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The wonderfully zany and multi-talented author Tristan Bancks said I had to write a blog post about my character or he’d never speak to me again. I mean, he invited me to be part of a character blog hop. You can meet his character Tom Weekly here.
Since it’s quite a long time before you’ll the character who’s taken over my life and computer right now, I’m going to introduce Nim. Even if you’ve met her, you might find out something new.
1) What is your character’s name?
Nim Rusoe.
2) Is Nim based on you?
Of course she is! She’s brave, adventurous, resourceful. A bit hot-tempered too, but I had to make some things up.
But Alex Rover, the agorophobic adventure writer is based on me too. Maybe I should say that Nim is based on how I’d have liked to be when I was her age. In fact, when I was writing the first book, Nim's Island, Nim didn't come to life until I remembered how I'd felt when I was 9 year and wrote a story about a little girl who runs away from an orphanage to live on an island. I wasn't a particularly brave or capable kid, so I created a character who could be all the things I wished I was. Thirty years later, that character and her story grew into Nim.
3) How old is Nim?
Abigail Breslin as Nim
I never wanted Nim to have a specific age. When I wrote the first book I wanted her to be whatever age the reader wanted her to be – and because she didn’t go to school or have human friends, it was easy to do that. But when you see a movie you know how old the actor is, so in the movie Nim’s Island, Nim was 11, as the actress Abigail Breslin was at the time. In Nim at Sea she was between 11 and 12, but in the film of that book, Return to Nim’s Island, Bindi Irwin was 14, so Nim was too. In Rescue on Nim’s Island, I think she’s close to 13 – but she’ll be older in the film.
Bindi Irwin as Nim
4) What should we know about Nim?
She’s really just a normal kid whose life has made her become braver and more self-reliant than she might have been if her parents had worked in the city and sent her to school. But after meeting other kids in Nim at Sea and Return to Nim’s Island, she does want to have human, kid friends as well as her animal friends. She has to learn to do that in Rescue on Nim’s Island (as well as discovering fossils, blowing up caves, etc.) Learning to get along with the other kids and figuring out what’s going on is the hardest thing she’s had to learn!
5) What are Nim’s personal goals?
I don’t know if Nim would say, ‘saving the planet’, but in some ways that is her aim. She certainly wants to save her island and all the species on it. And she wants the horrible twins Tiffany & Tristan to like her. (Sorry, Tristan!) And for Edmund to really like her. And for Selkie and Fred to stay happy and healthy forever. And I think she has a secret wish about her dad and Alex Rover…
6) Where can we find out more about the books?
Just click the links below. Nim's Island is the first, and Rescue on Nim's Island is the newest - it just came out last year.
And now I'm going to nominate Sheryl Gwyther and Kathryn Appel to introduce their characters. Check their blogs next week or so and see if they've taken up the challenge!
0 Comments on Thirty years in the making – where did Nim come from? as of 1/1/1900
Bindi Irwin as Nim, from Return to Nim's Island movie poster
I know that tying in a film to a book sequel sounds like the writer’s equivalent of a first world problem, but in fact we always need to be aware of how much we are, or want to be, swayed by other people’s comments and interpretations, from editors to illustrators, cover artists and even readers. I didn’t actually plan Nim as an eco-warrior, but the way that she and Jack live means that she’s interpreted as one. It seems so logical to me now that I have to remind myself it simply evolved naturally, as it probably would have if she were real.
My only physical description of Nim in any of the books is ‘her hair is wild and her eyes are bright.’ But of course I have my own vision of her: a wiry, dark haired, almost elfin girl, and I kept that through the first two books, even though I enjoyed imagining how Kerry Millard might illustrate something.
Kerry Millard's interpretation of Nim
Wendy Orr, Abigail Breslin, Kerry Millard
Then the films came, and there were real people, in flesh and blood, both the people I met off camera, and the way they were portrayed on screen and covers. By the time I started Rescue on Nim’s Island, I’d had 5 years of seeing Abigail Breslin being so completely Nim that it was difficult to return to my own vision.
