THE BADGER KNIGHT by Kathryn Erskine

I can't say that I'm particularly interested in Medieval history but I love an author who has done enough research to make me feel as though I'm living in that time and going on adventures with a character I care about. In this case the author is Kathy Erskine and the character is Adrian Black. 


"I'm almost thirteen...and still as puny, sickly and as pale as milk.  A few people say being tiny and white as an angel is a good omen, but far more say I'm evil,that I was the cause of that plague and that they see the devil in my eyes. If they do, I didn't put him there. I'm no devil.  Nor am I a tiny angel. Underneath my odd looking outside, I'm just me, Adrian. A boy - well almost a man. They'll see.

Adrian doesn't get much respect in his English village. He's motherless. He's bullied, but feisty and he's excellent with a bow and arrow. The Scots are about to invade England and the men of the village are preparing to go to battle. No one thinks Adrian is capable of fighting so he will be left behind.

Or not. 

After the men leave, Adrian waits for his opportunity and sneaks away from the village to join the battle. Thus begins an adventure in which he runs into one bad character and one mishap after another. But Adrian is as clever as he is feisty and his quick mind, his lying tongue, and masterful archery skills rescue him from countless events.

He does eventually arrive at the battlefield where his romanticized notions of war are quickly dashed as are his notions about the enemy. Here are a few of Adrian's conclusions.

"It's hard to hate a man who has a name and a son."

"I don't even know who won the battle, although I think it's us. Still, I wonder how anyone can rejoice when so many have died."

I'm the Badger, tough and scrappy. I'm the Spider, small but determined.  Mostly I'm someone useful from the village of Ashcroft. My name is Adrian Black, and I am a man.

The book ends with Adrian planning to take care of some unfinished business so I'm guessing there's a sequel on the way. Readers who love action, adventure and a scrappy character will be glad of it.

Kathy Erskine is the author of Quaking, Mockingbird, The Absolute Value of Mike, and Seeing Red.

Q & A with KATHRYN ERSKINE, Author of SEEING RED

My last blog post was an introduction to SEEING RED, an MG/YA historical novel in which Author Kathy Erskine addresses one of her greatest passions - racial justice. Today, I'm pleased to share a conversation with Kathy. I met her when we shared a ride to a Highlights Founders Workshop with Editor, Patti Gauch. Since then, she's published several books and even won The National Book Award. She's remained the unassuming person of integrity that I met when we were both looking for a publishing home. We've visited a few times since then - the most recent one, via SKYPE

Chatting with Kathy via SKYPE.

She indulged me with a screen shot and later an email Q & A.  Here's where we get a tiny glimpse into her process for writing SEEING RED.
 
1.  Kathy, I have an earlier version of SEEING RED in a big manila envelope.  You gave it to me for feedback way back before THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF MIKE, MOCKINGBIRD, and QUAKING were published.  So just how long has SEEING RED been in process and do you have a sense that now is the time to bring it out?  Or did you simply just find time to finish it?

You're right -- this story started, literally, in the last century!  The short answer is that I finally matured enough as an author to be able to write the story I wanted to tell.  Sometimes stories need to "ripen."  Sometimes you have to keep going back to a story and rewriting it before you get it right.  Sometimes delays and disappointments can lead you to a wonderful place.

For the long version, I laid out the whole history in a blog post.

2.    Ooooooooh.  Thanks for sharing the whole history. "Sometimes it’s not about the end, it’s about the journey..." And what a journey! The title on the version I have is CORNERSTONE.  Want to mention a few of the titles the book has been through and how you settled on SEEING RED?

Oh, this is so funny -- I can't even remember all the titles this manuscript has had!  It started as DEER SEASON until my husband asked why I was writing a hunting novel.  I dropped that and moved to CORNERSTONE, which he said sounded kind of heavy and lump-ish.  When I tried FREEDOM'S PHOENIX and FREEMAN'S PHOENIX he just kind of stared at me, which made me think those were even worse.  FACING FREEDOM was my favorite but there was a concern with the publisher that it might sound like a text book so we brainstormed some more.  It was amazingly hard to come up with something that captured the story but I think SEEING RED does it.  We settled on that title because not only is the main character's name "Red," and he starts to really "see" his world for the first time, but also because the expression "seeing red" means to be angry, and he does get angry about what's happening in his world.

 3.   Speaking of anger and seeing his world reminds me of one gut-wrenching scene in particular that really cranks ups the tension of the story. It wasn't in the version I read first. Without giving away too much, can you talk about how and why you added that scene?

