Tag Archives: Historical Fiction

About Harps and LAST OF THE NAME

I had such a wonderful time talking with the family history program at the New York Historical Society about LAST OF THE NAME today! There were some questions about harps so I thought I’d show some pictures I have from a trip to Ireland in 2017. This is the Brian Boru harp on display at Trinity College in Dublin. It is one of the oldest harps in Ireland and is the size and shape of the one I imagined my characters carrying in the story. As you can see, it’s ornately decorated. It’s strung with wire and is 600-700 years old.

In irish a harp is called a cláirseach. It is the national symbol of Ireland and appears on coins, passports, and the presidential seal.

The Brian Boru Harp also known as the Trinity College harp

Here is what a small harp sounds like. I’m a new harp student myself so I have plenty still to learn. The tune I’m playing was written by a very famous harper Turlough O’Carolan who lived from 1670 to 1738. Like many harpers he was blind. He composed many tunes. The ones that have the word Planxty in the title are songs in praise of a person, so this tune Planxty Irwin is a song in praise of Captain Irwin.

Vote for the New York History Book Prize

I’m so honored that my book LAST OF THE NAME was chosen as a finalist for the New York History Book Prize. It’s in the company of books and authors I admire very much. There is a public voting component to this prize. You don’t have to be from New York to vote, any fan of history books can cast a vote here. Voting is open until the end of the day April 30th. Historical fiction is sometime overshadowed by other books but it was my favorite genre when I was a kid which is why I write it as often as I can. Thanks to the New York Historical Society for sponsoring this prize and to teachers and librarians and booksellers everywhere who keep putting historical books in kids’ hands.

NY Children’s History Book Prize

Just when you thought book award season was over, I’ve just learned that LAST OF THE NAME has been nominated for the Children’s History Book Prize, by the NY Historical Society. I’m delighted to be recognized along side three other beautiful works of non-fiction. And more than that I’m grateful that organizations like the NYHS are drawing attention to historical fiction which can be a challenge to publish.

A Book Partner for Last of the Name

One of my favorite parts of researching a historical fiction is finding books that will be a perfect partner for my work-in-progress. Books that illuminate an era near to the one in my story or books that explore the same events from a different lens. I am always grateful when my publisher makes room in the back of the book to recommend these book partners. The author notes in LAST OF THE NAME point to several books by Zetta Elliot, Christopher Paul Curtis, and Walter Dean Myers.

Sometimes a book comes along too late to be included but is nevertheless a perfect companion read. Streetcar to Justice: how Elizabeth Jennings won the right to ride in New York, by Amy Hill Hearth came out last year. It is non-fiction, set in New York city a mere ten years before the setting of Last of the Name. And it illuminates a little known bit of history.

Nearly everyone knows Rosa Parks but did you know that more than 100 years before the Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, a woman named Elizabeth Jennings won the right in court for a black person to ride the public trolley in New York City. Hill’s well documented book is chock full of photographs which illuminate the condition of the streets of New York in the pre-Civil War era.

So many of the difficult racial, ethnic, and class issues we are facing today had their roots more than a hundred years ago. I hope both these books spark conversation and reflection on how we got to this moment, and inspire readers to move forward with ever greater understanding and compassion.

Poetry in Spanish and English

It is my great pleasure to do the Diversity in MG Lit posts each month on the Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors blog. In October I highlighted a half dozen new Latinx titles. I wanted to highlight two more of particular interest both of which use poetry.

THEY CALL ME GÜERO by David Bowles is a collection of poems which together form a loose narrative about a boy living in South Texas and occupying the physical but also social and emotional space that spans the US-Mexico border. The poems are short and ring clear with emotional and physical details that will strike a chord with any reader. There are many words in Spanish but none that would be a barrier to a reader who knows only English. The glossary in the back is more a courtesy than a necessity. Teachers will be delighted to find many poetic forms and devices used throughout which make it ideal for using in school. I also found it notable in that it doesn’t shy away from the main character’s spiritual practice. A gem from Cinco Puntos Press

My favorite verse novel in quite a while is JAZZ OWLS: A NOVEL OF THE ZOOT SUIT RIOTS by Young People’s Poet Laureate, Margarita Engle. She takes on an episode in our national history that should be far better known–a racially targeted riot between soon to deploy WWII sailors in Los Angeles and the Hispanic community there. Engle’s spare language and vivid descriptions bring to life a time when the military was still racially segregated, a time when interracial marriage was not legal in California–only 75 years ago. This would be such a great book to discuss in a classroom or book club. The references and afterward make it clear that, as vicious as the racial attacks on Mexican-American’s were, justice was done in the end. The military did integrate and freedom to marry a person of another race did become legal. Still it’s chilling to see how easily the sailors of the 1940s found it to scape goat the Mexican community and how reluctant local law enforcement was to arrest servicemen on the eve of deployment. The art by Rudy Guitierrez strikes just the right tone. This is a gem of a book which I hope will find its way into many a high school history class.