ReaderKidZ’s own Stephanie Greene agreed to be interviewed for the release of Sophie Hartley and the Facts of Life, out from Clarion on November 19th. Greene’s trademark is her deft touch with humor and heart for middle grade readers.
This story centers around 4th grade concerns about ‘The Movie” (regarding puberty) that the girls are shown in the fifth grade. I remember it well. Do schools still do that? Have the methods of information delivery changed with technology?
Yes, schools still do. In some states, girls watch the movie in the fifth grade. In others, it’s the sixth. I’ve even heard about kids watching it in the fourth. As children develop at earlier and earlier ages, they’re being exposed to the facts concerning body changes earlier.
When I started this book a few years ago, I asked my ten-year-old niece, Amy, if she had to watch the movie. (I always say it in italics because that’s the way young girls say it. Ask one and see for yourself.) Amy shrieked, fell sideways on the couch, and covered her head with a pillow. I took that as a “yes.”
Sophie has two younger siblings and two older. It’s a rambunctious but loving family and household. How was your own family growing up similar to Sophie’s? How was it different?
The only similarities between the Hartleys and my family are that there are five children, and that I, like Sophie, was in the middle. But my siblings were much closer in age – 5 in 7 years (!)– while the Hartleys are spread out. My parents weren’t like Mr. and Mrs. Hartley, except that my mother was a non-nonsense person like Mrs. Hartley. I’m sure I’ve borrowed from my experiences for the sibling dynamics, but much of what actually happens in each of the books is made up.
There are issues of loyalty in this story. Sophie’s friend Alice is almost lured away by know-it-all Destiny, and Sophie is afraid that her father will “date” another woman when her mother is gone for a week. What does disloyalty mean to Sophie? What does it mean to the author?
Funny, but I hadn’t thought about loyalty when I wrote it. Girls of that age are frequently worried about losing their best friends, and not being in the popular group, so that’s where I got Sophie’s fears about Alice. Her concern about her father is really more about her worry that her parents might get divorced. I suppose Sophie reflects the uneasiness of that age group, when they’re moving out into the world on their own, and questioning family and friends, and basically at an unsure stage in many ways.
I don’t remember being worried about my friends when I was young, but when my parents argued I worried they’d get divorced. They never did, which probably contributed to my being a very loyal person.
Like many of us who were stronger in language arts, Gregory K. loves writing poetry. However, he was born into a family of mathematical heavyweights. He struggles to keep up with his family’s math-centric view of the world, his father’s ambitious math expectations of him, and even math class at school. In fact, he’s flunking. Add to that, his best friend Kelly is moving 144 miles away at the end of the school year. She and Gregory have spent afternoons at Kelly’s mom’s pie store, The Slice, since they were babies. Kelly wants Gregory to go to Author Camp with her. His dad wants Gregory to enter City Math, the annual contest that both Dad and Gregory’s insufferable older brother, “O,” have won.
Gregory digs himself deeper into trouble by fibbing; to Kelly about camp and to his parents and math teacher about City Math. Fittingly, Gregory’s forte is Fibonacci poetry, or Fibs for short, which are poems based on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8… syllables). As the ideal marriage of math and language, these Fibs solve for everything. And there’s lots of pi, along the way. Um, pie.
The Tree Lady tells about the unusual and amazing life of Kate Sessions who lived at a time when girls were NOT supposed to play outside digging in the dirt and were NOT supposed to climb trees or wander in the woods gathering armfuls of leaves, acorns, and pine needles. Other girls were careful not to get their starched white petticoats muddy or wrinkled. But not Kate! She was interested in everything, especially trees. Eventually, because of her love of trees and her stubborn determination, Kate planted a whole park of trees – a whole city of trees. People said, “Impossible! Trees won’t grow in San Diego. It’s just barren dry desert.” Kate said, “Just give me a chance.”
