How to use this Page

 Title: Grayling's Song
Author: Karen Cushman
Published: 2016
Source: Edelweiss

Summary: When her hedgewitch mother is attacked and turned into a tree, shy Grayling must venture out of her hometown for the first time and journey to find the person who's attacking all the magical folk in the land. Along the way she's joined by a crew of misfits who are all that's left.

First Impressions: This is a quieter book, for all there's a magical threat. Grayling grows into her own power and courage convincingly. The true identity of the villain, though, was a little bit of a bait and switch and I'm still not sure I like it.

Title: Booked
Author: Kwame Alexander
Published: 2016
Source: Local Library

Summary: Nick is having a rough time. His parents are splitting up, his best friend is on a different soccer team, his dad is trying to get him to read more (blech! yuck!) and he's kinda sorta maybe in like with  a girl.

First Impressions: This was pretty good! There were so many elements (soccer, parental relationships, luuuuurvvve, divorce) that it should have felt overstuffed but everything wove together very realistically.

Title: Unplugged
Author: Donna Freitas
Published: 2016
Source: Edelweiss

Summary: Living a virtual life in the App World, Skye longs for the day when she can disconnect and see her family, left behind in the real world. When the government announces that the borders between the App World and the real world have been closed permanently, she fears it might never happen - until a celebrity offers her the chance to sneak across the border. But the real world isn't quite what she expected, and neither is her family.

First Impressions: Yay no love triangle! In fact, there's very little romance, and female relationships are more important to the plot. On the other hand it really ran out of steam when she moved to the real world. This is the first in the series and I really wish it had been all one book because all the scenes in the real world felt like they were mostly treading water.

The cover has been unveiled for Karen Cushman’s first fantasy novel, Grayling’s Song. Cushman, who won the Newbery Medal in 1995, has become well-known for writing historical fiction.

We’ve embedded the full image for the jacket design above—what do you think? According to the Fuse#8 Production Blog, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers has scheduled the publication date for October 27.

You read that right, folks.  Karen Cushman has a new book coming out (hooray!) and it’s not like her books in the past.  Cushman has embraced her fantastical side in her latest title, Grayling’s Song.  Here’s the plot description:

“When Grayling’s mother, wise woman Hannah Strong, starts turning into a tree, Hannah sends Grayling to call “the others” for help. Shy and accustomed to following her mother in everything, Grayling takes to the road. She manages to summon several “others”—second-string magic makers who have avoided the tree spell—and sets off on a perilous trip to recover Hannah’s grimoire, or recipe book of charms and potions. By default the leader of the group, which includes a weather witch, an enchantress, an aspiring witch, a wizard whose specialty is divination with cheese, and a talking and shape shifting mouse called Pook, Grayling wants nothing more than to go home.

Kidnapping, imprisonment, near drowning, and ordinary obstacles like hunger, fatigue, and foul weather plague the travelers, but they persist and achieve their goal. Returning, Grayling finds herself reluctant to part with her companions—especially Pook. At home she’s no longer content to live with her bossy mother, who can look after herself just fine, and soon sets out on another journey to unfamiliar places . . . possibly to see the young paper maker who warmed her heart.”

To get a sense of the book, I had the honor of asking Ms. Cushman a couple questions about his new direction.

Betsy Bird: It’s always a cause for celebration when a new Karen Cushman book is on the horizon.  This book does feel, to some extent, like a bit of a departure for you.  While it has a historical feel, there’s magic in its bones.  Have you always wanted to write a fantasy?  Or is this a newfound desire?

Karen Cushman: It is definitely a departure.  After eight historical novels about gutsy girls (and Will), I wanted to try something different. I had an idea for a fantasy.  How difficult could it be?  I would not be bothered by all that pesky history, the rules and boundaries that constrain an author writing about a real time and place.

That shows how much I know about fantasies.  A fantasy world has as much history, as many rules and boundaries and limitations, as historical fiction, but the author has to invent them. For both fantasy and historical fiction authors, our task is to make a world come alive within boundaries.  .

Grayling’s Song takes Grayling reluctantly on a journey to free her mother from a curse. I set myself a difficult task: to write a fantasy in which magic exists but is sometimes harmful and never the answer.  Grayling has to get herself and others out of danger without magic–by being thoughtful, observant, cooperative, persistent, and determined.  In other words, human.  My husband calls it an anti-fantasy.  And that’s the point: magic is not the answer.

BB: Can you tell us a little bit about the origins of the book itself?

KC: The book began with the image of Grayling’s mother rooted to the ground.  I’m not a big fantasy reader and had never before thought about writing a fantasy, but that image appeared in my head and I wanted to find out more, so I had to make it up and write it down.

