Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

Classroom Connections: The Mutant Mushroom Takeover by Summer Rachel Short

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age range: 9-12
genre: lightly spooky sci-fi
Summer Rachel Short’s website

Packed to the gills with fun.
— Kirkus Reviews

A fun debut novel with an action-packed climax that will leave readers eager to scope out the weirder side of nature.
— School Library Journal

Please tell us about your book.

The Mutant Mushroom Takeover is a lightly spooky novel about eleven-year-old aspiring naturalist, Magnolia Stone, and her best friend Nate, a conspiracy theorist and wannabe YouTube star. The story takes place in the small town of Shady Pines, Texas and kicks off when Maggie and Nate discover a strange bioluminescent fungus growing in the woods outside of town. At first the mushrooms seem like a natural wonder, but after animals around town start sprouting unusual growths and Maggie’s brother develops a bluish glow and hacking cough, Maggie and Nate wonder what they’ve really stumbled onto. 

As things in Shady Pines become stranger and more dangerous, Maggie must use her scientific smarts and Nate’s impressive knowledge of all things paranormal to put things back in order and prevent these peculiar glowing mushrooms from taking over their home.

What inspired you to write this story?

A couple happenings got me started––one was an idea my son had for a pirate named Root Beard whose beard was made of living tree roots. I started imagining what a character who was part human, part something else might be like which eventually inspired the creation of an important character in the book. The other was an old documentary my kids and I watched called Fungi: The Rotten World About Us. It had all sorts of creepy, fascinating facts about fungi and was a starting point for more research and imagining.

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

I watched videos, checked out library books, and read lots of articles about the unique properties of fungus—there are many! Though it is all around us, it’s a life form most people don’t know much about. The more I read, the more intrigued I became by what I was learning. To illustrate, here are few fun facts about fungus:

  • The largest living organism in the world is a fungus located in Malheur National Forest, Oregon and is nicknamed the Humongous Fungus. It spreads over 2,385 acres and is estimated to weigh between 7,567 and 35,000 tons!
  • Bioluminescent fungi produce their own light and glow neon green, blue, or yellow. They can be found in forests around the world. The phenomenon is also known as Foxfire. 
  • Fungi help trees communicate with one another through a vast underground fungal network. Through the fungus, trees warn each other about diseases and droughts and even direct their roots toward better soil. The network is nicknamed the wood-wide-web.
  • Radiation-loving mushrooms have been used to clean up nuclear disasters in places like Fukushima, Japan. The mushrooms feast on the radiation, thereby absorbing some of the harmful effects of the radiation. 

What are some special challenges associated with mixing real science with fiction?

There are so many fascinating and bizarre happenings in nature but unless we do some digging we don’t always find out about them. In The Mutant Mushroom Takeover, I really wanted to share my own wonder and excitement about all the strange things right under our noses. I know science topics can seem intimidating so my goal was to make this story as accessible as possible. I think one thing that helped with that was the differing interests of my two main characters. Maggie is very into all things sciency, while her best friend Nate wants to discover aliens or Bigfoot and be a big-time YouTube star. They each have their own perspective about the things they bump into––kind of like a middle grade X-Files where one character is sure everything is a paranormal encounter and the other is convinced there’s a scientific explanation. That dynamic brought a lot of humor to the story which helps make the science more relatable and fun. 

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

I think The Mutant Mushroom Takeover can inspire kids to find out more about the amazing and often bizarre natural world around them. There are real-life creatures that are as creepy and fascinating as any monster or alien from TV. I hope that after kids finish reading my book, they’ll have an appetite to discover more about nature’s many mysteries. Maybe some will even take up investigations of their own like Maggie and Nate. 

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Leap in with joy and passion

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I’ve only attended the Society of Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) summer conference once — back in 2014 when I served as New Mexico’s assistant regional advisor. This year, with the pandemic, the conference moved online. It was four and a half days of wonderful conversation between authors and their editors, illustrators and writers, and other industry pros.

