CROCUS Festival : Around the World in 7 Days

Yesterday, began a week-long festival at The Saffron Tree blog. CROCUS stands for a Celebration of Reading Other Culturally Unique Stories, and there will be reviews of books from all over the world, and interviews (among which one from yours truly).

The Saffron Tree participated in Amadi's Snowman's blog tour, last year, and I'm excited and honored that they decided to include us in their CROCUS festival.

Check their blog. They post reviews of very good, interesting, and culturally diverse books for children.

And while I'm shamelessly touting my own horn, I might as well mention that I gave another interview, but in French, a couple of weeks ago. Of course, I couldn't mention it here because of this little big problem with my Internet connexion. My Francophone friends and family members who grumble about having to read in English for my sake will be happy to be able to sail through that interview. Check out the blog of an incredibly productive, multilingual fellow writer, and crosscultural global nomad, Jo Ann von Haff, Ladybirdisms.

My Global Bookshelf : The Expat Arc, by Danielle Barkhouse

Today, I want to talk about another book by a fellow blogger and expatriate.

Before India, Danielle Barkhouse was a trailing spouse in the US and in the UK. Upon hearing the news that her husband’s work was taking them to Chennai, formerly known as Madras, in Southern India, she started writing a blog which she refers to as her "free therapy" outlet. It begins before she leaves the US, and continues throughout the whole first year of the family's life in India (and the family includes a much-loved golden retriever,) allowing the reader a glimpse into the various stages of culture shock. She has now published the blog content, after some editing, and the book is titled: The Expat Arc. An expat's journey over culture shock.

Danielle Barkhouse is a Canadian with a no-non-sense, down-to-earth approach to life - now that I think about it, I realize that most Canadians I know seem to share that quality. She has a good, often very funny voice, spunky and full of personality, and most of all, I found her to be unwaveringly and refreshingly honest, and that is the thing that impresses me the most about her blog, and now, her book.

As an expat who’s lived outside of her birth country practically half her life -yuck, imagine being old enough to be able to say something like that! - I’m quite familiar with said stages of culture shock (they have been assimilated to the stages of grief), even though I only recently acquired the vocabulary and knowledge to recognize the symptoms for what they are. I’ve also witnessed other people experiencing them. I don’t believe it is ever easy to analyze one’s emotions with the clarity and honesty that Danie Barkhouse displays throughout her book. It is often more convenient to either shut out the world just outside the door and become totally negative about it, or to fall into the other extreme, which is to make the conscious decision that you will like it, whether you really do or not. Danie candidly admits to having fallen into the first negative category while living in England, and recognizes what a waste of time and energy it is and decides she will not experience India in the same way. And she doesn’t.

“The difference between me and most other people is that I say the stuff most people think but don’t say aloud,” she declares, at some stage. To illustrate that point, here is her undiluted take about the way political correctness is transforming Christmas in the US:

"The day that we left Chennai, JB walked through the factory and about 60 people wished him a Merry Christmas. Or, as they say, Happy Christmas. We’ve received cards and gifts from many non-Christmas-celebrating people. We're talking about Indian Hindus. As we journeyed through the Dubai airport, we were in awe of the Christmas decorations. It was so beautiful. When we were there in November, several people had wished us a Merry Christmas. We're talking about Middle Eastern Muslims." She goes on to describe their arrival in New York, a primarily Christian country, where only two people wish them "Happy holidays." And she adds: "What the heck is our problem? We're so concerned about being "politically correct" that we've become anti-Christmas. [...] I've got to tell you, in case you’re missing the tone here, I'm beyond appalled. I resent America placing a big fat censorship on Christmas. [...] I have every respect for other cultures and faiths. We can have it all. I wonder what Hindus in Asia and Muslims in the Middle East would think if they knew the controversy over Christmas in America."

How is that for going straight to the point? It is entirely true that most people, in India, acknowledge, and even celebrate each other's religious holidays with a true spirit of tolerance. And there should indeed be room for everyone to freely celebrate their faith.

Another post is aptly titled “Miss Communications,” and I could have written it myself.

“You can't stick a girl in India with no way of communicating with the outside world. […] People have been relocating to and living in other countries all around the world for many years. How on earth did they survive before the Internet?”