BB: What are some of the children’s fantasy novels that you yourself have enjoyed reading (either when you were a child or now as an adult)?  Have they influenced this book in any way?

KC: I don’t remember fantasy being popular when I was young.  Science fiction, yes, but I wasn’t interested.  The first fantasy I recall reading is Peter Beagle’s wondrous The Last Unicorn, and I was all grown up and married before that.  Since then I have found several fantasies to love:  Lloyd Alexander’s five Chronicles of Prydain books, which I read over and over with my daughter, The Hobbit, The Once and Future King, Ella Enchanted, The Princess Bride, Plain Kate, Seraphina, The Goblin Emperor.

I think their influence is mostly in their wide spectrum.  There is no  one right way to write fantasy, they told me, no correct kind of character, no approved method of magic.  And several of them gave me permission to be funny, ironic, and  downright silly at times.

BB: So many authors have difficulty writing standalone books.  Which is to say, books that don’t require sequels.  Looking at your titles, I don’t know that you’ve ever done a sequel.  Is there a particular reason for this?  Do you think you might try one in the future?  I’m sure your fans have asked you to

KC: Stories seem to come to me all of a piece–a beginning, middle, and end, all in one book.  I had thought about writing a sequel to Catherine Called Birdy for my second book  but my editor didn’t like sequels and urged me to try something else.  So I did.  That something else was The Midwife’s Apprentice, which won the Newbery Medal in 1996.  Good call, Dinah.

I still think about that Birdy sequel.  I have a plot and characters, but I’m not sure I could recapture that voice.  Birdy’s voice is so distinctive and pretty well known. But maybe, maybe…

BB: Speaking of which, recently you were a bit in the news when Lena Dunham announced that she was adapting Catherine Called Birdy, one of her favorite books, to the silver screen. I assume that you’ve had interest from Hollywood in the past, but this felt a bit more serious.  Did it catch you off-guard?

KC: Off-guard is an understatement.  Several people had sent me the comment Lena made stating that Catherine Called Birdy and Lolita were the two best books for girls.  That’s pretty rare company but I thought no more about it until a contract for an option appeared from Lena’s company.

I’ve met with Lena, who is bright and lovely and sweet, much smarter and nicer than Hannah from Girls.  Lena is excited about the project and determined to make it happen so I have my fingers crossed.

BB: Well finally, what are you working on next?

KC: Too many ideas are swimming around in my head.  I’m working on a short story set in Elizabethan Bath, which may also be a novel.  And there is Millie McGonigal waiting for me in San Diego in 1941.  And a book about a pilgrimage to Rome, and, oh yes, something about thieving orphans in medieval Oxford.  Probably my next book will be one of those.  Probably.

BB:  A million thanks to you, Karen, for agreeing to speak with me!  Just as a side note, Lena Dunham also has a tattoo of Richard Peck’s Fair Weather.  Probably the only one in known existence, so her motives are certainly pure.

And now folks . . . the very first Karen Cushman fantasy novel!

Karen Cushman’s acclaimed historical novels include Catherine, Called Birdy, a Newbery Honor winner, and The Midwife’s Apprentice, which received the Newbery Medal. She lives on Vashon Island in Washington State. Her website is www.karencushmanbooks.com.

Any author will tell you that one of the questions we get asked the most is What are your favorite books? When it comes to historical fiction, coming up with a short list is pretty much impossible.

During her talk at the New Yorker Festival, filmmaker Lena Dunham revealed that she plans to work on a movie adaptation of Catherine, Called Birdy.

Dunham (pictured, via) will pen the script. She also hopes to serve as the director for this project.

According to BuzzFeed, this Karen Cushman novel features a story that “is told through diary entries written by a British 12-year-old named Catherine in the year 1290. The book was awarded the prestigious Newbery Medal.” Who would you cast as young Catherine?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We were lucky enough to take part in Karen Cushman's blog tour for Will Sparrow's Road. My student, "Suzy," who is Muslim, read the book and helped to prepare the questions for Ms. Cushman. (see blog tour post here and comment for a chance to win a copy of the book) When we received the following information about Christmas in Elizabethan England, Suzy naturally had questions about Muslims in England at that time. Ms. Cushman graciously sent this addendum to her description of an Elizabethan Christmas:

Alexander Ostuzhev as Othello, 1935

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth

photo by scherre on Flickr

So now is come our joyful'st feast,
 
Let every man be jolly.
 

Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
 

And every post with holly. 

