Karen Cushman

Karen Cushman

Newbery award-winning children’s book author

Karen Cushman

About a Boy

Will Sparrow's RoadWhy did I write a book about a boy? I had in mind a story about a child alone and on the road in Elizabethan England. I knew a girl likely would not survive there in those somewhat brutal times. And I don’t believe that in a world with so little privacy, she could successfully disguise herself as a boy for long. She wouldn’t have access to a private bedroom or dressing rooms or bathrooms. London did have one public restroom—a plank with 18-holes, emptying directly into the Thames River. In fact using the whole world as a toilet—streets, fields, the halls of great houses—was so common that a book of manners from 1731 stated that it was impolite to stop and greet someone who is urinating. So it had to be a boy, and Will Sparrow was born.

It was important to me to build a Will who was believable, true to his character, his gender, and his times. My first attempts made Will more like a girl in britches so I had to do a lot more research. I read books on psychology and child development. I spoke to boys and mothers of boys. I watched boys at the bus stop and my husband and his friends at play. The resulting Will has boundless energy, his voice is changing, he distrusts displays of emotion, and he longs to grow facial hair. But he lives in a time that was more chaotic and dangerous so he is extremely vulnerable. There was no concept of adolescence so a boy of thirteen, no longer a child, was considered a man, with the responsibilities of a man.  

I hope I have managed to construct a Will who is believable, not a stereotype, and wholly entertaining.  Let me know what you think.

This article originally appeared on the Green Bean Teen Queen blog.

The Story Sleuths

Alchemy and Meggy SwannAllyson Valentine Schrier, Meg Lippert, and Heather Hedin Singh, the women behind The Story Sleuths, did a seven-part series on Alchemy and Meggy Swann, culminating in an interview with me. They look at things such as character transformation, inner dialogue, and details. It’s a good thing an author doesn’t have to plan all of this while writing a story. Much better to have the readers mull it all over and find meaning.

I’m in love …

wordsSomeone said I am in love with words. It’s true. I am. I love the way they sound and the way they look on a page and if words had a smell, I’d love that, too. I love how they roister and rumble, thrumble and gallop and galumph! If I had more than 110 words in which to say this, I could use every one of them up and still not tell you everything I love about words. Fortunately I have found a way to make a life out of my love affair. Otherwise I might be locked in a rubber room somewhere shouting gallimaufry and willy-nilly and hullaballoo.

Another reason to celebrate

Boxing DayIt’s Boxing Day in Great Britain and its former dominions. The origin of this term is unknown, but it was traditionally a day when the more fortunate gave a gift to the less fortunate. Tradespeople received gifts from their customers and servants were given the day off. The tradition goes back at least to the Middle Ages and may be older than that.

An Elizabethan Christmas

So now is come our joyful’st feast,

Let every man be jolly.
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,

And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine,

Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,

And let us all be merry.

(George Wither—16th c. poet)

Christmas gooseImagine a Christmas without a tree, colored lights, Santa Claus, presents, or Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. Even without these joys, the Elizabethan Christmas revels were the highpoint of the year. After the sad, solemn, sometimes violent reign of Mary Tudor, Englishmen were ready for gaiety. And Elizabeth, relieved to find herself queen and not martyr, marked her reign with joy, luxury, and extravagance. Her people, starting on Christmas Eve and culminating twelve days later on Twelfth Night, celebrated Christmas with gusto.
    Villagers and nobles alike decorated their homes with holly, ivy, yew, bay, laurelin fact, anything still green. A large log, the Yule log, was brought in and kept burning in the hearth throughout the twelve days of the holiday.
    Someone would be chosen as “The Lord of Misrule” and would be in charge of organizing the entertainment and revelry for the Twelve Days of Christmas. There would be dancing and play-acting and the singing of carols. Groups of girls and boys would go round their village or neighborhood with an empty drinking cup, begging for each house to fill it with spiced ale or cakes or a silver penny. It was bad luck to refuse.
    Food was the highlight of the celebration. Turkey had only been introduced into England from the Americas during the reign of Henry VIII and was relatively uncommon. Goose was more traditional. It is said that in 1588 Elizabeth I ordered the entire country to serve goose at their Christmas feast, since it was the first meal she had eaten following England’s victory over the Spanish. The very rich might serve peacock—skinned, cooked, and put back into its skin and feathers. The poor, of course, ate whatever they could.
    Other goodies included wild boar, minced meat pies, plum porridge, and a Christmas pie of birds’ tongues, eggs, sugar, lemon and orange peel, accompanied by a beer brewed especially for the occasion. During the Elizabethan age water was not considered fit to drink. Instead, beer was the staple drink for the majority of people, and it was common for country homes to house their own brewery. Mulled wine might also be served as well as syllabub (spiced milk with rum or wine) and lambswool, made by heating cider, sherry or ale, spices, and apples until the apples exploded into a foamy, white head.
    The last night of the Christmas celebrations was January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, which commemorated the coming of the Three Kings. Twelfth Night festivities were often the grandest of the year, filled with balls and parties. A special cake would be baked and given out to members of the family and household. This cake would contain a bean and whoever found it would be pronounced King of the Bean.
    Whether or however you celebrate Christmas, I wish you great joy of the season and a splendid new year.

Prospecting

The Ballad of Lucy WhippleReading The Ballad of Lucy Whipple? There are a number of Gold Rush history museums throughout California that will give you a look at different aspects of that particular time in American history. Among them: the Maidu Museum, the Gold Country Museum in Auburn, and the Rocklin History Museum.

If you’re in California for the holidays, plan a visit. As always, double-check the library’s open dates and hours. http://bit.ly/1e0XDa5

Sorrow’s Knot

Sorrow's KnotLast year, you may remember, I waxed eloquent over a book by Canadian writer Erin Bow called Plain Kate. It remains one of my three favorite fantasy novels (the other two are Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and Something Red by Douglas Nicholas). Erin kindly sent me a copy of her new book, Sorrow’s Knot, a lovely, sad, beautifully written fantasy based in an imaginary world that is reminiscent of early North American native cultures but still entirely new. That world is unravelling, and Otter, Kestrel, and Cricket, likable and believable young people, face fear, danger, death, and unanswerable questions together as they struggle to hold it together. Erin’s incredible imagination and exquisite writing skills have resulted in a wonder of a book that captured me with the first sentence: The girl who remade the world was born in winter. I recommend it—great reading for a winter night.

What? A fantasy?

ph_kc_fantasy01Yes, I have gone public. In my NCTE talk, I announced that I am writing a fantasy, working title Song of the Wise Woman’s Daughter. I trepidatiously read a few passages aloud and no rotten fruit was thrown so I am encouraged. My fantasy has no vampires or zombies. No one dies. The world is not destroyed or even in much danger because the kind of book I like is the kind that celebrates love, embraces compassion, honors intelligence, and ends with hope.  G.K.Chesterton said that fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. And, may I add, even without magic.

Character inspiration

The Marvelous Hairy GirlsWill Sparrow's RoadIn Will Sparrow’s Road, I found inspiration for the character of Grace Wyse while reading this book, The Marvelous Hairy Girls: The Gonzales Sisters and Their Worlds. Read more about the book at Yale University Press. Learn about the author, Merry Wiesner-Hanks, and her research. You might enjoy reading it, too.