Screen shot of the opening paragraphs of the letter to the New York Times asking for children's nonfiction bestseller lists.
On February 14, 2022, as part of the #KidsLoveNonfiction campaign, Mary Ann Cappiello, Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University and Xenia Hadjioannou, Associate Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Harrisburg campus of Penn State University, sent a letter to The New York Times requesting that the paper add three children’s nonfiction bestseller lists to parallel the existing picture book, middle grade, and young adult lists, which focus on fiction. The letter was also shared on more than 20 blogs that serve the literacy and children's literature communities. (I learned about it from nonfiction powerhouse author Melissa Stewart.)
This change will align the children’s lists with the adult bestseller lists, which separate nonfiction and fiction. It will also acknowledge the incredible vibrancy of children’s nonfiction available today and support the substantial body of research showing that many children prefer nonfiction and still others enjoy fiction and nonfiction equally.
The submitted letter included the signatures of more than 500 educators and librarians as well as the institutional signatures of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Children’s Literature Assembly of NCTE.
• Help family members, caregivers, and educators identify worthy nonfiction titles.
• Provide a resource for bibliophiles—including book-loving children—of materials that satisfy their curiosity.
• Influence publishers’ decision-making.
• Inform the public about innovative ways to convey information and ideas through words and images.
• Inspire schools and public libraries to showcase nonfiction, broadening its appeal and deepening respect for truth.
The letter is now available as a petition for individuals – including those of us who create (write, illustrate, translate) and work in and with children's literature (agents, editors, booksellers, librarians) – to sign to show our support.
Steve Sheinkin's nonfiction for young readers has won numerous awards, and now with the publication of his latest, Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, he chats with Lana Barnes over at Shelf Awareness about researching and writing nonfiction for teens.
A couple of standout moments:
“it's easy to find exciting true stories to tell. And the research, the nerdy detective work, is actually fun. Kids often accuse me of doing homework for a living, and I admit it. But the thing is, I get to pick the assignment, and that makes all the difference. The hardest part is figuring out how to work the needed background information into a story without killing the momentum.”
and
“I always start with libraries and good old-fashioned books. Just find a nonfiction book on a subject you're interested in (in this case, the Berlin Wall), and take notes on the people and storylines that are most intriguing. Then you can start to narrow the search, to hunt for more details on those figures, using other books, online sources, newspaper archives, interviews--whatever it takes.”
and
“I really believe true stories can be just as much fun to read as novels, and I'm trying to prove it. In terms of takeaways, my number-one goal is always to make readers curious. I hope they'll come away wanting to know more, inspired to dig deeper into whatever part of the story they found most compelling.”
Cynthia Leitich-Smith's amazing Cynsations blog hosts this wonderful interview between Kekla Magoon and Carole Boston Weatherford.
A few highlights:
"I mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles. Like Harlem Renaissance bibliophile Arturo Schomburg to document the history of African descendants, I aim to construct a truer, more complete history. That is affirming for me and for our children." —Carole Boston Weatherford
On Carole's picture book about the Tulsa Race Massacre, Unspeakable:
Kekla: It must have been a challenge to tell this difficult and painful story about Tulsa in a style that works for young readers, and you do an amazing job of making the information relatable. How did you approach that challenge, and why did you feel it was important to share this story with even the very youngest children?
Carole: I told this story for the same reason that I wrote the elegy Birmingham, 1963 (WordSong, 2007) about the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Past sacrifices should not be forgotten. But they will be unless we pass our history down to our children.
I do not believe that children are too tender for tough topics. Children deserve and demand the truth—a complete history that had not been whitewashed or candy-coated. Children were victimized by slavery and segregation and suffer under systemic racism. Given the adultification of Black children and the criminalization and police and vigilante murders of Black people, we cannot afford to condescend to children.
Illustrators have the Portfolio Showcase, putting their illustrations in front of the top publishing professionals working today. And the winners of that portfolio showcase have gone on to have significant careers as illustrators!
