Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

Classroom Connections: Thankful by Elaine Vickers

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age range: 4-8 years
format: picture book
Elaine Vickers’s website
printable activity guide
resources
Thankful book trailer

Charming, engaging…a visual delight.
— Kirkus Reviews

Please tell us about your book.

If Thankful were a song, it would be “What a Wonderful World.” The story is a lyrical narrative about gratitude based on a tradition from my own family. When winter comes, we each write down the things we’re thankful for on strips of paper, make a paper chain with them, then read a link of the chain each day as the new year approaches. At its core, Thankful is celebration of family, the beauty of the natural world—and what a wonderful thing it is to be part of it all.

What inspired you to write this story?

It’s funny—even though Thankful comes from a tradition in my family, that’s not where it started. The tradition itself is actually one that I made up for the main character to do with her family in one of my middle grade novels, Paper Chains. It wasn’t until my editor asked whether I’d gotten the idea from my own experience that it even occurred to me that this was something I could do with my actual children in real life! So, of course, we started that very year, and a few of their cousins joined in.

What sets this book apart and makes it truly unique?

While I’m proud of the text of the book, even I am quick to affirm that the art is the best part. When I heard that 3-D illustrator Samantha Cotterill had signed on to the project, I’m embarrassed to admit that my first thought was, “Does that mean it will be a pop-up book?” Of course, Sam’s art is even more magical than that. She builds each set and lights it and photographs it, and those become the illustrations. One of the most magical aspects of her work to me, though, is that she creates these incredible pieces using things like house paints and cereal boxes, and she leaves just enough imperfection for kids to look at the illustrations and think, “I bet I could do that.”

Thankful seems to take place both in a single evening and over the course of an entire year. How did you come up with the text for this story?

As I was writing the text for this story, I thought back to the things my own kids had written on their thankful chains. Some were general, others were personal and very specific, and so many of them were surprising—yet universal. That’s what I hoped to capture in the book: the things we all have to be grateful for, regardless of our circumstances. A dear friend told me that the words have been almost like a meditation to her, helping her through a difficult period as she remembers to be “thankful for a heart that beats . . . and every breath, in and out, in and out.”

Of course, the goal was to write an appealing and authentic story, first and foremost. But if it can help kids develop a sense of gratitude and maybe even practice gratitude in their own lives (which has been shown to make us happier and healthier!), I would be thankful for that indeed.

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

Gratitude, of course, which is perfect for this time of year—or any time of year! I can also envision classroom connections to art and engineering as students create their own scenes, language arts as students write their own thankful chains, and character education as they discuss gratitude and awareness of the good things in their lives. We do have some great resources to go along with the book as well, including a printable activity guide and a fabulous trailer (81 seconds guaranteed to brighten your day—just listen to those kids’ voices!) It’s been amazing to watch the photos and videos already of teachers who are reading the book and making thankful chains to decorate their classrooms. It’s pretty much my favorite thing ever! And, as a bonus, you can read Paper Chains too for a perfectly-paired middle grade read aloud!

Quick Lit: What I’ve Been Reading Lately

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The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

I LOVED this book. It was inspired (though is no way based on) a story of three lighthouse keepers who went missing over a hundred years ago. The Lamplighters a locked door mystery with stopped clocks, a table laid for two instead of three, and a rope that has disappeared. The story shifts between 1972, when the fictional keepers went missing, and 1992, when an author interviews their wives and girlfriend in an attempt to discover what really happened.

I loved the language and structure and mystery and the idea that you might be one person in a particular setting and someone else in another. I loved how atmospheric the book was and the slow unfolding of secrets. What else can I say? Go read it!

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages, ever since I came across Christopher McDougall’s article about the Tarahumara / Raramuri people in a back issue of Runner’s World. You’ve probably heard about the Tarahumara, a Mexican tribe that runs incredibly long distances (up to two hundred miles at a time) through their mountainous homeland. The book touches on a number of things — chronic running injuries (I’ve been there), the sheer joy of running, the intense (and a little crazy) world of ultramarathoners, and modern running shoe design (how they’ve altered a natural running form and how those chronic injuries are connected to all that cushioning).

My running partner and I both listened to this a few months apart, and it became a big discussion on our runs. We’ve started adding a barefoot lap in a grassy field near our route to build up our foot muscles. I’ll be thinking about this one for years to come, I suspect.

Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most by Greg McKeown

I read McKeown’s first book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, when it first came out and liked it, but it wasn’t life changing for me as it was for many readers. This one, though, hit me at the right time — my husband and I are now empty nesters, I’m pretty established in my career, and most recently, I’d just finished a writing deadline. In other words, I was ready for a bit of insight for the short and long term.

McKeown defines the effortless state as “an experience many of us have had when we are physically rested, emotionally unburdened, and mentally energized.” He talks about making work fun and easy (instead of assuming the hardest path is required) and aiming to accomplish more by trying less (holding to a sustainable pace, for example, rather than pushing through and risking burnout). I loved the sentence he ended with: “Life doesn’t have to be as hard and complicated as we make it.”

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

I think this is the first time in my year and a half with the Dead Authors Society book club that we all equally loved a book! I am fascinated with the Brontes (their writing, their upbringing, their creative lives and tragic experiences, their influence on countless other writers, including Emily Dickinson). This was my first Anne novel. Next year we’ll finish up the Brontes and read Anne’s Agnes Grey, too.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a slow burn love story that starts with a mysterious widow named Helen who moves with her young son to the secluded Wildfell Hall. Soon neighbors have plenty of opinions about her, and she becomes a social outcast. Readers learn she’s not actually a widow but has left her abusive, alcoholic husband. Wildfell Hall has been described as one of the first feminist novels. It was considered the most scandalous of the Bronte books (now that’s saying something!), and to protect Anne’s reputation, Charlotte made sure it wasn’t reissued after her sister’s death. I’m happy to say it’s available now. Such a good read!

What have you been reading lately?

The writing life is strange — a mix of solitude and public scrutiny

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The writing life is a strange one — a mix of solitude and public scrutiny that are night-and-day different. There are seasons where I’m alone at my desk, creating and revisiting “book world” (as I fondly think of each new place that comes into existence inside my head) and seasons where a project that has only been seen by a handful of people suddenly becomes a commodity up for discussion by reviewers and regular readers alike.

It’s weird, I tell you. Kind of jarring, actually, to move between such extremes.

I’m almost ten years in on the publishing side of my writing life (and almost twenty-four years in on the rest of it), and in some ways I feel like I’m finally getting my stride. I’m learning to fret less about the creative process (most days!). I’m finding less internal pressure to hustle (though it can be hard when you’re your own boss not to march to the beat of “Produce! Publish! Don’t be forgotten!”). I’m learning to sit with the uncertainty of all that is out of my hands (but maybe my agent would tell you differently?). I’ve examined and refined what it means to me to be successful and what it is I’m trying to do with my work. I’ve exchanged countless emails with my dear writing partner, Valerie Geary, about these very things. (Here’s a recent Instagram post by the lovely Natalie Lloyd that resonated with both of us.)

What I’m saying is I think I’m finally figuring things out!

Mind you, I’m writing this on the tail end of a few years in the solitude season. Soon there will be a book cover to share, and soon after that, advance reader copies will go out to reviewers. The public side of the writing life will begin again in jarring full swing. This time around I’m going in with a few more years of grace and maturity under my belt (fingers crossed I remember this), a few more manuscripts on the back burner, and the reminder that I’m living my dream. I get to do the thing I yearned for forever. So far, publishers are still taking a chance on me.

What a weird world. What a wonderful one.

Reading and Writing Links

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“Once you’ve established the goal, you gage the stakes by assessing what the character poses to gain if they succeed, or lose if they fail. Usually, the more they have to gain, the more they have to lose too.”
Raising the Stakes :: Good Story Company

“Writing, in this sense, is a life-long exercise in frustration. Because it is also true that when I read works by authors I admire I rarely tell myself—oh, that could have been better. Those folks seem to get it all right. How come I don’t?”
When is a book done? And well done? :: Avi

“What connects these two pieces, for me, is how much easier persistence is when there’s obsession behind it. (And likewise, discipline is much easier when it’s fueled by desire.)”
You Have to Be Obsessed :: Austin Kleon

“Cultural and historical contexts matter. The problem is that when you’re steeped in them, they shape you — for better and worse — and it’s hard to see how. So what is “goodness,” and who gets to determine its shape and scope? No single culture or era can fully hold the answer to that question; cultures and eras, like individuals, are marred and beautiful at the same time. To widen the narrow vision of our own perspectives, I encourage readers to cross borders of race and culture and learn from a diversity of contemporary storytellers. But to widen the narrow, limited vision of our own era, we may — dare I say, must — also cross borders into the past to seek goodness in stories there as well.”
Why Read Books From the Past by Mitali Perkins :: The Horn Book

