Better Together #4

Each day circumstances present opportunities for us to discover potential personality traits or increase (or decrease) those we already have.  We may be shocked at what is revealed.  It is in these revelations our confidence grows.  Our comfort in expressing ourselves is deepened and widened.  

We come to understand there is more than one definition for certain attributes.  Be Strong (Roaring Brook Press, August 10, 2021) written by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Jen Hill, a companion title to their Be Kind (Roaring Brook Press, February 6, 2018), addresses this very concept.  A young girl struggles with being strong and its various meanings and power.  Her ultimate understanding benefits everyone.

My school gym has tall walls.

I never noticed them before.

But, today I have to climb them.

Classmates make it to the top of the wall without struggling.  Tanisha cannot get beyond the bottom.  She does not have the strength to pull herself up.

Some days, trying to lift the simplest things, are hard for her.  Her family tells her to be strong.  This is how you get through the tough times in life.

When she asks for help, Dad, Mama, and Grandma Zee give her real-life examples of strength.  Being strong is sacrificing your time to help others, speaking up again and again to right a wrong, and committing to a goal.  At school and home, Tanisha notices moments to put their advice in action.

Dad, Mama, and Grandma Zee each offer one more suggestion.  Sometimes the tasks she attempts seem daunting, but first one thing, then another thing, and finally a third thing keep her going. And Tanisha learns the most important definition of being strong.  What do you think it is?

To begin, Pat Zietlow Miller gives us a problem.  Climbing a rock wall is a situation many have faced, so we can easily find ourselves identifying with the protagonist.  She uses this to present other perspectives on being strong, other than the obvious physical one.  In the characters of Dad, Mama, and Grandma Zee and their instances, we see applications for being strong.  These applications are (or may be) present in each of our communities.  Pat Zietlow Miller establishes a rhythm in her storytelling by repeating three two-word phrases three times, connecting separate portions of the narrative.  Here is a passage.

Grandma Zee says being strong means not giving up.

Like when she started running.

At first, she barely jogged a block.

She worried people would laugh.

But she keeps going.

Day after day.

Block after block.

Even when it rains.

One look at the children holding up the sign displaying the title text on the front, right, of the open and matching dust jacket and book case sends a strong impression.  The diverse ethnicity and colorful array of clothing suggest differing personalities who have united in a common cause.  Of particular interest is the purple hue surrounding them.  Purple can imply royalty or in this case, future leaders strong in the knowledge of themselves.

To the left of the spine, on the back, Tanisha and Grandma Zee are featured on a pale and tiny herringbone pattern of white and gray.  They are seated on mats and working on touching their toes.  Over their heads are the words:

Together, we can be strong.

The people and the area closest to them on both the front and the back are varnished on the dust jacket.

The opening and closing endpapers are covered in the bright orange shade shown on the front of the jacket and case in the one child's clothing.  Tanisha and Grandma Zee are presented on the title page using a part of an interior illustration.  Together, they lift a heavy backpack, each grabbing a strap.

Jen Hill rendered these pictures using

gouache on paper and retouched with Adobe Photoshop. 

The image sizes, full-page pictures, double-page pictures, and two smaller pictures on a page, supply readers will different perspectives.  At times we are observers, watching Tanisha being strong enough to be on stage playing her accordion.  Sometimes we are standing with Tanisha, as if we are her shadow.  These are intimate but brief time periods with this character.

In several of the illustrations, Jen Hill uses white space as an additional element allowing the other elements to seek and hold our attention.  The tiny features on the characters' faces convey a range of emotions.  This is no easy task, but Jen Hill does it splendidly.

One of my many favorite illustrations is on a single page.  It is in the school cafeteria.  Two circular tables are placed next to each other.  Around these muted-yellow tables are deep purple blue chairs.  The cafeteria trays are an orange red in color.  Groups of students at both tables present a diverse representation.  We see Tanisha's strength at work on the table closest to us, toward the bottom of the page.  She is placing a sign on the table.  It reads:

make a friend.

