Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

Quick Lit: What I’ve Been Reading Lately

1 Comment

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

1890 Atlanta. Jo Kuan and her guardian, Old Gin, secretly live in an old Underground Railroad hideaway beneath a house owned by the Bells, the family who runs the Focus newspaper. Subscriptions at the Focus are lagging, and things aren’t looking good. Much of Jo’s education has been unknowingly supplemented by the Bells, both in overheard conversations and through their paper. She decides to try to help bolster the paper by submitting an anonymous column penned by “Miss Sweetie,” which becomes enormously popular. Jo, whose day job is as a lady’s maid, must hide her identity as her everyday life feeds the topics she writes about. Eventually, her two worlds collide, and Jo must decide what will stay hidden and what will be revealed — including secrets of her own family history.

I adored this entirely new-to-me glimpse into the Gay Nineties and New South and the tender relationship between Jo and Old Gin. Check out Stacey’s interview on the blog a few years back with her debut novel, Under a Painted Sky.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

This was my first Kurt Vonnegut book, which I read for my Dead Authors’ Society book club. I had a vague sense it was about World War II, that was all. Wow, was it bizarre and fascinating! Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war during the bombing of Dresden (which I knew nothing about [or perhaps learned about in school and remembered nothing?]). The first chapter serves as a long prologue. In it the narrator (Vonnegut?) talks about wanting to write about Dresden for years and settling on this approach — telling the story through a character named Billy Pilgrim who happens to become “unstuck from time” (the story is non-linear) and is also abducted by aliens (!!). Is the book science fiction? Is it a story of PTSD and Vonnegut’s attempt to cope with the fallout of war? (Surely yes to the second part.) Does Billy believe he was abducted by aliens because he cracks his skull in an airplane crash after the war? It’s irreverent and strange and disturbing and funny and very, very memorable. As the Tralfamadorian aliens say about death, “so it goes.” My favorite book club discussion so far.

Mazie by Melanie Crowder

Melanie is a talent with a wide range. She writes middle grade and YA, verse and prose, duologies and standalones. I adored Mazie, her newest young adult novel. Mazie Butterfield has big dreams. She wants to leave her small Nebraska town and make it on Broadway. It means leaving behind her family, the home she loves, and Jesse, the boy she’s dated for years, all to see if she has what it takes doing the thing that makes her feel most alive.

I have no acting aspirations, but Mazie’s longing resonated with how I feel about the writing life. I learned so much about the theater world in 1959, including industrial musicals. Have you ever heard of them? I loved watching Mazie come into her own and grapple with who she was and what she wasn’t willing to compromise in pursuit of her career. The storyline with Jesse is lovely, too.

This Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks into Our Darkness by Sarah Clarkson

“Beauty and brokenness told me two different stories about the world. I believe that Beauty told true.”

There’s a song I keep on the bulletin board over my desk, one I heard years ago while visiting Christ Church Santa Fe that absolutely speaks to my soul: “Why Do We Hunger For Beauty?” The song doesn’t answer directly, but the answer is plainly there: Beauty is God’s doing. It’s reflected in nature, in art, in any good we encounter. Beauty is God, His calling to humanity. This book is that song in written form.

This Beautiful Truth is Sarah Clarkson’s candid journey with mental illness. The book “is a plea to present God as the healer and never the inflictor of our pain.” It’s gorgeously written and heartfelt. “God breaks into our pain in a tangible way,” Sarah says, “teaching us to trust His love and to hope for His healing. Beauty is a voice singing into our suffering, beckoning us toward restoration.” This Beautiful Truth released last week.

On Writing

Leave a Comment

I am a man and alive… For this reason I am a novelist. And being a novelist, I consider myself superior to the saint, the scientist, the philosopher, and the poet, who are all great masters of different bits of man alive, but never get the whole hog.
— D. H. Lawrence

Seven Ways to Make This Website Work for You

Leave a Comment

I’ve had an author website and blog in various forms for almost twelve years now. My hope is this little corner of the Internet is a friendly, welcoming place that is also a resource for readers, writers, teachers, librarians, and homeschooling families. But how do you know what’s here if you haven’t explored? Today’s your chance to do so!