“Only pay an editor if it’s money you’re not going to badly miss. There are other ways of getting feedback from friends, loved ones, and critique groups. Also: even if you can afford it, only pay for an edit if you’re genuinely open-minded and ready to do the resulting work. There’s no sense in paying someone if you’re not actually interested in their feedback.”
When to Hire a Freelance Book Editor :: Nathan Bransford

“Accepting the premise of the “pinnacle” as metaphor, does that mean I have been going downhill these past thirty years? And, since the reviewer was so certain of Charlotte’s place among my books, is it fair to ask, were all my other books read before making that judgement?”
Achieving the Pinnacle :: Avi

 

The Notebook Series: A Race Around the World

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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 sixth in the series, will focus on my third picture book, A Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland.

A confession: most of the work I did for this book didn’t end up in these notebook pages.

Most of it ended up here, on an enormous chart I hung on my wall.

This chart was the simplified, at-a-glance version of the more detailed copy I kept on my computer.

Long-time readers here might remember I grew up with my own Nellie Bly book. As I started my research, I wasn’t sure where my story would land, but I knew I wanted to write about Nellie. When I decided to focus on her around-the-world race (for weeks she had no idea she was in competition against rival lady journalist Elizabeth Bisland), it was crucial I knew where each woman was each day of her journey. This chart helped me keep track of weather and steamships, train routes and landmarks, delays and adventures and mishaps. It helped me see, for example, that the day Nellie, in Hong Kong, learned she wasn’t just racing against time but also Elizabeth (day 39, if you’re curious) was the same day Elizabeth, in Singapore, was convinced she’d be a tiger’s dinner.

The chart helped me track each woman’s highs and lows and compare and contrast their different experiences. I shared it with my editor who shared it with my illustrator. Below you see Nellie in Ceylon, where she savored the setting and her fortuitous speed (but eventually became frustrated and headachey) contrasted with Elizabeth’s wanderings in Japan, a place where she wished she could linger.

I don’t know if I would have been able to see the story’s big picture as well as all its moving parts if it hadn’t been for this approach.

While working on this book, I came across a Nellie quote that fit her journey to a tee and paralleled my own writing experience: Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything. Thank you, Nellie and Elizabeth, for your brave, bold energy! I’m so glad I’ve gotten to share your adventures with a new generation of readers.

Read the post about May B. here.
Read about Over in the Wetlands here.
Read about Blue Birds here.
Read about Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine here.
Read about Ride On, Will Cody! here.

Straight from the Source: Adrianna Cuevas on Writing Historical Fiction

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Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pura Belpre honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez and Cuba in My Pocket. She is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida. A former Spanish and ESOL teacher, Adrianna currently resides in Austin, Texas with her husband and son. She is represented by Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary.

What typically comes first for you: a character? An era? A story idea? How do you proceed from there?

I always begin my story brainstorming with a ‘what if’ question. The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, the question was ‘What if you could talk to animals?’ and for Cuba in My Pocket, it was ‘What if you had to move to another country by yourself?’ From there, I think of what type of character would be the most interesting to place in that ‘what if’ situation and then what type of setting would make that hypothetical situation the most dramatic. 

How do you conduct your research? 

For Cuba in My Pocket, I interviewed several family members regarding their immigration to the US. I had a prepared set of questions and then contacted them to ask follow-up questions as I began writing. I also read several books by Cuban-American authors regarding their immigration experiences as well.

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

I completed a loose outline of Cuba in My Pocket before beginning research in earnest because I knew the broad details of my dad’s immigration story. After completing my outline, I could see what gaps in information existed and conducted the necessary research to fill in what I needed.

What’s your least favorite thing about research?

It’s too easy to waste time chasing information that really isn’t critical to your story. An author can also fall victim to spending a lot of time researching a particular topic, only to realize it won’t work in the story. Research, while critical to a story’s authenticity and accuracy, is time-consuming and can often keep an author from their favorite part of the process- actually writing the story.

What are some obstacles writing historical fiction brings?

Moment of honesty– I don’t like writing historical fiction. My mind deviates too often to the magical and ridiculous. Being constricted by true events stifles the story I really want to tell. The main reason I wrote Cuba in My Pocket was because I wanted to preserve my father’s immigration story, not because of some deep love for writing historical fiction. I have quickly returned to writing contemporary fantasy– my comfort zone.

