An Inside Look with Gregory Maquire)
*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)
How did you come to know Cress?
I began to joke that the only rabbit I almost knew personally lived in a hutch in Geneva, Switzerland. On the day that our family arrived in Geneva to visit old friends, our host told us his kids were in the back garden with their rabbit. Our three young kids, jitters in their legs from a long car ride, went pummeling around the corner of the building to meet the rabbit. The creature in its hutch, at the sound of a thundering herd of American kids driving straight toward it when it had no escape route, promptly fell over and died of fear. By the time I get there all that was left was the rending of garments and the gnashing of teeth. Joking aside, I do think that maybe a dozen years later, when CRESS came to me, I perhaps was secretly reviving that poor rabbit and giving it a second life in a storybook.
What do you think is Cress’ most admirable quality?
Cress is not afraid to feel, and that is her central strength. Throughout the book she is mournful, sad, timid, frightened, brave, loyal, funny, imaginative, frustrated, impatient, angry, and thoughtful. Her ability to still be CRESS while her feelings shift and change constantly is what I admire most about her—and about people in general, especially kids.
Is there anything you wish she would have changed or done differently in her story?
It would have been nice, if sort of old-fashioned and maybe a little bit dishonest, if Papa could have come home at the end. But the story really exists in order to show that we stay ourselves even THROUGH such big changes as the loss of a loved one. I’ve had many people (including grownups) wanting me to write a sequel where Papa comes home. But that would feel like cheating to me.
What do you think Cress can offer to other “animals” that are experiencing similar situations to what she went through?
I believe Cress’s strong sense of loyalty to Kip, to her mother, to Finny, even when she is annoyed at any or all of them, is a great example of what to do in a crisis. In a crisis, hang around. In a crisis, show up. Cress is not a grown-up or a teacher, but she has inherited some qualities of her mother: a bit of cunning and a lot of courage.
How did you research Cress and the circumstances she found herself in?
For this book I didn’t do any research, except that which is conducted by trying to loosen up my imagination and let it go where it wants. I write stories organically, meaning I plant a seed and then see what it grows into. I did know a few things when I started CRESS—I knew that it would be about the recurrence of emotions—not the single experience of this emotion or that, but the growing awareness that emotions are cyclical. You might get over being sad now but that doesn’t mean you won’t be sad again. The only thing I was sure of was that Papa was not coming back. Many of the characters in the story just showed up as I was writing—like the Final Drainpipe and also Fricassee Sunday. And Nasty, the other rabbit! A friend of mine hearing about the book said, “Put me in it!” Her name is Natacha. Natacha became Nasty, and suddenly there was another rabbit I hadn’t expected to find in that story.
Do you and Cress share any similarities?
I think I have a pretty big supply of emotions and I think I am pretty honest with myself about what I am feeling. I also am not scared to be sad (although I don’t like it, who does?). I perhaps am more anxious than Cress, but then I’m a parent and she isn’t. I am also a writer and that is what Cress turns into by the end of the book. I’m a loyal friend and I’m rather private, like Cress is. And I’m a loyal brother, and Cress is a loyal sister. So there’s that too. But I would never go on a raft with a picnic lunch.
What was the hardest scene to write about her?
The chapter called “Lullaby for a Moonless Night,” when Cress comes home from her adventures and has been scared out of her wits, and accepts comfort from her mother—that wasn’t necessarily the hardest scene to write, but it was the most important scene in the book, I think—that’s the centerpiece of the book. So I took great care to make it a rather short chapter, so the point would be clear.
Who do you think was her biggest supporter and why?
For sure, precious Mama is Cress’s defender and supporter from start to finish. I love that it was Mama who came to rescue Cress and Finny when Lady Agatha Cabbage had kidnapped them and locked them in the wine cellar. Mama works her paws to the bone to make ends meet for her children. Even when Mama is impatient with Cress she still cares about her safety and her whereabouts. She will be on Cress’s side forever.
Why do you think some young “animals” (and/or people) have the strength, courage, and perseverance to do the right thing and fight for a positive outcome?
