I steal my children’s ARCs. Sometimes, when they’re in bed at night with their new books clutched in their hands, I pry their fingers loose and sneak the books downstairs to read.
J and E are members of the Harper Kids First Look Program. Every month, they go to a website and choose the titles they’d like to read from a list of books on offer. Harper has a drawing and sends them the ARCs to review if they win. Cool, huh?
Except grownups aren’t allowed to participate. Just kids. Which forces me to stand over their shoulders when they log on each month, saying things like, “Ooohhh…don’t you want to read that one? I really think you’d like that one. Look how exciting it looks. You really ought to let them know that you’d like to review that one…” Sometimes it works out beautifully.
Like last month… when E scored ARCs of two books that I absolutely LOVED. Both walk the line between genres — mixing text and illustration in creative ways that bring even more life to already lively stories.
Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, due out in June, is by Chris Riddell of Edge Chronicles fame. It’s the kind of book you might imagine if Roald Dahl and Brian Selznick had teamed up on a graphic novel. Ottoline is a young girl whose parents travel the world and leave her home in the family townhouse in the care of a friendly, hairy creature-person named Mr. Monroe. I loved the characters in this book. Ottoline’s a little like Pippi Longstocking — brave and funny and always up for an adventure. And Mr. Monroe…. well, he was so cute I want to adopt him and keep him as a lap dog. Ottoline and Mr. Monroe team up to solve the mystery of a string of neighborhood burglaries — a plot that is brought to life by the abundant and amazing illustrations. This one was well worth the grief I got from my daughter when she found out I stole it.
Then I had to wait a while to read The Curse of Addy McMahon by Katie Davis because E wouldn’t let it out of her sight until she finished. Like Ottoline, this book mixes text and illustrations in a way that’s sure to grab even the most reluctant readers. Sixth graders, in particular, are going to love this one because it’s the perfect mix of humor and the honest-to-goodness angst that’s part of starting middle school. I’ve already recommended this one as a purchase for our school library. Addy McMahon has a lot to deal with as she makes that transition — a father who died of cancer, a mother whose icky boyfriend is moving in, and an email disaster that nearly costs her her best friend. Add it all up, and Addy’s convinced that she’s cursed. What middle school kid hasn’t felt that way?
Addy is both a talented writer and illustrator — just like author Katie Davis — so the book’s narrative is told in part through Addy’s “autobiograstrip,” an autobiography in comic book form. Full disclosure time… I met Katie Davis at a writers retreat this winter and thought she was fantastically funny and smart and energetic, so I fully expected to like this book. It didn’t disappoint, and it’s going to be a terrific title for kids making that leap from elementary school to middle school. They’ll appreciate the warmth and honesty as well as its creative format.
Funny things happen sometimes. A few weeks ago, I received an email asking if I’d like to review Sara Zarr’s new book SWEETHEARTS. Sure! I loved STORY OF A GIRL, and well, there’s the whole pink cookie on the cover thing. I loved the book and jumped at the chance to host a stop on Sara’s blog tour. We emailed back and forth a few times but needed to wrap things up before last weekend because Sara and I were both going to be traveling. When all was said and done, I sent Sara a link to my blog so she’d be able to see today’s interview. She emailed back. Turns out we were headed out of town for the same writing retreat, so we could have done the interview in person. I got to spend a little time with Sara at the retreat, and she’s just the kind, funny, down-to-earth person I had imagined. I love it when that happens.
I teach 7th grade English Language Arts, and I was reading SWEETHEARTS during independent reading time with my kids one day. One of my students stopped by my desk at the end of the period. “Are you going to finish that today? And can I borrow it?” Becky devoured the book in a couple days and was excited to hear that Sara would be stopping by my blog. She handed me a list of questions the next day, so this interview is our joint effort!
Welcome, Sara! First, let’s talk about the new book. What was the inspiration for this story, the spark that made you want to write about Jenna and Cameron?
I knew this boy in grade school, Mark. Like Cameron, he left a ring and a note in my lunch one day, and I remember sitting in the back of my friend’s mom’s car and discovering it and thinking, wow, there’s this person who likes me and thinks about me. Our relationship wasn’t like Cameron and Jenna’s, but for me it was like I carried around this secret—that someone cared about me and was on my side, and that meant a lot and stayed with me my whole life. Mark got back in touch when we were adults, and I started playing around with the “what if we’d known each other in high school?” question. The story went from there.
Often, authors will say that characters are made up of bits and pieces of people they know or people they’ve been. Where did Jenna and Cameron come from?
Cameron was definitely inspired by Mark, though the details about his life and his family are a total fabrication. I didn’t know him between the ages of 8 and 30, so I had to imagine him as a teenager. Jennifer, before she became Jenna, draws some on my own life. I stole and used food the way she does, and I was one of the “poor kids” who always wore hand-me-downs and got the subsidized milk, though I was not as much of an outsider as Jennifer. Jenna as a teen is a lot different than I was; I do relate to her fear of being found out for who she really is, but I think everyone feels that deep down to some extent.
SWEETHEARTS seems like a perfect title for this book. Did you know while you were writing what the title would be, or did you play around with different titles along the way? (And if you did, would you share some of them?)
The title actually came early on and I never had any other ideas. I remember emailing my agent and asking, “What do you think of SWEETHEARTS as a title?” He was lukewarm at first (he may deny it now, but I have the email evidence!). I always thought it was perfect, myself. I’ve never had a title come so easily.
I can’t imagine anyone has looked at SWEETHEARTS without commenting on the cover (and getting hungry!). Is that what you envisioned for a cover when you wrote the book, or were you surprised?
