Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle: Pandemonium and Patience in the President’s House by Beth Anderson

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Beth Anderson, a former English as a Second Language teacher, has always marveled at the power of books. With linguistics and reading degrees, a fascination with language, and a penchant for untold tales, she strives for accidental learning in the midst of a great story. Beth lives in Loveland, Colorado where she laughs, ponders, and questions; and hopes to inspire kids to do the same. She’s the award-winning author of Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle: Pandemonium and Patience in the President’s House, “Smelly” Kelly and His Super Senses: How James Kelly’s Nose Saved the New York City Subway and An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution. Beth has more historical picture books on the way, including three more stories of revolution, wonder, and possibility in 2022.  

Welcome, Beth. Your newest book gives readers a glimpse into the life of President Lincoln’s son, Tad. What can you tell us about this vibrant young man?

Education has come a long way since 1863. At that time there was no consideration of learning styles and disabilities, no adaptations or accommodations for struggling students. In Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle: Pandemonium and Patience in the President’s House, we get a glimpse of a boy that today would be called a “differently-abled learner.” Tad was a boy with endless energy powered by a generous heart. The problem was, most people only saw bad behavior and tried to shut him down. His father, however, cherished the sunshine Tad provided during challenging times.

As I researched for the book, I was fascinated to find that there was enough information in primary sources for experts to conclude that Tad most likely had a partial cleft palate, severe speech impediment, and language-based learning disabilities. On top of that, he might have been considered ADHD today. The historical evidence for learning disabilities is limited, and we’re not able to definitively determine Tad’s exact problems. However, there is no doubt that he rejected lessons from the tutor in the White House, could not read and write until age 13, and had a “restless wriggle” that wouldn’t quit. 

There was a lot going on in Tad’s life that likely contributed to his schooling difficulties. His older brother Willie, who died in 1862, was an excellent student who mirrored his father in many ways with his love of learning, reading, and studying. In addition to his stellar brother, behavior expectations in the President’s House didn’t line up with Tad’s idea of “home,” resulting in constant disapproval. After Willie died, Tad’s grief and loneliness was compounded by losing the person who “translated” his garbled speech for others. So in addition to his learning and speech challenges, Tad had emotional issues to deal with. Today, educators know that understanding the affective filter is key to removing barriers so students can learn.

As I researched and wrote Tad’s story, I loved his confidence, creativity, generosity, and joy. People of the time reported that he had “wisdom beyond his years.” While he didn’t fit the mold of a perfect student, his ingenuity shined with his goat sled, his tricks with door locks, and ability to make rocking chairs from the dining table (yikes!) and barrel staves. He was able to “read people,” and when people lined up in the hallway to see his father, he chose those worthy of Papa’s attention and sent the greedy ones home. He took action to help the soldiers with resourceful ways of raising  money for the Sanitary Commission (like the Red Cross today)—quite a savvy little businessman. With some guidance from his father, Tad proved more capable than most imagined and surprised people who had him pegged as a troublemaker. 

A few years after leaving the President’s House, Tad learned to read, write, and speak clearly when his mother took him to Germany to study. Again, many factors probably played into that—including instruction, maturity, and the realization that he needed to take life more seriously. 

Though Abraham Lincoln was burdened with his duties and a horrific war, he was the one who saw Tad’s goodness and potential—the one who nurtured it. This story opened up a whole new side of Lincoln for me AND introduced me to an irresistible, amazing boy! Tad kept his father company, brought him joy and laughter, and gave him reason to hope for the future. This child, who so many tried to shut down, kept the President going. Thank you, Tad, for giving us all a lesson in patience, capableness, and seeing goodness!

Gratitude in Everyday Moments

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You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing, and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.
– G.K. Chesterton

I’m especially grateful my two college boys are coming home today. Counting the hours until I can hug them! Happy Thanksgiving, American friends. Wishing you joy and grace in the days ahead.

Classroom Connections: The Last Rabbit by Shelley Moore Thomas

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genre: historical fantasy
age range: 8-12 years
Shelley Moore Thomas’s website

In Albie’s strong first-person voice, Thomas narrates the rabbit’s journey through time and space and her attempts to reassemble her family, exploring the cost of action and inaction via an immersive adventure that references Celtic folklore and children’s classics.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

A spellbinding and heart-racing fairy tale about family, loss, and redemption, wrapped up in magic and mythology.
—Kirkus Reviews

A strong choice for fantasy readers with enough reading skill to handle many narrative twists and turns.
—School Library Journal

There’s an atmosphere of cryptic connections and the enigmatic forces at play just outside the story’s frame, and questions of loss, destiny, and love expand through the heartwarming tale.
—The Horn Book

Please tell us about your book.

