Photo: Random House

SLJ caught up with author-illustrator Tad Hills about Rocket Writes a Story (Random, 2012), which follows a loveable dog as he tries to write his own book, and is the sequel to the bestselling picture book How Rocket Learned to Read (Random, 2010).

Is Rocket Writes a Story semi-autobiographical or is it meant to encourage kids who have trouble writing?

Both. Rocket Writes a Story is absolutely autobiographical. My (and, I’m sure, many other writers’) experience is very much like Rocket’s. There’s always that proverbial “white page.” There’s always the question, “what happens next?” When I visit schools, I’m always struck by kids’ desire to write stories and make books. They tell me how hard it is to think of ideas. I think they find comfort hearing that it’s tough for me too. They are often surprised to hear that it takes me months and months and draft after draft to write a story. Then, of course, there are the illustrations….

Do you do use a word tree like Rocket’s?

I do see many word walls in classrooms when I visit schools. I don’t have a word tree per se. Generally, I write ideas down on paper or type them into my phone or computer. Sometimes I send them in emails to myself. Then I gather those ideas and sift through them. Some make it into a story right away, some not for years or ever. It’s smart to write them down somewhere though.

I know you studied art and writing in college. Which one comes easier to you?

As a kid, I loved to draw and paint and make things. I also spent time writing or imagining stories, but the art came more easily. It was just simpler and more immediate to sit down and draw a picture or make a clay sculpture than write a story. I think it’s still that way for me. It’s hard to come up with a story and details and then fit them all together.

Prior to Duck & Goose (Random, 2006), you created books without narrative. How did you make the transition?

Yes, Duck & Goose was my first book with a narrative. My wife Lee Wade and Anne Schwartz, her friend and colleague, had encouraged me to write a kids book long before they started Schwartz & Wade Books. I had wanted to write a story for a long time and had thought about plots and characters and details. I started writing three distinctly different stories. Duck and Goose is the one that took shape. The hardest part was sitting down and just writing.

I know you come from an artistic household, but was it something you had always wanted to do?

I never set out to be a children’s book author or illustrator. I always loved making art and writing but wanted to be an actor. I started illustrating novelty books for Lee who was running Simon and Schuster’s children’s art dept. One thing lead to another. I guess the first time I held a copy of Duck & Goose was when I realized that if someone asked me what i did I could say “I write and illustrate children’s books.”

How involved were you in the How Rocket Learned to Read app and what do you think of ebooks?

I was involved with the building of the How Rocket Learned to Read app to a degree. I made suggestions here and there. The app was built by my brother Jonathan’s company, Domani Studios, so I had an insider’s view of the process. I also trusted that Domani would create a fantastic book app. His team worked with Random House, and they really built something special. I feel that the app introduces animation and interactivity that actually enhances the book in interesting ways. To top it off, Hope Davis, who is an amazing actress, narrates the story perfectly.

Are there plans to make Rocket Writes a Story or any other of your books into apps?

As of now, there are no plans for an app. I think it could translate nicely. Maybe someday. I am talking to a company about an enhanced ebook version of The 12 Days of Christmas, a flap book I made many years ago. If all goes well that will release this Christmas season.

What’s the real-life Rocket—and the inspiration for your books—doing these days?

Rocket just had his fifth birthday on July 18. He’ll be going to the beach soon. He loves the water and will dive off a dock of any height. He likes to chase ducks.

What else inspires you and your books?

It’s hard to know where inspiration comes from. You never know when that whiff of feathers and pine needles will hit you. But when it does, it can set off an imagination explosion. Like Rocket, I have a tough time getting started. I often feel like growling when things are not going well but when the writing flows, when I feel like I’m sharing the space with my characters and I can sit and listen to the characters’ conversations in my head, I—in my own way—wag my tail like Rocket does.

What role did libraries play in your life growing up and do your kids like the library?

I spent many hours in a library near the town where I grew up. A family friend, Phyllis Lindsay, was the librarian there. She had a passion for books and kids and loved finding just the right book for each reader. Over the years my kids have spent much time in their school library. Their school has a very active library scene and getting to go to the library is a very exciting and special time for the kids.

I think that the Rocket books have resonated with librarians because these books are, in a way, about the power of books and stories and words. When a librarian thanks you for writing a book you take it to heart.

You’ve said that your kids influence your work and that you watch and listen to them and their friends. Are there any plans to write a chapter book or a children’s novel?

For a while, I’ve been working on a chapter book about Franny and George, a couple of ducks who live in a little wooden house with a family (and a dog). The dad in the family writes children’s books about the two ducks. Over the years, my kids and their friends have given me a lot of material and you can be sure that they, in various ways, will be represented in this story.

Tell us what you’re working on now?

I just finished another Duck & Goose board book, Goose Needs a Hug, which will come out in December. I’m always thinking about what Duck & Goose and Rocket will do next. No specifics to report yet, though.

We’ve been talking to the great authors who will be part of our SummerTeen virtual event on August 9. Read on if you missed a few or just want to review as you get prepped for this summer author-palooza! Registration is still open.

• Cecil Castellucci
• Gareth Hinds
• Earl Sewell
• A.S. King
• Johan Harstad
• Barry Lyga
• Sean Michael Wilson
• Peter Hautman
• Karen Healey

Castellucci, whose works include Boy Proof, The Plain Janes, and First Day on Earth, is a guest speaker at SLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your teens to hear Castellucci’s speak on the “Alternate Formats: New Approaches to Teen Fiction” panel from 1: pm.-2:00 p.m. Registration is still open.

What’s one of the most moving things you’ve heard someone say about your work?

CC: Well, with Boy Proof, once I got an email from a girl saying that it was the first present that her mom had ever gotten right. They read it together, and she said that they talked for the first time in two years over breakfast discussing it. That really moved me. With the Plain Janes, a lot of girls write me to tell me that they did art attacks or noticed street art and are now pursuing art in college. I’m all about everybody becoming an artiste of some kind-amateur or professional-so that thrills me to bits.

What do you like best about writing for a YA audience?

CC: I like best that teens like what they like and don’t like what they don’t like. They cut right to it. They don’t like things that don’t ring true. So, for me, as an author it means that there is a no fluff kind of approach. Tell the truth. Tell the story. And either a kid will like it or hate it, because either it’s for them or not. Also, I adore the fact that a lot of times it’s the first time that they are processing sophisticated ideas, and I love how excited they get about that.

How did you end up writing for your specific genre?

CC: I always wanted to write YA, so I was always aiming for here, rather than ending up here. I fell in love with stories as a teen-books, movies, comics-and so that always seemed like the best people to write for.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

CC: Librarians are one of the master keys to getting the word out about books. They know their kids. They know how to read a kid. And because librarians are so knowledgeable, they can get the right book into the right kids’ hands. I know for me, as someone who writes about outsiders, that is very important. My books are the perfect book for a particular kind of teen, and, of course, rip roaring fun for every one else.

Do you ever worry about your work being censored?

CC: I don’t worry about that because worrying about that is the death of art. It is our job as artists to follow the story wherever it wants to go. We must write with no fear.

What are you working on now?

CC: I’m working on a book called The Tin Star. It is book one of my new sci-fi duet (two book series), and it takes place on a space station and has lots of aliens in it.

Pete Hautman

Hautman, who lives in Minnesota, is a guest speaker at SLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your teens to hear Hautman speak on the “Science in Science Fiction” panel from 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Registration is still open.

We spoke to Hautman about how he accidentally fell into writing YA, why he thinks librarians are indispensible, and why it’s OK to offend his readers.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

PH: They are the reason I can do the work I do. My books are not what you would call “highly commercial” (to my regret!), and if not for librarians and teachers, very few teens would discover my books. In other words, indispensible.

What’s one of the most moving things a teen has said about your books?

PH: “Until I read your books, I never knew there were other people out there who thought like me.”

How’d you make the transition from writing for adults to writing for teens?

PH: My first several novels were written for adults. I began writing for teens by accident-I wrote a time-travel novel that covered about 70 years in a man’s life-and it turned out that the most interesting part of the book was about things that happened to him when he was a teen. The teen character came to dominate the story, and when I tried to get it published, I was told that I had written a YA novel. “What is why aye?” I said. Once that book (Mr. Was [S & S, 1996]) was published, I started remembering what a magical and revelatory thing it was to read books as a teen. I thought it would be fun to write a few more. Turns out, I’m writing a lot more.

What do you like best about writing for young adults?

PH: The audience. Teens are far more open-minded readers than your average adult. I love writing for readers who, when I take an unexpected left, lean into the turn just to see where it will go.

Do you ever worry about your works being censored or challenged?

PH: I think about it, but I don’t worry about it. I write what I want to write with the understanding that it won’t be embraced by everyone. In fact, if I ever write a book that offends no one, I will think I have failed. Any good book, in my opinion, should challenge the reader. Why should I be offended when some readers fight back?