This is a good question. I wrote this book with a certain reader in mind, someone of my acquaintance who seemed to be stuck in a cycle of sadness. I thought, “If only this person had had a book when younger, one that taught out loud the fact that sadness and worry ebb away and flow back again, and that’s not sickness, that’s normal.” Why do all books resolve problems at the end, when part of the reality of life is that learning to live with a cycle of concerns is what LIVING is really all about? I set myself the task of trying to write a different kind of animal fable in which the reality of lived emotions was rendered more honestly. I think knowing that our feelings are endlessly changing and repeatable is part of what gives us strength to do the right thing—by which I mean the strength not to give up when we are sad, downtrodden, anxious, frustrated. These are normal feelings and they don’t last forever; we have to keep going toward the next time we can feel triumphant, brave, and clear-sighted about what we need to do.
What do you think Cress is doing at the present time?
I am in the middle of a new adult novel, but now and then my mind does swing back to Hunter’s Wood and my group of friends there. I don’t know if there might be another story to tell about them. I do know this, though, that none of the younger animals in the forest ever go to school, and if anyone ever opened a classroom to teach the young their letters, their numbers, and their manners, I wonder who it would be? Maybe Fricassee Sunday, who doesn’t know anything about anything?
SEASON #SIX (Summer 2019)
Interview #122 with Tamara Bundy (Author of Pixie Pushes On)
Interview #123 with Lindsay Lackey (Author of All the Impossible Things)
Interview #124 with Tae Keller (Author of When You Trap a Tiger)
Interview #125 with Jamie Sumner (Author of Roll With It)
Interview #126 with Hena Khan (Author of More to the Story)
Interview #127 with Phil Bildner (Author of A High-Five for Glenn Burke)
Interview #128 with Leslie Connor (Author of A Home for Goddesses and Dogs)
Interview#129 with Gillian McDunn (Author of Queen Bee and Me)
Interview #130 with Jody J. Little (Author of Worse Than Weird)
Interview #131 with Jenn Bishop (Author of Things You Can't Say)
Interview #132 with Kaela Noel (Author of Coo)
Interview #133 with Rebecca Stead (Author of The List of Things That Will Not Change)
Interview #134 with Gae Polisner (Author of Jack Kerouac is Dead to Me)
Interview #135 with Emily Blejwas (Author of Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened)
Interview #136 with Joy McCullough (Author of A Field Guide to Getting Lost)
Interview #137 with Kim Baker (Author of the Water Bears)
Interview #138 with Erin Entrada Kelly (Author of We Dream of Space)
Interview #139 with Jess Redman (Author of Quintessence)
Interview #140 with Melanie Conklin (Author of Every Missing Piece)
Interview #141 with Lindsey Stoddard (Author of Brave Like That)
Interview #158 with Rebecca Ansari (Author of The In-Between)
Interview #159 with John David Anderson (Author of One Last Shot)
Interview #160 with Tracy Holczer (Author of Brave in the Woods)
Interview #161 with James Bird (Author of The Brave)
Interview #162 with Marcella Pixley (Author of Trowbridge Road)
Interview #163 with Barbara O'Connor (Author of Halfway to Harmony)
Interview #164 with Alan Gratz (Author of Ground Zero)
Interview #165 with Lisa Fipps (Author of Starfish)
Interview #166 with Ann Braden (Author of Flight of the Puffin)
Interview #167 with Kimberly Willis Holt (Author of The Ambassador of NoWhere Texas)
Interview #168 with Elana K. Arnold (Author of The House That Wasn't There)
Interview #169 with Erin Soderberg (Author of The Great Peach Experiment)
Interview #170 with Donna Gephart (Author of Abby, Tried, and True)
Interview #171 with M. Evan Wolkenstein (Author of Turtle Boy)
Interview #172 with Lindsey Stoddard (Author of Bea is for Blended)
Interview #173 with Jess Redman (Author of The Adventure is Now)
Interview #174 with David Levithan (Author of The Mysterious Disappearance of Aiden)
Interview #175 with Chris Grabenstein (Author of The Smartest Kid in the Universe)
Interview #176 with Ali Standish (Author of The Mending Summer)
Interview #177 with Holly Goldberg Sloan (Author of The Elephant in the Room)
Interview #178 with Jeff Zentner (Author of In the Wild Light)