Though some churls at our mirth repine, 

Round your foreheads garlands twine,
 

Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,
 

And let us all be merry. 
(George Wither—16th c. poet)

 
Imagine a Christmas without a tree, colored lights, Santa Claus, presents, or Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. Even without these joys, the Elizabethan Christmas revels were the highpoint of the year. After the sad, solemn, sometimes violent reign of Mary Tudor, Englishmen were ready for gaiety. And Elizabeth, relieved to find herself queen and not martyr, marked her reign with joy, luxury, and extravagance. Her people, starting on Christmas Eve and culminating twelve days later on Twelfth Night, celebrated Christmas with gusto.

Villagers and nobles alike decorated their homes with holly, ivy, yew, bay, laurel--in fact, anything still green. A large log, the Yule log, was brought in and kept burning in the hearth throughout the twelve days of the holiday.

Someone would be chosen as “The Lord of Misrule” and would be in charge of organizing the entertainment and revelry for the Twelve Days of Christmas. There would be dancing and play-acting and the singing of carols. Groups of girls and boys would go round their village or neighborhood with an empty drinking cup, begging for each house to fill it with spiced ale or cakes or a silver penny. It was bad luck to refuse.

Food was the highlight of the celebration. Turkey had only been introduced into England from the Americas during the reign of Henry VIII and was relatively uncommon. Goose was more traditional. It is said that in 1588 Elizabeth I ordered the entire country to serve goose at their Christmas feast, since it was the first meal she had eaten following England's victory over the Spanish. The very rich might serve peacock—skinned, cooked, and put back into its skin and feathers. The poor, of course, ate whatever they could.

Other goodies included wild boar, minced meat pies, plum porridge, and a Christmas pie of birds' tongues, eggs, sugar, lemon and orange peel, accompanied by a beer brewed especially for the occasion. During the Elizabethan age water was not considered fit to drink. Instead, beer was the staple drink for the majority of people, and it was common for country homes to house their own brewery. Mulled wine might also be served as well as syllabub (spiced milk with rum or wine) and lambswool, made by heating cider, sherry or ale, spices, and apples until the apples exploded into a foamy, white head.

The last night of the Christmas celebrations was January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, which commemorated the coming of the Three Kings. Twelfth Night festivities were often the grandest of the year, filled with balls and parties. A special cake would be baked and given out to members of the family and household. This cake would contain a bean and whoever found it would be pronounced King of the Bean.

Whether or however you celebrate Christmas, I wish you great joy of the season and a splendid new year.

-- Karen Cushman

"...Will walked right up to them as if he belonged there. Which, he supposed, he did. Oddities, all of them -- a liar and a thief, a disagreeable little man, and a girl with the face of a cat -- belonging nowhere but with each other."

When you dive into a pool or rush into the sea, do you notice the feel of the water against your skin?Is it hot or cold, muddy or clear, salty or fresh?Is it slick (with oil, sadly) or still pure, slimy or silty?And when you begin reading a story, are you aware of the feel–the texture– of the story?What do I mean by texture?It’s like the physical sensation that you’d get from rubbing your hand

Here’s the scoop on May's most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases, the bestsellers, and kids’ book events.

Oh, how I love Karen Cushman!

Her writing is so much fun to read.

She's all about WORDS.

Glorious, creative words.

And talk about good insults!

I thought Elvis (The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis) was pretty good at insulting.

I mean, bug-brained booger breath is pretty good, right?

But Elvis can't hold a candle to Meggy Swann (The Alchemy and Meggy Swann).

Exhibit A:

wart-necked flap maggot

penny pinching nip cheese

milk-livered minnow

mewling flap-mouthed flax wench

Cease your bibble babble, you gleeking goat's bladder.

And when she isn't busy insulting, Karen Cushman is tossing out words like:

skimble skamble

marble-hearted

beslubbered

I love this book.

Thank you, Kirby.

• The last thing I want to do first thing in the morning: clean up cat barf. Guess what I just did?
• My (awesome) brother just picked me up for the airport. I know, I'm surprised as you are that I got up this early.
• Worst CVG security line ever! Walked straight on to my (exit row) seat when I got to the gate.
• A guy in the back of my plane had a seizure. First time I've been on flight where they paged for a doc. Nice delay in CVG. Just left LAX!
• Why are LA cabs always uncomfortably hot?
• The cabbie has hockey playing curious George hanging from his rear view mirror which makes me like him better. Wish he would get off phone
• At faculty dinner sitting with @EllenHopkinsYA, @Suzanne_Young, David Diaz and others. The bartenders make fab cosmos.
• David Diaz kicked our butts at Hannah Montana Uno #SCBWI09