Well, they survived the way we all do when we have to - and of course, they couldn't pine after our ultra fast ways of doing things, nowadays, since these didn't exist. But for having experienced it, I can tell you that it's enough to drive any girl outside of the boundaries of sanity.

Now, one may argue that Danie’s experience is that of the corporate expatriate, and not all expats work for corporations which provide their staff and their family with cultural trainings, shipment entitlements every three or four months, etc, etc. So, when she touches the potentially sensitive subject of the differences between expats (“There seems to be a growing attitude among expats of whether you're 'expat enough.' Twelve years as an expat is 'less expat' than 25 years with the kids being born all around the world. You might also be 'more expat' than someone else if your posts have been tougher. A post in India would make us 'more expat' than our England or US posts? Seriously. Expat is expat. You're still away from home”) she might find that some people want to push the discussion a little further. And "some people" is going to be me, for now.

First of all, there are those who don’t even know what “home” means, anymore. They may belong to a family with the father being from one place, the mother from another – or even two, as in my own case – with kids born in yet another place, or more, and so, where is home? For me, home is where my bubble, containing my daughters, my husband, and my books are. It’s not a country. I’m tremendously helped in that by the fact that my mother, who left Franco’s Spain in her mid-twenties to go in search of a better, freer future in France, always told us kids as we grew up: “My country is the country that feeds me, the country that allows me to work and where I can eat and not starve.”

Secondly, being an expatriate in a place where you find practically everything, where there are no power supply or communication problems to speak of is not the same as being in a place where you have to deal with this kind of problem practically on a daily basis; there may be power cuts, and the Internet may not work from time to time in India, especially when it rains, but as someone who spent over three years in Nigeria, where I routinely had to go entire weeks without phone or the Internet, I have found India to be quite all right in that regard. And I’m not even mentioning security problems, again like the ones we had in Nigeria, where the UNICEF office could be attacked by men holding Kalashnikovs, one of them beating an office driver so he would hand over the 4x4 car keys, and my husband, who was the primary target of one of the mentioned Kalashnikovs shouting at them to just take the bloody car and leave the driver alone (which they did, thank Goodness!), and yours truly only a few feet behind said husband. Now, this may be a rather dramatic example, but I’ve gathered so many others from other expats having lived in difficult places, not always that spectacular, yet harrowing enough to render life very difficult indeed. Of course, some might respond that UN people know what they're getting themselves into when they choose such career. Maybe. Their families don't always, though. And so, I would argue (gently) with Danie that in light of all that, well, perhaps it is easier to understand why some people may feel that they're "a little more expats" than others. I don't believe it is ever done in a spirit of spiteful competition, but rather coming from a place of experience where you can't help but compare situations and draw obvious conclusions. The reason I mention this is that I do, at times, get a bit annoyed at some expats when I hear them complaining endlessly about not finding a particular brand of cereals, or some such.

That said, I want to add that going through the stages of culture shock means that people may find their buttons pushed where, in any other circumstances - like back home where they don't have to adjust to so many new things and ways of doing them - they would have remained pretty much unruffled. Expats recently landed in a new place need to keep that reality in mind, and cut themselves some slack. It takes time - anywhere from a few months to a whole year. And this is where having a book like Danie's can prove invaluable, if only to provide reassurance that it is all normal.

In another insightful post, the author ponders the opinion that "living in India reveals your true character." And she goes on to say, with her usual honesty, that she's not so sure she likes what India is revealing about her own character. I would venture to add that getting out of one's comfort zone to go and live in another country, whether that new country is a hard duty station or not, is likely to help a person build their character, as long as they're willing to take a hard look at their own self. And Danie certainly is.

I totally recommend this book to any expatriate preparing to move to India, but not only. Anyone about to relocate in a new country, especially for the first time, anyone interested in the subjects of life in India, life abroad and culture shock, will find it instructive and interesting. Not to mention that you’ll get to laugh very often.

My Global Bookshelf : "Losing Kei" by Suzanne Kamata

One of the beauties of blogging is that you get to "meet" interesting people you'd probably never run into otherwise. Suzanne Kamata is an expatriate writer whose blog, Gaijin Mama, allows its readers a glimpse into the life of an American mother and wife bringing up twins on an island in rural Japan. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, and she is the editor of the anthologies, The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan, and Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with special needs.