I was completely surprised. I didn’t have any idea what to expect—I’m terrible with design stuff. When I first saw it, I thought it was so literal…a sweet heart. The more I looked at it—the bite out of the cookie, the crumbs, the starkness of the background and the childlike font of the title—the more I appreciated the genius of designer Alison Impey. It’s actually kind of a masterpiece!
Becky wants to know if there’s going to be another story about Jenna and Cameron (and when Molly finishes, she’s going to want to know, too). Any plans for a sequel, or do you feel like their journey is over for now?
I have no plans for a sequel, though I’m always delighted when readers ask that question because it means the characters live on in their minds. People have also asked for a sequel to my first book, so maybe I should figure out a way for Deanna, Jenna, Cameron, Jason and Tommy to all meet up in some epic vampire fantasy…
Writers often talk about the pressure of a second book and wanting it to be better than the first. Since your first novel, STORY OF A GIRL, was a National Book Award Finalist, do you feel like that created extra pressure for you?
Absolutely. Thankfully, SWEETHEARTS was done well ahead of the National Book Award stuff, but even before that I was suffering from a major case of Second Book Psychosis. It really wasn’t based in reality, just a crazy mental battle. Honestly, there was one day that involved me curled in a ball on the kitchen floor, crying and praying and figuring out how to break the news to my agent that everyone would soon discover that I was a total fraud.
Were there any parts of writing SWEETHEARTS that were a real struggle for you?
As you can imagine, it was hard to write the scenes in Cameron’s childhood home, with his dad. It made me sick to my stomach, literally. And I’ve read books in which so much worse happens to the characters…I don’t know how those authors do it. It was hard to balance making the situation menacing enough to be scarring, but still get them out before anything worse happened.
You recently sold your next two novels. What can you tell us about those?
Not much! All I can say right now about the one I’m working on is that it involves a pastor’s daughter. I grew up in church and have always wanted to explore church life more directly in a novel. It’s too soon to talk about much else.
When and where do you most often like to write?
Whenever and wherever. My work habits aren’t anything to brag about–it’s always a struggle to get going. Every day I’m afraid. Every day I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. So I avoid it. Time and location don’t matter to me much, as long as I do the work.
Do you have a favorite revision strategy?
Get editorial letter. Cry. Rage. Cry. Complain. Freak out. Wonder how I’ve fooled so many for so long. Cry some more. When that stage is over, I like to have a printout of the manuscript and start a new Word document rather than edit on screen and cut and paste. Even if I end up typing the same pages over and over, there’s something about the physical act of typing that helps.
And last but not least… In honor of that delicious cover, what’s your favorite kind of cookie?
A big, soft, homemade chocolate chip cookie with no nuts. Thanks so much for stopping by, Sara!
SWEETHEARTS has an official February 1st release date but has already started showing up in bookstores. Just look for that pink cookie on the cover.
“My heart is singing for joy this morning.” -Anne Sullivan to Sophia Hopkins, March 1887 So begins one of the chapters in Sarah Miller‘s debut novel Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, and her quote from Annie Sullivan describes just how I felt when I finished this magical book.
Last spring, I issued an invitation to authors of historical fiction, to send me information about their books for a presentation I’m doing this fall at the New York State Reading Association Conference. I heard from wonderful writers — some whose works I knew and some who were new to me. But one title REALLY caught my eye: Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller. First, it got my attention because the titles of our books are so similar. When I opened it up to start reading, it got my attention in another way — a sweep-you-away-in-the-story kind of way.
Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller tells the story of Annie Sullivan, the young woman who battled beliefs of the time and fought with every ounce of energy she had to give Helen Keller the gift of language. Sarah Miller tells the story in Annie’s voice — and tells it with a passion that speaks to the depth of her research and her pure love for this historical figure. Miss Spitfire not only tells the story we see in The Miracle Worker — the story of Annie’s time with Helen — but also plunges into Annie Sullivan’s past, and in doing so, provides a deeper understanding of the commitment and determination that led to her success.
The portrayals of Annie’s emotional, psychological, and physical struggles with Helen were so vivid that I found myself reading with my brow furrowed in determined solidarity with Annie as she plunked Helen back into her seat at the dining room table for the tenth time. Truly, Annie had to be a spitfire to survive this monumental challenge when she was little more than a girl herself.
The minor characters in this novel sparkle, too. One of my favorite scenes brought Helen together for a lesson with the Kellers’ servant boy Percy. I felt like I was about to burst with pride right along with Annie when Helen began to turn from a student into a teacher, helping Percy with some of the letters. Mr. & Mrs. Keller, too, are painted with a tremendous depth of understanding. It would have been easy to portray Helen’s parents as one-dimensional characters who got in the way of Annie’s work, but instead, Sarah Miller helps us to see their complexity and feel some of their anguish at having a beautiful, broken child.
Early in the book, Annie tells Helen’s mother why her lessons are so vital to Helen.
“Words, Mrs. Keller, words bridge the gap between two minds. Words are a miracle.”
Indeed, they are. And Miss Spitfire will have you believing in that miracle all over again.
Coming soon on my LJ…an interview with the author of Miss Spitfire, Sarah Miller!
Then I had to wait a while to read The Curse of Addy McMahon by Katie Davis because E wouldn’t let it out of her sight until she finished. Like Ottoline, this book mixes text and illustrations in a way that’s sure to grab even the most reluctant readers. Sixth graders, in particular, are going to love this one because it’s the perfect mix of humor and the honest-to-goodness angst that’s part of starting middle school. I’ve already recommended this one as a purchase for our school library. Addy McMahon has a lot to deal with as she makes that transition — a father who died of cancer, a mother whose icky boyfriend is moving in, and an email disaster that nearly costs her her best friend. Add it all up, and Addy’s convinced that she’s cursed. What middle school kid hasn’t felt that way? 
