MotherReader

Our videoconference with author Patrick Carman was awesome. He was so generous with his time and so very warm. The girls were very excited to talk to a Real Live Author — and so was I. Even more so after hearing that the book we were discussing, The Dark Hills Divide, had sold more than two million copies and was printed in twenty-seven languages! Gulp. He’s like an Important Author. Um, does he realize that we’re, like, not important?

He was fantastic answering the girls’ questions and I took lots of notes. After the interview, we had a great discussion about the book and some of his answers. But if it’s all the same to you — and I’m guessing that it is — I’m going to save the write-up for next Wednesday. It’s a lot to pull together and I want to do it justice, which I can’t really do today.

We’re taking three weeks until our next title because of conflicting vacations among the members. We decided on something fun and sci-fi — The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex.

For now, enjoy the July Carnival of Children’s Literature, hosted by Read. Imagine. Talk.. It’s the first carnival I’ve remembered to contribute to (barely in time, but still), so maybe I’m getting a bit of my mojo back. The carnival also seems to feature some newer blogs that I’ve been meaning to explore, so I’m excited to take a look. You go too.

Last week the Summer Book Club talked about Happy Kid! This week author Gail Gauthier answers the girls’ questions about the book and writing.

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When did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

In fifth grade. I had been attending a one-room school for a few years, meaning we had the same teacher year after year. She definitely wasn’t into creativity, literature, or art. (We traced pictures a lot.) In fifth grade, though, we had a student teacher who had us write a short story. That got me started down the road to becoming a writer.

Which characters, if any, are based on people you know?

I would never, ever, truly base a character on someone I know. It’s too much like using people. The possibility of hurting someone is too great. However, I do pick up little bits and pieces from various people I know or run into — sometimes from people I’ve only seen once or twice. For instance, Jamie and Beth were inspired by a couple of girls I saw at an elementary school where I was volunteering quite some time ago. I exaggerated their behavior in the book. I once knew a high school teacher who was working on his doctorate and sometimes spoke about his graduate work. I used that with the teacher, Ms. Cannon, and, once again, exaggerated the behavior. And, to be perfectly honest, we do have a couple of family members who are quite negative, though I don’t believe anything that happens to Kyle has happened to either of them. (Though the boy next door to us did get sent to the school office for having in his possession a screwdriver that he’d made in tech. ed. class. But that’s as far as it went. And he’s not negative.)

Is there a back story about the magical self-help book? Is it really magic or is it all in Kyle’s head?

A few years before I wrote Happy Kid! a friend gave me a self-help book. I do read self-help books on fitness, creativity, and organization/time management, but this was one of those books that are just supposed to make you a happier person. It really did have only a paragraph or two on each page. When I finally started reading it, every few pages I’d find something that actually made sense to me, something I thought really could make someone’s life better. But, being me, instead of thinking that yes, this book could make me a happier person, I started thinking about how funny it would be if someone tried to follow the suggestions in a self-help book but not only did the suggestions not work, they made everything worse.

My books always go through many drafts, and during the writing of Happy Kid! the magical idea started creeping in. Yes, the self-help book is magic. When a magical element of some sort is added to an otherwise realistic book, the kind of writing you end up with is sometimes called magical realism. So, you see, Happy Kid! isn’t a totally realistic book.

How did you come up with the passages from the self-help book?

While I was thinking about writing this book, I started saving any interesting sounding self-help articles from magazines. The original self-help book my friend gave me was a small paperback, and I cut it up and saved those pages that interested me. So I had a stack of ideas that I thought I could use as a spring board to come up with my own self-help passages that might lead to funny scenes or some action. I can remember coming up with pieces of self-help advice and trying to write the book around them. After I’d written a few drafts, I went back to see if the passages still fit the story. Sometimes I had to move passages to different chapters or I had to create brand new ones because what was happening in the book no longer fit with my original self-help idea for that spot.

