5 Questions with Susan Fletcher author of Journey of the Pale Bear

"Once, she struck fear into the hearts of hardened soldiers, swam for leagues in the sea without stopping, withstood a hail of arrows, waged battle against pirates, rescued a boy who had come to love her, and was flaunted and prized by kings. Once long ago... when she and I were young."

Journey of the Pale Bear was inspired by a real gift, a Polar Bear, given from the King of Norway to the King of England in 1251.

Publisher's Book Description: 
The polar bear is a royal bear, a gift from the King of Norway to the King of England. The first time Arthur encounters the bear, he is shoved in her cage as payback for stealing food. Restless and deadly, the bear terrifies him. Yet, strangely, she doesn’t harm him—though she has attacked anyone else who comes near. That makes Arthur valuable to the doctor in charge of getting the bear safely to London. So Arthur, who has run away from home, finds himself taking care of a polar bear on a ship to England. 

Tasked with feeding and cleaning up after the bear, Arthur’s fears slowly lessen as he begins to feel a connection to this bear, who like him, has been cut off from her family. But the journey holds many dangers, and Arthur knows his own freedom—perhaps even his life—depends on keeping the bear from harm. When pirates attack and the ship founders, Arthur must make a choice—does he do everything he can to save himself, or does he help the bear to find freedom?

The tender connection that grows between Arthur and the bear will certainly be echoed in readers' hearts.  Journey of the Pale Bear is a perfect choice for animal lovers and fans of survival-adventure stories alike.

Author Susan Fletcher stopped by to answer my 5 questions: 

Pub Date: October 2, 2018

Welcome, Susan, thank you so much for visiting LibLaura5!

Thank you so much for inviting me! What an honor and a treat!

1. The fact that a “pale bear” was given as a gift to the King of England from the King of Norway in the mid 1200s is fascinating on its own--at what point did you know that this idea should be a story for young readers?

Right away, as soon as I read about that bear in Daniel Hahn’s book, The Tower Menagerie! I mean…a polar bear swimming in the Thames River in medieval times? Irresistible! But, as often happens, I didn’t really know how to frame the story. Where to begin? What would the main conflict be? How could I put a kid at the heart of the story? I mulled this over for a year or two…until one day, in a book store, I stumbled upon José Saramago’s The Elephant’s Journey. Instantly I realized that the bear’s journey from Norway to England would make for a thumping good tale, and I was on my way.

2. Polar bears…

...are, for humans, some of the most dangerous animals on Earth—and also some of the most spectacular and beloved. (It’s a paradox!)

3. What surprised you while working on Journey of the Pale Bear?   

I had started out thinking that the bear would be a male, and that Arthur and the bear, once they got comfortable with each other, would have a two-guy adventure dynamic, sort of a road trip bromance. But the more I thought about how dangerous young male polar bears are, the more uncomfortable I became with that idea. It seemed less and less plausible that Arthur would have emerged unscathed. Reluctantly, I changed the bear to a female, a mother who had probably been separated from her cubs. What surprised me after that was discovering that I had already put in some of the chemistry to make the mother-cub dynamic work. From the get-go, I had Arthur humming to calm the bear. To my astonishment, I found out, through later research, that polar bear cubs make a sort of humming sound to their mothers! Also, from the very start, I had had the bear reach a paw to the edge of the cage to press against Arthur’s boot. I found out later that polar bears reach out their back paws to touch their cubs as they sleep! Kind of spooky how that happened…but it made me feel that having the bear be a female was the best choice all along.

4. I hope readers of Journey of the Pale Bear…

...will be caught up in the adventure, unable to put the book down, and that the world will feel somehow broader—bigger and more full of ideas than they had imagined—by the time they read the last page.

5. Sharing the books we love is a way we share about ourselves and connect with each other. What is one book that has been important in your life?

When I was in fourth grade, my teacher read Beverley Cleary’s Ellen Tebbits to our class. Now, fourth grade was the year for long division and, though I did my homework, I just couldn’t seem to get it. I felt there must be something wrong with me. My teacher obviously disapproved, and I got terrible grades on my math papers. But listening to her read Ellen Tebbits…helped, somehow. Because Ellen messed up in that book. She did some stuff she really shouldn’t have done. But nobody gave up on her, and she made it through. And I could tell that my teacher really liked Ellen, in spite of everything. It sort of put my math troubles in perspective, and it made me feel that maybe everything would all come out okay. So, sometimes people ask me why I put my characters in so much trouble…and that’s kind of it. Because we all have troubles, of one kind or another, and it is affirming to see someone—even a character in a book—struggle through and come out okay in the end. 

