RAR #247: Why We Love Historical Fiction, Anna Rose Johnson

Sarah Mackenzie (00:05):

Hello, hello. Welcome to the Read-Aloud Revival podcast, the show that helps families fall in love with books and fall in love with homeschooling. I'm your host, Sarah Mackenzie. Today I want to talk about my own favorite reading genre, a lot of your favorites too. Because we did a poll not too long ago at RAR Premium to ask which genre you most like to read for fun, and so many of you said my answer, which is historical fiction. We all love some good historical fiction. So I knew just who to invite on the show to talk about historical fiction.

(00:41):

Anna Rose Johnson is here. She's not only a fellow lover of reading historical fiction, but also she's a writer of historical fiction, and some excellent historical fiction at that. We're going to talk all about it. She's the award-winning author of The Star That Always Stays, a middle grade historical fiction novel that is on several of my book lists, and The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry. An utterly fabulous title, a completely charming story. I like to describe it as a perfect read if you love Lucy Maud Montgomery set a the Michigan lighthouse. Anna Rose is here to chat with me, all things historical fiction, writing it, reading it, all the good stuff. Anna Rose, welcome to the Read-Aloud Revival. So glad you're here.

Anna Rose Johnson (01:27):

Well, thank you so much for asking me. It's such a delight.

Sarah Mackenzie (01:31):

So historical fiction is my own favorite genre. I know I get a lot of great recommendations from your website. In fact, I believe you're the one who recommended, or maybe you just had it on your website, Miss Buncle's Book by DE Stevenson, and I was like, "I've never heard of this before." And then I went and got the audio book and just loved it so much. I loved it so much we chose it as a Mama Book Club pick for this next coming year.

Anna Rose Johnson (01:59):

That's great. It's such a fun book.

Sarah Mackenzie (02:01):

Have you always loved historical fiction? As a kid did you read it? Tell me more about that.

Anna Rose Johnson (02:07):

I always loved particularly the Edwardian era. Even from a very young age, I loved stories that took place in that time, books and movies and TV shows. Even from when I was like six or seven years old, I loved the Betsy-Tacy books. And my aunt gave me a facsimile of a 1900 Sears catalog when I was seven, and I spent a lot of time looking over that. And later I got another old catalog of cars from 1904. And so I just loved that time period. So then later on I ended up writing in that time period as well. So yeah, I just was always very, very drawn to that. I was homeschooled and I had a lot of time to focus on my stories when I was younger and I played very imaginative games and they were usually set in turn of the century to write stories based on those games.

(03:09):

So yeah, I've been reading and writing historical fiction for a long time. I like to say that I started writing historical fiction when I was seven, but I didn't start actually researching it until I was maybe 12. So yeah, and then I continued to write historical fiction, but then I switched to writing contemporary stories when I was a little older because I saw that so many middle grade novels were contemporary and I thought that's what I should do. So it really wasn't until I got the idea for The Star That Always Stays when I was 16 that I returned to my first love of historical fiction and have not looked back since then. And so yeah, historical fiction has just always been such a favorite of mine.

(04:01):

I read quite a bit of historical eviction as a kid. A lot of what I read at that age, and is still the case now, is more just vintage books, books that were written in the first half of the 20th century, Noel Streatfeild and Elizabeth Enright, books like that. And yeah, even books written in the early 1900s I liked a lot. And so I think that reading so many vintage books at that age is one of the reasons why I personally like historical fiction that feels very... It's a little bit different than a lot of typical historical fiction where it's like instead of, for example, "This is a book about the Great Depression and here are some characters in this time period," whereas I like to read and to write books where it's more you start with here's a character and the story happens to take place during the Great Depression.

Sarah Mackenzie (04:59):

So the setting then provides a backdrop for this character who's very primary for you in your writer's mind.

Anna Rose Johnson (05:05):

Yeah.

Sarah Mackenzie (05:06):

It doesn't surprise me that you love books like Elizabeth Enright and Noel Streatfeild's books. I mean, I feel like that feeling of that same, I don't know if feeling's the right word, tone of big family stories, siblings kind of banding together it's really present in your books in surprising ways sometimes. So that's really fun. That's fun. I'm just curious, when we asked in RAR Premium, "What's your favorite genre?" I mean the overwhelming response was historical fiction. I just wonder why, what is it about the genre that you think maybe, I was going to say that appeals to people, but maybe just what is it about it that appeals to you? Maybe that's what we can talk about is what appeals to us about historical fiction.