Abigail Breslin as Nim
It was only when I’d seen Bindi Irwin on location, portraying Nim differently but equally convincingly, that I could free myself up and remember my mantra that characters are however you interpret them: if they could both be Nim, my own vision could be too.
Bindi Irwin, Wendy Orr
It took me a while to find my way with Rescue on Nim’s Island and that’s what I think is relevant to all of us. I had to really go back to basics instead of planning plots that I thought were terribly filmic, to which the film producer kept saying, ‘But that doesn’t really sound like you, or Nim.’
Geoff's Kelly interpretation of Nim
I had to slow down, dream around it, and gradually discover the story in the usual organic way that I work. I reread the first books and got into the rhythm. Nim is a year older in each book, and I felt that she was growing naturally. She’s still herself. She’s more quick-tempered than either Abbie or Bindi are in real life, though slightly less pugnacious than the Nim of the second film. She’s the girl that was obviously born of some part of me, when I started writing her in 1998. Or maybe further back, when I wrote the prototype when I was 9. So if there’s a moral, I think it’s simply, let your characters grow and develop, but always be true to who they are at core.
*This is an edited excerpt of a talk I gave at the SCBWI meeting at Flinders on 6 September, 2014.
0 Comments on Setting Your Characters Free - From Book to Film and back again as of 9/30/2014 1:45:00 AM
I've just discovered something I didn't know: that Nim's Island was featured in the very first issue of Alphabet Soup! (I did know that Nim had some fans in the Alphabet Soup editor's household, because I met one of them in a writing workshop in Perth a year or two ago.) So I am especially pleased to have done this interview, even though I really had to think about some of the questions!
Here's the start of it: Nim’s IslandandNim at Seaare definitely in our pile of favourite books. (Nim’s Islandwas featured in our first ever issue ofAlphabet Soup!) You probably know that Nim’s Islandwas made into a movie starring Abigail Breslin, and now the second Nim book has also been made into a movie calledReturn to Nim’s Island— and it’s out in Australian cinemas this school holidays. We asked the author Wendy Orr if we could talk to her about what it’s like to have your book made into a film. And here she is!
–
When did you first hear that Nim at Sea would be made into a movie, too?
Paula Mazur, the producer of the first Nim’s Island, wanted to do it as soon as she read the book when it was published in July 2007. However there were complications with the Hollywood studio and so three years ago she took it to an Australian company. They worked very hard to organise everything and in May 2012 we knew that it was going to be filmed. (Though I think everyone still had fingers crossed!) The filming started in August 2012.
There is a different Nim (Bindi Irwin) cast in this second movie. Were you allowed to choose the actors? Did it feel strange to see a different Nim?
A special screening of Return to Nim's Island starring Bindi Irwin will be held at Palace Westgarth cinemas in Northcote, (Melbourne, Australia) on Thursday April 4 at 6:30pm. For your chance to meet Wendy Orr, the author of the books that inspired the film, and get your own signed copy of The Nim Stories, arrive at the cinemas from 6:00pm. For more information and to pre-book your ticket, go to http://www.palacecinemas.com.au/cinemas/westgarth/ Or email me to RSVP or for more information. The Nim stories is a new combined edition of Nim's Island and Nim at Sea.
0 Comments on Special Melbourne Screening of Return to Nim's Island as of 3/21/2013 11:48:00 PM
If you hurry, you can still buy tickets for the Return to Nim's Island premiere on March 17 at Australia Zoo. What a wonderful place for it! (I've never been there before, so I'm especially excited. Okay, I'm excited about the whole event. Imaginary characters, no matter how much you love them, are not the same as your real children, but seeing the premiere of their movie is still a bit like seeing your child graduate.)
Of course the zoo is also Bindi Irwin's home - no wonder she's so perfect for Nim. The Nim Stories will hit Australian shops on March 20, but my publisher has kindly rushed copies to the Zoo's Crocoseum Boutique, and I'll be signing copies between 2:00 and 3:00. If you already have a copy of Nim's Island or Nim at Sea I'll be happy to sign those for you too.
