On Rage and Hope in Margarita Engle's MORNING STAR HORSE

I was recently honored to have a chance to read MORNING STAR HORSE by Margarita Engle, who has won a huge list of the most prestigious kid lit awards for her previous books: the Newbery Honor, the PEN USA Award, the inaugural Walter Dean Myers Award, three Pura Belpré Awards, and on and on and on.

MORNING STAR HORSE is a historical verse novel with a sprinkling of magic realism. It immediately engaged me with its beautiful imagery, gripping settings, and fascinating historical moment. Since I have bilingual kids, I was delighted to see it is available in English, Spanish, AND bilingual editions. I’m thrilled to be able to ask Margarita a few questions about her newest book.

JOY: MORNING STAR HORSE is a very unique blend of the historical and the fantastical. On the historical side, I was fascinated to learn about the Raja Yoga Academy, which I had never heard of (though I grew up very near Point Loma!). It’s a fascinating setting for a middle grade novel. And before the main character arrives at the academy, she lives the first few years of her life in a cave and then emerges to explore the island of Cuba. Can you talk a little about how setting informs your work, and how the verse format plays into your use of setting?

MARGARITA: Thank you! The settings come straight from history. Entire armies hid in caves during Cuba’s wars for independence. It’s a limestone island, underlain by enormous networks of caverns. The Point Loma setting is historical also, since the Raja Yoga Academy was a real school. Admittedly, I added the magical horse, and perhaps I exaggerated the bioluminescent glow of beaches in the tropics, but that glow actually does occur, and it’s amazing when you see a flying fish leap out of a wave, illuminated by radiant water. These naturally poetic images are inherently suited to verse. I chose free verse because of the rhythmic flow. While I was writing, a horse walked, trotted, cantered, and galloped through my imagination.

JOY: Also with regards to the format of verse, middle grade is my favorite age for verse novels. Why do you think verse is such a good fit for middle grade readers? Is there anything verse allowed you to do with this story that you might not have been able to do in a prose novel?

MARGARITA: If modern American children—with all their electronic distractions—are ever going to fall in love with poetry, it is probably in the middle grade years. Verse allows me to show emotions in a way that might seem melodramatic in prose. Verse also allows me to distill complex historical events down to their emotional essence. For instance, instead of showing grisly details of the chaotic post-war situation in Cuba, these simple poems invite readers to imagine how it felt to live in that time and place.

JOY: One of the things I really loved about the book was the portrayal of Estrellita’s anger. Girls in our culture are rarely given the permission to express their anger, and I think it’s powerful for young readers to see when a character’s anger is respected. In a poem called Reflections, it says,

Now, all I do is wonder—

will there ever be a place

where this much sheer rage

will fit?

That really speaks, to me, so much of being a girl, and it’s something I think present day readers will connect with a lot. Estrellita has a LOT of reasons to be angry. And at first she lets her anger consume her enough that she shifts from being bullied to being a bully. I think sometimes writers are worried about allowing their characters—female characters especially—to be “unlikable.” When really, it seems to me that allows kids to see themselves in all their complexity. Can you talk a little about Estrellita’s anger and why portraying that was important to you?

MARGARITA: Thank you! All my female characters have moments of rage, and most of them are historical characters, not fictional. Even though Estrellita is not based on a specific real person, she suffers from all the normal feelings of every child, including anger, envy, shame, joy, and above all: hope. Rage just happens to be the stumbling block that eventually leads her to an understanding of hope.

Oh I just love that. Rage as a stumbling block that leads her to an understanding of hope. That alone should convince readers to dive into MORNING STAR HORSE!

Congratulations, Margarita, on the release of MORNING STAR HORSE and thank you so much for taking the time to chat with Project Mayhem!

Project Mayhem readers, what are some of your favorite middle grade verse novels? And what are some of your favorite middle grade moments of rage? Do they lead to hope?

Interview with Lisa Lewis Tyre on LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS

In September, Lisa Lewis Tyre joined us for a guest post about how to find and best utilize critique partners. It was a great post, and it made me want to invite Lisa back for a conversation about her debut middle grade novel, LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin).

