Caroline Starr Rose

award-winning picture book and middle-grade author

Classroom Connections: The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros

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age range: 5-9
genre: picture book; contemporary fiction; Alzheimer’s disease
www.jessieoliveros.com

James and Grandpa’s shared heritage and stories of their loving family shine. What is clear is that their memories matter—to them and ultimately to readers. A moving and meaningful way to talk about a situation many families will face.
— Kirkus, starred review

Oliveros never sugarcoats the difficulties of dementia, but young listeners are most likely to note this mixed-race family’s gracious understanding of Grandpa’s troubles, as well as the joy they take in retelling his tales.
— Booklist

[The] distinctive look, combined with the simple, plaintive prose, offers genuine poignancy.
— Publisher’s Weekly

Jessie and I have known each other since the early days of blogging. It’s so fun to host her today! Jessie, please tell us about your book.

My debut picture book, THE REMEMBER BALLOONS, came out earlier this fall from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. It’s illustrated by the amazing Dana Wulfekotte. (She also had her debut this year, as an author-illustrator!)

In THE REMEMBER BALLOONS, balloons are a metaphor for memories. James is very proud of his balloons, especially the ones that carry his favorite memories. He is also proud of the number of balloons his grandpa has—he’s lived so long, so he has a lot of them! James loves to listen to the stories inside of Grandpa’s balloons. Then, one day, he notices that Grandpa’s balloons are floating away. James tries to catch them but he can’t. However, in the end, James finds a way to reclaim Grandpa’s memories.

What inspired you to write this story?

The inspiration came to me a couple summers ago while visiting my grandpa with my kids. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years before that. Alzheimer’s can be confusing for a child. I have to remind my children what to expect when we visit their great-grandfather.

He will repeat questions.

He won’t know your names.

At the time, I had been dabbling in picture books and trying to find an agent for my middle grade. I remember looking at my grandpa chewing on a toothpick, and that’s when it occurred to me that I should write a children’s book about Alzheimer’s. I didn’t know it would be metaphorical and include balloons—not yet, that came later.

But when it did come to me and the way it all came together in a manuscript, well—I feel like the message was quite a bit bigger than me. I think there was definitely some heavenly inspiration there, too.

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

This book was wholly formed by my own personal experiences with my grandfather. I think having the subject matter so ingrained in my heart helped the words flow quickly and cohesively. My grandpa represented so much about my childhood—especially the days that we would spend in his little town in Kansas, visiting him and my grandmother. Those visits, that town, are roughly half of my soul—and the book has my soul in it. So, if you count living my life and loving my Grandpa “research,” then there’s your answer!

What are some special challenges associated with writing about Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s and memory loss are very big topics for a picture book. I wanted a child to be able to relate. I felt like a straight-forward story wasn’t very interesting, but balloons…I mean, what child doesn’t love balloons? Once the child has established that the balloons hold the memories, the transition to Grandpa losing his balloons is easier to comprehend rather than just, “Grandpa is losing his memories.”

Furthermore, I’ve had readers tell me they cried through the book. I hope that it’s been a solace for some, especially those with a family member with Alzheimer’s. I think sad books are important! But I wanted to be sure to end THE REMEMBER BALLOONS on a hopeful note. Grandpa might have lost all of his memories, but James is now carrying the balloons that Grandpa shared with him. James gets to carry on Grandpa’s memories, even when Grandpa no longer has them.

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

Well, the most obvious topic is Alzheimer’s and/or dementia. But THE REMEMBER BALLOONS is also very much about family and carrying on the legacy of those who have gone before us. I believe recording our personal histories as well as the stories we hear is very important, and I hope this book inspires people to do this! It’s definitely a way of holding onto ours and others’ balloons—no matter what happens. 

Classroom Connections: What Goes Up by Wen Baragrey

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age range: 8-12 years
genre: contemporary fiction
Wen’s website

A quirky, heartwarming story of family and friendship. –Kirkus Reviews

With warmth and whimsy, What Goes Up explores the security of friendship, the permanence of family, and the comfort that comes from learning the place you belong. –Caroline Starr Rose, author of May B.

Please tell us about your book.

What Goes Up is about Robyn Tinkerbell Goodfellow, a girl who is surrounded by some very eccentric people in the quirky small town of Calliope. When she learns that a satellite has failed and will be crashing back down to earth soon, she believes that it will land on her house, with good reason. Everything from trees and kites to toys and sky divers has landed on her roof, earning it the nickname the Magnet Roof. Before the satellite squashes her and her home, Robyn needs to find her long-lost father so that he can either save her, or rename her so people won’t laugh when they hear she’s been tragically squashed.