In her first novel, Losing Kei, published by Leapfrog Press, Suzanne Kamata tells the story of Jill Parker, an American artist who marries a Japanese man. Unfortunately, try as she may to meet the demands of Japanese traditional society, and in spite of the birth of a beautiful son, Kei, she ends up divorcing. Thus begins her struggle to remain in her son's life, as Japanese divorce law does not recognize shared custody and the parent not granted custody is expected to disappear entirely from the life of the child.

The novel's protagonist is a complex, multidimensional character; she can move the reader to tears, one moment - especially when she expresses her passion for her son - and slightly irritate, the following. In fact, I could never quite decide whether I liked her or not. When I asked the author how she felt about her character, she replied that Jill Parker is "passionate, but imperfect. I wanted to create a character who got into trouble on her own, and then found a way to redeem herself. I didn't want her to be simply a victim. She's young and impulsive at the start of events, but she eventually gets her act together."

The book is much more than a fascinating introduction to Japanese culture. It is the journey to maturity of a sensitive, not quite "finished" young woman through an harrowing experience. Something that Jill realizes herself toward the end of the story: "I was born into a middle class family, in a prosperous, peaceful country. There was no obvious war to protest, no important cause that caught my attention. But I had wanted to suffer. I was so young then. Look what happened to me. I no longer had to borrow misery. I'd created it all by myself."

In spite of my reservations about Jill Parker, or maybe because of them, I enjoyed reading Losing Kei. It is a sensitive work, elegantly written, and always respectful of the culture it depicts.

Suzanne Kamata was kind enough to answer a few questions.

How did the inspiration for "Losing Kei" come to you?

I first read an article 10-15 years ago about expatriate parents who'd lost custody of their children to their Japanese ex-spouses and who were then denied access to their children. One of the parents interviewed was a woman journalist who, apparently, lost custody because she was a working woman. Her ex and his new wife gradually turned her son against her, so that he no longer wanted to have anything to do with his mother. I thought that this would be an interesting subject to explore in fiction. In Japan there is no such thing as joint custody, and this sort of thing actually happens quite a bit - to Japanese as well as foreigners.

What would you say has changed you about living in Japan?

I have become comfortable with being an outsider. And I suppose I have learned to appreciate a certain amount of frugality. Living in the U.S. is very comfortable - entire houses are heated, so you can go from room to room without being cold. Here, we heat one room at a time in winter, but it's more ecological, less wasteful.

How about becoming a mother in Japan? Do you find that you have assimilated aspects of your host country's culture, or do both cultures, the American and the Japanese, remain separate?

When I first came here, I said that I would never sleep with my children, and I thought that the idea of fathers bathing with their little daughters was perverse, but we slept with our kids till they were about four, and my husband has taken a bath with them until recently.
In some respects, I remain American. The Japanese tend to stick to traditional gender roles, but I encourage my son to help in the kitchen and read books that might be considered girly, and I like it that my daughter is proud of her biceps.

Thank you, Suzanne, and best of luck to "Losing Kei."

Expat Expert Robin Pascoe is touring India

EXPAT EXPERT ROBIN PASCOE TALKS ABOUT EXPATRIATION, REPATRIATION AND THE CHALLENGES OF RAISING GLOBAL NOMADS IN TODAY’S WORLD

As parents of global nomads, many of us wonder, somewhat anxiously, how to manage the constant changes our children experience, how to best prepare transitions between countries, how to maximize the benefits of an international life and minimize its pitfalls. Expat Expert Robin Pascoe is currently touring India, and she will be here in Hyderabad, next week. The author of five books on global living, the last of which is titled: Raising Global Nomads: Parenting Abroad in an On-Demand World, she'll provide her view on all of these expatriate concerns and more.

Robin is a Canadian who spent 15 years moving between Asia and Canada with her diplomat husband and two children, now both grown-up. She experienced the expatriate life as a pregnant woman, as the mother of babies, toddlers, middle graders, and teenagers. And the fact that she waited until her children were both out of the nest to write this last book brings an added dimension and value to her testimony: she could look back and take stock.

The expat reading Robin Pascoe’s books is sure to experience a number of very strong feelings: exhilaration, many “eureka” moments, validation, reassurance, and last, but far from least, the bizarre notion that they know the author, and most importantly, that this author knows them! Not only does she describe our experiences by sharing hers, she does it with great wit and humor. We read, we smile or even laugh out loud, sometimes we feel like crying, but most of all, we keep thinking: “YES! I did that!” How, funny, I’ve felt that way!” “Ha, that happened to me, too!”