Lou might be only twelve, but she’s never been one to take things sitting down. So when her Civil War-era house is about to be condemned, she’s determined to save it—either by getting it deemed a historic landmark or by finding the stash of gold rumored to be hidden nearby during the war. As Lou digs into the past, her eyes are opened when she finds that her ancestors ran the gamut of slave owners, renegades, thieves and abolitionists. Meanwhile, some incidents in her town show her that many Civil War era prejudices still survive and that the past can keep repeating itself if we let it. Digging into her past shows Lou that it’s never too late to fight injustice, and she starts to see the real value of understanding and exploring her roots.

JOY: You tackle some really big, hot button issues in this book, including racism past and present. How did you approach such big topics, particularly for middle grade?

LISA: I really only had one objective, and that was to write as honestly as possible. The Civil War happened, and racism still goes on today. I felt like it was important to the story to deal with it the way kids do – without fear.

JOY: Was that your starting point—wanting to write about racism and the Civil War? Or did you start with Lou and/or her house?

LISA: I knew from the beginning I wanted to include some Civil War gold. After I got the idea to include the diary, I though it would be fun to have an excerpt at the beginning of each chapter to show how things had changed ( or stayed the same) through the years. From there, it was a natural progression to look at the issue of race.

JOY: The main character uncovers some upsetting things about her family, including the fact that they owned slaves. When she asks her father why his grandfather had kept the slave quarters on their property intact, he says, “I’ll tell you what he told me: It’s important that we never forget our history and the awful things that man is capable of.” I think this idea is often expressed in a broad sense—we must never forget as a nation the horrors of slavery—but your book makes it very personal for Louise. She has to examine the awful things her own family members were capable of.

LISA: That’s right. It’s amazing how differently we look at things when it involves us personally. For Louise, the Civil War goes from being a story on the pages of her history book, to being about flesh and blood relatives. Like most of us, her first impulse is to hide the information. Ultimately, she understands that she’s not responsible for what her ancestors did, but it is her duty to remember.

JOY: Louise and her friends are very proactive in trying to uncover the mysteries around her family and her house. They have had an excellent example in their social studies teacher, who told them they “should examine everything [they] heard, or else [they’d] be at the mercy of those who wrote the books.” I just love bringing this idea to middle graders. I feel like I didn’t get that sort of encouragement toward college.

LISA: As a mom I think about the messages my daughter is bombarded with, and the sources of information. It’s hard to get unbiased, factual information now days, and I realized, it’s probably always been that way! I don’t want kids to be skeptical, but I think encouraging them to question the status quo is okay.

JOY: In regard to examining everything they heard, Lou goes on to say:

“But what about what you didn’t hear? You couldn’t verify what you didn’t know.”

This curiosity leads Lou into researching her own family history. Do you have suggestions for how middle grade readers can get started doing the same? And what do you tell them if they uncover something upsetting in their family history?

LISA: I love history and the things I’ve learned about my own family. The first thing I would say to readers is to begin asking questions. I have a family tree (along with lots of other links) on my website. http://www.lisalewistyre.com/family-tree/

On the back is a place for a story from each side of the family. Get your parents and grandparents talking. Think about significant historical events, the Civil War, civil rights, Vietnam, etc. and ask what people in your family were doing during that time.

You may find family members who made mistakes, but that is part of being human. Learn from it and vow not to make the same errors.

JOY: What’s next for you?

LISA: I’m currently working on my second book! It’s about a girl, who after the death of her mom, finds that when she was born she was placed for adoption for eight days before her mom changed her mind. Rather than go live with some unpleasant relatives, she sets out to find the family her mom originally chose for her.

JOY: Thanks for chatting with Project Mayhem, Lisa! You can find Lisa at her website, on Twitter, and you can buy LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS here and here and here.

Debut author Robert Polk's OPERATION TREE ROPER, by Joy McCullough-Carranza

I met Robert Polk on Twitter, where I was drawn to his kind and generous spirit. When he tweeted about working on a query, I offered to critique it, and upon reading the query, I had to read the manuscript itself. Soon after I read it, Rob received an offer of publication and his debut middle grade novel, OPERATION TREE ROPER: AN EYE ABOVE released yesterday from Anaiah Press.