Robyn is the sort of heroine with a can-do attitude, even when “can-don’t” might be a better idea. Her adventures lead her to meet some interesting people in some unexpected places. But will they lead her to the truth?

I hope that What Goes Up will provide both laughter and some thoughtful moments for its readers.

What inspired you to write this story?

What Goes Up came from thinking about things that frightened me when I was Robyn’s age. The most memorable for me was when the Skylab satellite fell back to earth. From the moment I heard about it, I just knew it was going to land on my house. I wrote a will and even gave some of my things to my friends so they might remember me after my tragic demise. I’m not sure I got much of it back, come to think of it! But at that age, things like statistics and logic didn’t matter much to me. My world was getting bigger, and that made me feel smaller and more vulnerable. That felt like a very middle grade sort of thing to write about.

Wen, you aren’t going to believe this, but I just Googled Skylab and realized it’s the exact same satellite I worried about falling on me when I was a girl in Saudi Arabia! I wonder how many kids around the world felt the same? 

Oh, Caroline isn’t that awesome?! I bet there were a LOT of us! It was so scary, and when you’re a kid it feels like the whole world is centered on YOU, so how could a falling satellite possibly land anywhere else? 🙂 It sure left an impression on me.

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

Most of my research, other than the details about falling satellites, involved learning more about albinism. I have a few visually impaired friends and acquaintances with albinism who were a great help, especially one who did a sensitivity reading for me. As someone with a disability myself, I wanted to write Robyn as a person who happens to have albinism, rather than the other way around.

What are some special challenges associated with writing a setting you’re not familiar with? 

The biggest challenge I had when it came to the setting was making sure it felt American enough, since I’m a New Zealander. While I might write “rubbish” instead of “trash”, “torch” instead of flashlight, and “jandals” instead of “flip-flops”, it turns out that small towns, eccentric folks, and people in general are the same wherever you go. I made up the town of Calliope and the idea of it being a small town trying to hold on to its individuality when surrounded by a big city. It surprised me to discover that there are a few places in the world in the same position!

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

I think one of the themes in What Goes Up that means a lot to me is acceptance. The people of Calliope are an eccentric bunch, with Robyn’s own family and even her home being a good example of that. That doesn’t mean Robyn hasn’t faced down her own set of challenges when it comes to being accepted, but she deals with those in humorous and creative ways. Robyn is the sort of girl who accepts others and herself in equal measure, and I think some of her difficulties pose some good discussion points.

Through her adventures, for better or worse, Robyn learns what it means to be a good friend, that facing down your difficulties is a lot easier if you have someone beside you, and that family isn’t just who you’re related to, but who is there for you, too.

Thank you for having me, Caroline, and for your wonderful blurb for What Goes Up!

It was my pleasure. Your readers are in for a treat.

Classroom Connections: The Rat Prince by Bridget Hodder

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genre: fairy tale retelling
age range: 9-12
Bridget Hodder’s website

AN ILA 2017 CHILDREN’S CHOICE LIST STARRED SELECTION

Please tell us about your book.

THE RAT PRINCE is a re-imagining of the tale of Cinderella.

Prince Char, the Prince of the Rats of the Northern Realm, is dashing, cunning, and loyal to a fault. He and his rat-subjects help keep Cinderella alive when her stepmother would gladly see the girl starve. But then Char gives Cinderella an ancient ring that his rat-ancestors stole from her noble family long ago…setting off a series of unexpected magical events! On the night of the big ball, the fairy goddess turns Char into Cinderella’s coachman. Now he and Cinderella have one fateful night to save both her family and the kingdom…and to find a most unexpected happy ending!

What inspired you to write this story?

I was never satisfied with the traditional tale of Cinderella. It’s billed as a romance but it isn’t romantic. It features an unheroic heroine who’s strangely passive and sad. And in general, it simply doesn’t make much sense! Why did Cinderella’s father allow her to be treated so horribly by his new wife? Why did a handsome prince need a ball with every lady in the land in attendance to find a wife? Who on earth was the Fairy Godmother, and how did Cinderella get one? (And where can the rest of us get one?)  These questions, and more, sparked my creativity.

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

I had a lot of fun researching the world of rats! I used to fear them, but now I respect and admire them. (I guess I still wouldn’t want to meet them in a dark alley, though.)