Now, on a scale the SCBWI hasn't done before, there's a parallel opportunity for writers:
Registered Winter 2021 conference attendees who are SCBWI members can post up to 500 words of ONE children’s book manuscript, PB text, PB dummy or manuscript synopsis to our online manuscript gallery. Over a hundred editors and agents will be invited to peruse the gallery starting on February 19, 2021. These agents and editors will then reach out to authors whose work is a good fit for their lists. This is a fantastic opportunity to get your work in front of industry professionals!
Melissa: Yes, many people seem to think that writing nonfiction is simple and straightforward—just do some research and then cobbling together a bunch of facts. But nothing could be further from the truth.
To craft high-quality prose, nonfiction writers have to dig deep. We have to be personally invested. We have to get in touch with our passions and our vulnerabilities and use them to fuel our work.
The topics we choose, the approaches we take, and the concepts and themes we explore are closely linked to who we are as people—our personalities, our beliefs, and our experiences in the world.
As far as we’re concerned, putting the information we collect through our own personal filters and making our own meaning is the secret to creating engaging nonfiction.
We wanted to bring this message to teachers and students—and also aspiring children’s book authors. It’s a critical part of our writing process that often goes unseen and unappreciated.
Lee: I'll just say now that I'm completely honored to be one of the contributing nonfiction writers! But 50 contributors is a lot of coordinating - and selecting! Tell us about the process of putting this all together.
Melissa: Thank you for contributing, Lee. Your essay is SO powerful!
During our discussion, we dove deeply into what fuels our work and why we routinely dedicate years of our lives to a single manuscript.
As we compared our thoughts and experiences, we came to realize that each of our books has a piece of us at its heart. And that personal connection is what drives us to keep working despite the inevitable obstacles and setbacks.
Several other nonfiction authors were in the audience, and afterward, they praised our insights. That conversation helped us all understand our creative process in a new and exciting way.
I wanted to explore this idea further, so during the 2018-2019 school year, I invited 38 colleagues to write essays for my blog. After the first few appeared, teachers began asking if all the essays could be compiled in one place. That’s when I began thinking about a book.
Once a publisher accepted my proposal (and there were a lot of rejections), I thought carefully about creating a sense of balance.
I wanted to include contributions from roughly equal numbers of science writers, history writers, and biographers. I thought a lot about equity and inclusion, and about balancing picture books and long-form nonfiction. Before I knew it, I was so close to fifty contributors that I decided to go for that nice round number.
Plenty of people warned me that editing an anthology with 50 contributors was an act of insanity, but my colleagues never let me down. Despite their busy schedules, they met all their deadlines. The nonfiction community is a tight-knit, supportive group, and everyone was committed to making this a great book.
Lee: It seems there are multiple audiences for the book - teachers, students, adult writers of nonfiction... How do you see the book impacting each of those audiences? (And, if I've missed one, let me know!)
Melissa:I’d add librarians too. School librarians play an important role in helping students with the nonfiction writing process.
While the essays in Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep can be used by educators in many ways, from serving as mentor texts for writing personal narratives to enriching author studies, our fondest hope is that this book will transform the way nonfiction writing is taught in schools.
The best nonfiction writing happens when students (or adults) choose a topic they’re excited about and then spend time synthesizing their research and viewing the information through their own personal lens. But right now, most students jump straight from research to writing.
Because every instructional minute is precious, teachers may be reluctant for students to take more time at the beginning of the process. But it’s time well spent because it will reduce time spent revising later on.
For adult writers, we hope that reading the essays will be like sitting down to have a cup of coffee with a good friend. As each author opens up about their process, their craft, their truth, readers will develop the ability to identify their own truth and their own voice. They will feel empowered to craft the book that only they can write.
Lee: The book also includes "a wide range of tips, tools, teaching strategies, and activity ideas from editor Melissa Stewart to help students (1) choose a topic, (2) focus that topic by identifying a core idea, theme, or concept, and (3) analyze their research to find a personal connection. By adding a piece of themselves to their drafts, students will learn to craft rich, unique prose." Tell us more about those, and how they're integrated with the rest.