Albie is a rabbit who used to be a girl. When we first meet her on the enchanted (and sinking) island of Hybrasil, she’s in hiding–hiding from the old Magician, who made a secret deal so that she and her sisters (also rabbits who used to be girls) could leave the island and return to their human forms, hiding from the Boy with the boat, who has agreed to ferry their rabbit/girls to their new destinies AND hiding from herself and the horrible guilt she feels about using stolen magic to (accidentally) change herself and her sisters into rabbits in the first place. 

But Albie is not one to wallow. No, she is a rabbit with a plan, and her plan is to keep the island from sinking and save the old Magician. He’s all she has left, after all. The Boy, however, has other plans. These involve getting Albie’s little rabbit self into his boat so that he can complete his task—the other rabbit/sisters have already gone to their new destinies. She is the last rabbit, and it is time for her to go.

Across land and sea, (and from time portals beneath the waves to an upside-down version of London), Albie will adventure where no rabbit/girl has gone before. 

What inspired you to write this story?

While researching hidden islands for Secrets Of Selkie Bay (my middle grade novel about sisters and selkies), I came upon the story of the mysterious Hy-brasil. Maps from the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries included this island somewhere off the west coast of Ireland. By the 1800’s, it no longer appeared on any maps. It had vanished completely from the geography of the world! However, the legends remain. It is said that Hy-Brasil only appears every seven years, that is it held down by four iron stakes at each corner and when they are removed, the island moves. Some claim that Hy-Brasil is the home of ancient Irish gods, others claim the island is home to monks who preserved the records of an advanced society. But my favorite legend tells the tale of Captain John Nisbet and his crew who reported landing on the island in 1674. There, they met a magician (and several large rabbits), who inhabited a castle. 

Hmmm….

Also, I wanted to write a story that allowed me to include just about anything I was inspired by—and what better place for unusual things to happen than a disappearing island?

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

I tend to reverse-research, which means I begin to write the story first and then research as I go. I am always amazed when I find out things that I have imagined would work perfectly for my story that have an actual presence in either history or folklore. In The Last Rabbit, I thought it might be nice for the story if Albie’s father was a pilot. Sure enough, I was able to uncover that there had indeed been a group of Irish pilots who’d flown in WWII. I also turn to research when I am stuck and don’t know what is going to happen next in the story. I’ll perform some historic or folkloric deep dives for inspiration. Folklore and history never let me down.

What are some special challenges associated with introducing a setting your audience might be unfamiliar with? 

As much as I love world building, I find that I am always merely traipsing about behind characters as the story unfolds, acting as a scribe. That means I usually have to go back and fill in more description about the setting so that my readers can see it as clearly as I can. Since I tend to be an underwriter, my revisions consist of adding details rather than cutting sections. Also, even though all my novels are steeped in folklore and fantasy, they are linked closely to events or places in the real world. 

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

THE LAST RABBIT is a story of family and fate, destiny and regret, and the transformative effects of both guilt and forgiveness. Unexpectedly funny in places and deeply heartfelt in others, THE LAST RABBIT has a classic feel, yet is deeply modern in its belief that a girl has the right to choose her own fate. In a nutshell, this story touches on what it means to be human. As an elementary teacher myself, I have found that one of the greatest gifts of literature is its ability to connect us with our own humanity–and that of others. With the isolation induced by the global pandemic, connection is more important now than ever!

On Writing

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It is time for writers to admit that nothing in this world makes sense. Only fools and charlatans think they know and understand everything. The stupider they are, the wider they conceive their horizons to be. And if an artist decides to declare that he understands nothing of what he sees — this in itself constitutes a considerable clarity in the realm of thought, and a great step forward.
— Chekhov

Quick Lit: What I’ve Been Reading Lately

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Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth was my book club’s October read. I missed this play in high school (my class read it while I was on exchange in Australia, where my classmates and I read The Merchant of Venice), but in some ways feel more familiar with it than any other Shakespearean play. In Mrs. Fay’s sixth-grade language arts and literature class, we performed a junior version. I was a weird sister (with the cool eye of newt and toe of frog speech and an awful homemade beard). I remember at our last high school reunion discussing Mrs. Fay (she was tough and scary) and remembering this play specifically. Many of us could still recite various lines — (“What, you egg! Young fry of treachery!”). As scary as she was, Mrs. Fay taught us a lot, and the highlight was experiencing Macbeth. The beautiful copy (above) was my yiayia’s.

This was the first time I’ve read Shakespeare without a teacher’s guidance or vocabulary cheat sheet. It helped to read some parts aloud. Other sections I read more than once. And this scene by scene synopsis was helpful, too.

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

A dual-voice middle grade told by Peter (a boy) and Pax (a fox). When an unnamed war begins, Peter’s father makes him release his beloved pet and takes him to safety at his grandfather’s house hundreds of miles away. But neither the fox or the boy can forget the other or the special bond they share.