What are you working on now?

PH: I am working on the “Klaatu Diskos” time-travel trilogy. The first book, The Obsidian Blade, came out last spring. The second book, The Cydonian Pyramid, is coming next April. The third (untitled) book will be published spring, 2014. That is, assuming I finish it on time!

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

Earl Sewell

A.S. King

Johan Harstad

Barry Lyga

Sean Michael Wilson

Karen Healey

Now an award-winning YA novelist, Healey wrote Guardian of the Dead (2010) and The Shattering (2011, Little, Brown), both urban fantasies set in New Zealand. Guardian of the Dead won the 2010 Aurealis Award for Best YA Novel and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award. She’s now working on the forthcoming When We Wake.

Healey is a guest speaker at SLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your teens to hear Healey speak on the “Aftermath Lit” panel from 3:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m. Registration is still open.

Moderator Angela Carstensen, the head librarian at Convent of the Sacred in New York, says she plans to discuss the popularity of dystopian themes with teens beyond The Hunger Games, as well as the crossover from writing for adults to teens.

What’s one of the most touching things you’ve heard from someone about your books?

“Thank you for writing someone like me”.

Including an asexual teenager in Guardian of the Dead wasn’t a particularly momentous decision for me. I just thought, “Well, why not?” I did some research and talked to some asexual friends, and that was pretty much it. But a lot of asexual teenagers and adults found the inclusion of Kevin a huge relief-just the acknowledgement that asexuality existed was really satisfying for many of them.

Some asexual readers were less pleased with his portrayal, and that’s an entirely valid reaction. I’m very sorry that I failed those readers as a writer. But I do treasure those emails and comments from readers who were happy to see someone like them.

How’d you end up writing urban fantasies?

Although my books are classed as urban fantasy (Guardian of the Dead, The Shattering) and near-future dystopia (the forthcoming When We Wake), I am basically a cross-genre nerd, which is another great thing about YA-readers tend to be much more accepting of works where it’s an urban fantasy and a crime thriller and a horror and a romance. I read voraciously across a number of genres, so it’s lovely to be able to pull inspiration from all of them.

What do you like best about being a YA author?

Teenage-and and adult!-YA readers tend to get very involved in their reading. They review, they make fan products, they passionately debate nuance and analyze the text. I love it. To me, discussing a book is just as much fun as reading it, and it’s so great to see so many young people delve into their favorite-and sometimes less favorite-works.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

Librarians are priceless. Librarians have pushed my books into the hands of readers, and asked me to come and speak at their schools, and nominated my work for awards, and written thoughtful, thought-provoking reviews, and invited me to nice lunches-and basically they are just great. Sometimes I get an email saying, “I got your book at the library because I couldn’t buy it, sorry,” and I’m like, “Are you kidding, that’s the best, support your libraries!”

Do you ever worry about your work being censored or challenged?

Not really? Granted, I don’t publish in the U.S. exclusively, where I understand it’s more of a concern. But I think censorship and book challenges are the worst possible ways to respond to content and ideas that you find unpleasant or objectionable. Well, second worst, next to book burnings. I regard the people who employ challenges as bludgeons against librarians, schools, and authors with complete scorn, and if I caught myself thinking, “Well, I’d better not write that because the book banners might not like it”, I’d be ashamed. Why would I want to make those people happy?

What are you working on now?

A sequel to When We Wake, my forthcoming dystopia following the adventures of Tegan Oglietti, who dies in Melbourne 2027 and wakes up 100 years later into a very different world. This is my very first sequel, I’m so proud! There are gunfights, daring escapes, perilous stakes, fraught ethics, and of course, lots of making out.

Currently, the book has the Internet working title, Cheerbaby Goes to State.

After I wrote two books, which had several title changes between the first draft and final publications, I started giving manuscripts Internet working titles for the purpose of talking about them online. The first was Mysterious New Novel, which was the working title for When We Wake, which never had a single title change. But I’m pretty sure this one will!

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

Earl Sewell

A.S. King

Johan Harstad

Barry Lyga

Currently working on books for the Tokyo publisher Kodansha, SLJ caught up with Wilson, who is a guest speaker at SLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your teens to hear Wilson speak on the “Classic Twists” panel from 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Registration is still open.

Tell us about the kinds of comics and graphic novels you create?

SMW: I work in three or four genres within the general art form of the comic book or graphic novel. Adaptation of classics and historical work, manga, biography and documentary books are what most of my books have been. I can understand why librarians are more prone to classification, but in my mind I don’t make much distinction between the various types of books I write. The key elements of what leads me to write a specific book are two in all cases: what is interesting for me to create, and what will publishers want/ask me to do? (Unfortunately, those two are not also going in the same direction in this money-dominated system we have at present!)

How does it feel to have such a strong teen fan base?

SMW: Well, my books are not just for the YA audience, but for adults in general. In both types, what we are dealing with are human emotions, social situations and relationships, ideas that engage and motivate people-basically about the human condition. YA books are about the human condition at that particular age.
Of course, one of the basic aims is to increase YA’s interest in reading. We might take it a step further and say what is the point of reading, what advantages does it bring? I’ve been reflecting on [author and media theorist] Neil Postman’s point that reading helps encourage logical thinking, analysis, and a feeling that the world has some pattern, and that our current lives take place within a continuity. He contrasts that to television, which encourages a short-term memory type processing, the visual, the instantaneous, thinking that’s divorced from building patterns of connection. These are perhaps less desirable. So, graphic novels with the mixture of both visuals and text are one good way of bridging between these two ways of thinking.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

SMW: Very important, libraries and librarians are crucial, and getting even more so recently with graphic novels. In fact right now a good example of that is happening. My Wuthering Heights book has been shortlisted in the Stan Lee Excelsior Awards, which is an exciting new
award scheme where readers aged 11-16 choose the winner from eight shortlisted books held in their school library. In the process they, of course, read the eight books, and give some considered opinion on the merits of each—a good way for libraries to encourage reading and analytical thinking. This is organized by the libraries of around 170 schools in the UK.

What’s one of the most moving things you’ve heard about your work?

SMW: I was giving a lecture about my books in a college, and a teacher was there with her 14 year old daughter. She told me that so far she had not let her daughter read comics/graphic novels, as she had thought they would be detrimental to her reading development. But that after
listening to my talk, she had changed her mind and intended to buy my book for herself and her daughter. So, I managed to bring over both an adult reader and a younger reader-success!

Ever worry about your work being censored or challenged?

SMW: Censored no, challenged yes. I don’t think any publishers I’ve worked with so far have said ‘Don’t do that.’ The challenges often come from critics and often rather narrow minded and ill-informed ones at that. I do often get upset when a critic makes some point that seems totally inaccurate to me, and based on not having thought about the book enough or just mouthing off their own prejudices. People tell me I need to be more ‘thick skinned’ about it. But sometimes a point raised can make me reflect on how I write or what I write and lead me to try to do better next time.

What can you tell us about the books you’re working on now?

SMW: I’m working on a 150-page historical manga book with Kodansha, my first Japanese/English bilingual book. It’s exciting to have this bilingual version. Also a documentary-style comic book called ‘Parecomic’, with Seven Stories Press in NY. We’ve almost finished
that one now, a 200-page book with an introduction by Noam Chomsky. I’m also doing some library based use of comics to promote literacy with the ‘Upside Comics’ group in the UK:

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

Earl Sewell

A.S. King

Johan Harstad

Barry Lyga

Fanboy and Goth Girl received two starred reviews and made the School Library Journal‘s 2006 Best Books list. Lyga is the author many books in different genres, including, Boy Toy (2007), Hero-Type (2008), Goth Girl Rising (2009) and Mangaman (2011, all Houghton Harcourt), and is currently hard at work on the sequel to his thriller, I Hunt Killers(Little, Brown, 2012).

Lyga, who lives in New York City, is a guest speaker at SLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your teens to hear Lyga speak on the “Alternate Formats: New Approaches to Teen Fiction” panel from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration is still open.

SLJ spoke to Lyga about what how he started writing for teens, his view of librarians, and how his books have possibly saved lives.

What do you like best about writing for teens?

BL: The enthusiasm and passion of the audience. Teens are at an age where a good book—or just the right book at the right time—can still dramatically change their opinions, their visions of themselves and the world, and their futures. Adults are pretty much set. Very few adults radically change their lives in adulthood. But teens are still amorphous, still in progress, so a book can still set them off on an entirely different course. That’s a pretty amazing thing to contemplate. I don’t write books with the intention of changing a teen’s life, but just knowing that it’s possible is phenomenal.

So what’s one of the most moving things someone has said after reading one of your books?

BL: Quite simply, this: “I was going to kill myself, but then I read your book and decided not to.”