SEASON #ELEVEN (Fall/Winter 2021)
Interview #179 with Katherine Applegate (Author of Willow)
Interview #180 with Padma Venkatraman (Author of Born Behind Bars)
Interview #181 with R.J. Palacio (Author of Pony)
Interview #182 with Kyle Lukoff (Author of Too Bright to See)
Interview #183 with Barbara Dee (Author of Violets are Blue)
Interview #184 with Anne Ursu (Author of The Troubled Girls of Dragonmir Academy)
Interview #185 with Margaret Finnegan (Author of We Could Be Heroes)
Interview #186 with Jasmine Warga (Author of Shape of Thunder)
Interview #187 with Joseph Bruchac (Author of Rez Dogs)
Interview #188 with Kathryn Erskine (Author of Lily's Promise)
Interview #189 with Elly Swartz (Author of Dear Student)
Interview #190 with Heather Clark (Author of Lemon Drop Falls)
Interview #191 with Veera Hiranandani (Author of How to Find What You're Not Looking For)
Interview #192 with Elizabeth Eulberg (Author of The Best Worst Summer)
Interview #193 with Cathy Carr (Author of 365 Days to Alaska)
Interview #194 with Carol Cujec and Peyton Goddard (Authors of REAL)
Interview #195 with Gillian McDunn (Author of These Lucky Stars)
Interview #196 with Alyssa Colman (Author of The Gilded Girl)
Interview #197 with E.L. Chen (Author of The Comeback)
Interview #198 with J.M.M. Nuanez (Author of Birdie and Me)
SEASON #TWELVE (Winter/Spring 2022)
Interview #199 with Jamie Sumner (Author of One Kid's Trash)
Interview #200 with Chad Lucas (Author of Thanks a Lot, Universe)
Interview #201 with Jenn Bishop (Author of Where We Used to Roam)
Interview #202 with Rebecca Caprara (Author of Worst-Case Collin)
Interview #203 with Leslie Connor (Author of Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?)
Interview #204 with Caroline Gertler (Author of Many Points of Me)
Interview #205 with Margaret Finnegan (Author of Susie B. Won't Back Down)
Interview #206 with Shawn Peters (Author of The Unforgettable Logan Foster)
Interview #207 with Aisha Saeed (Author of Omar Rising)
Interview #208 with Adrianna Cuevas (Author of Cuba in my Pocket)
Interview #209 with Jennifer Swender (Author of Stuck)
Interview #210 with Brenda Woods (Author of When Winter Robeson Came)
Interview #211 with Danya Lorentz (Author of the Book Of a Feather)
Interview #212 with Saadia Faruqi (Author of Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero)
Interview #213 with Ellen Hopkins (Author of What About Will)
SEASON #THIRTEEN (Summer 2022)
Interview #214 with Nora Raleigh Baskin and Gae Polisner (Authors of What About the Octopus)
Interview #215 with Lauren Wolk (Author of My Own Lightning)
Interview #216 with Rebekah Lowell (Author of the Road to After)
Interview #217 with Gillian McDunn (Author of Honestly Elliott)
Interview #218 with Dan Gemeinhart (Author of The Midnight Children)
Interview #219 with Melanie Conklin (Author of A Perfect Mistake)
Interview #220 with Kyle Lukoff (Author of Different Kinds of Fruit)
Interview #221 with Tracy Edward Wymer (Author of The Great and Mighty Benjamin Teller)
Interview #222 with Louise Hawes (Author of Big Rig)
Interview #223 with Paul Acampora (Author of In Honor of Broken Things)
Interview #224 with Shannon Doleski (Author of Gabe in the After)
Interview #225 with Jennifer Ziegler (Author of Worser)
Interview #226 with Natalie Lloyd (Author of Hummingbird)
SEASON #FOURTEEN (Fall 2022)
Interview #227 with Celia C. Perez (Author of Tumble
Interview #228 with Greg Howard (Author of The Visitors)
Interview #229 with Rob Buyea (Author of The Daredevils)
Interview #230 with Sashi Kaufman (Author of Sardines)
Interview #231 with Lindsey Stoddard (Author of The Real Deal)
Interview #232 with Margaret Finnegan (Author of New Kids and Underdogs)
Interterview #233 with Amanda Rawson Hill (Author of The Hope of Elephants)
Interview #234 with Jasmine Warga (Author of A Rover's Story)
SEASON #FIFTEEN (Winter 2023)
Interview #235 with Varsha Bajaj (Author of Thirst)
Interview #236 with Torrey Maldonado (Author of Hands)
Interview #237 with C.C. Harrington (Author of Wildoak)
Interview #238 with Margi Preus (Author of Windswept)
Interview #239 with Dayna Lorentz (Author of Wayward Creatures)
Interview #240 with Katrina Nannestad (Author of We are Wolves)
Interview #241 with Anika Fajardo (Author of Meet Me Halfway)
| Interview #242 with Chrystal D. Giles (Author of Not an Easy Win) | |||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment