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!

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!) 

Classroom Connections: Everywhere Blue by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz

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genre / form: contemporary verse novel
age range: 10 and up
Joanne Rossmassler Fritz’s website

An insightful exploration of a girl’s inner tickings. 
—Kirkus Reviews 

Maddie’s quiet courage shimmers like the flash of a butterfly’s wing.
—Caroline Starr Rose, author of May B.

A lyrical novel that makes you feel the chill in your bones but also gives you hope and beauty and lightness, like watching Maddie’s beloved butterflies open and soar.
—Kathryn Erskine, National Book Award–winning author of Mockingbird

Today’s post is a full-circle celebration story. Joanne and I have known each other for years from the blogging world. She read May B. when it released — the first verse novel she’d read that she loved so much, she wanted to try to write her own. Joanne began work on her own verse novel and a few years ago sent it to me to critique through my Writing One-to-One editing service. That book sold! It’s a beauty! I got to blurb it, too! Let’s celebrate EVERYWHERE BLUE!

Please tell us about your book.

Everywhere Blue is a novel in verse for middle grade readers, about a 12-year-old girl named Madrigal (nicknamed Maddie) who plays the oboe in her school orchestra, excels at math, and loves everything in its place. 

When Maddie’s older brother vanishes from his college campus, her carefully ordered world falls apart. Nothing will fill the void of her beloved oldest sibling. Drowning in grief and confusion, the family’s musical household falls silent. After her parents fly out to Strum’s college to search for answers, Maddie is left in the care of her sixteen-year-old sister, who seeks solace in rebellion and ignores Maddie. 

Though Maddie is the youngest, she knows Strum better than anyone. He used to confide in her, sharing his fears about the climate crisis and their planet’s future. So, Maddie starts looking for clues: Was Strum unhappy? Were the arguments with their dad getting worse? Or could his disappearance have something to do with those endangered butterflies he loved . . .

Scared and virtually on her own, Maddie picks up the pieces of her family’s fractured lives. Maybe her parents aren’t who she thought they were. Maybe her nervous thoughts and compulsive counting mean she needs help. And maybe finding Strum won’t solve everything–but she knows he’s out there, and she has to try.

What inspired you to write this story?

I played the oboe in school and grew up in a family who listened to classical music. We all played the piano too. I’ve also suffered from anxiety for most of my life (and didn’t seek help for it until I was in my mid-20s, which I don’t recommend doing! If you have issues, please seek help!). 

In 2014, my husband and I went to St. Maarten for a vacation and visited The Butterfly Farm. Seeing those blue morpho butterflies struck me. I never forgot them.

But the similarities end there. 

As I began to write the earliest version of this story in 2015, I realized I needed a conflict. A real-life missing person case inspired me, but to protect the family’s privacy, I’ve changed all the details. 

And of course, the climate crisis is all around us. 

In the end, many different subjects came together and fell into place to create EVERYWHERE BLUE. 

Could you share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching?

Because it had been decades since I’d played the oboe, I decided to buy a used one on Ebay in 2016 and learn to play it all over again. That was fun, although I didn’t become very good at it. The first time I tried to play a note, no sound came out of the oboe at all! Eventually, I could play a wobbly version of the Duck’s Theme from Peter and the Wolf. Getting the feel of the keys and the reed again brought back a lot of memories, though, which was my goal. However, my second aneurysm rupture in Sept 2017, put a stop to that. I haven’t touched the oboe since.

And I thought I knew a great deal about the climate crisis, but I had to do quite a lot of research. One interesting tidbit I learned was about frozen methane hydrates (sort of like icy cages holding the methane) in the Arctic sea. When I first started researching methane hydrates in 2015, the prevailing theory claimed that warming Arctic seas would soon melt the methane hydrates, spewing methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, worse than carbon dioxide! But by 2017, scientists had realized the frozen hydrates would need centuries of warming to melt and release the methane, not just a few decades. So I deleted any mention of that in the book.

What are some special challenges associated with writing a novel only in verse?

As you know, yourself, Caroline, when writing in verse, authors have many fewer words to work with! It can be a challenge to fit in enough characterization and description in only 25,000 words, instead of 50,000 or more that a prose MG novel might have. I worried that the reader wouldn’t get to know my characters very well, or be able to picture what was happening. The version accepted by Holiday House was 20,000 words and my editor worked with me to add 5000 more.

Another special challenge with this particular verse novel was the character of Strum, the older brother who vanishes. My editor, Sally Morgridge, encouraged me to write more flashback scenes, since the reader only gets to know Strum through the other characters’ memories of him. Her suggestions made the story richer and fuller. Siblings don’t always get along! And before Sally suggested it, I’d never thought of adding a few poems to show that Strum and Maddie didn’t always have a special bond, especially when Maddie was little. I hope Strum comes to life as much as the other characters do!

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

Everywhere Blue explores several themes, including mental illness, family issues, and the climate crisis. 

Maddie’s growing awareness of the climate crisis would be a perfect jumping-off place for middle-school students who are learning about it themselves. What can kids themselves do to help our planet? This is addressed in Everywhere Blue. I also mention endangered species, rising seas, and the disparity between the wealthy countries that produce the most carbon and the poorer countries that suffer the most effects.