Melissa: The book is divided into three chapters—Choosing a Topic, Finding a Focus, and Making It Personal. These are the three steps nonfiction writers struggle with most as they conceptualize a piece.
Each chapter begins with an overview that introduces key ideas and provides tips and tools for navigating the author essays. Following 16 or 17 essays, each chapter concludes with an In the Classroom section. It provides strategies and writing activities that help student writers as well as adult writers apply the ideas in the essays to their own writing.
Lee: Proceeds from sales of the book will be split between SCBWI, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and We Need Diverse Books. That's amazing, and generous, and very cool. Can you tell us what's behind that decision?
Melissa: Financing a book like this was tricky. Educational publishers like NCTE Books don’t pay an advance, just royalties. But it’s not possible to split a royalty among fifty people.
Because I feel strongly that writers should always be compensated for their work, I paid each contributing author $200 out of my own pocket. After I’ve earned back that money through royalties, I’ll donate the rest of the proceeds to non-profit organizations that support all children’s book authors and the young readers we serve. For me, this book is a labor of love, and I want it to help as many people as possible.
Lee: Is there anything else about the book you'd like to share with the SCBWI audience?
Melissa: It’s worth mentioning that SCBWI played an important role in the creation of this book. The money I paid the contributing authors came from an unexpected special sale that occurred because one of my books was on display at the SCBWI booth at the Bologna Book Fair a few years ago. Without SCBWI, this anthology probably wouldn’t exist.
This organization has made my writing life richer in so many ways. I really can’t thank Lin Oliver, Sarah Baker, Tammy Brown, Kim Turrisi, and the whole SCBWI team enough.
SCBWI board member and author of over 100 nonfiction books for young readers Melissa Stewart has a vision to change how nonfiction is understood - by students, teachers, librarians, and yes, even we writers and illustrators!
As the recent cover copy of the book edited by Melissa and published by NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) describes it:
In Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-Winning Children’s Book Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing, some of today’s most celebrated writers for children share essays that describe a critical part of the informational writing process that is often left out of classroom instruction. To craft engaging nonfiction, professional writers choose topics that fascinate them and explore concepts and themes that reflect their passions, personalities, beliefs, and experiences in the world. By scrutinizing the information they collect to make their own personal meaning, they create distinctive books that delight as well as inform.
The book includes essays from many SCBWI members as well, featuring the perspectives of:
Sarah Albee
Chris Barton
Donna Janell Bowman
Mary Kay Carson
Nancy Castaldo
Jason Chin
Lesa Cline-Ransome
Seth Fishman
Candace Fleming
Kelly Milner Halls
Deborah Heiligman
Susan Hood
Gail Jarrow
Lita Judge
Jess Keating
Barbara Kerley
Heather Lang
Cynthia Levinson
Michelle Markel
Carla Killough McClafferty
Heather Montgomery
Patricia Newman
Elizabeth Partridge
Baptiste Paul
Miranda Paul
Teresa Robeson
Mara Rockliff
Barb Rosenstock
Laura Purdie Salas
Anita Sanchez
April Pulley Sayre
Steve Sheinkin
Ray Anthony Shepard
Anita Silvey
Traci Sorell
Tanya Lee Stone
Jennifer Swanson
Stephen R. Swinburne
Don Tate
Laurie Ann Thompson
Pamela Turner
Patricia Valdez
Sandra Neil Wallace
Laurie Wallmark
Jennifer Ward
Carole Boston Weatherford
Lee Wind (full disclosure - the author of this post)
Paula Yoo
Karen Romano Young
A very cool part of the project is that "100 percent of the proceeds will be divided among the National Council of Teachers for English (NCTE), We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)"
And some behind the scenes information from Melissa:
“The idea for this book traces back to the 2017 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, when I was fortunate to participate in a panel titled ‘The Secret of Crafting Engaging Nonfiction’ with two of the most talented children’s nonfiction authors of our time—Candace Fleming and Deborah Heiligman.