How’d you end up writing your first YA novel?

BL: Sheer accident. I had written a couple of adult novels that I didn’t sell and friends kept telling me that all of the characters in them acted like teenagers, even though they were intended to be adults. This made me decide to try my hand at a YA novel. I got about three pages into The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl when everything just clicked for me and I knew that this was what I was supposed to be writing all along.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

BL: Enormously so! I write for an audience that doesn’t always have a great deal of disposable income, so the ability to read my books for free at the library is a gigantic benefit. And librarians—in my experience—are the best people in the world at performing that invaluable service of noticing what a kid is reading and saying to him/her: “Hey, if you liked that, I bet you’d like this…and this…and this…”

You sometimes write about sensitive topics. Do you ever worry about your books being censored or challenged?

BL: I wouldn’t say I “worry” about it. I think about it sometimes. It crosses my mind. But it never affects the writing itself. It can’t. You can’t write a story while trying to please some invisible, unknowable army of hypocrites who will never, ever be happy with what you write in the first place. There’s just no winning that game. So you write the story you want to see out there in the world, and if someone challenges it or yanks it off a bookshelf, you go and you fight the good fight. But to write a book trying to avoid a challenge or censorship… that’s ceding your authorial voice and your very soul to the forces of, well, blatant idiocy. Who would want to do that?

What are you working on now?

BL: I’m working on the sequel to my thriller, I Hunt Killers. I’m also working on a couple of other things. I always have multiple projects on shuffle—but nothing I can talk about yet.

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

Earl Sewell

A.S. King

Johan Harstad

Harstad, who lives in Oslo, is a guest speaker atSLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your teens to hear Harstad speak on the “The Science in Science Fiction” panel from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration is still open.

SLJ spoke to the award-winning author, musician, photographer, and playwright about why he thinks librarians are “guides of literature,” his strong views on artistic freedom, and the progress of his upcoming novel for adults.

How did you end up writing for your genre?

JH: A coincidence, really, I had only written novels, short stories, and plays for adult readers and never thought I’d write a YA novel, or a commercial novel like this. Then I was contacted by a publisher who asked if I felt like giving it a shot. I had just finished a new novel for adults at the time and wanted to do something different for my next project, so the timing was perfect.

I ended up having a lot of fun writing it, not only because all the films and novels of the genre that I watched and read when I was young sort of came back to me, but also because of the freedom and the fact that I was sometimes scared while writing it, which was done mostly at night and in the early hours, looking up from my computer and seeing my own reflection in the window. Contrary to what many people think I’m not a space geek so I had to do a lot of research, which I also enjoyed immensely.

What do you like best about writing for a YA audience?

JH: Without a doubt the fact that YA readers are still young enough not to have cemented their preference in art. They are still searching for what will reflect them and their interests, and even though they may be the hardest crowd to please, they are still very much on the lookout and somewhat open to the weirdest ideas. For the youngest YA readers, I like the opportunity to do my best to scare them for life.

What’s one of the most moving things a reader has said about your books?

JH: I get my fair share of emails from teens who have read my books, not only my YA novel, but also my other work, and I’m often both extremely thankful and moved by what they write. Being told that you have changed someone’s life is quite powerful thing to hear, it makes you want to work harder, as you remember how your own life was changed by books, films, and music that made you who you are. Also, I’m sometimes surprised and touched to hear that young readers have read my YA novel “172 Hours on The Moon” and wanting to read more, they jumped directly for instance to my 500 page play about the war in Bosnia and the Genocide in Rwanda, which they apparently enjoyed even more.

More than anything, I have to say that what has moved me the most are those few people who have ended up getting tattoos with a sentence or graphic inspired by one of my books because the books mean so much to them. That is very humbling, knowing they will carry it with them for the rest of their lives. My French translator and dear friend also has one, a sentence in my handwriting from a short story collection of mine. The tattoo, running from the side of his torso all the way up to his armpit, says something like “All the time people whom you can love are being born. All the time.” Still, no one has gotten a tattoo based on my YA novel, so the spot to be no.1 is still open…

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

JH: Very valuable, indeed. Especially when it comes to the younger reader who’s searching and glad to be pointed in the right direction. I’ve met both public librarians and school librarians who have done a great job in promoting my work, so I’m very grateful to them as a group. In many bookstores around the world the people working there are not as well-read as they once were, but librarians, I think, still read a lot. And therefore they are able to be guides of literature. I remember my high school librarian who probably felt she was fighting a lost war to get kids to read, but she would light up whenever someone asked her for a tip. Then it was always worth it. That one kid. She had read everything, it seemed. And for more than 10 years after I finished high school, she kept promoting my books on a special display in the school library.

Do you ever worry about your books being censored or challenged?

JH: If you’re talking about political censorship or any form of censorship that threatens the release of a book, I’d have to answer theoretically as that has never been an issue. Partly because my writing isn’t particularly controversial, partly because I check my facts thoroughly when writing about potentially controversial subjects and partly because there’s very little you can’t get away with-in Norway at least. What happens to my works when they are being translated to languages I don’t speak by translators I don’t communicate with is a different thing, of course. But I don’t spend energy worrying about things that I have no ability to control. The bottom line is that I write as freely as I possibly can and am always ready to stand up for the text if needed. In general, I strongly believe in importance of artistic freedom to explore whatever feels necessary, as long as it tries to say something about us and who we are. And I have great respect for some of those artists who have put their whole lives on the line to create something that makes us all better. Or tried to, anyway.

What are you working on now?

JH: I’m working on a new novel for adults, which may come out in Norway sometime next year. If all goes well. I don’t really want to say very much about it other than that I’m in the middle of it, which is both the best and the worst place to be. Parts of it will be set in the US during the 90′s. But the characters are Norwegians. Well, most of them. It’s a novel I’ve wanted to write for years, and now I’m finally ready to do it.

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

Earl Sewell

A.S. King

King is just one of the 21 blockbuster authors scheduled to speak at SLJ‘s August 9 online event, SummerTeen: A Celebration of Young Adult Books. If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your students to hear King speak on the “Rockin’ Women of YA” panel from 3:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m. Betsy Bird, a youth materials specialist for the New York Public Library system and an SLJ blogger, will moderate the session.

We spoke to King about why librarians are her heroes, what it’s like writing for teens, and what she’s working on now.

What do you like best about writing for a YA audience?

King: While I’m writing, I don’t think about the age of my audience. That said, I really enjoy visiting readers in their schools, libraries, and communities and talking very frankly about issues that are facing them in everyday life. I especially love widening this conversation to all age groups, especially adults, because so often they are left out of the conversation and end up somewhat out of touch with teenagers.

How did you end up writing for your genre?

King: I have absolutely no idea. My books have been nominated for awards in many categories: mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary/literary. I guess I don’t really have a specific genre.

What’s one of the most moving things someone has said to you after reading one of your books?

King: In the months that have passed since releasing Everybody Sees the Ants, I have heard more than once from both librarians and teens that the book “changed their life.” That’s pretty awesome.

I [recently went on] Twitter and found this comment: “A book that changed me forever, Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King.” That is worth more than heavy chain store backing and all the money in the world.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

King: Librarians are pretty much my heroes in this respect. I am not a commercial author-meaning my books do not get top billing at chain stores and on the big online sites. I seem to fit more into libraries and schools and because of this, librarians and teachers are my closest career allies.

Do you ever worry about your books being censored or challenged?

King: I do not worry about this. It doesn’t affect how I write at all. As a library trustee who has had to field one very small challenge at our branch, I feel very strongly about a board who would limit the reading material of all their patrons based on the complaints of few. So, my only ‘worry’ in the case of a book of mine being challenged would be for the patrons or students in a library where the professional/s entrusted with the job of collection management could be overruled by people who did not have library science experience.

What are you working on now?

King: I am editing my 2013 book, Reality Boy, and I am writing the first draft of my potential 2014 book, co-authoring an adult book, and getting ready to write the first draft of the potential 2015 book by the end of the year.

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

Earl Sewell

If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your students to hear Sewell speak on the “Who Will Mend This Broken Heart” panel from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. EST.

Moderator Terri Clark, who’s also a librarian and author, says the panel—which also includes Katie Kacvinsky, Miranda Kenneally, and Lurlene McDaniel—will cover a range of romance titles, from realistic and light or realistic and dark to paranormal romcoms.

“The beauty of romance/relationship novels is that they never go out of style,” Clark says. “There is always a desire for R&R stories among teens. Especially love stories. Teens want to experience the first blush of romantic love, whether it’s something they’ve experienced themselves or have only imagined and yearned for.”

SummerTeen takes place August 9 between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. EST and includes an impressive lineup of the hottest names in YA lit—including Barry Lyga, Garth Nix, A.S. King, and Maggie Stiefvater—all talking about a range of topics that school and youth services librarians care about.

