Karen Cushman
Newbery award-winning children’s book author
Because the first nugget of Peter Lee’s Notes from the Field was based on a real road trip that my family had done, the setting (starting in Vancouver and then traveling to Drumheller, Alberta) and the plot are tightly woven together.
In so many ways, the setting in Long Walk is the story. As a young boy, Salva had to escape from a war and walk for months through hostile lands to reach safety.
In so many ways, the setting in Long Walk is the story. As a young boy, Salva had to escape from a war and walk for months through hostile lands to reach safety.
When I decide to write a story, the characters probably emerge first, then the location in which the characters reside, then the story, which is, of course, influenced by a strong sense of place.
I always set my stories in the South and that setting is always ever present. But those beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains are particularly special to me. I knew that’s where my story would be set … even before I had a story.
What happened was I read a newspaper article about kids who grew up on Alcatraz when there was a working penitentiary on the island. As soon as I read that article, I knew I wanted to “be” one of those kids.
Did you have a Rosie in your life? What did you want Millie’s and Rosie’s friendship to do for the story?
What kinds of parallels do you see between Millie’s experiences in 1941 and what children are experiencing now?
My experience of the war is mostly second hand—my Uncle Chester’s stories about fighting in the South Pacific, my father’s struggles to find tires and gas for the car, my mother’s complaints about rationing.
We know you grew up with a brother. Is there someone in your background that brought the character of Lily, Millie’s younger sister, to life for your readers? I wanted a sibling who was the opposite of the adorable Pete and my equally adorable brother. Luckily, I can’t remember anyone I knew who was as whiny and difficult as Lily. She
