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Every library worker has gotten that request for a strange, old book which is still somehow required at some school somewhere. Betsy Bird did a terrific take-down of those outdated list earlier this summer, and an attempt to "update" the choices for teen appeal backfired in South Carolina and Florida.

Yes, assigned whole-class summer reading can be problematic. The number of titles (and the page lengths) required seems to have dwindled over decades, and other supposed innovations including "read any one book from the New York Times bestseller list" has led to a scramble for the shortest books.

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Instead we should concentrate on promoting free voluntary reading. NYPL has rejiggered the reading portion of their summer learning program to focus on time spent reading rather than particular titles, and researchers at the University of Rochester have demonstrated that elementary school students who select the books they want to read over the summer have significantly improvements in reading ability.

When I spent a week at a teacher workshop this summer, it struck me that many schools have already given up on assigning summer reading. From Massachusetts to Missouri, teachers weren't even suggesting students should be reading particular texts in preparation for a new school year. Transience and not being able to supply books for students were cited as two barriers, but other teachers just realized the reading wasn't getting done.

"It sets the wrong tone," said Melissa Pouridas, English teacher at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, Maryland. Students don't even pretend to have done the summer reading and start the term with a bad grade, or else they cram just enough from Sparknotes to get by, which suggests that the class won't require real effort.

Instead, Pouridas suggested that there be "first week of school reading." In the flux of schedule changes, students can take a deep dive, together, into a text and establish a more rigorous reading pace for the school year.

It's got to be better than finding Cliff Notes for Brave New World up on all the library computers, or that junior asking you to tell them the plot of Huckleberry Finn, both of which have been part of my back-to-school realities...

Ahead of a trip, many of us gravitate toward books that depict the history and culture of our travel destination. But it can work the other way around, too. Sometimes a book provides such a powerful sense of place that we find ourselves longing to visit the area we read about. Some of us even [...]

We tend to think of reading as a cerebral endeavor, but every once in a while, it can spur action. The following books — ranging from inspiring biographies to evocative fiction to instructional guides — motivated us to step out of our comfort zones and make significant, lasting changes in our lives. ÷ ÷ ÷ [...]

by

Erin Bowman

—

It’s September and the school buses are again making the rounds. In honor of back-to-school, us Pub Crawlers have been chatting about some of our favorite required reading from high school. (And also some of our least favorites). I’ll kick things off…

What’s your favorite novel read during high school? What about least favorite? Tell us in the comments!

—

Erin Bowman is a YA writer, letterpress lover, and Harry Potter enthusiast living in New Hampshire. Her TAKEN trilogy is available from HarperTeen (FORGED out 4/14/15), and VENGEANCE ROAD publishes with HMH in fall 2015. You can visit Erin’s blog (updated occasionally) or find her on twitter (updated obsessively).

Hey, I’m back. It’s only been . . . well, months.  Have been struggling with getting “Buried Alive!,” John Victor’s second adventure, edited and published. It’s available–right now!–online at Create Space’s Book Store.  Finally! But, before I get into that, there’s something exciting (at least for me and possibly for any of you who suffer with insomnia):  Over the counter medicine, prescriptions, and the usual suggestions have all failed me. But, there’s a cure that actually works for me!  Finally! My long-time friend, Erna D, told me about it on the telephone. You simply need a banana, a small saucepan and some water.  Cut both ends of the banana off. (I’m not sure why, but perhaps they’re bitter?).  Then place the banana–skin and all–into a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  Let it simmer for ten minutes.  Then, use the water like tea (I add lots of cream and a little sugar).  Tastes great that way if, like me, you like a little bit of tea with your cream and sugar.  Anyway, drink your tea that tastes slightly like banana, and eat what you can of the banana–skin and all according to Erna–but with my stomach troubles I don’t bother with the skin.  I even mash the banana and add a bit to my tea. Reminds me of the consistency of extra pulp in OJ.  I end up falling asleep within half an hour, instead of struggling for two or more hours.