Keep an eye out for more of these interviews with SummerTeen authors in the days and weeks ahead.

How did you end up writing about teen relationships and romance?

Sewell: Good question. When I was a teenager, I specifically remember going to both my high school and my community library in search of books with contemporary storylines I could relate to. Unfortunately, not much was available. I made a boyhood promise to myself, that if I became an author, I would write books that kids like me would enjoy. When an opportunity to write in this genre came my way, I immediately knew the type of story I wanted to write. I suppose the answer to the question would be, I always knew I’d write young adult books, and when the opportunity arrived, I was ready.

What do you like best about writing for a YA audience?

Sewell: I love the feedback I receive from teen readers. I constantly get emails from readers expressing how much they love the series and its characters. Readers always want to know when I’ll be finished with the next installment. I can’t seem to write the novels fast enough for them.

What kind of feedback do you get from teens and librarians about your work?

Sewell: I’ve been told on more than one occasion by various librarians that teen patrons love my books-and that they’re always checked out.

How valuable are librarians in getting the word out about your work?

Sewell: As a college student, I worked for the Palatine Public Library [in Illinois] and saw firsthand how much patrons appreciated good recommendations by librarians. Without the support of librarians, teens would not know about my work. I am eternally thankful to all of the librarians who decided to order not only my titles, but other Kimani Tru titles. The fact that my titles are always checked out not only lets a librarian know they’ve made a good purchase choice, but they’re also inspiring young people to read.

What are you working on now?

Sewell: I’m working on the next book in my “Keysha and Friends” series called, Way Too Much Drama.

Other SLJ SummerTeen Interviews:

Gareth Hinds

SummerTeen, which takes place between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., includes an impressive lineup of the hottest names in YA lit—including Barry Lyga, Garth Nix, A.S. King, and Maggie Stiefvater—all talking about a range of topics that school and youth services librarians care about.

If you’ve signed up for SummerTeen, make sure to gather your students to hear Hinds speak on the “Classic Twists” panel from 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

Make sure to keep an eye out for more of these brief interviews in the days and weeks ahead.

What do you like best about writing for a YA audience?

Hinds: I don’t write for one particular audience, I just try to share what I love about the classics, and it turns out that middle and high school students are a great audience for my books, because they can use some help understanding what’s so great about these (rather intimidating) works.

How did you end up writing graphic novels?

Hinds: I came to graphic novels as an illustrator, wanting to tell stories with pictures. I wanted to tell the best possible stories, and I didn’t feel like my original writing was that great, so I decided to start by adapting some of the greatest stories ever written.

What’s one of the most moving things you’ve heard from a reader?

Hinds: This actually came from a teacher, but it was about one of her teen students, a young man who was apparently in a pretty bad place, getting involved with gang violence. She gave him my Beowulf and he really got excited about it, looked up my website. When he found out that I use computers to make some of the art, and that I worked in video games, he got really interested in computer graphics, and turned all his energy to that, and I guess it really pulled him out of that situation. I love my job anyway, but hearing that kind of thing makes me feel like I’m actually contributing something.

Do you ever worry about your being censored or challenged, and how does it affect your work?

Hinds: I don’t really have to worry about the content of canonical literary works being challenged, but I do have to be conscious about how I draw certain things, especially nudity. There are various scenes in The Odyssey, for instance, where I covered up the characters a bit more than Homer probably envisioned, and in the bedroom scene the morning after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding night, I have her wearing a nightgown, which maybe wouldn’t have been my first choice. But I have to ask myself whether these changes actually interfere with the story in any way, and if the answer is no then I make them, so that teachers won’t be afraid to use my books with their students. I want to make their job easier, not harder.

How valuable are librarians at getting the word out about your work?

Hinds: Librarians are fantastic. I have no way to quantify it, but whenever I chat with librarians at a trade show or an event, they are always fun, smart, awesome people, and are always excited about sharing my books.

What are you working on now?

Hinds: Romeo and Juliet will be out next year. At the moment I’m taking a short break from Shakespeare to work on scripts for a couple of original projects.

Read other SLJ SummerTeen interviews:

Earl Sewell

Tell us about a little more about Unstoppable, which comes out in September.

Based on real life, Harrison’s story is as inspiring and uplifting as anything I could imagine. The main character begins his life in a series of inhospitable—actually brutal—foster homes. When he finally finds a home where he’s truly loved, he also discovers an unusual gift for running the football. He’s soon the sensation of his small home town, scoring dozens of touchdowns and known for being literally unstoppable. Harrison’s salvation seems to come to an abrupt end when he’s diagnosed with cancer, but with the help and love from his family, friends, and a wounded warrior, he comes to understand that being unstoppable off the field is even more valuable than being unstoppable on it.

Who is Harrison based on?

Yes, I set out to find a 12-year-old boy who had gone through the same struggles my wife had—operations, chemotherapy, and rigorous physical rehabilitation—in order to fashion my main character around that kind of personal story. Through some friends my wife met in her own treatment, I found Jeff Keith. I’ve never met a more extraordinary person, and his story was exactly what I was looking for.

How has your wife’s cancer inspired this book?

As an author, especially in my stories for younger readers, I’m constantly looking for heroes to model my characters after. I think it’s important for kids to have heroes, and many people find them in sports. Stories of athletes with great fortitude and determination are common in sports. In football, mental and physical toughness are at a premium. Yet, when I watched my own wife’s toughness and determination to overcome cancer several years ago, I felt I’d seen the human spirit rise to a level I’d never seen before, even in the NFL. I wanted to capture that unstoppable spirit in the story.

Will a portion of the proceeds from your book be donation to charity?

Yes, 30 percent of the books’ royalties will go to Jeff Keith’s newest foundation, Center for Survivorship. While he’s raised many millions of dollars for cancer research and treatment, Jeff recently shifted his focus to helping survivors overcome the serious and often crippling effects—both mental and physical—of their cancer treatments. Jeff really helped me make this book happen. Now I want to help him help others as well.

Do you have Skype sessions with schools?

I do Skype with schools, and people can sign up for that at my website. I usually like to make sure the schools are buying some of my books for their kids so we have more to talk about, but I do make some exceptions. I find that when the kids have all read one or more story, they love being able to pick my brain about characters and where my ideas came from. Personally, it’s a pure joy for me to talk to kids about those in-depth things. Most of my school presentations address the broader issues about importance of character and education and how reading is exercise to make you better at both (I call it weight lifting for the brain), and how books should be entertainment. The Skype sessions tend to be smaller and a bit more intimate, like a friendly discussion over a milkshake.

The characters in your books have heroic qualities. Who are your real-life heroes?

My real-life heroes are the men and women who protect and have protected and died for our country, those who teach and coach our children unselfishly, and my wife.

In your 1997 memoir, A Man and His Mother (HarperCollins, 1997), you write about the search for your biological mother. Do you support the bill under consideration in New York State that would allow for more open records for adoptees?

I think adoption records should be opened, but the information should come with a warning, maybe even some education. I believe everyone has a right to know his or her origins, health history, and family circumstances. However, people shouldn’t take that search lightly. Once the box is opened, you can’t put things back, and the endings aren’t always happy ones. Even in A Man and His Mother I was confronted with a terrifying ending that I thought was my own. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case, but that very unfortunate woman, and the son she bore who is out there and unknowing, are camped on the lid of a nightmare reality. I’d also like to say that the book is finally available again as an ebook at my website if people are interested.

What sports books do you remember reading as a kid?

It’s funny, but I didn’t read a lot of sports books as a kid. I read action, adventure, horror, and sci-fi and that’s why I think my books tend to have such a broad appeal. I get librarians, teachers, and kids who have no interest in sports email me in amazement and say, “This isn’t just a sports book, it’s a great story!” As a kid, that’s all I was after, a story that would take me away to another time and place. I didn’t care if it was Mars, the Wild West, a medieval castle, or a football locker room.

You’re a former NFLer, a practicing lawyer, and a writer. Which do you enjoy the most?

My childhood dreams were to be an NFL player and a writer. I really couldn’t choose between the two, and know I’ve been wildly lucky to have been able to experience both. The NFL is a more intense experience, the highs are higher than the sky and the lows are staggering. Writing isn’t as intense, but the gratification I get—especially when I hear from a young person who became a reader because of one of my books—is much more enduring. It’s the difference between an adrenaline rush and a nice warm bath on a winter’s evening.

What are you working on now?

I am writing the sixth book in the “Football Genius” series. I didn’t plan on doing another, but, honestly, I get so many letters and emails begging for me to continue with Troy, Ty, and Tate, that I couldn’t think of a better next project.

Photograph by David Ho

Your novel Code Name Verity begins after a British plane piloted by Maddie crashes into Nazi-occupied France. It’s tough to talk about the story without giving too much away.

