An Interview with Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman
54 - the number of Newbery Medal winners I have read during 2012.
3 - the number of Newbery-winning authors who have visited my school library.
0 - the number of Newbery Medalists I interviewed before today.
!!!!!! - how excited I am to change that zero to a one.
Mr. Schu: You’re browsing
Secret Garden Books when you spot a patron eyeing Will Sparrow’s Road. You’re
not sure if you should deliver a short book talk. Thankfully, you decide not to
pass up this wonderful opportunity. What do you tell the patron about Will
Sparrow’s Road?
Karen Cushman: Will Sparrow’s road takes him on a journey
through the lively, colorful world of Elizabethan England. His adventures can move us to consider the
intriguing idea of who we are as individuals separate from our families, from our
homes, from any adult help. What would
we do if left, like Will, to our own devices? How would we survive? Would we be
sad and whiney or resourceful and courageous? Would we be the same people we are now or would we grow to be
different? What kind of family might we
create for ourselves?
Mr. Schu: Thank you for
keeping me glued to Will Sparrow’s Road. I could not put it down. I spent
thirty minutes re-reading and re-reading and re-reading two of the most
beautifully written pages of 2012.
Karen Cushman: I am intrigued. What two pages might those be? (pages 34-35)
I could smell Will’s
surroundings, taste his food, and feel his pain. If I ever create a SHOW, DON’T
TELL poster, I will place your photograph in the center. What advice would you give to a ten-year-old boy who wants to
SHOW, DON'T TELL.
Karen Cushman: Oooo, I could write for a loooong time about
that. I guess the short version might be
use all five of your senses. Don’t
depend on sight alone. It’s fine to tell
us how a room in an abandoned house looks.
Just be sure to add how it smells (musty? like flowers or fresh baked bread?), what
sounds you hear (the wind whistling through a window? old-time music on a broken phonograph?), what
someone might touch (a spider web? cracked glass in the window?) or taste (dust
on the tongue?). Be selective. Choose two or three details that help us be
there in that place.
Click here to listen to the podcast. |
Mr. Schu: I think
Kirby Larson, Jennifer L. Holm, and you are the masters of historical fiction. Please recommend three must-read historical novels for children.
Karen Cushman: Thank you--you've put me in very good company. Since you’ve already suggested Hattie Big Sky and the May Amelia books
by your first sentence, I’d then pick Patricia MacLachan’s splendid Sarah Plain and Tall, Lizzie Bright and theBuckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt, and TheWatsons Go to Birmingham--1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis.
Mr. Schu: Congratulations
on winning the Newbery Medal for The Midwife's Apprentice. What does it feel
like to win the coveted Newbery Medal?
Karen Cushman: I couldn’t have been any happier with a Nobel
Prize—unless it was the prize for peace.
See my November 6 blog post on the Nerdy Book Club for a story about the early-morning Newbery phone call. It is not an overstatement to say the Newbery
changed my life.
Karen Cushman reads an excerpt from Will Sparrow's Road. |
Mr.Schu: Please complete these
sentence starters:
Historical
fiction is just stories about other people in other places and other times.
Reading
is the very best education.
Mr.
Schu, you should have asked me about Elvis!
I wrote a lot as a child but never thought about being a writer. I wanted to be Elvis’ wife—that was the
extent of my career plans.
I am giving away one copy of Will Sparrow's Road.
Rules for the Giveaway
1. It will run from 12/20 to 11:59 p.m. on 12/24.
2. You must be at least 13.
3. Please pay it forward. :)
Borrow Will Sparrow's Road from your school or public library. Whenever possible, please support independent bookshops.
What a fun and fabulous interview! Now I must re-read pages 34-35. And I loved learning Karen's early career aspirations: I think she makes a much better writer than a wife for Elvis. But I bet she makes awesome peanut butter and banana sandwiches. ;-)
ReplyDeleteCannot wait to read this.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview. Karen and I must be soul sisters. I,too, wanted to marry Elvis!
ReplyDeleteGreat interview. Karen and I must be soul sisters. I, too, once wanted to marry ole Elvis!
ReplyDeleteOH LAWD I LOVE ME SOME KAREN CUSHMAN.
ReplyDeleteWow, I REALLY want to read pages 34 and 35 lol Great interview, especially being a rookie Newbery interviewer ;) I see this as the start of something BIG! :) Thanks, John and Karen :D
ReplyDelete