Ask the Author: Caroline Starr Rose

“Hi, Readers. I'm happy to answer your questions. Ask away!” Caroline Starr Rose

Answered Questions (14)

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What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?
Caroline Starr Rose Why do so many people think "Caroline" is pronounced "Carolyn"? Whatever happened to Polly the Cat (my son's stuffed animal that disappeared years and years ago)? But seriously, when I was a senior in high school, I got a letter in the mail made from cut-out magazine letters. You know, like a ransom note. It wasn't creepy, just mysterious. The tone was fun, and the person insisted they were someone I knew. The postmark was Denver, so I assumed it was a friend who'd gone to school in Colorado, but when I asked him, he said he hadn't sent it. I still wonder who it could have been!
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What advice would you give someone for writing in verse?
Caroline Starr Rose Here are some posts from my blog over the years I encourage you to explore:

https://carolinestarrrose.com/nightti...

https://carolinestarrrose.com/will-ve...

https://carolinestarrrose.com/in-cele...

https://carolinestarrrose.com/quiltin...

https://carolinestarrrose.com/a-verse...
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Hi Caroline! I was wondering what might be your top 10 MG books to recommend for kids? Thanks so much for your time 😄 Have a great week!
Caroline Starr Rose Hello, hello!

This is a hard one to answer as it feels really weighty. I wasn't sure if I could pick just ten (I couldn't). I worried my list wouldn't be as diverse as it could be (it's not). Instead of my top-ten books, I decided to focus on middle-grade novels that had a significant impact in my life as a reader and writer. Here's what I've got -- a list of 31 books that mean a lot to me in no particular order:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Couloumbis
Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson
Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Sue Shank
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai 
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Hound Dog True by Linda Urban
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
El Deafo by by Cece Bell and David Lasky 
Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson
All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Dough Boys by Paula Chase
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier
Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani
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Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?
Caroline Starr Rose A snowstorm, a cup of cocoa, a fuzzy dog, a warm blanket. No books to read!
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If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?
Caroline Starr Rose I'd love to hang out with Anne Shirley and see the beauty of PEI through her eyes!
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Hi Caroline, I’m almost done with May B. I’m a dyslexia specialist who teaches K-5th graders. It is my 2nd career and my life’s passion. Because I am not dyslexic, it is critical that I seek to understand it, not just from studying current research but through fictional characters like May B. Your words describe it well and beautifully. How did you gain the insight I read on pp. 158, 161, 169, 174?
Caroline Starr Rose Hi Laura. I was actually nervous calling May's disability dyslexia because I am no expert. I worried labeling her struggle would mean I had to know it all. While I'd taught in inclusion classrooms, I had no training beyond one basic special education class in college. So. I had a dyslexia expert read for me. I did some study (where I learned things such as holding an object or speaking in unison can sometimes help with reading). I took some encouragement from realizing dyslexia isn't a one-size-fits-all disability and I didn't have to conquer every in and out.

Honestly, though, I relied the most on attempting to enter May's world and her experience. Her feelings of inadequacy and shame and self worth made sense to me as a person. We all have overtly and covertly been fed the lie that what we can do equates with our worth. Adolescents are new to this lie and are most susceptible to its harm, I think. I needed to be vulnerable in the way I portrayed May -- I needed to make it real and painful -- so that I could also show her (and readers) she was more than her ability. She was already valued and whole.

She has taught me so much. I have the utmost respect for this child who is very real to me.

Thanks for reading!
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Do you plan on writing a sequel to Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine?
Caroline Starr Rose I don't, but my son really would like me to. He says there's still so much of the story left untold and he wants to know what would happen next. I like to think the story now belongs to readers, and they can imagine their own wonderful stories long after mine ends.
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What books are on your summer reading list this year?
Caroline Starr Rose I'm trying to read through books I've owned for ages but have never picked up. A couple in my pile are Morgan's Run, A Widow for One Year, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I'm also reading a new mid-grade by Rebecca Behrens called The Last Grand Adventure (coming in 2018) and Jenn Bishop's 14 Hollow Road.
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Who is your favorite fictional couple, and why?
Caroline Starr Rose Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester.
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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
Caroline Starr Rose Huckleberry Finn! I wanted to create a boy character, and I couldn't think of a more fun model to work with.
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What are you currently working on?
Caroline Starr Rose A middle-grade novel (coming spring 2017) about the Klondike gold rush. It's my first novel in prose and the first with a boy protagonist. Jasper's modeled after Huck Finn, which means he's quick on his feet and not above trickery. He's beyond fun to write.
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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Caroline Starr Rose Read and read and read some more. Write the stories that most speak to you. Don't be in a hurry to publish. It could take years and years, or maybe not. Each book's journey (as well as each author's) is different.
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What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Caroline Starr Rose I love coming back to my book's world again and again. It becomes a familiar, welcoming place with characters that are more real and vibrant each time I visit.
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How do you deal with writer’s block?
Caroline Starr Rose Walking my dog. It's a great way to step back from a story and get unstuck.
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Caroline Starr Rose
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