller, EYE OF THE WHALE, you became involved with raising awareness about pollution and marine life. How have you maintained that, and what other causes have inspired your more recent books?

The books I write are always inspired by a question that I need to answer and an issue that I care deeply about. EYE OF THE WHALE was inspired by two questions: “Is there hope for our planet?” and “Is there something in our nature that is stronger than ignorance, fear, and greed?”

It was quite amazing to discover from the biologists that there is. I did learn a great deal about pollution and the challenges that all of us face in this watery world. I have had the opportunity to support a number of environmental charities that are doing great work, like the Natural Resources Defense Council.

I’ve also been very passionate about a group called Free the Slaves who is trying to end contemporary slavery, and more recently a group called the Equal Justice Initiative, which is working to transform the criminal justice system into a less racially biased and ultimately a more healing and forgiving place.

To come back to DESMOND, perhaps when we give children a story of forgiveness and how deal with pain and anger, we may be altering the whole course of their life. This is the power of children’s literature.



Teaching Tips: Stand Up in Silence

5 Questions With... Glennette Tilley Turner (FORT MOSE; AN APPLE FOR HARRIET TUBMAN)

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in January 2012.

Michael Buckley is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sisters Grimm and NERDS series. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and son. The most recent addition to the Grimm series, THE SISTERS GRIMM: A VERY GRIMM GUIDE, was released in hardcover earlier this month.

Your recent release, THE SISTERS GRIMM: A VERY GRIMM GUIDE, comes just before the final book in the popular series. What are some ways that teachers could use the guide to introduce students to your series and fairy tales in general?

My wife, Alison Fargis, was instrumental to the design and concept of this book. Her company, Stonesong, put all the pieces together and we both agreed that we wanted to make it fun and useful. On top of all the fun insider info, the Very Grimm Guide has some historical info on the origins of some of the most famous fairy tales as well as biographies of the writers behind them. Teachers and librarians have been my biggest cheerleaders so we were thinking about them when we put the book together.

Puck is a very humorous character, and you’ve given him the role of editor for A VERY GRIMM GUIDE. What made you select him as your editor?

Hands down, Puck is the most popular character in the series. I get more fan mail about him than anyone else. When we had a working draft of the book I realized the fans would kill me when they found out there were only a few pages dedicated to Puck. Having him take over the final edit sounded hilarious and he has scribbled his little comments all over the book. I think it makes it unique from other fan guides.

There has been a recent proliferation of fairy tales in pop culture. Why do you think traditional tales (and creative remixes) have become so popular?

I think fairy tales are written into our cultural DNA—we go back to them again and again and again. There are always movies and books and comics that dive into the material because it is so rich. I'm happy to see that my series is inspiring so much of what is being produced these days.

There is an upcoming Sisters Grimm movie. As someone with experience writing for television, how does it feel to have your series turned into a movie?

Well, we don't technically have a movie in place. We have an amazing producer, a great script, and an up-and-coming director. Now all we really need is someone to write us a check for $100 million dollars so we can get it done. I'm excited about what is going on as I've talked to so many producers and studio executives who really didn't get the books. They wanted to make them boys or make them teenagers or try to write a bigger part for a movie star. Really, in its essence, the series is about two girls and a flying boy who fight monsters. I don't know what's so hard to understand. But these days we have a team that not only gets it, they love it. So, keep your fingers crossed.

You’re also the author of the wildly popular N.E.R.D.S. series, which Horn Book called “great girl books for boys.” What does that mean to you?

I'm often called a writer for girls but I shy away from that description. I write for kids—boys and girls. Sometimes I ask the boys to be brave and read about girls and sometime I ask the girls to tap into their inner obnoxious boy and jump in head first. I'm happy that what I do is hard to define—it keeps the readers on their toes. It's so easy to get into this idea that there are books for boys and books for girls. I believe that they both really want the same thing from a book:adventure, thrills, laughs, and a little something to think about when the book is done. I think that's what kind of writer I am.

Michael Buckley will be appearing at IRA’s 58th Annual Convention in San Antonio, as part of “The Serious Business of Writing Humor: The Importance of Funny Fiction in the Classroom.” The panel includes fellow authors Andy Griffiths, Laurie Kellar, and Devin Scillian.

5 Questions With... Sean Beaudoin (THE INFECTS)

IRA 58th Annual Convention in San Antonio

photo: Annmarie Algya

Clare Vanderpool’s highly anticipated second novel, NAVIGATING EARLY (Delacorte Press / On sale January 8, 2013) is a mesmerizing epic of adventure and self-discovery, set against the backdrop of post-World War II Maine. Her debut novel, MOON OVER MANIFEST, won the 2011 Newbery Medal. Clare lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband and their four children. Learn more at ClareVanderpool.com.

NAVIGATING EARLY incorporates plenty of mystery and adventure as Jack and Early travel the Appalachian Trail, but perhaps the most intriguing aspect is the role played by pi (3.14…). Can you tell us a little about how this mathematical concept is interwoven in the story?