I first read Robin's books - along with David Pollock (to whom Robin Pascoe dedicates this last one) and Ruth Van Reken’s “Third Culture Kids” - while living in a small bush town in Nigeria and it was such an enlightening experience. Being the consummate worrier, questions about our uprooted life and the impact it would have on our daughter had been gaining momentum in my brain, but with barely anyone to share them with, I felt terribly isolated. The discovery that others experience the same feelings, and most of all, that most of our children turn out great, provided that parents are proactive, aware of pitfalls, and available to help their offspring negotiate them, was incredibly reassuring and liberating. I was not alone. Moreover, my children were not alone. What a relief!

Raising Global Nomads addresses issues like culture shock and the ways to negotiate them, the importance of creating and keeping family rituals, how to keep the family healthy, work-life harmony, especially when the working spouse spends most of their time at work, traveling, or manipulating their Blackberry, and of course, the vast and tricky subject of international schools. She mentions, with good humor, that when she speaks at international schools, not only are these talks typically organized by the school’s parent organization, but she usually finds very few teachers in the audience. She also notes how “many international schools are almost as bad as multinational corporations when it comes to recognizing the emotional needs of children and budgeting to accommodate training programs,” a fact she deplores, as “there is more to teaching global nomads than achieving a perfect score on a math test.” The book covers all areas of expatriates’ life, including the tricky subject of repatriation. There are also contributions from other global nomad experts: Dr Barbara Schaetti and Lois Bushong.

In preparation for Robin coming to Hyderabad, on April 29 and 30, I asked her a few questions:

How did you come to write so extensively on the subject of expatriation?

For me, it started with the birth of my daughter in Bangkok, Thailand. I was one of the founders of an international mother's group (still going strong after 25 years!) called BAMBI http://www.bambiweb.org/ I started a newsletter/magazine for them and got interested in the idea that new mothers, with their own far away, should support one another. This idea kind of mushroomed over the years into expat expert and writing books, articles and publishing a website.

Why did you feel the need to write Raising Global Nomads, after your other books?

I had written a previous book about parenting overseas that was published in 1993! I knew how out of date it was, but the original publisher never let me update it to include the Internet and all the challenges of the 21st century. So, because my own children were becoming young adults, it was a very good chance for me to look back to see what worked for me, what didn't work for me (!) and what worked for others. The big picture became clearer to me once the smaller details of day to day child-rearing were taken away.

Your daughter was born in Bangkok and your son was born in Ottawa. What are they doing, now? How would you say they feel about the life they had growing up?

As I joke in my book, our daughter Lilly is the environmentalist and global citizen....but our son Jay four years younger is the real tree hugger who should never leave home. After some international internships, Lilly is doing her masters in environmental studies in Toronto. Jay is home in Vancouver studying at the local college after what he calls 'an unfortunate year' at a university out of town. This is an example I use in my lectures a lot...of the so-called expat expert missing out on the obvious which was that our son probably should never have moved away to school because we moved him five times before he was 9 and just the idea of moving makes him crazy! The main thing is he's doing as best a 20 year old boy can do and is much more settled and happy at a school at home.... Our daughter, almost 25, soars professionally, but often believes she has challenges making long term relationships. Of course, if she would stay put somewhere long enough that would help! They both know they are different from their non-moving friends but like so many third culture kids, most of their friends are also from different places.

What would you say are the main challenges that global nomads must face?

They face all the same challenges of any young adult growing up in today's on-demand, cellular world....and then some. Parents of third culture kids often ascribe certain challenges or character traits to the TCK or mobile experience when really, some issues might have cropped up anyway! But I think the biggest one from my experience is their sense of wondering 'where is home?' and 'where am I from?' I help them answer that by framing a response: they are globalists. The world is their home in the big picture; their family and extensive network of friends are both their memory and their history.

Would you say that your global experience has changed you significantly, and how?

Absolutely. I could have lived my entire life in Toronto (my home town) and traveled to Florida or Hawaii for golfing and that would have been it. Instead, I've had a wonderful, privileged life of tremendous experiences and the opportunity to expose my children to the world. Now if I could just get over my fear of flying, my world would be perfect.

