Author Interview and Review of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES- KAMI GARCIA AND MARGARET STOHL

9780141326085 United Book Distributors 04 Jan 2010

For me, the true measure of a good book is the ability to perfectly visualise the scenes laid out by a skilful author, visualise them so well that you find yourself lost to time and surroundings while you live like a voyeur in the lives of the characters. You empathise, agonise, celebrate and wonder what will happen to them next in the hours you are forced to put the book down and participate in real life.

It stands to reason then, that if you find yourself experiencing the sensation of needing to reorientate yourself, a feeling akin to waking from a deep dream that felt so real you have to take a moment and remind yourself where you are whenever you are forced to look up from a book, that this sensation is the true measure of a GREAT book.

I became deeply resentful of anyone daring to arouse me from the reverie that was induced every time I picked up Beautiful Creatures.

As a Librarian, I plan to place it in the hands of those students searching for the read that ‘has it all’. Mystery, Magic, Adventure, Love, Thrilling Suspense. It’s all here. Whilst Beautiful Creatures is a Level 30+ read, it is completely engaging and could very well be THAT book. THAT book that hooks a reluctant reader and transforms them into a lifelong reader. Best of all, you can give Beautiful Creatures to any student who has the comprehension skills to cope with the storyline. I would be happy to give this to 12 yrs+

An epic love story set in the Deep South; Beautiful Creatures is the story of Ethan and Lena, an unlikely pair drawn together in the most unusual and extreme of circumstances. Ethan and Lena’s story is sure to touch even the most cynical of readers, I assure you. A support cast of characters that are endearing, charming, funny, frustrating and sometimes, downright frightening, ensure the depth of this intriguing tale and add some truly unexpected elements.

Breathtakingly Magnificent.

These are the two words that swam around in my consciousness while formulating my review. Beautiful Creatures is so beautifully written it will steal your time, your dreams and take your breath away. Every aspect of this story is layered so intricately is literally has a texture. Like velvet. The plot and the characters are skilfully woven, vividly drawn, painstakingly thought out and simply wonderful.

Beautiful Creatures is an epic novel that demands full immersion and rewards the reader with a sensory experience so complete you will feel as though you walked every step of the way alongside Ethan and Lena.

For as long as I can remember, the Number One spot in my top ten favourite books of all time has been To Kill A Mockingbird- Harper Lee. I have no hesitation whatsoever in placing Beautiful Creatures- Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, right alongside it on my bookshelf.

Author Photo Credit Alex Hoerner

AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH KAMI AND MARGARET…

It is with undisguised delight I bring you my author Interview with Kami and Margaret, the two lovely and talented authors of Beautiful Creatures.

Hi Kami and Margaret! Thank you so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule’s to talk to us!

Margie: Thank you for wanting to talk to us! I don’t think I’ll ever get over that…

Kami: The life of an elementary school teacher is very glamorous, so I’m used to it.

Your first novel Beautiful Creatures is due for release in December 2009, can you tell us a little about how this feels for both of you?

Margie: Our release week has been wonderful, crazy, chaotic, and overwhelming. Seven events in six days in three cities…

Kami: Though I’m so tired I am about to collapse, I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I’m very interested to learn a little of the ‘mechanics’ of writing Beautiful Creatures, with two Authors behind the wheel. Beautiful Creatures is so seamlessly written, it’s intriguing to wonder how you made decisions about characters, dialogue and plot. How did it work?

Margie: Beautiful Creatures is actually a highly collaborative project. We’re not just two writers off on our own, but with two editors who are like writing partners to us.

Kami: Then consider the rest of us: three agents, a host of teen readers, and a whole extended family at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Margie: The way we work involves three generations of family stories, a whole lot of talking, many tacos, and even more Diet Coke.

The sheer volume of research and planning that must have gone into Beautiful Creatures stunned me. The family trees alone are incredibly extensive. It is spectacular in its detail! What strategies did you use to keep it all organised?

Margie: It’s easy for us to remember because it’s all so real. It’s like keeping track of family birthdays; I’ll walk into Urban Outfitters and think “Emma needs that, May would like that, Lena needs that…and only then do I realize the first two are my actual teens and the last is my fictional teen!”

Kami: We also employ three massive whiteboards, a complicated series of color-coded drafts, and endless phone calls to my family’s genealogist.

The Characters in Beautiful Creatures are so ‘alive’. If I had to choose a favourite, it would be impossible! Marian is beautiful. We know she is a based on a real person, how many of the other characters are based on ‘real’ people?