This post is best read on the blog itself. If you’re reading via email, I invite you to click through. Let’s get straight to it:

How do I find…

information on your books? There are a couple of ways to do this. Either click on “books” in the main menu and select a title in the drop down menu or click on a cover in the sidebar. Underneath the covers, you’ll find a sidebar menu where I’ve also included each of my titles. Click on any of these to read blog posts about a particular book. And if you’d like a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the writing of my specific books, check out my new monthly series I’m calling The Notebook Series. You can find links for the first three posts under the “teacher resources” tab in the main menu.

posts about writing? In the sidebar menu, click on “the writing life.” You’ll find a number of posts about writing, including writing links, interviews with other authors, and my own thoughts on writing. Posts that touch on publishing can be found in the sidebar under the “publication” tab. To read the most popular posts I’ve written on writing, click on “bio” in the main menu and scroll to the bottom where you find a list of posts to choose from. If you’re looking for answers to frequently asked writing questions, you’ll find those under the “bio” tab, too, including some links with writing wisdom from other authors, articles on how to get your book published, and advice for young writers.

interviews with other authors? I run two monthly interview series: Straight from the Source, where authors talk about writing historical fiction and non-fiction, and Classroom Connections, meant to introduce teachers, librarians, homeschooling families, and all other readers to new releases. I keep a running list of both interviews under the “teacher resources” tab in the main menu. The Classroom Connections interviews are divided alphabetically into picture books, middle grade, and young adult. Each has a brief description about its setting, theme, or form. This list is an incredible resource! It represents almost ten years of interviews. If you’re looking for something new to read or want to learn more about authors’ writing experiences, Classroom Connections a great place to start.

If you scroll down a little further, you’ll find the Straight from Source interviews, listed alphabetically by author’s name. These are a treasure trove of information and (can I say this?) my favorite interview series. I have learned so much about other authors’ writing processes, their challenges and triumphs, and their reasons behind why they write what they do. A friend recently told me she read through a number of these interviews while working on her own non-fiction project. 

Classroom Connections interviews can also be found via the sidebar menu. Click “classroom connections” and / or “teaching” to find them. From the sidebar, you can find Straight from the Source interviews by clicking either historical fiction or non-fiction. If you click the “authors” link in the side bar, you can find both interview series.

Classroom resources? I’m glad you asked! I’ve created teaching guides and other helpful documents for almost all my books. You can either click on “books” in the main menu and go to the title you’re looking for to find downloadable resources, or you can go to the “teacher resources” tab, where all the handouts are grouped together near the top of the page. Beyond the reader discussion guides, you’ll find some general handouts that I use in presentations: The Stickman Character Development handout, which is a great, easy way to introduce young writers to creating characters of their own, Going Deep with Young Readers, which is a collection of quotes I gathered for a state library association conference talk that showcases the importance of student choice and exploration when it comes to reading, and 10 Things I Wish I’d Known About Writing While in the Classroom, which is exactly what it sounds like — concepts I’ve learned as an author that I wish I’d known to offer my students during my teaching days.

Under this tab you’ll also find a reading assignment I developed for my social studies and English classrooms called Where in the World Are We Reading? , a collection of state reading lists where you can nominate favorite recent releases for state awards, and some wonderful professional development interviews with superstar author and teacher, Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild. If you’re interested in starting a book club for kids, you’ll find a series of posts about my own after-school club under this tab, too.

Information on classroom or virtual visits? This one is easy. Both have their own tabs in the main menu. The “author visits” page opens with statistics on why such visits are wonderful ways to encourage and inspire young people in their own reading and writing. If you’re a teacher or librarian looking for hard facts on if a school visit is worth the investment, these are golden. But don’t just take my word for it. Have a look! Scroll down to see what kinds of talks I offer and how to contact my booking agency, the Booking Biz, to schedule an in-person or virtual visit.

information on your events? My “events” page is woefully out of date at present. But I hope that changes in the months ahead. Stay tuned…

your critique service? Click on the last tab in the main menu, “Writing One to One” for a rundown on what I offer (and what I don’t), what you can expect, and how to get the ball rolling if you’re interested in learning more. I’m thrilled to say three authors I’ve worked with have published or are soon publishing manuscripts I’ve read. What an honor to play a small role in their stories!

