Our World - Interview with Sue Lowell Gallion

Today I'm happy to share an interview with author Sue Lowell Gallion. Her newest book, Our World, came out last week and is a sweet and unique text to share with young readers as an opportunity to explore the world around us.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, about Our World, and what led you to writing this book?

Sue Lowell Gallion: I was lucky enough to have had a grandmother who taught 4^th grade and loved books. I majored in journalism and worked as a writer, but it wasn’t until I was in my 40s that I decided to take my childhood dream of writing books for kids seriously. Our World brings together many of my passions: world travel, nature, geography, the environment, connection. My favorite trips as a child and with my own family have been to national parks – seeing the cloud clearing over Denali, snowshoeing in Yellowstone, exploring tide pools in Acadia.

I was at a children’s writing conference workshop when I thought of writing a board book shaped like a globe. It seemed like a wonderful way to introduce kids to the wonders of this world through words, illustration, and the physical format.

 

Our World is a combination of text that runs throughout the book like a story and short nonfiction pieces about the Earth. What did your process look like as these two types of texts emerged or came together? 

Sue Lowell Gallion: The initial concept was a globe-shaped board book with brief rhyming text, introducing young kids to some of the different habitats, landforms, and water features of the earth. When my literary agent submitted the manuscript and concept to Phaidon Press, they were interested in expanding the book to reach older audiences. That’s when I began doing additional research and writing drafts of the secondary text. Our goal was to encourage interaction and conversation. We hope the book invites readers to dream of exploring other parts of the world that are different from where they live.

This book was a hugely collaborative process between me, the editor, art director, and illustrator, Lisk Feng. I like to say picture books are a team sport, but that was even more true with this novelty nonfiction board book. Plus, the Phaidon team had to figure out how to make this globe-shaped book work. For example, they tested all kinds of options to make the front and back cover connect so it would stand up like a globe.

As far as my process, as the illustrations developed, I revised the expository text to make it complement the illustrations along with the rhyming stanzas. We did a lot of revisions on both the illustrations and the text! From the original 21-line poem (just 56 words long) came a 967-word book. Only four stanzas stayed exactly the same.

 

I believe people, places, and experiences shape us. What are some ways you hope readers are inspired to think and hopefully write about their connections to our world after reading Our World?

Sue Lowell Gallion: I hope Our World encourages curiosity and exploration. That can be in a park near your home or anywhere! The first spread of Our World reads:

“Many places to explore,

From mountain peaks to ocean floor.

Look around you, step outside . . . “

This stanza is illustrated by a mom and her child snorkeling in a fantastic ocean setting. I hope all readers imagine themselves in that illustration and in every spread that follows. Every time I look at Lisk Feng’s illustrations I see new details. The concept of “noticing,” both in books and in the natural world, is something that I would love to see students write about. Everyone’s perspective is unique and interesting.

What is the best writing advice you have received and what advice would you give to developing writers?

Sue Lowell Gallion: If you want to write for children, join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (scbwi.com.) That’s the single best piece of advice I received and the advice I give over and over. SCBWI’s conferences, resources, and the people I’ve met through the organization have been essential to my writing career and have enriched my life.

There are no shortcuts, at least in my experience. And if you want to write for kids, know that you have more than one book in you. Don’t think you’re going to write just one story and it will be published. That doesn’t happen very often. Everything you write is a stepping stone to the next thing you’ll write. It takes heart and craft. And perseverance.

In this time of COVID, there aren’t the usual in-person opportunities to attend workshops, but there’s great content online. Along with SCBWI, some other excellent resources are the Highlights Foundation and the Writing Barn.

 

Jen Vincent: What are you reading and loving right now (or recently)? What are some ways what you have read influences your own writing?

Sue Lowell Gallion: Some of the books I’ve read recently: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson, a new biography of Winston Churchill; Midsummer’s Mayhem, by Rajani LaRocca, a terrific MG debut, Dear Mrs. Byrd by A.J. Pearce, an endearing debut novel set in World War II England; and The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby, examining how the American church has helped to create and maintain racism.

I read picture books constantly, fiction and nonfiction. I learn so much from enjoying and studying the work of other authors and illustrators. I’m really taken with two 2020 releases that I think would be great companions to Our World. My Friend Earth, by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Francesca Sanna, is simply stunning, both as a read-aloud and visually. It’s A Great Big Colorful World by Tom Schamp is another title for all ages. Looking for a creativity boost for you or your students? Here you go.