Kate grew up in northern California in the middle of the 1860’s. She liked school and she loved science. She liked studying about the “wind and rain, muscles and bones, plants and trees.”
After high school Kate went to college. What a gutsy girl. Other young women were getting married and learning the skills of homemaking. But not Kate. In 1881, Katherine Olivia Sessions became the very first woman to graduate from the University of California with a degree in science. Science?! A girl studying science? Unheard of!
The illustrations and narrations in The Tree Lady delightfully convey Kate’s love and passion for learning about and growing all sorts of trees. Whatever she grew, Kate shared. What remarkable gifts Kate Sessions gave to our country. Kate figured out what kind of trees from other parts of the world would grow and thrive in the desert climate of southern California and throughout the southwest. Kate sent for seeds from many different countries, grew seedlings, and planted her trees in what later became the famous Balboa Park in San Diego, one of the most beautiful city parks in the world. Kate stubbornly led the way to increase public awareness and appreciation for conservation of all green growing things, and of course, especially trees. Kate was awarded many honors for her work in horticulture but her favorite of all was her honorary title, Kate Sessions, Mother of Balboa Park.
Published by Beach Lane Books, Simon & Schuster, NY, 2013
What were your interests as a young person? And what did you like to read? Any favorite books?
I always loved science. Both of my parents were scientists, and they fostered my natural curiosity. My parents owned 10 acres of land on one side of my street, and there was a national forest on the other side of the street. I spent most of my childhood exploring them. Since I was always on the go, I didn’t read much as a child. I do have happy memories of devouring Mr. Mysterious and Company by Sid Fleishman.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Many writers know from early childhood that they are destined to a life devoted to putting words down on paper, but the idea never occurred to me until my final year of college. One of my biology professors knew I was struggling to choose a career path. One day she showed me an article in Discover magazine. It was written by a woman who had graduated from my college and dealt with a topic related to my senior research project, which involved sequencing fruit fly DNA. Professor Williams told me she thought I was a good writer and could have written that piece myself. I knew she was right, and suddenly, my future path stretched out before me.
A few days later, I applied to New York University’s prestigious Science and Environmental Reporting Program. Luckily, I was accepted. After graduating, I worked as an editor for nine years. Finally, I mustered the courage to quit my job and started writing full-time. Now I get paid to learn everything I can about the natural world and share it with other people. What could be better than that?
Thus far, who has had the biggest influence in your life? Any role models growing up?
My parents were and are important role models. All of my family and friends are major influences, especially my nieces and nephews, my husband, my brother-in-law, and my writing group.
When you’re not working on a book, what might we find you doing?
When I’m not writing or speaking to kids or teachers, you can probably find me hiking or exploring the fields, forests, and wetlands near my home in Massachusetts. My husband and I spend as much time outdoors as we can.
What are three things you can’t live without? Is chocolate one of them?
I love chocolate, but I try to save it for special occasions. I don’t think I have any three things that I can’t live without, but I can’t imagine life without my husband and serene time spent in the natural world.
This month at ReaderKidZ we’re all about science and math and we’re kicking off November with a fabulous two-part interview with No Monkeys, No Chocolate author Melissa Stewart.
No Monkeys, No Chocolate written by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young, illustrated by Nicole Wong (Charlesbridge, 2013) explains the story of where chocolate comes from in two layered levels of text. Stewart unravels the mystery in a simple text for young readers and follows it up by adding rich expository details for older readers, blending the two together seamlessly. By the end of the story, we’ve discovered the mystery of where chocolate comes from and how the cocoa beans are dependent on the cocoa pods, flowers, leaves, stems, roots, fungi, lizards, midges, maggots and yes – monkeys! Two adorable bookworms add commentary and humor and the back matter gives readers additional information on cocoa and rain forests, and how to be better stewards of the planet.
Melissa Stewart is the award winning author of over 150 science books for children. She believes nothing brings her books to life better than solid research. She has explored tropical rainforests in Costa Rica, traveled on safari in East Africa, and swum with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands, all in order to bring exciting stories to her readers.