If you’ve benefited from something you’ve found on the site, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

Reading and Writing Links

Leave a Comment

“By having expectations, we are planting the seeds of our future sense of failure when those expectations aren’t met. They are loud grating static that detracts from the much more important and fulfilling act of writing. They fill our hearts and minds so full of what an “ideal” career/writing path should look like that we don’t recognize the wild and wonderful and potentially hugely satisfying career path we DO have.”
On Expectations and External Validation :: Robin LaFevers

“Deafness freed Beethoven as a composer because he no longer had society’s soundtrack in his ears.”
On Beethoven and the Gifts of Silence :: Cal Newport

“I teach art students to normalize struggle! It is truly the only way good work is ever made.”
The Arc of Every Long Project :: John Hendrix

Do you have a copy? Mine came in a Happy Meal.
50 years later, ‘The Monster at the End of This Book’ is still selling — and inspiring authors :: Philadelphia Enquirer

Read these back to back, as I did —
No One Should Have to Hustle :: Austin Kleon
I was wrong — this is the worst advice! :: Jess Keating

 

Straight from the Source: Julie Leung on Writing Historical Non-Fiction

Leave a Comment

JULIE LEUNG was raised in the sleepy suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, though it may be more accurate to say she grew up in Oz and came of age in Middle-earth. She graduated with an English and journalism degree from University of Georgia. By day, she is a marketing director at Random House, specializing in sci-fi/fantasy books. You can catch her at pop culture conventions on behalf of Del Rey Books. By night, she is a children’s book author. Her debut series, Mice of the Round Table was praised as a “winning new adventure,” by Kirkus Reviews. She is also the author of Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist ,Who Did It First? 50 Scientists, Artists, and Mathematicians Who Revolutionized The World, and The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee.

How do you conduct your research?

In writing about Hazel Ying Lee and Tyrus Wong, it has been important for me to consult real-life people as primary resources, in particular any surviving family members. I love involving them in the writing process and making sure I have their blessing. Often I am able to incorporate personal anecdotes perhaps not available in more obvious records. Beyond that, I also rely on any documentaries (both Hazel and Tyrus have had phenomenal documentaries made about them) and any previously published articles available online. 

At what point do you feel comfortable beginning to draft? How does your research continue once you begin writing?

Usually I begin to outline my manuscript using a readily available online biography. For instance, I first read about Tyrus Wong in the New York Times obituaries and used that article to sketch out my story beats. Then I began to flesh out the details during my main research phases. Oftentimes, my manuscripts get way too long and I spend a lot of time boiling down to key points and highlights.

What is your favorite thing about research?

History was my favorite subject in school growing up because everything unfolded like a dramatic epic and there always seemed to be more behind what was officially included in the books. I often wondered what nuances got left out. My favorite thing about research follows the same sensation — of peeling back layers and discovering the full picture of a person.   

What’s your least favorite thing about research?

Finding a moment I really want to explore fully with a detailed scene and description, but not having enough sources to back up what I want to know.

Because life isn’t always clear cut, the motives behind our actions don’t always make sense. But stories need to follow a logical path. What sorts of decisions have you had to make about “muddy” historical figures or events in order for your book to work?

My picture books often feature moments of interiority that aren’t necessarily based on concrete fact but are inferred from what I’ve learned about my subjects’ personality. For instance, I can only imagine what Hazel might have thought while she was flying a plane or assume how Tyrus felt mopping the floor of his art school. Such moments are artistic liberties I took, but that I felt were important to include in order to create a three-dimensional representation. I always gut-check these passages with additional sources and get their blessing on it. 

What’s your favorite thing about writing historical nonfiction?

I feel less indulgent and more purposeful when I pursue a nonfiction project. My writing becomes less about my own art and more about whose legacy I wish to be in service to. Shining a bigger light on little-known pockets of Asian American history is so meaningful to me, the daughter of first-gen immigrants. I feel like it’s a course-corrective to growing up without such stories during my childhood. 

The Notebook Series: Blue Birds

Leave a Comment

I keep a notebook for each book I write. I thought it might be fun to share some of those pages with readers through a series of posts. Today’s post, the third in the series, will focus on my second verse novel, Blue Birds.

Twenty years before Jamestown, another English settlement tried to take root in Virginia and failed. This colony of 117 men, women, and children, started on Roanoke island, 150 miles southeast of Jamestown. All we know about the colony and its inhabitants took place over a five-week period in the summer of 1587. 