Anna Rose Johnson (05:50):

Yeah, I thought that was quite fun that those were the poll results because I voted for historical of course. So it was fun to see that so many others chose that as well. Yeah, I think that for me, I've always thought that historical fiction is just a really fun way to learn about history and it doesn't feel like you're learning anything exactly. It's just more you're absorbing the story and you absorb the history along with that. And there's just so much that you can learn from historical fiction, and I just really like that. I love it when there's surprising things that I didn't know about previously in history in books, and I think a lot of people enjoy that aspect of it. What I really like about writing historical fiction is that ability to introduce readers to history that might be new to them. Yeah, I really love that aspect of it.

Sarah Mackenzie (06:54):

It's so interesting because I feel like I'm not a huge fantasy reader, I read a lot of fantasy with my kids because they love fantasy, but I don't read... Maybe I don't read any fantasy on my own. I'm trying to think if I ever really have. Mostly for a Read-Aloud Revival book list or to read with my kids. But actually, I think the same thing that appeals, that same immersive experience that sort of takes you out of... Completely enraptures you and takes you into a different time and place is the same thing. I mean, early 20th century might as well be a fantasy land compared to what we live in now, right? Talk about world building. I mean, you've got to do some serious world building if you're going to write a story that's set in 1908 because it's a completely different world than we live in now. So I feel like the same kind of getting swept away in a story or taken to another time or place, I feel that when I read a vintage story or like Anne of Green Gables, I feel that way just as much as if I read Narnia. They both feel like equally portals to another place for me.

Anna Rose Johnson (08:00):

Absolutely. And I think that that's maybe why so many young readers like historical fiction because it kind of offers a different perspective. There's a lot of young readers want the experience of something different and unique when they're reading, and a lot of the times contemporary books mirror their own lives pretty well. And yeah, I think that's why so many like fantasy. But historical fiction allows young readers to experience a story where so many things are the same as life today, but then there's also something else, something a little bit unfamiliar. So yeah, I think that historical fiction offers a really good blend of the familiar and the unique.

Sarah Mackenzie (08:49):

Okay, so let's talk about yours books in particular, which are all over our book list because we love them so much. The first, The Star That Always Stays, which came out a couple of years ago. Do you want to give our listeners watchers a little quick summary of what the story is? I should have done that for you, but it's been a little while since I've read it, so now I feel like you'd probably do a better job than I would.

Anna Rose Johnson (09:12):

Yeah, absolutely. So yes, The Star That Always Stays was a story inspired by the childhood of my great grandmother. So it's about a 14-year-old girl named Norvia, and she moves from Beaver Island to Boyne City, Michigan in 1914 when her parents divorce and her mother remarries. And so it's a lot of her trying to adjust to that change as well as the fact that her mother wants her to hide the fact that they have Native American heritage. So it's a coming of age story with a lot of fun elements.

Sarah Mackenzie (09:53):

It does, and it has a lot of nods to those same vintage stories you were talking about loving. I always am like, if you love Lucy Maud Montgomery, if you love Elizabeth Enright, if you love those kinds of stories, you're going to love it. It's just exactly that kind of book. One thing I appreciate so much about your stories, both The Star That Always Stays and The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, which has to be, just for the record, one of the best titles ever. I mean, you got me before I even saw the cover, which is also an amazing cover. But The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, are you kidding me? Sign me up. I'm reading this book today. Anyway, both of them tell the story of girls who have Ojibwe heritage, which is not something we see in a lot of those vintage or historical novels that we love from that time period. So tell me more about that.

Anna Rose Johnson (10:45):

I really liked including that aspect in these stories for that very reason, because I think it adds just an extra element and different perspective for these kinds of stories that are very classic. There's so many stories that kind of follow these coming of age stories for girls at this time in history. So yeah, I really enjoyed being able to put that in and introduce readers to a little bit of Ojibwe culture. So yeah, it's very special to me, especially in The Star That Always Stays because that was inspired by my family history. So yeah, I just think that it's fun to be able to get a story in that style, but with a character with heritage that isn't always explored.

Sarah Mackenzie (11:37):

Okay. So your second book, The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, do you want to give us a little summary of that one, a little introduction to that one?

