THE MAY 22 VIRTUAL AWARD CELEBRATION HONORING CATHERINE REEF
If you are like me at this time of year, you too are rejoicing in the natural beauty around the city. For me, it brings to mind a verse* by one of my favorite poets, Rainer Maria Rilke:
Spring came again today. The thawing earth
Is like a child who knows her rhymes by heart.
So many verses. After all the
toil
Of drawn-out study she collects her prize.
A prize, indeed, for all of us to share! And this month's
bounty promises more than beautiful spring flowers. May 22 (1 p.m. EST) is the
date of the annual Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award event. This year, as
you know, we will be celebrating the prolific body of work of our friend and
fellow Guild member Catherine Reef. This Zoom event is free and open to all,
and registration is required. Event Chair Mary Amato has worked creatively to
make this a memorable occasion for Cathy and all who participate. Please join
us!
Until next time, I'm wishing all of you plenty of time out in the sunshine, communing with flowers, whether found in gardens, parks or a crack in the sidewalk. As Rilke noted, "so many verses." Enjoy!
*from Sonnets to Orpheus (I, 21), Rainer Maria Rilke, translation by David Hills
GUILD MEMBER MONICA VALENTINE IN CONVERSATION WITH DARCIE LITTLE BADGER AND NICK THOMAS
by Valerie O. Patterson
The April 15, 2021, Children’s Book Guild Speaker Series
meeting featured award-winning author Darcie Little Badger, Levine Querido
senior editor Nick Thomas and Guild member Monica Valentine in conversation.
Little Badger is a Lipan Apache writer and earth scientist (with a bachelor’s
degree in geosciences from Princeton and a Ph.D. in oceanography from Texas
A&M) whose critically acclaimed debut young adult novel Elatsoe has
won numerous awards and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best
fantasy novels. The novel also is a finalist for the Norton Nebula Awards for
YA and middle-grade science fiction and fantasy. Little Badger’s short fiction,
nonfiction and comics have appeared in such publications as Marvel’s Voices:
Indigenous Voices #1.
Introducing her debut novel, Little Badger explained that protagonist Ellie, a Lipan Apache, seeks to solve the murder of her cousin and obtain justice for her family even as things seem stacked against her. Little Badger said the book is a mystery-fantasy fusion in which monsters, ghosts and magic appear, and Ellie investigates with the help of her ghost dog, Kirby, and her best friend, Jay.
Thomas asked Little Badger about the genesis of the novel, which Time magazine called “groundbreaking.” Little Badger said she began writing and thinking about ghost animals as a teen and wrote a scary story about an attic haunted by a ghost parrot. She originally started the work that would become Elatsoe with an adult protagonist. Ten thousand words in, Little Badger realized that the story needed to be told from a teen perspective. Once she settled on the protagonist, it took her less than two years to write and edit the manuscript and send it to an agent.
Recounting an earlier interview, Thomas noted that Little Badger assessed the lack of representation of indigenous peoples in books for young readers as akin to standing before "a funhouse mirror with no reflection.” Little Badger said she was a voracious reader of books as a child, but none portrayed the culture in which she grew up. She started to doubt herself and her reality, despite having strong family support and community connections. She expressed happiness at seeing more books from an indigenous perspective and said that, judging by the success of Elatsoe, the wider world wants to read more about other cultures.
In response to Little Badger’s question about why he chose Elatsoe, Thomas said her voice struck him most. He also liked the unusual phrasing and structure, the way Little Badger wove in the protagonist’s sixth great-grandmother, and the sense of love and compassion coursing through the novel. He said he was happy to find voices that we haven’t heard before.
Concerning the cover art and illustrations that open each chapter, Little Badger said that artist Rovina Cai’s illustrations, up for a Lodestar Hugo Award, tell a separate story about the sixth great-grandmother that connects to the main plot. The artist, who had to convey a lot without words, researched Apache dress over the centuries.