Stay after dark at Australia Zoo for the RETURN TO NIM'S ISLAND national movie premiere!
Join our very own wildlife warrior, Bindi Irwin, her co-star Toby Wallace and author, Wendy Orr on Sunday 17 March for the national premiere of RETURN TO NIM'S ISLAND at Australia Zoo in our world famous Crocoseum!
The writer and producer of the smash hit NIM'S ISLAND brings you the much anticipated sequel RETURN TO NIM'S ISLAND, featuring Bindi Irwin, in a wild ride filled with pristine beaches, exotic animals, dastardly pirates and all your favourite characters from the original. When Jack and Nim learn that the Buccaneer Resort Company has purchased Nim's Island, Jack heads to the city to convince the powers that be that the island is worth preserving while Nim insists on staying behind to try another way to save the island by proving that at least three endangered species live there. Nim soon finds Edmund, a young boy who has run away from home, hiding on her island as well as the pirate animal poachers that followed him. Before long, Nim and Edmund are in a battle of cunning and wits to rescue her beloved sea lion Selkie.
With Nim's know-how and Edmund's bravery, they are able to defeat the poachers and maybe even find the endangered animals that would allow Nim to stay on her beloved Island.
Inspired by the Nim’s Island series by author Wendy Orr, Return to Nim’s Island is sure to enchant audiences of all ages
*All times are subject to change. The movie is 90 minutes and will end by 8:00pm.
0 Comments on Return to Nim's Island - National Premiere at Australia Zoo as of 3/13/2013 5:18:00 AM
Return to Nim’s Island comes to the big screen in Australia five years to the day after Nim’s Island; five and a half years after Nim at Sea was published, ten years after the initial contact from the film producer Paula Mazur, thirteen years after the book Nim’s Island was published, and more years than I care to work out since the first draft was written when I was nine.
So, maybe time for a quick overview:
The childhood story, Spring Island, was inspired by seeing a tiny, uninhabitable island off the coast of Vancouver Island. Being infatuated with Anne of Green Gables at the time, I wrote about a little girl running away from an orphanage; she’s joined by a boy running away from his orphanage, and together they head off to live on an island.
Years later, I was working on a book of letters between a girl on an island and a famous adventure author with a very boring life. After many false starts I remembered that story and channeled the feelings of that nine-year old writer who wanted to be independent and resourceful – and finally, the story changed its form and Nim’s Island came to life.
It was published in Australia in 1999, in the USA and Canada in 2001, and in six other countries in 2001-2. In 2003, after it was listed in Los Angeles Times best books for 2002, the Hollywood producer Paula Mazur picked it up in her local library for her eight year old son. Two weeks later she emailed to ask me for the film rights. She pitched it to several studios, had interest from four, and by the end of the year we had closed a deal with Walden Media.
The feature film of Nim’s Island was released around the world in 2008, starring Abigail Breslin as Nim, Jodie Foster as the author Alex Rover, and Gerard Butler in the dual roles of Nim’s father Jack and Alex Rover’s fictitious hero.
Nim at Sea, the sequel to the book, was published in Australia in 2007, the USA & Canada in 2008, and slightly later in another 16 countries. By then the first book had been published in 24 languages.
Return to Nim’s Island, the sequel to the film and based loosely on Nim at Sea stars Bindi Irwin as Nim, Matthew Lillard as Jack, Toby Wallace as Edmund, and John Waters as the evil poacher. It will debut on the Hallmark Channel in the USA on March 17 with the DVD released in Walmart the following day, and on cinemas across Australia on April 4. I’ll post international distribution news as I hear it.
The Nim Stories, featuring Nim's Island and Nim at Sea in one book, will be released in Australia and New Zealand on April 1.
My lovely friend, and brilliant artist and author Lauren Stringer tagged me for “The Next Big Thing,” and so after a bit of confusion, I’m doing it again with a different book. Lauren wrote about her When Stravinsky met Nijinsky - now isn’t that a title you just have to pick up!
