So when you’re wandering here, there, and everywhere in between, it’s always fun to reach out to the local SCBWI region. Not only will you make new friends in SCBWI but you might also find out about children’s book, literacy, and art events you’d like to participate in while you’re visiting. Or perhaps you can get tips about arranging a workshop or a book-signing at a local library or bookstore. That’s what SCBWI member Paul Fleischman did, and now Breezers in the Birmingham area have a chance to meet this Newbery-winning author and pick up his latest release, Fearsome Giant, Fearless Child.
But we can’t all be in Birmingham on April 25th for Paul’s event so Southern Breeze caught up with him to get the latest news about his book (and a few words of wisdom from a long-time SCBWI member):
PF: I'd done it twice before, turning Cinderella variants into Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal and creation myths into First Light, First Life, so you'd think it would have been easy. But these tales were tougher because they varied more. The hero was often the youngest of many siblings, but might be an only child like Jack. Some were standard-sized, some just an inch high. Some were male, some female. To keep from confusing readers I ended up having to cut the female versions and lost much great material. But solving problems is central to the writing life.
SB: I had no idea that there were tales similar to Jack and the beanstalk in Russia and the Philippines and Ethiopia and beyond.
PF: I didn't either. But stories come from families, just like people, and Jack's Thanksgiving table would be a big one. Tom Thumb, Baba Yaga, Seven League Boots--they all share many motifs with Jack. A spurned child, a hungry family, food found at a man-eater's table, a series of daring thefts and escapes...
SB: How did you track down the variants?
PF: This is the private-eye side of writing. Instead of bus stations, I skulked around public libraries for the easy stuff and university libraries for the obscure tales. The internet also has some great folklore sites. I had a huge advantage: a folklorist had already gathered many Tom Thumb variations and collected them in a single volume.
SB: Fearsome Giant is a picture book, of which you've written many. But you've produced lots of novels and nonfiction and plays and won the Newbery Medal for Joyful Noise, a book of poetry. How have you made such a varied career work?
PF: My publishers no doubt would have been happier with a more coherent brand--but I wouldn't. I studied everything in college, from English and history to botany and folkdancing. I devoted years to sailing, shadow theater, colonial history, playing with copy machines as art tools, and more. My varied books come out of those varied interests. I've been happy to trade sales for the freedom to follow my own path.
SB: Anything else coming out in the near future?
PF: In September I have a brief memoir coming out that describes the charmed, free-range childhood that led to those interests and books. It's called No Map, Great Trip: A Young Writer's Road to Page One. The following spring will see Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word, a nonfiction book presented as a circus sideshow, starring a cast of obsessives who've explored the most distant shores of language. Never heard of mondegreens, Strine, or zaum? Step right up...
SB: Can't wait! Finally, what’s the best advice you can give to our members, especially those who write across categories or are still plugging away at getting published in any genre?
PF: If putting words together into well-made, splinter-free, light-catching sentences still gives you satisfaction, don't give up.
Thanks, Paul! Come meet Paul Fleischman at Homewood Public Library at 3:30 on April 25. Fearsome Giant, Fearless Child will be published on April 23.
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