When I’m trying to sell it to people who know nothing about it, I just say, “It’s a spies-and-pilots thriller. It’s about the Air Transport Auxiliary and women who worked as pilots and spies in this little-known world of the Special Operations Executive. It’s about a friendship between these two women.” But I really don’t go into detail. I may tell them that they’re going to need a box of Kleenex.

After Queenie, a spy for the French Resistance and Maddie’s best friend, bails out of the burning plane, we slowly find out more about their past as her captors torture her to confess. Was it emotionally draining to write the story?

I took out shares in Kleenex. I have never cried so much over a book that I’ve read or that I’ve written. Even though I knew what was going to happen, every time I’d write a particular scene it would hit me as though it were the first time I knew about it. Then when it was over, just anything could set me off. You know, mentions of songs in the book. I went to one of my kids’ band concerts, and they had this jazz band that was playing “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and I burst into tears. And I’d look at a picture of the Eiffel Tower, and I’d burst into tears. I was really very emotionally traumatized by writing it.

Did being a pilot yourself help the story?

I couldn’t have written the story if I hadn’t become a pilot. I don’t know if I’d have had the inspiration. I certainly wouldn’t have had the knowledge. And I really enjoy sticking in little bits of my own experience. When Queenie describes Maddie’s flight in Scotland, where she’s looking at the snow-covered Highlands and it’s snowing in the cockpit, that’s actually a pretty straightforward description of many of my own flights.

What else did you sneak in?

I sneaked in a lot of personal stuff, but a really good example is the slimy Resistance guy.

You mean Paul, the letch with the roving hands whom you’ve graciously given some heroic qualities?

Yeah. He is a conglomeration of all the passes that have ever been made at me. Every slimy thing he does to Maddie has been done to me.

Maddie and Queenie exchange a list of their biggest fears. What are yours?

In no particular order: nuclear war, global warming, forgetting things (maybe this is why I write historical fiction, “Lest we forget”), the cat (I worry about him biting people or blinding my daughter by jumping on her head and accidentally scratching her in the eye. No, really), and the Yellow Bolt. That’s how my grandmother refers to a lightning strike that came in her bedroom window and exploded an electric fan standing at the foot of her bed. It’s a catchall term I use for the Big Disaster that hasn’t happened, but is lurking around the corner.

Does your novel have a message for readers?

The message is that if you are a girl, you can do anything. I really didn’t want my female characters to feel stopped by the fact that they were female. I wanted them to be able to control their lives, to do what they were good at, and what they wanted to do regardless of what society’s expectations were. I think that’s a good message for modern girls, as well, and that they need reminding about.

S.E. Hinton became a household name in the 1960s when she wrote The Outsiders (Viking, 1967) as a sophomore at Oklahoma’s Will Rogers High School. Many believe the book—based on two rival gangs at her school and made into a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983—helped usher in a new era of YA fiction.

SLJ spoke to Hinton about the 45th anniversary of her most popular novel, experience with writer’s block, and her most recent fascination with Twitter.

What are some of the highs and lows in your 45 years of writing?

The low was the four-year writer’s block after The Outsiders came out. I had never had it before, and I never had it since. I have had people say that there’s no such thing. Yeah, there is such a thing. I had had times where I couldn’t think of anything to say, didn’t want to say anything, didn’t feel like writing. After the publication of The Outsiders, it was the first and only time I experienced a block, and it was extremely depressing.

What about a high point?

Every once in a while when you get a really good buzz going on about a book, and you can actually feel yourself getting hot inside. I have had the high, the writing high. Probably that’s what keeps you going. I’ll get it again, sometime.

What are some of your early memories as a writer?

I almost can’t remember when I wasn’t a writer. I started writing as soon as I learned how to read. The biggest influence in my writing has been my reading. As soon as I could read stories, I wanted to make them happen the way I wanted it. So my early memories include writing, and storytelling has always been part of my life.

In a 2005 interview with the New York Times, you said that as a teen you’d tell yourself, “It gets better.” Are you aware that Dan Savage has an anti-bullying project called It Gets Better?

Well, I wasn’t necessarily talking about getting bullied. I was talking about myself. Being a teenager is difficult enough—but it does get better. If it doesn’t get better, you’ll be better able to cope with it. So that’s still the message. It is a rough time of life. The message is the same: it will get better.

Is there any truth to the story that a petition led to the The Outsiders being made into a movie?

Yes, a school in California sent a petition to Francis Ford Coppola. It said that they thought he was a great director, and they wanted this book to be a movie. That’s how he got interested in it.

Several of your books have been made into films. Which is your favorite?

Well, I loved Tex (Delacorte, 1979). It was my first book to be made into a film. I really think it captures the spirit of the book. I also love The Outsiders because Francis (Ford Coppola) was really making it for the readers. It’s best to make a film so that readers will like it. Rumble Fish (Delacorte, 1975) is my favorite film adaptation [because] it goes beyond the novel. I say a lot in the book. It’s the easiest book to read, but the hardest one to understand. Francis understood it. He made the film for himself. I think every artist’s best work is done for themselves. Rumble Fish is my favorite.

You were on the movie sets when The Outsiders, Tex, Rumble Fish, and That Was Then… This Is Now were made into films. Are you are still in contact with some of the actors who starred in them, like Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, and Tom Cruise?

I’m still in close contact with all of the stars from The Outsiders because I knew them when they were kids—not when they were stars.

The Outsiders 40th Anniversary edition with the original cover

Have you ever attended a Will Rogers High School class reunion?

I went back for the 20th reunion, and it was really nice. Just recently, I went back to my 45th reunion. It was depressing—just a bunch of old people.

Were people still in cliques?

Not so much. It wears off as you get older. You realize that everyone has gone through their own personal things, and you don’t judge people as harshly as you once did.

You’ve been a teen and a parent. Which is harder?

For me being a teen was harder. As a parent, you’re just totally immersed in somebody else. I was lucky enough to have a kid who was so easy and fun until he hit 14. Then the light switch turned on, and he was totally hostile. It hurt, but in a way I could understand. It was a necessary part of growing up. I didn’t get the world when I was a teenager. I thought it was a very difficult time.

What are you working on these days?

I have several things going on. I’m eternally wasting my time on Twitter. I’m also in the middle of a very superficial comedic supernatural thriller thing that I would like to finish. Also, I’m going to be working on webisodes in conjunction with the University of Tulsa film students based on my short stories.

Does Twitter help you connect with readers?

My Twitter handle is @se4realhinton. I like interacting on it with my fans because it’s so short and interactive. But, I’m on there like every other idiot who’s on Twitter, just to say nonsense. I enjoy just being myself. I’m not there to make pronouncements or to give advice or anything else. It’s fun. I find it relaxing.

In the spirit of Twitter give me a six-word memoir?

Child, writer, teen, friend, wife, mother.

Readers follow the experience of Natalie and her younger brother, Hunter, as they learn to cope with missing their dad and find comfort in the kindness of their teachers, neighbors, and entire community. Biden will donate all of the book’s proceeds to charities that support military families and children.

Your picture book addresses a subject that many of young children don’t read about.

A lot of American families really don’t know a military family, so they wouldn’t understand the experience. As a teacher, I thought one of the best ways to educate both adults and children would be through a children’s book because the adult would read it to them and the children would learn about it. Hopefully they will be inspired to say, “You know, I want to help a military family. I wonder what I can do?” That’s why I added the backgrounder to offer suggestions that children, parents, adults, and educators can use and to inspire all Americans to do an act of kindness for a military family.

You say 1.3 million school age kids have a parent in the military. What are some things we can do to help these families?

All I can say is go to your strengths. So for instance, your children’s school could adopt a unit and send letters. Mine is a National Guard family, so if there’s someone in your community or in your school [with a parent in the National Guard], you can send over pizza. One of the most heartwarming things that Beau’s friends did was during a snowstorm. He went over and shoveled the driveway for Hallie, my daughter-in-law. He never said a word. He just did it. Bake a tin of cookies, and take it over and say, “We know you’re going through a tough time.” If you see a service member in an airport, buy them coffee. If you do something with your own kids, then they’ll start to think about it. And that’s what I’m trying to do—get in our culture. These military families are protecting our country, so people should naturally think to help military families.

What’s the most touching thing someone did for you during Beau’s absence?

One of the most comforting things to me was when complete strangers would come up to me and tell me that they were praying for my son. I think that really touched my heart. The hardest times were his birthday or when I packed his Christmas stocking, and I packed all his favorite things. We always have Christmas Eve dinner at our house—where there are about 25 Bidens—and looking down at the table and not seeing him there was hard. Election night was tough because we were so happy, but we had [Beau] on Skype. We walked out with the laptop and took it as far as we could as we walked onto the stage because we wanted him to be there and be a part of it.

