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February was an amazing month for giveaways -- we received a record number of entries. Thanks to all those who spread the word!
And now, on to the winners.....
These five winners will each receive a copy of BLESSED by Cynthia Leitich Smith:
ssmith
breakkanamexd
jbeckstead
talisker2000
maddie.mcphail
These two winners will each receive an IRON QUEEN Prize Pack:
blazesandbubbles
mar_vene4u
This winner will receive a signed copy of SELLING HOPE and some of Hope's Anti-Comet Pills:
leebee19
Congratulations to the winners!
Don't forget to enter our new March Giveaways: Click here to enter!
YABC recently got the chance to interview the fabulous Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, author of SELLING HOPE and AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT. Check out her answers to our questions below!
What sparked your inspiration to write a novel about Halley's Comet?
I like to think of Hope as a Happy Accident. Dalmatian Press had contracted me to write a workbook about space, “the universe in 64 pages,” as my editor said. I decided to include a section on comets. In researching Halley’s Comet, I discovered that in May of 1910, Earth had actually passed through the tail of the comet. Scientists realized months before that this phenomenon would occur, and newspapers worldwide printed the story. Fear of the unknown gripped the planet – will poisonous gasses fill the heavens and kill us all? People began prophesying the end of days. And where there is fear, there are people willing to cash in on it. Con artists sold everything from gas masks to lead umbrellas to trips to the moon! One particularly enterprising young man made and sold “comet pills.” I knew once I read those words – comet pills?! – it was a story I wanted to tell. The 1910 setting you portray is so true to life and rich. I felt like I was actually there, experiencing Vaudeville and the fearful unknown of Halley's Comet. What kind of research did you do for SELLING HOPE?
Research is one of my favorite parts of the writing process. So many bizarre and breathtaking things happen every day, and the purpose of research is to uncover those gems and interpret them through the eyes of your main character. For SELLING HOPE I spent over a year researching Halley’s Comet, 1910 Chicago, and vaudeville. I love studying ads to see what things cost, what hairstyles and clothes were popular, what cars and kitchens looked like. And because I was researching vaudeville, I spent quite a chunk of time on YouTube looking at herky-jerky footage of ancient vaudeville skits – heaven! Tell us about Buster Keaton. I must admit, I didn't know much about him until I read SELLING HOPE. I went online and watched a few of his comedy sketches, just so I could get to know this friend of Hope's. What made you want to include him in your novel?
The novel is set in 1910, and I wanted a male lead who was a popular vaudevillian at that time. Buster Keaton’s name popped up over and over again in my initial research, and because his legacy stretched into film, I was familiar with his work (I spent many a small-town Saturday night watching Buster Keaton movies in a church basement on a reel-to-reel projector. Man, that makes me sound ancient.) Because I’d grown up being exposed to his work, I was comfortable trying to portray him in fiction. The more I researched him, I knew he was the perfect choice. He was an amazing talent, and his performance background was unbelievable – he started performing at age
It’s May 1910, and Halley’s Comet is due to pass thru the Earth’s atmosphere. And thirteen-year-old Hope McDaniels and her father are due to pass through their hometown of Chicago with their ragtag vaudeville troupe. Hope wants out of vaudeville, and longs for a “normal” life—or as normal as life can be without her mother, who died five years before. Hope sees an opportunity: She invents “anti-comet” pills to sell to the working-class customers desperate for protection. Soon, she’s joined by a fellow troupe member, young Buster Keaton, and the two of them start to make good money. And just when Hope thinks she has all the answers, she has to decide: What is family? Where is home?
I LOVED THIS BOOK.
Not only is Hope's voice charming, quirky and mischievous, not only is her emotional arc captivating, and not only do I have a ginormous crush on Buster Keaton now - but Kristen O'Donnell Tubb could teach a class on how to write a historical novel that is both informative and entertaining.
Her writing style is brisk and tight, and the story never slows. The reader is immediately emotionally invested in Hope and her destiny. Her father is painted perfectly, the bumbling magician with more on his mind than his daughter. The rest of the carnival participants are not caricatures, which would have been easy, but living, breathing, jump-off-the-page human beings.
Read the rest HERE.
What a great interview! I hadn't heard of HOPE before reading this and I'm so psyched to get my hands on a copy! I don't know much about the vaudeville era, but I'm intrigued and want to get to know HOPE and the other characters in the book.
Awesome contest!!