I was barely acquainted with Rob when I read his poignant manuscript about a boy born with one eye who is trying to save his father’s tree roping business, but I remember telling my husband as I read, “This writer obviously has a child who was born with one eye.” I could tell, not only from his clear understanding of the psychology of the character, but also the loving way he unfolded Declan’s story, not sparing him pain, but walking with him through it, the way a father would.

Twelve-year-old Declan Parker was born with only one eye, but all he seems to have trouble seeing in proper perspective is himself. All he wants is for kids to see him as normal before he starts a new school in the fall. To that end, he sets out to make money helping with his dad’s tree care business.

Unfortunately, when his dad lands in the hospital after a climbing accident, Declan’s surgery hopes are wrecked. His only hope remains in a neighbor girl and her uncle, a wounded army veteran. Can they help him save his dad’s business, or will Declan’s once-courageous drive turn into total despair?

Thank you for having me on the blog, Joy. I owe you big thanks for your input during the polishing stages of Tree Roper!

 

It was absolutely my pleasure to read then and I’m thrilled to have you here to celebrate your debut! Tell me about the inspiration behind this book.

Our third child was born with one eye. Ultrasounds hadn’t picked up anything unusual during her development, but when she arrived, she was this fragile and precious winking doll baby. She was subsequently diagnosed with microphthalmia, and as she grew, I noticed her tendency to focus intently on whatever captured her interest. Her intelligence and inquisitiveness were impossible to miss. When she began to interact with the world around her, I saw how she reacted to (and later anticipated) many peoples’ surprised reactions to her face. But it wasn’t until a heartbreaking discussion when she was six years old, that I knew that my dear child had limited herself by her physical appearance.

She and I were driving back into our local community from a visit to her eye specialists when we saw a billboard with Miss America 2011 on it. I said something like “Cool! That could be you someday!” She gave me this nasty, hurtful look and I was like “What?” She jerked a finger to her face and said “No it couldn’t. Look at me.” Or something very close to that. I hurt for her so badly in that moment, I’m not sure how I didn’t cry as I talked to her about how smart, strong and beautiful she was. (I still can’t write about that incident without getting a sore throat.) That’s when I decided to write a book, for her and for everyone.

I can only imagine how much it will mean to her - now and even more when she is older. In this book, you're exploring two worlds you know very well - tree roping and what it's like for a child to grow up with one eye. What are some of the challenges of writing about things that are extremely familiar to you?

The book poured out of me so quickly that necessary background and motivational information for the characters escaped the first draft. Plus, I know both of those worlds so well, that much of the language I used needed to be pared down and defined as I revised. (Not many people would know that an arbor block or double locking carabiner are necessary tools for a professional the tree climber. Nor do most people know that microphthalmia means, essentially, “undeveloped eye”.)

Yes, I've also found there's a bridge to gap between what we know as writers working with very familiar subject matter and what the readers know or need to know. I bet your kids would come to this story quite differently from kids who haven't grown up with a tree roping father or a sibling with one eye. But you've definitely bridged the gap to make it accessible to all readers. I know you're a very active, homeschooling father of many - how many? - kids. Have your older kids read the book yet? What was their reaction? 

So nice of you to say “very active” rather than “ridiculously chaotic”. My wife and I have seven children, five of whom we homeschool. Although the older three kids (9, 11, 11) read all the time, they have not read OPERATION TREE ROPER – yet. I’ve kept it close on purpose and didn’t want them to read it before it was really ready. I hope they enjoy it and I know they will see versions of our family in Declan’s family.

How exciting (and nerve-wracking!) for you when they do read it. 

Onto the business side of things, I know you were querying agents, but then you got the offer from Anaiah off a Twitter pitch party. What are some of the things you've enjoyed about being with a small press?

I was nervous about going with a small and new press, but the editor who contacted me absolutely gushed about TR and I felt that she would be a great champion for the story. I still will seek an agent for future works, but I’m so glad to be working with Anaiah Press for this book. I’ve had personal contact with several of their staff members, from folks in marketing and publicity to the cover design team. Their level of professionalism and consideration of my input has impressed me such that if I write something else that I think might fit their label, I will submit to them again.

That's so great to hear about your experience with Anaiah. They are growing their middle grade imprint, Adventures, and their submission guidelines can be found here. 

