Catching a Moment by Kathi Appelt- Guest Post - August 2013

Appelt, Kathi. True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp,The. Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon and Schuster), 2013. 336p. $16.99. 9781442421059.

If you're looking for a great middle grades novel that BEGS to be read aloud - look no further than the True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt!

 Keep reading below to find out why Grandpa Audie carries a Polaroid Land Camera. You'll wish you carried one too!

Cameras and Birds and Other Surprises

My father loved cameras, and he loved taking photographs. But he never owned a Polaroid Land Camera, at least not one that I can recall. However, our neighbor across the street, Tom Cunningham, owned one. And about the time that my sisters and I ranged in ages from 5 (me) to 3 (my youngest sister B.J.), with Patti (4) in between, Uncle Tom as we called him, walked across the street one night with that big, fat camera and took a group shot of the three of us.

That photo is long gone, but I definitely remember it. Patti was sitting in the middle atop our overstuffed living room chair, and B.J. and I sat on the opposite arms, straddling them like we might straddle a pony. To say that we looked goofy would be an understatement. We were all in our summer nighties, too, which added to the goofy charm. A scruffy trio of sisters, our hair still wet from our nighttime baths, and our faces scrubbed and shiny, looking directly into the camera, looking surprised.

It was a sweet photo, and my father treasured it for many years, long after it was taken.

The thing about a Polaroid was that it was automatic. There, right in front of you was an instant photo. I know that these days, with digital photos, that’s nothing new. But back in the late fifties and early sixties, photographs were anything but instant. The Polaroid was an exception. It didn’t require a darkroom, it didn’t require a two-week wait while you sent the film off to a lab to have it processed and hoped like crazy that at least one photo had merit.

But the Polaroid had requirements nonetheless. I remember watching Uncle Tom. As soon as he took the photo, he popped the melted flashbulb out of the camera where it dropped into the palm of his hand. There he bounced it up and down to keep it from burning his skin. “Don’t touch,” he told us.

Then he pulled the film out of the back of the camera and waved it back and forth in the air. If he had said the word, “abracadabra” it couldn’t have been more magical.

While we watched, he carefully peeled the film apart. Then, he took a lipstick-shaped tube of fixer and rubbed it over the finished photo. Voila! He held it front of us and said again, “Don’t touch.” It wasn’t hot, but it was still sticky from the fixer. A touch would leave a fingerprint that would never go away.

We gathered around. There we were, three small girls smushed together on the chair, only minutes older than we were when he snapped the shot. We were fascinated. But not as much as our father. He loved Mr. Cunningham’s Polaroid Camera. And he loved us, his three daughters. He kept that photo for as long as he lived, and by the time he died, forty years later, it was so faded that you had to know what was on the surface of it to actually see it.

What I know about that long-gone Polaroid photo is that it was important to my dad. And thinking about it, it’s still important to me. It reminds me of my two sisters and me and how many moments we shared together, the three of us taking up space together, happy. 

So, when I thought about my character Audie, and his quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, it seemed important to me that he use a Polaroid Land Camera, not necessarily because it was the only camera in town, but because it reminded me of the wonder of catching a moment in time that can’t really be repeated, only treasured. 

I suppose every photo is like that, to a certain extent. But there was something magical about that Polaroid process—the melty flashbulb, the film being pulled out of the back of the camera, the lipstick-shaped tube of fixer. Everything had to happen in a certain order for the magic to occur. 

When I sit down to write my stories, I think hard about the objects that my characters use and carry and treasure, because I think they say something about the characters themselves. But sometimes, like it was with the Polaroid, I simply hand over to my characters something that I loved too. I loved Tom Cunningham’s Polaroid camera. I loved my dad and sisters. I especially loved the surprise of it all. And that is the very best part of all about writing and reading stories. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you even get a photo, like my character Audie did, of a surprised armadillo. Or a bird that was so beautiful people said, “Lord God,” whenever they saw it fly over their heads. 

We might not be able to get the Polaroid back. But maybe we can find the bird. Lord God, I hope so.

What Kathi's Reading

And speaking of surprises, I’m right in the middle of reading Uma Krishnaswami’s new book, The Problem with Being Slightly Heroic. It had me from the very first page. (The Brain Lair will be talking about The Problem With Being Slightly Heroic next week! Make sure you tune in!)

More about Kathi Appelt
Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award-winning, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the highly acclaimed novel Keeper, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, and many picture books. She is a member of the faculty at Vermont College’s Master of Fine Arts program. She has two grown children and lives in Texas with her husband. For more information, visit her website at http://www.kathiappelt.com/.

