Which was your favorite book from childhood, and what are you reading right now?

It depends on what age of childhood . . . Back when my mom was reading books to me, my favorite to hear was Winnie-the-Pooh. For first reading on my own—and drooling over the illustrations—it was probably The Rainbow Goblins by Ul de Rico. Once I was into meatier stuff, I think it would be Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game. (By the way, I think my answer on this question changes every time someone asks it.)

Right now, I’m in the middle of Book III of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place (The Unseen Guest) by Maryrose Wood. Those books are just delightful. So much fun.

What is your secret talent?

I like to write and record songs as gifts for my family. I’m a terrible singer, though, so I make sure they’re never heard outside the house.

Fill in the blank: _______ always makes me laugh.

Tina Fey.

My current obsessions are . . .

The Walking Dead, dark-chocolate-and-sea-salt-covered almonds, and that Gotye song, “Somebody I Used to Know” (that xylophone riff plays through my head like a constant soundtrack now; I’m actually getting to the point where I wish it would stop).

Any gem of advice for aspiring writers?

Revise. If you think you’re done, go back and read it again. You will find something you can improve.

Finish this sentence: I hope a person who reads my book . . .

Finishes it.

How did you come to write this book?

I’d wanted to write about Prince Charming for a long time. In all those classic fairy tales, you learn so little about the princes. Those characters were ripe for the plucking. I have a son and a daughter, and I felt that boys and girls could both use some fleshed-out Prince Charmings in their fairy tales. Boys are supposed to want to be the prince and the girls are supposed to want to marry him—but he’s always incredibly boring. So I sat down with a lot of old fairy tales, culled together whatever Prince Charming “facts” I could extract from them, and pieced together fully-realized personalities for four of the most famous princes. Once I’d created these princes, I just sort of let them run free and watched what developed. The plot went into places I’d never expected when I started.

Thanks so much, Christopher!

We’re excited to start off the summer leg of our program with a spotlight on debut author Christopher Healy. His book THE HERO’S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM went on sale this week, and we’re confident that you’ll think it’s hilarious. (We certainly do!)

Get ready to throw out everything you know about fairy tales. For instance, do you know who Prince Liam is? Chances are you don’t, but you should. He saved Sleeping Beauty’s life! Somehow, through the years and the retellings and the adaptations, his part of the story has been almost entirely glossed over. Christopher Healy is fixing that.

Read an excerpt of this story-behind-the-story fairy tale here, and meet Prince Liam, along with Prince Frederick, Prince Duncan, and Prince Gustav (can you guess which princesses these three saved?).

And, for a hint of the story behind the story behind the story, here are some thoughts from the book’s editor, Jordan Brown:

I’ll be honest: Chris Healy’s THE HERO’S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM isn’t the first retelling/reimagining of classic fairy tales that we’ve read—and odds are you’re probably thinking the same. In fact, when Chris’ agent first called me about the book, and told me how funny and original and fresh and inventive it was, there was still a part of me thinking it sounds great, but . . . another fractured fairy tale?

And then I started reading.

From the first sentence on the first page, Chris Healy’s hilariously funny, completely original, totally fresh, endlessly inventive debut novel is anything but typical. Here, “Prince Charming” is not one prince, but four—the princes who rescued Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty—and they’re none too happy about having been glossed over in the bards’ songs and stories. You see, this is a world where the difference between being famous and being infamous depends on how easily the bards can find things to rhyme with your name, where tales of evil curses and magic teardrops and glass slippers make their way through the countryside like so many viral videos, where the real story begins after happily-ever-after. And it’s in this world where these four princes and their four princesses need to overcome their various neuroses and shortcomings and learn how to be real, honest-to-goodness heroes.

Chris told me that his inspiration came from reading classic fairy tales with his kids and finding out that the most interesting bits of the tales aren’t even included. “Prince Charming” is completely anonymous, all the princesses look and sound the same. He wanted to find out who these people really were. And in doing so, he has created one of the funniest, most heartfelt books any of us had read in a long time. Not to mention spurring a debate that’s still going on here at Harper: who is your favorite prince? (I’m on Team Gustav.) I guarantee you’ll have your own by the end of the book.