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on a MG mash-up of a contemporary nature with some magical realism and science fiction. But I’m a pantser, so what I have now will likely be very different three drafts from now. (Also, I draft slowly, seeing as I really only write late at night or in the cracks of the day while picking up children from activities.)

Project Mayhem readers, I hope you enjoy OPERATION TREE ROPER: AN EYE ABOVE as much as I did. You can read an excerpt at Anaiah Press, or find it at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can find Rob at his website, or on Twitter.

Declan and Rob have climbed some pretty impressive trees. I, on the other hand, may never have climbed a tree in my life. (I spent my childhood reading.) What's the tallest tree you've ever climbed?

BACKWARDS MOON: a Magical Fiction Debut from Mary Losure and Book Giveaway! by Joanna Roddy

Update: We are extending our giveaway! Winner will be announced Tuesday morning, September 16! Send your friends over to comment for a chance to win, and don't forget to leave a way to contact you in your comment!

Photo credit: Holiday House

BACKWARDS MOON from Mary Losure, a successful children's non-fiction writer prior to this debut novel, is about two young witches, Bracken and Nettle, whose coven is threatened when the modern world encroaches on their hidden valley. Bracken and Nettle must travel to a human city and risk The Fading of their powers to find a magical door to another world where their kind can survive. BACKWARDS MOON has a blend of adventure, magic, and innocence that will appeal to young readers. Mary Losure also has a background as a former public radio reporter and environmental themes emerge from the story as the witches experience the ill effects of modern human existence.

Losure wrote THE FAIRY RING, the true story of the girls behind the Cottingley fairy photographs, which won a Booklist Editor's Choice honor for non-fiction in 2012. She's also written WILD BOY, the real story of the Savage of Aveyron and is working on a forthcoming book about Isaac Newton entitled ISAAC THE ALCHEMIST.

Photo credit: Don Losure

I caught up with Mary Losure to ask her some questions about BACKWARDS MOON and her author experiences:

1.  Prior to BACKWARDS MOON, you've written non-fiction for children: WILD BOY and THE FAIRY RING, bringing creative storytelling to historical incidents. What led you to your first fiction project and how was the experience of writing fiction like and unlike writing non-fiction? Do you anticipate that your readers will be the same as those who read your non-fiction? 

Years ago, when I was a journalist and before I’d written anything for children, I thought I would try writing fiction as an experiment. So that’s when BACKWARDS MOON began. I loved writing it, but it was HARD, very different from nonfiction. In nonfiction, you have a roadmap for your plot, but in a novel you can go anywhere you want … it’s just that it doesn’t always work!  So it took me a long time to learn how to make a novel work. I do think that once I did, it helped me write WILD BOY and THE FAIRY RING in a much more engaging way than I would have.  Now (with the help of my wonderful editor at Holiday House, Julie Amper) BACKWARDS MOON is out, too!  My hope is that all three books will appeal to the same readers.

2. How has your background as a public radio reporter on environmental issues served as an influence on the themes explored in BACKWARDS MOON?  

One of the issues I reported on for years was the increasing loss of what scientists call “biodiversity”: all the beautiful birds and plants and frogs and toads and insects (not to mention tigers, elephants, polar bears, and many other animals) that are fading away in our lifetime. So when as a journalist I sat down to write a book of fiction for kids, I got the idea of witches as an endangered species. The story grew from there. I realized after a while that an environmental “message” didn’t work in a novel, so now it’s just there in the background.

3. What are some of your favorite children's books?

Half Magic and other magic books in that series. The Borrowers. The Lord of the Rings.  As a very young reader I loved My Father’s Dragon and later a book called The Witch Family. Charlotte’s Web, of course, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.

4. What is your writing process? When do you write, how frequently, and how long does it take you to develop and execute an idea? Did the story change significantly from when you first began writing it and when it was finished?

I write in the mornings, pretty much every weekday all morning. It takes me years to develop and execute an idea.

With a novel, as I mentioned earlier, the story can change drastically. With nonfiction, the process is more that you discover the story. You can’t change it, but you learn what parts of the historical record bring your characters alive. Then you leave everything else out --all the dutiful facts that don’t pertain to the hero’s story but instead bog the book down.

5. Tell us about your upcoming project about Isaac Newton and anything else you may be working on. Will you be writing any more fiction?