Thank you, Susan!

Visit Susan Fletcher's Webpage: www.susanfletcher.com

Find Journey of the Pale Bear on...

About Susan Fletcher:

SUSAN FLETCHER is the acclaimed author of the Dragon Chronicles as well as the award-winning Alphabet of Dreams, Shadow Spinner, Walk Across the Sea, and Falcon in the Glass. Ms. Fletcher lives in Bryan, Texas. To read about the fascinating story behind the inspiration for Journey of the Pale Bear, visit her website, SusanFletcher.com

Episode 28 - Henry Lien - PCS Reads

Author Henry Lien visits PCS Reads and shares about writing Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword.

Visit pcsreads.blogspot.com/2018/08/ep28.html to listen and for more details about the episode. 

Subscribe to PCS Reads through Apple Podcasts.

Episode 24 Melanie Heuiser Hill - PCS Reads

Author Melanie Heuiser Hill visits PCS Reads and shares about writing her novel Giant Pumpkin Suite. 

Visit pcsreads.blogspot.com/2018/06/ep24.html to listen and for more details about the episode, 
or subscribe to PCS Reads through Apple Podcasts.

5 Questions with Mira Bartók author of The Wonderling

"Be brave! And don't forget: Never lose hope!"

Number 13 is a one-eared fox groundling--part animal, part human--who has been living a life of serving and suffering at Miss Carbunkle's Home for Misbegotten Creatures for longer than he can remember. Despite having only one ear, he can hear beyond walls and begins to understand creatures others cannot. A new friend, a flightless bird groundling named Trinket, gives him a proper name--Arthur. Together they escape and embark on an epic adventure in the world beyond Miss Carbunkle's.

Bartók's richly imagined fantasy is a delight to read aloud, and her soft, sepia colored illustrations throughout add a classic feel to Arthur's captivating story filled with music, mystery, magic and wonder.

Today author Mira Bartók stopped by to answer my 5 questions. 
Be sure to keep scrolling after the interview to enter a giveaway for a copy of The Wonderling!

Welcome, Mira Bartók, thank you so much for visiting LibLaura5!

1. Where did the rich and unique world of The Wonderling get its start?

Like most everything I do, it began with a drawing. I drew a quick sketch of a one-eared creature about two and a half years ago. And at the time I was also re-reading a lot of Dickens. So those two things sort of merged in my brain I suppose.

2. Music... is the highest art form of all. It crosses all boundaries, all cultures, all ages.

3. What surprised you while writing/creating The Wonderling?

How much easier it was to write a novel than to illustrate one! Not that it was EASY, but illustrating it was a lot more difficult, that’s for sure!

4. I hope readers of The Wonderling... will not be able to put it down!

5. Sharing the books we love is a way we share about ourselves and connect with each other. What is one book that has been important in your life?

One book that has been so important in my life has been Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novel, The Arrival. I think it is one of the most profoundly beautiful books of our time. Without words, Shaun has managed to create a story about immigration that is intensely moving, harrowing, but ultimately uplifting. It’s a work of pure genius, and I keep it on my nightstand because I can’t bear to have it far away.

Thank you, Mira Bartók!

Visit Mira Bartók's Webpage: mirabartok.com

Read an excerpt of The Wonderling:

(Click here to open the reader in new window)

Find The Wonderling on...

About Mira Bartók:

Mira Bartók is an artist and writer, and the creator of The Wonderling: Songcatcher, the first book in an illustrated middle-grade fantasy series. As luck would have it, The Wonderling will also be a movie, directed by award-winning British director, Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Reader,etc.), and produced by Working Title Films and Fox2000. (You can read more about the crazy book to movie deal HERE and HERE). She is also the author of The Memory Palace, a New York Times bestselling memoir and winner of theNational Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She has written numerous books on ancient and indigenous cultures for children (The Ancient and Living Stencil Series), and her writing for adults has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, noted in The Best American Essays series and has appeared in many literary journals, magazines and anthologies. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her musician/producer husband Doug Plavin and their little bat-eared dog Sadie.  

5 with Jennifer Maschari author of Things That Surprise You

Things That Surprise You begins the summer before middle school for Emily Murphy. Things with Emily's best friend Hazel have been changing ever since Hazel joined the field hockey team, things with her family have been evolving after her parents' divorce, and things with her sister have been the most difficult of all. Emily's sister Mina has been living at a treatment facility to deal with her anorexia.

