TUESDAY 2: Two Primary Resources

I never know, when I start researching a story, just what I'll find. But always, there are lovely surprises.

Like BOOK 1.
And BOOK 2.
Book 1 is supplementary, really. I'm not dealing with the starvation experiment so much as the motivation for those who participated. (Conscientious objection to war)

And Book 2? I didn't plan to write about Sergeant Alvin York. and I wasn't prepared to like him, either.

If you'd told me that one could be a conscientious objector and a sharp shooting war hero all at the same time, I'd have been more than a little cynical.

But having read his story in his own words?
Ah, York demonstrates so well the complexities of the human response to war. And for this, I love him.

TUESDAY 2: Two Touching Things

I learn the most endearing things at school visits.

1. Like today, a girl quietly handed me a note while I was talking to another student and then she slipped away. I opened it and read:

Thank you very much for writing this book. It means alot to me. And it inspired me to help people in need so I brought my piggy bank to school to start the March of Dimes again.

Wow! That touches me so deeply. And this is the month for the annual March of Dimes campaign. If you get a change to contribute, please do. MoD started out as an organization to raise funds for polio treatment and research but now it helps babies with birth defects. Such a worthy cause!

2. Ms. Miles, a teacher at the school, told me about a student whose grandmother died while the class was reading this book. The students were in the process of creating bottles that represented their life and their pain (based on chapter 19 of BLUE. Somehow the story of the bottle that holds our tears reached the minister who looked up the passage and used it as his text in the grandmother's funeral.

Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Psalm 56:8

I got some other really neat testimonials from the students. But this is Tuesday so I'm limiting myself to 2 items!

TUESDAY 2: Two Books by NC Authors (and by Front Street)

1. The Book I Finished: Isabel and the Miracle Baby by Emily Smith Pearce

First Line: When Mama was in the kitchen, Isabel grabbed a handful of the baby’s wispy brown hair and yanked.

2. The Book I'm Reading. Wild Things by Clay Carmichael

First Line: (from the cat's viewpoint) Humans were diggers and buriers, the cat thought, like dogs.

First Lines: (from the girl's viewpoint) I'd hoped for better, Henry being a heart doctor. A job like that, you'd think he might actually have a heart.

Two great books which received starred reviews! But then, what do you expect from Front Street? And North Carolina!

TUESDAY 2: Two questions of Kerry Madden

Kerry Madden, author of the Maggie Valley Trilogy and Harper Lee signing books at a teacher workshop in North Carolina.

On April 2, I posted a brief Q & A with Kerry Madden, author of the Maggie Valley Trilogy. Check out that interview here. Today I continue the interview with some questions regarding Kerry’s newest book.


1. Kerry, I know you have a biography of Harper Lee (starred review from Kirkus, no less!) When did you first read To Kill A Mockingbird? Do you remember how you felt about it at the time?

I didn't read it until I was in college - I don't know why - I had assumed Harper Lee was a man, and I'd assumed that "he'd" written other books. But a friend in Knoxville told me that Harper Lee was a woman, and she'd only written one book.

This sparked my curiosity and I bought it at a used bookstore in Knoxville and loved it...and then I saw the movie on the big screen at the TENNESSEE THEATRE in Knoxville on Gay Street, and I was just stunned by the beauty. I went back and read the book again and it stayed with me.

I would show my children part of the movie on Christmas Eve when they were little. I was such a crazed, haphazard mother myself and watching Gregory Peck parent his children was a kind of solace. That's silly, I know, but the book and the film made me want to be a better person and to treasure childhood more - meaning that of my own children. They were growing so fast that I wanted to hang onto them a little.

That led me to write Gentle's Holler, so I could capture them a little. Norah inspired Caroline the fairy child...and Flannery was like Emmett, headstrong and determined to do what he was going to do, and Lucy was like Louise - an artist who sees so much more than what is on the surface.

2. I’ve loved reading your blogposts about research trips to Alabama . Can you tell us about your favorite source of information?
I blogged about much of the Alabama research on the Penguin Blog at this link.

These blogs are mostly about Monroeville, Alabama and meeting Miss Alice Lee, (Harper Lee's sister), Mr. George Thomas Jones and Mr. A.B. Blass (Harper Lee's schoolmates), and Jennings Carter (Truman's cousin)...and finally a trip to Gee's Bend.

The best part of writing this book was that so many people that I interviewed were in their 80s and 90s! They had so many wonderful stories. One of my favorites was Kathryn Tucker Windham. She covered crime for the Montgomery Advertiser during World War II. The police chief asked her, "What is a lady doing covering crime? Why aren't you covering weddings and society?" She told him, "I don't know enough adjectives."

I wrote a very long essay for the literary magazine: FIVE POINTS: A JOURNAL OF LITERATURE AND ART about three Alabama authors - Harper Lee's silence led me to them. I called it WORDS ON FIRE, and the authors in the story are: HELEN NORRIS BELL, MARY WARD BROWN, and KATHRYN TUCKER WINDHAM.

I'll be back in a few days with more conversation with Kerry! Meanwhile take note of the paintings in the picture below. They are the handiwork of Louise, a character in the Maggie Valley Trilogy.

TUESDAY 2: Two Amazing Moments

Ann Hobgood's amazing bottle tree!

I had more than a few amazing moments last week while traveling about Alamance County. But I'll just share two of them here.

1. On Thursday evening, I enjoyed a lovely dinner with several of the Friends of the Library and Alamance Reads committee. The host, Stig Egede-Nissen invited the group around the table to join hands and he offered a beautiful prayer of thankfulness. I felt very much like I was with family.

Stig is Norwegian so he didn't stop with the grace. He went on to pronounce a Norwegian blessing on me. I have no idea what he said. Looking back on it, I think I should have been curious enough to ask. But at the time, I simply soaked in the moment. Hearing it in Norwegian was so beautiful - it was all I needed.

2. On Friday morning, at Turrentine Middle School a 6th grade teacher came to the media center with a student who'd written a research paper on polio. I'm not sure if the 6th graders read my book as a group but they were not in the assembly that came to hear me speak. The teacher wanted me to know that Dylan chose this topic because Blue had piqued his interest. I couldn't take the time to read and really appreciate it then so Dylan made a copy for me and now I have my very own.

Dylan - I read it! Your research is great! The paper is really good. I hope you keep on researching and writing! And if I can help, let me know.

TUESDAY 2: Two Questions By Turrentine Middle Schoolers

1. What was your motive for killing one of the main characters?

Whoa there! Does this look like the face of a murderer?

No indeed! That is the face of a history lover – someone who finds a story and tells is like it is. (This picture has nothing to do with Blue. It's from a museum I visited while researching my next book.)

I read about polio and death in these books (and my local newspaper and a lot of other books). I also interviewed people who experienced polio firsthand. Unfortunately polio did kill some people and I thought it was important to tell the whole story. But, believe me, when that character died, I cried as hard as anyone. I keep a tissue box on my desk for moments like that.

2. What idea was more important while writing? Ann Faye being the man of the house, or her struggle to stay a kid?

What a great question! I don't believe I've thought this through before now. I think the two ideas go hand-in-hand. But ultimately? I think that, more than wanting to be a kid, Ann Fay wanted to please her father. That meant responsibility and being the man of the house. Yes, I think that idea is stronger. It's what keeps her going and helps her to survive hard times.