Thanks for asking! The Newton project is called ISAAC THE ALCHEMIST. It’s nonfiction, the story of an angry, lonely boy searching for answers that may lie in the world of magic. The book takes place mostly in his boyhood. The primary sources are Isaac’s childhood notebook and two books he is known to have read as a child.  He grows up to be the world’s greatest alchemist. Along the way, he discovers the laws of the universe and becomes famous forever as Isaac Newton. It will be out in the fall of 2015 from Candlewick Press.

I do definitely plan to write more fiction! I have a sequel in mind for BACKWARDS MOON, and but right now I’m working on another (non-witch related) middle grade novel.  I always like to keep a number of book projects cooking, so when I get stuck on one, I can set it aside, work on something else, then come back later and try to get through the stuck place.

6. In BACKWARDS MOON, do you identify more with impulsive Nettle or the more thoughtful Bracken?

Nettle, I have to say.  Nettle acts first and thinks second, which I tend to do. I worry more than Nettle does, though.

7. Bracken's raccoon friend is a bright spot in the story. Do you think it's possible for humans to have a more harmonious relationship with wildlife?


I think yes, it is possible.  We’re working on it. If we were given a second chance, I don’t think we would drive passenger pigeons to extinction.  Today, people would know better than to shoot the very last ivory-billed woodpecker. It has taken centuries, but we are gradually gaining a great understanding of animal intelligence and the value of wildlife in our world.

Thank you for taking time to talk with us, Mary! BACKWARDS MOON releases on September 15th.

Project Mayhem readers, one commenter will be chosen to receive a hardback copy of BACKWARDS MOON from the publisher, Holiday House. Be sure to give us a way to contact you in your comment! This contest closes Thursday, September 11th. 


You can find Mary at her website and look for BACKWARDS MOON on bookshelves soon!

Karen Rivers & FINDING RUBY STARLING - Interview & Giveaway

UPDATE: THE WINNER OF THE GIVEAWAY IS TARA! Thanks everyone for commenting and I really encourage you all to check out Karen's marvelous MG books! 

I recently requested a book off NetGalley based mainly on the cover and the premise of “The Parent Trap meets the digital age”, but I hadn’t heard of the book or author and had no idea what to expect. FINDING RUBY STARLING by Karen Rivers delighted me so much I ended up tracking down the fantastic author to answer a few of my questions, and one very lucky blog commenter will win a signed copy of FINDING RUBY STARLING and a copy of its companion novel THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ME.

Here’s the description of FINDING RUBY STARLING:

When Ruth Quayle used a special app to search for pictures of herself online, she found dozens of images of "Ruth Quayle" -- and one of "Ruby Starling." When Ruby Starling gets a message from a Ruth Quayle proclaiming them to be long-lost twin sisters, she doesn't know what to do with it -- until another message arrives the day after, and another one. It could be a crazy stalker ... but she and this Ruth do share a birthday, and a very distinctive ear....

Ruth is an extroverted American girl. Ruby is a shy English one. As they investigate the truth of their birth and the circumstances of their separation, they also share lives full of friends, family, and possible romances -- and they realize they each may be the sister the other never knew she needed.

Written entirely in e-mails, letters, Tumblr entries, and movie scripts, FINDING RUBY STARLING is the funny and poignant companion to Karen Rivers's THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ME.

Karen was awesome enough to answer a few of my questions. 

FINDING RUBY STARLING is a companion novel to THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ME. Since I haven't read THE ENCYCLOPEDIA yet, I can definitely attest that RUBY STARLING stands alone, though now I can't wait to read THE ENCYCLOPEDIA. How did the companion novel come about? Did you have Ruth's story in mind when you were writing THE ENCYCLOPEDIA?

I did not have Ruth's story in mind, but I've long been a fan of "series" books that aren't series. Taking a look into some of the background characters is just a whole lot of fun. I found Ruth fascinating and my editor and I had talked about her quite a bit. She was quite fully realized, even though she wasn't in the book much. I just really wanted to go further with her.  (And also with Freddie Blue Anderson, who will hopefully be the next girl from Cortez to get her own book.) 