ReaderKidZ: Where did the idea to write about No Monkeys, No Chocolate come from?
ReaderKidZ: No Monkeys, No Chocolate is co-authored with Allen Young. How did you come to write this book together? He lives in Wisconsin and you live in Massachusetts. Did you write together or apart?
MS: Dr. Young is a curator emeritus of the Milwaukee Public Museum and the world’s leading expert in cocoa tree pollination and growth. He provided key research for the book—information that I couldn’t get anywhere else, but I did all the writing.
ReaderKidZ: How much research went into the writing of No Monkeys, No Chocolate?
MS: I actually researched two books while working on No Monkeys, No Chocolate. One that never got published and one that did—eventually. I spent about a year doing research, but the final critical details came from Dr. Young.
ReaderKidZ:Can you offer young people any research tips?
MS: I have four ways of getting information for all the books I write:
reading books, magazines, and newspapers
personal observations in the natural world
interviewing scientists and other experts
the internet
Sometimes I read webpages for basic background information, but my most critical use of the internet is to find experts in the subjects I write about.
ReaderKidZ: The monkey species is not named in the book? Do many different monkey species contribute to eating the cocoa pods and scattering the cocoa beans?
MS: The monkey in the book is a capuchin, and these little monkeys spread the most cocoa seeds. A few other small, squirrel-like animals also eat cocoa pulp and spread some seeds.
ReaderKidZ:How do you decide what to write about next? And where do you get your ideas from?
MS: I get ideas all the time—from things I read, people I speak to, places I visit. Getting ideas is easy, but keeping track of them can be hard. That’s why I have an idea board in my office. Whenever I have an idea, I tack it up there. Then, when it’s time to start work on a new book, I look and choose an idea off the board.
Sometimes I research an idea for a while and it turns out not to be as intriguing as I thought it would be. I drop it and move on to something else. Eventually, I find an idea that has all the ingredients for a great book and I dig into the deep research and writing process.
Melissa’s Idea Board
Part 2 of our interview will follow later this week. See you then!
Mama has a new job working in a big fancy church in New York City called Big John. She and others have been trained as stonecutters in conjunction with an apprentice program that the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine offered to the young unemployed residents of the community.
Begun in 1982, the apprentice program lasted some 25 years. One of those apprentices, Carol Hazel, a single mother to four, inspired Me and Mama and Big John. Hers is a quiet but powerful story of the pride and dignity felt by those who lovingly transformed gray stone to art – “Not for an art to look at. For an art to be.”
Reflecting back on her time working at the cathedral, Hazel says today, “Stonecutting is in my blood. The cathedral is a beautiful thing, and beautiful people helped build it.”
In a world in which many clamor for attention, this is a story of devotion. Mama’s stone wouldn’t garner any awards and would take its place beside many similar stones to form the cathedral tower. And yet her work was honorable and noble. A good reminder for all of us, children and adults.
For more about St. John and the artisan program, readers might enjoy this NY Times article from 1987, which also includes a short piece about Carol Hazel.
On January 31, 1848, against tremendous odds, young Homan Walsh flew his kite across the Niagara River, two and half miles north of Niagara Falls. The half-inch cord attached to Homan’s kite became the first line connecting the United States and Canada across the Niagara River, the first step to building the suspension bridge that joined two nations. It’s a fascinating story, beautifully and poetically told by author Alexis O’Neill. ReaderKidZ spoke with Alexis about The Kite That Bridged Two Nations, and the extensive research she undertook to tell Homan’s story.
ReaderKidZ: Your decision to write Homan Walsh’s story as historical fiction was based on some practical realities you encountered as you delved into the research. Can you talk about that decision?