Endearing readers to these characters and their circumstances in Be Strong written by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Jen Hill is accomplished by the realism portrayed in word and images.  We know people who encounter these same happenings.  And this title offers hopeful, doable solutions readers can use in their own situations.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

In accessing their websites by following the link attached to their names, readers can learn more about Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill and their other work.  Pat Zietlow Miller has accounts on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  Jen Hill has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo.  At Macmillan Publishers you can view interior images.  Pat Zietlow Miller has a guest post at PictureBookBuilders about this title.  She has a video interview at Action News 2, Wisconsin about this book and her other work.

Like the word, strong, the word courage has multiple meanings.  For some individuals, courage is instinctive.  For others, it is learned.  I Am Courage: A Book of Resilience (Abrams Books for Young Readers, September 7, 2021) written by Susan Verde with art by Peter H. Reynolds is the sixth book in a series by these two talented collaborators.  The focus on a single word is enhanced through a first-person narrative of affirmations.

When there are challenges in front of me,

when I feel unstable,

like I might fall . . .

This child's voice tells us that in spite of obstacles and hesitancy, there is a can-do attitude found within them.  Like the engine in the classic The Little Engine That Could, this child keeps going.  Bit by bit with a heart full of faith, this child realizes possibilities.  They state:

I am courage.

Instinct, recognition of one's strengths, and endurance, even in the face of fear, keeps this child moving forward.  A stumble does not stop this person because they have learned to ask others for help.  All these things give this child the courage to use their experiences to support others.

This confidence helps this child to continue no matter what happens.  This child constantly looks to their core for courage.  This, in turn, inspires others.  

I becomes we.  The qualities of one become the qualities of others.  The journey of one becomes the journey of many . . . together.

You cannot read the words written by author Susan Verde in this book without, page by page, feeling a spark inside you grow brighter and brighter.  Through the mindset of this child, we look at each setback as a test to ace.  Throughout the narrative after a series of thoughts, Susan Verde follows with two word:

I am.

She does use courage after those two words several times, but she also uses words synonymous to courage or words in support of courage.  This is how the story flows toward a conclusion embracing other persons in their quest for courage.  Here is a passage.

I can know there is no shame

in sharing.  I tell my story.

I can step in when others are struggling.

I know how to help.

There is much to be learned when removing the dust jacket and opening it up.  For this book, the illustration on the right, front, introduces us to the main character, the voice in this story.  This child, wearing a shirt with a symbolic flame within a shield, is the picture of resilience fueled by courage.  The body language says I stand strong.  In fact, this child radiates this attitude.  The first three title words are done in foil.

On the back, to the left of the spine, the child with their bike is joined by two other children with their bikes and a canine companion.  Each is carrying a flag bearing the flame.  As a reader we wonder how one becomes three (plus one more brilliant being).

Also, by removing the dust jacket, we view a stunning book case.  It is done entirely in black and shades of yellow.  From left to right, with the bikers riding to the right in a row, they appear as a force, a force for good.  The flags are now on the back of each bike.  The dog is carrying a flag in its mouth.  There is a wide band of black at the bottom representing the path.  The children and their bikes are in black except for a lighter yellow inside the wheels.  The background is a marbled golden yellow.  (We later realize this is an interior image.)

A rose swirl, a center spiraling outward, covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Perhaps this is a depiction of the deep down of which the protagonist speaks.  Each illustration by Peter H. Reynolds was

created using traditional and digital inks, gouache, watercolor, and tea.

These double-page and full-page pictures tell their own story.  Peter H. Reynolds uses a boy traveling on his bike to elevate the text by Susan Verde.  He begins with a palette of purple and blue hues transitioning to light, bright, white and yellow as canvases.  He works the dog into the story, first as something possibly to fear, but an accident changes this outlook.  As presented, we cannot help but relate to the three children.

One of my many favorite illustrations (besides the book case) is a single-page picture.  Night has fallen and stars pinprick along the top of the page.  Between a grove of trees, a small tent is pitched.  In the foreground the three children sit on big rocks around a small campfire.  The two boys sit across from each other, the dog, head on paws, next to his human.  The fire lights the face of the girl who needs help.  The main character is telling his story of courage and resilience.