Early Auden, described as "that strangest of boys," sees numbers differently than most. For him, the number pi—that mystical, never-ending, never-repeating number—reads like a story. It is the story of a young man named Pi, whose real name is Polaris but who is told by his mother that he hasn't yet earned his name. The number pi, beginning with 3.14, tells of the epic journey of Pi who is the first to venture beyond his own shores, to see what lies beyond. He is in essence, the first navigator.

The conflict for Early comes when he learns of a famous mathematician who discovers that certain numbers of pi have ceased to appear in the number. He has developed a theory that, eventually, more numbers will disappear and the number pi will in fact end. This is very upsetting to Early, who is deeply invested in the story of Pi.

In NAVIGATING EARLY, Jack and Early go on their own quest on the Appalachian Trail in search of a great black bear. Both of these epic journeys, that of Pi and of Jack and Early, begin to mirror each other in strange and coincidental ways. But as Jack's mother says, “There are no coincidences. Just miracles by the boatload.”

Your debut novel, MOON OVER MANIFEST, earned you the 2011 Newbery Medal and an adoring fan base. What’s it like to work on the follow-up, knowing that there are such high expectations from both critics and readers alike?

It's pretty challenging. Fortunately, I was well into the story of NAVIGATING EARLY before the Newbery was announced. Part of the challenge, even before the Newbery, was just getting acquainted with and really falling in love with these new characters—spending time figuring out the story they have to tell.

Of course, winning a Newbery on a first book does come with a certain amount of pressure. I knew the next book would be ripe for comparison. I really had to work at setting aside thoughts of expectations and comparisons and just let the story take its course. Jack and Early are fairly assertive characters and, once I could let go a little, they were more than willing to take the lead.

You’ve said that you’re very attached to your home state of Kansas, which is also where MOON OVER MANIFEST is set. Kansas figures into NAVIGATING EARLY, but this time it’s a place that Jack is forced to leave. How did displacing your protagonist from your beloved home state affect the process of writing a second novel?

It was fun, actually. Jack is a Kansas kid, so I completely understand his outlook and sensibilities. He talks about being able to see for miles in every direction and always knowing where he is based on familiar landmarks. I've traveled a lot and know the feeling of being away from my natural surroundings. I adapt pretty easily, but when it's time to go home, I know where I want that to be.

In NAVIGATING EARLY, Jack's Kansas roots represent home, stability, connection to place. But I knew Jack's story was very much about being lost. With the unexpected death of his mother and the return of the military father he barely knows, Jack's world is turned upside down. He comes from a long line of Naval men and using Naval language he says he has lost his bearings. Jack's physical displacement very much reflects his emotional displacement. His father is stationed off the coast of Maine and when Jack, a land-locked Kansas kid who also suffers from motion sickness finds himself teetering on the brink of the constantly moving ocean, I think the reader definitely gets a sense of Jack's loss of bearing.

A quote from MOBY DICK—“It is not down on any map; true places never are”—sparked your imagination for MOON OVER MANIFEST. That quote also seems apt for Jack and Early’s quest in NAVIGATING EARLY. What intrigues you about fusing history with the great mysteries of the American landscape?

As writers, I don't think we really know who we or what we are about until we recognize some of our own story in the things we write about. As a kid, we took a three-week vacation every summer in a Holiday Rambler travel trailer. My dad would map out a section of the country each summer and eventually we had driven through every continental state along with parts of Canada and Mexico. At the time, I'm sure I was the first to want out of the car and I know I often asked, “How many more miles?” To which the answer was always, “Umpteen.”

But it was probably those hours spent looking out a car window that led to a deep love and appreciation for landscape. But it's not just about the view; it's about the bigger questions stirred by that landscape and my place within it. Where do I belong? What is my place in this world? Do I matter in this big open space?

As far as the fusion of history and landscape, I think these are the questions people have been asking throughout all of history. One of my favorite scenes in NAVIGATING EARLY takes place in a cave and involves ancient drawings on the stone walls. People from thousands of years before who recorded their journeys, wanderings, and discoveries. I guess I'm fascinated by the fact that we as human beings have shared the same stories for all of time. The human story is very much a never-ending, never-repeating story.

On your website, you briefly mention a style of bedtime story that you and your kids call “dream presents.” These sound like pretty fantastic springboards for stories! Can you explain how they work and how they have influenced your work?

It's kind of funny to be talking about our little bedtime routine on a blog, but here goes. When my kids were little, like all kids, they wanted bedtime stories. And before lights out, as parents, we always wish our kids, “Sweet dreams.” So a “dream present” is kind of a combination of both.

I would start a story, something where the child I was telling it to was the main character, and he or she was always embarking on some big adventure. They might be escaping pirates in a hot air balloon. Or getting lost in the jungle and finding a buried treasure. There would always be some cliffhanger ending and I would tell them to “dream the rest.” I know, it's not as calming as GOODNIGHT MOON, but hopefully it made for some exciting dreams.

As for how it influences my work, I guess I've always loved a good story and feel like that is a great way to go to sleep. Strangely enough, if I get stuck in my writing, I will often lie down for a nap, and it is in that falling asleep stage where I'm more asleep than awake, that the story knot will work its way out. I think dreaming and storytelling are two sides of the same coin.



5 Questions With... R.J. Palacio (WONDER)

5 Questions With... the legendary Judy Blume!