Please come visit us again tomorrow, when we’ll Open the Book with Christopher Healy. And, in the meantime, check out this HERO’S GUIDE downloadable activity that you can use with your students!

Even though it feels like we JUST got back from TLA (and more on that terrific show later), we’re heading to Molly’s hometown Chicago tomorrow to exhibit at the International Reading Association next week. Will you be there, too? If so, come by booth #2240 for our wonderful author signings (listed below) galleys, teaching guides, posters, bookmarks, booktalking, and friend-making.

MONDAY, APRIL 30TH:
1:00–2:00PM, Henry Cole

TUESDAY, MAY 1ST:
*9:30–12:00PM, I CAN READ GOES DIGITAL– swing by our booth Tuesday morning to take a photo with your favorite I Can Read costumed characters, see demos of I Can Read books on the iPad and Nook, and enter a sweepstakes to win your own ereader or tablet loaded with an I Can Read library!*

12:30–1:00PM, Jan Spivey Gilchrist

1:00–2:00PM, Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Peter Reynolds

2:00–2:30PM, Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campos

2:30–3:30PM, Patricia McCormick

3:30–4:00PM, Stuart Murphy

WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND:

9:30–10:30AM, Laura Numeroff (do you like donuts? If so, make a point to come to this one!)

11:00–11:30AM, Jody Feldman

11:30AM–12:30PM, Rita Williams-Garcia

See you there!

Inquiring minds want to know… are you going to the Texas Library Association annual conference next week? We’re packing our bags (with warm-weather clothes! hello 80 degrees!) for Houston and we honestly couldn’t be more excited. We LOVE Texas and we love this conference– and this year we’re bringing some super cool folks with us.  Visit us in Booth #1612 for galleys, galleys, and more galleys! Hold onto your hats for our jam packed signing schedule …

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18th:

12:00–1:00pm, Tim Green

12:00–1:30pm, Lincoln Peirce

3:00–4:00pm, Tera Lynn Childs

3:00–4:00pm, Sophie Jordan

4:00–5:00pm, Paul Zelinsky

4:00–5:00pm, Adam Rex

THURSDAY, APRIL 19th:

9:30–10:30am, Veronica Roth

10:30–11:30am, Robison Wells

2:00–3:30pm, Sara Pennypacker

3:00–4:00pm, Maryrose Wood

3:00–3:30pm, Jason Henderson

3:30–4:00pm, Patrick Carman (in booth #1612!)

FRIDAY, APRIL 20th:

9:30-10:30am, Patricia McCormick

*Signings (except for Patrick Carman’s, noted) all take place in the wonderfully efficient Author Signing Area in the exhibit hall.  Thanks to the local volunteers who make this happen!

The journals are loving it, too:

“Deliciously intense and entertaining. . . . A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Pennypacker skillfully meshes the poignant and the comedic [in this] richly layered tale of loss, resiliency, and belonging.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

If you’re coming to TLA next week, you can hear Sara Pennypacker discuss her fabulous female characters on the “Girls with Grit” panel (Thursday, 4/19, at 10AM) and then come get a book signed in the signing aisles (Thursday, 4/19, at 2PM).

In case you’d like a conversation starter to use while Ms. Pennypacker signs your book (or when talking about the story with your students, of course), be sure to download this SUMMER OF THE GYPSY MOTHS discussion guide!

A is for Apple. B is for Ball. C is for Cat. D is for Moose. Hey, wait a second… that’s not right!  Poor Moose has to wait for M, but he’s too excited. When will it be his turn? Is it his turn yet? How about now? Will it EVER be his turn? And what, oh what will he do if M isn’t for Moose?

Moose, our well-meaning but impatient friend from Z IS FOR MOOSE has thoroughly captured our collective hearts.  But don’t just take our word for it– this delightful and funny picture book by Kelly Bingham and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky has garnered six, count ‘em, SIX, starred reviews.

“Very funny and inventive.”—The Horn Book (starred review)

“Just label it F for funny.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Move over, Interrupting Chicken.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[A] laugh-out-loud romp.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Zany. . . . will make children smile.”—School Library Journal (starred review)

“Kids will revel in the . . . chaos.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

Maybe you remember Moose from his interrupting cameo in our ALA Midwinter booth?  If you’re attending TLA next week, find Moose in the HarperCollins Children’s Books booth (#1612) and illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky at the Draw Me A Story panel (with Lincoln Peirce, Adam Rex, Mark Burkhart, and Peter Brown) in room Room 370 A-F, then signing in the Author Signing area from 4:00–5:00PM on Wednesday.