So here is my ‘next big thing’: The Nim Stories.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Nim’s Island was inspired by a story I wrote when I was nine. We were on the ferry to Vancouver Island, to visit my grandparents, and passed a tiny little island. As soon as I saw it I thought, “I wish I lived there!” When we got home I started writing “Spring Island,” about a girl who runs away from an orphanage to live on an island. I think the orphan inspiration came from Anne of Green Gables, which I’d just read.
One week many years later, I received two letters from girls asking me to write a book about them. I said that I couldn’t do that, but I started playing the writer’s game of “What if?” “What if a girl wrote to an author and said “Could you please write a book about me?” and the author said, “No, because I’m a very famous writer who writes very exciting books, and since you’re just a little girl your life would be much too boring.”
But what if the girl’s life was more exciting than the author’s? And why was it more exciting?
The answer was, “Because she lived on an island.”
After many false starts I remembered the story I’d written when I was nine, and Nim’s Island came to life. (Yes, my mother still has the original. I scanned the cover when I visited my parents after the Nim's Island Hollywood premiere - it was quite a strange feeling finding it!).
I’d always wanted to write Nim at Sea to find out after the end of the story, but one of the inspirations was a letter from a girl named Erin, who said that she wished she could be Nim’s friend. I thought, “Yes, Nim needs a human friend her own age!” That’s why I named her Erin.
Then my publisher was inspired to put the two books together to celebrate the movie Return to Nim’s Island, which is loosely based on Nim at Sea.
What genre does your book fall under?
Children’s fiction – fantasy adventure.
What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Interestingly, since I’ve been truly thrilled with the different actors who’ve played the characters in the two movies, it brings me back to my truth that everyone who reads a book owns it by interpreting it in their own way. Abigail Breslin and Bindi Irwin are very different actors, but they have both been perfect as Nim. Both Gerard Butler and Matthew Lillard were wonderful as her dad Jack. And of course the inimitable Jodie Foster, who even looked like the Alex Rover in my head…
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Two books in one: Nim's Island and Nim at Sea, the stories of a girl who lives on an island in the middle of the wide blue sea, with her father, Jack, a marine iguana called Fred, a sea lion called Selkie, a turtle called Chica and a satellite dish for her email.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I think the first draft of Nim’s Island took about nine months, (or 34 years, depending on which way you look at it.) The first draft of Nim at Sea probably took six months, but I think went to even more drafts over the following year.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Anne of Green Gables!
What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
from Nim at Sea; illustration by Kerry Millard
I didn’t think about them being ‘girl power’ books, but they’re often seen that way because Nim is strong, independent and resourceful. On the other hand, adventures with a sea lion and a marine iguana would certainly pique my interest, so I hope they would other readers as well.
They'll be posting in a week's time - it’ll be great to see what their Next Big Things are! But you can have a look at their blogs now anyway: lots of interesting stuff there.
1 Comments on Nim Stories in the Next Big Thing blog tag, last added: 2/15/2013
A mother and daughter book group reading Nim's Island wrote to say they were thinking of changing their name to the Dead Parents Book club, as they'd done so many books where the children were orphans or missing one parent.
The stated reason for having dead parents in fiction is usually that you need to get parents out of the way for the kids to have good adventures. A parent's job is to protect their children from harm, and for a good rousing adventure, you need risks and danger.
On a deeper, real-life, level, a child whose parent dies often steps up to fill a role, and has no choice but to mature. And, on the psychological level, as my Jungian friend and editor Sue says, the child may become more heroic because without the support of the real parent, they may be more influenced "by the archetypal, larger than life 'mother' or 'father' instead of the personal, so that they might be spurred on to do big and important things.
Illustration by Kerry Millard, from Nim's Island
I think the other reason for orphans in fiction is that kids are fascinated by them, a combination of fear and horror at the thought of losing parents, and the desire to know how they’d cope on their own. At least, that’s how I remember feeling, especially on reading Anne of Green Gables. It was probably due to Anne, that when my 9 year old self wrote the story that morphed into Nim’s Island 30 + years later, the heroine was an orphan.