Getting back to “Buried Alive!,” the scene is set near Tucson, Arizona.  Our intrepid hero is literally buried alive in a crude cedar coffin somewhere beneath the Sonora Desert. And to make it interesting, his “coffin” is digitally connected to a live radio show. The radio host invites a bevy of professionals to communicate with John Victor, in an effort to pull elusive clues from his memory. Professionals like detectives, profilers, scientists, etc.  So they can find him before it’s too late.  An endangered plant is the basis for his being found. There are bits of trivia about the Tucson region, and most importantly of all, there’s information about the Bible. Between John Victor and one other character, bits of Biblical information is revealed, including info about prophesies that have actually been fulfilled–the chance for them being fulfilled is astounding–and about faith in its various forms.  Like with “The SEED,” John’s first adventure, “Buried Alive!” has intrigue, humor, a touch of romance, and faith-based information.  Speaking of “The SEED,” have I mentioned at least a hundred times that it was nominated by a professor for inclusion on Green Mountain College’s required reading list? And that it placed as a top-ten finalist in a national contest?  Well, right now, you can find “Buried Alive” by Ann Rich Duncan by Googling Create Space Book Store.  It’ll be available thru Amazon.com after April 10.  By the way, the ISBN #s are:  13:978-1496055538 and 10: 1496055535.  Here’s a pix of the cover:

This round of Required Reading is dedicated to the place we at Powell's Books call home: the great Pacific Northwest. Whether you're from the area or you simply appreciate the region for its beauty, history, temperament, or legendary bookstore, these titles will give you a more nuanced understanding of this peculiar corner of the U.S. [...]

This round of Required Reading is dedicated to the place we at Powell's Books call home: the great Pacific Northwest. Whether you're from the area or you simply appreciate the region for its beauty, history, temperament, or legendary bookstore, these titles will give you a more nuanced understanding of this peculiar corner of the U.S. [...]

David Elzey posted the following to The Excelsior Files in 2007, as part of a five-part series about Summer Reading. I thought it would be good to quote it here, since the Required Reading vs No Required Reading debate is a never-ending one:

“…the summer reading of my youth, always self-directed and rarely encouraged by my mother, has been replaced with a formalized list of titles handed out at the end of the school year for elementary school kids to stress over as they tussle with parents over having their ‘fun’ summer taken away from them.”

Monica Edinger, from Educating Alice, has recently pointed readers to a parody she wrote on the topic a few years ago. To Require or Not to Require: That’s the Question is sure to make you laugh, as well as think about the issue.

This is not a debate about whether children should read during the Summer or not, but whether their reading should be chosen for them and required. What do you think?

Over the weekend The New York Times, reg. required, profiled an experimental teaching method that allows students to select their own reading material. The piece opened up an ongoing debate over the role of English teachers, and how the... Read the rest of this post

Or rather, a reader by his or her book.

I realize I've been more than remiss about posting here since the Bradford Blog Bash came and went, but if you've had a chance to pop over and check out the staggeringly vast cyberverse that is Bradford, well then, you understand that it keeps a girl busy. 

However, I was catching up with a cup of coffee and my Google Reader this morning (er, afternoon--curse you, daylight savings!), when I happened to stumble upon this post via my dear friends at Jezzie, about the judgements we, as readers and writers, make about other people's bookshelves. 

Of course, I laughed to read it, and of course, I can relate. Checking out people's bookshelves is like peering into their medicine cabinets, one of the fastest (though potentially less honest than prescription bottle labels) glimpses into their souls. But I have to say that while no one who knows me would deem me devoid of strong opinion, I think I tend to give people some slack w/r/t the contents of their bookshelves. In my own experience, I've personally cultivated a broad range of interests and a similarly diverse library, and people I've met haven't always extended me the same courtesy. 

There was the live-in boyfriend who commented that it might be nice if just one evening I would relax with a book in bed rather than flipping to the latest reality train wreck on MTV. I had to remind him that as a BOOK EDITOR, I sometimes found it enjoyable to use the brief half-hour before retiring to bed as an opportunity to switch my brain off. And felt no need to apologize for that choice. 

