By Nicki Richesin, The Children’s Book Review
Published: May 29, 2012
Ann Hood
Ann Hood is the talented author of many bestselling novels such as The Red Thread and The Knitting Circle (soon to be an HBO film starring Katherine Heigl). Her new series of books, The Treasure Chest, about Felix and Maisie Robbins’s amazing time travel trips in which they meet historical figures is un-put-a-down-able. We talked with Ann about her childhood fantasies, destiny, and her exciting future projects.
Nicki Richesin: You’ve written some incredibly beautiful novels. Why did you decide to write for children?
Ann Hood: I have had the idea for books for middle readers in which kids time travel and meet famous people as children for a very long time. When I was in 2nd grade, I read all of the Childhoods of Famous Americans series—they were the only books I could get my hands on since my town didn’t have a library. I used to daydream about hanging out with Amelia Earhart and Clara Barton. So a good dose of the inspiration for the series stems from my own childhood fantasies.
NR: Could you tell us a bit about your characters Felix and Maisie Robbins the adventurous twins in The Treasure Chest series. What do they discover in Jewel of the East?
AH: It was really important for me that my characters have contemporary problems, that they learn something from history that they can take back to the present with them. Their parents are newly divorced; they’ve relocated; they’re the new kids in school; Felix is popular and Maisie isn’t; and as the series progresses they have to deal with a death and their parents each getting involved with someone new. In Jewel of the East, they meet a young Pearl Buck as a child in China. They even have to flee to Shanghai with her family during The Boxer Rebellion.
NR: You feature historical figures Clara Barton, Alexander Hamilton, Pearl Buck (and Harry Houdini in Book # 4 Prince of Air available on August 7). Why did you choose these particular famous heroes for Felix and Maisie to encounter on their adventures?
AH: I choose the historical