Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Preorder JASPER and / or MIRACULOUS and get some goodies!

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The next two months are hopping over here.

Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine releases in paperback on June 28. Miraculous releases in hardback on July 26.

Here’s a quick description of each:

“Hoping to strike it rich, two brothers set out on a treacherous journey to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush.” School Library Journal calls Jasper a rousing historical adventure.

“A traveling medicine show promises to cure all, but two kids learn it takes more than faith in the miraculous to fix things that are broken.” Kirkus says Miraculous is a deliciously sinister read.

I would love for you to get your hands on these two! Buy a book for yourself or for your classroom. Consider giving them as gifts or donating a copy to a local school or library. The books are intended for readers ten and up. As you might have heard me say before, I write novels for my fifth-grade self, but even so, my adult self is a big fan! I think you will be, too.

As a thank you to those of you who preorder, I’ve come up with some giveaways (even if you ordered months ago). Simply follow this link to the form.

Preorder Jasper or Miraculous and receive a personalized bookplate, a signed bookmark, and three book stickers. Order both and in addition to the above get two Jasper journals.

Click through to get your goodies! Offer closes July 26.

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Filed Under: books and reading, historical fiction, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine, Miraculous

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!

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Filed Under: books and reading, historical fiction, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine, publication

The Notebook Series: Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine

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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 fourth in the series, will focus on my third novel, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine.

I love this notebook! It’s my favorite of all I’ve kept so far (a gift from fellow author Sonia Gensler) and even inspired two different poems — “Ode to a Research Notebook,” which is still the most satisfying blog post I’ve ever written, and “Oh, Notebook Mine” (just realized that should be “O Notebook Mine” — oh well), which I sold to the SCBWI Bulletin and was inspired by the first poem.

Jasper was tricky in that it was the first book I wrote where there were mass quantities of information I could delve into. To this day, this is the book I researched most thoroughly. It was also the first book where I visited the place I was writing about (see evidence above of my day in Skagway, Alaska).

It took me a while to decide where Jasper was from. Would he have grown up on a claim outside Alaska’s Circle City, or one near Forty Mile, the oldest town in Canada’s Yukon Territory?

Or would he have lived much farther away, somewhere like Kirkland, Washington?

Below is a sunrise / sunset chart for various places Jasper stayed and information on the real “One-Eyed Riley,” a name too fun to pass up!

Here’s a little pep talk I found that I’d written to myself. It’s kind of corny, but it’s also a great metaphor for writing this novel:

Like the Stampeders wandering toward a destination that sometimes proved insurmountable, elusive, and far, far out of reach, I will push on with a story that has no plot as of yet, I will learn on the journey, change course when needed, [and] keep moving toward the gold — a complete manuscript I can somehow, someway, someday work with!

One of the most interesting bits of research I did was reading Stephen Bramucci‘s thesis, Huck’s Legacy: The Complex Nature of the Humorous, First-Person Storyteller. (Jasper’s character was inspired by Huckleberry Finn.) Those of you who’ve read the book: do you see parallels between the two?

Here I am trying to piece together the clues to One-Eyed Riley’s mine.

Looking back at this notebook has reminded me how proud I am of the work I did. Jasper‘s a good one! If you haven’t read his story yet, I encourage you to pick up a copy.

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

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Filed Under: books and reading, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine, The Notebook Series, the writing life

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