Fourth Grade Journey

A Fourth Grade Teacher's Journey Through the World of Books

Monday, October 14, 2019

An Inside Look #110 (Author INTERVIEW)


An Inside Look with Jake Burt
(Author of Tornado)

*During the summer of 2016, I added this feature to the blog which was called "Season #ONE".  This first season ran from June of 2016 to March of 2017.  

*I started up the interviews again in June of 2017.  It was great to get back to Season #TWO.  This season ran throughout the summer.  

*Season #THREE ran during the school year of 2017-2018.  



*The next season (season #FOUR) of interviews took place during the summer and fall of 2018.  With each interview I became more and more impressed with the authors I was having interactions with.  

*Season #FIVE ran during the 2018/2019 school year.  I took a little break at the start of June 2019.  

*During my summer 2019 vacation I continued a series of interviews in which I put under the heading of Season #SIX.

*To kick off my 29th year of teaching, I'm adding Season #SEVEN with a whole new season of authors, books, and interviews.  


*It has been such an honor to connect with authors and "chat" about their novel, characters, and thoughts about the story.

*This is the SEVENTH interview in which I'm calling Season #SEVEN.  

*Thank you to Jake Burt for being the One-Hundred Tenth author that I've had the pleasure of interviewing.  I truly appreciate it.  

*Here are links to the first One Hundred Nine interviews…


SEASON #ONE (2016-2017)

























SEASON #FOUR (Summer 2018)






















SEASON #FIVE (2018/2019)










Interview #81 with Tony Abbott (Author of The Great Jeff)

Interview #82 with Susan Ross (Author of Searching for Lottie)

Interview #83 with Gillian McDunn (Author of Caterpillar Summer)

Interview #84 with Rebecca Ansari (Author of The Missing Piece of Charlie O'Reilly)

Interview #85 with Ali Standish (Author of August Isle)

Interview #86 with Shaun David Hutchinson (Author of The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried)

Interview #87 with Greg Howard (Author of The Whispers)

Interview #88 with Lynda Mullaly Hunt (Author of Shouting at the Rain)

Interview #89 with Lynda Mullaly Hunt (Author of One for the Murphys)

Interview #90 with Laurie Morrison (Author of Up for Air)

Interview #91 with Jody J. Little (Author of Mostly the Honest Truth)



SEASON #SIX (Summer 2019)

Interview #92 with John David Anderson (Author of Finding Orion)

Interview #93 with Lisa Thompson (Author of The Light Jar)

Interview #94 with Keith Calabrese (Author of A Drop of Hope)

Interview #95 with Alicia D. Williams (Author of Genesis Begins Again)

Interview #96 with Kim Ventrella (Author of Bone Hollow)

Interview #97 with Natalie Lloyd (Author of Over the Moon)

Interview #98 with Cynthia Lord (Author of Because of the Rabbit)

Interview #99 with Tina Athaide (Author of Orange for the Sunsets)

Interview #100 with Elly Swartz (Author of Give and Take)

Interview #101 with Amy Rebecca Tan (Author of A Kind of Paradise)

Interview #102 with Varsha Bajaj (Author of Count Me In)

Interview #103 with Laura Resau (Author of Tree of Dreams)



SEASON #SEVEN (2019/2020)

Interview #104 with Laurel Snyder (Author of My Jasper June)

Interview #105 with Lisa Bunker (Author of Zenobia July)

Interview #106 with Jasmine Warga (Author of Other Words for Home)

Interview #107 with Barbara Dee (Author of Maybe He Just Likes You)

Interview #108 with Graham Salisbury (Author of Banjo)

Interview #109 with Donna Gephart (Author of The Paris Project)



*Jake Burt was kind, gracious, and giving with his answers to the questions.  It is an honor to post his responses here on the blog. 

*Thank you Jake for writing this incredible and thought-provoking book.

*Here is my book review...