In everything I do, I'm all about promoting the love of reading and writing. How would you finish the statements: “Reading is…” and “Writing is…” 

Sue Lowell Gallion: Reading is world-expanding. Writing is hard but worth the work.

A big thank you to Sue Lowell Gallion for stopping by to answer these questions and give us some great insight into Our World!

Reflection Is Key

In 5th grade, I wrote in a journal back and forth to my teacher Ms. Corn. (Read my story about Ms. Corn here.) In high school, I had to write a reflection letter for each of the pieces I added to my writing portfolio. In college and when I started teaching and worked on my Master's degree, I was often asked to reflect. 

Besides reflecting when I was asked to by teachers or as part of my work, I have always kept a journal. When I was really little, it was a diary and then it became more of a journal. Rereading them now, I mostly wrote to process everything that was happening in my life...which is why I mostly wrote when I was frustrated. But the cool thing is, I wrote. 

So I'm not sure how it came about, whether it's part of me or I learned how awesome it is, but I'm now a reflective person. I truly believe being reflective is important to life. How else can we continually grow if we don't stop, get honest with ourselves, and think about how to move forward?

Last week, my friend Katherine interviewed me for Writing Wednesday on her blog Read, Write, Reflect. Pausing to answer her questions got me reflecting (because it's in her blog name!) and thinking about how important it is to pause and take stock from time to time. It also made me realize how writing can help us reflect. I'm going to be thinking about reflection and how to encourage it in my own kids and also thinking about how reflection might come up in conversations at school. 

I hope you check out Katherine's blog where she shares about her life as a teacher, reading, writing, and life in general. She's a great friend and a wonderful person and I love that she makes me think!

The Reader, Author Interview with Traci Chee

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Traci Chee who wrote the young adult novel The Reader. I'm lucky to be a fan of Traci's and also a friend. 

TMT: Can you start by telling us a little bit about you and your new book, The Reader?

Traci Chee: Thanks so much for inviting me to chat with you! I am a total book geek/word nerd, and I think that shows in my YA debut, The Reader, which is set in a world where literacy is unheard of, and a sixteen-year-old girl must teach herself to read in order to solve the mystery of her father’s murder and rescue her kidnapped aunt. It’s got a little bit of a ton of different things I love, including bookishness, magic, long walks in the woods, cowboys/pirates with hearts of gold, and secret messages!

TMT: The Reader is set in a fantasy world where books no longer exist. Can you talk a little about your writing process? Where did you start and how did the world of Kelanna influence Sefia or vice versa?

Traci Chee: I feel like I collect ideas from all over the place, and sometimes they all come together in a glorious creative chaos, which is what happened with The Reader: I walked into the McHenry Library Special Collections and was immediately entranced by their collection of art books. I started scribbling down a story about a girl with a book on a pirate ship for my friend Tucker. I’d been wanting to write about a cowboy with a heart of gold since seeing The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. And all of them sort of came swirling together when I set out to write The Reader.

TMT: What is the best writing advice you have received and what advice would you give student writers?

Traci Chee: “Always keep learning.” I believe that there’s always a way to improve as a writer, whether by reading craft books, reading more widely (and deeply), taking classes, participating in workshops, talking with other writers, or using the wealth of internet resources we now have at our disposal, and I think it’s so important to always be challenging ourselves as creators.

TMT: What are you reading and loving right now (or recently)? What are some ways what you have read influences your own writing?

Traci Chee: Keeping with my approach of “always keep learning,” I try to glean a little something from everything I read. Since I’m currently working on Book 2 of Sea of Ink and Gold, I’ve been studying Leigh Bardugo’s Siege and Storm and Sabaa Tahir’s A Torch Against the Night, but I also like learning economy of language from poetry (Adrienne Rich comes to mind) and economy of story from short fiction (one of my favorite collections is Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino). Although I know it horrifies some people, I often read with a pen in hand so I can note passages I love and return to study them later (although I only mark up my own books, of course)!

TMT: Teach Mentor Texts is all about promoting the love of reading and writing. How would you finish the statements: “Reading is…” and “Writing is…”

Traci Chee: Reading is magic. Writing is power.

A giant thank you to Traci for being here to share her book The Reader and give us some insight into her writing and reading life.