Yet when I started planning Nim’s Island, Nim had two living parents. I always intended to get rid of them – originally they were going to sail away for a year or so, rather like Pippi Longstocking’s father. Then my sexual biases and cultural conditioning, or just plain maternal instinct, revolted. I realized that I could forgive the child’s father for sailing off, but not the mother. (Yes, I know that’s wrong, unfair, outdated, etc, and in real life I would probably judge the father just as harshly as the mother. I’m just being honest about the subconscious processing).
The only way I could write the book was to kill the mother. (Which I decided on a walk with my daughter, who was somewhat shocked when I suddenly announced, "I'm going to have to kill her." Apparently that's one of those statements you should premise with an explanation of what you're thinking about, or at least mention that it's fiction.)
Though I suppose it still all leads back to the beginning, because I wouldn't have had to kill her if I hadn't needed her to leave her child alone on an island, and get out of the way of having those adventures.
Or maybe I wouldn't have ever pictured her alone on the island if I hadn't read of orphaned Anne of Green Gables, or fatherless Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island when I was nine... but their stories wouldn't have happened if they'd had two parents.
2 Comments on Dead Parents in Fiction, last added: 9/19/2012
What a great funny post. I loved the Jungian insights and your honesty re your subconscious processing. My duaghter has decided she will be Nim for Book Week next year. I hope she doesn't try to kill me off to make it more authentic!
This post is for Megan from Singapore, who wrote to me last week about doing Nim's Island in her book club. My email to her has bounced back, so just in case she checks here:
Thanks very much for our letter. I'm very glad you enjoyed Nim's Island, and that you're enjoying your book club! And since it's Valentine's Day in the northern hemisphere, I've added a Nim's Island Valentine's Day card.
Why did you write the book Nim's Island?
Nim’s Island was inspired partly by two letters from girls asking me to write a book about them. I said that I couldn’t do that, but I started playing the writer’s game of “What if?” (two very important words in finding stories). “What if a girl wrote to an author and said “Could you please write a book about me?” and the author said, “No, because I’m a very famous writer who writes very exciting books, and since you’re just a little girl your life would be much too boring.” But what if the girl’s life was more exciting than the author’s?
I then decided that the girl’s life was more exciting because she lived on an island, and write the book all in letters between the girl and the author – which was very boring. Finally I remembered a story I’d written when I was 9, about a little girl running away from an orphanage to life alone on an island – and finally Nim’s Island came to life.
So the inspiration was partly those letters, but the deeper inspiration was seeing a tiny little island when I was 9 and thinking that I’d like to live on it, because that’s why I wrote that first story.
0 Comments on Nim's Island book group questions as of 1/1/1900
Loving being back in New York City; my first visit here was when I was planning Nim at Sea and wanted to walk everywhere that Nim would go (though I took the Staten Island ferry instead of swimming in). It's been fun revisiting some of the favourite places we've been before, but mostly - apart from the best of all, the family time, and catching up with editors who've become friends - we've explored new places and museums: Natural History, the Frick, the Cloisers, and the Met: each wonderful in their own way, each providing the thrill of learning, closely followed the humility of realising how little I know of their topics.
Tomorrow is a visit to another favourite site: the New York Public Library; the home of the beautiful stone lions on the steps outside (and the original Winnie the Pooh inside). I'm incredibly excited about being invited to speak there.
So if you're in NYC tomorrow - Saturday 20th June - come to the NYPL Children's Center on 42nd St, at 3:00, and hear about the Nim's Island journey from idea to book to movie - and say hello!
2 Comments on Nim's Island at the New York Public Library, last added: 6/20/2009
I wish I could come to your library talk! I used to work at the NYPL when I lived in NY preparing exhibits. My claim to fame was mounting the Guttenberg Bible while surrounded by curator and two guards. I hope all goes well!
I was chatting to the Hebrew translator of Nim's Island today, because she's about to start work on Nim at Sea – and it struck me what authors owe to their translators. It's a strange relationship, because more often than not there's no contact at all; the overseas publisher chooses the translator and I usually hear nothing in between receiving the contract and the arrival of the finished book. And of course, unless it's in French, even when I'm holding it, I have no way of knowing what the words inside it actually say.