You will want to keep this title, I Am Courage: A Book of Resilience written by Susan Verde with art by Peter H. Reyolds, ready to read repeatedly.  At the close of the book is an author's note and four yoga poses and breathing exercises to inspire you to be your best self.  You will want to have a copy of this book in both your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Susan Verde and Peter H. Reynolds and their other work, please access their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  Susan Verde has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Peter H. Reynolds has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior images.  There are activity sheets to download.

Blog posts, Better Together #1, Better Together #2, and Better Together #3, provide other titles to use with these two books if you like.

Flight Of The Bluebird Blog Tour-Chatting With Author Kara LaReau

It’s a pleasure to have you back at Librarian’s Quest, Kara, on the first Monday in 2019.  It’s hard to believe that nearly an entire year has come and gone since your last visit showcasing The Uncanny Express, the second title in The Unintentional Adventures Of The Bland Sisters.  Once again the landscape outside my window is cloaked in more than eight inches of snow.  And it’s still snowing, but the absolute beauty and fun of the books in this series is they reach out, wrap around us and pull us into the current adventure.  We’ve been on a ship brimming with rowdy pirates (The Jolly Regina) and a train full of mysterious travelers.  Now we find ourselves airborne with the twins, Jaundice and Kale, in an effort to save their lives.

When reading the Flight Of The Bluebird (Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, January 8, 2018) the first thing readers might be curious about is why are the sisters traveling by plane this time and why is the name of the plane, Bluebird?

Well, I already had them on a ship in The Jolly Regina and a train in The Uncanny Express, so putting them on a plane seemed like the next natural step! The plane is called the Bluebird for two reasons: 1. Amelia Earhart named one of her planes “The Canary,” and since she is one of the inspirations for the character Beatrix Airedale, it seemed fitting to name the plane in my story something similar, and 2. It’s a bit of an insider joke with myself! I have a freelance editing business called Bluebird Works, which I started almost ten years ago and named after the bluebird of happiness. It took a lot to get that business off the ground, much like the airplane in the book!

You have continued with two wonderful elements in this book, employed in the first two titles.  At the beginning on two pages you have The Unintentional Cast of Characters.  The two villains are called Victor and Uggo.  Is this in reference to Victor Hugo, the French writer?  If so, why do you focus on him?

Victor Gazebo doesn’t have anything to do with Victor Hugo; I chose the name “Gazebo” because I liked the way it sounded, and the combination of “Victor” and “Gazebo” worked (to my ear) as a good villain’s name. Uggo is a play on Ugarte, Peter Lorre’s character from Casablanca, on which the character in my story is based. So there is a method to my naming madness!

I won’t ask about the other character names because I prefer to have readers discover the answers for themselves.

Secondly, you have each chapter heading highlighting insights and suggestions from a book the Bland Sisters are currently reading or happen to be carrying with them.  In Flight Of The Bluebird, the book referenced is Taking Off! With Trip Winger  (Your character/fictional names are fantastic, Kara.  You most definitely have a gift with word play.) As in the past, do each of the recommendations have to do with something happening in each chapter?

Yes, I made sure that each bit of aeronautical advice is somehow relevant to the action in the story. And I don’t want to give too much away, but the culmination of all this knowledge proves vital at the end of the story!

Is there a reason you decide to have one of the Bland Sisters participate in the method of travel this time?

I thought it was important to show that even though Jaundice and Kale retain much of their Blandness throughout the series, there is still character development and a clear arc to that development through the stories. I don’t want to give too much away, but that moment where one of the girls takes control (and one of them doesn’t) felt necessary on their journey together and as distinct personalities.

Do you ever plan on getting a pilot’s license Kara?  The reason I’m asking is my girlfriend had her pilot’s license when she was sixteen.  We used to go to a small airfield after school and on weekends and she would fly us in a two-seater airplane.  We had to spin the propeller sometimes to get the engine fired-up and going.

I don’t have any plans right now to get my pilot’s license; I can barely tolerate it when someone else is flying the plane!

This leads me to another question.  You mention in your author’s note that Beatrix Airedale is a blend of women like Bessie Coleman, Amelia Earhart and Nellie Bly.  Is there a favorite book you’ve read about any or all of them you would like to share with us? Candace Fleming’s book, Amelia Lost: the Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart, was an utterly gripping account.  I could not put it down.