Tell us about the national initiative Joining Forces, which you and First Lady Michelle Obama started to encourage Americans to support military families.

When Michelle and I were both out campaigning, we met so many military families. We decided that we needed to raise awareness and inform Americans about the military and show them just how strong and resilient they are. We expanded that into all kinds of things. For instance, our administration came up with a tax credit for hiring veterans, because as you know, many of these soldiers come back with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). We’re trying to get into schools. Teachers’ colleges have committed to putting it into their curriculum, and doctors and nurses have tried to get the word out about PTSD and to talk to families about it. So, I think it’s really spreading into so many areas. There are many ways that we’re trying to help military families because it’s our sacred obligation to take care of them. We’ve ended the war in Iraq, and we’re going to end the war in Afghanistan, but these problems are going to exist for years to come.

Did you intentionally avoid the subject of death?

Yes, even though death is realistic, I didn’t want this book to [address] that. I just wanted to raise awareness and what people could do. I wanted to educate and inspire. Those were the two goals I had. As a teacher, I felt it was important to teach the children. And I’m really hoping that this gets into the classrooms and into the school libraries so that children learn about this at an early age-and it creates an awareness at an early age. Natalie was five, so I think it’s perfect for younger children.

What are things schools and librarians do?

I recently visited a school in Virginia where 40 percent of the kids were military families and 60 percent were not. What they did was put up a bulletin board and celebrated the families who were in the military. These children feel such a sense of pride about what their moms and dads do, so I think that school librarians can make bulletin board and put books out for kids about the military—not just around Memorial or Veteran’s Day—but throughout the year because the children in schools deal with this each and every day. When you read my book, you can sense Natalie’s anxiety about her father not being there. One of the things that Natalie’s teacher did was hang a picture of her dad’s unit so that every single day as the children walked into the classroom—especially Natalie—they would see her daddy and everyone knew that Natalie’s daddy was at war.

Beau’s absence seems to have been more difficult for Natalie rather her younger brother Hunter.

Hunter definitely had an awareness, and he missed his daddy. But he reacted like a three- or four-year-old child would. The good thing is we have Skype now, and they would Skype with their dad. So they kept up with him and they would see him. Physically seeing him was reassuring.

I heard that Natalie chose the illustrator, Raúl Colón?

Simon & Schuster offered several illustrators, and I was looking through them and I thought, “This is Natalie’s story, so I think she should be the one to pick the illustrator.” So we scanned the pictures and sent them through the computer, and she looked at them and she was the one who chose Raúl. I think it’s the best choice. I love the softness of it. I love the feeling of the book, and I think he did such a wonderful job.

What’s the most important thing you want kids to take away from this book?

I want them to really have an education about military families, what they go through, some of the stresses. Conversely, I want them to see the strengths that they possess—and their resilience. To see what they do for our country and to create an appreciation for what military families do for us.

Photo: Thomas Victor

Bradbury referred to himself as a “hybrid author,” with his works ranging from humorous and sympathetic stories to horror and mysteries. “I am completely in love with movies, and I am completely in love with theater, and I am completely in love with libraries,” he said in 2009.

Bradbury broke through in 1950 with The Martian Chronicles, and other favorites included The Illustrated Man and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

An ardent library fan, Bradbury said he wrote Fahrenheit 451 (Ballantine, 1953) on a typewriter in the basement of UCLA’s Powell Library and that his original intention in writing the book was to show his great love for books and libraries. The dystopian novel, about a future society in which books are outlawed, ranked number 69 on the American Library Association’s Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009.

Although the novel had been the subject of various interpretations, Bradbury told L.A. Weekly in 2007 that Fahrenheit 451 wasn’t a protest against censorship but about how television destroys interest in reading literature.

“Useless,” Bradbury, then 86, complained to the Los Angeles publication about the ubiquitous tube. “They stuff you with so much useless information, you feel full.” He added that his fear about television-when he first published his book 54 years ago-has been partially confirmed by its effect on the news. The book’s central character, fireman Guy Montag, begins to wonder why he’s burning books to pay for a living room featuring three wall-sized televisions, with his wife pressuring him to buy a fourth. The title, Fahrenheit 451, is stated as “the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns.”

Fahrenheit 451 has been banned because some think it contains offensive language and content. In February 1999, for instance, West Marion High School in Foxworth, MS, removed it from school reading lists after a parent complained about the use of the word “goddamn” in the novel. In September 2006, 10th-grade students at Caney Creek High School in Conroe, TX, were assigned Fahrenheit 451 to read during National Banned Book Week.

Although authors often say how much they love libraries, Bradbury was one who actually tried to do something for them. In 2008, the author blasted the proposed closing of California’s Long Beach Main Library to help balance the city’s budget, calling the plan a “heartbreak and an outrage” in an op-ed appearing in the Press Telegram. “Is Long Beach at war with the printed word and books?” Bradbury asked, further pondering “How can a major city not provide access to a civic center library?” The author praised the library staff and its friends, who he said staunchly fended off attempts to remove blacklisted books including his own Fahrenheit 451. He capped his piece by advising citizens to “tell City Hall NO to the threatened closure” and said that residents “deserve nothing less than access to a downtown library with ready access to books and programs to help them achieve their goals and aspirations.”

In a 2009 interview with the New York Times, Bradbury said, “Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

See Also:

Library Journal Q&A with Ray Bradbury

Levin, a media specialist at Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation at School District #21, is used to this kind of recognition. In 2007, she won SLJ’s Giant Step Award for providing outstanding programs and services to kids, and in 2008 she nabbed the National Endowment for Humanities Picturing America Award. Last year, she earned Arch Coal’s Golden Apple Achiever certificate.

SLJ spoke to Levin about the challenges of serving a Native American community, the importance of collaboration in her work, and whether this award gives school librarians the recognition they deserve.

You won our 2007 Giant Step Award, and now five years later, you’re the first librarian to receive the Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award. What took so long for a librarian to get recognized?

For librarians this is a collective victory. We have opened the door for recognition as educators and leaders in our contribution to the education of both youth and adults. It’s an honor to be chosen, representing the Native American community and library professionals. The state librarian here in Wyoming, Lesley Boughton, was very clear that she wanted us to break the ice and get one of our own among the honored recipients, so she threw me in there with the lions.

After 31 years as a school library media specialist, or librarian, or teacher/librarian, I think this award is not coming too soon. Our profession has been immensely flexible in attending to the needs of teaching literature, communication skills, and managing library collections. It might be hard to view us as “teachers” in the conventional sense, but now we can be part of that respected genre.

Do you think your win will elevate the status of librarians in Wyoming?

This is the hope. Librarians, like teachers, nurses, and all who serve others without personal gain as the primary motivation are used to being behind the scenes, while augmenting the lives of others. Now that the door is open, more librarians may be willing to apply for the honor.

You work in a joint public/school library that serves Native Americans on an Indian reservation. What are some of the major challenges that you’ve faced and continue to face?

Since 2003, when we opened our doors to the public, we’ve been focused on developing the habit of “visiting the library,” which had not existed on this vast reservation before. Distances are immense and transportation is a problem. Borrowing items, then returning them might not be regarded with the same cultural expectations as in non-Native communities. For example, an adult patron borrowed an expensive history book on tribal politics and social structures. As he left, he placed a baggie of dried meat on the library desk. This was understood as a gift in exchange for his keeping the book. True story. Helping with adult literacy continues to be a goal, and encouraging families to bring their youth to the library after school hours for homework or online communication are on top of our list. We are now bringing library services out to the senior centers to assist their access.

What are the most important skills you teach your students?
The most important skills are to have confidence in looking for what you want to know. Be bold in seeking information, and try to understand materials that may seem challenging. Help is at the ready with a smile! Another area of skill includes treating computers, electronic devices, books and each other with gentle hands.

How big of a role does technology play in your lessons?
Technology abounds, comprising half or more of our library lessons. Youngest students are not as apt to pursue research materials, but once they reach second grade, the amount of electronics and media we employ grows as they do.

How do you make reading and research engaging in this age of technology?
Well, we have some administrative filters preventing our students from accessing the full range of electronic technology. We hope to ameliorate these limitations as we move forward. As for reading, the contemporary bibliography of youngsters’ literature grabs the attention and passion of students with just a little book-talking push from the library staff. Getting that exact book to the right child is a victory we enjoy often every week. That takes a lot of dedicated time away from the job, but the books are of such a great quality that it’s a labor of love! Students are choosing to read more now than in years past.

Have the Common Core Standards affected what you teach kids?
Perhaps this question is better stated, “How do Common Core Standards fit into the library’s objectives?” In this version, the answer may be that librarians have adapted to bring patrons to their intellectual and artistic goals, since ancient times. No matter what the media or topics, a librarian provides instruction needed to get the patron to the information he/she seeks. Anything else would be biased on the part of the librarian, and professionally unacceptable.

