As far as I know, the actual ranch is no longer there. How long does it take you to write a book? Writing a novel takes about a year. It's another year before publication. Does your family read your books before you send them to a publisher?
Not usually. It is more likely that they will read them when they are in book form. There are many manuscript files on my computer. Sometimes I think I have a great idea for a story and I begin to develop it but it doesn't take root as I thought it would. Sometimes I put it away and it never gets developed and other times I go back to revisit it at a later date and something will occur to me that will help me advance the story.
When I'm under contract for a novel for something specific, I will revisit the manuscript or conference with my editor, but I won't abandon it. Which type of books do you prefer to write — novels or picture books? Were any of your books written with your children in mind? I like changing channels in my mind, so that's why I enjoy writing both novels and picture books. None of my novels were written about any of my children specifically.
How did you feel the first time you saw a book of yours for sale in a store? That is always very thrilling. What do you admire most about your grandmother? I admire both of my grandmothers. They lived through the Great Depression and struggled to overcome poverty and stereotypical thinking.
How would you feel if someone wrote a book about your life? I would be honored if that happened, but I would be concerned about the accuracy of the story. Both my mom and I read Esperanza Rising , and we both really liked it.
I am only 7 and I understood it and enjoyed it. You are a great author if kids and grown-ups both like your books. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for sharing that with me. I love to hear when readers make a connection with the story. Are there any other writers in your family?
Do you think any of your children may become writers? I have cousins who are in writing related fields. One of my cousins is a broadcast journalist another is a film editor.
My grandmother's sister was a romance novelist in Mexico about a hundred years ago. Many of these questions are answered more fully in interviews on my website. Also, if you read the Author's Notes in the back of the books, you will find additional in-depth information. I'm grateful to my readers and the teachers who present my books to their classrooms. Create a List. List Name Save. Rename this List. Rename this list. List Name Delete from selected List. Save to. Save to:.
Save Create a List. Create a list. Save Back. Grades 3—5 , 6—8. Do you speak fluent Spanish? My grandmother spoke only Spanish to me. After I had turned in some work, a professor came up to me one day after class and asked me to stay after, and she asked me if I'd ever considered doing any professional writing. Up to that point, I hadn't. But, you know, once she planted the seed, I really couldn't stop thinking about it. I finished my master's, and I became an administrator of an early childhood program, and I did that for five years.
But I was already starting to write. Most people are familiar with the federal camps that John Steinbeck made famous with his novel The Grapes of Wrath , when the federal government came in and set up massive tent cities for the immigrants from the Dust Bowl. But before that, in the early thirties, most of the immigrants stayed in company camps.
On my mother's birth certificate, on the line that is reserved for the name of the hospital, it says "DiGiorgio Farms. Esperanza begins as a very pampered and spoiled daughter of a landowner in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and she has a very privileged life. She has servants, she goes to private schools, and she really has never known any other way to live. She comes from a very loving family, but a series of circumstances happen, and her father is killed, and she must flee to the United States with her mother.
She sort of accepts that on face value, but she doesn't really realize what's going to happen to her or the change of station that's going to occur for her in her life. And so they make this journey. They end up in DiGiorgio Farms in the San Juaquin Valley, living in a farm labor camp and having to share a very tiny cabin with a number of people. The story shows her evolution and how she was forced to grow into an independent, young woman.
I'll give you a little background on Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride. I was reading an adult book one day called Hearts of Fire. In this book was a series of articles about famous American women and myths about them. The word "myth" was in the subtitle. So, I came across this one paragraph about this evening in , when Amelia Earhart spent the night at the White House and took Eleanor Roosevelt for her first night flight over Washington, D.
Well, because the word "myth" was in the subtitle of the book, I thought, "Oh, I wonder if this is true —or, maybe it's just one of those stories like George Washington cutting down the cherry tree.
So, I went to the big library in San Diego, and went on the Associated Press microfiche, because I figured that if it was true, it would have made the press. So, I had the date, and I went on the next morning's AP articles and searched. Sure enough, there were the newspaper accounts of the previous evening, and so then I knew it was true. Then I began the deeper research, contacted the White House curator's office, and was able to read books written by the housekeeper, who lived in the Roosevelt White House.
Based on a real person, Charley also became the first woman to cast her vote in the state of California. Young Neftali cannot resist the power of words and the world around him. Whether he is studying the iridescent wings of beetle or imagining the story of a lone boot left in the mud, there is no limit to where his imagination and words will take him. Previous Clip Next Clip. Books by this author.
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