Anna Rose Johnson (11:45):

Yeah, so The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry is about, of course, Lucy Landry, and she is 11 years old and she is an orphan. And when her guardian passes away, she has to go and live with family who live in a lighthouse. And it's a big family, and Lucy has a little bit of trouble fitting in. She has a very big imagination. She's also looking for a treasure that she thinks could be washed up on shore near the lighthouse. So it's a little bit of a mystery.

Sarah Mackenzie (12:24):

Yeah, she's got a big imagination and a tongue that gets her in trouble sometimes.

Anna Rose Johnson (12:29):

Yes.

Sarah Mackenzie (12:32):

Okay. So you said something a minute ago that I know some listeners were like, "Wait, Sarah, go back. Ask her about that". Don't worry, I didn't miss it. You said you had the idea for The Star That Always Stays when you were 16. So tell me how old were you when you wrote that book? How did that unfold for you?

Anna Rose Johnson (12:48):

Yes, so I was 16 when I got the idea and when I wrote it, because I wrote it immediately after I got the idea.

Sarah Mackenzie (12:55):

Okay. Okay. Amazing.

Anna Rose Johnson (12:57):

I was doing it for NaNoWriMo that year, and it was the first time I had done that.

Sarah Mackenzie (13:02):

And we should probably tell our listeners what NaNoWriMo is, just in case they haven't heard of it.

Anna Rose Johnson (13:07):

Yes, the National Novel Writing Month takes place in November each year, and writers try to get to 50,000 words in a book project. I did not get to 50,000 words on that first try. I got to 40,000, but I thought it was pretty good because at that point I hadn't written very many longer projects. It was really good experience for me. So yeah, that was when I wrote the first draft. And it basically is completely different now. I had to rewrite the book from scratch a couple of times. So yeah, it wasn't until several years after that that I rewrote it again to be more of what the book is now. So yeah, it was a very fun process. I mean, I still wrote the majority of the book as it is today as a teenager. I was still 19 when I did that.

Sarah Mackenzie (14:04):

Wow.

Anna Rose Johnson (14:04):

So yeah, it's quite cool. I'm glad that it all worked out. It was just really fun that that could be my first book.

Sarah Mackenzie (14:11):

So NaNoWriMo, I think I'm not forgetting, I hope I'm not speaking this out of turn, I'm pretty sure this is an accurate memory, that Karina Yan Glaser who wrote The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street actually wrote her first version of that book during NaNoWriMo, and she said, if I remember this correctly, I hope I'm not getting you mixed up with someone else, Karina, that her story ended up changing completely from what she wrote in NaNoWriMo, but she found all the characters and the family and the tone. And I think, oh wow. I mean, that's a lot to find in one month of writing, so that's amazing.

(14:46):

I love this so much. I love hearing when something that a lot of people do, NaNoWriMo, that gets a lot of galvanizing action and people, writers everywhere, all over the world participate in this. And if you've got a young writer, this is just a fun challenge for them to do some version of NaNoWriMo. I did not know that you did that for this book, and that's really fun. So for me, I love historical fiction so much. I love historical fiction for adults, I love it for middle grade, I love YA historical fiction a lot of times. I'm very intimidated to think about writing it because it feels so research heavy and it feels like so many things could get wrong. Tell me about your research process. What does that look like, and do you ever get worried that you're going to get something wrong?

Anna Rose Johnson (15:41):

Yes, I think that that's always a bit of a worry for historical writers. We do a lot of research and yeah, you do want to get everything as close as you possibly can. I do a lot of research. And I do it over a long period of time, and I think that it's something that I've talked to other young writers about where they'll say, "I would really love to write historical fiction, but all the research just sounds so hard."

Sarah Mackenzie (16:16):

Where do you start? That's what it feels like to me, like, "Oh [inaudible 00:16:19]."

Anna Rose Johnson (16:19):

Yes, exactly.

Sarah Mackenzie (16:20):

Yeah.

Anna Rose Johnson (16:21):

What I try and tell people is that you don't have to do all that research right off the bat. What I like to do is just get the basic background information that I'm going to need for the book, like this first layer of research, just so that I can get through the first draft with it mostly being accurate, and then as I continue to write the next few drafts and revise, then I try to add in more research as I go. So I think that doing it in layers, knowing that you don't have to do everything right off the bat, you can research more as it goes on, and things are going to come up when you're editing, especially as you change things, there's going to be things you didn't realize you would have to research. So I think that that maybe can take some of the pressure off.