***

Inspired by stories from her father’s childhood, Cuevas’ latest is a triumph of the heart…A compassionate, emotionally astute portrait of a young Cuban in exile.
― Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

Cuevas’ intense and immersive account of a Cuban boy’s experience after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion brings a specific point in history alive … Drawing from her father’s boyhood experiences, Cuevas does an outstanding job of eliciting the confusing array of emotions Cumba feels as he is thrown into life in a new country.
― Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

Cuevas packs this sophomore novel with palpable emotions and themes of friendship, love, longing, and trauma, attentively conveying tumultuous historical events from the lens of one young refugee.
― Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

Classroom Connections: Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bull Head Lodge, Illustrated by Jeanne Bowman

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genre / form: historical picture book
age range: 4-8 years
Jeanne Bowman’s website

Please tell us about your book. 

Charlie Russell and the Gnomes of Bull Head Lodge, written by Emily Wilson, is a story about the famous western painter Charlie Russell and his search for creativity.

Charlie Russell (1864-1926) was known as “The Cowboy Artist” because he started painting while he was working as a cowhand in his youth. He loved to paint the working men and women of the frontier, the Native people of the plains and mountains and the wildlife that lived in the beautiful country stretching from New Mexico to Montana. 

This story is an interesting look at a small slice of his life. Charlie owned a small cabin in the middle of Glacier National Park. He spent summers there with his wife and friends, including his fellow artist and student Joe De Yong. Not many people know that Charlie also loved to make sculptures out of found objects. This story focuses on the life he infused into such creations, and how they helped to stir his creativity within the awesome backdrop of Glacier National Park. 

What inspired you to illustrate this story?

The South Dakota Historical Society Press (SDHSP) approached me to illustrate this story. I was interested because of the gnomes, and because of the little bit I knew about Charlie Russell from my art history classes in school. I love all things magical and mystical, and what is more mysterious than a forest filled with gnomes and art? 

This story was a fantastic excuse for me to spend more time researching Charlie Russell and the time period in which he lived. I have lived in both New Mexico and Montana and it gave me new insight and appreciation into the history of both states as well. (Although this story only takes place in Montana, Charlie made many trips to the south and made many paintings of the Navajo People, which were present in the biographies I used to research for this project.) 

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

I began this project by reading biographies about Charlie Russell and Glacier National Park. Here are two of the main texts I used to work on this book: 

Charles M. Russell, The Life and Legend of America’s Cowboy Artist by John Taliaferro and People Before The Park, The Kootenai and Blackfeet Before Glacier National Park by Sally Thompson, Kootenai Culture Committee & Pikunni Traditional Association.

I also took a trip to The Glacier National Park to photograph the landscape the book takes place in. This is not possible for every book, but luckily I live just 10 hours away (and my best friend lives near the park). 

I was also lucky because the author of the book, Emily Wilson, is also the curator of The C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls so she and the wonderful Art Director at SDHSP sent along many fantastic photographic references of the real gnomes Charlie had made.

I also utilized the wonderful digital archive of photos from The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa Oklahoma to learn about what Charlie’s home in the woods looked like. 

As an illustrator, what I am looking for mainly is photographic reference. Charlie’s life luckily overlapped the invention of the camera and his family was fond of taking many photographs. What I found most interesting in my research was the lifestyles of the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreilles tribes that live in the park. The way these people lived off the land in a sustainable way, moving with the seasons to harvest food, and acting as stewards of the land was very inspiring. It was also incredibly sad because of the way they have been displaced and mistreated. This was not something that I was taught in school and it offered a whole new perspective about living in the West that I had not considered before in depth. 

What were some of the challenges you faced in illustrating this unique story, with it’s historical setting and characters, but fictional narrative? 

Consistency is the hardest part of illustrating a picture book. Making sure that the characters look the same from page to page, especially if they have different emotions or are placed in a different perspective, is quite tough. Since Charlie and Joe were actual people, I needed to make a simplified version that still looked like them and that I would be able to replicate over and over again. In addition, I needed to find ways to create an image that told the story without repeating it, or that added something more through emotion or atmosphere. There are some pages within this story where I feel like I accomplished that, and some where I feel like I could have pushed it further. I hope that works overall. I am still really new at this and am learning with every project how to do it better. 

The truly hardest part was painting all the TEN MILLION LEAVES! I have a tendency to over detail things, and it came back to haunt me when I needed to paint everything.  I use watercolor and gouache. I paint by building up layers in glazes and it felt like it took an eternity, even with all of the stylistic shortcuts I took, to finish this book. 