What was the lowest "low" in your own global experience? How about the "highest high?"

I think the lowest was at the very beginning when I had no idea whatsoever what I was getting myself into...and was pregnant on top of that.... :-) It is the primary reason why I started writing books, to make sure women knew what they were going to face without an identity or paycheque or absent, traveling husband. The highest experiences, ironically, have come after we left Foreign Service and moved to Vancouver. I never for a minute expected to keep writing books and traveling so it's really been amazing to go to so many communities and feel useful. I do a lot of reassuring!

If you had only one piece of advice to give to parents of global nomads, what would that be – other than read your book :) ?

I think I wrote in my introduction that every family is unique and will make choices that are right for their families. I can write about what I did, and people can relate to certain pieces of it, but at the end of the day, parents must always feel confident that they know their children the best, they know what's right or wrong for their child, when it might be time to stay in one place and so on. In other words, I want parents to have self-confidence in their own parenting skills (recognizing that not every decision may be the right one....like mine, to suggest my son go away to college...wrong decision!) But nothing is irrevocable and besides, we all make mistakes. I believe no experience is bad experience (even if at the time you can't believe you chose to do something). I have to re-read my own books a lot and especially look at my power pt presentations and remind myself that every success has a few failures behind it. That's OK. The ability to tell your children you were wrong is also a bonus. As I like to say, we do what we can with love and the best of intentions. What more can we do?

If you had only one piece of advice to give directly to our global nomads, what would that be?

Doesn't matter what advice I give to them....they know it all already :-) Seriously, it's very difficult to speak to young adults because like young people everywhere, they think they know everything and as a parent saying something, they will run in the opposite direction from our advice....! But I would definitely educate them about 'third culture kids" (or advise them to educate themselves through the books and websites now devoted to the subject) so they know they are not alone in the way they have been growing up and that there is a world community of young people just like them who does understand their uniqueness.

You raise some very interesting points regarding the role of digital communications when dealing with culture shock. You mention the need to use caution, for instance. Why?

Long story too....I think the Internet and all the technology has been both the best and worst things to happen to expats. The best because of course we can keep in touch, get info, read our local papers etc. The worst because it is often mismanaged and not used in a healthy way. Too much Internet at the beginning of an assignment, as I wrote, can delay the stages of culture shock. Too many phone calls from mom may break a spirit of independence in a child. Too much time on a Blackberry by a parent can be alienating. Facebook is great and kids are posting all sorts of stuff....not realizing it's there forever! So I'm really recommending 'technology management'.

You emphasize the subtle difference between "pro-active parenting" and "over parenting." How and where does one draw the line?

I like to use the baby in a playpen analogy to explain this. Put the child in the playpen with lots of toys to play with. That's pro-active parenting. Then leave them alone to play with their toys instead of jumping in there personally and showing them how each toy works. That's over-parenting.

You mention the role of grief in culture shock. My experience has been that even when the expatriate experience is not a happy one (the expat cannot wait to leave the host country) they better make sure they still acknowledge all the feelings that go with leaving one place, any place, to relocate to another – whether it's going back home, or moving on to yet another country – or they'll be carrying unresolved feelings around like a bunch of very clunky, unwanted luggage. What would you say about that?

I agree completely! I have met and interviewed so many expats who hated a posting but then when you meet them at their next posting or after repatriation, they rhapsodize poetically about a place they supposedly hated! Every move must be brought to a proper closure(celebrate the end of a posting, take lots of pictures etc) or there will be grief over the loss of that experience even if it wasn't great. The best transition gurus have always said: there can be no good beginning without first a good ending of the previous experience.

If you would like more information about Robin Pascoe, visit her website at www.expatexpert.com. She’s currently conducting a Relocation Survey titled: Family Matters! at www.expatexpert.com/survey. It is for family only, including high schoolers, and Robin will be publishing the results and using the information (all anonymous) when she speaks to businesses about the importance of family support for relocation.

Interview : Susan Collins Thoms, author of "Cesar Takes A Break"

Sue and I have been in the same online critique group for a number of years. I remember when I read her email announcing that Cesar had been picked up for publication, I was in New York City, expecting my second daughter, due any day. I was so happy that I cried - of course, my hormones were a bit crazy at the time, but I was also totally thrilled in an I-always-knew-it kind of way. Sue is a very talented writer: not only is her prose beautiful and poetic - I always call her "the poet", but she's also a wonderful, kind, generous person. I'm very proud that she accepted to answer my questions for this blog.