(17:11):

It doesn't have to be so overwhelming right at the beginning. So yeah, I do a lot of research. I love researching old newspapers and magazines, getting ideas from those. I really like going back to some of those old books, books written during the time that I'm writing about. I find that very helpful with the dialogue especially, getting a feel for what that would sound like. I really like reading nonfiction books about whatever place that I'm writing about because that helps me get a better feel for it. I look at lots of old pictures and it's a lot of different things that I do to research, but eventually it all comes together.

Sarah Mackenzie (17:58):

When you're looking for research, do you always have a first thing you go to? Do you always go to books? Do you always search on YouTube for videos? What do you do? What are you looking for?

Anna Rose Johnson (18:08):

I've done pretty much everything that people recommend, but I would say starting out with research, it's usually a book. I typically start with settings.

Sarah Mackenzie (18:22):

Oh, okay.

Anna Rose Johnson (18:22):

So with Lucy, it was the lighthouse setting. I knew I wanted it to be a lighthouse on Lake Superior, and so that narrows your research pretty well, so that you know basically what you're looking for. So yeah, I just started reading a lot of books and blog posts about lighthouses and watching some videos with lighthouse tours.

Sarah Mackenzie (18:45):

Yeah, reading your book, I mean, because I'm from the Pacific Northwest, I had no idea that your lakes out there... I mean, I know there are the Great Lakes, but I did not know they were basically little mini oceans.

Anna Rose Johnson (18:56):

Yeah.

Sarah Mackenzie (18:58):

I just had no idea they were such forces to be reckoned with. So yeah. As you were talking, one of the things I was thinking of is Susan Meissner, she's one of my favorite historical fiction authors. She writes adult historical fiction, mostly set in World War II period of time, and she has a few that are not in World War II. But I heard her on an interview once say actually at this point a World War II novel is a lot more comfortable for her to write because she's done so much research for one book, you can carry it to the next. So she thinks that's oftentimes why authors... Well, because their interest lies at a certain period of time in history, but also their expertises are getting more and more research done as they do their writing. So do you find that too? Are both of your books set in about the same time period? I guess I don't know the answer to that.

Anna Rose Johnson (19:47):

Yes, they're both set in the 1910s. And yeah, that comes from the fact that I always had such an affinity for turn of the century stories. I didn't know as much about the 1910s specifically, especially World War I, and The Star That Always Stays at the very beginning of World War I in Europe, growing up, I really liked the American Girls books. I think when I was 11, a new American Girl doll and series came out and it was the Rebecca books, and I really loved those, and they were set in 1914. And I was very fascinated by that, learning new things about that particular period in time. And so then later when I was doing research on my great-grandmother, then I realized that I could set her story in that same year, and I really wanted to do that. So that was kind of the initial spark.

(20:46):

So yeah, and then Lucy's set in 1912, and I wanted it to be in that same general time because when I was doing the research for lighthouses, a lot of the material that I was finding was from that time, a lot of the stories I found about families who had lived at lighthouses, things that people had written was from that time. So I eventually settled on 1912, and then later I was able to visit a lighthouse on Lake Superior for research, and that was restored to 1915. So it was cool that it was pretty close to the [inaudible 00:21:28].

Sarah Mackenzie (21:28):

Yeah, that's so cool. So cool. I will admit that this summer I was looking for a little getaway spot for my husband and I for a couple of nights while college kids are home to watch the younger kids, and I was trying to find is there a lighthouse we could stay in? And I know those are things... We ended up deciding to do something else, but one of these days I will stay in the lighthouse.

Anna Rose Johnson (21:50):

Yeah.

Sarah Mackenzie (21:50):

Just for fun. What was the hardest part? What do you find to be the most challenging part about writing? It could just either be specific to your books or the historical fiction genre in general.

Anna Rose Johnson (22:01):

I would say as far as writing historical fiction, one of the hardest things for me has been finding the exact piece of research that I'm looking for. Sometimes I'll have very specific questions, "How did this work? Or what was this like at this particular time in this particular place?" And I want to get this exact answer, and that's not always available, so you have to do your best with what other information you could find. Maybe you can't find something for that exact time and place, but maybe you can find something for a similar place. So yeah, that can be tricky to find exactly what I want.