I'm a believe in the growth mindset and that we can work towards anything we set our minds to. Writing requires a certain kind of mindset. Like Traci says, it's important for writers to realize we are always learning how to weave stories together...or sometimes how to just keep going. Keeping an open mind and paying attention to what we learn works for us as writers is key.

I hope you pick up The Reader!

(P.S. Do you like to write notes in the margins as you read? I do!)

Also An Octopus Interview

I had the pleasure of reading Also An Octopus by Maggie Tokuda-Hall at BEA when it was in Chicago this spring. It's such a fun book about finding and telling a story. Also An Octopus is finally out in stores and I'll be reviewing celebrating it at Nerdy Book Club later this month...but right now, Maggie is here to answer some of my questions! Hooray!

TMT: Can you start by telling us a little bit about you and your new book, Also An Octopus?

I wrote Also An Octopus while working as a children’s bookseller. At the time, I was responsible for the school programming, and I was in schools all the time for bookfairs, and author visits, and often I’d do story times. And anyone who does story times regularly probably runs the risk of reading the same books over and over again— because once you figure out one works, you go with it, right? And the year I wrote Also an Octopus, my go-to was I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. Which is brilliant. And Also An Octopus is very much a tribute to that book.

TMT: Many writers keep writer's notebooks. Do you have a writer's notebook? Or do you gather your ideas in another way?

I don’t have a note book. But I do have scraps of paper, and napkins, and a cell phone with a notes app in it. I jot down ideas all the time, all over the place. Often I lose them. Actually, it’s starting to sound like a notebook may be a good idea…

TMT: What is the best writing advice you have received and what advice would you give student writers?

Put your pen to paper. You can’t write anything if you don’t write. I used to tutor a really talented kid in creative writing, and that was I think, the only real thing of value that I KNOW I told her. 

TMT: What are you reading and loving right now (or recently)? What are some ways what you have read influences your own writing?

I recently quit my job, and hit the road in a Toyota 4Runner with my husband, Adam, to go travel South America. So, for the first time in my adult life as a career book person, I’m not responsible for reading new books! Which means I’ve been going deep on the classics, particularly grown-up classics, since most of my career was as a children’s book person.

I’m usually reading two or three books at a time— one hard copy, one audio book, and one that my husband and I will read out loud to each other at night. We recently read Lonesome Dove, which was fantastic, and also wonderful for sharing. There was so much for us to discuss. While we were in Colombia, we read One Hundred Years of Solitude, and I was reminded by it how wonderfully imaginative Gabriel Garcia Marquez was. I also read a ton of trashy true crime books, which inspires little other than a constant paranoia that I’m going to be murdered. But I think, particularly as a kids’ writer, and as someone who reads a lot of kids’ books—which typically represent the best that humans can be, or aspire too— I’m fascinated by the absolute worst that humans can be as well.

The author who made me want to be a writer in the first place (in high school) was Kurt Vonnegut. The one who made me want to write for kids (in grad school) was M.T. Anderson. The one who made me want to write a picture book was Oliver Jeffers. The one who made me feel like I could was Jon Klassen. The one who really inspired me to think big and to think weird was the playwright, Edward Albee. And the one who I want to be when I grow up is Kate DiCamillo, who I think speaks “kid” more fluently than any other grown-up on the planet. 

I think it is impossible to talk about writing without talking about reading. If writing is an expression of self, reading is the road map we use to find our self in the first place. 

TMT: Teach Mentor Texts is all about promoting the love of reading and writing. How would you finish the statements: “Reading is…” and “Writing is…”

Reading is both the warm bed you sleep in, and the morning sun that wakes you up.

Writing is both a rocket ship and a scooter. It’ll take you there, but how quickly you get there is totally unpredictable. 

Don't you just want to hang out with Maggie or go on a road trip with her? I know you'll love Also An Octopus because it is a bit like going on an adventure! 

Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles Interview

Hooray for another middle grade novel in verse to read, love, and share with kid readers! Today I'm interviewing Shari Green, the author of Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles. 

Here's the GoodReads summary of Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles:

Eleven-year-old Bailey believes in miracles. She has to; it will take a miracle to keep her warring parents together. This summer they are at a Marriage Counselling camp, leaving Bailey and her little brother Kevin with their estranged grandmother in the island town of Felicity Bay. There, an eccentric deposed minister makes a prophecy that a stranger from the sea will change everything. When Bailey discovers a mermaid-shaped piece of driftwood, she begins to believe that the mermaid is this stranger from the sea. Then, when a dolphin becomes stranded on the beach, Bailey forgets her own troubles and rouses the reluctant locals into action. 