My favorite session was a talk with the incomparable Jane Yolen (who at 81 is 450+ books into her “long and varied career”), led by her daughter and writing partner, Heidi Stemple. (A writing friend described Jane as the Fairy Godmother of Children’s Literature, which is exactly right.)

The quote above is Jane’s answer to Heidi’s question “what advice do you wish someone had given you early on?” What a breath of fresh air her answer was!

As a writer, it is so easy to get wrapped up in the next sale or a book’s “success” or “failure” (those are tricky words and loaded words with a number of ways to define and measure — many of which can leave an author discouraged). This notecard (pinned to my office wall) is one more way I’ve been reminded to keep my focus on what I can control and to find joy in the process.

Thank you, Jane. You are a treasure!

Straight from the Source: Cindy Anstey on Writing Historical Fiction

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Cindy Anstey has published six young adult romantic mysteries; they are all historical with a touch of humor, taking place in the 19th century. Her most recent book, Deadly Curious, is a more serious read and was released in June. Her five other titles are The Hummingbird Dagger, Love, Lies and Spies, Duels & Deception, Suitors and Sabotage and Carols and Chaos.

How do you conduct your research?

I research the old-fashioned way: books. I love learning social history. A new novel begins when I look into historical events around the timeframe I have chosen, and I extrapolate from there. For settings, I research suitable houses, (manors) often finding photos on the Internet. These help me understand the layouts—placement of the common rooms, servant’s quarters and bedrooms and I find color plates of lady’s fashions so that I can imagine the character’s gowns. I lived in Belgium for eight years and visited manors, palaces, castles and various estates across Europe—particularly England country houses, paying close attention to the rugs and furniture.

What kinds of sources do you use?

I can be very specific and give you an abbreviated list of my sources: Life in the English Country House by Mark Girouard; London, A Social History by Roy Porter; Up and Down Stairs, The History of the Country House Servant by Jeremy Musson; Our Tempestuous Day, A History of Regency England by Carolly Erickson; A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England by Sue Wilkes; 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Grose. I have many, many, more but those are the books close to hand. I am very fortunate that the time period I’m interested in (19th century) has been the focus of many a researcher and I have a bevy of books to choose from.

How long do you typically research before beginning to draft?

I love to research so much, it’s actually hard to stop. One subject will lead to another; it’s a never-ending list of what ifs and how did they do that? Of course, with each book, I learn far more about the history of my time period than ever makes it into the story. I call a halt to pure research at around 4 to 6 weeks, though it continues throughout the writing process—there are always things to verify.

What’s your favorite things about writing historical fiction?

There are so many things to like about historical writing that I am hard pressed to claim only one. However, if forced to do so, I would choose research. I love learning about the norms of a household two hundred years ago. I enjoy envisioning their daily lives and imagining their relationships in a world without computers and cell phones.

What are some obstacles writing historical fiction brings? 

While not a stumbling block per se, the attitude and thought processes of those who lived two hundred years ago can present limitations. The restrictions placed on women, particularly young women, were draconian. I often explain that my characters are acting oddly—not in keeping with the norm—in order to make the narrative more accessible to the reader. As an example, at the beginning of each book I find a way for my characters to call one another by their first names. In the 19th century, given names were rarely used; even married couples addressed one another formally when in company.

What’s one of the most interesting things you’ve learned while researching?

One of the interesting aspects of this time period is the length of time it takes to move around/to travel. Distances of 60 miles or so (an hour in the 21st century car) could take up to five hours in a carriage with stops along the way to change horses. City visitors often stayed a week or more at a friend or relative’s estate due to the lengthy travel time. Picnics or outdoor excursions had to be planned well in advance with arrangements made for the horses, seating and food that would not spoil. Servants were required to accompany the family to make life easier. 

What sorts of decisions have you had to make about “muddy” historical figures or events in order for your book to work?

The time period of my fifth book, The Hummingbird Dagger, was chosen to take advantage of the turmoil and historical events of the end of slavery in England. However, it became clear that referring to this issue could present a host problems, and I decided to change the pivotal purpose of the villains to that of squelching the abolition of privateers.