Things That Surprise You perfectly captures the feelings of a sibling just outside the epicenter of a family emergency who is trying not to add to the damage by quietly internalizing emotional aftershocks. This tenderly crafted and poetically written story filled with truth and hope will leave Emily Murphy firmly nestled in your heart.

Today author Jennifer Maschiari stopped by to answer my 5 questions. 

Be sure to keep scrolling after the interview to enter 2 fabulous giveaways!

Published: August 22, 2017

Welcome, Jennifer, thank you for visiting LibLaura5!

Thank you so much, Laura! I’m so happy to be here.

1. When did you know that you wanted to tell this story and to tell it from Emily’s perspective?

As I was finishing up edits on my first book, THE REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF CHARLIE PRICE, I knew I wanted to write my next book about a girl who was having difficulty with changes in her life. I also wanted to write a sister story. Originally, though, I set the book at a camp and called it BEST SUMMER EVER. The idea and story underwent a lot of revision and rethinking and many, many drafts. But Emily’s character and voice were there from the very beginning.

2. Eating disorders... are important for kids to know about. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), 20 million women and 10 million men in the United States will suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetimes.. It is likely that kids will know someone in their real lives impacted by an eating disorder.

3. Emily’s teacher Ms. Arnold is a wonderfully memorable supporting character. Were there real people or experiences that played a part in shaping her in the story?

Oh, I’m so glad that you love Ms. Arnold! I can remember a few really influential, wonderful teachers from my childhood who encouraged me and really made that extra effort to get to know me and what was going on in my life. I wanted Emily to have a special teacher like this - who sees that she is struggling and who meets that with kindness and support. In addition to being an author, I’m a teacher, too! I teach 7th and 8th grade science now, but for a time, I was a fifth grade language arts teacher. I loved reading along with my students and suggesting books, just like Ms. Arnold. She’s far more stylish than I am though!

4. I hope readers of Things That Surprise You... see themselves in the story! Middle school can be SUCH a hard time for kids. I hope I’ve captured the awkwardness and the rough patches but also some of the bright spots, too (like making friends who really get you and being true to who you are).

5. Sharing the books we love is a way we share about ourselves and connect with each other. What is one book you read and loved lately?

One book - that’s tough! I have been reading a lot of fantastic books lately. I really enjoyed  Dee Romito’s NO PLACE LIKE HOME. It’s about a girl named Kenzie who is always on the road with her dad. For six weeks, she gets the chance to settle down into real middle school life. It was such a fun read, full of heart.

And if I could sneak in a second book, I also read ORPHAN ISLAND by Laurel Snyder (I loved her 5 questions on your blog!) and was mesmerized by it: the kids on the island, the island itself, the survival aspect. Some of the very best discussions I ever had with my students were about the end of THE GIVER. I think this book is going to invite that same rich conversation. There are so many questions to chew on.

Thank you, Jennifer!




Giveaway #1: Enter to win a copy of Things That Surprise You using the form below

~AND~

Giveaway #2: Click here to enter to win the Grand Prize Crafty Unicorn Kit!

Visit Jennifer Maschari's Webpage: jenmaschari.com

Things That Surprise You Discussion Guide

Find Things That Surprise You on...

About Jennifer MaschariJennifer Maschari is a classroom teacher and the author of THE REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF CHARLIE PRICE and THINGS THAT SURPRISE YOU. She is hard at work on her next middle grade novel with Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins. Jennifer lives in Ohio with her husband and stinky (yet noble) English bulldogs, Oliver and Hank.

5 with Fracaswell Hyman author of Mango Delight

"I was feeling something I had never felt before,
a feeling I think I could call absolute triumph."

Seventh grader Mango Delight enjoys track, Beyonce and hanging with her best friend, Brooklyn. An unexpected win for her on the track team seems to make her best friend jealous. Then Brooklyn gets an expensive new phone, and Mango feels a strange distance growing between them. When Mango accidentally breaks her friend's new phone, she suddenly finds herself the target of Brooklyn's plans for revenge.

Hoping she will embarrass herself, Brooklyn secretly signs Mango up to audition for the school musical--something totally out of Mango's comfort zone. Instead of embarrassing herself, she lands the lead. This puts her on a path to figure out what kinds of friends she really wants in her life, and what kind of friend she wants to be.

Mango Delight is filled with realistic, complex, diverse characters. Readers will be drawn in by the drama of Mango's situation and find themselves rooting for her to be confident in who she is.

Today author Fracaswell Hyman stopped by to answer my 5 questions. 
Be sure to enter the giveaway for a copy of Mango Delight below the interview.