Why did you choose to feature taekwondo as helping Kyle?

I am a second dan black belt in taekwondo, and I’ve now been training for six years. When I was first working on the book, I just wanted Kyle and his friends involved with a sport so I could get them out of the school. I thought keeping everyone in the school most of the time would get dull. I wasn’t planning on the sport helping him. I ran into a problem because I don’t know much about traditional sports. I definitely know very little about team sports. So that’s why taekwondo came in. I had only been training for a couple of years then, but I certainly knew what a taekwondo class was like. I badgered the young man who teaches my morning class with questions, as well as the man who runs my school.

Taekwondo ends up helping Kyle because I was worried that the taekwondo scenes didn’t seem connected to the rest of the book. I was afraid the taekwondo material seemed like another whole story. Everything needs to be connected in a book. So I went back and added a thread about Kyle having trouble controlling himself emotionally. His lack of control feeds his negativity and his obsession with Chelsea. Therefore, the control he has to learn in taekwondo has an impact on the rest of his life, and the taekwondo storyline and the school storyline became woven together.

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Thanks to Gail Gauthier for fitting in our questions before heading out on vacation. (Have a great time!) Next Wednesday the Summer Book Club will discuss The Dark Hills Divide, by Patrick Carman. Snack options are still open, but I’m not sure that I can top this.

It was another great Summer Book Club session, complete with unhappy-face sugar cookies in honor of the cover of the book Happy Kid! by Gail Gauthier. Just like Shug, the book drew mixed reviews as some of the girls admitted that they weren’t thrilled with the realistic fiction genre. But even so, they all had interesting things to say about our second title of the season.

One girl liked how Kyle was so unsure of himself, but grew more confident during the course of the book. They all liked the book-within-a-book concept, and how that internal book was driving the story forward. We thought it was interesting that the powers of the self-help book weren’t explained — it didn’t come through a magic portal or arrive sprinkled with fairy dust — it was an ordinary thing that happened to be extraordinary. One of the girls who didn’t like the book thought that there were too many extra details and conversations that dragged the story down. Another girl liked the characters and the humor, but was annoyed by Kyle’s obsession with Chelsea and couldn’t get past it.

I asked the girls what they thought of the use of humor in the book. The girls didn’t find the humor in the forefront for them as much as it was for me. As I reminded them of certain excerpts or parts, they thought they were funny, but before I mentioned those selections they weren’t thinking of it as a funny book. That surprised me because I see it as a very amusing book, though in a subtle way.

We all thought that the use of a book-within-a-book was a creative idea. I asked if they thought that the author was poking fun at self-help books or not. The consensus was not really. We had a good discussion then about the various “excerpts” from the self-help book and how useful they were both in moving the story forward and in teaching lessons to readers at the same time. One girl mentioned how after the “Say Hello” excerpt, the selections read “less dorky” and that they added to the suspense of the book. She went on to mention how in the beginning, the “magical” book seems to give Kyle a push by making him follow the instructions, but later Kyle is actually seeking out the guidance of the book and taking active control.

I asked why the author used taekwondo in the book, and they mentioned another current book that uses the martial arts — Generation Dead. (Haven’t read it, so I can’t comment here.) Some girls talked about taekwondo being a great outlet for Kyle in releasing tension and focusing energy elsewhere. The idea of turning your energy on something outside yourself took us to one of the excerpts of the self-help book, “Get Over Yourself,” and how that related to our own lives.

Overall, it was a great discussion. Some of the girls decided that after talking about the book, they actually liked it better. For everyone, it provided a great entrance to discussion about thinking positively and taking action. They had some good questions for the author, and I’ll post that interview next week. Probably next week.

I had originally intended to select only realistic fiction for the summer book club, in the interest of talking about issues of transitioning to middle school. But there are some girls who are not crazy about the genre, so we’re taking a break into fantasy for the next book. We’ll be reading The Dark Hills Divide, by Patrick Carman, for our July 30th meeting. Any idea for a related snack?