Among the cool things I learned (or maybe it’s unsettling, depending on your point of view) is that big rats can squeeze into a tiny opening that’s only the size of a quarter. So you might want to check your basement.

In addition, I had to learn more about olde-time sewers and plumbing than you might think, in order to get the rats in the story from place to place. In 18th-century Europe, there were (rarely) some hollowed-out tree trunks used as waste pipes, so I used these to connect Lancastyr Manor with the sewers that led to the royal palace in my story.

What are some special challenges associated with fairy tale retellings?

When you take on a fairy tale, you’re tinkering with something people have loved for centuries. So you have to be very careful to make every change a rational one within the fairytale world you create.

I chose to respect the framework of the Cinderella story in general, and tell it in a way that finally made sense and felt right to me, rather than simply turning it upside down in a haphazard manner, just for the shock effect. 

But even when you’ve made the new version of the tale consistent (as well as exciting and satisfying), there are readers who simply can’t accept alterations of their beloved original story. Once, at an author appearance, I encountered an older reader of my book who was very distraught at a change I made in the role of the human prince. I could not console her!

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

One of the original taglines for my book was “Heroes come in many guises.” This referred to the Rat Prince and to Cinderella, as well as the characters of Jessamyn the stepsister, Truffle the rat, Pye the scullery boy, and others. Often, the ideas and actions that save the day in a crisis come from folks who think differently from others; who might not conform to the prevailing sense of what is typical; who may be even be marginalized and pre-judged. THE RAT PRINCE is a great springboard for class discussions about how we shouldn’t pre-judge others on the basis of their appearance, background, social class, gender, and many other factors. It should also inspire us to find our own voices and value what we each bring to the table.

Empowerment of young women, choices and consent are also themes I wove throughout the story, hoping to spark conversations that are long overdue when it comes to the Cinderella mythos.

Not every lesson needs to feel like one. Sometimes it’s better to pick up incidental truths as we experience the fun of a rousing, immersive read, rather than have them spelled out for us as “quotable quotes” in the text. That way, classroom discussions can become voyages of discovery, as you search for the deeper meanings that authors carefully left for you find in a story that might seem at first glance to be pure entertainment. I worked hard to make THE RAT PRINCE that kind of book. I hope teachers and readers will let me know if they think I succeeded.

Thank you so very, very much for hosting me!

It’s been my pleasure.

Classroom Connections: In Another Time by Caroline Leech

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age range: 12 and up
genre: historical fiction; World War II
author website

A glowing story of friendship, growth, and a steadfast first love, as teenage Maisie negotiates the forests of the heart and of World War II Scotland with equal determination. An inspiring tribute to thousands of ordinary women who became extraordinary heroes.
– Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity

Caroline Leech brings to vivid life the green Scottish Highlands in this touching wartime historical romance. In Another Time enthralls with strong and compassionate characters. Maisie McCall is the heroine we all need!
– Jessica Brockmole, internationally bestselling author of Letters from Skye

Caroline Leech’s story shines a beautifully written light on the precarious nature of love and war and asks its readers to believe, even when the hero doesn’t, that love can prevail. This is a book that makes you want to curl up with a cuppa and read straight through till the morning.
— Kathi Appelt, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honor Winner

Please tell us about your book.

IN ANOTHER TIME is set in Scotland during World War Two, just like my debut novel, WAIT FOR ME. It follows a girl who is breaking away from her family to find her independence and discover her place in a world at war. Maisie McCall is 17 and joins the Women’s Timber Corps. Known as lumberjills, these women took over the demanding work of producing timber from the ancient forests of Scotland after the men were called up to fight. The lumberjills were extraordinarily courageous, many of them coming from city jobs as secretaries and shop girls—or in Maisie’s case, straight from school—to take on heavy physical work in the woods with axes, saws and chains. They worked with carthorses to drag huge tree trunks off the hills, drove logging trucks to nearby rail depots, and “manned” the machinery in the sawmills. They often endured dreadful weather conditions—this was Scotland, after all—and they slept in rudimentary log huts, where in winter they sometimes woke up to find a blanket of ice covering their beds. Even though the work was tough and the conditions hard, however, the lumberjills kept each other going, and their contribution to the war effort should not be underestimated.

Many of the friendships which developed between lumberjills lasted for the rest of their lives, and I could easily have written a whole book just about the them. But since I write love stories, my story tingles really began when my research turned up that the many of the lumberjills in the Scottish Highlands worked alongside lumberjacks from Newfoundland and that many marriages resulted. That was when my characters started to talk to me. John Lindsay is the lumberjack Maisie gets to know best, but no matter how close she gets to him, she’s sure that there’s even more that he’s hiding from her. While Maisie tries to find out more about John, she discovers more about herself than she could ever have imagined.