In the interest of time, I did some reading and watched some great documentaries during my research. Candace Fleming’s book is great, and I also learned a lot from reading Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original “Girl” Reporter, Nellie Bly by Deborah Noyes. I happened to watch a biography of Bessie Coleman which was streaming on her birthday last year (January 26th!) and really inspired me; though I can’t seem to locate the name of it, I see there’s a new documentary about her life called The Legend which is streaming on Amazon Prime right now, and I can’t wait to check it out!

In the portion of the book where the plane lands for refueling (the plane and food for the characters) you make several references to the film Casablanca.  I burst out laughing at one of them.  Why Casablanca?

Casablanca takes place at about the same time as Raiders of the Lost Ark (which is also when Flight of the Bluebird is set), so it seemed like a fun choice and definitely ripe for parody!

I think readers are going to be fascinated with the setting of this title.  Did you know this is where the third adventure would unfold when you were writing the first two titles?

I didn’t know what the second or the third book would be when I wrote the first book, but when I sold it to Abrams, I roughly fleshed out the rest of the trilogy. I wanted to “go big” with the final story, so an action-packed adventure in Egypt filled with lots of villains and mysteries and dreams and revelations (and a curse!) felt right!

The cryptic postcards the children receive from their parents add to the mystery and adventure.  Also what prompted you to use their mother’s journal to be a part of explanatory flashbacks?

I got the idea of the journal from Indiana Jones’ father’s Grail diary in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I thought it would be a great way to introduce some of the Bland Sisters’ parents backstory, and also a few clues that help along the way with Jaundice and Kale’s adventures.

There are other items I would like to chat with you about but I don’t want to spoil anything for readers.  I will leave them with several of my many favorite lines from the book.

Beatrix tells the twins---

Life’s not worth living unless we’re taking risks and challenging ourselves.

I find both of these sections hilarious and typical of the Bland sisters.

Reading something so dry and practical was always a comfort.

“What now?”  asked Kale.

“I don’t know,” said Jaundice.  “I’ve never been trapped in a rug on a moving truck, surrounded by assassins.”

LOL. I’m so glad you enjoyed these lines, and the book in general — I had so much fun writing Flight of the Bluebird and all of the Unintentional Adventures. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about these stories!

Kara LaReau was born and raised in Connecticut. She received her Masters in Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and later worked as an editor at Candlewick Press and at Scholastic Press. She is the author of such picture books as UGLY FISH, illustrated by Scott Magoon, and Good Night Little Monsters, illustrated by Brian Won; an award-winning chapter book series called The Infamous Ratsos, illustrated by Matt Myers; and a middle-grade trilogy called The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters, illustrated by Jen Hill. Kara lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and son and their cat.

SCHEDULED STOPS ON THE

FLIGHT OF THE BLUEBIRD

BLOG TOUR

1/7 Librarian's Quest

1/8 Storymamas

1/9 YAYOMG!

1/10 Mrs. Knott's Book Nook

1/11 MG Book Village

A Choice To Make

Every day when we wake up is an opportunity; an opportunity to make a difference.  We make a difference with a goodbye hug for family members, a smile at a stranger, a wave to a neighbor and words of encouragement to those we teach.  A single act of kindness can change a day not just for one individual but for many.  That single act is like the proverbial pebble dropped in water; it ripples outward.

Cultivating a habit of being kind is one of the single best things we can do for others and for us.  Be Kind (Roaring Brook Press, February 6, 2018) written by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Jen Hill is a gentle story of a child discovering the many ways to express kindness.  It begins with an unfortunate incident.

Tanisha spilled grape juice yesterday.

It was splattered down the front of her new dress.  Her fellow classmates laughed except for one.  She remembered the words of her mother and tried to help.  It didn't work.

After snack time, during art, the girl painted violets.  As she made this picture she thought about what she could have done immediately for Tanisha.  She wondered how we define kindness.

It could be in the act of giving, helping or paying attention.  She remembered when she gave, helped and paid attention.  Her mom also told her to use people's first names when greeting them.  It's a way to show you care about them as individuals.