FINDING RUBY STARLING is written almost entirely in emails (with the occasional claymation video script and Tumblr poem thrown in). I was concerned as the story went on that we might not get the full weight of the climax, as filtered through emails. As it turned out, I shouldn't have worried (if my sobbing was any indication). How did you decide whose perspective certain scenes should come through? Was it a struggle to hit the right emotional tones in pivotal scenes, given the structural limitations you'd given yourself?

I honestly didn't think of it that way, about who should have the perspective. It just happened naturally. I wrote the book in the order that you are reading it in, when it felt like Ruth's/Ruby's "turn", then I just pivoted and went with it. Some of the scenes were harder than others. The ones that come to mind are the letters from Ruby's mum and from her Nan. Those ones had a LOT of editing. It was hard to go there without going either too far, or not far enough. My instinct was to pull back, but luckily my editor, Cheryl Klein, is smarter than me and convinced me to just put it all out there.   

You write super convincingly as both British and American -- and you are Canadian, right? Have you spent time in the UK, or do you have British relatives? (Amazeog is my new favorite word, by the way.) How did you decide to make Ruby British?

I am Canadian, which makes me a bit half and half. We have a lot of American influences obviously, and I live in a part of Canada that is frequently described (cringingly) as a Little Bit of Olde England. I have many British relatives and a smaller subset of Canadian relatives with a strong penchant for all things British. And I grew up reading British boarding school books and still love reading British books. Originally I started writing this book with a British friend, Kate LeVann. She was going to be the British voice and I was going to be the American, but that hit the skids relatively early in the process and I decided to just run with it, knowing that clever editors would pick up all my glaringly non-British mistakes. I think both characters are suitably over the top with their nationalities such that they come off as being so incredibly different, it's part of what makes the book fun. I have never had so much fun writing two characters, that's for sure.

You write adult fiction, YA, and MG! Any more MG projects in the works right now?

I am writing Freddie Blue Anderson's story, which will be middle grade and will (hopefully) delve into the subject of mental illness in children, as well as touch on things like how society instills a terrible vanity into pre-teens and how sometimes that can be very difficult for them to manage.  And bullying. And toxic friendships that can sometimes be very difficult to dodge. Also, there are auditions and acting; friendship and loss. It doesn't sound that cheery when I describe it like that, but much like ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ME and FINDING RUBY STARLING, I think it has a lot of moments of humour all huddled around a much bigger, more serious issue. I also just sold two YA novels to Farrar Strauss Giroux and I'm really excited to see what happens with them. One is called GREAT WHITE ME, and the other is titled HOW TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY TO THE DEAD.   My pet project right now is an adult literary mystery, although that is not really the right descriptor either as it's not so much a mystery as it is an examination of life in the 21st century, wherein it's not as uncommon as it certainly should be for someone to, say, shoot up a school full of children.   It's a look at tragedy in the Pinterest world, let's say. I don't really know for certain where it's going, but there are beaches and long grasses and fireflies (or the search for them). I feel like when I'm asked to describe it, all I see are the sand dunes and crashing waves, so there you have it. I'm loving the experience of writing it, so far. Fundamentally, I don't find there is much difference in writing for teens or tweens or adults, it comes down to the age of the protagonist and then, obviously, the way they see the world through their experience. I feel very lucky to be doing any of it, I couldn't have made up a better job for myself.

Thank you so much, Karen! I can’t wait to read THE ENCYLOPEDIA OF ME and am thrilled there is another companion novel coming!

Project Mayhem readers, one lovely commenter will be chosen to receive a copy of THE ENCYLOPEDIA OF ME and a signed copy of FINDING RUBY STARLING. (Be sure to give us a way to contact you in your comment.) These are really fantastic gems to add to any MG collection! I hope you love them as much as I did!

You can find more about Karen at her website, and on Twitter.

Did you ever imagine a long-lost twin when you were growing up?

Varian Johnson and the Great Greene Heist

Maybe I’m still the cranky cool kid (disclaimer: I was never cool), but I like discovering the Next Big Thing on my own. I’m just going to have to let it go (oh, hi earworm) because when it comes to The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson I’ve been beaten to the punch. By everybody.

Twitter’s been all over it as part of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement. Indie bookstores got into it when Eight Cousins Books in Falmouth, MA (one of my local faves) threw out their handsellchallenge. Then little known author John Green even mentioned it (I kid, he’s a juggernaut of awesome).