“During our discussion, moderated by educator and children’s nonfiction enthusiast Alyson Beecher, we dove deeply into what fuels our work and why we routinely dedicate years of our lives to a single manuscript. As we compared our thoughts and experiences, we came to realize something critically important—each of our books has a piece of us at its heart. And that personal connection is what drives us to keep working despite the inevitable obstacles and setbacks.
“Several other nonfiction authors attended our presentation, and afterward they praised our insights. That conversation helped us all understand our creative process in a new and exciting way. And it eventually led to the essays in this anthology, which are our way of sharing an important—and often unrecognized and underappreciated—aspect of nonfiction writing with educators and students.”
This Friday Nov 6 and Saturday Nov 7, 2020, this Nonfiction conference promises a panel of editors, a panel of authors, five keynotes from acclaimed authors Kevin Noble Maillard, Elizabeth Partridge, and Carole Boston Weatherford, editor Emily Feinberg, and Eduardo DÃaz (Director of the Smithsonian Latino Center), and much more!
Senior Editor at Bloomsbury Kids Susan Dobinick speaks with Theo Baker about the lessons she’s learned as an editor, shares advice for nonfiction authors, and tells us what she’s hoping to find.
Hosted on Zoom, with the video recordings available through November 22nd, the schedule includes:
Keynotes (from the likes of Carole Boston Weatherford, Kevin Noble Maillard, and Elizabeth Partridge,
Panels on aligning your book to curriculum, age, and reading level, an editors panel on the current market for Nonfiction, another editors panel where they'll give feedback on query letters, an authors panel on creative approaches to writing nonfiction and another authors panel on nonfiction writing as a personal journey, and
breakout sessions on STEM, History/Social Science, Culture, and Biography!
The Smithsonian Libraries is the largest museum library system in the word, with over 2.5 million collection items and expert staff answering our 20,000 reference questions per year. In this session, you’ll learn more about the Smithsonian Libraries and explore how you can use Smithsonian resources for your work, from near or far. Join Outreach Librarian Erin Clements Rushing and Mid-Atlantic SCBWI Non-Fiction Coordinator Marcie Atkins for an evening of learning about Smithsonian research resources. The event will be held on 22 September from 7:00 pm to about 8:30 pm (Eastern Daylight Time).
New York Times bestselling author and winner of the National Book Award M. T. Anderson speaks with Theo Baker about history and time, experimentation, and literature. They also discuss research and switching between multiple projects.
Listen to the episode trailer here.
What is the biggest obstacle you face in writing a biography?
Creating a story. A biography isn’t a chronological list of milestones. That’s a timeline, it goes in the back matter. For me, a biography is story with a beginning, middle, and an end. A biography has a scene-to-scene plot with rising and falling action. A good biography demonstrates change in the character from beginning to end. But researching a person's life doesn’t fall so easily into my criteria. Therein lies the obstacle.
and
Many of your stories deal with hard, painful truths about U.S. history. How do you tell these stories and make them appropriate for children?
Hansel and Gretel is the story of two young kids who are kidnapped by a cannibalistic witch. They are threatened to get baked in an oven. The story of Hansel and Gretel is a fairy tale; it’s not nonfiction, obviously. But for generations, it was a popular story for young readers. Children are tough. They can handle tough stories. I don’t think it’s a good idea to hide our tough history from children.
The enslavement of Black people was an inhumane institution that existed lawfully in the U.S. at one time. That’s an ugly truth. It should not be sugar-coated or erased. Children are our future, and they need to know what happened in the past in order to prevent bad things from happening again. That said, there are certainly things within the topic of slavery that I cannot address in a children’s book. My stories serve as an entryway to discussion.
Multi-award winning nonfiction author Elizabeth Partridge speaks to Theo Baker about how her upbringing impacted her storytelling, her way into oral histories, and the responsibility she feels towards the people she interviews. She considers how her work is “bearing witness” and shares what she’s learned about writing compelling nonfiction.
Elizabeth Partridge was awarded the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Non-Fiction for Older Readers for "Boots on the Ground: America's War In Vietnam" at the SCBWI 2019 Winter Conference in New York City on February 8, 2019.