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

Bull Head Lodge today

This book has some wonderful overlapping topics. Charlie Russell and Joe De Yong were great artists in their own right. There is also the history of Montana and Glacier National Park to consider. I highly recommend looking into the life and history of the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreilles tribes that live in the area. There is a fantastic museum in Polson, MT called The People’s Museum that would be a great resource to learn more about this topic. You could even use this book to discuss art, artistic process, inspiration and the concept of the artist’s muse. (This book has three of them!) 

Quick Lit: What I’ve Been Reading Lately

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The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

The Four Winds is an unflinching look at life in the Texas panhandle during the Dust Bowl era. Part Steinbeck, part seventies meaty historical saga (those big, fat books I devoured as a teen) but with a literary slant, it is epic in scope and very ambitious. Author Kristin Hannah pulls it off masterfully. She’s an author who means business: intensity, sadness, and ultimately hope are central to her books, I’ve learned as a reader. I love me a good “bleak but hopeful” book (I’ve written a few myself — see below!), but wow, this one did me in. And you know what? I loved it! I found myself ready to plunge into Elsa Martinelli’s world every chance I got. What a character and what a story. There were beautiful and complex mother / daughter relationships in these pages. An up-close look at how deeply individual lives were changed by a climatic and man-made disaster like no other in the midst of the Great Depression. A reminder that humans can be downright awful and that kindness is what sustains and bolsters. And the most beautiful thread woven through these dire pages was the reminder that “hard times don’t last. Love does.”

Train Go Sorry: Inside a Deaf World by Leah Hager Cohen

In the early nineties, I was fascinated by Henry Kisor’s What’s That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness, about a journalist making his way in a hearing world. Train Go Sorry (an ASL expression meaning “missed the bus”), a story of NY’s Lexington School for the Deaf, was written around the same time. While incredibly different, both books grapple with many of the same issues, primarily the best approach for teaching deaf children: Vocalization or sign? Mainstreaming or special schools? Deaf teachers or hearing? Hearing aids? Implants?

The school, which opened in 1864, has been through a number of changes as over time educational practices have shifted. I was glad to see Lexington’s still going strong. Leah Hager Cohen, the hearing daughter of Lexington’s then hearing superintendent, grew up in an apartment on campus, submerged in the Deaf community and longing to be a part of it. I loved the chance to look over her shoulder as she shadowed two Lexington students. This book is a glimpse into a rich community, the complexities of and challenges facing education, identity, and equality, and the undeniable truth that schools both expose deaf children to their own culture and become a second family.

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose

This is a weird one to include here, I know. But reading Reem Faruqi’s verse novel Unsettled about a girl uprooted and placed in an entirely new setting made me think of my May Betterly. May was only fifteen miles from home but an entire world away. I haven’t picked up May B. since a quick read on an airplane to Atlanta in 2012, when I was cramming for school visits and wanted to be sure I knew my own story. It’s hard to read your own words and get any sort of distance, but nine years later, I was able to. Sure, there are parts more familiar than others (the ones I’ve shared at readings over the years), but other sections felt entirely new. For the first time, I was (almost) able to read the book as a stranger would.

Here’s the thing. I still love it! The metaphors are fresh! Of course there were words here and there I would change if I could. I’d like the chance to fiddle with some line breaks, too. May cries way too much (I now believe what Nathan Bransford does, that a character should cry once, maybe twice in a book), but my word, that girl went through a lot. I’ll cut her some slack. She was so strong! And brave! My favorite line is still Wolf, / show your face.

I was told when May published it was an evergreen book, and I’m happy to say it still holds up.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I read this for the first time in college and have memories of laughing while reading on the shuttle from the parking lot to campus. It was a treat to re-read with my Dead Authors Society book club. I was again taken by the creation of a fictional author from a fictional land (S. Morgenstern from Florin, which once was between Germany and Sweden) and all the backstory and asides Goldman provides throughout the story. A line from the introduction caught my eye this time around — “How much can the truth be manipulated in the name of art?” Indeed!

It was fun to be so well acquainted with the movie that I could see places Goldman gave a line to another character, for example, (the “life is pain” line is something Fezzik’s mother told him during his youthful wrestling days!) or veered a bit from the original text. I’m curious about the decisions Goldman made in writing his book as a screenplay. What further changes did Rob Reiner make with edits of his own? If you’re a fan of the movie but have never read the book, you MUST. It’s an absolute treat.

What have you been reading lately?