Being kind is not always easy but for those receiving your kindness, it's invaluable.  It can spread farther than you can imagine.  It can circle back to you.  It can change the world or, at the very least, it can help the memory of a ruined new dress to fade, replaced by gesture of kindness.


Readers are immediately drawn into the story with a problem.  They have either witnessed this identical incident or it's happened to them.   Pat Zietlow Miller cleverly uses this technique to create a connection and as a point to build her narrative.   Told in the first person point of view we are able to understand how the child, the girl, expands her knowledge of what it is to be kind.  Readers realize kindness can be quick and simple but lasting or take a bit more time.  Here is a passage from this narrative.

Maybe it's giving.
Making cookies for Mr. Rinaldi,
who lives alone.
Letting someone with smaller feet
have my too-tight shoes.
(He might win races in them, too.)


Opening the matching dust jacket and book case gives readers two separate views of kindness.  On the front the narrator of this story is holding an umbrella for Tanisha.  Perhaps the yellow color selected by artist Jen Hill reminds us kindness can be a bit of sunshine on a rainy kind of day.  The characters, the title text and raindrops are varnished.  The small brush of purple watercolor separating the author's and illustrator's names is significant also.

To the left, on the back, a background is supplied with vertical rows of interwoven threads in a cream hue.  I like to think this represents how we are all tied together.  Upon this an image within a loose circle shows a girl comforting another girl who has just broken her glasses.  A rich shade of purple covers the opening and closing endpapers. 

Each illustration flows into the next; the size shifting to create pacing.  Most of the pictures are placed on a single page.  In several of the scenes the focus is on the full color used for the people with the setting fading to a background of outlines and light colors.  The people, with an emphasis on children, in these images are from all walks of life and from varying races.  Fine lines delineate their facial features portraying appropriate emotions.

One of my several favorite illustrations is on a single page.  In the upper left-hand corner is the girl.  All we see is the bottom of her signature purple jersey, her black leggings and bare feet.  In front of her just slightly right of the center is a young boy on his hands and knees.  His hands are holding the tops of black high-top shoes.  He is looking at the girl with affection.


Yesterday was Random Act of Kindness Day; started in Denver, Colorado in 1995.  Can you imagine how wonderful the world would be if every day was Random Act of Kindness Day?  Be Kind written by Pat Zietlow Miller with illustrations by Jen Hill is an excellent title to use to promote discussions on kindness.  You will want to add this title to your professional and personal collections.  It can be paired with If You Plant a Seed, Sidewalk Flowers, or Mama Lion Wins The Race.

To learn more about Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Jen Hill has interior images from this title on her home page.  Jen Hill has numerous links to her other social media accounts as does Pat Zietlow Miller.  At the publisher's website you can view illustrations from this book.  At the Nerdy Book Club Pat features the book trailer for Be Kind.  She talks about other books showcasing kindness.  She provides a link to a Pinterest board of picture books about kindness.  At Picture Book Builders Pat talks about this book.  Jen Hill is highlighted at Brightly.

The Uncanny Express Blog Tour-A Conversation with Kara LaReau

Images copyright Jen Hill

Happy Monday morning, Kara.  It’s an honor to have you making a stop here at Librarian’s Quest on your blog tour for The Uncanny Express, the second title in your The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters series.  It’s been absolutely bitter cold here in Michigan but on the bright side it’s a wonderful opportunity to get cozy wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot cider and leave the confines of a comfy chair through the pages of a book.  It’s been a distinct and happy pleasure to travel with the Bland Sisters, Jaundice and Kale, first with a band of swashbuckling pirates on The Jolly Regina and second with a group of passengers concealing their true identities aboard The Uncanny Express.

I was wondering if you could tell readers who have not read these two books a little bit about the title of the series.  Why are the adventures unintentional?  Why are the Bland Sisters bland?

Images copyright Jen Hill

A lot of it is just their nature — the Bland Sisters inherently shy away from any kind of excitement or emotional upheaval, but they’ve become even more set in their uninteresting ways since their parents left to run an errand of an unspecified nature. (They’ve been gone for some time now, but Jaundice and Kale don’t tend to think about it too much. They’re sure their parents will return any day now.) It becomes clearer in The Uncanny Express that their strict adherence to routine is one of the ways they cope with their parents’ absence. It’s the only control they have over their situation.