Wow. What a work of art this book is! I’m so glad I didn’t read Pax a few years back when it first came out because I was able to savor it now. Every sentence was shaved down to its essence. So many beautiful ones I had to record (like the young reader who left stickies in the library copy I borrowed.) Every once in a while, a story knocks the wind out of me in a very good way. Pax is nothing short of stunning. It’s honest, heartbreaking, hopeful, and healing. I am so grateful it exists in the world. Please read it. Please share it with the children you love.

My Own Two Feet by Beverly Cleary

This is the second of Beverly Cleary’s memoirs and begins in 1934 when she is eighteen and headed to college. The Depression colors everything, and Beverly leaves her home in Portland for a community college in California, where she lives with family. After two years, she’d admitted to UC Berkeley (called Cal at the time) and lives at a dorm for students who work to earn their room and board. Money is always tight, and she pays for increasing boarding fees by doing things like hemming classmates’ skirts (shortening them to make them more fashionable). She meets her future husband Clarence at Cal, and her parents — with whom she’s had a strained relationship — don’t like him because he’s Catholic. Beverly goes on to get a library degree and works in several libraries. It’s only in the last chapter that she begins her writing in earnest.

Reading what I’ve written above, this might sound rather dull, but I found the book fascinating. Beverly’s college years reminded me a bit of the LM Montgomery journals when Maud was in school (though in Canada and decades earlier). Cleary’s ability to tell a story is clear from the start. I found myself really involved and looked forward to settling down with my book at the end of the workday. Losing Beverly Cleary earlier this year made reading her memoir a personal goal. I’m so glad I finally got to it.

The Wonder of Birds: What They Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future by Jim Robbins

I don’t know much about birds (and thought they were the dullest animals ever when I was a kid), but over the years I’ve grown more and more interested. This book was a good introduction to the world of the bird. It opens with a quote I had to write down: “No wild animal lives so freely and in such variety and numbers among humans as birds do. For that reason alone, our relationship with them is unlike our connection to any other wild creature.”

I learned all sorts of interesting things while reading, like the “winglet” on airplanes (that upturned wingtip) mimics the wings of soaring birds like eagles and buzzards. This adjustment alone “saves forty-five thousand gallons of fuel per jet plane annually.” Amazing! Birds are incredibly smart, meaning having a “bird brain” is really a good thing. 🙂 Did you know that most birds innately know their species’ songs, but a few, like parrots, hummingbirds, and songbirds, have to learn them from their parents? In an experiment, young bullfinches (birds that don’t have songs of their own) were removed from their parents and taught folk tunes and songs like Chopin’s “Thou Art so Like a Flower.” So cool!

Yesterday in my backyard there were five different types of birds in my tree at one time — some mourning doves, a robin, a woodpecker, and two birds I didn’t recognize (though tried to figure out with Cornell University’s Merlin ID app. I think one was a cactus wren). I love how books like this one open my eyes to the world around me.

What have you been reading lately?

JASPER in paperback! Coming soon-ish!

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Fun news taking place a while from now! (But hey, that’s all publishing, isn’t it?)

JASPER AND THE RIDDLE OF RILEY’S MINE releases in paperback June 28, 2022, a week before my next middle grade novel, MIRACULOUS, arrives! 

I adore this book. Newbery Award-winning author Karen Cushman called it “a rip-roaring tale and a romping good read.”

School Library Journal said “The dreams and dangers of the 1897 Klondike gold rush fuel Rose’s first novel in prose, and it’s a rousing historical adventure…Rose’s carefully plotted clues, along with colorful supporting characters and narrow escapes, keep the pace brisk…Highly recommended for fans of adventure and historical fiction, or as a classroom read-aloud.”

The Barnes and Noble Kids’ Blog said “Jasper’s emotions become the reader’s emotions and we are drawn along with him through hope, despair, desperation, and perseverance, to a climactic end that strikes all the right chords.”

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books described it as “[A] mash-up of clue-driven mystery, historical fiction, and survival story.”

And Sarah Mackenzie of the Read Aloud Revival said “This is Caroline Starr Rose at her best yet. I loved this book. Perfect for ages 8-12 but I enjoyed it every bit as much as a kid would.” 

If you haven’t read JASPER yet, please consider pre-ordering a copy!