Award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge
Here, we catch up with Elizabeth about her book and winning this honor...
Lee: Congratulations, Elizabeth! Please tell us about finding out you’d won this Golden Kite Award.
Elizabeth: Lin Oliver called and left a message on my cell phone. I didn’t recognize the number, so I didn’t even check my message for a couple of days. Then I heard her message in which said she had “important news.” It didn’t even occur to me she was calling about the Golden Kite! I was working on a deadline, and my mind was far, far away. I was totally blown away when I called her back and she told me the important news was that I’d won the Golden Kite!
Lee: Pitch us to move Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam to the top of our To-Be-Read pile — What's it about?
Elizabeth: Nearly three million Americans served in Vietnam during the war, almost ten percent of their generation. They came home to a divided, disillusioned country. I interviewed men who fought, a nurse, a refugee, and a protestor to hear their stories of what the war was like for them. What did courage look like to them? Honor? How had their morals changed? Their answers were not what I expected. The Vietnam War changed America forever. It cost the lives of nearly 60,000 young Americans, took down a president, and forced us to deal with a wave of refugees we were ill-prepared for. We’re divided again as a nation, and the seeds of our divisiveness were planted during the Vietnam War. What lessons can we learn from the turmoil and anguish of the war, so that we can make better decisions for our country today?
Lee: I love how relevant to today you made it! Is there an Ah-ha! Moment from the book’s creation you can share?
Elizabeth: There were so many amazing, intense, overwhelming moments in putting together Boots on the Ground. One that struck me early in interviewing veterans is how the war was still totally vivid for every one of them. As they spoke with me, it was as if they were back in Vietnam. As I got closer to finishing the book I realized that each individual story is both highly personal, and also woven deeply into the fabric of what makes history. I love the place where personal and political meet up. It’s an intense, powerful cross-current.
Lee: How long have you been a member of SCBWI, and how has SCBWI helped on your journey?
Elizabeth: I’ve been a member of SCBWI since before I was published, 25 years ago. At first, SCBWI helped me sort out my beginner questions: who can I submit to? What is the proper format for a manuscript? How do I write a picture book manuscript? After getting published, I started presenting at SCBWI chapters and really enjoyed meeting other authors and lending a hand/giving advice to the people coming up. When my friend, illustrator Martha Weston, died unexpectedly, her family wanted to create a tribute to her, and asked me what would be the best organization to sponsor a grant in her name. Without hesitation I said SCBWI, and they set up a terrific grant that is going strong. Check it out. https://www.scbwi.org/awards/martha-weston-grant/ I’ve always kept my membership current and have loved watching SCBWI stretch its wings to be helpful to more long-time published authors as well as aspiring authors. It really ticks me off when people label SCBWI as being just for beginners. It is so much more! The huge network of local groups all over the United States and a few overseas are invaluable for making our community a real community.
Lee: What advice do you have to share with other children’s book creators?
Elizabeth: Very few people are excellent at writing when they start out. It’s a craft, like cider-making, or weaving. Take classes, read, write. Try out different genres. And in our crazy-busy world, you have to make sure you actually DO it, not just think about doing it. Get your butt in the chair, and keep at it.
Lee: Super advice, yes, we must DO it! Thanks so much, Elizabeth, and again, congratulations!
“There’s a common, crushing misconception that fiction is creative writing drawn from the depths of a writer’s soul, while nonfiction is simply a recitation of facts that any basic robot could spit out.
The reality is very different. I think my personality, my beliefs, and my experiences are deeply embedded in the books I end up writing ” —Laura Purdie Salas
Melissa turns the spotlight on 33 other authors of nonfiction for kids in this ongoing series "Nonfiction Authors Dig Deep." It's packed insights into their process, tips, and inspiration, and is well-worth checking out!
“Again and again, what you’ll hear is that crafting nonfiction involves much more than just cobbling together a bunch of facts. The books we choose to write and the perspectives we choose to explore are often closely linked to who we are as people and our experiences in the world. Nonfiction writers—all writers—have to dig deep. If we don’t, our writing will fall flat, and no one will want to read it.
