My guest today is Kristin J. Russo, author of over
20 nonfiction books for young readers, including titles in Capstone’s Facts
and Fibs and What You Didn’t Know About Military Life series, and
Cherry Lake’s Viewpoints & Perspectives library. A fun and energetic presenter, Kristin has taught writing and rehetoric at the university level for nearly ten years. An experienced editor, copy editor, indexer, and proofreader, she is also a dog lover, a surprising good tap dancer, and a terrible cook.
Today she’s here to talk about her
latest books in Full Tilt’s Iron Will survival series, Surviving the Storm, Surviving
the Ice, Surviving the Cave, and Surviving in Space, and her Capstone
Edge book: Survival, Facts or Fibs. These are books that I would have
loved as a kid, packed with real life adventures. Loaded with great survival
tips, they empower kids to face the challenges of our changing world. (As I write this in the midst of the CORVID
19 crisis they seem more pertinent than ever.)
Welcome, Kristin, so glad to have you!
Can you tell us about how this new series came about?
Hello
Linda! Thank you for having me. I am delighted to be here.
I
am a work-for-hire author and work mostly with editors who already have
projects in mind and need a writer who can produce them fairly quickly. An
editor reached out to me in August 2018 asking if I could write this series and
have it completed by the end of October 2018. I said yes. With a few bumps in
the road, as is the way of things, the entire writing and editing process was
completed by spring 2019 and the books were on the shelves in September 2019.
This
is often how work-for-hire projects go—very quickly and accomplished on very
tight deadlines. It was a whirlwind, but I really loved the whole process of
writing these books!
How do you go about researching books
like these? Did you have any of your own adventures along the way?
I’ve
traveled widely and had some fun adventures prior to becoming an author that
have helped me bring nonfiction stories to life. Years ago, I explored a bat
cave in Morocco, and I’ve visited several cave systems in the U.S., such as
Howe Caverns in New York and Indian Echo Caverns in Pennsylvania. I drew upon
those experiences to write about cave disasters in Surviving the Cave.
What’s
fun for me is that though the nonfiction books I’ve written are technically
about specific topics and include historical and scientific facts, in the end,
they’re really about people and how humans can accomplish amazing feats in
unimaginable circumstances. So, these science and history books are in many
ways biographies, which I love to read and really love to write.
What surprising or fun facts did you
unearth in your research?
When
it comes to research, I’m lucky that as an adjunct professor of English and
Composition, I have access to a university library that subscribes to a number
of academic databases, so I can trust that my sources are solid primary sources
or peer-reviewed and vetted secondary sources. For some events that are too
recent to have scholarly work available—the Thai soccer team cave disaster, for
example—I use up-to-date, trustworthy news sources and online interviews.
One
discovery that was very powerful for me was realizing how supportive the
families of the Thai cave disaster victims were of one another, and the strength
of the bond they shared. There were 12 boys trapped in the cave, plus their
coach, who was rescued last. When they started, the rescuers did not believe
that they would have a 100 percent success rate, but they undertook the
challenge anyway and hoped for the best. The boys were freed from the cave one
at a time, and each rescue took eight hours. After days of gripping suspense,
the rescue was a complete success after all!
As
each boy emerged, he was brought to a nearby hospital. You’d think that the
families would have been so flooded with relief that they would have clung to
their sons and gone with them to the hospital. But no, that is not what
happened. All the families remained together at the cave site until the last
boy was out. Then they went to the hospital together as a group. I am deeply
moved by this. It wasn’t widely reported, and in fact there was no room for it
to be mentioned in my book, but it’s a powerful thing and I’m glad that I know
it.
Wow, that is an incredibly powerful
story. Has what you've learned through your writing made you look at life
differently?
In
the Iron Will series, I wrote about people who found themselves in scary
situations, but through their own tenacity, endurance, and ingenuity, found a
way to survive. None of the stories are the same, yet they all touch on the
same theme—that our strong survival instinct comes with an indomitable spirit.
That
is holding me in good stead right now, as I watch events related to the global
pandemic unfold. We humans are capable of great strength and great courage and
great hope. I know,
because it’s written in the history books, all of them—not
just mine!
You’ve talked to me about “finding
your people.” What does that mean for you and how did you go about it?
As
an English major and later a teacher, I came to realize that many of the
authors whose works I loved to read actually knew each other in real life.
Edgar Allan Poe was friendly with Charles Dickens, who had a pet raven named
Grip. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived next door to Louisa May Alcott, who lived down
the street from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who had a gardener named Henry David
Thoreau. And so it occurred to me that if I wanted to find my place in
children’s publishing, I would have reach out and look for a group of people
who shared my passion for learning and reading and sharing and teaching. I
would need to find my people.
To
that end, I joined a few select professional groups, including the Society for
Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the Writers’ Loft in Sherborne,
MA. I’m so glad I did! All of my opportunities as a writer and editor in children’s
publishing have come from my association with the amazing people I have met in
these groups. We all have so much in common! I am so very glad that I’ve found
“my people” and that they have welcomed me. I cherish the many great friendships
I’ve made in the kidlit community through the years.
What do hope young readers take away
from your books?
I’ve
written about Ada Blackjack, who, 100 years ago, survived being stranded alone
without adequate supplies on an island in the Arctic Circle. I’ve written about
survivors of the Dust Bowl, the sinking of the Titanic, the attack on Pearl
Harbor, equipment malfunctions in outer space, Hurricane Katrina, and more.
I’ve
written about people who were afraid, who felt lost and uncertain, and who
experienced crippling self-doubt. I want my readers to know that that’s okay.
That is going to happen. It’s part of the human experience. From my books, I
hope my readers learn that it’s possible to harness their own courage,
ingenuity, and indomitable spirits, and that they do have the strength to
overcome the challenges they will face in their own lives.
Is there anything else you’d like to
share with our readers?
Hello
readers! I see you! Thank you for sharing your time with me here on Linda’s
blog. I think you’re all brave, and strong, and wonderful. I’m sorry that we’re
facing such challenges at this time, but thanks to Linda, I’ve found you and
you’ve found me. We’ve found our people. Let’s get through these challenging
times together.
ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE PERRY T. COOK
follows Perry, whose mother is incarcerated. He has grown up with her in prison,
but the new district attorney insists he be removed and put into foster care. Desperate
to be reunited with his mom, Perry searches for the truth about her crime.
ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE PERRY T. COOK
follows Perry, whose mother is incarcerated. He has grown up with her in prison,
but the new district attorney insists he be removed and put into foster care. Desperate
to be reunited with his mom, Perry searches for the truth about her crime.
