This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in February 2012.

Laurie Calkhoven has always loved reading and writing (just don’t ask her about arithmetic). She’s especially interested in the small moments of American history that usually get left out of the history books. Learn more about her at www.lauriecalkhoven.com.

I GREW UP TO BE PRESIDENT follows future presidents from boyhood through their time as U.S. Presidents. What important facts/lessons can be learned from studying these men’s childhoods specifically?

I think it’s important for children to know that the presidents are just like us. John Quincy Adams was nearly shipwrecked—twice!—while traveling to Europe with his diplomat father. Ulysses S. Grant hated school and loved horses. Harry S. Truman was teased because his thick glasses kept him from playing sports, so he read every book in the public library instead. And Lyndon Baines Johnson was so poor as a child that his family didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing.

The presidents loved their pets, played sports, and ate ice cream. Some of them were terrible students, and more than one was a prankster. They were ordinary kids who grew up to do extraordinary things. In other words, the presidents are not so different than you and me. Any American can grow up to be president!

In your Boys of Wartime series, you have created characters who are young men during famous wars and battles. Have you presented these books at schools, and, if so, have you gotten any interesting feedback from children whose older siblings might be fighting in America’s current wars?

My Boys of Wartime novels are about ordinary kids who get caught up in extraordinary events, and that’s a big focus in my school presentations. I’m always surprised that children don’t ask questions or make connections to America’s current wars, but so far they haven’t.

In presentations about DANIEL AT THE SIEGE OF BOSTON, 1776 and WILL AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, 1863, I like to talk about the small, funny moments that played a role in the war or the battle—how a broken egg helped keep the American Revolution on track, for instance, or the insulting song a Gettysburg girl sang to the Confederate soldiers camped out under her window. Students have really enjoyed those stories.

MICHAEL AT THE INVASION OF FRANCE, 1943 is just about to be published, and I have wondered if—because it’s more recent than the other wars in my novels—it might spark more questions about contemporary events.

Having written a biography of George Washington (GEORGE WASHINGTON: AN AMERICAN LIFE), do you have suggestions for little-known or interesting aspects of his life that might help teachers to connect their students to the first president?

We tend to look at George Washington as this giant, heroic figure, and forget that he was, in many ways, an ordinary man.

Washington had an “interesting” relationship with his mother. She was something of a scold, and more than one of his friends was afraid of her. He wanted to join the British navy when he was a teenager, but she wouldn’t let him. Mrs. Washington didn’t think her son paid nearly enough attention to her and would have been happier if he had stopped his soldiering and politicking to stay home and take care of her.

He also struggled with poverty after his father’s death. Washington became a surveyor because he couldn’t afford to go to college. He liked to dance, but he missed more than one party as a young man because he couldn’t afford extra feed for his horse. He was also shy and quiet, which made him unlucky with girls! He even had to borrow money from a friend to travel to New York City for his inauguration.

I think stories like those that humanize Washington and make him more interesting to today’s readers. He was a heroic individual, but he struggled just like the rest of us.

What periods and/or events in history would you like to write about in the future?

There are so many time periods and events that interest me that it’s hard to choose! Two of my favorite places to bring visitors to in New York City are Ellis Island the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, so I suppose that one of these days I’m going to have to write a novel set in the immigrant world of the Lower East Side. My original plan was to include a World War One story in the Boys of Wartime series, but World War Two proved to be more compelling. So that’s still a possibility.

When I write a historical novel, I usually spend a good long time researching (six to eight months) before I even begin writing (which can take another year or more), so I have to find a story that I love, and one that makes sense given that my characters are 12-year-old boys.

Do you have any favorite research techniques that teachers can adapt to their classrooms, and help their students be more successful in researching historical figures/events?

My process has been a little different for each book. I got the idea for DANIEL when I was writing my biography of George Washington, so then it was a matter of finding out everything I could about what led up to the Siege of Boston and what day-to-day life was like during that year. I usually begin with big, general histories and then dig deeper. I comb through the bibliographies of the books I’m reading looking for more. I browse the library stacks, reading the titles nearby the ones I’m using. And I always try to find primary sources—first-hand accounts from the people who actually lived through the event.

For the next two books in the series, WILL AT THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, 1863 and MICHAEL AT THE INVASION OF FRANCE, 1943, I started reading very broadly about the time period, looking for an aspect of the war that intrigued me. The Battle of Gettysburg captured my attention because it was such a pivotal battle in the war. Control of Gettysburg changed hands four times very quickly. For a time, one home was the battle’s front line. Confederate soldiers were on the back porch and Union soldiers were on the front. They shot at each other through the windows while the family crouched in the basement. The history books are mostly about the soldiers and the generals, but I wanted to know about the townspeople.