Of course, Bland Sisters want to stay in their comfort zone. So an adventure on a pirate ship, or even — gasp! — on a speeding train, is the last thing they want to experience. Or so they think.

Images copyright Jen Hill

In the beginning of each book two pages are dedicated to the cast of characters in each adventure.  As a high school senior and college student in the seventies, I laughed out loud at the name of one of the pirates, Captain Ann Tennille. Would you tell us about the process of naming your characters?

I’m glad you appreciated that one! Of course, most of the humor in the series is for kids, but I try to include a laugh or two for the adults who might be reading along with them.

I’ve always had a thing for names, perhaps because my own first and last names have given me so much trouble, especially when I was growing up; no one seemed to be able to spell or pronounce them correctly, perhaps because of all the vowels. (FYI, it’s KARE-uh la-ROW.) As a result, I make an extra effort to remember people’s names and how to pronounce them, and this has led to a focus on names in general. I’m particularly interested in words that almost sound like they could be first names — whenever I hear a good one I try to write it down. Most of the names in the Unintentional Adventures come from that running list, though if nothing on that list seems to fit, I try to think about the character’s personality and do my best to find a name that complements it. For instance, there’s a tweedy, wan, put-upon maid on the Uncanny Express, so of course her name is Vera Dreary — and then there’s the brilliant, not-terribly-humble detective, Hugo Fromage (which, for the uninitiated, is French for “big cheese.”) I’m sure you can tell I’ve had a LOT of fun with this!

Images copyright Jen Hill

Each chapter in The Uncanny Express starts with one of Tillie’s Tips and second with a message from Professor Magic’s Rules of Illusion. The tips and rules are really quite good. I particularly like this one:

The closest thing to feeling real magic is performing for people and helping them to experience the impossible.

Why did you decide to employ this technique?  

Images copyright Jen Hill

In the first book, The Jolly Regina, Kale brings along the Bland Sisters’ favorite (and only) reading material, their illustrated children’s dictionary, so the chapter heads in the story all feature dictionary definitions. That dictionary falls by the wayside — quite literally! — in the first book, but I really loved the way it worked and wanted to do something similar in The Uncanny Express. I thought it would be a nice way to show the Bland Sisters’ character development to have them toting around a pretty mundane book of housekeeping tips at the outset of the story, but venturing a bit outside of their literary comfort zone by the end. Also, just as each word defined in the chapter heads is a word used in that chapter in The Jolly Regina, the housekeeping tips and magical advice in the chapter heads of The Uncanny Express are always relevant to the action in each chapter. It’s an extra bit of fun for my readers, and it was a fun sort of challenge for me to work it all out.

As a fan of mystery and detective stories I couldn’t help but make the connect between the Bland Sisters’ trials and tribulations aboard this train and those experienced by characters in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.  Are you an Agatha Christie fan?  Do you have favorite mystery and detective titles or authors?

Oh, yes, I am a huuuuuge Christie fan, and a mystery fan in general. I grew up watching Masterpiece Mystery and started reading Agatha Christie from an early age. Just as The Jolly Regina takes place on a ship, I knew I wanted the second book to take place on a train, and since I’d already had so much fun with the tropes of classic pirate stories, I was eager to try my hand at a Christie parody/homage. Many of the mysteries I read now are all pretty adult — I love Gillian Flynn, Kate Atkinson, Tana French, and Ruth Ware, for instance. (Interestingly, all women. Hmm…) But I also recently read (and loved) Kristen Kittscher’s The Wig in the Window and The Tiara on the Terrace, I just finished The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie, which was terrific, and I know Lauren Magaziner has a new choose-your-own-adventure-style mystery series called Case Closed launching this spring that I can’t wait to get my hands on.

Did you have to do any special research about magic and illusions prior to writing The Uncanny Express?  If so do you have a favorite resource?  (Students enjoy learning about magic and illusions.)