Margie: Marian is named for my aunt Kay Ashcroft Ross, who passed away while on a volunteer mission in Madagascar just before we began writing. She was one of the smartest, finest people I have ever known.

Kami: But the Marian Ashcroft in our book is also a reflection of a few particularly important English teachers and librarians we have known in our lives. Most of Beautiful Creatures is like that – Amma, the Sisters, even Carlton Eaton are bits and pieces of real people in our extended families.

Margie: Ethan and Lena, on the other hand, are wholly themselves and always have been.

Beautiful Creatures has supernatural themes and deals with witchcraft, these factors may make Beautiful Creatures a target for book banning in some school libraries, would you like to share your thoughts on book banning and censorship?

Margie: I believe that writers can and should feel free to write whatever they like, and that readers can and should feel free to read whatever they like. Like a book or hate it; that’s up to you.

Kami: I’m a Reading Specialist. Of course, I believe it is the moral and legal responsibility of librarians and educators like me to respect and protect those fundamental rights.

Prejudice and intolerance are both pervading themes throughout Beautiful Creatures, in this case, a small town intolerant of those they see as outsiders or different. Was this theme an intentional choice for you as Authors?

Margie: My own teens are the quirkiest, most independent, most individualistic people I know. I only aspire to be as courageous as they are, and I recognize how hard it is to be yourself when you feel like you’re making a go of it alone.

Kami: Small towns aren’t the only small towns – within a school, a family, or a community – being different is always going to be harder than being the same as everyone around you. And if you’re different, you’re the kind of person we look up to,  and the reason we wrote this book.

Rukhsana Khan was quoted in the September/October 2009 Issue of The Horn Book Magazine as saying “As professionals in the children’s literature field we must remember we wield tremendous influence over the direction of our respective societies…” How does this make you feel when you consider that you, as a popular Young Adult author’s are one of those professionals?

Margie: My own teens were reading over my shoulder the whole time we wrote, so I guess I have always been aware that what we wrote would impact teen readers. On the other hand, what we wrote was impacted by the teens we know. So I guess I would say to the Horn Book, the teens themselves wield tremendous influence over the direction of our society…

Kami: Words are powerful. The things we do have consequences, and we have to be responsible for them. I feel that way that not just as a writer, but as a parent and a teacher as well. We were so flattered to be nominated by the American Library Association for the William C. Morris Award this week, but even then, all I could think about was the book in the hands of more librarians, on more shelves, in the hands of more readers and students. It’s a staggering responsibility.

Who are your favorite Authors? How much influence would you say they have had in terms of your writing?

Margie: When I was in third grade I started a Susan Cooper fan club. I can still recite the poem from the front of The Dark Is Rising by heart. I have always loved fantasy – C.S. Lewis, Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula LeGuin. I also love writers of the American South, particularly Harper Lee and Eudora Welty, and poets as different as Emily Dickinson and Stevie Smith. What I learned from all of them was a sense of voice, and how to build a world. I think I always wanted to live in a book, and in many ways I still do.

Kami: I also love Southern writers Harper Lee and Flannery O’Connor. I grew up reading Ray Bradbury and Tolkien, and will always have a special place in my heart for Phillip Pullman and Clive Barker. I also love poets Pablo Neruda, ee cummings, and Robert Frost.

Kami as a Reading Specialist with an MA in education, you can certainly appreciate the importance of Librarians and Teachers having engaging books to give students. Was that something you considered whilst writing Beautiful Creatures?

Kami: Some of my former students are in college now, and some of my youngest are five years old. As a Reading Specialist, I know that finding the right book at the right time can be a life-changing event. If Beautiful Creatures can be the book that opens up the world of reading for one person, I’ll be happy.

Margaret, with an MA in English, and having taught Romantic Poetry and Intro to Film at both Stanford and Yale, how would you have felt about having a text as visually spectacular as Beautiful Creatures to teach to your students?

Margie: The magic of the American South is tied to a profound sense of place, and I think feeling that, writing it into the book, was important for both of us. When we heard Warner Brothers wanted to option Beautiful Creatures for Richard LaGravenese, a writer & director who really seems to get the magic of atmosphere and rich visual detail, we were beyond happy.

Thank you both, so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I sincerely hope Beautiful Creatures is every bit as popular as it deserves to be. A stunning achievement!

You can keep up with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl at www.BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com.

Join the US Fansite at www.castergirls.com.

Visit Little, Brown’s Beautiful Creatures website at

www.SomeLovesAreCursed.com.