Historically Speaking

Yuck! Ick! Eew! by Lois Huey is disgusting!  And that’s what makes it a wonderful read for middle school kids interested in how people really lived in history. As a reader who loves to read historical fiction and imagine myself in those flowing gowns riding inside carriages and walking through heather-filled fields, Lois Huey’s book shatters that dream by shining a very bright light on the reality of those days.  Lois has done an amazing job on her research and so much of this information will be new to readers. This is a great book for classes studying Colonial America.   I’ll leave my dreams inside those romantic book pages and be thankful I can put on a gown for Halloween and still live in 2014 America!  Lois, can you tell us more about how you conducted your research for this book? In addition to information from excavations, I consulted original sources, that is, accounts from the time period. The people who lived then had little to say; they w...

Augusta Scattergood ’s debut middle grade, Glory Be , perfectly captures life in a Mississippi town during the Freedom Summer in the early 1960s.  With the same sensitivity and beauty of Kathryn Stockard’s The Help , Scattergood, gives us a story of civil rights and friendship. I had the pleasure of serving on the faculty of a Highlights Foundation Workshop with Augusta and am happy to share this conversation with you.  Thanks, Augusta, for writing such a beautiful novel and for talking with me today. Thanks for having me, Nancy!  Glory Be is wonderful.  As authors, I'm not sure if we choose our stories or if they choose us. What was the case with Glory Be? I think I chose this one! I've always loved to write, but writing a novel seemed like a daunting task. I first tried to write it as an adult short story about a wedding planner who loved Elvis. Well, thank goodness that didn't work out! I love middle-grade novels, especially historicals. I really fel...