Karen Cushman
Newbery award-winning children’s book author
I was asked not long ago if I plan to write in other formats—plays, poetry, screenplays, or picture books. My short answer was good grief, no! but here’s more. I think I wrote all the plays, poetry, and screen plays that I had inside me before I was fifteen. I still have boxes of them: plays like “Jingle Bagels,” the
Why 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
Allyson 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
Here is Otis, all excited and ready to greet the new year—or as excited as he gets these days. I wish you a wonderful 2014, filled with happiness and joy and great new books to read.
Someone 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,
It’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
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) Imagine a Christmas without a tree, colored lights, Santa Claus, presents, or Rudolph the
Reading 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
Last 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
