Karen Cushman
Newbery award-winning children’s book author
I always set my stories in the South and that setting is always ever present. But those beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains are particularly special to me. I knew that’s where my story would be set … even before I had a story.
What happened was I read a newspaper article about kids who grew up on Alcatraz when there was a working penitentiary on the island. As soon as I read that article, I knew I wanted to “be” one of those kids.
Did you have a Rosie in your life? What did you want Millie’s and Rosie’s friendship to do for the story?
What kinds of parallels do you see between Millie’s experiences in 1941 and what children are experiencing now?
My experience of the war is mostly second hand—my Uncle Chester’s stories about fighting in the South Pacific, my father’s struggles to find tires and gas for the car, my mother’s complaints about rationing.
We know you grew up with a brother. Is there someone in your background that brought the character of Lily, Millie’s younger sister, to life for your readers? I wanted a sibling who was the opposite of the adorable Pete and my equally adorable brother. Luckily, I can’t remember anyone I knew who was as whiny and difficult as Lily. She
Your book is full of the details that make 1941 in San Diego, California, so authentic. Mission Beach, Northern Tissue splinter-free toilet paper, Jungle Gardenia. What type of research did you do, which sources did you use, to help young readers connect to this place and time? Did you have to look up each product mention to make sure it was available
How did the idea for Millie’s Book of Dead Things come to you? Haunted by her Gram’s death and the looming war, Millie became fascinated with death and dying.
My mother’s youngest sister, / My aunt Joan, was glamourous. / She wore red lipstick and high heels / And her hair rolled in a sausage.
My husband thinks chicken is one of the basic food groups so we generally make chicken for any special occasion, including Hanukah. Chicken this way is very nice on a cold, dark, winter’s evening. And it’s easy.