• Ahh. King size hotel bed. Goodnight, tweeps. Lots of tweets and blogging tomorrow! #SCBWI09
• #scbwi09 SCBWI TEAM BLOG @PaulaYoo; @leewind; @cuppajolie; @jeaimetem; @suzanne_young #followfriday
• Breakfast with Team Blog in The Breeze. Everyone is playing with devices. We start conference coverage in an hour. #SCBWI09
• Just went last in the faculty word parade. My word: blog! #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie has the room laughing. #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie can go seamlessly from tragedy to comedy. #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie has perhaps the best story ever about how books helped him get through childhood. #SCBWI09
• Sherman Alexie: "I'm rich but I still have class issues." #SCBWI09
• Sherman just dropped a very appropriate F-bomb. #SCBWI09
• Sherman: "The book is safe. The book is where I can hide." #SCBWI09
• Sherman: "It's easy to hand a book to a kid that's about that kid." The challenge is to engage a kid in a book that isn't. #SCBWI09
• It's super cold in the conference ballroom but David Wiesner's beautiful images will warm me up. #SCBWI09
• David Wiesner is showing clips from The Shining in relation to his process. Makes sense in person. #SCBWI09
• David Wiesner loves him some movies. Now he's discussing 2001: A Space Odyssey. #SCBWI09
• But really, is it any surprise movies inspire Wienser? Look at his books if you're not sure. #SCBWI09
• Lobby court restaurant is trying to starve me and make me late.
• Lin Oliver is telling contest winner jokes. There are some witty peeps here. Oh--door prizes! #SCBWI09
• Editor panel going on. I love listening to editors discuss books they're passionate about. #SCBWI09
• Ari Lewin from Hyperion: bookstores love series. Stand alone connected stories, even better. # SCBWI09
• RT @gregpincus: #scbwi09 Tweetup tonight at 9 in the lobby bar area. Come say "hi" or something longer than 140 characters!
• Agent Marietta Zacker is reading the first paragraph from an unpublished novel she says "gives her shivers" every time she reads it #SCBWI09
• Marietta Zacker said she recently counted how many manuscripts her agency receives daily. Answer: 10. #SCBWI09
• Check out the secret stuff behind the book jacket of Frank Portman's latest novel, Andromeda Klein

• Just rode the elevator with a guy who bathed in cologne. I can still smell it. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman just took the stage. I love her books. #SCBWI09
• Someone's phone just rang. Karen Cushman: "Sounds like the ice cream man is here." #SCBWI09
• Cushman: Writing is like exercise. I wanted to do it, planned to do it, but never got around to doing it. Until she was in her 50s. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman quoting a poet: Write what you know. This should leave you with a lot of free time. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: I figured I could say 'shitty first drafts' since Sherman said 'f*** you' yesterday. (Big laughs.) #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: Tell the truth--the emotional truth, the truth of your passion, the truth revealed from you research. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: publication isn't the only reason to write. Let go of the outcome. #SCBWI09
• Karen Cushman: Like Flannery O'Connor, I write what I can. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black is leading an active discussion on critique groups. Blog posts soon. (No wifi in Brentwood room.) #SCBWI09
• Holly Black always wears cool shoes. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black just had the people in her session write something, swap with a partner, and tell each other what's good about it. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins: "The $8000 advance I got for Crank was not life changing." #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins: There were dark phases in my life. I got through them. I worked them into my writing. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins is making me cry. I wish you were all here listening to her story. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkin's Crank sold on 75 pages. #SCBWI09
• It took 2 1/2 years for Crank to hit the NY Times bestseller list. #SCBWI09
• Ellen Hopkins: Learn the rules before you break them. #SCBWI09
• Courtney Bongiolatti (S&S); "Literal hell or metaphorical? Because that would be important for the synopsis." #SCBWI09
• #SCBWI09 Conference F-Bomb Count--number of keynote speakers who have have dropped the f-bomb so far: 4. (I'll update you as f-bombs happen)
• Wendy Loggia (Delacorte) googles writers before she takes them on. So watch what you say in the blogosphere, tweeps. #SCBWI09
• Wendy Loggia: Contrary to popular belief, we do not take pleasure in crushing writers' dreams. (She's given a great session). #SCBWI09
• Our sundae came with an extra gravy boat of fudge.