Watch these two rascally raccoons in the most adorable book trailer ever:



Be sure to visit Kathi’s other stops on her blog tour!

Mon, Aug 12
GreenBeanTeenQueen
http://www.greenbeanteenqueen.com/2013/08/blog-tour-true-blue-scouts-of-sugar-man.html

Tues, Aug 13
There's a Book
http://www.theresabook.com/2013/08/author-interview-and-giveaway-20-questions-with-kathi-appelt/

Wed, Aug 14
Bigfoot Reads
http://www.bigfoot-reads.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-true-blue-swamp-scouts-of-sugar-man.html

Thurs, Aug 15
Read Now, Sleep Later
http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/2013/08/the-true-blue-scouts-of-sugar-man-swamp.html

Fri, Aug 16
I Read Banned Books
http://www.jenbigheart.com/2013/08/guest-post-giveaway-true-blue-scouts-of.html

Sat, Aug 17
Booking Mama
http://www.bookingmama.net/2013/08/kid-konnection-true-blue-scouts-of.html

Mon, Aug 19
The Compulsive Reader
http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/2013/08/interview-with-kathi-appelt.html

Tues, Aug 20
Mother Daughter Book Club
http://motherdaughterbookclub.com/2013/08/interview-with-kathi-appelt-author-of-the-true-blue-scouts-of-sugarman-swamp/

Wed, Aug 21
The Book Monsters
http://www.thebookmonsters.com/author-interview-kathi-appelt/

Thurs, Aug 22
Sharpread
http://sharpread.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/54321-interview-kathi-applet/

Fri, Aug 23
The Brain Lair
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Keeper by Kathi Appelt - Review

Keeper
Kathi Appelt
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
399 pgs.

"Find the one who's been missing."
Keeper is having the second worse day of her life.  Signe is mad at her, Dogie is mad at her, and Mr. Beauchamp is mad at her.  But, it's not all her fault, mostly not anyway.  So, she does the only thing she can think of, take out Dogie's boat Scamper and find her mermaid mother.  Everyone knows mermaids are magic, so Meggie Marie would tell Keeper how to make things right again. 

My Thoughts
First, I didn't want to read this book because I couldn't figure out how a 10 year-old could still believe in mermaids.  It didn't make sense to this middle school librarian who sees jaded and disenchanted sixth graders on a daily basis.  But, I had an ARC and it was on our Mock Newbery list. So, I read it.

We start out in the boat with Keeper and as she remembers things, we get to go back and relive those memories with her.  Each time we go back, we get a little bit more of the present story and then we start going back even further.  It's like when a boat is sloshing around in the water with little moves forward and backward but always progressing.  We don't just learn about Keeper, though.  We find out how each of the inhabitants of The world unto itself came to live on Oyster Ridge Road.  In this way, the story becomes deeper. 

In order for Keeper to find her mother, she must give gifts to the sea and each time she does, I feel she grows up a little, in a sense, away from her need of her mother and closer to the reality of her life.

Appelt melds the story of Keeper, the merpeople, the beasts, Dogie, Signe, and Mr. Beauchamp into one epic story that doesn't seem forced or rushed.  Keeper actually meanders, like the boat.  And then we get to the end.  And it's surprising and frightening and enlightening. But, I can't tell you what happens you have to read it yourself.  Give this one to students who like Savvy, When You Reach Me, and Waiting for Normal.



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Keeper by Kathi Appelt - Guest Post

Keeper
Kathi Appelt
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
399 pgs.

I will be reviewing Keeper by Kathi Appelt December 17th her on The Brain Lair. Keeper is one of my top choices for our Mock Newbery.   Here Kathi gives us a little insight into Keeper's favorite items in the story.  If you haven't read the book, run right out and get a copy.  If you have the ARC, get the hardcover because the illustrations are fantastic!

A Magic Whistle and a Wooden Bowl

photo by Ken Appelt

For anyone who has ever worked in a theater, you know that one of the key jobs is “props.” It’s up to the Property Manager to make sure that all those items that the actors use in the play are in place. If one of the characters needs a scarf to toss over his shoulder or another character needs a dagger to plunge into her boyfriend’s chest, it’s critical that those things are on the stage when they’re needed.

I’ll never forget working on a play in which the main character needed a whistle. The whistle was supposed to be enchanted and whenever the character blew it, something magical would happen. A magic whistle. Someone on the props crew was supposed to check the pocket of the main character’s costume before the play began just to be sure that the whistle was in place.