The Tornado

by Jake Burt (October 1, 2019)



How did you come to know Bell?
As with all my characters, I start with a basic question: Who is most likely to struggle with the problem in the story? I really like this approach, because it forces me to write a more compelling story. I don’t want to write about the person who can solve the problem quickest. That’s too easy. I also need my main character to be someone who can’t simply quit. If the reader says, “Why doesn’t Bell just walk away?”, and I can’t answer that question in the text, then I haven’t done my job setting up the story. So, basically, I set up an impossible situation for my character and challenge myself to write him out of it.Of course, there are other layers, too, and Bell has a couple that are very close to my heart. First, he’s a fifth grader, same as all my students. His mannerisms, his skills with systems, and his inherent goodness are all things I’ve been able to observe in my own students over the years. That’s not to say he’s a mirror of any one student, though. . .except, maybe, for me. I was bullied in elementary and middle school, and that experience absolutely shaped much of how I view education, childhood, and life. It took me this long (40 years and 3 books into my career) to build up the courage to face it, and Bell is my proxy for doing so. In that sense, I didn’t have to come to know him; I’ve known him all along.


What do you think is Bell's most admirable quality?
I hope he has many, but the one I’m most proud of him for is his willingness to not only admit when he’s wrong (and, oh buddy, does he get some things wrong…), but to try to fix his mistakes and learn from them. My favorite chapter in the book is the one where Bell’s grand plan for helping Daelynn comes crashing down around him. It forces him to listen to her, to understand the differences in her experience, and to find a way to accept them.


Is there anything you wish Bell would have changed or done differently in his story?
There are things that, were I an adult in the book offering him advice, I would have told him to do differently, but I love it when kids in stories are allowed to make decisions, see the ramifications of those choices, and then grow as a result of them. I think that’s one of the things that makes children’s literature so wonderful - the possibility of growth.
What do you think Bell can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what he went through?
I wish I had Bell’s story to read when I was a kid, because I very well could’ve used the lessons he learns: that it’s okay to reach out for help. That finding your people really does make things better. That in order to find those people, you need to stand up for them, because chances are they need you just as much as you need them.
How did you research Bell and the circumstances he found himself in?
Since much of what Bell experiences was drawn from my own life (almost everything Parker inflicts on Bell was something I had done to me when I was in school), I didn’t have to do as much character research for this one. I did do a lot of research on da Vinci, engineering, and maker spaces in schools. In fact, since I set the story in my home town (a few names changed here and there), I toured my old middle school so I could get Village Green, and their creator lab, right.
Do you and Bell share any similarities?
Yes, many. Especially our fondness for chinchillas.
What was the hardest scene to write about Bell?
The hardest to write were the ones in which Parker did to Bell what my bully did to me. It forced me to think about the lasting impact it had on me: how it silenced me, trapped me, and lessened me. In a way, Bell’s response to it all is what I wish I would’ve done. It makes me wonder how many other people I could’ve helped if I had spoken up. Maybe this book is my way of doing exactly that.
Who do you think was Bell's biggest supporter and why?
It’s his mom. His dad comes in a close second, but because of the distance, he’s not there on the front lines, even though he’d love to be. Mrs. Kirby is the one who has to navigate the immediate aftermath of everything that transpires, and I loved making her someone who tries to support her son’s nascent autonomy while still furiously protecting him. She’s one of my favorite characters in the book.
Why do you think there are some young people, like Bell and Daelynn, who are kindhearted and a good friend, and others, like Parker, who make it their mission to target someone and make their life miserable?
There are myriad reasons why a person is who they are: environment, social connections, parental influence, etc. The one I’d like to highlight for the purposes of THE TORNADO, I think, is power. Everyone, from toddlers to fifth graders to forty-year-old authors and beyond, wants to feel like they are in control of their lives. They want to feel like their actions carry weight. Bell is a creator; he makes things, they work, and he gets to say, “I made that happen.” Daelynn is an artist. She draws, and new worlds are born. Parker? He’s found a different way to feel powerful. Unfortunately for Bell and Daelynn, it involves manipulating them.
What do you think Bell is doing as the present time?
It’s just about the start of his sixth grade year, so he’s at his desk, busy copying his new class list into his notebook. He’s beaming, because he’s seen that there are three important names on that homeroom list. . .and one that isn’t.
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