Then there was, later, the short-term prospect who, upon visiting the 500-square foot studio into which I'd just relocated, commented on my single, solitary bookshelf. Little did he know that as someone who had moved four times in six years, I took each new apartment, each new lease, as a chance to archive my most favorite books at my parents' house in NJ, thereby freeing up the new pad for new acquisitions. 

(side note: at present, my TBR pile stands taller than I do. The occasional purge-and-archive, she is crucial, especially for those of us in space-challenged living arrangements). 

Do I sound defensive? No doubt. I've spent my ten-plus years in publishing gently reminding people that no one choice we make as readers or as writers defines us. As I look to my right, I can see on my bookshelf titles by Stephen King, Steinbeck, award-winning young adult authors, and yes--Bridget Jones's Diary (shelved right next to my treasured copy of Helter Skelter, I should add). In the same way that I can enjoy an art-house foreign film with my fancy-pants man one minute, and curl up to watch a seventies slasher with my mother the next, I think that a varied bookshelf, like any other wide array of interest, suggests a multifaceted personality. And frankly, I'm cool with that. 

When I first met my future husband, his bookshelves were a disaster. Piles and piles of newspaper clippings and literary journals, stacked amongst books layered two rows thick. I was quick to notice classic fantasy titles alongside travelogues and film treatises, and mixed among them, the odd chick lit title (which I later learned had been written by a friend). The fact that he didn't think twice about what he saved--just as long as he saved, and savored, all of it, said more to me than any carefully-curated "front of house" display shelf possibly could. 

Hmm...well, no--I take that back. To me, the bookshelf that has been pruned and cultivated with deliberate caution actually says just as much about the individual reader as my messy, mixed-up stacks say about me. It tells me that the owner of the books cares much more about appearances than about authenticity. 

Which, when you get right down to it, is the same as judging a book by its cover, don't you think? 

I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

The Great Gatsby is a classic tale of lost love, old money vs. new money, and a green light. Set in 1922 and published on April 10th, 1925, this novel wholly captures the era Fitzgerald called "The Jazz Age" - the time between World War I and the Roaring Twenties.

With its straightforward depiction of disturbing relationships, brilliant narration, and beautiful language, The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels of all time. I hope that this post will encourage you to pick up the book, whether or not you've read it before, and see it with a fresh set of eyes.

Why I Think It's Great

I was a junior in high school when I first read The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing flowed, creating a beautifully tainted stream in which troubled characters tried desperately to keep their heads above water. I was most captivated by Nick Carroway, the character who narrated the story while everyone (Nick included) stumbled through fabulous parties and fierce parries, both physical and verbal. I loved the book so much that I waited years before I read another Fitzgerald book. I didn't want to hold it up to Gatsby, to compare the two books outright.

I do, however, easily see Gatsby in a lot of other stories. I created a Gatsby category at my blog so I could tag posts whenever I mentioned Nick, green lights, or tragedies in pools.

The novel is populated by imperfect characters who are fractured, careless, and heartbroken. Daisy, Tom, Gatsby - they're all broken, selfish, and greedy to different degrees. There are no heroes here. No one is blameless. Daisy wants her daughter to be a perfect little fool, and indeed, that's what Daisy herself is, if you think about it. Meanwhile, she calls her husband a hulking brute, and that's Tom, with his utter lack of shame. Gatsby wanted so much to impress and attract Daisy that he created a whole new persona. He moved so that he could be near her, yet he was reluctant to approach her.

Consider the tragic outcomes of their not-so-secret relationships. Some characters are victims of accidents, unexpected or otherwise, but perhaps, even then, some would argue that they are victims of their own making. The book makes it clear that money can't buy happiness, and that dishonest actions such as lying, cheating, and misleading others can have horrible consequences.

Nick, one of my favorite narrators ever, gets caught up in all of the mess, yet is removed from it just enough to guide readers through it. I don't feel as though he's an unreliable narrator, and I don't think he lied about anything that happened. I believe that he relayed his own thoughts and experiences. He observed what he did and shared what he saw and heard, revealing to readers the events of the story. He, like everyone else, is admittedly fallible, but he considers himself to be pretty truthful. I love this line:

Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known. - Nick, Chapter 3

Great Quotes

Last year, I opened The Great Gatsby to look up one particular line of dialogue, and I ended up reading the entire novel again in one sitting.

