Congratulations,

Heidi Grange!

You’ve have been chosen to receive a copy of SCARY SCHOOL!  Be watching for an email from us.

Special treat on the Mixed Up Files today! We are interviewing… a ghost. Yep. Derek the Ghost, author of the scary and laugh out loud funny SCARY SCHOOL. It’s not very often we get to do this, so without further ado, let’s begin.

We’ll start with a little bit about the book that Derek wrote, SCARY SCHOOL.

FROM INDIE BOUND:

You think your school’s scary?

Get a load of these teachers:

Ms. Fang, an 850-year-old vampire
Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess
Mr. Snakeskin—science class is so much more fun when it’s taught by someone who’s half zombie
Mrs. T—break the rules and spend your detention with a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex!

Plus

Gargoyles, goblins, and Frankenstein’s monster on the loose
The world’s most frighteningly delicious school lunch

And

The narrator’s an eleven-year-old ghost!

Join Charles “New Kid” Nukid as he makes some very Scary friends—including Petunia, Johnny, and Peter the Wolf—and figures out that Scary School can be just as funny as it is spooky!

 About the Author

Derek the Ghost is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School writing down all the spine-tingling, often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on Earth.

Derek, glad you were the one to tell this story. I think your youth gave you a fearlessness in your telling that I know kids will appreciate. Do you agree with that? Did you have trouble convincing the adults to let you just tell the story because let’s face it there are some pretty situations and scary teachers at that school (thinking here of Miss Fangs…OOPS! sorry, Miss Fang, man, hope she didn’t hear me).

Yes, I guess I’m pretty fearless. Not quite as fearless as Fred the Boy Without Fear, but when you’re a ghost you don’t have to worry about getting eaten or dismembered anymore, so not a whole lot rattles me. Luckily, all the adults at Scary School are very supportive of my telling their stories. Personally, I think they just want the chance to become famous. And look! It seems to be working for Ms. Fangs already!

Were you the class clown? I only ask because I see you are an aspiring ninja master, not a comedy writer. You really did have me laughing out loud (when you weren’t scaring the pants off me, that is). It’s not easy writing humour, you’ve got some talent there, so you might want to consider that as another career to aspire to. If no on the class clown, how’d you do it? Be so funny, I mean.

Yes, I was a bit of a class clown. I loved making my friends laugh, so since that’s what I seemed to be good at, I figured why not just keep trying to make kids laugh with my writing and try to make a career of it? When I wrote Scary School, it was my goal to make kids laugh at least three times every page, and I hope I was successful!

Have to admit I’m a little curious about this person called Derek T. Kent. Seems he’s somehow involved in this book as his name pops up here and there. Could you tell us a little bit about him? Or maybe if he’s around you could get him to tell us? Interesting you both have the same first name.

As it turns out, Dereks can communicate from the beyond with other living Dereks. Unfortunately, normal folks out in the real world can’t often see or hear us ghosts, so Derek Taylor Kent is my connection with all of you. I didn’t have a lot of options when I needed to find someone to connect to the living world, so I can of just ended up with that guy. He’s very weird. Just google his full name “Derek Taylor Kent” and you’ll see lots of weird stuff he’s done!

SCARY SCHOOL crazy cool website which everyone seriously needs to check out. Did you have much input on that? Do you have a favorite part, something you for sure want kids to check out? 

Thanks so much. Myself and the amazing team at Jett Media put together the website – ScarySchool.com. Most of the features were my ideas that I wanted in there, like the fun locker game, the super-brain prize, and of course the tours of the school where you can check out the students, teachers, and cool school locations. But you have to make sure to take Ms. Fangs’ Quiz after you finish reading Scary School, because that will unlock the secret chapter, which is an essential read before starting on Book 2 which comes out on June 26, 2012. And then Book 3 comes out the June after that!

Next week, I’ll be back with a list of titles similar to the book you wrote, you know, in case kids want to make a pile a great scary funny reads for the holidays. Anything you’d recommend?

Yes, some of my recent favorites have been School for the Insanely Gifted by Dan Elish, My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody, The Beyonders by Brandon Mull, Jacob Wonderbar by Nathan Bransford, My Life as a Stuntboy by Janet Tashjian, and Shark Wars by EJ Altbacker.

So what are your future plans? More books in the works?