Two weeks ago, my seventh grade Girl Scout troop talked about Shug. The girls came up with interview questions for the author, Jenny Han, which I am pleased to share with you today.

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Did you write the book based on your twelve-year-old self?

No, I didn’t. There were certainly some emotional themes that played out in my own twelve-year old life, but for the most part, it was complete fiction.

Did you write the book to “help” preteen girls going into Junior High?

I wrote Shug with the hopes of telling a good story from one girl’s point of view — a glimpse into this girl’s life, a snapshot of this little moment of growing up. I definitely hoped that girls would connect with it. That is the icing on the cake!

What do think is the worst problem facing middle-school girls today?

I think the worst problem is believing all the bad stuff people tell you about yourself and not enough of the good stuff.

When did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

I have always loved writing, always considered myself a writer, but I didn’t think about doing it as a profession until after college. At the time, being a writer as a career sounded about as likely as me being J.T.’s backup dancer. (That’s Justin Timberlake for those not in the know!) But it’s funny — I was at home in Virginia last week, visiting my family, and I found an old yearbook of mine. My fourth grade teacher wrote, “I expect to see your name on a book one day. Keep writing.” Life is funny! You never know where you’ll end up. I was lucky enough to end up here.

How did you decide on the names that you used, and what is the pronunciation of “Mairi”?

I spend a lot of time picking out my characters’ names. It is an obsession that harkens back to a time where I agonized over what I would name my first-born daughter. For Shug, the name Annemarie came easily enough. I had some trouble with Jack’s character — originally, his name was Ray Tweedy. As I continued to write the story and he took on a bigger role, I realized it was a terrible name for him and just didn’t sound like a boy you’d ever want to kiss. Jack (also the name of my dog) sounds like an annoying, rascally boy — but also potentially cute. As for Mairi, it is pronounced plain old Mary, but I imagined her mother wanting to give her some unique sparkly kind of spelling.

Where did you get the idea for the small Southern town?

The setting for Shug just was what it was — it was the way I saw it from the very beginning. Those are the easiest kinds of decisions, the ones that come to you naturally, organically.

Do the characters in the book remind you of people in your real life?

My best friend Aram swears that Elaine is based on her, mostly because she moved to our town in middle school as well, and also because Elaine is “cool.” The truth is, everybody in this book is fictional, but there are certainly little traits here and there that I borrowed from people I know. Celia, for instance — I had an older cousin who I saw very much the way Shug sees Celia. There is a certain kind of glamour in older-sister types.

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Much thanks to Jenny Han for answering our questions. I’ll be sharing the interview with the troop this afternoon when we meet to discuss Happy Kid! by Gail Gauthier. Join me for the online discussion tomorrow.

Our first Girl Scout summer book club meeting was a big success. Half of my troop came, all armed with questions and opinions. In tribute to the book cover, we ate strawberry fruit bars (I couldn’t find packs of cherry popsicles) on the shaded back porch. Some of the girls loved the book, some... not so much. But the differences in their impressions of Shug made the discussion much more interesting, and led to a basic realization about book clubs that I hadn’t deeply considered: Not everyone will like the book.

The girls who loved it found it easy to relate to the main character and found the book very realistic. They liked seeing a girl in situations that they could understand, and perhaps even learn a little bit from her actions. They enjoyed the sweetness of the story.

One of the girls who didn’t care for the book thought that Shug’s feeling of love for Mark was too sudden and too deep. She thought the idea of love at twelve was silly, so she couldn’t buy into the main plot. (I disagree, having heard some sixth graders talk about their crushes.) Another girl didn’t like the very emotional tone of the book, finding Shug too insecure and “whiny.” She thought it was all a cliché — which led to my first discussion question: If a cliché becomes a cliché because it is based in realistic situations, how can you say whether a book is realistic or clichéd?