The colonists had been promised land in the Chesapeake Bay, perhaps not far from the place that eventually became Jamestown. But throughout the voyage, their leader, Governor John White, fought constantly with ship captain Simon Ferdinando. By the time they arrived in Virginia, Ferdinando was done. He left the colonists at Roanoke, refusing to take them any farther.

This was not the first time the English had visited Roanoke. Explorers had come to the island in 1584, and interactions with the Native population had been positive then. But by the time the colonists arrived in 1587, the English were no longer welcome. Those intervening years included the burning of a Native village because of a missing silver cup, the Roanoke’s growing frustration as English soldiers who’d built a fort on their island insisted the tribe provide for them, and English diseases that decimated many of the Native peoples. Then escalating mistrust between the Roanoke and English led to English leader Ralph Lane’s pre-emptive attack on the tribe, killing Wingina, the Roanoke chief. When, days later, the English left, they knew there was no chance at reconciliation.

The colonists who arrived in 1587 knew nothing of those intervening years. The stage was set for tragedy, and tragic things happened on both sides. I wanted to show this historical truth in Blue Birds, but I also wanted to breathe into the history my own version of hope: Two imaginary girls (Alis, who is English, and Kimi, who is Roanoke) destined to be enemies but choosing friendship instead.

17 English women and 11 boys made the journey to Roanoke. No young girls where on the 1587 manifest. But with both the Dare and Harvie families having babies a few days apart, adding Alis to the Harvie family felt practical. She could serve as a nursemaid to both children.

This was an interesting discovering. Early attempts at a poem in Kimi’s voice…

…and its final form in the book.

The poems in Blue Birds are narrated three ways — poems only in Alis’s point of view, poems only from Kimi’s point of view, and poems told in both girls’ voices. As the book progressed and changed, I made a number of “quilt charts” to help me see how that narration played out. Notice the book’s early name was Secret Sharer, a title I’m still partial to.

A silly aside: Of all my books, none has influenced my office space more than Blue Birds! Below is a piece of fabric I drape over a chair the dog likes to lounge in.

Read the post about May B. here.
Read about Over in the Wetlands here.

Classroom Connections: Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie

2 Comments

age range: 8-12 years
genre / topics: contemporary fiction; soccer, family illness (ALS)
Amy Makechnie’s website

A heart-tugging and uplifting story about never giving up—on the soccer field, on loved ones, and on life.
— Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Please tell us about your book.

GOLDEN “Macaroni” Maroni is determined to become master of his eighth grade universe by channeling his hero: international soccer superstar, Lionel Messi. But first he’s got to survive middle school, win the soccer championship, and prevent Lucy Littlehouse from moving away. If he can do that, then maybe he can prevent Dad from losing to the three worst letters in the alphabet: A-L-S. Golden’s going to make it happen – even if it takes Ten Thousand Tries!

What inspired you to write this story?

My son, who in 8th grade, wanted TO BE Lionel Messi more than anything in the world. Like Messi, he was small. He was also incredibly determined to be bigger, stronger, and faster – characteristics that unfortunately have a tremendous impact on a boy’s middle school experience. At the same time, another teammate of my son’s had a father (Eric) recently diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.) As the boys were trying to be “the man,” we were also watching a father become smaller, weaker, and slower. It really made me think about societal “ideals” and what the most important things in life really are (not our bench press stats).

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research or share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching?

Eric was a really good friend of mine. Before he had full-time and more qualified nursing care, friends would take turns “watching” and caring for Eric. We made smoothies, held the straw to his lips, took walks (he controlled the wheelchair with his thumb), talked about life, played board games. I watched Eric go from being a really athletic, strong man, to sitting in a wheelchair and not being able to move anything except his eyelids. It was both devastating and one of the most holy experiences of my life. I remember saying, “Someday, I’d like to write about this.” Eric was able to haltingly say, “thank – you.”

What were some special challenges associated with writing Ten Thousand Tries?

I definitely wanted to “get it right” on many fronts. For one thing, I was writing from a middle school boy’s perspective! My son helped me a lot (“no mom, you can’t say that.”) In the book, one of Golden’s best friends is Asian, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t just there as the token sidekick with nothing else to offer. His name is Benny and I LOVE Benny. The experience of living with ALS needed to be accurate. I teach Anatomy and Physiology, so that helped with the science, but I also had Eric’s wife, Heide, read the final manuscript. And of course, I didn’t want this to be too sad! So while I couldn’t treat the subject of an incurable disease lightly, I also had to find a way to bring in the humor and silver linings – and there are so many. Middle school humor is the best, so crossing my fingers I’ve done right by my middle school peeps.