So what faith I need to have in that translator! Translating a story isn't about replacing each English word with its Hungarian or Hebrew equivalent. It's about hearing the voice of the story, the music and rhythm of the language that makes that story unique, and finding a way to retell that in her own language. It's the gift that ensures that a Basque speaking child gains the same experience from the book as a child in Korea, and that they're both reading the story I wrote.
It will never be exactly the same, of course – but then, no two readers ever read exactly the same book. We all bring our lives, moods and distractions to what we read; it's coloured by all sorts of things that the author had nothing to do with. In fact every time I reread a book it seems slightly different. And of course the differences between one translation and the next will be more different from that.
But my friend in France, a girl I started kindergarten with (Jacqueline in Yasou Nikki) said that when she read L'ile de Nim (Nim's Island in French) she could hear my voice. And to me, that describes exactly why I'm grateful to my translators.
0 Comments on The gift of translation as of 1/1/1900
I keep being asked if I liked the Nim's Island film, and so even though I thought I'd expressed my excitement about it all, I thought it was time to say: Yes!
I loved the film. The first time I saw it I was too excited and tense about whether or not I'd like it, to even be able to follow it properly, but I still felt that I liked it, and that it worked. I've now seen it 8 times, and it was only the last time that I didn't cry when Nim did.
Are there things I would have done differently? A couple of small details - but I notice that audiences love them. The author isn't always the best person to decide on what works in a film!
And are there changes I liked? Alex's journey to the island, with the helicopter and cruise ship before the small boat,works much better on film. The book's version of her being let off off the cruise ship on her sailing dinghy, would have been quite anti-climactic.
And the one I wish I'd thought of? The zip line! It's so useful, so organic to the island - and so much something that Jack would have invented.
As readers know, in the book, we don't see Alexandra Rover talking to her hero. But it makes absolute sense to me - it's what writers do. We're the kids who never lost our imaginary friends when we grew up.
Most importantly, the total effect is what matters. To me, the plot changes seem slight, because they're logical. What I see is my story brought to life; the characters as I've imagined them, and the essence that I was searching for when I began to write this book.
1 Comments on Did I like the Nim's island film?, last added: 9/13/2008
“Z-bot to Hana. This is a Gamepowa Video Alert. Transmitting.”
“Errrr.. Report, Z-bot?”
“Data located by secondary criteria directive from Ranko Yorozu, ninth grade student. Keywords ‘tough girls’ returned two versions of Nim’s Island movie trailers. Standing by with secondary transmission.”
“Yeah uhhh.. heh heh heh… I told Z-bot to find some games for tough girls.”
“Yeah Ranko used my communicator to talk to Z-bot and I said I like adventure movies too!”
“Looks like a cool movie. Let’s go with it.”
“Yay!”
“Hana computers set to continuous-scan. Transmit when ready, Z-bot.”
What a year it’s been! I was thinking about highlights and lowlights, and thought I better find some wood to knock on – fast – because there’ve hardly been any dark spots. In fact, apart from the year I met, fell in love with and married Tom, and the years when James and Susan were born, it’s been one of the happiest years of my life.
So, some of the highs?
January was visiting my family and friends in Canada; having some quiet time with my parents, seeing Susan in her new life in Vancouver (and listening to my sister’s crazy parrot)
- Santa Monica: spending time with Nim’s Island’s producer Paula Mazur and her family again, meeting Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, Nim’s directors/screenwriters, for the first time and sitting in a café being shown scene dioramas and storyboards, being taken for lunch by the Walden executives and discussing dreams (I said mine was that Nim would be greenlit while I was in town)… and a fabulous last day, starting with a walk on Santa Monica Beach, on to a meeting at Fox, back to meet Paula, discuss the film’s progress, and then be whisked out to the wonderful Getty Museum , and finally, pick up soy chai lattes for a final walk on the beach at sunset.
March was Paula’s phone call to say Nim’s Island had the green light, with Jodie Foster and Abigail Brslin. Gerard Butler’s name was confirmed some time later – each one of those announcements was a celebration in its own right.