In addition to those I've already sprinkled throughout this piece, here are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

There was so much to read, for one thing . . . - Chapter 1

It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again. - Chapter 1

"It takes two to make an accident." - Jordan, Chapter 3

"Well, suppose we take a plunge in the swimming-pool? I haven't made use of it all summer." - Gatsby, Chapter 5

From Book to Film

When we studied The Great Gatsby, my English teacher informed us that we'd watch the film after we finished the book and our subsequent essays and tests. When the promised day came, she popped in the VHS tape of the 1974 film. The first few scenes played out on the small television tucked in the upper corner of the classroom - and then my teacher hit the fast forward button on the remote. "I don't like Robert Redford," she said by way of explanation as we watched the first party at Gatsby's house zip by us on the screen. Shortly thereafter, she stopped the tape, turned the lights back on, and moved right along onto something else.

I apologize on her behalf: I'm sorry, Robert Redford. I will watch your performance as Nick someday, Sam Waterson. I have every intent to watch the 1926 silent film and the 1949 version as well.

"No . . . I just remembered that to-day's my birthday." - Nick, Chapter 7

Earlier this month, I quietly celebrated my birthday. I received a coupon entitling me to a discount off of a DVD purchase, and I - gasp! - used it. Yes, I actually bought something. What did I select as my treat? The 2000 A&E version of The Great Gatsby, which I had watched and enjoyed when it first aired. Paul Rudd was simply brilliant as Nick. I already thought well of him as an actor, so to see him bring one of my favorite characters to life was absolutely fantastic.

Sounding Off: What Others Had to Say About The Great Gatsby

In preparation for this piece, I posted a notice at my blog asking for opinions on Gatsby. The responses I received were varied, and I'll share them all now, even the comments from a friend who worried I'd be upset after I learned of her dislike for the book. She has nothing to fear; I understand that not everyone loves the book as much as I do. That was the point of this post: to give other readers the opportunity to express what they did or didn't like about the book. Educators, students, authors, bloggers, and librarians all weighed in.

I was fortunate when it came to reading Gatsby - it wasn't disemboweled through analyzing. I got to do an independent study my senior year - I chose the book - I chose the topic to write about - I sat through no lectures - and I finally really, truly figured out symbolism. It's made all the difference.

- Jackie, librarian

I love referencing Gatsby, which I've read about a dozen times and taught to sophomores in spring 2007. Here is my favorite analogy: Elvis Presley was a lot like Gatsby - desperately seeking the approval of the Memphis old money types, who loved to come to his parties and take his presents of cars and jewels and whatever, but who never fully accepted him as one of their own. He was new money, and a rock-n-roller, and though they enjoyed the spoils of his wealth, they still looked at him with disdain.

- Lara M. Zeises, author and teacher

I love Gatsby. I fell in love with this book, and with Fitzgerald, when I was 16. My mother than read it and discovered an authentic portrait of [Fitzgerald] in the back of an antique shop, covered with dust. She bought it, had it restored, and it hangs in my parents' living room. He was a Princeton student when it was painted. He was gorgeous.

- Beth Kephart, author

I liked Gatsby when I read it in high school, but I loved it when I went back and read it as an adult. I think a certain amount of life experience deepens the meaning in a lot of ways.

Incidentally, an English teacher friend of mine who has taught the book several times, was convinced that Coldplay's song "Yellow" was about Gatsby because of the lyrics and the symbolism of the color yellow in the book. I've since heard that the song was inspired by the phone book, but when I went to see Coldplay in concert and they got to that part of the beginning of the song where the electric guitar kicks in all loud and wailing, the stage was flooded with green light, which I think gives my friend's theory some credence.

