Avi’s 2024 Summer Blog Series
Karen Cushman
From Avi: As I did in the summer of 2023 and the summer of 2022, I’ve invited 13 admired middle grade authors to write for my blog for the next three months. I hope you’ll tune in each Tuesday to see who has answered these two questions we’re frequently asked by readers. You should have a list of terrific books to read and share by the end of the summer … along with new authors to follow!
Where did you get your idea for a specific book of yours?
Ideas are like Legos. One is just a plastic block but put many together, and you have a castle or a ship–or a story. The blocks for The Ballad of Lucy Whipple began with a road trip through the foothills and mountains of Northern California. I saw the remains of historic towns and buildings and gold mines. We drove in a tough, new SUV and still sometimes had a hard time on the old, hilly, unmaintained roads.
I thought about how much harder it would it have been a hundred years ago when people traveled there these roads by cart, on horseback, or on foot. Where would the nearest doctor be? Or firefighters? Or groceries? And I imagined a young girl coming west. How would she feel about the move? What would she miss from home?
And I remembered when my family moved to California when I was eleven, and I lost my grandparents, my dog, and my public library. The two characters — the girl in my imagination and me — combined and became Lucy Whipple. And the book began.
What’s your best writing advice for young writers?
My advice is in three parts (I hope that’s not cheating): Read a lot, write a lot, and listen well.
Read a lot. Fill your head with stories. Read silly books and glorious books, sad books and funny books, library books and ebooks. Read to learn things, feel things, remember things. Read to see how authors solve problems or keep your attention or make you believe that toads and otters and even a typewriter can talk. Discover what you like to read and why. Reading will open worlds to you so you can see beyond the boundaries of your own experience.
Write a lot. Exercise your writing muscles. Keep a journal. Make a list of favorite words. Use writing prompts, free writing, your own imagination. Write stories, poems, and songs, a neighborhood newspaper, a movie script. Don’t let the editor take over. You can polish later. Write everyday, if that works for you, or don’t. Just write.
Listen well. Listen to the radio, people talking, street noises. It’s all your material. Watch children play and listen to what they say and why. Elderly people., too. How can you capture them with words? Pay attention to the sound of footsteps, laughter, accents. What makes a person sound sad? Uncertain? Friendly? And listen to silence. What does it say?
Have fun.
Particulars
I believe you will also enjoy:
War and Millie McGonigle
Millie McGonigle lives in sunny California, where her days are filled with beach and surf. It should be perfect—but times are tough. Hitler is attacking Europe and it looks like the United States may be going to war. Food is rationed and money is tight. And Millie’s sickly little sister gets all the attention and couldn’t be more of a pain if she tried. It’s all Millie can do to stay calm and feel in control.
Still — there’s sand beneath her feet. A new neighbor from the city, who has a lot to teach Millie. And surfer boy Rocky to admire — even if she doesn’t have the guts to talk to him.
It’s a time of sunshine, siblings, and stress. Will Millie be able to find her way in her family, and keep her balance as the the world around her loses its own?
1 thought on “Summer Blog Series: Karen Cushman”
As a Karen Cushman superfan and a LUCY WHIPPLE fan in particular, this post made me happy indeed.