- my parents arriving for Dad to help James renovate his apartment ; the three generations of men working together, and finally James moving into his own first home.
- the shortlisting of Across the Dark Sea for the NSW Premier's Community Relations Award.
May was a day in Sydney with Paula , realising that we’d finally met in Australia and that the film was truly going to happen.– and looking at a map at the end of the day and realising we’d walked about 20 km as we’d chatted.
June was the publication of the American Mokie and Bik, a book that is truly close to my heart, not just because of the family stories it incorporates, but the risk of playing with language as I did (or maybe just because it took so many years to work out)
July was Susan coming over for a couple of weeks - some special times with her, including a trip to Brisbane for the launch of the Australian Nim at Sea, also dear simply because I love these characters so much, and had been so caught up in the writing of this next stage of their adventure. And then that funny evening at Riverbend Books, with Paula, Mark & Jen all stuck on the boat .
August was our visit to the set, and that could be a whole list of highlights in itself: seeing the reality of it all, feeling the buzz of the atmosphere and the warmth of the crew, watching Paula, Mark and Jen in action, having Jodie Foster tell me that Nim’s Island was the book that got her son into reading, going to the beach with Abigail and her family, going out for dinner with Gerry and a bunch of his friends after seeing 300 and being serenaded by Rocco, a young opera singer from Naples…
September was my second visit to the set: arriving to a “Welcome Home,” from one of the assistant directors and feeling that I was back friends , being made up and doing my EPK interview, understanding a little more of the process as I watched, and opening my wonderful gifts at the airport on the way home
October was starting to work on my new website with Linda Judd, and getting to know and admire her.
November is birthday month for both Tom and me, a lovely dinner at la Petanque with James and my agents Debbie and Colin Golvan.
December was the thrill of seeing the trailer, and a wonderful Christmas with James, Tom and I going up to Tom’s sister and her family in northern Queensland; phone calls with Susan, my parents, and sister Kathy. My most unexpected gift? A Mokie and Bik mouse pad from my lovely editor at Henry Holt. Very special!
And through out the year, there’ve been the special contacts with friends and readers; friends we’d lost contact with who got in touch when they heard the Nim’s Island news; kids who write to tell me of the events in their lives, whether happy or sad, teenagers who first wrote when they read Nim’s Island as children, the fans who throw unbelievable energy into supporting the movie, all the family and friends who share who our lives.
My list could go on, so I’ll simply conclude again with , What a year it’s been.
May 2008 be filled with joy, happiness and health for everyone.
First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants Editor:Donald R. Gallo Publisher:Candlewick Press ISBN-10: 0763632910 ISBN-13: 978-0763632915
Recommended for grades 7-10
Wow!Eleven well known authors write about the immigrant experience for teenagers. The stories are as different as the countries each immigrant comes from and completely absorbing. There are stories from Cambodia, Korea, Romania, Mexico, Venezuela among others.
Pam Muñoz Ryan's First Crossing tells the story of a young teen boy from Jalisco’s first trip across the border in Tijuana. It’s so heartbreaking.The story tells of the coyotes, how much people pay for the crossing and the dangers involved in doing so. It made me cry.
I loved David Lubar’s story of a Romanian boy that gets sent to Alaska rather than Arkansas with his family as they’ve been told. When his new school friends find out he is from Transylvania, they find new ways of testing him for vampiric abilities.It’s funny, quirky and different.
In My Favorite Chaperone, a girl from Kazakhstan describes the differences in culture and learns to fit in. This one was one of my favorites, especially when she is translating for her parents about her little brother and changes the translation to minimize the trouble her little brother gets into.
I think this is an important book for both the YA crowd as well as adults. The stories promote tolerance, explain the immigrant experience and really do a good job explaining all the very real reasons why people come here.
0 Comments on First Crossing: as of 3/27/2007 5:54:00 PM
Fantastic interview, Wendy! I love that the NIM Stories are together at last. What a fantastic series it is! And thanks for the tag. ;)