Our passion for a project, our author purpose, is what drives us to dedicate years of our lives to a single manuscript. It spurs us on despite the obstacles and setbacks, and of course, through the inevitable criticism and rejections.” —Melissa Stewart
“Writers are often told to write what they know. As far as I’m concerned, we should write what we’re passionate about. We can always research (and who doesn’t like research?) a topic, but if we’re not interested in it—boring!
Which brings me to why I write about women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). Doing so lets me combine two of my passions—STEM and equal opportunity for all.” —Laurie Wallmark
“At one point, my well-meaning and incredibly supportive husband said something along the lines of, “Why are you [an able-bodied white woman from Wisconsin] writing this story anyway? Maybe it’s time to move on to something you know more about.” I had to wonder if maybe he was right. What did I have in common with Emmanuel? Why was I writing this story in the first place?
It turns out these were just the questions I needed to ask to come up with an approach that finally worked. You see, I’d had all the facts lined up in a satisfying order, but what was missing was… me.
I’d been so focused on writing the facts that I’d carefully removed all of my own feelings about it. But isn’t authentic human emotion just another kind of truth? And isn’t it, perhaps, the most important kind of truth we can share with one another?
When I finally sat down and got clear about my “why” for telling that story, the “how” to best tell it revealed itself almost immediately. For me, it isn’t really a story about having a disability or even Emmanuel himself. It’s about being left out and overlooked, feeling frustrated by injustice and inequality, and wanting to make the world a better place.
Those are all things I felt deeply as a child, and things I can still relate to as an adult. The book reveals as much about me, I think, as it does about Emmanuel.” —Laurie Ann Thompson
“I wrote Safe in a Storm (Scholastic, 2017) shortly after the 9/11 attack on the United States. I felt like we’d been struck by a storm that day. As I thought about what I could write after the initial shock and grief subsided, I began, as I often do, to view writing ideas through the lens of nature.
How do animals survive storms? For instance, how do a whale and her calf ride out an ocean squall?
And, yes, it took 15 years to find a publishing home for Safe in a Storm, but I never gave up. I kept on believing in this story about how animals find cozy places to keep them safe and warm, no matter how loud the storm rumbles or how dark the night gets. Bear cubs huddled together in a den, mom and baby owl nestled in a sturdy tree, and a bobcat family sheltering on a ledge, all while the winds and rain bluster and blow. I kept on believing in the protective, healing power of home and family.” —Steve Swinburn
In "Bartering with the Facts: How a Novelist Solves a Historical Problem," Samantha Harvey shares what happened when research revealed that the confession box she had scoffolded her 1491-set novel around wasn't in line with the history of confession boxes in Catholic Churches in England- she was off by about fifty years.
“I decided that I could keep the confession box in my novel if I could acknowledge and explain how it was that a small, inconsequential village called Oakham—itself made up—could be the first in England to have such a thing. What conditions could make it possible, and what social, cultural, psychological, religious detail could make it plausible? In terms of novel writing, plausibility seems to me the more interesting cousin of truth. It’s where facts are arranged in such a way that they align to form a feeling of truth—a truthiness—that infuses the novel and becomes part of its internal logic.”
She also writes,
“Writing is a form of spellbinding. Anything amiss will break the spell—anything that seems wrong or off-key or untrue or disingenuous or, ironically if fiction, made up. (Of course, fiction is making-up by and large, but the trick is to make it seem not so at least while the reader is reading.) The spell is cast when there is a feeling of truth about what’s happening—whether that’s come about by adhering closely to facts, or by subverting, manipulating and coloring the facts. To me this isn’t a moral question about fiction’s responsibility to the truth, as some would have it, but only an aesthetic question. You do whatever you need to do to sustain the spell.”
Samantha shares two other examples of things that were "off" about the history of her book, and how in one case, she corrected it, and in the other case, she didn't—and explains why.