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

Educators can use this book to talk about what it means to be a good teammate, both on the field and off — in our families and friendships. Ten Thousand Tries is being released in July 2021 to coincide with the Olympics (MESSI!) and the start of fall sports. This could lead to great conversations about athletics, who our heroes are, and why. Teachers could use this book (and Guinevere 🙂 to introduce medicine into their classroom, particularly from a brain perspective. Who knows, maybe it will inspire a student to be the one to finally find the cure to ALS, a disease that 5,000 people will be diagnosed with this year in the U.S.

Thanks for reading!

Thank you, Amy. I’m looking forward to it.

On Writing

2 Comments

One is improvising when one writes, and you pick up in the same way a musician starts to improvise and detect the inner structure of what he’s playing — that’s the way it works in the writing of a novel. You pick up the beat.
— Robert Stone

Quick Lit: What I’ve Been Reading Lately

Leave a Comment

The Removed by Brandon Hobson

This is a book I borrowed from my neighbor. The author teaches writing at New Mexico State — I had no idea! Told from four different points of view (three family members and one ancestor), the story centers on a Cherokee family in the days before they plan to commemorate the anniversary of the death of one son, a date that corresponds with the Cherokee National Holiday (which marks the signing of the Cherokee Nation Constitution of 1839). Ernest, the father, has been suffering from Alzheimer’s, but his condition (miraculously? coincidentally?) improves as the family cares for a young man in foster care — a boy who uncannily reminds both parents of the son they lost.

What is real? What is imagined or hoped for? What is part of the physical world? What is part of the spiritual? I had no idea where this book was headed and found it really fascinating.

All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker

A week after Olympia’s dad disappears, her mom takes to her bed and doesn’t get out again. Ollie’s dad has left a mysterious note under the orange juice jug in the fridge, saying he has something important he needs to do and that Ollie should destroy the note immediately. Where has her father gone? What is the secret her dad’s art-restoring partner is keeping? Who is the mysterious man that keeps calling the studio? And what is Ollie supposed to do with a missing father and practically absent mother?

This book is written so beautifully, I tagged multiple pages of quotes to keep in my ongoing list of Good Writing Examples. It also deals compassionately with a parent’s depression. The 1981 New York setting tinged with mystery made me think of Harriet the Spy (probably because 1981 was around the time I would have read that book). The art restoration made me think of Robertson Davies’ What’s Bred in the Bone. I especially loved the tender relationship between Ollie and Apollo, her dad’s business partner. Recommended!

Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David

I put this book in my library’s Overdrive queue after listening to a podcast where psychologist Susan David spoke about “toxic positivity,” the push to avoid hard emotions that we sometimes place on ourselves and others. David believes we should examine our anger, fear, and sadness and try to understand what those emotions are telling us rather than pushing them away or getting stuck in an overwhelming brooding cycle (me!). It’s in facing our difficult emotions and experiences with curiosity and compassion that we can live most fully.

I appreciated the literary connections David made to our life experiences. She described some typical thought patterns as unreliable narrators (so helpful!) and paralleled facing our flaws and weaknesses to the journey any character must undergo for growth and change (and, let’s face it, for a story to really take place). This book should be required reading for every human being!

Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett

This intense, heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful, beautifully written memoir reminded me a lot of Educated. It opens at Synanon, a one-time rehab center turned cult where children are taken from their parents at six months to be raised as Children of the Universe. Mikel’s mother leaves Synanon when Mikel is five and his brother Tony is seven, taking the children with her. Much of the story is Mikel’s attempt to understand family and his place in the world. It’s not an easy read. There’s addiction and emotional abuse and family patterns that are hard to break, but there is triumph, too. Mikel finds his home and his healing through music. (Writers will appreciate how he talks about the creative process. I especially connected with the idea that music is given away to the audience and no longer belongs to the artist.) He’s a few months younger than I am, meaning all his cultural references were completely familiar. I’ve thought about this one for days after finishing.