Once I settled on that battle as the basis of my novel, I turned to primary sources. Many of the townspeople recorded their stories. I also visited Gettysburg more than once. A lot of the Civil War buildings are still standing. I was able to walk the streets, poke my fingers into bullet holes, and stand under the shade of trees that witnessed the battle. That was invaluable.

I knew that my World War II novel would be about a boy in the French Resistance. Again, I started with very broad research. As soon as I read about the spy networks that helped Allied airmen make their way across France, into Spain, and safely into the hands of the British, I knew that’s what my story would be about. There are some great recent nonfiction books about the escape lines, and many of the airmen and Resistance fighters put their experiences down on paper, too. Once again, primary sources proved to be the most useful in getting the details right.

For nonfiction my approach is pretty much the same—I begin with contemporary historians and then make my way back in time, getting more and more specific and looking for the fun details (like the broken egg in DANIEL) that don’t usually make the history books.



Taking the Election to School: Archive of Education Debate Webcast

5 Questions With... Steve Sheinkin (BOMB)

Chris Van Dusen was born on St. Patrick's Day in 1960 in Portland, Maine. He attended The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and graduated with a BFA degree in 1982. He spent several years illustrating for kids magazines before he wrote his first book, DOWN TO THE SEA WITH MR. MAGEE which was published by Chronicle Books in 2000. His latest, IF I BUILT A HOUSE is his fourteenth book.

IF I BUILT A CAR and the follow-up, IF I BUILT A HOUSE, detail the decidedly futuristic, but simultaneously retro, visions of a boy named Jack. Why did you decide to root Jack’s forward-looking fantasies in a time before much of the digital technology we now take for granted?

In my opinion, the everyday designs of the 50s and 60s were so much more interesting than the way things look today. The cars were cooler, the houses more sleek, everything from furniture to fashion was so much more appealing back then. Even the colors stood out.

That's probably why there is so much interest in the "retro" look these days. I LOVE things from this era, and so I never even considered putting Jack (the main character from the If I Built... books) in the present day. In my mind, he had to exist in 1964.

Picture books can be a great way for teachers to connect art and literacy. Since many of our readers are likely more familiar with the literacy aspect, can you talk a little about the process and techniques you used to create the illustrations for IF I BUILT A HOUSE?

All of my illustrations are traditional paintings. I use a paint called gouache (I tell kids it rhymes with "squash") which is sort of like an opaque watercolor. It reproduces extremely well. In other words, the colors you see in the printed book are almost exactly identical to the original art. I do not use computers to produce my illustrations. A lot of people think I do because my colors are so flat and smooth, but that's another thing you can do with gouache.

I paint my illustrations on cold press illustration board which has a slight texture. Before I start a painting, I've already sketched and re-sketched the picture several times. Then I transfer the final sketch to the illustration board and start painting. I usually paint a picture from the background to the foreground. For example, if I'm painting an outdoor scene I almost always start with the sky. Since gouache is opaque, I can add things in layers and build up the painting as I go. I like to experiment with gouache and use it in all sorts of different ways. You can get some terrific effects as a result. A typical spread illustration (that's a picture that goes across two pages) takes me about 2-3 weeks to paint. So to complete the illustrations for a 32 page book can take several months!

Many aspects of your work have been inspired/influenced by Dr. Seuss and you’ve been known to sneak nods to the legendary author into your illustrations. What Dr. Seussisms might sleuthy students find in IF I BUILT A HOUSE?

Besides the basic format of the book (which was inspired by a formula Dr. Seuss used in a lot of his books, specifically IF I RAN THE ZOO and IF I RAN THE CIRCUS) there are a few things that, like you say, are nods to Dr. Seuss. Things like the gloved hands on the "Kitchen-O-Mat" and the red and white stripes in Jack's shirt and elsewhere that are similar to the stripes on the hat of THE CAT IN THE HAT. There are also several little things in the illustrations that I picked up from IF I BUILT A CAR. I think kids will have fun discovering those as well.

Your book THE CIRCUS SHIP was used extensively in Maine’s classrooms. What is your favorite classroom lesson/activity that you’ve witnessed using one of your picture books?

It's always very rewarding when a teacher uses one of my books to develop creative projects for their students. I've seen several Circus Ships in the schools I've visited where a different student draws an animal, cuts it out and pastes it on to the ship. One ship I saw was about 15 feet long and extremely impressive! I've heard of teachers that read the "Mercy Watson" books while the kids munch on hot buttered toast. AND IF I BUILT A CAR has nicely inspired many kids to use their imagination and create their own cars. I've seen cars made out of shoe boxes (and bigger!) and elaborate drawings rich with detail of all sorts of imagined cars. Like I said, it really makes me feel good.

Your books are written in rhyme and reviewers note that they read smoothly and effortlessly. How do you keep your rhyming skills so sharp?