Written in light and lyrical free verse, Shari Green's warm and wistful novel brings Bailey face to face with both hard and beautiful truths about growing up and growing into her own ability to shape the world.

And now, Shari was kind enough to answer some questions to share here!

TMT: Can you start by telling us a little bit about you and your new book, Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles?

In addition to being a writer, I’m a nurse, pastor’s wife, and mom of four practically-grown kids. I’m crazy about stories and the sea, so it’s no surprise I wrote a story set by the sea! Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles takes place on a fictional island in the Pacific Northwest—a setting inspired by my childhood summers on Gabriola Island. It’s about family, friendship, community, the possibility of miracles, and learning to see the “everyday miracles” present in our ordinary, less-than-perfect lives. It’s a story with lots of heart and just a hint of magic. ☺

TMT: Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles is a novel in verse. Can you talk about experiences writing poetry and how you decided this book worked best as a novel in verse?

The book actually didn’t start out in verse, but after several false starts, I switched from prose to free verse and it suddenly clicked. My prose tends to be lean and somewhat lyrical, so the transition to verse felt very natural.

A couple things confirmed for me that Root Beer Candy would work best in verse—first and foremost, hearing Bailey’s voice so clearly when I began to write in verse. As I continued to write, I became aware of other reasons verse was right for this one: it freed me to use imagery and word choices to weave the setting all through the story, and to use white space to encourage readers to ponder the story’s ambiguities and unanswered-questions.

TMT: What is the best writing advice you have received and what advice would you give student writers?

Annie Dillard said “follow your own weirdness”, and that idea helped me learn to trust my gut, to tell the stories I want to tell without self-censoring the ideas before they ever get off the ground. I’d pass that on to student writers, along with this simple keep-moving-forward advice: create something, send it out into the world, create something else.

TMT: What are you reading and loving right now (or recently)? What are some ways what you have read influences your own writing?

Recently read & loved:

• Like Water on Stone, by Dana Walrath. A verse novel about three siblings during the Armenian genocide – compelling, tragic, powerful.
• Going for a Sea Bath, by Andreé Poulin. A delightful picture book – silly, fun, and perfect for ocean-lovers like me.
• Hour of the Bees, by Lindsay Eagar. A beautiful story of family and reclaiming one’s roots – told with a wonderful blend of magic and reality.

Currently reading:

• I just started Traci Chee’s The Reader (YA fantasy). I’m only a couple chapters in, but already I can tell I’m going to adore this book.

The books I read influence my writing by introducing me to new things—from big things like passions or ideologies, to small things like snippets of setting or character—that may combine with my personal experiences and beliefs, and morph into something that pops up in my own stories. That’s a long-winded way of saying books shape who I am.

The books I read also influence my writing by opening my mind to possibilities (story-wise and format-wise), breaking down the perceived you-can’t-do-that-in-children’s-books barrier. YA author A.S. King’s books were significant to me in that way—her mastery of blending “weird” with realistic fiction is inspiring and freeing. And verse novels that play with form have also influenced me this way.

TMT: Teach Mentor Texts is all about promoting the love of reading and writing. How would you finish the statements: “Reading is…” and “Writing is…”

Reading is entertainment and enlightenment. It’s time travel and visiting new worlds. It’s walking in another’s shoes, and it’s knowing I’m not alone.

Writing is both a creative outlet and an emotional outlet for me—a way to tell my stories, express my truth, and sometimes even make a little sense of my world. Also, it’s fun. ;-)

I happen to think writing is fun, too! A big thanks to Shari for stopping by! The pub date for Root Beer Candy and Other Miracles is October 16th, so be sure to pre-order your copy today.  And, if you love MG like I do, be sure to sign up for the iLoveMG newsletter. 

The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin Blog Tour Interview

Earlier this month, I shared my absolutely, all-out love for The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin by Elinor Teele. Now I'm over the moon to be part of the blog tour and to share my interview with Elinor with you!

I describe this book as an adventure that blends the twists and turns of A Series of Unfortunate Events and the essence of your favorite Roald Dahl characters into one nonstop novel!

I'm sure you'll enjoy Elinor's thoughts about writing and her process. I'm especially fond of the advice she shares and think student writers would benefit from hearing these words of encouragement!