- Ali

Gatsby stands as my favorite American novel of all time. To me, it's forever contemporary even though it was written in the 20's. As a writer, I appreciate its crafting - so many wonderful stories abound about F. Scott's editor Maxwell Perkins and all the revisions he made Fitzgerald do. It shows. Tightly crafted. Every word a pleasure. Tiny moments even, like when Nick describes Daisy's "wedding cake" of a ceiling and then in the next chapter juxtaposes Myrtle living in "one slice" of a row of apartments.

Nick is the ultimate unreliable narrator. Tells us he's "the most honest person he knows" and then proceeds to watch and participate in all the down and dirty that comes with unbridled wealth. Gatsby wants Daisy so much he's willing to morally bankrupt himself. [Recently I read] an editorial by Charles Krauthammer, referring to the possiblity that Obama (who I like, by the way) might really be just a mysterious Gatsby - the man no one truly knows but everyone wants to, the man who goes to his own parties but never really participates.

I could happily go on and on. It is a miracle of a book. Those last lines, "And so we beat on..." bring tears to my eyes each and every darn time.

- Joy Preble, author

It's been ages since I've read it, but I remember reading The Great Gatsby for the first time as a very intense experience. I disliked every character in that book passionately, especially Daisy, which actually turned out to be one of my favourite things about it. I love it when fiction provokes and Gatsby certainly does that. And the writing is incredible, of course.

Sometimes I'd hate [Nick], and then I'd turn the page and [think], "Oh, Nick, I like you." And then I'd turn the page... It just went up and down. I think a lot of that has to do with the other characters, actually, and my dislike for them. I often [thought], "Just walk away from all of this, Nick, before it's too late." Ultimately, though, I can't imagine a better narrator, and even when I didn't like him, I wanted him to keep telling the story.

I really need to pick it up again, and see what I take from it the second time around...

- Courtney Summers, author

I read The Great Gatsby about once a year. It is, without a doubt, one of the best books ever written. I think [Nick]'s the most likable unreliable narrators ever.

- A.S. King, author

I spent a weekend this summer in Newport exploring the mansions where the film version was shot, and then watched the movie [1972 version] the following night. Hubby fell asleep. I got depressed.

- Mitali Perkins, author

Required Reading: Why Gatsby?

I could go on and on about the symbolism in the story, or talk how and why this book is still taught in English classrooms across the country and around the world, but I'd rather let the novel speak for itself and let you, the reader, think of it what you will.

Tell me: Why do you think Gatsby should be or is required reading? Please leave a comment below.


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This article was also posted at GuysLitWire. Learn more about GuysLitWire. Visit the GuysLitWire blog.

View all Bildungsroman posts related to GuysLitWire.

View all Bildungsroman posts related to The Great Gatsby and/or F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A new list has hit the world of children’s literature–the Renaissance Learning Report on What Kids Are Reading. After gathering answers from more than 3 million students in U.S. schools, the report announces that first graders love Dr. Seuss, second graders are reading Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, E.B. White’s classic Charlotte’s Web is the third grade favorite, fourth graders flock to Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and fifth grade’s number one choice is Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is the most popular book among sixth graders.

Then the news becomes dismal. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is universally beloved by seventh and eighth grade readers and for that yawning chasm of ninth through twelfth grade, To Kill a Mockingbird wins hands down as most popular book for people ranging in age from fourteen to seventeen.

Please don’t get me wrong. These are two wonderful books and deservedly popular among every age group, from Generation Not Yet Born to the Baby Boomers. What bothers me immensely is that these two titles are quite evidently being widely read because they are on school reading lists, and that is the kiss of death for any book. There’s nothing like a good, stiff essay test to drain the life and enjoyment from any piece of literature.

Teachers and librarians deserve a hearty round of applause for rescuing students from the required reading of my youth, which was also the required reading for my mother in the days before World War Two. Silas Marner may well be a dazzling piece of English literature, but you’ll never get me to admit it–or, for that matter, my eighty-plus-year-old mother. Both of us, in our different generations, read it thoroughly enough to pass the following test with flying colors but neither of us would claim it as our best-loved book of that particular year.