• Doing last minute presentation prep for my breakout session Practical Online Promotion. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black: Fantasy has real stuff to say about our own world and real things to say about us. #SCBWI09
• Holly: We have to believe in the fantastical when we read it. World building is one of most difficult things for fantasy writers. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black: In many ways fantasy resembles historical fiction. #SCBWI09
• Holly Black's crazy theory: fantasy plotting is slightly different than non-fantasy plotting
• Holly Black: When I started, I wrote a lot of scenes with elves sitting around drinking coffee and experiencing ennui. #SCBWI09
• I'm talking about twitter
• Just left the Golden Kite Luncheon. Getting ready to blog Marla Frazee's session, How Your Words Inspire Me to Draw Pictures #SCBWI09
• Marla Frazee: I [illustrate] one page at a time and I do them in order. Because I'm a Capricorn. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: Egmont's profits go to children's charities. They are technically an not-for-profit publisher. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: Writers need to know what the hook is for their books. Elevator pitches aren't two minutes long. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: She thinks agents are important and advises writers to find one. "I rely on agents to weed things out for me." #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: "Winslow the Whale spouted emotions through his blow hole." (Posted because it's just as funny out of context.) #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law on social networking: Join networks, make comments, make friends, don't be embarrassed to talk about your work. #SCBWI09
• Elizabeth Law: "If anyone does introduce me to my future husband, there's a contract for you at Egmont." #SCBWI09
• @mbrockenbrough That was one excellent banana.
• @chavelaque Thanks! And thank you for contributing. (Everyone be sure to read Cheryl's great piece on revision in the 2010 CWIM.)
• I'm having my final breakfast at The Breeze at the Century Plaza. (I recommend the oatmeal.)
• On my way to my least favorite airport LAX. (It is no CVG.)
• My cab driver's name is Igor. That's kinda cool. I've never met an Igor. (He's a very good driver.)
• Just drove past a Live Nudes place right next to Carl's Jr. I'm so not in the Nati.
• I'm standing in the line to get to the next place I will stand in line. LAX: you are living up to my expectations.
• Number of times 20-something dude in security line said 'dude' in his 5-minute phone call: 13. (I counted.) Dude. His Vegas trip ROCKED!
• I'd forgotten all about humidity until it smacked me in the face outside the airport.
• Back in the Nati and stuck in LA-style traffic. But someone's here to help.
  

There are many ways to start. Karen always starts with a title. "Now the page isn't blank anymore. The story's begun."

"Give power to thoughts. That's what writing is. Giving power to thoughts." It's what her husband did when he told her to write down the story.

"Stories come from paying attention..."

Truth of all kinds is necessary in our stories.

"I think books ought to be hopeful."

From a child's letter: "I have never read one of your books, but now I'm considering trying to read one..."

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to write."

Standing ovation!

Karen used to love Little LuLu. She was the only cartoon that was like her...a little, ordinary girl. She wanted to know what they said, thought and believed.



Karen told her husband over and over that she had an idea for a story. One day when she asked him if she could share an idea with him, he told her no, that she's been saying that for years. This particular time he said he wanted to read it.

Karen's advice, "Don't listen to advice. Even mine."


"I don't have to be in front of a computer or sitting in a chair to be working."



"Inspiration often strikes when my butt is out of my chair."

Karen is currently working on a new book WILL SPARROW'S ROAD with a boy protagonist.

Karen never writes and edits at the same time. She's sure to know which hats she's wearing.

"Read what you love and ask yourself why you love it."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

I love this story, and Karen told it so well. I paraphrase it here, because once again it gave me goosebumps.

Some people ask their Rabbi, "What is Heaven like?"

He answers: "Heaven is where a group of people sit around a table laden with wonderful food. The only problem is that no one's arms bend at the elbow."

And the people ask, "What is Hell like?"

He answers again, "Hell is where a group of people sit around a table laden with wonderful food. The only problem is that no one's arms bend at the elbow."

"Well then, Rabbi, what is the difference between Heaven and Hell?"

"Ahh," the Rabbi said. "In Heaven, the people feed each other."

Karen Cushman is receiving a lovely intro from Lin Oliver. Karen is one of Lin's favorite writers and favorite people of all time.

"I wrote because I could not dance."

Visit Jolie Stekly's Cuppa Jolie blog today for an exclusive TEAM BLOG interview with Newbery winner and SCBWI Summer Conference keynote speaker Karen Cushman.

We're counting down to the Summer Conference ... only four more days! More exclusive interviews to come this week (including one right here), and then our conference blog-o-rama begins.

Visit Jolie Stekly's Cuppa Jolie blog today for an exclusive TEAM BLOG interview with Newbery winner and SCBWI Summer Conference keynote speaker Karen Cushman.

We're counting down to the Summer Conference ... only four more days! More exclusive interviews to come this week, and then our conference blog-o-rama begins.