What inspired you to write this story?

I’d had no idea that the lumberjills of Women’s Timber Corps existed until I was looking for ideas for my second book and an author friend sent me a link to a newspaper article about them. It was as if she had handed me my second heroine on a plate, because once I googled ‘WW2 lumberjills’, Maisie almost jumped out of my screen fully-formed, in her heavy leather boots and carrying her 6lb axe on her shoulder.

I also knew that I wanted to write something quite different from my debut novel, WAIT FOR ME, though still setting it in the same country and time period. That book was about a teenage girl, waiting safely at home for her brothers to come back from war, when a German prisoner arrives at her farm to work. Suddenly, her comfortable life feels suffocating, and she has to fight against the judgment of the neighborhood to make it feel like home again. IN ANOTHER TIME, however, is very different. This one is about a girl who knows her happiness depends on her getting out into the world, away from her family, to show herself that she is capable of so much more than they think she is. She must push to the extremes of her courage and resilience by taking on every challenge which comes her way, fueled by her determination to prove herself in the face of the doubts of other people.

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

I was very lucky with my research on several counts. Firstly, a childhood friend of mine has been a forester in the Scottish mountains for a long time, so I knew that I had a reliable source of sensible answers to stupid questions.

Secondly, I found two books which chronicled the lumberjills’ experiences. One was Timber!, an anthology of memories collected from dozens of Scottish lumberjills by the late Affleck Gray, who had been in charge of the Women’s Timber Corps’ work in the Speyside area of the Highlands. Their stories were full of the most delightful tidbits of the lumberjills’ daily life, from the lack of toilets, the lack of heating, the lack of entertainment and well, the lack of everything, except for a seemingly endless supply of cups of strong tea. The other book I studied was Voices of the Forests, a newly-published history of forestry in Scotland by an academic, Mairi Stewart, which not only included great information about both the Women’s Timber Corps and the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit, but set it within the wider context of timber production and the wider countryside industries in the 20th century.

Finally, I was so honored to meet a real-life lumberjill. Christina Edgar joined the WTC in 1942, just like Maisie, leaving her comfortable home and her work as an office clerk in Glasgow. Christina is now 95, but still full of memories of her life as a lumberjill. She and I spent a long time chatting over the obligatory cup of tea, and we even sat together at the feet of the Women’s Timber Corps memorial statue which overlooks the forested hillsides near Aberfoyle. The lumberjill memorial was finally erected in 2007, following a long campaign to honor the contribution to the Allied war effort made by these courageous and hard-working women. I’ll admit, being able to sit at the bronze lumberjill’s feet with Christina brought me to tears. Within only a few years, we will lose our chance to talk to, and learn from, those to fought and served in World War Two, and so I hope IN ANOTHER TIME will serve to let the living lumberjills like Christina know that their amazing contribution has not been forgotten.

What are some special challenges associated with fictionalizing a true story

I was lucky to be able to access so many detailed WTC memories because they had already been collected and published. But sometimes it felt that I almost had too much. Early on I decided that I would try to pull all the most interesting bits from lots of girls, rather than follow the story of one of them. But bringing all those stories together to become part of a fictional character’s life does have its challenges, not least because I had to make sure that whatever she did, and whatever emotional reaction she had, felt real to Maisie. Maisie was braver and hardier than some of the real lumberjills I read about, but she was also less foolhardy and reckless than others, and I think that perhaps in the first draft, Maisie was in maelstrom of emotions for most of the book. But by the time I was on my fourth round of revisions, I had really got to know her much better—and John Lindsay too—and I felt sure that I knew the paths they each chose to take were truthful to the people they were, rather than being a jumble of stories borrowed from real life memoirs.

Above all, I wanted to tell an exciting and romantic story, and to pay tribute to the lumberjills of the Women’s Timber Corps, and also to the men of the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit. I hope I have managed to do that in IN ANOTHER TIME.

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

In my view, one of the most important things which historical fiction can do is tell the stories behind the history text books—the dry names and dates force-fed to students by the curriculum planners—particularly since novels are very often the only places you can find the story of the women. So much of the formal history of our world focuses on wars and governments, a history that is almost exclusively about the men. Frustratingly, telling the stories of the contributions made by women is often left to fiction writers like me. Even though my book doesn’t tell the ‘true story’ of a real lumberjill, it is still true. All the places in my book were part of the real lumberjills’ history, all my dates are accurate (I hope!), and I distilled all my real-life research into this story which celebrates the power and courage of women, of their independence and of their contribution to the war effort. Those are the historical stories that can stay with you for years, when you’ve long forgotten the names and dates which vanished from your mind as soon as the pop quiz was over.