It's a fascinating look into the “ the strange dance between fact and fiction that we call research” and writing historical fiction.
In the Nonfiction for Older Reader category, Deborah Heiligman's "Vincent and Theo" won the 2018 Golden Kite Award! I connected with Deborah via email to learn more...
Lee: Congratulations on “Vincent and Theo” winning the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction for Older Readers! Please tell us what your book is about.
Deborah: Thank you, Lee. I'm thrilled that it won! Vincent and Theo is about the relationship between the Van Gogh brothers. It is a long-form narrative nonfiction, which I worked on for five years. They style is meant to reflect Vincent's different styles of painting, and the whole book is structured as a walk through a museum show.
Lee: Why write a book about Vincent Van Gogh now?
Deborah: Well, I got the idea in Amsterdam in 2011, and I started working on it that fall. It took me a long time to do all the research, and then to write it. I revised it many times. So, while I wish it had come out sooner, it seemed like 2017 was a fine time for it to come out. I think that people are always eager for the inside story on famous people, and I think art matters even in the worst of times. Maybe especially in the worst of times!
Lee: The Golden Kite is just one of the many awards this book has received. Besides it being awesome, do you have a sense of why this book is resonating with award judges and getting such critical acclaim? (I mean this in the kindest way, I just think it’s fascinating that some author’s books hit different targets, yet many of their books are passion-driven and amazing.)
Deborah: Oh my goodness, I have no idea! I know there are a lot of worthy books published every year. I am just truly grateful that Vincent and Theo resonated with reviewers and judges, and now I hope it has a long life and resonates with many readers. But that's what we all want, isn't it? Our books to reach readers. I hope everyone who is reading this gets that wish fulfilled.
Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to write about some of the major historical events of my time. Looking back, I’ve recaptured forgotten memories and, through research, gained a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped my generation.
Along the way, I wanted to add my voice to the massive body of literature about the holocaust without simply repeating what has already been said. I was searching for an approach that would convey a redeeming theme of hope and human decency amidst the ruins of history.
My eureka moment–my spark of inspiration—resulted from a chance encounter with an amazing movie. A friend gave me a DVD of Sophie Scholl, a German film nominated in 1985 for an Academy Award as the year’s best foreign language film. A powerful story about youthful courage and idealism, the film introduced me to the White Rose student resistance movement in Nazi Germany—an episode of youthful courage and idealism. This was the story I had been searching for. I immediately began the research that would take me to Munich, Germany, birthplace of both the Nazi party and the anti-Nazi student resistance movement, a city dedicated today to the memory of the fearless young activists who defied Adolf Hitler.
Russell's editor Dinah Stevenson was kind enough to answer some questions as well...
Lee; What made you say “Yes!” to “We Will Not Be Silent”?
Dinah: I always say yes to Russell. Sometimes he proposes a couple of different book ideas and I choose between them. This time he didn’t offer alternative projects, and I immediately agreed that this should be his next project. I shared his vision that this book, with its young protagonists, would be fascinating and inspiring to young readers. Further, I responded to the subject on a personal level, since both Russell and I are Jews.
Lee: Did the book change throughout the process of working with Russell, and if so, how?
Dinah: Not noticeably. Russell’s manuscripts are invariably well thought out and complete, and this one was no exception. I asked him to clarify and provide context for some of the content. There were no substantive changes.
Lee: Do you have thoughts to share on Russell winning the Golden Kite for this book — the book you edited?
Dinah: I’m thrilled to see this book recognized by SCBWI, his fellow writers, and to know that you share my belief in this book. Of course I like it when discerning groups like you and the Sibert Award committee agree with me. But many editors are shy, nocturnal creatures and don’t welcome the spotlight. I’m one of them. I credit Russell’s brilliant writing and thorough professionalism with the success of his work, and I’m delighted that he dedicated this book to me—honoring our long-term author-editor relationship and our close friendship.
Thank you, Dinah! And thanks and congratulations again to Russell! Curious to learn more about the Golden Kite Awards? Here's that link.
