An Inside Look with Heather Bouwman
(Author of Scattergood)
*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)
How did you come to know Peggy?
Getting to know Peggy took a long time, first by doing research: reading about the time period and about World War II; visiting the location (West Branch, IA); interviewing people about farming in the 1940s; even reading math books from that time period; and thinking about family stories from my grandparents’ dairy farm (which was located in west Michigan, not in Iowa), all to learn about the context that gave birth to her. And then: lots of writing, to figure out her distinct personality and her voice. Once I had her voice, I felt like I knew her. After that, it was figuring out how much of her was going to go on the page: how much would she confess, how much would she show her heart? And every revision, the answer was: a little bit more, a little bit more.
What do you think is her most admirable quality?
I think Peggy’s most admirable quality is her belief that she can make a difference in the world, that she can fix things that are broken. She is wrong about some of it, but that’s not a character flaw. She really, really wants to save her cousin, and fix other things too, and even though she messes up pretty badly at times, she has a good heart. And yes, she also has many shortcomings; but she is capable of growth, which is also admirable.
Is there anything you wish she would have changed or done differently in her story?
No. I know there are some shocking things she does, and some really bad choices she makes (I’m trying to talk here without doing spoilers), and if I was her mom, or her best friend, I’d want her to make different choices. For sure! But as her author, I think she makes the choices that lead to moments of revelation and change, and I can’t ask for more than that.
What do you think Peggy can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what she went through?
I think readers can know they’re not alone in feeling like they don’t fit in, or feeling like they don’t understand the world, or feeling like they can’t fix what’s wrong, or feeling like they’ve messed up big time. And readers can also see a world in which, even when people mess up, we love and forgive each other, and maybe they can see that as a good way to live.
How did you research Peggy and the circumstances she found herself in?
I read a lot of books, of course! But also: I interviewed people who lived in the 1940’s and who remembered what it was like to live and farm at that time (this started 20+ years ago when these people were still alive). I interviewed my dad and my aunts about growing up on a dairy farm—which was a lot of fun, because I got to hear so many family stories! And I traveled to West Branch, Iowa a couple of times to visit Scattergood school, which is still a real, operating school, with an operating farm. They even had a mean turkey rooster. I put him in the book.
Do you and Peggy share any similarities?
Yes. To name a few: I was also about a year younger than my classmates, and I often felt like I was out of sync with them, like they were speaking a foreign language. I had cousins (and sisters!) who were good friends; and we all spent a lot of time on our grandparents’ dairy farm. One of our cousins died when we were relatively young (not at all similarly to the book—different age, different cause). It is still, all these years later, shocking and heartbreaking.
What was the hardest scene to write about Peggy?
Honestly, the scene where she [I don’t want to do spoilers, but she … talks?] to Gunther in the Professor’s study. I rewrote that scene quite a few times before, I hope, getting the details and the tone right. It was hard to navigate Peggy, at thirteen, trying to do something “grownup” when I had gotten used to thinking of her as a kid. But she’s not a kid, she’s an actual teenager and right on the cusp of so many adult things. And yet she’s not ready for what she’s proposing to Gunther, and that needed to be clear, too. She’s asking for something that she doesn’t yet fully understand or even completely want.
Who do you think was her biggest supporter and why?
Ohhh that’s a hard question. She has so many supporters, even though she doesn’t always realize it! Joe, Ida Jean, Delia, her mom and dad, Miss Fawcett the librarian… but I think the most impressive supporter is the professor, who is so deep in his own grief and loss, and who yet takes the time to love Peggy in such powerful ways. He messes up, definitely—he’s so lost in his grief, that he fails her at a pivotal moment—but he’s a good person and he cares about Peggy.
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?
I wish I knew the answer to this question about people in general! I do think that for Peggy, one crucial thing is that, for her entire life, she has been loved. She feels like she doesn’t fit in (and sometimes Ida Jean contributes to this feeling), but her parents don’t make her feel that way, nor does Joe, or Miss Fawcett, or the Professor, or a lot of other people who are important to her. She is accepted and loved exactly as she is, with all her quirks, and that likely helps her weather a lot.
What do you think Peggy is doing at the present time?
Well, the story takes place in 1941, so as much as I hate to say it, Peggy is unlikely to be alive in 2025. She’d be almost 100 years old! But I do think she went to college eventually, maybe at the same school as Camilla, and after that? It’s a blank slate. I hope she was happy, and that she had some of the adventures she and Delia wanted. I am sure she was loved, and that she loved in return.
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