This latest list does a great job of showing what is being assigned in classrooms across the country. What it doesn’t show is what “kids are reading,” especially when they hit adolescence, and this is something we all need to know, if only to enlarge our own reading horizons.

At the Tiger’s Bookshelf, we’ve asked questions about ways to make children readers. Perhaps one of the easiest ways is by finding out what they truly enjoy reading, picking it up for ourselves, and then talking with them about it, rather than making us talk to them about what we think they should be reading.

This may lead us into the graphic novel arena, or the world of fantasy and science fiction, or other literary roads that for some of us are less traveled. We could end up reading poems written for a poetry slam, or a zine or two. What is certain is that by asking questions and reading and discussing is going to lead us into more interesting territory than any list-making will.

What’s being read for pleasure by our children and why are those choices popular? When they go beyond the snack reading that every age group indulges in, what books do they turn to? What is being devoured, read again and again,and then passed on to friends?

I don’t know and I would certainly like to find out. Is there anyone out there with some answers?

Shannon Hale has been my hero for two years now I think - ever since I first came across Squeetus and Goose Girl. I will never forget the day she won the Newbery honor! I squealed when I read the post. After that I literally watched her become famous overnight. She has been one of the biggest influences and inspirations to me as an aspiring writer.

I recently reread Goose Girl and completely fell in love with it. Previously, my favorite of the author's novels was Princess Academy and then Book of a Thousand Days, but I'm going to have to say Goose Girl now takes top honors (although Book of a Thousand Days was simply wonderful, too...read my review). I didn't want Goose Girl to end, even though I have Enna Burning and River Secrets that I can reread, too. Every time I picked it up I lost myself in it completely.

Shannon Hale makes such fabulously real heroines - not wimpy ones, but not ones that are unrealistic superheroes, either. I love Ani and Enna and Miri and Dashti SO MUCH. Her lyrical, poetic form of storytelling has such a classic, timeless feel to it.

It is with great excitement and much fangirliness that I hereby present to you my interview with Shannon Hale!

Which of your heroines were you most like as a teen? And which can you relate to the most now?

I think Miri was most consciously like myself. And she was the hardest to write. Go figure. And now…I don’t know…I don’t really think of my characters in terms of myself. I’d say at heart, I’m most like Selia. (kidding, kidding!)

What is your favorite fairytale that you haven't retold, and why?

Hm…maybe the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Or Snow White Rose Red. I like them both, but they’re not frustrating enough for me to retell, I guess. There will be others, I’m sure.

Has your acting background affected your writing at all? Is acting something you want to get back into someday?

No, I’ve lost my nerve! Unless my kids want to do shows, then I’d do it with them. Theater and writing are very compatible. Acting is all about character creation. I think it was wonderful preparation. But it takes so much time and energy, auditions are nightmares, and I just don’t have a lifestyle compatible to theater hours anymore.

How did you get your writing grant for Enna Burning?

It was through my state’s art council. Most/all states have them. Look them up online, it’s easy to enter. It paid the mortgage for one month when my husband and I were both out of work, so, very timely. That was a rough era. Sheesh.

Can you give us any hints about your next Bayern novel, Forest Born?

No! Never! Absolutely not! Except that it’s really, really bad right now. So, business as usual for a first draft. Oh, and I guess I can say that Isi, Enna, and Dasha are all significant characters.

What's your favorite thing about being a writer?

Those perfect moments when you find just the right sentence.

Shannon, thank you so much for answering my questions! Oh--and for being so amazing. :)

Loree Griffin Burns at Chasing Ray
Lily Archer at The Ya Ya Yas
Rick Riordan at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Gabrielle Zevin at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Dia Calhoun at lectitans
Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple at Shaken & Stirred
Alan Gratz at Interactive Reader
Lisa Yee at Hip Writer Mama

The WBBT ends tomorrow with:

Blake Nelson at The Ya Ya Yas

Laura Amy Schlitz is the author of A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama, a delicious Gothic children's tale. The book won the first ever Cybils Award for middle grade fiction. Other books include The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy and Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village.
Read the poem by Charles Kingsley that opens the book.