(22:43):

Just in general, some of the hardest parts of writing my books, I would say for The Star That Always Stays, it was tricky to get the three act story structure correct for it, and that was partly because I did write it when I was younger, because it started out when I was 16, and I didn't really understand three act structure that well, hadn't done a lot of reading on it. I know your basic beginning, middle end, but the three act structure being more, drawing those out a bit, making sure that it hits these specific beats, that was a little trickier for me. So it took a lot of revisions to make sure that I got that right. I think one of the hardest parts with Lucy truthfully was just sending it off the last time to my publisher when I was done with edits because I have a hard time knowing that the book is done and I can't change anything else.

Sarah Mackenzie (23:41):

Like this is it. This is the last time you get to touch this thing. And then it's inscribed in stone basically more or less.

Anna Rose Johnson (23:48):

Yes.

Sarah Mackenzie (23:50):

I think one of the things that I love about historical fiction specifically is that it tells the story of one person, which to me, I feel like when I look back on what do I know about the Civil War, for example, I know a little tiny bit that I can remember maybe from a textbook that I learned in school, but for the most part, everything I know about the Civil War is because I read historical fiction novels set during the Civil War. And there's something about the one story of this person, and I think it also helps us, and it helps our kids look back and see that these were not just like...

(24:29):

If you look at facts and dates and wars and things like that, it's really hard to understand there's a whole human there with fears and joys and weaknesses and strengths and desires and hopes and dreams. And one story that tells the story of one specific part of their life or one person's life, it just feels different. It hits us differently. And I think that's got to be one of the fun parts about writing historical fiction and also one of the challenging parts about writing historical fiction, I would think, is I get to tell this one person's story, but can I do it without giving them my modern brain? How we think about X, Y, Z now is different than they thought about it back then. Is that something that's challenging for you at all?

Anna Rose Johnson (25:12):

Yeah, I try very hard to make sure that my novels seem authentic to what people were talking about and thinking about at that time. And like I said, with the dialogue, that can be challenging. You have to make sure that it just feels real to the reader, and you want all different aspects of it to feel real. That's why it can be really helpful to read books that were written during the time period that you're writing about, because that I think helps a lot with that just to get a better feel for what people's perspectives were.

Sarah Mackenzie (26:04):

So you said you were homeschooled and you had a lot of time to work on your stories. And we have a lot of listeners who homeschool, and a ton of young writers listening who are dying for me to ask you, what's been the most impactful or useful things that you did or that your parents did or that you had access to growing up and in your early years of adult writing? What are the things that you're like, "Oh, yes, this made a big difference"? Because I think there's a lot of parents listening and a lot of kids listening who want to be writers or who are raising writers, and they're like, "What do we do? How do we give our kids what they need?" So I'd love your take on that.

Anna Rose Johnson (26:43):

There have been a lot of things that have impacted my writing in major ways, and I think as a kid, a big part of it was having lots of opportunities and time to play those imaginative games and then write down stories about them. And just having the time to do that I think is a big thing. And yeah, my parents were super supportive of my writing and made sure that I had access to computers and being able to write that way. And having so many books, we had so many books and different kinds of books that it made it easier to figure out, "Oh, well, I like this kind of story, historical fiction." So yeah, I think that that was a big thing when I was younger. And I think the fact that I reread so much, I was very particular about the books that I liked, and so I would just tend to reread the same ones over and over again.

(27:54):

And I think that that really helped me as a writer, because I think when I was rereading, I was getting a good ear for the way sentences are built and how dialogue should sound. And I think if you read a story just once, you don't quite retain the great writing the same way, but if you read it over and over again, then it can help your own writing so much. So that was definitely very important for me. And yeah, so then later on when I was older, then I was able to get more individual help with my writing and my publishing journey, and that was really invaluable, and I did that. I was a student in the Young Writers Workshop and then later in the Author Conservatory with Brett Harris and Kara Swanson, and they really helped me so much. Because when you're younger and you're working on stories, a lot of the time you're just doing it all by yourself and you're not asking for feedback on your stories. And later on, being able to get feedback from industry professionals, that's a really helpful thing. So yeah, definitely try and seek out feedback.

