An Inside Look with Toni Buzzeo
*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)
by Toni Buzzeo
How did you come to know Cora Mae?
As is true for most of my characters, Cora Mae came to me as soon as I conceived the original story which was, amazingly, a picture book to start with! She arrived in my mind and on the page as a smart, feisty, and driven eleven-year-old girl, determined to win a county reading contest against all odds and in opposition to her mother. So, as you see, Cora appeared with her key traits already in place. It was the plot that changed around her when I decided to transform it into a middle grade novel.
What do you think is her most admirable quality?
As the novel opens, it is Cora’s intense dedication of purpose that the reader encounters. I admire her willingness to commit herself to the cause of bringing electricity to her mountains when the opportunity arises. However, simultaneously, the reader has an underlying feeling of dread because we know in those very first two chapters that her mother will oppose her pursuit.
Of course, by the end of the story, Cora’s capacity to remain true to her own passions while also allowing them to be shaped and refined by listening to new facts and the opinions of others grows. She is maturing.
Is there anything you wish she would have changed or done differently in her story?
Well, of course, I wish that Cora had been able to listen, and really HEAR, her mother’s concerns at the start of the story (and also that her mother had been able to express them). But had that been the case, this story would not have been as rich as it is. A main character in a novel must face harsh odds and overcome them, both through personal effort (i.e., physical strength, intellectual strength, emotional strength) and through growth and change. Imagine if Cora had been able to understand and acknowledge the point of view of her mother and other opponents of electricity right as the story opens? It would have stolen much of the tension from the story, making it emotionally flat, wouldn’t it?
What do you think Cora Mae can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what she went through?
Cora models three important lessons. First, of course, is the importance of holding fast to one’s dreams, even in the face of opposition. Second, is to listen to your guides, mentors, and supporters with an openness to their ideas to help you shape your own. Third, is to learn to listen without defensiveness to your opposition. It is often true that those who disagree with us have important things to say that can help us to revise our plans and our goals, or at least to find better ways to accomplish them. In listening to others who oppose our ideas with an open heart and mind, we are also able to maintain relationships that might otherwise be damaged or even lost, as Cora and her mother came close to losing each other.
How did you research Cora Mae and the circumstances she found herself in?
I did a great deal of simultaneous research using a variety of sources. Two children’s books were pivotal in awakening my curiosity. My earliest inspiration came when I encountered the work of Mary Breckinridge and her Frontier Nursing Service in Eastern Kentucky in Rosemary Wells’ middle grade book Mary on Horseback. Then I encountered the Pack Horse Library Project in the middle grade nonfiction book, Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt and Cannella Schmitzer. This project operated in the same mountainous region in the very same time period and my librarian heart sang! I had all the makings of a great story.
But of course, I immediately went far beyond them. Most notably, I read Mary Breckinridge’s memoir, Wide Neighborhoods, and an important adult book about the electrification of rural Kentucky, Let There Be Light: The Story of Rural Electrification in Kentucky by David Dick.
As a librarian, researching further was one of the deep pleasures of the project for me. I read accounts from locals about their childhoods in the 1930’s in those mountains as well as published historical studies dating back to the period, academic articles, and many, many books, including both fiction and nonfiction books about the region. I also watched so many videos, both original videos from the period, professional documentaries, and videotaped interviews of Eastern Kentuckians. Any question, small or large, that arose as I wrote and revised sent me off in search of the one additional perfect resource that would satisfy my curiosity and the story’s demands. It was so much fun!
Do you and Cora Mae share any similarities?
Oh yes, indeed, we do! Like Cora, I am stubborn in my commitment to a personal goal. For instance, becoming a published children’s author. Once I turned it from a dream into a goal in 1995, I refused to let anything get in my way, especially the long and often discouraging task of submitting my work to publishers and facing stacks of rejections. But the hard work and commitment paid off in the form of 32 published books—31 picture books and now my first novel—Light Comes to Shadow Mountain! I am also a true and loyal friend, as Cora and Ceilly are to each other. In fact, friendship is crucial to me. I consider it an essential use of my time each day to stay in touch with my friends near and far.
What was the hardest scene to write about her?
The hardest scene to write was the enormous fight in Chapter 28 in which Mommy shuts Cora’s dreams completely down. Mommy seems to leave no alternative path for Cora to follow, and it was so heartbreaking to live through this scene with her. I experienced her desperation as she tried to explain to Mommy and her fear as Mommy became physical, slamming her fist on the open door and shouting at Cora, “You listen to me, girl. I’ve not finished and you need to hear what I’m about to say. I know I can’t control what our neighbors decide. If enough folks sign up for electricity, there’s not a thing I can do. But I don’t want it. I have had my fill of change. And I won’t have you supporting it by taking hardworking Kentucky people’s money.” I had to force myself to experience both that desperation and fear that Cora was feeling in order for the scene to be authentic and it was harrowing.
Who do you think was her biggest supporter and why?
This is such an important question, and it ties closely into my answer to your next question too! Cora Mae has three essential supports in her life. The first and most important, of course, is her father, Pap. Even when the struggle between Mommy and Cora grows so intense that taking sides risks Pap’s marriage to Mommy, he finds ways to support both Cora AND Mommy. And Cora understands, in every chapter of the book, that Pap loves her unconditionally. Miss Bentley is the second adult support in Cora’s life, dedicated as she is to Cora’s intellectual growth and achievement and a constant reinforcer of Cora’s pursuits and ambitions. Ceilly is Cora’s age-mate supporter, without whom Cora would be lost. Ceilly’s depth of understanding of her best friend, her loyalty, and her constant efforts to buoy Cora’s spirits make her essential in Cora’s life.
Why do you think some young people can show such resilience, strength, and courage during difficult life situations; sometimes even more than the adults in their lives?
As a part of my in-service work as an elementary school librarian, I had training in resilience theory, which says that much more than being an inborn personality trait, resilience comes from outside the child. The reason that some kids are able to overcome amazing odds against them in difficult life circumstances is often because of the external support they have. Lucky kids who experience resilience, like Cora Mae, have strong supports in place.
What do you think Cora Mae is doing at the present time?
Cora was born in 1926, so she will celebrate her 98th birthday this year, in 2024. I imagine that she is still quite intellectually capable (and I know this is possible because I have a cousin who is 92 and a friend who is 94 and both can give you a run for your money in any conversation) though she is not nearly so physically hardy as she was traversing those mountain paths at eleven-years-old. What she has loved the most in the past century is watching the development of communication technology from television to e-books, the Internet, smart phones, and video chat. She worries about how Social Media is affecting children and teens and often thinks about how like her mother’s concerns that electricity coming would negatively impact the children of the mountains and their way of life this is. Cora is also concerned about the fast-burgeoning field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and knows for certain that while she can see some very useful aspects of AI, her mother would have been dead set against it!
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