Which of your characters in A Drowned Maiden’s Hair did you have the most fun writing?

Maud. I loved Maud. I don’t know where she came from, but I always knew how she felt and what she would say. I never had to invent her or puzzle her out. I just had to watch her and write everything down.

Is there a particular scene in A Drowned Maiden’s Hair that you especially loved writing?

I loved the scenes that took place at the ocean. A Drowned Maiden’s Hair is a very claustrophobic book. Maud is always shut up somewhere: in the outhouse, in the attic, in the map closet. After a while, I began to share her sense of being trapped. Writing about the ocean felt so spacious.

Due to all the theatrics involved in the story of Drowned Maiden, I’m wondering if you have any background in theatre?

That’s a perceptive question. Yes, I do—I fell in love with theatre when I was in my first play. I was eight years old and I had a great entrance. I ran full speed through the audience shouting, “Mama! Papa! I’ve been chased by wolves!” Afterward, I made up my mind to become an actress, and in fact I’ve done a lot of acting—mostly amateur, but some professional. I’ve also sewed costumes, painted scenery, and written plays.

What was your education like?

I went to public school for elementary and high school. I had good teachers—my English teachers were especially good. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Aesthetics from Goucher College.

What are you reading right now?

I’m in the middle of Ken Follett’s “World Without End”. There are two villains in it that I’d like to strangle with my bare hands.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I love to read. I love making things: bread, watercolor pictures, origami animals, quilts, marionettes. I do a little not-very-serious gardening. I enjoy conversation with friends. Occasionally I like to cook.

What can readers look forward to next?

I have a new book out—a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, called “Bearskinner” with gorgeous brooding pictures by Max Grafe. I’m also working on a Victorian Gothic. After that, who knows? I tend to write out of my obsessions, and obsessions are unpredictable.

What’s your favorite thing about being a writer?

I can think of three things I really love about being a writer (and a great many things I don’t, but you didn’t ask me that.) I love it when the story tells itself to me. I love it when the finished book comes out and I get to hold it in my hands. And I love it when a child reads my book and says, “That was the best book!” and I hear the italics around the word “best”.

Thank you so much, Laura!

Today's WBBT Schedule:

I am very pleased to host an interview with Clare B. Dunkle, author of the wonderful young adult fantasy trilogy: The Hollow Kingdom (my review), Close Kin, and In the Coils of the Snake. She also wrote By These Ten Bones, which I have yet to read. You can visit her online at her website: www.claredunkle.com. In particular, be sure to visit the helpful writing section of the site.

How did you get the idea for the Hollow Kingdom trilogy?

When I was very young, a woman who went to college in my hometown was abducted and killed. I vividly remember soaking up details about this mysterious event and picturing it in my mind in a completely unrealistic way while the adults talked it over. At about the same time, my mother read the Greek myths to me, not necessarily the best reading material for a precocious young girl because they involve a great deal of casual cruelty toward women. Because of the recent murder, I was very interested in the abductions that took place in those stories, as well as confused by them. The gods were handsome, intelligent, and magical, but they were hardly a fun date, and the girls they raped and abandoned without a backward glance often died or led tragic lives as a result. But perhaps worse off were the women they didn't abandon and the ones who didn't die, like Persephone, snatched from a sunny meadow and dragged into the dark home of the dead. How did she ever come to terms with her life?

As I grew older, I noticed that the pattern of abduction for marriage has come up again and again throughout history: at times, large populations of women were hauled away into enemy camps or countries, where they were expected to settle down and keep the house for their abductor-husbands. This continues to confuse me. How can your enemy and captive wind up being a friendly companion and the mother to your children? Even more complicated were the lives of noble or royal women, who might be sent into a rival country in order to seal a peace treaty or form a profitable alliance. How did the 14-year-old Anne of Brittany, for example, feel about being forced to marry her enemy, the King of France? (Hint: she brought two beds with her to her new home.) How did young Catherine Howard feel about the 300-pound Henry VIII? How did Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate feel about leaving her home in Heidelberg and marrying the homosexual Duke of Orleans? How would I feel if I had to leave my home and settle down among a culture I didn't know with a spouse who hadn't been my own choice?