Classroom Connections: EngiNerds by Jarrett Lerner

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age range: 8-12
genre: humorous contemporary fiction + STEAM
author website
EngiNerds classroom guide

2018 Global Read Aloud Finalist

A boisterous balance of potty humor and geek pride in this rollicking young engineer’s adventure. — Kirkus Reviews

[A] strong entry into the growing genre of STEM adventures hits some of the hallmarks — like robots and DIY problem-solving skills — but adds a welcome dose of emotional authenticity . . . Readers may be drawn in by rogue robots and plentiful potty humor, but they’ll stay for the well-developed story and perceptive portrayal of kids whose passions aren’t always understood, even by their closest friends. — Common Sense Media (5-star review)

Please tell us about your book.

EngiNerds is about a group of crafty, clever, creative kids – tinkerers, as I like to call them – who have to save their town (and quite possibly their state, and maybe even a large chunk of their country) from a horde of endlessly hungry, dangerously flatulent robots. As you can no doubt tell, it’s a rather solemn and gloomy tale.

But seriously: in addition to entertaining kids, I hope the book inspires them to be curious about the world around them and the objects that make it up, to be creative problem solvers, and to be the kind of people that everyone would want standing alongside them should they have to battle a horde of endlessly hungry, dangerously flatulent robots.

What inspired you to write this story?

One of my missions as an author is to reach the so-called “striving” or “undiscovered” reader – the kid who hasn’t yet experienced the thrill of an awesome book. EngiNerds came from a desire to write the sort of fast, fun, and funny novel that might just hook that kid, that might help them take a step toward becoming an active, avid reader. When doing such writing, I often consult the 10-year-old Jarrett still living inside me. He’s great at keeping me on track.

Did you do any research before writing or while working on the book?

I did ZERO research before writing this book (unless you count all the reading of humorous Middle Grade adventure stories I was doing at the time). Interestingly, though, I’ve done a lot of research since the book came out. Most of that research has been about robots and robotics.

For instance: the robots in my book are capable of building themselves. I made this the case because I wanted the bots to be both cool and creepy at the same time. But I also thought the idea of robot building itself was super far-fetched. WRONG. It turns out there are robots who are not only capable of building themselves, but are capable of rebuilding themselves should they sustain damage (talk about creepy…). Such bots are considered extremely cutting edge, and much of the work being done in this “subfield” of robotics is happening in Cambridge and Boston – which is where I live (also kinda creepy…).

After getting loads of robot-related questions during school visits and events, I decided to educate myself as much as I could so that I could actually give kids some decent answers!

What are some special challenges associated with writing humor?

The biggest challenge, I think, is voice. So much work goes into getting a voice “right,” but two of the most important considerations for me are word choice and rhythm. Sometimes, the addition or removal a single syllable can make or break a sentence, and determine whether or not a joke “lands.” And, of course, some words are just funnier than others. Finagle, for instance. The word alone makes me giggle.

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

A lot of educators have used the book as a tie-in to STEAM curriculum. The EngiNerds, as I said before, are tinkerers. They use chopsticks and rubber bands to build catapults that end up saving their town (and quite possibly their state, and maybe even a large chunk of their country). I often show up to school visits with a bag full of random objects gathered from my recycling bin and junk drawer. I invite kids to repurpose the objects and see what they can make, and challenge them to use the same set of materials to create several different “inventions.”

The book also raises a number of questions that make for good classroom discussion – and not just “What would you do if walking, talking, butt-blasting bots overran your town?” Many of these questions relate to friendship, and the particularly tricky dynamics of large friend groups. For instance: “Is it possible to have multiple best friends?” “What should you do if your friend befriends someone you dislike?” “To what extent, if any, are you responsible for your friends’ problems?” I think the silliness of the book’s plot can actually help certain kids feel more comfortable discussing such topics and sharing their thoughts in a classroom setting. It can be easier, sometimes, to discuss tough issues when they’re framed with humor.

EngiNerds can also be used as a launch pad for all sorts of creative, hands-on activities, from building catapults to designing your very own robots. I’ve got some suggested discussion questions and activities at my website, here.

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