TMT: Can we meet for coffee so I can pick your brain in person, please!?

Pick away! There’s not much left after winter, but you might find a few scraps of rhymes and a couple of ladybugs wandering around in there.

TMT: Just kidding! But I am so curious about how you tackle character development. All of your characters are unique and multi-faceted. What insight can you share about how you bring a character to life?

Many of my characters start with an unusual detail that I’ve observed in life or read about in non-fiction accounts—the talisman in a pocket, the habitual twitch of a foot, the odd cadence of a man’s speech. That’s a start.  

However, as the story grows, characters begin to tell me how they’re going to behave. For example, I had little control over Boz’s movements—once I’d established his red hair and his speech pattern, he was off like a proverbial rocket. I often had to shove him out of scenes.

Great-Aunt Beauregard was different. She and I are still arguing about the merits of her position in the narrative. Yes, she’s nutty and has bizarre views on child labor, but she believes in family unity and a stable income stream. Those are pretty strong arguments in today’s world.

In general, I try not to think too hard about development during the first draft. But in subsequent drafts, and with the help of editors/readers, I’ll go back and see if my characters are lapsing into two-dimensions. It usually indicates that I haven’t been listening to their voices.  

TMT: What are you reading and loving right now (or recently)? What are some ways what you have read influences your own writing?

I’ve just finished the draft of a new book, so I’ve been trying to avoid recent fiction. It’s depressing to encounter the Statue of David when you’re hacking away at a lump of granite with a pickaxe.

For the most part, I’m a magpie. Along with books (new and old), I’ll pick up ideas for themes and plots from magazine articles, graffiti, news, information plaques—whatever is floating in the atmosphere.

For instance, I was recently reading Kepler’s Witch by James Connor and got caught up in the concept of geometry being proof of divine reason. I’d like to work that into a story at some point.  

And I’ll always return to Dickens. I’m wandering through his canon at the moment and taking mental notes on his technique. It’s fasc-i-nating to see how he constructs a scene—again, usually starting with a tiny observation that blossoms into an extended metaphor.

TMT: What is the best writing advice you have received and what advice would you give student writers?

The most important piece of advice I’ve ever encountered comes from a cartoon. It’s a picture of a crane trying to swallow a frog. Though the frog is well and truly screwed, he has his flippers clamped firmly around the crane’s throat. The caption reads:

• NEVER GIVE UP

You will want to pack it in millions of times. You can’t. You have to believe.

The second piece of advice comes from my agent, Steven Chudney. When I was wrestling with plot direction, he gave me the following phrase:

• “This is a story about [X] who wants more than anything in the world to [Y] but can’t because of [Z].”

I often repeat it when I’m getting muddled. Don Quixote wants to right the wrongs of the world. D’Artagnan wants to be a noble musketeer. Odysseus just wants to go home.

For kids who want to be writers, the third piece of advice is:

• Observe and report.

Every person you meet has a hidden tale. Every detail is potential fodder. Every trip, even a walk to school, is a chance to amass material—dialogue, scenery, action sequences…  

Keep your eyes and ears and heart open and record your experiences. Don’t worry about what you’ll use this material for. Just get it down on paper. The stories will come.

TMT: Finish the statements: “Reading is…” and “Writing is…”

Reading is exploration.

Writing is procreation.   

A giant thanks to Elinor for her wonderful interview and Walden Pond Press for the opportunity to review the book and be part of the blog tour. Be sure to find Elinor Teele at her website. And check out the Educational Activity Kit based on the book for use in the classroom or library.

The Tyranny of Petticoats Blog Tour

Title: A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls 
Publisher: Candlewick 
Publication Date: March 8th, 2016 
Genre/Format: Historical Fiction/Fantasy/Short Stories 
GoodReads Summary: From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.

Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They're making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell. 

With stories by:

J. Anderson Coats

Andrea Cremer

Y. S. Lee

Katherine Longshore

Marie Lu

Kekla Magoon

Marissa Meyer

Saundra Mitchell

Beth Revis

Caroline Richmond

Lindsay Smith

Jessica Spotswood

Robin Talley

Leslye Walton

Elizabeth Wein

Today I'm sharing a short question and answer with three of the awesome authors who contributed to A Tyranny of Petticoats: Katherine Longshore, Marie Lu, and Kekla Magoon!

Katherine Longshore - Hard Times 

Question and Answer with Katherine Longshore

What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?

