Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

Happy Tenth Birthday, May B.!

5 Comments

Here’s to a book that’s still going strong.

A book…

  • agents told me was good, but they didn’t know what to do with it. 
  • an editor said “today’s plugged-in kids” wouldn’t understand. 
  • a middle-school girl who’d recently immigrated from Korea gave to her mom to help her learn English.
  • a PTA mom shared with her mother, an 85-year-old woman who, like May, was dyslexic and (also like May) whose difference was never identified.
  • that’s taken me all over the country and on virtual visits around the world.

Earlier this month, I got an email from author Annette Simon who used to be a bookseller at The BookMark in Neptune Beach, Florida. Years ago, she’d recommended May B. to a visiting teacher. The teacher loved it, bought copies for her class, and sent a photo to her local newspaper.

That picture happens to be one I’ve had on my website for years. 

This Christmas, Annette gave a copy of May to her third-grade great niece, Rylee.

I once heard an author use the term “book of my heart” with disdain. (I think she was against the idea of getting too attached to a manuscript.) I’m happy to say the first book I published was a book of my heart,* a book that has grown far beyond my imagination or dreams and has been welcomed into classrooms and libraries and homes everywhere. 

Happy birthday, May Betterly. I’m so grateful I got to write your story.

*Perhaps this expression feels corny or overly sentimental? That’s okay! I’m both those things.

A Zoom Feast!

Leave a Comment

…in a time that has been mostly Zoom famine (at least for this author).

This week I’ve met virtually with the third graders at The Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA to talk about writing and poetry and a book club in Mill Creek, WA that had recently read May B.

The pandemic has meant school visits and other book gatherings have been out of the question for quite some time. I’ve Zoomed here and there but not as much as I’d like. (Look here if you’d like to meet virtually!) It was good connect with readers again.

I got an email Wednesday morning from the Nueva School librarian saying that one third-grade class still had questions for me. I thought they were pretty insightful and decided to share them with you:

What is your favorite book and character you’ve created?

This is a hard one to answer (but a question I’m asked often) — readers are curious! I’d have to say May Betterly and May B. will always have a warm spot in my heart. As my first published book, it will always be special, and May herself is so very brave. Another way I can answer this question is by thinking of the book I’m working on presently. My current book (and its characters) — in this case, Miraculous — are always my favorite as I spend a lot of time in that particular “book world”. I love immersing myself in an imaginary world and getting to know the people who live there!

Have you ever discarded an almost final or final copy of a book you’ve written?

This is an excellent question. I absolutely have, several times over. When revising Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine, I discarded about 2/3 of the book and rewrote it. Then I did it a second time! I did the same with Miraculous (thankfully only once that time). Writing can be really hard work, but I’m grateful I get years of experimenting / practicing / playing / trying to get the story right.

Does your editor ask you questions? What do they ask?

She does. Sometimes she’ll ask big-picture questions, like, “What was your original intent for this character?” when I feel stuck or “What do you want for this story?” Other times she’ll ask questions about specific spots in a manuscript I’ve turned in, things like, “What does this mean?” Sometimes I have to laugh when I realize I thought I was being very clever or creative, but what I really was doing was being unclear! In many ways, writing is a partnership. My editor(s) brings out my best work. 

As for the book club, which discovered May B. through Bookmarks magazine, one reader said May reminded her of Educated and Where the Crawdads Sing. No complaints here! I’ll take it.

The Notebook Series: May B.

2 Comments

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 will focus on May B.

I remember hearing years ago that an author who wants to write in a particular genre or form should read a hundred books as study. I’d read plenty of middle-grade historical fiction, but I’d only read two verse novels — Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust and Sharon Creech’s Heartbeat. I’d only read two because I had no idea I’d attempt verse myself until, after trying a bit of prose in my notebook, I was frustrated with the distance I felt between the thoughts in my head and the words on the page. So I returned to one of my research books, hoping for inspiration. The book was a collection of first-hand accounts written by pioneer women. Here’s what I wrote immediately after my reading:

11 October 2007

I think it’s going to be important to tell May’s story as a story in verse. The idea is a challenge and is precise, focusing on the small moments. With the reading I’ve done, the small moments need to tie to the whole. In my reading, so many women’s voices were so real, raw, accessible via first-hand accounts, and while I’m not picturing a journal, the sparseness of such a piece is the aim.* The reader is present. The circumstance clear. No dialogue to distract. We’ll see. Another writing challenge I’ve never encountered which sounds hard, immediate, and authentic. More reading to do. Karen Hesse. Studying about writing in verse.

I want to honor these women of the past by being as close to the bone as possible.

Here was my first (not very poetic!) attempt at verse, written right after the passage above. The picture below is how that poem showed up in the book.

I didn’t end up reading any verse novels while drafting May B. I worried I’d feel inadequate and would quit. That allowed me to not worry if I was following the “rules.” It was joyful work!

*Why so high falutin’??