Reading and Writing Links

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I found this article really helpful — great book examples for each category, too.
Five Kinds of Nonfiction by Melissa Stewart :: School Library Journal

“Here is an idea I love that may or may not be true: Some books have a centripetal force— they suck you in from other books. Some books have a centrifugal force — they spin you out to other books.”
The books that suck you in and the books that spin you out :: Austin Kleon

“Writing for children means writing about children. Chapter books are often about kids learning how to navigate conflict with peers and adults, middle grade is often about exploration and imagining a world where you’re making decisions without your parents, and young adult fiction is often about navigating emotional complexity. But they’re all about kids navigating their worlds and trying to get the things they want. Sometimes that needs to involve adults, sometimes it doesn’t.”
How to Write Adult Characters in Children’s Books :: Nathan Bransford

“So how do we write picture books that show character change without explicitly stating the lesson? It’s a rather simple answer: let the character have some realizations and then act upon them. At the same time, do not explain what the character is learning.”
Picture Books that Show Character Change :: KidLit.com

Joanne and I were a part of the Class of 2k12: children’s authors who debuted in 2012. This Instagram post is spot on: “This period of success is the culmination of years of hard work and rejection. A lot of rejection. From agents and editors: kind rejections, some abrupt rejections that bordered on mean, some ghost rejections, and maybe most heartbreakingly, some almost yesses that turned into rejections. At one point, before even my first book published, I logged nearly a thousand rejections. I stopped counting, but there have been many, many more since.”
Never Give Up! :: Joanne Levy

“It doesn’t pay to pretend that we’ve figured it out before we have. It’s counterproductive to adopt a brittle attitude in the face of criticism. In fact, during this stage, ‘you’re not that good,’ is precisely what we need to hear, because it might be followed with insight on how to get better.”
You’re Not That Good :: Seth Godin

Thank you, Gary Paulsen, for everything. “Gary Paulsen is a national treasure, a landmark author whose many books don’t just transfix and entertain, they change the course of readers’ lives. Hatchet and his other edge-of-your-seat stories—many of them inspired directly by his own experiences—have shown reluctant readers the world over that reading is itself an adventure. His books have helped readers overcome fears in their own lives and instilled in his millions of fans through the decades a passion for undertaking their own personal feats of daring and courage.”
Obituary: Gary Paulsen :: Publisher’s Weekly

 

Look no further: Copy edits!

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It’s always so cool to see your book’s copyright page for the very first time.

This week I finished up my copy edits for Miraculous. I thought it might be fun to give readers here a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the process. First, let’s define some terms. Copy editing is “the process of revising written material to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors.” It happens close to the end of the editing process, after a manuscript has been delivered and accepted. Copy editing is different than proofreading, which is a final once over to check for errors while the book is in proof or galley form (the first time it appears like it will as a book). It’s also different from the work an editor does, which is giving big-picture feedback on story structure, character development and motivation, and plot, to name a few examples. Editors also give feedback on smaller-scale story details, called line edits.

Editors, copy editors, and proofreaders are all different people with different roles in making a book the best it can be.

My copy edits came to me in two documents : a marked-up version of my manuscript with comments from the copy editor throughout…

…and a document the copy editor produced called a style sheet.

On the style sheet, you learn which lenses the copy editor will be reading through (in this case, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style). That means I get my serial commas and the ones that offset adverbs like either and too — hooray! The style sheet is an overview of the manuscript and includes a list of characters with their descriptions, a timeline of the the book chapter by chapter (sometimes called a book map), and corrections to the grammatical and spelling errors I’m prone to make.

I can intellectually tell you the difference between “further” and “farther”, but do I always use these words correctly? Evidently not! Same with “anymore” and “any more”. And clearly, I have no grasp of the word “into”. I also learned callous is an adjective and callus is a noun, as I’d had a character with calloused hands. 🙂

A copy editor also finds continuity errors. I’ve read my manuscript dozens of times but never realized, for example, that I’d used two different terms for my fictional women’s organization called the Ladies’ Auxiliary. I was also asked to verify the existence of the medical books Dr. Kingsbury keeps in his wagon. All but one were real (and published before 1887, when my book takes place). The last book, my own invention, included some cure-all claims that were too fun to pass up. Here’s an example to whet your appetite: “If you are not feeling just right and cannot locate the trouble, take this wonderful medicine before its too late. You do not know what minute you may be overtaken by some dire calamity.”

Soon first-pass pages will print (also called proofs or galleys and the last time changes can be made…EEK), then it’s off to advance readers copies, which go out to reviewers. Does all this feel early for a book coming out next July? Nope! We’re right on schedule.

Each time I publish a book, I’m reminded how many people strive to make my story shine. So grateful I can lean on others’ expertise to make my writing better.

Writing is a very silly business at best.

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Writing is a very silly business at best. There is a certain ridiculousness about putting down a picture of life. And to add to the joke — one must withdraw for a time from life in order to set down that picture. And third one must distort one’s own way of life in order in some sense to simulate the normal in other lives. Having gone through all this nonsense, what emerges may well be the palest of reflections. Oh! It’s a real horse’s ass business. The mountain labors and groans and strains and the tiniest of rodents comes out. And the greatest foolishness of all lies in the fact that to do it at all, the writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true. If he does not, the work is not worth even what it might otherwise have been.
— John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters

Read more quotes I enjoyed from the book here.