My enduring fascination with both hobos (that is, people who hitch rides on freight trains) and old movies. At a very young age, I was given a book that included illustrations of hobo symbols, and I have looked for signs of train jumpers ever since. As a teenager, I was obsessed with Hollywood’s early golden age and binge-watched swashbucklers, musicals, and screwball comedies. That these two worlds coexisted during the Great Depression is a dichotomy I was eager to explore.

What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?

I don’t know if you’d call it research, but I was impressed by the number of people who have either jumped trains or know someone who did: from the family friend who remembers feeding hobos out of her back door in Ogden, Utah, to the critique group partner whose father rode the rails, to three famous Jacks — London, Dempsey, and Kerouac. For a while, it seemed that everyone I spoke to about “Hard Times” had their own rail adventure to tell.

Who is your favorite woman in history and why?

I don’t have a favorite — there are too many to choose from! — but I think my first historical crush was on Amelia Earhart, another 1930s icon. Even as a child, I saw her as a heroic figure and a star of feminism. Her courage, stubbornness, and mysterious disappearance make her endlessly fascinating.

Kekla Magoon - Pulse of the Panthers 

Question and Answer with Kekla Magoon

What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?

I’ve been interested in the 1960s and the Black Panther Party for quite a while. My first novel, The Rock and the River, and my third novel, Fire in the Streets, are about teens who become involved with the Black Panther Party in 1968 Chicago. When I thought about what historical moment I’d like to visit for this short-story collection, it was a natural choice. I hope that by writing about this topic, I can help introduce people to a slice of American history that often gets overlooked.

What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?

Most people are fascinated to learn that the Black Panthers were much more than an armed self-defense collective — they led community-organizing programs, provided free breakfasts for school children in poor communities, established free health clinics, created food pantries, published a newspaper, offered legal aid, established charter schools, and ran candidates for political office. Their work affected and supported thousands of struggling individuals and families in cities nationwide. I’m intrigued by the courage and sacrifice of these black activists, and I continue to be troubled by the lack of attention paid to this moment in history by mainstream education and storytelling. This short story allowed me to explore a character who is on the fringes of the Black Panther movement, which was a fun angle to consider after so much time spent looking toward the heart of black activism in the 1960s and the events and context that spurred the Panthers to turn to self-defense and community-organizing strategies to create change.

Who is your favorite woman in history and why?

There are so many amazing women in history. One of my favorites is Zora Neale Hurston, a black author, anthropologist, and activist from the Harlem Renaissance era (1920s and 1930s). She wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God and other things, but she wrote, spoke out, and made herself heard at a time when black women were discounted and overlooked even more than they are today. I also aspire to speak truth in the face of oppression and to be remembered for my voice, and she is an epic model of that specific achievement.

Marie Lu - The Journey

Question and Answer with Marie Lu

What inspired you to write about this particular time and place?

One of my favorite childhood novels was Jean Craighead George’s Julie of the Wolves, and I fell in love with it because of her portrayal of the life and landscape in Alaska. So when Jess first pitched the idea of A Tyranny of Petticoats to me, I immediately knew that I wanted to set my story there. The environment is just so magical, beautiful and wild and harsh — the name Alaska derives from the native Aleut word alyeska, which means “the great land.” I wanted to tell a story about what it might have been like during the time when Alaska’s indigenous people first started encountering outside explorers, and what that meant from various angles, including from the point of view of a young Inupiat girl.

What was the most interesting piece of research you uncovered while writing your story?

There were so many! I especially loved reading mythology from the indigenous cultures, stories about why the stars and animals exist, what the dancing northern lights mean.

Who is your favorite woman in history and why?

Wow, it’s impossible to pick a single woman! My best attempts to narrow this down still end up with two: 1. Marie Curie, perhaps the first famous woman I ever read about as a little girl, and from whom I think I picked my English name to model, and 2. going more modern, Malala Yousafzai, who has already made history and will no doubt continue to for many decades to come. She inspires me every time I think about her.

Check out the other stops on the blog tour!

Date	Blog	Address
March 1	Nerdy Book Club	https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/
March 2	A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust	http://www.foodiebibliophile.com/
March 3	Charting By the Stars	https://chartingbythestars.wordpress.com/
March 4	Unleashing Readers	http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
March 7	Teacher Mentor Texts	http://www.teachmentortexts.com/
March 8	YA Love	http://yaloveblog.com/