First of all, tell us about Cesar. Who is he, what does he do, who’s the publisher and when is the book coming out?

Cesar is an iguana that lives in a second-grade classroom at Pinebrook Elementary School. When the kids leave for spring break, he is miffed at being left alone. He decides to take his own vacation. He sets out to explore the school, meets the other class pets and has a great time.

The book came out this month (March, 2008) and is published by Sterling Publishing.

How did Cesar’s story come to you?

Cesar Takes a Break is based on a true story. The iguana in my son’s fourth-grade class – also named Cesar -- escaped during spring break. He was when the kids returned to school. Everyone was so worried about him. Five days after Cesar disappeared, my son spotted him peeking out from a vent in the wall. After Cesar was back safe and sound, I thought the whole thing was pretty funny. It looked to me as if Cesar decided to take a spring break just as the kids did. I decided to write Cesar’s story.

Tell us something about Sue the writer? How do you carve time to write, in your busy working mother’s schedule?

I wish I could say I had a good, fixed schedule for writing. Instead, I just look for opportunities – and hour here or there. When the kids are off hanging out with their friends and the computer is free, I sit down and write. When I first started writing, I would go out to a café or restaurant to write to help me focus. Sometimes, I go away for a writer’s weekend with my sister. We spend our days writing or doing our own thing, then get together for a hike in the afternoon. In the evening, we make dinner and talk for hours.

What about Sue in her everyday life: what do you do when you’re not writing?

I am a newspaper copy editor, and my husband I have three kids. When we’re not working, it seems we’re always busy with kids and kids’ activities and just keeping the home ship afloat.

Why writing? And why for children?

I have always loved books, loved reading, and always wanted to write my own stories. I never really thought about doing anything else when I was younger. By the time I decided to get serious about writing fiction, I was a mother and had developed a love of children’s books. I really wanted to write for children.

Also, back when I was in college, I was lucky to take a great course in children’s literature. We studied picture books, and I was fascinated by the way pictures and text came together to create a story. I didn’t think about writing for kids then, but I think that class planted a seed.

What is your first memory related to reading, writing, to books?

Great question! I can remember a time when I couldn’t read and really wanted to. My oldest sister, Cathy, tried to teach me showing the comics. I remember she showed me a letter A and circled it. Then she asked me to try to find another A in the comics. I couldn’t. Then, she pointed to one word and asked me to find an A. I still couldn’t. It all looked like a bunch of squiggly lines. I really wanted those lines to come together and make sense, but they didn’t

I don’t remember when it all came together. All I know is that in first grade, I was reading all the time and loving it.

What books had a strong impact on you as a child? Any favorite? Book or author?

I loved “The Cat in the Hat” when I was a little kid. When I got older, I read tons of Nancy Drew Mysteries. And I loved “Harriet the Spy.” It inspired me to keep a journal for the first time.

This is your first publication. Tell us how things happened for you? How was Cesar picked up?

I met my editor, Meredith Mundy Wasinger, at a Michigan SCBWI conference. I submitted Cesar Takes a Break for a critique. She was very enthusiastic about the story but had lots of questions. She wanted me to provide more sensory detail and to tighten the structure of the story. But she also said she would be happy to take a look at it again if I revised. That made my day, my week, my year! I revised it for her twice before the story finally was accepted.

I find that there are many articles about how to get published, but all in all, very little information about the process, once a story has been accepted for publication. Of course, it has to do with the fact that editors all have their ways of doing things. Still, some things are pretty much the same everywhere. What would like to say about the publishing process? How did it happen? What were the highlights for you?

It was very exciting to watch the story take shape on the page – to see the sketches, then the final art, then the proofs with the text and art together. I love Rogé’s art. He really captured Cesar’s personality and humor.

I was surprised by the attention to detail – in my text and in the illustrations – as the book came together.

How was it with Meredith Mundy Wasinger? Everyone hears the most wonderful things about her.

She is terrific. She is an extremely thorough editor and has a great sense of humor. At times, I felt like I had a collaborator on the story. If you like the image of Cesar sunning himself under the French fry heat lamps, thank Meredith!
Would you tell us how it worked? Were you consulted at all? How often?