Acknowledging Elatsoe as a fusion of fantasy, science fiction, magical realism and indigenous futurism, Valentine asked Little Badger to explain how and why Lipan Apache culture infuses the book. Little Badger explained that Native writers’ storytelling techniques defy genre conventions. For example, what might be elements of fantasy or magic to some people might not be that at all to indigenous peoples. With an academic background in science rather than literature, Little Badger admits she does not always know literary terms and genre expectations. She writes from the heart. Her science background does inform her writing, however. For example, the novel’s ghost ocean and trilobites grew out of her science education.
Both Thomas and Valentine spoke highly of Little Badger’s animal characters, especially Kirby, Ellie’s ghost dog. Kirby was based on the dog Little Badger had while growing up, an English springer spaniel from a shelter that was the gentlest and sweetest dog she has known.
Valentine asked about the distinctions between magic and ancestral knowledge and between justice and vengeance. Little Badger indicated she wanted to be specific about magic, defining it as an extra-dimensional force that can influence things on earth. It is distinct from knowledge about the earth passed down through ancestors. Sometimes people say indigenous ceremonies are “magic,” but a powwow is not a magical ceremony. With respect to revenge versus justice, Little Badger does not have an answer yet, but she says it is an issue she continues to ponder. When grievous harm affects families, a desire exists not only for accountability but for equal hurt to occur to those who have caused harm; those emotions lie heavily on people.
Asked about her childhood reading, Little Badger said her favorite books were fantasies and science fiction. She loved Goosebumps, Animorphs, and the Redwall series, in which she especially loved the badgers. During his childhood, Thomas read His Dark Materials, fantasies by Jonathan Stroud, Animorphs, and books by Octavia Butler and Ursula Le Guin.
Valentine asked Little Badger and Thomas to reflect on Elatsoe’s success. Little Badger pointed to the dog Kirby as one reason for it. Another is that Ellie’s search for justice resonates with readers young and old. Not only does the story bring them a sense of strength, but it also can bring them solace. Thomas said that Elatsoe feeds a hunger for books that speak to the indigenous experience, and that using the fantasy genre to paint reality in today’s world draws readers in.
Thomas shared a cover reveal for Little Badger’s new book, A Snake Falls to Earth, another YA fantasy mystery that spans two worlds. It is due out in October. Little Badger also is working on a graphic novel.
The conversation with Little Badger, Thomas and Valentine was enlightening and inspiring, and Karen Deans ended the afternoon with a warm thank you to Valentine and both guests
MEMBER NEWS
BRENDA SEABROOKE's ninth Sherlock Holmes pastiche, writing as Dr. Watson, was just published in edition XIV of the MX anthology. The edition received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and Brenda's story "The Case of the Accused Cook" was mentioned as plausibly fleshing out the character of Inspector Lestrade. All royalties from these MX editions support Stepping Stones, the special-needs school housed in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home.
KALLI DAKOS's book My Story Friend will be released in May. In the book, a child treks across the land in search of someone who will listen to his sad story. He meets a gruff mountain man who doesn't like unhappy stories and a cabbage farmer who is too busy to listen. Finally, he finds an old woman by a fire who takes the time to listen with her heart. The sheer act of telling his story to someone who really cares lifts his heavy heart and helps him find solutions to his problems. The child discovers that a Story Friend is one of the greatest treasures we can find. Even if it is a hard journey, we must search for this special friendship.
SUSAN L. ROTH's newest book, Little Doves, Pequeñas Tórtolas, published by Barranca Press, was officially out on April Fools Day 2021. With text in English and Spanish, it is "a bilingual celebration of birds and a baby," Susan writes.
SUSAN STOCKDALE will present Bird Show as a participant on the Gaithersburg Book Festival’s virtual Picture Books You’ll Love panel, on Thursday, May 27, at 5 p.m. Laminated pages displaying her books Carry Me! and Stripes of All Types will be featured at public sites in Gaithersburg, MD, as part of the festival's StoryWalk® project.
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| Picture courtesy of Jennifer O'Connell |
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