Yes, many more books in the works. There will be AT LEAST three Scary School books and probably many more. There could also be some fun spin-offs of other school you hear about in the text – like Adventure School and Future School. I also have some other cool books I’ve already written that you can check out and purchase through the website here – http://www.scaryschool.com/bookstore.html – Rudy and the Beast – My Homework Ate My Dog! is a really fun Harry Potter-type series about a kid who learns he has special powers and has to use them to rescue his kidnapped dog.

Before I let you go, I noticed on your website that we can actually send you questions there, as well. Any questions you haven’t got yet that you are dying (oh sorry, I guess you can’t really be dying) to answer but haven’t been asked yet? If so, what is it and feel free to go ahead and answer it right here. Not sure if the other Derek ever gets questions there?

I’ve gotten lots and lots of great questions, and also lots of amazing comments from kids all over the world who are reading and loving the book. Thanks so much for writing, kids! Every note warms my ghostly heart more than words can say. I’m happy to answer any questions, and I’ve gotten some weird ones, but no questions pop out that need answering. A lot of kids write to me wanting some hints about what happens in Book 2. if you contact me, I just might have those hints for you!

Thanks for doing this. Hope to see you around sometime. You don’t, like, jump out and scare people do you? If you do, maybe we should hold off on the seeing you around.

Sure thing. Oh and by the way, turn around. BOO!!! Did I scare you?

Well, yes yes, you kind of did. But not so scared that I’m not going to be reading some more scary books over the holidays! Back with what I read next week.

Derek the Ghost and his publisher have kindly offered a book for giveaway! Just leave a comment and we will announce a winner tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and if you happen to know of some good scary funny or just plains scary reads do let us know!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Newbery Honor winner, Grace Lin, to the Mixed-Up Files. Today we are chatting with her about DUMPLING DAYS, the third book in the Pacy Lin series. And as an added bonus, one lucky commenter will get a chance to win an advanced reader copy or ARC of DUMPLING DAYS from Grace!

(from Indiebound): Pacy is back! The beloved heroine of The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat has returned in a brand new story. This summer, Pacy’s family is going to Taiwan for an entire month to visit family and prepare for their grandmother’s 60th birthday celebration. Pacy’s parents have signed her up for a Chinese painting class, and at first she’s excited. This is a new way to explore her art talent! But everything about the trip is harder than she thought it would be–she looks like everyone else but can’t speak the language, she has trouble following the art teacher’s instructions, and it’s difficult to make friends in her class. At least the dumplings are delicious…

As the month passes by, Pacy eats chicken feet (by accident!), gets blessed by a fortune teller, searches for her true identity, and grows closer to those who matter most.

Hi Grace! Great to have you here! Let’s get started! In Dumpling Days, Pacy visits Taiwan for the first time during a summer vacation. What were some considerations you made when writing about a foreign country for your young American readers?

Actually, I don’t think I made too many special considerations. I just tried to convey the experience as close as possible to how I remembered my first trip to Taiwan. I tried to put in all the things that surprised and fascinated me—from the toilets to the shrines on the street. 

source: Alexandre Ferron

I really enjoyed revisiting my past trips to Taiwan, especially the food! I love writing about food.

It’s funny you say that! Across many of your chapter and picturebooks, I notice food as a common theme running throughout. Aside from your love writing about food, why do you think family meals and the preparation of them play such an important role in your books?

When I was younger (especially during those teenage years) I disliked being Asian. I didn’t want anything to do with my culture—the onlyexception being the food. Now, as adult looking for her culturalroots, food has become a key link between past and present. In many ways, my culture was passed down to me gastronomically! So, of course, writing about food is my way of expressing it. Also, I just like writing about food. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder was one of my favorite books just because I liked reading about all the thing she ate.

Dumpling Days is the third book in the series (the first two being: Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat). Was this a planned series, orsomething that evolved between you, your editor, and your fans?

The first book, Year of the Dog, was my first effort at a middle grade novel—my homage to the Carolyn Haywood & Betsy-Tacy books that I loved as a child. As I wrote in my author’s note in The Year of theDog, I wanted to write the book I had longed for as a child. Those books I adored had so much I loved in them—school, friends, family. The only thing they didn’t have was someone like me, someoneAsian-American. So, The Year of the Dog was a kind of wish fulfillment on my part.

The second book, Year of the Rat, came directly because I felt like there were some loose threads in Year of the Dog (for example, the friendship with Charlotte and Becky). These books are heavily based on my life, a lot of what I wrote really did happen and I wanted let the readers know how those loose threads came together. After that, readers often asked me to continue, wanting me to write“Year of the Tiger” or “Year of the Horse.” I was thrilled that they wanted more but I wasn’t sure if I had anything else to write that was not repetitive. For me to write another “Year of…” book I would probably have to start completely making up entire events and anecdotes, instead of basing them on what had really happened.