I didn’t expect to be consulted at all on the art, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was. I was asked what kind of illustrations I imagined for the story and asked to comment on sketches. I happily volunteered my opinion, but I knew the final decision was up the editor and art director.

What projects are you working on, now? More PBs? Novels?

I am working on a Michigan Christmas picture book for Sterling. I also have a novel under way.

What advice would you give to a new aspiring writer?

Write the story you want to tell – the one no one else can tell for you. Work at your craft. And find kindred spirits who can help you improve your writing and offer support when you get discouraged.

Can I add one thing? Thank you so much for inviting me to talk about my book! You are one of those kindred spirits I was talking about. You have been such a help to me – with my writing and with life in general. I am grateful for your wisdom and your friendship! I know your first book will be out soon, and I can’t wait to see it.

Thank you, Sue. And the best of luck to Cesar.

Kimberly Willis Holt speaks about Piper Reed Navy Brat

I’m so pleased to welcome [American] National Book Award author Kimberly Willis Holt for my very first interview on this blog.

Kimberly’s first novel, My Louisiana Sky, was an ALA Notable Book and an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. It also received a Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor Award. Her second novel, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, won the National Book Award. Her novel Keeper of the Night was a "Best Book of the Year" selection from School Library Journal, Kirkus and Bank Street College. Please, visit her website at http://www.kimberlywillisholt.com/as it is totally charming, original, and fun..

Kimberly now lives in Texas, but she was a Third Culture Kid who moved a lot during her childhood. This interview is going to focus on her last novel Piper Reed Navy Brat (illustrated by Christine Davenier, Henry Holt 2007) the theme of expatriation, and how Kimberly’s life as a TCK has shaped her and continues to shape her writing.

look at Piper, isn't she irresistible?

Kimberly, tell us about Piper Reed Navy Brat, and what prompted you to write this book.

I’m a Navy brat. My dad was a Navy chief and served in the Navy for twenty-one years. I was born during a hurricane in Pensacola, Florida. After that we lived in a village outside of Paris, France. The other places I lived were Norfolk, Virginia, Alexandria, Louisiana, Barrigada, Guam, Bremerton, Washington, Forest Hill, Louisiana and New Orleans, Louisiana. We also visited Barcelona, Spain and Japan. We were gypsies.

For the last ten years, my editor has wanted me to explore that military childhood in my writing. I resisted because I thought it would be too autobiographical. But one day I heard the carefree voice of a nine-year-old girl. “I’ve lived everywhere,” she said.

This may sound strange, but that's the way stories come to me.
The main character's voice speaks. Many times the first
statement they make becomes the first sentence in the book. I’ve learned to listen to those voices and follow them. The day I heard Piper’s voice was the day I started writing the book that eventually became Piper Reed Navy Brat.

What, from your nomadic childhood, would you say had the most lasting impact on your adult life?

I was a shy girl, but being forced to be the new girl so often made me adaptable to many situations. That can be a huge asset in life.

Do you feel it was a privileged life, or not? And why?

I lived more places by the time I was ten than many adults only dream about going to. I’ve learned about other cultures first hand. In France, I attended kindergarten and learned to speak and read the language. On Guam, I attended fiestas with my Chamorro friends and learned to dance the cha-cha. During my high school years, my friends and I would sneak off to the French Quarter. Yep, I have had a privileged life. Not one with a lot of money, but a life filled with rich experiences.

If you had to live your childhood as a military kid again, what would you like to be different? What would you say was the best part about that life? And what was the worst, the hardest?

If I had my military childhood to do over again, I’d try to look at each move as a new rich experience. And I’d stay in touch with the friends I made along the way. The best part about that life was learning about other cultures. The hardest part was leaving people I cared about behind. As a child I usually saw my grandparents once every couple of years. But I’ve been fortunate to get to spend more time with them as an adult. All four of my grandparents were living in my mid-thirties and two are here today. So I made up for those years that I didn’t get to see them as often as my cousins did.

I read somewhere that you have two sisters, like Piper Reed. Would you say their experience was the same as yours? Or do they have different feelings about their nomadic childhood?

When people would ask my middle sister, the inspiration of Piper, where she was from, she’d proudly answer, “I’m from nowhere.” I wanted to be from somewhere. But Alicia embraced that life. She was fearless and made friends easily.