Sarah Mackenzie (29:11):

Yes. Okay, so that was a fun conversation I had actually on a previous episode, episode number 235 was all about how to give feedback on your child's creative writing, even if you're not a writer. And the Young Writers Workshop team, Brett Harris and Kara Swanson from Young Writers Workshop and Author Conservatory came on. So if you have a young writer, I would highly recommend listening to that episode 235, readaloudrevival.com/235. That's so fun. I remember realizing, making the connection between like, "Oh, Anna Rose Johnson has done this program. That's so great." So that's really fun that those worlds sort of collided in my brain. Like of course, of course you're a good storyteller. Let's talk about some of those favorite books, your own favorite historical fiction. You mentioned reading and rereading and rereading the same book again and again. What books were those? Let's start there.

Anna Rose Johnson (30:03):

Very early on it was the Betsy-Tacy books, those I read a lot of times. So those first four when they're younger, and then of course later on when I was in high school, then I read the high school books and that was quite fun.

Sarah Mackenzie (30:16):

It's been a while since I've read them, but I totally can see you rereading and rereading those. That fits so perfectly.

Anna Rose Johnson (30:24):

Yeah, I really loved those books. And I also really liked Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill. That's a good historical fiction. I really liked the American Girls books and I loved the mysteries that they did. And so two that I particularly liked were Midnight in Lonesome Hollow and The Puzzle of the Paper Daughter. Those were really good. And I think that last one was really the book that got me interested in doing genealogy research, because that's how they figure out the mystery, and I thought it sounded like so much fun because they looked through microfilm and I just thought it was so cool.

Sarah Mackenzie (31:06):

That's so funny. I love that. And I can totally see that connection. By the way, everybody listening, or if you're folding laundry or driving to soccer practice or on a walk or whatever you're doing at the moment, we'll put all these books in the show notes. So don't worry if Anna Rose mentions the book that you're like, "Wait, what was that?" It'll be in the show notes.

Anna Rose Johnson (31:25):

Yeah, another one that I really liked when I was younger, and still like, The Secret School by Avi, I really liked that one. And the sequel finally just came out last year, and it was also really good, The Secret Sisters.

Sarah Mackenzie (31:41):

Oh, okay. I know I have that book on my shelf at home, but I don't know if I've read it personally, The Secret School. Although I am a fan of Avi's work.

Anna Rose Johnson (31:49):

Oh, I think you would really like it. It's so good.

Sarah Mackenzie (31:52):

Okay, okay.

Anna Rose Johnson (31:53):

Another childhood favorite that I still really love is From Anna by Jean Little. That's set in the 1930s, and it's also so good. It's not that often that you find a book that has such excellent characters and story and writing. That one really fits the bill. But yeah, I just have so many historical fiction books that I love for kids. Rosetown by Cynthia Rylant, Patricia Riley Giff's R My Name is Rachel, What the Moon Said by Gail Rosengren, All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor. I really liked Melissa Wiley's Little House in the Highlands.

Sarah Mackenzie (32:36):

Yes.

Anna Rose Johnson (32:38):

And I liked Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz. There's a Newbery book, I think it was a Newbery Honor winner from '50s, The Golden Name Day by Jenny Lindquist. That one's great.

Sarah Mackenzie (32:51):

I've never heard of this.

Anna Rose Johnson (32:52):

Oh, it's really good.

Sarah Mackenzie (32:54):

Okay, The Golden Name Day?

Anna Rose Johnson (32:55):

It was republished. It was hard to find for a long time, but they just republished it.

Sarah Mackenzie (32:59):

Okay.

Anna Rose Johnson (32:59):

I also like Emily's Runaway Imagination. I think that's the only historical that Beverly Cleary ever wrote.

Sarah Mackenzie (33:07):

Yeah, I think you're right.

Anna Rose Johnson (33:09):

That one's quite good. And I have a few suggestions for teens. So the author of the Betsy-Tacy books also wrote Emily of Deep Valley. That one is so good as well. I would also say Mitali Perkins has a new book came out I think last year, Hope in the Valley. It's like upper middle grade. And then another good one for teens would be Up from the Sea by Amanda Dykes. That's a novella set in Maine in the '20s.

Sarah Mackenzie (33:40):

I have not read that one yet. But I love Amanda Dykes, so I'm going to have to go look that up. Goodness, okay, well all of you watching or listening, I did tell Anna Rose I'd love to fill the show notes this episode with a ton of book recommendations. And boy did she deliver, did she not? And of course we'll also include Anna Rose's books in the show notes as well, The Star That Always Stays, The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry. Highly recommend both. So Anna Rose, can you talk about what's next for you?