In general I have no problem with that, but I felt the heart of these books was how very real they were. I felt that the reason the bookshad struck a chord with readers was because they could sense the truthin them. So, I searched in my memories for something that I felt could be of real interest and the result was Dumpling Days. 

Your books suggest a blend of fiction and autobiography…for example, the main character’s name in school is Grace Lin, like yours. I love that you walk this line, and I wonder – do you find readers assuming that your books are about your own childhood? What made you decide to use your own name in your books? Were you being playful, orwas there a more serious intention?

These books are highly autobiographical and readers know it. When I first began writing, I followed the “write what you know” rule and just wrote it using my name and real people to help me. I thought Iwould change it later. But as the book progressed, it just felt right to leave it as is. I think I was inspired a little by the Little House books, where Laura Ingalls wrote about herself and used everyone’s real names—reading those books felt more exciting because you assumed it all really happened. I hoped that readers would feelthe same way when they read my books!

One of the things I absolutely enjoyed in Year of the Rat (the book that comes before Dumpling Days), is Pacy’s friendship with Melody. Like Pacy and Melody, I also had to experience losing my best friend to a move when I was in elementary school. And in fact, you experienced something similar, too, with one of your friends, who later turned out to be your editor! Can you tell us a little about what it’s been like to write and edit together a story that might be inspired by experiences you shared together? Do you both rememberdifferently what happened? Do your shared memories play a role increating and editing?

Grace and her editor, Alvina Ling

Yes, I definitely have an extremely unique relationship with myeditor. The character of Melody is based on my good friend Alvina Ling—we were childhood friends, just like in the “Year of the Dog” and she moved away, just like in the “Year of the Rat.” But just like in“Dumpling Days” we kept in touch and we have for all these years,becoming roommates at the start of our careers in children’s books atthe same time (I published my first book just as she got an internshipat a publishing company all the way back in 1999). And now, she’s the editor of my books! I think because we are such good friends, there’s an element of trust that is really wonderful—we didn’t have to build up to it, the trust was there right from the start. When she tells me something isn’t working, I really believe her—it’s like the friend that tells you about the spinach in your teeth.

We do remember the events I write about differently. In fact, many times I forget what actually happened and think the way I wrote it is completely 100% true, when it is more like 80% true and she has tocorrect me. And because we’ve experienced so many similar things,she’ll point out things that I’ll overlook. For example, in Dumpling Days, when I described the night market, I wrote it mainly as the things I saw. She would remind me, “Don’t forget how loud those markets are! And how strong the smells!” Another editor, not having experienced the night market, may not have pointed that out. And, of course, my point of view was different from hers. For example, her parents have always been Taiwanese nationalists (believing Taiwan should be it’s own country, not a part of China) whereas in my youth my parents were rather hazy about their ideals and often labeled themselves and us as Chinese. This is always something we go back and forth about when I write the books. But it’s good! 

What’s it like to illustrate your own chapter books? Could you describe the process? Where do your ideas start for what to illustrate, and how do they become finalized?


First, I write the book—the story in its entirety. Once it is finished and approved, I begin drawing. For books like Dumpling Days (my other books, like Where the Mountain Meets the Moon have a completely different process) I just go through chapter by chapter and doodle as many little pictures as occur to me. Then I go through the doodles, pick out the ones that I think would be most interesting to put in the book, sketch them a bit clearer.

Preliminary sketch of Pacy's family

Then, using a light table,I do a final “clean” drawing using a special kind of marker whose tip is brush-like.

Final image of Pacy's family

Not exactly a calligraphy pen, but similar. I give the designer a huge slew of drawings and let her sort it out for the book!  

So I can’t help asking. What’s YOUR favorite dumpling?

Dumplings featured in Dumpling Days

Definitely xiao long bao—the soup dumplings! You can get them in NewYork, at a place called Joe Shanghai’s. I definitely recommend!

Thanks so much for stopping by, Grace!  Dumpling Days will be available January 2012 from Little, Brown. Meanwhile, to enter our giveway of an ARC of DUMPLING DAYS, please leave a comment below.

Grace Lin is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the author and illustrator of the Newbery Honor book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and the acclaimed The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat, as well as many celebrated picture books. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband. You can visit her online at www.gracelin.com.

Sheela Chari’s first novel, VANISHED (Disney Hyperion), is available in stores now. www.sheelachari.com.