In this vein, we talked about ways that the book could have been more standard teen chick-lit. The girl could win the boy. The best friends could break up forever. The mom and dad could realize the error of their ways and change for the better. In Shug, the relationships don’t always go the way you’d expect, and the endings aren’t so black-and-white.

The problem a few of the girls had with the book was not being able to relate to a scene where the queen bee girl brings out beer at a slumber party. They couldn’t believe that could happen to them in the next few months. I have to admit, we have a very nice elementary school with very nice people, so I could see how that scene felt a million miles away from where they are right now. Even so, it gave us a chance to talk about peer pressure and what they would do in that situation.

We discussed at some length Shug’s friendships and how they related to their own experiences. A couple of girls were on Sherilyn’s side, and thought that Shug was too hard on her for not backing her up at the slumber party or at lunch. Others talked about how hard it is to “outgrow” a friend without being mean. No one thought that mean Mairi was worth sucking up to for any reason.

The girls all brought good questions for Jenny Han. I’ll put that author interview up next Wednesday, keeping that day of the week for Summer Book Club business. After our book discussion, we moved into some other choices for the rest of the summer. They were all excited to recommend their favorites, and I’m going to consider the selections. There were so many suggestions that we may continue the book club through the school year, though not meeting as frequently.

Overall, we had an awesome time. There were certainly a lot more questions I might have posed — we barely touched on Shug’s family — but it was a great start. Most interesting for me was finding out that the realistic flavor of the book that I find so appealing was actually a turn-off to some of the girls. I loved the book because it took me back to that transition so clearly and represented that age so accurately. But these particular girls felt like they’re already living this life of friends and crushes and popularity — why would they want to read about it? I had never thought of it that way, which I suppose is why we have these book clubs in the first place.

July 16th book selection: Happy Kid! by Gail Gauthier

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. I can sense the world settling down around me. It’s a good feeling.

In my head I had aimed for June 14th as an end to the chaos, but then amended it to June 16th after realizing that we still had a play rehearsal, a play casting call, my mother’s arrival, Father’s Day shopping, and my daughter’s play to wrap up over the weekend. Still pretty busy.

Of all the things I’m proud of this year, near the very top is my sixth... no seventh grader’s play. You see, she was selected, along with two other students and three older women, to write a ten-minute play featuring characters from the younger and the older generations. Then over the course of the last few months, the play took shape with actors and staging and props and lighting. The whole thing! The actors could use their scripts, because technically it was a play reading, but the teen and the kid in her play were off-book for the final production. It was wonderful. The actors were great, and in all honesty, I think it was the best of the six plays. While I asked her questions to help her shape the story, and Bill helped her understand the logistics of writing a play, my kid wrote the whole thing and it was fabulous.

And now with it done... breathe in, breathe out. Smooth sailing for the summer. I’ll be working on the getting the prizes out to the 48 Hour Book Challenge winners. I need to catch up on some email and blog reading. Laundry is beginning to be an issue. But how nice to take care of everything with air in my lungs. Deep breath... and out. Ahhh.

So now my news. Not News. But news, little n. Over the summer I’m having a book club with my rising seventh grade Girl Scout troop, and you’re invited to read along. Every two weeks we’ll be reading a book, generally a coming-of-age/transitions type book, and getting together to talk about it. I’m hoping to have the authors answer interview questions from the girls and post them on my blog the following week. I haven’t exactly asked said authors, so let’s all hope for the best. In fact, before announcing the whole schedule, maybe I’ll check in with those writers. But I will announce the first book anyway, because I’m unstoppable.

I’ll be meeting with my girls on Tuesday, July 1st. I’ll write up our discussion for Wednesday, July 2nd, inviting your participation. The first book in the MotherReader Summer Book Club is... Shug, by Jenny Han. This was a book I absolutely loved two years ago, and I can’t wait to share it with my daughter, her friends, and... you.