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I have two new friends, Jillian and Mitchell. They are still young and weigh over five hundred pounds. Each. Oh yeah, they’re pigs. I don’t mean they’re sloppy eaters or especially messy—I mean they’re pigs. The new book I am planning, Will Sparrow’s Road, has a character who is a pig. She’s a trained pig called The Duchess, and she can tell time and do card tricks. In order to write about her, I had to get to know pigs. Glenda Pearson of BaaHaus Animal Sanctuary here on Vashon Island kindly let me come and play with two of her pigs. Now I know that pigs wag their tails much like dogs, they don’t smell bad, and they are very fast, very smart, and very stubborn. When Will Sparrow’s Road is published in, oh, three or so years, you can see what else I learned about pigs.

Want to read a good book? I read two this week: Rodman Philbrick’s The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg is a rip-roaring adventure starring, of course, Homer P. Figg, who sets off to rescue his brother from the horrors of the Civil War and reaches the battlefield just in time to witness them first hand. I loved Philbrick’s Freak the Mighty and this book, although very different, is equally good. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate introduces us to Callie Vee, a reluctant young lady and budding scientist at the turn of the 20th century. I predict a sequel, which is good news because there’s lots more I want to know about the Tate family. Happy reading!

For Mother’s Day we went on a tour of chicken coops here on Vashon Island. It was sunny but breezy, the chickens were lively, and I had a great time. I never knew there were so many kinds of chickens: fuzzy footed chickens, frizzled chickens, speckled chickens, chickens that lay blue eggs.

Then my beloved daughter gave me my Mother’s Day present: an iPod. Philip can’t work if music is going but I love to listen while I write so Leah thought this was a good solution. And she was right! I love it and now have to spend lots of money downloading the odd and wonderful stuff I listen to: Medwyn Goodall’s Druid, Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, La Mer by Charles Trenet…You have never heard of those? I am not surprised. I do have somewhat eccentric tastes in music. And people. And Mother’s Day events.

Thanks to the generous Tamara of Bookman’s in Tucson, I was given a copy of Gail Carson Levine’s newest book, Ever. In a mythical land, the mortal Kezi and Olus, the Akkan god of the wind who loves her, face seemingly insurmountable trials, but if they succeed, they will become immortal. The story is filled with romance, suspense, action, and the intriguing question: Would you truly wish to be immortal?

I thought for a review I would go to an expert on romance and suspense: a teen-aged girl who loves fantasy and loves to read. Below is the review from Ella McConnell, an eighth grader at McMurray Middle School here on Vashon Island:

“Ever started off slowly and definitely took me longer then it should have to read but over all it was a wonderfully written book. The characters have a very real value to them, even though some of them are gods. They enjoyed things that average people enjoy all around the world. Arts like rug making, weaving, music, and dancing were what made this book feel so alive and realistic. The main characters suffered to find out the truth in their lives. I would recommend this book to anyone who is able to read English.”

The question of immortality reminded me of other great books in which the question is asked: Ursula LeGuin’s The Farthest Shore, Tuck Everlasting, of course, and Interview With The Vampire, after which so many of us fell in love with the lovely, melancholy Louis.

I don’t know what Kezi ultimately decides but I think I might vote with Meggy Swann, from my new book who says: “I have found that living can be most toilsome and cruel. Why would any someone wish to be immortal?” But I must say it’s okay with me if my books live forever!

I have just finished writing the Author’s Note for Alchemy and Meggy Swann, and I am surprised by how much I have learned about alchemy by writing the book. If I am ever on Jeopardy and alchemy is a category, I am a sure winner—except I will probably forget to phrase my answer in the form of a question and be disqualified.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann takes place in Elizabethan England, but alchemy was not an Elizabethan, or even European, invention; people over the globe and over the centuries searched for the secrets of the universe. Alchemy is based on the idea that the world is composed of four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. The 8th century Islamic alchemist Geber analyzed each element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness. He theorized that every metal was a combination of these four principles and so reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into another could be effected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities. To do this, one would need the help of the philosopher’s stone, a magical substance capable of turning lumps of inexpensive metals into gold. It was also believed to be an elixir of life, or panacea, useful for healing, for rejuvenation, and possibly for achieving immortality. It is said that many alchemists tested their discoveries on themselves and died of mercury, silver, or lead poisoning.

Alchemists, of course, never turned base metal to gold. They did invent procedures, processes, and equipment that showed later generations how to analyze minerals and metals and make medicines from them, how to distill essences, how chemical changes follow from combining different substances, how to use balances and weights, and how to build and use a variety of laboratory vessels. Alchemy’s significant advances laid the basis for the science of chemistry.