We are all utterly captivated by TIGER LILY, an incredibly imaginative and textured story– a retelling of Peter Pan, but centered around that very captivating and really quite mysterious creature, Tiger Lily.  Jodi Lynn Anderson, national bestselling author of Peaches, agreed to tell us a little more about how and why she was able to bring Tiger Lily to life so vibrantly.

“For a children’s book, I read Peter Pan and Wendy late in life — maybe five years ago. It took my breath away, not because of its magic, as I’d expected, but because of its truth. This wasn’t the happy book about never growing up I’d always believed it to be; it was about loss, and aging, and people who couldn’t get their acts together despite their best intentions (namely, Peter). Peter felt so real to me: so aloof, so generous, so thoughtless and lovable. All in all, he seemed like he could be a real teenage boy.  Or, ahem, a real adult boy or two I have met along the way.

And always, lurking in the background, was Tiger Lily. J.M. Barrie’s portrayal of the native tribe in Neverland is, in my mind, the one and only great flaw of the book: it is cartoonish, stereotyped. But Tiger Lily’s fierce appeal, even in the few scenes Barrie gave her and in the context of such a tribe, shines through.

“Our Flutter-some Ordeal” by Tran Nguyen (this image reminds Jodi Lynn of Tiger Lily, and rests on her laptop)

I started thinking of her as an actual novel after a late-night conversation with my best friend. We were talking about characters whom we still thought had stories to tell. Tiger Lily was the first person I thought of.  It had nagged at me: with a girl like this lurking in the depths of the island, how could Peter choose someone like Wendy? How how how?

But before I’d even touched pen to paper, I knew my answer: he was scared of her, she was scared of him, sometimes you love someone too much. It happens; we all know it does.  It seemed to me like it had the potential for a true kind of love story – and I don’t think truth and love stories go together as often as they could. I thought…it is easy to love a Wendy. It takes true courage to love a Tiger Lily. And if you are a Tiger Lily, it takes true courage to let yourself be loved.

Tiger Lily’s father, the shaman Tik Tok, arose as an extension of all of these thoughts. He wasn’t planned — he popped up and insisted on being included. He was part of a question: can you love someone if you aren’t willing to love all of them? At one point in the story, Tiger Lily joins other people in the tribe in asking Tik Tok to change who he is. “If you just do x, y, and z,” they indicate, “we will be more than happy to love you.” But love just can’t work that way.

For me, the greatest challenge of writing Peter and Tiger Lily’s story has been that neither of them is easy to understand. They are both so full of contradictions (not that I would want them any other way).  I wanted to make sure that they could be petty, and courageous, and cowardly, and generous, because that seemed true. And it also seems true that, usually, lovers aren’t kept apart by circumstances beyond their control, but by their own failure to connect like they wish they could. And a great love that doesn’t work can still be a great love.

Toward the end of the story, Tinkerbell explains that there are only a handful of people who love Tiger Lily exactly as she is, and Tink counts herself among them (though technically she’s an insect!). Tinkerbell is the real and figurative light of the story. And while I hope I’ve stayed true to its author’s vision in showing these lives, and Neverland itself, as having their fair share of darkness, I hope that I’ve also stayed true to the humor and light and lush beauty and joyfulness that I so admired in the original story.”

Thanks Jodi Lynn!  TIGER LILY goes on sale 7.3.12.

We’ll give away 10 DIA posters (with activities and resources on the back) to the first ten people to comment on this post– now through next Friday, March 30th, 11:59PM EST. Open to U.S. only. Please include email address.

Relevant recent titles:

Illegal, by Bettina Restrepo.

Ten Little Puppies/Diez perritos, written by Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by F. Isabel Campoy.

Wonderful resources:

Pat Mora: award-winning author and founder of Dìa.

ALSC: The Association for Library Service to Children. The ALSC Dìa site here, with a terrific resource guide and book list for planning your own celebration.

REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking.

Songs, Crafts, and Bilingual Books to Share.

We feel like one of the best ways to recommend books is the “if…then” model– as in, IF you like JON SCIESZKA, THEN you’ll like this new guy, CHRIS KROVATIN. With a good match, it works, right?

The tour includes Jon Scieszka (GUYS READ), Dan Gutman (THE GENIUS FILES), Tim Green (UNSTOPPABLE), and Adam Rex (COLD CEREAL) versus newbies Chrisopher Krovatin (GRAVEDIGGERS), Nils Johnson-Shelton (THE OTHERWORLD CHRONICLES), Jeramey Kraatz (THE CLOAK SOCIETY), and Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson (THE FAMILIARS)

Right now, you can sign up for news and updates about Class Acts here, and check out this too-good preview video of Jon and Chris, who each have a little bit of a different approach to the other…

“I went to a small, private K-12 school where the kids were mostly very well behaved. The teen movies I watched always featured beefy tattooed bullies fighting in parking lots, but bullying in my school was much more subtle. There was shunning, gossip, and maybe some snickering on occasion. You could be, Project Runway-style, in one day and out the next. Sometimes, you might even be the last to know. It was the girls that perpetrated the conflicts, and as far as I could tell, popularity was based on a mysterious algorithm that factored in looks, wealth, confidence, date-ability (not necessarily correlating to looks) and parental leniency. Having started at the school in kindergarten (or even, if you were really lucky, pre-kindergarten) was an advantage, as was the ability to wield a lacrosse stick.

My parents enrolled me at the school in fourth grade, and I had never heard of lacrosse. It seemed bizarrely inefficient to make people scoop up balls with a basket on a stick. I just didn’t get why it was so cool. In the early days I was teased, and then I was ignored. I had a couple of friends but I was not happy. I felt very, very different.

In middle school, there was a brief turnaround, two shining years of something like popularity or at least fitting-in-ness but it took a lot of work. I realized then that while some people were born at the top of the pyramid, there were also outliers. A new kid could also come in at the beginning of the year and shake up the system, mostly because they hadn’t necessarily understood and followed the rules everyone else was so careful to observe. Which only goes to show that the rules are bizarre and arbitrary to begin with.

Don’t get me wrong: My school was a wonderful place. It was no fault of the teachers or the administration that kids behaved this way. It was simply an inescapable fact of education, like the smell of the locker rooms or standardized tests. By the time I got to high school I realized how random it all was. There was no clique I wanted to be part of, so I instead mixed and matched friends from different groups. There were times I felt like an outsider, but the alternative, which would have been pretending to be someone I wasn’t, wouldn’t have worked, either.

All of these experiences came in handy when writing Pretty Crooked. In the book, 15-year-old Willa Fox starts the school year at Valley Prep and immediately and almost accidentally falls in with the popular girls known as the Glitterati. Caught up in the glamour and excitement of being in a clique for the first time, she doesn’t notice at first exactly how these wealthy girls are protecting their position at the top—which is by cyberbullying the scholarship kids because they are different. The Glitterati anonymously humiliate their victims through cruel blog posts, using Photoshopped pictures, nasty names and false rumors.

When Willa learns what the Glitterati are up to, she’s crushed and she feels the need to do something about it. When speaking up doesn’t work, she takes some extreme measures: stealing from the Glitterati and delivering secret packages of fancy gear to their victims to even the playing field. She reasons that having nice clothes will improve their self-esteem and standing at Valley Prep where everyone is judged on what designer they wear.

The fantasy of being able to “fix” the system is a powerful one—who doesn’t wish they could get revenge on the mean girls? Willa’s scheme provides some temporary satisfaction and thrills but in the end it doesn’t really solve the underlying problem and she learns this the hard way.

While we can’t ever singlehandedly overturn the social order of a school or other institution, we can remind the teens in our lives how random the criteria are. How the empress with the Versace sunglasses actually has no eyewear. How, in college, and in their workplace, and in our adult lives, the rules will change again and again, but it’s up to us to decide whether we want to follow them.”

Thanks Elisa!  Make sure to check out the awesome video trailer for PRETTY CROOKED, and find it in a bookstore near you!