Rhyming is tricky, but it's my preferred way to write. I say it's tricky because if it's done right, you hardly even notice it, but if it's off, it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's hard work to make a book rhyme from start to finish, flow effortlessly, and still carry on a continuous story. I work my lines over and over again until they scan without hitches. It’s almost musical in a way. There has to be a beat to each line, and the beat has to stay consistent throughout the book.

When I'm working on a story, I constantly read it out loud over and over again. If I stumble on a line, it's tweaked until it's just right. I occasionally use a rhyming dictionary, but not very often. And rarely do I start writing a book at the beginning and work through until the end because you may come up with a really good rhyme that may work at the end of the story. So I jot everything down on small scraps of paper and then piece it all together like a puzzle. It's an odd way to create a story I know, but it seems to work for me.



5 Questions With... J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen (TAKE TWO! A CELEBRATION OF TWINS)

Reviews of Winter Books for Children

Sean Beaudoin is the author of FADE TO BLUE and YOU KILLED WESLEY PAYNE. HIs latest novel is the rude zombie opus THE INFECTS. His stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including THE ONION, the San Francisco CHRONICLE, SLATE, and SPIRIT, the inflight magazine of Southwest Airlines. He frequently ends his bio with an ironic or self-deprecating personal comment.

Nero, the protagonist of your new novel, THE INFECTS, is on a wilderness trek when zombies (in the form of camp counselors!) strike. He and cohorts must rely on their knowledge of zombies in pop culture to survive. Which books, movies, or TV shows would you rely on in if you were in the same situation?

Definitely Voltaire. And Hunter S. Thompson. Also, the Dirty Harry series. I’d probably need a healthy dose of BREAKING BAD and THE SOPRANOS. And multiple viewings of STEEL MAGNOLIAS and ROAD WARRIOR. Dr. Ely Kyburg’s ZOMBIE DIANETICS would no doubt be indispensible as well.

THE INFECTS, like most stories involving an undead apocalypse, is pretty heavy on blood, violence, and gore. How difficult was it to stay true to the tropes of the genre, yet still write something that teens would find fun, relevant, and entertaining?

When I first sat down to put zombie to paper, my only caveat was that I was either going to write an undead novel that staked out new territory, or I was not going to do it at all. I may be naïve or even deluded, but I think THE INFECTS has a unique origin story and internal logic. In terms of gore, I’m under the impression that it’s on the light side compared to what’s typical of the genre. I think of it more as a black comedy than straight horror.

As far as predicting what teens find relevant or entertaining, I remain mystified. I just try to write stuff that I would have dug at sixteen and hope there are enough like-minds around to sell out a printing or two.

You’ve noted that zombie stories can be a way of discussing serious global problems (i.e., poverty, global warming, etc.) in a very entertaining way. What about the flesh-eating undead makes them a fun vehicle for exploring such serious topics?

I guess because they’re sort of a blank slate upon which almost any sublimated fear, violent fantasy, or political viewpoint can be grafted. There’s always another zombie angle. For instance, I’ve always wanted to know what happens when there’s no one left to fight back or hide or barricade themselves in basements. When there’s no one left to brain zombie skull with baseball bats or run screaming through the woods. What happens after the last human is eaten? Do all the zombies suddenly look up and shrug? Do they shuffle around purposelessly for months, years, decades? Do they just lie down and never get up again?

I want to see a movie about post-human zombie society, where the zombie leaders all come together like the United Nations and decide what their stated goals and resolutions are. How they eventually get over their differences and build schools and hospitals and libraries. How they start to get fat and comfortable, watching reality TV and giving each other the finger on the highway.

When the zombies win, we all win.

Because then we are them, and they are us.

Just with worse breath.

Reviewers have noted that THE INFECTS includes a critique of fast food/large scale chicken production. How does that fit into the context of a zombie story?

Fast food freaks me out. I literally haven’t eaten McDonalds since 1986. My abstention is not so much political in nature—although I’m sympathetic to that line of thinking—as it is that factory scale meat processing strikes me as hallucinatory and demented. To be able to sit down and eat a Quarter Pounder with bacon and cheese you simply can’t allow yourself to ponder the steps required for it to arrive boxed and steaming in front of you. I wanted readers to think about that just a little bit, without being preachy.

Personally, I’d always rather hear a good chicken-anus joke than listen to a lecture. And the bottom line is that people are going to eat what tastes good to them, regardless. But so are zombies. And, as we all know, zombies mostly prefer sweaty, alienated teenagers.

You’ve said that you write YA because you feel it allows you to reach people who really care about what they are reading. What experiences or observations have led you to this conclusion?

I sometimes get letters from teens alluding to a deep connection with one of my books, in ways I’d never anticipated while writing them, and expressed with a combination of heart-melting enthusiasm and intelligence. I don’t think I can describe many letters I’ve received from adults in quite the same way.



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Beyond the Notebook: Writing a la Poe