Tell us about your collaboration with teachers?
Collaboration is essential! Librarians are obligated to cater our teaching units to augment classroom curricula, if we want our students to retain and use what we introduce. This is true for student success and for making library research, literary appreciation, and the excitement of discovery all relevant.

How supportive are your higher ups?
We have fabulous principals and superintendents in our school district. The school board is also very supportive. We often develop unexpected initiatives and ambitious plans to make the library a central destination. Thankfully, the administration nods in appreciation and leaves us to blast ahead! If money is short, I am able to apply for grant monies and sometimes win the grants.

What specifically about your work do you think most impressed the judges?
Lesley Boughton, Wyoming’s fabulous state librarian nominated me, with the precise intent that librarians be included as teachers in this competition. And, making the case that the school librarian’s teaching schedule is rigorous, her recommendation helped sway the judges. Previous winners serve as Arch Coal Teacher Award judges, so they may have no clue regarding the actual library activities for their students. Teachers, typically, do not accompany their pupils to library class. Perhaps the history of our library’s many awards and outreach beyond school boundaries helped tilt the scales. Native American communities represent unique situations in Wyoming, which has but one large reservation. This also brings us a little extra notice.

I read that your mother and grandmother inspired you to become a teacher. Can you tell us more?
My mother always insisted that my brother, sister, and I open our hearts to the world without prejudice. She is a remarkable woman for her progressive views, despite never completing high school. She gave us a cultural education in New York City and environs that bolstered confidence in our feeling like citizens of the world. I thank my beautiful mother for her insight! Also, I made a commitment to work happily at school every day that I wasn’t sick, when my immigrant grandmother, Mama Sue, told me how she’d always wanted to attend school but never had the chance. I am still enjoying school every day. I hope Mama Sue is smiling from her resting place.

This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.

Listen to Tao Nyeu introduce and read from Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always.

Squid and Octopus (Nyeu) ©Tao Nyeu

Tao Nyeu was unhappy in her job as a web and graphic designer for an advertising firm. Then, as she was browsing in a bookstore in the picture-book section, she realized what she wanted to do. Nyeu put together a portfolio and applied to the School of Visual Arts’s MFA program, and was on her way to becoming a children’s book author and illustrator. Nyeu talks about her lucky break and her most recent book: Squid and Octopus (Dial, June, 2012). The story stars two quirky friends whose characters and personalities are revealed over four vignettes.

Is it true that your first book, Wonder Bear (Dial, 2008), was actually your thesis for the School of Visual Arts?
That’s right. My plan was to create a children’s book with the goal of getting it published. My advisor said, “Don’t create what you think publishers want to see. This is your time to do whatever you want.”

Squid and Octopus (Nyeu) ©Tao Nyeu

Was it published right away?
Sometime during the middle of the academic year, we had a guest critic from a children’s book publishing house. I thought, “Now’s my chance to get my foot in the door.” But the art director said, “This is interesting, but it’s not quite what we’re looking for.” It made me think, “I just created the most unpublishable book ever, so I’ll just make the best art possible.” Even though it was devastating at the time, that comment helped me let go of everything and do what I wanted to do. I lucked out, Lily Malcolm [from Dial] came to our thesis show, and it was good news from then on.

Did the project change from the book that was your thesis to the book that was published as Wonder Bear?
It barely changed at all. The size was the same; we added two spreads, to fit the format, which helped the story. [Lily] has been my art director and Lauri Hornik my editor ever since.

Both Squid and Octopus and your earlier Bunny Days (Dial, 2010) contain short adventures within a longer story. Does that format come naturally to you or was it planned?
The idea of shorter stories came about through collaborating with my editor and art director. It seemed the most natural course for the characters. The development was very collaborative in that respect, and lots of fun.

In the sequence, “The Hat,” where a pair of boots floats down into the ocean, one boot to Squid and the other to Octopus, they independently arrive at the same idea about what each boot’s purpose is, despite the fact that everyone they meet suggests another use for the footwear.
These two characters can rationalize anything, so it always works out in a way. To them it’s not so much about right or wrong, but rather, “Can you make it right?” Which is what we do as people. Like them, we make up our own rules, to make sense of it all.

The message of “The Dream” is such a great one—we may not all be superheroes, but we have our own strengths and talents. Where did that come from?
That was from having watched the “X-Men” movies. Whenever I came out of the theater after watching one of these films, I always felt super lame and thought, “I can’t do anything.” Then I thought, “Well, there are other things I can do.”

Squid and Octopus (Nyeu) ©Tao Nyeu

Can you describe your process? How do you illustrate using silkscreens?
It’s sort of like a stencil process through a mesh screen. You have a stencil of an image on your screen, you pour ink over it, and push it through the screen with a squeegie onto the paper beneath it. You do that one color at a time until you build up your image. My work uses very limited color. It’s not like painting, where you can use a lot of colors—well, you could, but it would take a really long time. Every color you see is its own screen.

You can overlay the colors. The order in which they are put down—blue first versus yellow first would affect the color green you get. Black line is always last, so it goes on top.

That sounds complicated. Do you plan out the illustrations in advance?
I make mini-silkscreens of the characters and the scenery to figure out what colors I want to use, what’s the best combination, and what paper looks good. The technical things I figure out with smaller pieces, postcard size. Once I nail down my colors, it’s pretty much set. I do the sketches, and then I’ll use color pencils to make my blueprint for the finished piece.

Do you get attached to your characters? I noticed that the star of Wonder Bear seems to be the same bear as the caregiver in Bunny Days. I also noticed the bear, Mr. and Mrs. Goat, and the bunnies in Squid and Octopus. Are they in this book for you or for your readers?
It’s definitely fun for me. You come up with a character, and they go off and they’re still doing other things, but noow and again they pop in.

The one thing I learned at school is please yourself. There’s no guarantee that you can please others. I find it fun to do these sideline narratives. They begin to appear the more you doodle and make sketches. Maybe Yum Yum, [one of the characters in Squid and Octopus] will be in another story one day.

Listen to Tao Nyeu introduce and read from Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always.

TeachingBooks.net resources on this interview»»»

Jennifer M. Brown is the children’s editor for Shelf Awareness, a daily enewsletter for the publishing trade. Her website Twenty by Jenny recommends titles to help parents build their child’s library one book at a time.

I’m on my way to visit Susan Cooper on an unseasonably warm day in mid-February. As my car cruises along, about 45 minutes south of Boston, low tide reveals miles of untouched marshland. I drive across a short causeway, creep down an unpaved lane, and suddenly I’m staring at the exquisite home that Cooper built a couple of years ago. My first thought is that I’ve stumbled upon the Grey House, the setting of Cooper’s first children’s book, Over Sea, Under Stone. With its soaring cathedral ceilings and wraparound windows that frame the wetlands, the space is filled with warmth and light even on a winter’s day. It seems like the perfect place for the 77-year-old writer to conjure up some more of her magic.

In June, Cooper will receive the 2012 Margaret A. Edwards Award, an annual lifetime achievement honor sponsored by SLJ and administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association. It’s about time. Cooper’s books have beguiled young readers for more than 40 years, and the award committee singled out for praise her most popular work, “The Dark Is Rising,” an epic, five-volume fantasy series comprised of Over Sea, Under Stone (1966); The Dark Is Rising (1973); Greenwitch (1974); The Grey King (1975); and Silver on the Tree (1977, all S & S/Margaret K. McElderry Bks.). The settings are contemporary England and Wales, and Cooper draws on Celtic and Arthurian legends to portray 11-year-old Will Stanton and his friends as they struggle against the terrifying powers of darkness. The series features two of Cooper’s trademarks—beautiful writing and superb storytelling—and if you haven’t read it, be forewarned: once you start, it’s nearly impossible to put down.

Cooper was born and raised in Buckinghamshire, in southeast England. While working as a reporter and feature writer in London for The Sunday Times, in the late ’50s and early ’60s, she spent her spare time writing Over Sea, Under Stone, which quickly caught the attention of legendary American editor Margaret K. McElderry. The two became lifelong friends and worked together on the “Dark Is Rising” series and many other books. Cooper began to write screenplays in the early 1980s with actor Hume Cronyn, and the two married in 1996.

I talked to Cooper about her remarkable journey as a writer, and later, with her daughter Kate, we looked at some of McElderry’s photographs and papers. As executor of her late editor’s will, Cooper was getting ready to ship the collection to its new home at Princeton University’s Cotsen Children’s Library.

What did you like to read as a child?

Assorted folktales and myths, I think—and John Masefield’s The Box of Delights was the enchanted room that I could go into and shut the door. I read E. Nesbit and Arthur Ransome, but this was wartime, so I was driven to what was on my parents’ shelves, and that included a 20-volume set of Dickens in very small print. Bad for my eyes, but very good for my sense of story.