A fair number of modern stories sugarcoat the problem by offering an unrealistic solution: thus, we see Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin throwing a tantrum, running away from the castle, and finding a commoner boyfriend she can appreciate. Certainly rebellion seems the logical reaction to such a difficult life, but rebellion for years or decades sounds far-fetched to me. And what about the women who looked for ways to make peace with their new lives and find something there to be happy about? Were these women weak for giving up the fight? Should they have continued to rebel and stayed bitter for years? What would I have done in their place? I had and have no answers to these questions, and that makes them excellent catalysts for stories. (I don't know about you, but I distrust the works of authors who tell a story to show off what they do know.)

When I wrote The Hollow Kingdom, my teenage daughters, Valerie and Elena, had just moved away from home to live in a German boarding school. Valerie and Elena were the only Americans there at the time, and they struggled with issues of acculturation, national identity, and bigotry--both their own and that of others. When a teacher praised Valerie one day by telling her she was "thinking like a German," she promptly burst into tears! So these ideas of rebellion versus acceptance and civic pride versus prejudice were very much on my mind.

I chose to set The Hollow Kingdom in the territory of British folklore because it has a strong tradition of magical abduction both of women and of children. Besides, I've always loved British folklore. Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series got me studying it at an early age, and I spent my spare time in middle school roaming the nearby university library and reading scholarly tomes like The Origin of the Grail Legend and other such esoteric delights. And again, this was an area in which my mother's reading and research influenced me. I've been thinking about life under a lake since early childhood because my mother named me for the Lady of the Lake in Arthurian romance (my middle name, that is: Nynyve).

When I first began to write the trilogy, I thought the elves were already gone. This brought the story into line with a number of folktales which tell of the departure or dwindling away of the Fair Folk. But I brought the elves back in Close Kin because they were my perfect chance to show a culture in decline. Which aspects of a culture will last the longest? Probably not the philosophical ideas unless they're pretty simplistic; certainly nothing that relies on education or
scholarship. Almost the only thing Sable's elves have left is a handful of marriage traditions, something approximating traditional clothing, and their prejudice against other races. I came to the conclusion that prejudice would be the very last thing to go.

If Close Kin was my chance to show elvish culture in decline, In the Coils of the Snake gave me the chance to envision normal elvish culture. For an author who writes from the folklore tradition, this was just too much to pass up. Elves are hard to bring to the page because what we know about them from folklore is so cryptic. What kind of person wants to live in the forest and dance all night? And if every single member of society is beautiful, how will that affect a culture? We see it affect Arianna in one way: she doesn't mind captivity, deprivation, or even death, but she has a horror of deformity. We see it affect Nir in a different way: because everyone around him is beautiful, he doesn't think of his own good looks as much of an asset, so he completely misses the clues that Miranda is falling for him. But he and Miranda miss a lot of clues anyway. One of the most interesting things about writing the trilogy was the chance to explore how our cultural norms determine our ability to communicate with others. The further cultures are from one another, the harder it is for their representatives to figure one another out, particularly if they haven't studied the other culture ahead of time. Living in Germany taught me that, and in the trilogy, Miranda and Nir have to learn it, as well as Catspaw and Arianna.

Which of the characters in the Hollow Kingdom trilogy do you relate to most?

What's your favorite thing about being a writer?

Coming soon to blogs near you! Interviews with tons of authors, including Jane Yolen! Kerry Madden! Dia Calhoun! And many many more!

Authors I will be featuring on my blog:

Tuesday: Clare B. Dunkle, author of the excellent fantasy trilogy beginning with The Hollow Kingdom
Wednesday: Laura Amy Schlitz, first ever winner of the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction award for her book A Drowned Maiden's Hair
Friday: Shannon Hale. The Shannon Hale. !!!!!!! My hero! I'm interviewing one of my heroes!!! Famous author of The Goose Girl and Book of a Thousand Days, to name a couple of my favorites.

For a complete schedule of the week, see Colleen's post.