My other sister is eleven years younger than me. She was six when my dad retired from the Navy. While I attended college in Louisiana, the rest of the family moved to Texas. My youngest sister has lived in the same zip code most of her life. Her children attend the schools she attended. In a way, she had the childhood I wanted.

Any advice for parents of TCKs that you feel might help smooth things out for their nomadic children?

Make every destination an adventure, but make it home, too. My mom turned every place we lived into a home. She made pillows for the couches, wallpapered the walls, and planted flowers in the garden. My parents allowed us to have pets on Guam even though we weren’t allowed to take them when we left. We had cats, rabbits and turtles. My dad built a tree house for us. Because of my parents, I would forget that we were going to move.

At the same time we learned about the areas we lived in, usually on Sunday drives. I think one of the worst modern luxuries is a television in a vehicle. We looked out the window and learned about the world. That was our entertainment. That and playing silly car games or singing songs off-key.

My parents still cook foods that they learned to make while we lived in different destinations. My mom learned to make spaghetti from some Italian neighbors we had in Paris. We ate it every week, growing up. My parents sometimes cook lumpia and pancet that they learned to make on Guam. Fried rice is common in the states now, but there was a time that it wasn’t. When we lived in my parents’ home town for a while, my mom made fried rice for a church potluck dinner. She called it Guam Fried Rice. Well at the next church potluck dinner, half a dozen versions of the dish spread out among the chicken and dumplings and pink-eyed purple hull peas. My mom had introduced Guam culture to Forest Hill, Louisiana. That’s what moving around a lot does—it makes the world smaller.

You seem to have a pretty settled life nowadays. Do you ever get itchy feet, the need to go abroad again?

All the time! I love to travel and do. My daughter was raised in Texas, but she is aware of the world beyond this state. I think my military childhood is part of the reason why. My husband also traveled a lot as a boy. By the time he attended high school, he’d been to every state except Hawaii and Alaska. So he, also, knows the importance of travel.

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was twelve. I wrote a poem about a Viet Nam soldier. My science teacher encouraged me to show it to the creative writing teacher. He liked it too, and told me he hoped I’d enroll in his class the next year. I started the day feeling like a misfit and I ended it feeling very special. That’s the power of teachers. I was also lucky enough to have an eighth grade English who taught us to journal. Those teachers made me feel like I could be a writer. I’ve tried to find them in recent years, but I’ve had no luck. So if you will allow me to give a shout out to Mr. Kimmel, Mr. Norseth and Ms. Pratt—Thank you!

Would you tell us a bit about how it all happened?

After college, I did a lot of other jobs—radio news director, advertising, marketing a water park, working as a terrible interior decorator. Still words were a part of my life. I journaled and wrote long letters. Then on June 15, 1994, I made a commitment to be a writer. It’s been a wonderful journey.

So far, you've written novels set in Louisiana, Texas, on the island of Guam, and now, in Florida – all places that you know well. Do you find that you choose the setting of a book before the story comes to you? Would you tell us how that works for you?

Most of the time, the setting comes with the story. I hear the voice of the character. They tell me who they are and about their dilemma. As I begin, I usually know the ending. It’s the journey to the ending that I have to discover. That’s where the fun and the fear lives.

Setting is important to me. I try to make it a character in the book. I think setting shapes people. People are not the same everywhere. We may have universal feelings. We all experience joy and sadness, but place can give us distinct traits. And even that can effect what we view as joyful or sad. So it’s important to me as a writer to get the setting right. When I wrote Keeper of the Night, I returned to Guam to research. I couldn’t rely on the fact that I’d lived there for two years.

Will we read more Piper Reed adventures?

Yes. The second book, Piper Reed, The Great Gypsy comes out in August, followed by the third book in August 2009. And there may be more adventures. I hope so. In that way, I’m a bit like Piper Reed. I want to spread “Get off the bus!” around the world.

Thank you so much, Kimberly, for doing me the honor of stopping here to answer these few questions.

Thank you, Katia. It’s been my pleasure.

Well, that's it. Annette Gulati, you are the lucky winner who'll get a signed copy of Piper Reed Navy Brat. Please, visit Kimberly on her website and send her your mailing address mentioning how you won, so she can send it to you.