The Notebook Series Archives - Caroline Starr Rose

Hurrah for the Klondike! 125 Years Ago…

…word of the Klondike Gold Rush — a discovery made a year before in a remote part of Canada’s Yukon Territory — reached the rest of the world. Thousands of people from every corner of the globe raced to the Klondike, eager get rich quick.

Today my Klondike adventure Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine releases in paperback. Newbery-Award winning author Karen Cushman calls it “a rip-roaring tale and a romping good read.”

Kirkus says “Jasper narrates in the present tense, his homespun voice evoking both emotion and adventure. Villains and allies provide colorful melodrama, but it’s the brothers’ struggle to survive the Yukon wilderness with its harsh beauty and unforgiving cold that will keep readers entranced.”

The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books describes it as a “mash-up of clue-driven mystery, historical fiction, and survival story.”

Barnes and Noble Kids’ Blog says “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.”

And Sarah Mackenzie of the Read Aloud Revival says “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.“

Want to read it with your students or book club? Here’s a discussion and activity guide.
Want a behind-the-scenes glimpse into writing the book? Here’s the Notebook Series post on Jasper.
Want to feel extra academic? Here are two posts exploring Jasper and Huckleberry Finn.
Remember how Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt partially inspired the book? Have you heard the latest? The treasure was hidden in Yellowstone!

Want to order your own copy? (You know you do!) Click through. Order before July 26 and you’re eligible for some fun giveaways. Learn more here. ** Note: This only applies to readers ordering copies for themselves and not requesting their library purchase a copy (though that is greatly appreciated).**

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It’s almost July, which means it’s almost time for my annual blogging break. This year my virtual break is a time of physical rest, too. My husband Dan has a nine-week sabbatical from his role as a pastor, and the whole family is benefitting. We’ve just returned from the Pacific Northwest. Next up: Alaska (where I’ll be sure to wave to the Johnson boys). You’ll hear from me Tuesday July 26, the day Miraculous releases. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful summer full of rest, adventure, and good reading.

The Notebook Series: Miraculous

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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 seventh in the series, will focus on my fourth novel, Miraculous.

My initial idea for Miraculous grew from a couple of things. A talk about charlatans I stumbled upon at a St. Louis museum planted the seed. David McRaney’s You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself helped the idea to blossom. As I read McRaney’s book, I couldn’t help but take notes. It was clear I was circling around an idea that I wanted to explore. The book I’d write would be about deception. It felt so obvious that I had a hard time not believing everyone who read You Are Not So Smart wouldn’t be inspired to do the same!

Ruined by rum! Decay in the digestive organs! And my favorite: Sweedish Leeches! (why that extra “e”?) Here’s a collection of various ads for cure-alls and patent medicines. It’s interesting to note my character, Dr. Kingsbury, is based on the man who invented Hamlin’s Wizard Oil. I don’t think that was necessarily the plan when I jotted these notes down.

Here I am trying to make sense of Oakdale, the town where Miraculous takes place. That’s Dr. Kingsbury’s medicine wagon, out near the river by the willow grove. I love how illustrator Craig Phillips placed the Great Oak Tree front and center on Miraculous’s cover.

Notes I printed and pasted from my Morning Pages (back when I was faithfully writing them). What I find interesting about this is almost nothing I’ve written here has stayed the same. But I also see here the exploration that was necessary for me to discover the true story (many drafts and rewrites later).

This book changed so much over the course of my work. I started researching in 2015, if I remember correctly. I sold it in 2018. It was supposed to publish in 2020. I’m glad it didn’t! I had two-thirds of the story to dump and and rediscover. All the time I spent poring over drafts on my own paid off when it was time to get to work with my editor. To this day, this book required the least number of editorial rounds (two) of any of my books. (This doesn’t include copy edits or first pass pages, where changes are still being made, or the billions of drafts I worked through on my own.)

A story told in five voices (six, if you include the one chapter from the dog’s point of view). Proud of this one! Can’t wait to share it with you in July. Pre-order today!

Read the post about May B. here.
Read about Over in the Wetlands here.
Read about Blue Birds here.
Read about Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine here.
Read about Ride On, Will Cody! here.
Read about A Race Around the World here.

The Notebook Series: A Race Around the World

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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 sixth in the series, will focus on my third picture book, A Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland.

A confession: most of the work I did for this book didn’t end up in these notebook pages.

Most of it ended up here, on an enormous chart I hung on my wall.

This chart was the simplified, at-a-glance version of the more detailed copy I kept on my computer.

Long-time readers here might remember I grew up with my own Nellie Bly book. As I started my research, I wasn’t sure where my story would land, but I knew I wanted to write about Nellie. When I decided to focus on her around-the-world race (for weeks she had no idea she was in competition against rival lady journalist Elizabeth Bisland), it was crucial I knew where each woman was each day of her journey. This chart helped me keep track of weather and steamships, train routes and landmarks, delays and adventures and mishaps. It helped me see, for example, that the day Nellie, in Hong Kong, learned she wasn’t just racing against time but also Elizabeth (day 39, if you’re curious) was the same day Elizabeth, in Singapore, was convinced she’d be a tiger’s dinner.

The chart helped me track each woman’s highs and lows and compare and contrast their different experiences. I shared it with my editor who shared it with my illustrator. Below you see Nellie in Ceylon, where she savored the setting and her fortuitous speed (but eventually became frustrated and headachey) contrasted with Elizabeth’s wanderings in Japan, a place where she wished she could linger.

I don’t know if I would have been able to see the story’s big picture as well as all its moving parts if it hadn’t been for this approach.

While working on this book, I came across a Nellie quote that fit her journey to a tee and paralleled my own writing experience: Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything. Thank you, Nellie and Elizabeth, for your brave, bold energy! I’m so glad I’ve gotten to share your adventures with a new generation of readers.

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