AO’N: Homan Walsh and the kite-flying contest has been part of local lore in Niagara Falls since the 19th century, so his story is well-known. His feat is also listed on kite flying websites as he’s included among the most influential kite fliers in the world. But as I did the research, I realized that what was missing in the factual accounts was the emotion of this historic event. I wanted to shape the existing drama and help readers connect with the awesomeness of Niagara Falls, the joy of flying a kite and the thrill of beating the odds to win a contest that changed history. Historical fiction was the best vehicle for accomplishing this.
ReaderKidZ: What kinds of things do you feel kids ought to know about research, especially in this day of Wikipedia and the reality that not everything one finds on the Internet is true?
AO’N:There’s nothing wrong with getting an overview of an event through Wikipedia. I begin there myself! But it should be seen as a jumping-off point, never as the final authority on the subject. All researchers – kids as well as adults – need to question everything they read. They need to compare accounts and examine the discrepancies. They need to be aware that just because three sources tell the same “fact,” the authors of those sources might have all used the same book for that “fact” and are just passing along incorrect information. In my Kite book, I corrected three “facts” that were repeatedly reported incorrectly in other books and on websites: Homan’s age at the time of the contest, the amount of money he won as a prize, and who sheltered Homan when he was stranded in Canada for eight days. I spent forever verifying all of this!
ReaderKidZ: I love your Author’s Note at the back of the book and especially how you’ve included sections titled: “What We Know,” “What We Don’t Know,” and “The Rest of the Story.” How might this serve as a template for teachers in helping their students understand the genre of historical fiction?
AO’N:Thanks! I’m happy that you like the back matter! I included those sections because readers will often accept historical fiction as fact. I wanted to help readers separate fact from fiction in this story. The more they are aware of the difference, the more they will keep their antennae up when they read other works of historical fiction. I hope they might begin to ask, “How could this be verified? Is there proof that this person really said or did that? Is the source of that information reliable?”
Now here’s a bit of an embarrassment. My Kite book was recently reviewed in School Library Journal and placed in the Nonfiction section! But if a writer makes up even one teeny, tiny thing that can’t be verified (a piece of dialogue, a neighbor’s name, an emotional reaction), the piece becomes fiction. Nonfiction means that everything is verifiable. But librarians struggle with this, especially if the book has biographical information in it. They want to place the book where readers are most likely to search for it, so I understand why SLJ did this.
ReaderKidZ: You chose to tell this story in first person. How did you settle on that decision and what was your process in searching for Homan’s voice?
I tried many voices before settling on Homan’s point of view. I tried the story from the point of view of the kite. The falls. The ferry. And then I began thinking about Homan. He had a reputation of being the best kite flier in Niagara Falls. Kite fliers are an amazing breed of people – dedicated, curious, joyful, experimental, smart – and I wanted to express that. But the only recorded interview with Homan, done in 1898, was very flat. It was done a year before he died, so he was recalling an event that had happened 51 years prior. It was his only claim to fame, so his story had a rehearsed quality to it. I wanted to get to the emotion of kite flying, the emotion of seeming to lose all then finally succeeding, the emotion of what it feels like to be a solitary figure in a struggle with awesome wonders of nature, Niagara Falls and the Niagara River Gorge. That’s why I chose to do this story as historical fiction, so I could get to all of that and help a reader connect to what Homan might have felt during this historic contest.
ReaderKidZ: Anything else about the research process or writing historical fiction that you’d like to share with young readers?
AO’N:Document your sources as you find them – no matter how slight they are. Keep whatever you gather in an accessible location (I have dedicated folders on my computer and a project box that I keep in my office for materials and books I collect.) You never know what will be useful later as you shape your work.
One last thing. I recently discovered a pile of reports I had done in junior high and high school that my mom had saved. The subjects included the Alamo (POV of a male survivor), the Spanish Armada (POV of two Cockney sailors), scientist Sir William Thomson (POV his younger brother), and author Washington Irving (POV of a disapproving neighbor). I had written each as historical fiction, and my teachers loved them! So it looks like I’ve been doing this for a very long time.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