What did you study in college?

I went to Oxford, Somerville College, and did a degree in English language and literature. We had lectures by C. S. Lewis on Renaissance literature, and Tolkien on Beowulf—he’d always start his series with a great shout of “Hwaet!” in guttural Anglo-Saxon. The two of them managed to halt the Oxford English syllabus at 1832, so there was a huge emphasis on early works by Spenser, Chaucer, Sir Gawain, the mystery plays, Malory and all his sources, above all Shakespeare. I soaked it all up like a sponge; I didn’t miss the Victorians a bit.

Were you working on your own stories?

I was already writing short stories. I edited the university newspaper, and decided a writer could only earn a living in journalism, so I went knocking on doors on Fleet Street and was lucky enough to get a job as a reporter on The Sunday Times—initially for Ian Fleming, who had a column called “Atticus.” Ian had just started writing the James Bond books; he was tall and handsome, with sexy hooded eyes, and a long cigarette holder in which he smoked far too many cigarettes. I was scared stiff of him because he was so sophisticated, but he was lovely. So was my life as a reporter, interviewing anyone from dockers to prime ministers and stars like Gary Cooper and Cary Grant. Great training for a writer, all that variety.

I lived alone and wrote in the evenings. I wrote a heavily autobiographical novel and an agent told me I should think of it as “apprentice writing”; and although I wanted to kill him, he was absolutely right. So I wrote a futuristic adult novel called Mandrake, and after that I found that Ernest Benn, who had published the E. Nesbit books, was offering a prize of £1,000 for “a family adventure story.” I hadn’t intended to write children’s books, but since I was earning about £800 a year at the time, this sounded great.

Tell us a little about the story.

I invented three children, Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew, and put them on a train to Cornwall, where they were met by a tall uncle with gray hair, their Great-Uncle Merriman. But by chapter three the book had become a fantasy, with Merriman as a Merlin figure, so it became useless for the competition. I didn’t care, I was having such a good time with it. Everything I was soaked in starting pouring into the book—the early literature, the Arthurian legends. I called it Over Sea, Under Stone. It was published by Jonathan Cape, but by that time I was living in America.

Why did you move here?

My newspaper sent me here for four months in 1962. I met a professor of metallurgy at MIT called Nicholas Grant, 20 years older than me, and he started turning up in London. We were married in 1963, to my editor’s horror, and off I went at 28 to be the stepmother of three teenagers in Massachusetts.

Did you keep writing?

I went on writing, but mostly nonfiction—first a book about the USA, Behind the Golden Curtain, which led to the only time I shall ever have my picture in Time magazine. They hated the book. Then a biography of the English writer J. B. Priestley, who was an old friend.

How did you meet Margaret McElderry?

Margaret had bought the American rights for Over Sea, Under Stone from Cape, so we’d corresponded. I wrote a novel called The Camp, based on my wartime childhood, but my agent couldn’t sell it. I sent it to Margaret and asked what was wrong with it, and she wrote back, “Nothing, but it’s a children’s book, and I want to publish it.” So we met for lunch in a Greenwich Village restaurant with a tree growing up out of its basement area, which I shall never forget, and she published the book as Dawn of Fear.

You wrote The Dark Is Rising, the second title in the series, eight years after the first book. That’s a long hiatus. What made you pick up the story again?

Nick and I were cross-country skiing one day in the woods, branches sticking up out of the snow looking like buried antlers, and I suddenly wanted to write a book set in snow like that, but in England, about an 11-year-old boy who wakes up one day and finds he can work magic. Sitting up in my study in Winchester, Massachusetts, for some reason I reread Over Sea, Under Stone, and I thought, Hey, this new story is linked to Over Sea—and Merriman is in it—and there are five books… And I wrote down the next four titles, four very rough outlines, and the last half page of the very last book, which I actually used when I got to Silver on the Tree. The next six years were wonderful, professionally. I knew where I was going.

I was very homesick, and every inch of The Dark Is Rising is where I grew up. Sometimes I sat in the sunny British Virgin Islands, where we had a little holiday house, writing about snowy Buckinghamshire. It doesn’t matter where you are geographically, of course, because you’re living in the landscape of your mind.

Did you send Margaret ideas for books or finished projects?

I don’t send things till I think they’re finished, but I never know whether a manuscript is any good. With The Dark Is Rising I sent her a nervous letter saying, “This is a very weird book, I’m afraid, it’s called The Gift of Gramarye and it’s rather long.” She wrote back saying that she loved it, but that we should change the title in case children thought it was about grammar. My editor at Chatto and Windus in England told me that The Dark Is Rising was the longest book they had ever published. It was only 216 pages—imagine.

Of course, fantasy novels weren’t the flavor du jour back then.

Margaret was a wonderful, supportive editor. We trusted each other. We did have huge battles about punctuation, and I drive copy editors mad to this day. I punctuate as if the prose were music, for the rhythm and sound of it. So when proofs came from Margaret with commas and semicolons altered, I put them all back again. Margaret would sigh and say, “Have it your way.”

Before long we became close personal friends. I miss her. She would sometimes turn something down, but if she knew there was a book I wanted to write, she would wait until I had finished it. She had an almost mystical respect for the imagination, and that gave her writers tremendous artistic freedom. “Whatever time you need,” she would say.

You’ve also written adult books, essays, short stories, and screenplays. You’ve never allowed yourself to become pigeonholed.

I was, and am, happiest writing the books published for children, but, well, I was just a writer. We were in the British Virgin Islands after The Dark Is Rising came out, and I was told I had a phone call. So I got in my little boat and went over to the island that had a phone, and Barbara Rollock at ALA told me that The Dark Is Rising was the only Honor book for the Newbery Medal. I’d never even heard of the Newbery Medal. I went back and said to Nick, “Nothing important—my book just missed winning some prize.” Then Margaret called, so I went back in my boat and she told me the facts of life.

The Dark Is Rising was the only Newbery Honor winner in 1974, and two years later, The Grey King won the Newbery. Suddenly, loads of people wanted to talk to you, but you rather adroitly avoided them.

I’m a shy person—if I’d been born more outgoing I’d have rejoiced in the talking. After Nicholas and I split in 1980, I was on my own with joint custody of our two children, Jonathan and Kate, and I needed to earn more money than children’s books will give you. But I didn’t have to go on the road because I became a screenwriter, by accident. I’d met the actors Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and after I finished Silver on the Tree Hume and I collaborated on a play for the two of them, called Foxfire, set in Appalachia. Hume was making a film with Jane Fonda and she read the play. One day when I was visiting the set she said, “Have you ever read a book by Harriette Arnow called The Dollmaker?”

I said, “How funny, my editor’s been trying to get me to read that for years.”

So Margaret didn’t disapprove when Jane hired Hume and me to write a screenplay from that wonderful big Appalachian novel. I enjoyed it; respectful adaptation of a novel is carpentry, reshaping an existing story for the new medium. I did rewrite the ending, which made me deeply nervous until Jane got a letter from Ms. Arnow saying, “The ending seems to me entirely natural.” The Dollmaker became a three-hour TV film; Jane got an Emmy, Hume and I won the Humanitas Prize and an Emmy nomination. So everyone thought I was a screenwriter, and for the next 10 years I wrote screenplays and children’s books alternately, and was solvent.

You also did some writing for baritone and early music pioneer John Langstaff and his Christmas Revels, which are now performed worldwide.

Yes. Margaret was also Jack’s editor, and one Christmas when she was staying with us we went to the magical, myth-haunted Revels and she took us backstage. Jack shook my hand and said, “But I’ve read your books! You should be writing for the Revels!” So I did, for the next 20 years—songs, plays, poems, you name it. Jack was a marvel—I miss him, too. Candlewick just published a book I wrote about him called The Magic Maker.

But the books were my real love, all this time—my two Boggart books, which were great fun, a string of picture books, one of them with my dear friend Ashley Bryan, and most recently two time-shift fantasies, King of Shadows and Victory. Margaret had retired, so I worked on Victory with Emma Dryden, equally happily.

What compels you to write?

Telling a story—that’s what we’re all about, isn’t it? Every chapter should make you want to know what happens in the next. A novel is a necklace of linked beads. Just the way it was for the earliest storytellers, trying to keep the audience listening around the fire and not wandering off.

What does winning prizes like the Edwards mean to you?

I have mixed feelings about prizes, because the choice is inevitably subjective and there are always a dozen other books or people equally deserving. But I’m deeply grateful. It changes your life, that wonderful reassurance that you’re doing the right thing and that you know how to do it. An award is a life belt; in any rough seas, you have it thereafter, keeping you afloat.

So can we hope to see another book soon?

It’s called Ghost Hawk, I just finished it. I haven’t a clue whether it’s any good.