I think I know what scene you mean and I added it thanks to my fabulous editor, Andrea Pinkney, who correctly pointed out that Red needed to feel racism viscerally instead of just observing it and getting upset about it.  It needed to come fairly early in the book so we understand his motivations.  I had to put myself in that very uncomfortable place -- not that I've had that experience but I think we've all been part of a group dynamic where things get out of hand and we don't like what's going on but we don't quite know how to stop it.

4.   You mentioned maturing as a writer since we first met in 2003 or 04, (which was it?) What have you learned that has transformed or informed your writing the most?

It was late fall 2003 so we've known each other for 10 years -- wow!  This is where I should say something profound except all I can think of is practice, practice, practice.  You really do get better at something when you keep working at it.  You also gain confidence, which is what I needed for SEEING RED.  And I guess I could add that you should trust your own voice.  Voice is unique, obviously, but also very fragile.  Don't let your voice be critiqued out of your manuscript.  You can change the characters, plot and setting, but keep your own voice!

Thanks so much Kathy for the wisdom.  And thank you for being the kind of person that cares about justice for all!

And hey ya'll.  I'm giving away a copy of SEEING RED.  If you leave a comment AND share one of my SEEING RED posts on social media, I'll enter you!  DEADLINE IS MONDAY, DECEMBER 17!

SEEING RED by Kathryn Erskine

First off, let me say, I'm giving away an Advanced Reader Copy of this book - unless of course, my generous nature kicks in and I decide to part with my gorgeous hardcover. The jury is still arguing over that. Either way you can't go wrong. So leave a comment AND share on social media to be entered in the contest. 

But first, the review.

SEEING RED is a disturbing book. There is the abusive neighbor and I've lived long enough to know he exists. There is the religious bigot and oh, yeah, I've met that one too. And then there is Red Porter, who in the midst of grief, does some things that go against his gentle nature.

Red's father is dead and he wants nothing more than to remain as close to him as possible.  For Red, that means keeping his father's auto repair shop open. He loves everything about it, the cars arriving outside (which he can identify just by the sound of the engine), the feel of the tools in his hand, and the smells of oil and tires.

From Page 2  I walked up the stairs in the back where Daddy had his office, taking in a deep breath of everything I loved. The shop was oil and gas and paint and dirt. It was brake pads, hoses, filters, and about any kind of tool you'd ever need to fix a car or truck. It was Lava soap, old rags, and a sink with a faucet you could turn on with just your elbow. It was the last place I saw Daddy.

I relate to the above quote from the book.  This was my Grandpop's shop/gas station in Plumsteadville, PA. The smell of tires, oil, and gas will always remind me of someone I loved.

Red clings to his Dad's garage but Mama wants to move on and, for her, that means selling the property and taking Red and his little brother to Ohio to live with her family. In some desperate attempts to thwart the sale, Red flirts dangerously with delinquent behaviors.

The property Mama wants to sell (house, store and car repair shop) border the property of the abusive/racist neighbor and tangled up in the mix is some vague history Red has heard about his family's property, the abusive Dunlop's property and an African-American church.  There's also some dispute over the property boundaries and the belief that more than one hundred years ago a Dunlop ancestor killed the black pastor of the church.

As Red thinks back over some scenes he'd witnessed between Daddy and Mr. Dunlop, those memories provide a puzzle with some pieces missing. But he's determined to find the pieces, assemble them, right some societal wrongs (his included), and maybe even hang on to his home place at the same time.

SEEING RED is truly readable. It's underlined with mystery, filled with action, and populated with rich and complicated relationships. And it doesn't hurt that Kathryn Erskine writes tough subjects with gently placed humor. There's some collective soul searching to explore here and fortunately, Scholastic has created a Common Core Discussion Guide designed for Grades 5 -9. .

The story is set in 1972 so, of course, America is going through a huge cultural shift.The most disturbing elements of SEEING RED have to do with racial relationships. In the Author Note, Erskine shares her passion for racial justice. As a child, she lived for awhile in South Africa surrounded by injustice and racial tension. Later she came to America and realized the painful truth that apartheid exists here too. As her mother explained it - "...we just don't call it that." 
   
Please check back this week, because I've snagged an interview with Kathy.  I might even go into a blogging frenzy and post 2 days in a row!

Here's the United Kingdom cover for SEEING RED.  Personally, I'm crazy about it!