Sure enough, whoever was in charge forgot. So when the poor actor got to the line about the magic whistle, only to discover that there was no whistle, he panicked. He rummaged through all of his pockets. Alas, the only item he could find was a small knife. Not exactly the same thing as a whistle. Ack!

So much was lost: the sound of the whistle, the intention of the story, and the magic. There’s a huge difference between a magical whistle and a magical pocket knife. In addition, the actor lost confidence in the crew, and for the run of the play, each time he got to that spot in his lines, his anxiety level rose.

When I’m working on a story, I give a lot of thought to the props that my characters are going to be dealing with. Like the whistle, objects in fiction become a tiny bit magical. We call them “endowed objects,” because we endow them with special properties, special memories, special significance.

In Keeper, I wanted to avoid the whistle/pocket knife mix-up, and make sure that the objects she kept in her pocket were in tune with the story. But where to start?

Because I have always been interested in mermaids and their cousins, I wanted to include as many of them in the book as I could. In early drafts, I actually had different mer people appear throughout the story. However, they never really seemed to fit with the story. They seemed gratuitous. For example, where would an Irish selkie come into the picture? Or what about a Japanese ningyo? Was there a scene that I could include using the German meerfrau, a fresh-water mermaid, in the salty Gulf of Mexico? What would their purpose be? They would just be making cameos really, to show that I knew my merpeople. They were sort of my own author’s way of saying, “Hey, I know the folklore of merpeople.” Oh, brother.

Illustration © 2010 by August Hall from Keeper by Kathi Appelt. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

The answer came in the notion of a gift: the merlings.

Gifts always have significance. Since Mr. Beauchamp loved Keeper, it made sense that he might give her these small figurines of the various merfolk. And it also made sense that Keeper would love them. In that way, I was able to give Keeper her very own special props, props that represented affection, artistry, and that also offered an added layer of folklore to the story, without bringing in a dozen new characters who really had nothing to add to the plot.

Another endowed object in the story is Signe’s large wooden bowl. Why a bowl you might ask? Well, when I was tiny, my grandmother had just such a bowl. She used to set it on the kitchen floor and let me sit in it. Then she would spin me around and around. There was nothing particularly special about that bowl, only that it was large and that it belonged to my grandmother. Likewise, Signe’s bowl came from her mother and it held the same kind of significance for her that mine did for me. I tapped into my own personal props in order to give one to my character. When Signe’s bowl breaks, it’s heart-breaking. The break works in two ways, both physical and metaphorical.

A writer needs props. A character needs them too. Take a look in your own prop-shop. Make sure that it’s the right choice, then put it in your character’s pocket. That way the magic will be there when it’s needed.

Kathi also shared with us what she's reading: 

A chapter book for all ages:

Bink and Gollie, by Alison McGhee and Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Tony Fucile – Two best friends figure out how to work things out despite their differences . . . and similarities. Just wonderful!

A couple of middle grade books that just make me happy:

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, by Tom Angleberger – The whole notion of a fictional character made from Origami just brings a smile to my face—this is an endowed object of the highest order.

Wiff and Dirty George, by Stephen Swinburne – The entire fate of England rests in the hands of two unlikely heroes, complete with a three-foot long Madagascan worm. This book exemplifies the word “rollicking.”

In the YA department, I recently read:

Alien Invasion & Other Inconveniences, by Brian Yansky – Who knew that a book that starts with a complete siege of the Earth by aliens would have so much heart? I loved this story.

Extraordinary, by Nancy Werlin – Poignant, intense, lovely. All about what it means to be extraordinary . . . or simply brave. Werlin’s beautiful prose, matched with a wringer of a tale, gives us a story to savor. Extraordinary.

And yes, I even read books for grown-ups:

Tinkers, by Paul Harding – Told in alternating voices between a son and father, this is a heartbreaking look at the ways our choices impact everything, including the people we love the most. It’s like reading a long narrative poem. Just beautiful.

The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue – Also told in two voices, this is a changeling story. One narrator is the changeling, the other voice is the child who was switched. It’s provocative and wonderful. I loved it.

I also want to give a shout-out to a wonderful new picture book:

Holler Loudly, by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Barry Gott – An original tall tale about a boy who was born to be loud, and for a good reason.

On my “to read” stack:

Rex Zero, the Great Pretender, by Tim Wynne-Jones and I Will Save You, by Matt de la Peña. Two of my favorite authors!

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