Today is The Great Greene Heist’s book birthday. Instead of feeling left out, I thought I’d bake a cake to celebrate, and share a slice of delicious with you, my new best friends here at Project Mayhem.

There’s a ton of things to like about this book, and even more to love. Fans of caper stories will slip right into the pages. Lovers of scoundrels (think Robin Hood, Han Solo, and Danny Ocean) will find a new hero for their pantheon – Jackson Greene.

Jackson is as cool as the other side of the pillow. Smart, well dressed, good looking and the leader of his own rag-tag band of misfits. Jackson cons his way through life always one step ahead of his nemesis and the school authorities. Like the best rogues he walks the line between right and wrong, and lands on the side of justice.

This book will make you smile at it’s charm, laugh at it’s clever gambits, and cheer when it all comes together. The code names for the cons, a staple of grifter stories, are worth the price of admission all by themselves. Add dash of romance – just a dash it’s not a kissing book – and you have a story that lingers well after the time you’ve closed the cover. I’m not being glib. I finished this book several days ago, and my favorite scenes keep popping up for a slow-motion replay of how’d-they-pull-that-off.

The Great Greene Heist is going to be as fun to reread as it was to read. Is there a higher compliment?

Quick Questions with Varian Johnson

I emailed Varian a handful of questions on Memorial Day (because I'm a jerk), but he was kind enough to answer back right away (because he's not a jerk). 

That red tie looks awfully familiar.

Who came first, Danny Ocean or Jackson Greene? Any other con artists role models we should know about?

Of all the heist movies I’ve seen, Jackson Green was most inspired by Danny Ocean from the Ocean’s Trilogy. I actually started the novel right after seeing Ocean’s Thirteen, though all I had for a long time was a name—Jackson Greene—and a vague idea of writing a heist novel. Of course, a number of heist movies inspired me while writing the novel—most notably The Italian Job, Sneakers, and The Thomas Crown Affair. I also researched real life con men, though they aren’t nearly as suave and sophisticated as their fictional counterparts.

Is there a sequel in the works? (I'd love to read a YA with Jackson's brother, or an historical fiction about his grandfather.)

Yes, I’m working on a sequel right now (which is taking longer than I hoped. It takes place a few months after The Great Greene Heist, and if all goes well, it’ll be out in the fall of 2015.

I hadn’t thought about doing anything with other member of the Greene family, but you never know….

Did you start this at VCFA? If so, can you talk about that a little bit? (advisors, early readers, etc...)

I started the novel a month before my first VCFA residency. I worked on it in bits and pieces with three advisors, though very little of those drafts remain in the finished book. That being said, two people from VCFA were very influential with the book. Tim Wynne-Jones, my fourth semester advisor, helped me to realize that the tone and characters were all wrong in those first drafts, and that I should take a step back and write the novel the way it needed to be written (as a funny, fast read), not how I wanted it to be (an edgy YA). Rachel M. Wilson, my classmate, shared an essay on Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game, which helped me realize that the novel needed to be written in omniscient point of view.

What's it like to become the center of a grassroots movement for diversity in children's books?

Humbling. Extremely humbling. I’m honored that so many people have championed the book.

Any surprising responses (good or bad) along the way?

As far as reviews go, there haven’t been any real surprises; though I’ve also been fortunate to get some really good trade journal and blog reviews about the novel. That being said, I try to numb myself to the review process once they start rolling in. As a novelist, you do your best, and people either say good or bad things about your book, and you take in what you can and keep working on the next book.

What are you reading now?

I just finished Jennifer Ziegler’s Revenge of the Flower Girls (Scholastic) and am currently reading Greg Leitich Smith’s Little GreenMen at the Mercury Inn (Roaring Brook). They’re both middle grade novels—we’ll be doing a joint launch of all three of our books on June 14.

Any books we should be on the lookout for?

Since I mentioned Rachel M. Wilson earlier, I should note that her debut YA, Don’t Touch (HarperTeen) comes out this September. Another VCFA classmate, Larissa Theule, makes her debut with Fat and Bones (Carolrhoda) in October. They are both great books that I can’t wait to share with everyone.

Thanks, and happy book birthday!

Thank you!