I am not ordinarily a fantasy fan, but I recently agreed to give a quote for The Farwalker’s Quest, so I spent a rainy afternoon immersed in the intriguing world Joni Sensel created. My quote read “Rich in characters, with a unique setting and surprising relevance, it’s a profound, touching, and wise tale about the important things in life: success and failure, courage and fear, absence and loss, trust, loyalty, and hope. On a dangerous journey, the headstrong Ariel, her brave young friend Zeke, and the appealingly mysterious Scarl discover the importance of remembering where we came from and knowing where we’re going. Their story is the story of all of us, carrying hope and crafting the future.” That’s the long version. Let me say to you that you’ll love the book—the fast action, many surprises, and delightful characters—and you won’t be able to wait for the sequel, out next spring.

I have almost finished the final final final revisions for Alchemy and Meggy Swann. The book is scheduled for publication next spring, 2010, so I’d better get it finished and off. I have been having a good time. Revisions are much easier for me than getting down that first draft. I think it’s because I feel in control. When I’m writing a first draft, I feel lost and confused, unsure and hesitant and totally at sea. I don’t know where I’m going or how I’ll get there and it all seems hopeless. My friend Sharon Creech says when she writes it’s like an angel comes and sits on her shoulder and whispers the story in her ear. Boy, not me. Other writers write as if their characters take off and just tell them what to write. Not me. Katherine Paterson has a friend who said the two creatures most to be pitied are the spider and the novelist, their lives hanging by a thread spun out of their own guts. Yes, that’s me! Pulling a story painfully out of my gut strand by strand, often word by word. And I can’t think of another thing I’d rather do. Go figure.

Thirty six years go today I witnessed a miracle. Philip and I watched our daughter, Leah Corinna Katie Shoshana Starshine Cushman (really!),  being born. We are here in Portland today celebrating her birthday.

She is a lovely, sweet, intelligent woman and we are so lucky to have her in our lives. But I find when I look at her, it’s like wearing two pairs of glasses at the same time. Through one pair I see the grown-up librarian who loves books and flowers and food and wants to raise chickens in her backyard. Through the other pair I still see the skinny newborn and the toddler eating Cheerios one by one and the little blond kid at the petting zoo, and I want to protect them and keep them from growing up—you know how parents are. Happy birthday, Leah, all you Leahs. I love every one of you.

I just spent a few days with a dog that has a very important job.
   Siena, a Golden Retriever, is the most huggable, lovable dog I ever met. She’s also a therapy dog for a group in Tucson, Arizona, called Gabriel’s Angels. She visits children who are neglected, abused, or at risk. They sing and read to her. They brush her and take her for walks. They even brush her teeth! Siena has the whitest, brightest teeth of any dog anywhere. In exchange for all the hugs she gets, Siena helps the children learn about love, trust, compassion, and responsibility. She takes my brother Art with her to work. They’re my heroes!

If you live in or near Tucson, Arizona, come see me this weekend at the Tucson Festival of Books. Over 300 authors and illustrators will be talking, reading, and signing. After my work is done, I plan to hear Richard Peck and Gail Carson Levine as my reward. And I will be on stage with Jim Deem, who won a Sibert Honor for Bodies From the Ice, about ancient human remains found in a melting glacier. He writes great books about strange things like preserved bodies in bogs and plaster casts of the victims of the volcano eruption in Pompeii.Right up my alley.I find that these events often give me more than I give. I plan to soak up all the inspiration, wisdom, good humor, and common sense I can to use when I get home and tackle the final (I hope) rewrites for Alchemy and Meggy Swann.

Yesterday I celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday with a group of first, second, and third graders at Chautauqua Elementary School here on Vashon Island. I had never spoken to such young people before and I was surprised at what good readers and writers they were. Aziza, Lily, and Madeleine read me from their historical novel set in World War 1 starring a soldier named Jim and a cat named Jimmy. Then River and Olivia read. And we talked about persistence: the ability to keep going when you are unsure about what you’re writing, when your confidence disappears, when no else thinks it’s any good (Dr. Seuss’s first book was rejected by 27 publishers!) When I was writing Catherine Called Birdy, people told me that no one was interested in history, that it was hard to publish books about girls, that no publisher wanted a first novel. But I kept going anyway—not because I was confident or sure but because I was persistent. I wanted to know what happened to Birdy, I wanted to tell the rest of the story, I wanted to finish. So I did. Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss. Thank you for the example.