Images copyright Jen Hill

Yes, I always do tons of research. For The Uncanny Express, I read a great instructional book for kids called Big Magic for Little Hands by Joshua Jay. I also read a lot about the history of magic in books like Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer, and I did online research on Adelaide Herrmann, the real-life Queen of Magic, on whom Magique in The Uncanny Express is based. (There is now an excellent picture book biography about her called Anything But Ordinary Addie by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno.)

Images copyright Jen Hill

And of course, I read and re-read Murder on the Orient Express and other Hercule Poirot mysteries. In addition, I watched every episode of the Poirot mystery series and took copious notes, and I read David Suchet’s memoir about playing the great detective, called Poirot and Me (Suchet was committed to playing Poirot exactly as Christie wrote him, so I appreciated his insights).

The portions of the plot when Kale and Jaundice are dreaming add tension and intrigue to the story.  When and why did you decide to include these in The Uncanny Express?

I tend to have very vivid dreams, so I’ve always been interested in dreaming and how our subconscious takes over while we’re sleeping. Jaundice and Kale are so reticent in their waking life, but there’s quite a bit bubbling beneath the surface. It seemed right that their dreams would be pretty telling. Also, dreams continue to play a part in the third book in the series, though I don’t want to give too much more away!

As a writer you have a gift in bringing the characters to life using somewhat quirky traits.  Are the characters fully developed before the plot begins or do their personalities grow as the story progresses when you are writing?

Images copyright Jen Hill

I create character profiles before I start writing, especially for this series, where there are so many characters in each story, and I really need to feel like I have some semblance of control. But they still end up surprising me! For instance, Countess Goudenoff didn’t have a dog at first, but the line “The tea spilled, all over my Chrysanthemum” came to me, and I realized, of course she would have a yappy little lap dog, and of course it would be named Chrysanthemum! Those moments when the story takes on a life of its own are so exciting.

As I was reading both The Jolly Regina and The Uncanny Express I found myself placing sticky notes at bits of life wisdom you weave into the stories.  The final sentence in the first book makes reference to a letter.  Is this why you have the sisters’ parents communicating with them through letters?

Well, given the distance between them, their parents can only communicate with them through letters (at this point, at least). Though all that might change, sooner rather than later!

Although these stories are totally absurd, it’s important that they also have some kind of emotional resonance so the reader can feel invested. Just as the Bland Sisters are learning (however slowly and obliviously!) from their experiences, I hope my audience might be taking something away from the stories, too.

Continuing with this train of thought I enjoyed what Magique says to the Bland Sisters:

I told you that the mind is our most powerful tool.  And that if we use it often and well, it will tell us many things and show us many secrets. . . .”

In addition to the adventure, action, magic and mystery what else do you hope readers will take away from reading about the Bland Sisters and The Uncanny Express?

Among other things, Magique and Hugo Fromage encourage the Bland Sisters to be present and observant, and how important it is to go through life with your eyes and ears open. That piece of advice is also extremely relevant to me as a writer. In that way, I’m a bit of a magician and detective, too!

I think I’ll end with twelve questions.  I know the Bland Sisters would appreciate the fact the number is divisible by three.  I wish you safe travels as you continue your journey on this tour.  I can hardly wait to step into another exciting episode in the lives of these two girls.

Thank you so much — your questions were so thoughtful, and so much fun to consider and answer!

Kara LaReau was born and raised in Connecticut. She received her Masters in Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and later worked as an editor at Candlewick Press and at Scholastic Press. She is the author of picture books such as UGLY FISH, illustrated by Scott Magoon, and NO SLURPING, NO BURPING! A Tale of Table Manners, illustrated by Lorelay Bove; an award-winning chapter book series called The Infamous Ratsos, illustrated by Matt Myers; and a middle-grade trilogy called The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters, illustrated by Jen Hill. Kara lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and son and their cat.

THE UNCANNY EXPRESS

BLOG TOUR

1/9   The Little Crooked Cottage

1/10 MG Book Village

1/11 Mrs. Knott's Book Nook

1/12 YAYOMG!

1/15 Librarian's Quest

1/16 Storymamas

1/17 All The Wonders

1/18 Project Mayhem

1/21 Nerdy Book Club