Anna Rose Johnson (34:14):

So I can't say a ton yet about it, but I do have another book coming up next year. This is actually the first time that I've talked about it. So you're getting kind of the exclusive.

Sarah Mackenzie (34:25):

Ooh, very fun.

Anna Rose Johnson (34:27):

I have tackled a different time period with this one. This is set at the beginning of World War II, and it's about a girl who moves from England to Wisconsin to live on her grandmother's farm.

Sarah Mackenzie (34:41):

Is she sent away in London Blitz with the children that were sent away from London or different?

Anna Rose Johnson (34:49):

It is during that general time, yes, she and her family leave.

Sarah Mackenzie (34:55):

Okay. Well, world War II is my favorite historical time period to read, so I'm very excited about this. I cannot wait to read it. You don't have a general idea of when that one comes out, do you?

Anna Rose Johnson (35:07):

It might be next summer.

Sarah Mackenzie (35:09):

Okay, okay. Well, we'll all keep our fingers crossed. Anna Rose, thank you so much for the time and the great conversation today. It has been a delight.

Anna Rose Johnson (35:20):

Well, thank you so much for having me. It was just so much fun.

Sarah Mackenzie (35:25):

Now let's go listen to what the kids are saying about the books they're loving.

Sophie (35:35):

My name is Sophie. I'm three.

Speaker 4 (35:39):

Where do you live?

Sophie (35:40):

In Colombia, Bogota.

Speaker 4 (35:44):

In Bogota, Colombia. And what's your favorite book?

Sophie (35:46):

Madeline.

Speaker 4 (35:48):

And why is Madeline your favorite book?

Sophie (35:49):

Because it's fun.

Kayla (35:52):

Hi, I am Kayla from Pennsylvania. I'm seven years old and my favorite book is the Who Would Win? books because it's about other animals fighting other animals.

Speaker 6 (36:05):

Hi my name is [inaudible 00:36:08]. I live in Pennsylvania. I'm two years old. My favorite one is Over and Under the Waves.

Speaker 7 (36:22):

Why do you like Over and Under the Waves?

Speaker 6 (36:27):

Because [inaudible 00:36:28].

Speaker 7 (36:27):

Yes. Good job.

Noelle (36:29):

Hi, my name is Noelle. I'm four years old and I live in Pennsylvania.

Speaker 7 (36:32):

Pennsylvania.

Noelle (36:32):

And my favorite book is Super Cat.

Speaker 7 (36:44):

And who wrote your favorite book?

Noelle (36:45):

Caleb.

Speaker 7 (36:47):

And Caleb is your?

Noelle (36:49):

And Caleb is my brother.

Speaker 7 (36:51):

And is that why you like it so much? Because your brother wrote it for you?

Noelle (36:55):

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (36:55):

Yes.

Johnny (36:57):

Hi, my name Johnny. I live in Greenville, South Carolina. My favorite book is [inaudible 00:37:03] Today because bear tried to trick the fox.

Sadie (37:08):

My name is Sadie and I live in Orrville, Ohio. I'm seven year old and I love the Ramona books because Ramona is so funny and she does all these crazy things.

Adeline (37:27):

My name is Adeline and I live in Texas and I'm seven years old and I like The Little Princess, and I made an ending for it. And that night the house turned into a castle. In the morning, Becky looked out the window astonished. The next night she crept out of the house and into the castle. The day before, a letter had come to her and said for her to do as she did. The next night, Ermengarde and Lottie did. The next morning, Ms. Minchin was furious. She went to the castle and said, "I will take Sarah and Becky and Ermengarde and Lottie." "No," said Uncle Tom. "I will not let them go." Miss Minchin was red with anger. Uncle Tom called the police, and the police took her to France to learn her own French lessons and to be a scullery maid herself. The next day, Uncle Tom and Miss Amelia got married and they became the king and queen. The end. Bye.

Sarah Mackenzie (38:33):

Thank you so much, kids. Show notes for this episode are at readaloudrevival.com/248. That's where you'll find links to Anna Rose Johnson's books, The Star That Always Stays, The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, truly never get tired of saying that title, and also all the books that Anna Rose recommended in this episode. It is chock-full. So if you are a historical fiction lover, you're in luck. We have so much good reading to do, don't we? I'll be back in two weeks with another episode. But in the meantime, you know what to do, go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.