Welcome, Fracaswell Hyman, thank you so much for visiting LibLaura5!

1. You come from a background of writing, directing and producing both for theater and television. This is your first novel for kids. What brought you to write Mango Delight?

I have a ten year old daughter, and I like to read what she is assigned to read in school, so that we can talk about the books and I can help her become a better reader. Through third, fourth and fifth grades, I noticed two things;

#1 – On average, only one out of four books assigned were about girls. Most of the books assigned were adventure stories about a boy and his dog, his horse, his survival skills or his sports dreams. In my experience writing for children’s television the prevailing “wisdom” was that ‘boys won’t watch what girls watch, but girls will watch what boys watch, therefore write for boys.’  I believe the same philosophy goes for  companies that publish books and has a lot to do with which books are chosen as a part of school curriculum. As the parent of a girl, I think that is unfair that girls have less opportunity to read about themselves, and it puts our boys at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding girls and women.

#2 – Very few, if any, books about African-Americans were assigned at all. If they were, they were about fleeing slavery, the civil rights movement, or some incident dealing with race. I wanted to write a book where a girl of color was at the center of the story, a book that was contemporary and a book that was about the kind of issues that I see my daughter and her friends facing today. I wanted to write a book that represented the diverse group of friends my daughter has, a book that invited boys, girls and readers of all ethnicities to experience, identify and enjoy the story.

2. I hope readers of Mango Delight... like and identify with Mango. I hope they find her funny, confounding, emotional, thoughtful and real. I’d like the reader to begin to think deeper about the kind of friends they want to have and the kind of friend they want to be. Hopefully, the reader will reflect on the things that they do and say and how those actions affect others.

3. Food is almost a background character in Mango Delight. I will definitely be trying to make grilled cheese ‘Mango style’ in the future. Where does your food inspiration come from?

I grew up in New York City, a literal melting pot when it comes to food. I was bussed out of my predominantly African-American neighborhood for school and because of that, I had friends of all ethnicities. One of the most vivid ways to explore our cultures was through food. Food that tastes good, whether Asian, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Polish, Italian or Iranian welcomes you into another culture and broadens your ability to appreciate and identify with that culture. Mango is Jamaican-American and the food her family eats represent the mixture of Jamaican and African-American culture. Mango’s father is a chef and because of that her palate is a bit more sophisticated than the average middle schooler and she is encouraged to experiment and create her own recipes. I hope the readers feel empowered to try different foods and create their own unique recipes.

4. Arts education for kids... is essential. The arts stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain where imagination, intuition, rhythm, feelings and visualization live. In schools today, especially areas that rely solely on government funding, the first thing cut out of the budget is the arts curriculum. I am convinced that that does a huge disservice to our kids. Yes, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) are important, but without the arts how do we teach our children to take the leaps necessary to innovate? So, as I parent, I look for schools that add the “A” that turns STEM into STEAM, because the arts are what give our country the advantage when it comes to the ingenuity that has made America the world’s leader in innovation.

5. Sharing the books we love is a way we share about ourselves and connect with each other. 

What is one book you read and loved lately?
Trevor Noah’s, Born A Crime, is an amazing look at what life was like in South Africa for a mixed race boy. It exposes the idiocy of the racism, sexism and patriarchy of a  society built on the ability of one people’s misuse of force and laws to subjugate the “other”. Trevor Noah’s childhood experiences are harrowing, heartbreaking and, because he is such a brilliant entertainer,  astonishingly hilarious. Also, harking back to the whole idea of experiencing a culture through food, when I go to South Africa I am looking forward to eating a goat head, eyeballs and all.  
 

What is one book that has been important in your life?
The Learning Tree, by writer/photographer/director/journalist Gordon Parks had a huge impact on me as a boy. It was released in 1963, but I didn’t read it until I was about ten or eleven years old. I was compelled to pick up the paperback book at the library, because it had a boy who looked like me on the cover. It was the first book I was exposed to that was about the coming of age of an American boy who’s skin and hair were like to mine. The book is still important to me, not because of the specifics of the story, but because of how it made me feel to read a book about a character who looked like me. It was a validation to see that the life and experiences of a boy like me was acknowledged in print just like The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown and all the other favorite characters I read about as a child. I think about that feeling when I sit down to write and I hope every child has the chance to read books that validate who they are, where they come from and what they can become.

Thank you so much for visiting, Fracaswell Hyman!

Visit Fracaswell Hyman's Website: fracaswellhyman.com

Mango Delight Discussion Guide

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