.... Kathleen Krull FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is the next LIVES OF book?
How do you choose the people for LIVES OF?
Where do you find this weird information?
What is unusual about your approach to nonfiction?
Do you use the Internet for research?
How did this series start?
What is the goal of these books?
Where do you get your ideas?
Why do you write biographies?
What books did you like as a kid?
What were your earliest writings?
What do your neighbors think of YOU?
Do you visit schools?
Do you visit schools with Kathryn Hewitt?
What is the next LIVES OF book?
This is it! Six fabulous books on musicians, writers, artists, athletes, presidents, and extraordinary women.
How do you choose the people for LIVES OF?
Kathryn Hewitt and I work out the all-important selection process with much research, outside consultation, debate, and once in a while, even argument. We have to like the people—either them as human beings or their work—because we’ll be spending so much time with them. We want the people to be in some way accessible to young readers. I prefer dead people: I like to write about the structure of their whole lives (and also they can't sue for talking about things like underwear). Finally, we try for a balanced list—crossing countries, eras, boundaries, etc.
Where do you find this weird information?
I play detective, by which I mean I am a heavy user of the library. I read mostly secondary sources and scour them for juicy details that make information come alive. I'm taking the fruits of other people's labors, the most scholarly biographies I can find, and looking for the “good parts.” I research tons of material, gleaning a mountain of stuff I think is most interesting, and then revise, tinker, revise, edit, whittle, and then do some more revising to get what I hope is the very tiptop of the mountain. If there is a magic key to what I do, it's this: After I soak up all the information, I don't use it all. Being selective is the trick.
What is unusual about your approach to nonfiction?
When Lives of the Musicians came out in 1993, the Internet wasn't much of a factor. Now this universal accessibility to mountains of facts has changed the landscape of children's learning. To hold their own, nonfiction books have to reflect something special.
As with fiction, every sentence in nonfiction is there for a reason, reflecting endless choices within a structure designed to meet some challenge. In the “Lives of” series, our challenge is to enliven the biographies of notables who have already been exhaustively biographied. For me, mixing in fictional elements would seem like cheating, and also would have a dated feel. Instead I try to make fresh, contemporary choices from my research—little ironies, the opinions of the neighbors, amusing juxtapositions, details like hair and underwear.
I take advantage of present-day openness to mention odd habits, sexual orientation, addictions, gossip and rumors, strengths and weaknesses and other behavior perhaps “unmentionable” in the past.
Because we include twenty people in each book (an arbitrary decision made early on), the text must get to the point so quickly that all the “boring parts” must go. Shaping each person differently from his or her 19 companions has the effect of highlighting startling or unique features.
The biggest help has been the visual enhancement: the elegant book design and especially the portraits painted by Kathryn Hewitt. Most kids can’t seem to stop a grin at their first sight of the big heads, persuading them to look closer and appreciate the rest of what we're trying to do.
(These comments originally published in Riverbank Review, Spring 2000.)
Do you use the Internet for research?
I came a little late to the Internet and have used only for the most recent book or two. It is helpful for certain kinds of basic information, especially in the early stages of a project, but I need books for real research. I do love cruising the Internet (but not as much as reading books).
How did this series start?
It would never have come about if I hadn't known Kathryn Hewitt, the artist. She was painting these marvelous trademark caricatures of people she admired-- famous philosophers, writers, artists, scientists. While working on several books together (most notably Songs of Praise), we kept brainstorming on how to bring her caricatures to print in a way that young readers would most appreciate. Several years passed and things finally clicked. With almost every other book I have worked on, the text has come first. But this is a case where the art came first-- her caricatures inspired me to write equally eccentric biographies. We chose musicians because we are both major music-lovers.I started by researching Beethoven-- everyone who ever met him wrote a book about it--and one day I read that his favorite meal was macaroni and cheese. This homely tidbit gave me my focus: concrete details that kids ages 8 to 12 could relate to, anecdotes that would humanize these iconic figures, what you would have noticed about these eccentrics if you'd been their neighbor. What did they wear? What did they do in the middle of the night? How weird was their family life? What did they crave? What about girlfriends and boyfriends? And what about their hair?
What is the goal of these books?
Something that Kathryn Hewitt and I both take very seriously is that, as creators of children's books, we're in a position to help preserve our cultural heritage. We try to bring to life various aspects of our history. I don't see how you could not be interested in history— it's all people and sensational events and great gossip. We hope in the long run to help establish a context for our cultural heritage. By humanizing these giants of the past, we'd like to empower kids with knowledge, to keep them “in the loop” of the history of civilization.
Where do you get your ideas?
I give a different answer to this question every time, probably because there is no real answer. Today's answer: I think ideas come from paying attention – listening – observing – thinking like a writer.One thing I pay attention to is what I'm passionate about. A lifelong passion for music (I grew up playing several musical instruments) inspired Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought). Each musician in the book was important to me at some time in my life. The point of view comes from my fascination with neighbors--which is common, I think, though I did go to extremes and marry one of mine. The first two companions, Lives of the Writers and Lives of the Artists, reflect my love of books and art.
Why do you write biographies?
My interest in biography as a literary form comes from curiosity about the details of others’ lives. To put it in a simple way, I'm nosy. And I agree with something John F. Kennedy said about or to J. Edgar Hoover-- “All history is gossip.” For more on this idea, go to Book Links article.More intellectually, I'm intrigued by the shape and structure of a person's life--the arc, the story of it. As stories, biographies are some of the very best--people have definite beginnings, middles, and demises. I'm motivated by the challenge of trying to write about a life in a pithy, meaningful way--sculpting with words a portrait that conveys the essence of a person--accurately yet dramatically. I use a “warts and all” approach because I want to write biographies for kids living in the real world. I know readers have to survive all kinds of hurts and traumas; my way of helping is to dramatize how people in the past have done it.
What books did you like as a kid?
Around the house we had lots of Little Golden Books and inexpensive editions of classics. The first book I can remember reading is Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen.Weekly visits to the library with my mom were the highlight of childhood. I loved librarians so much I wanted to be one, but alas.
Favorites included historical fiction (Laura Ingalls Wilder; Elizabeth Speare’s Calico Captive or The Witch of Blackbird Pond), biography (the Landmark Book series on people like Helen Keller, Elizabeth Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony; anything on queens), mysteries (the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton was thrilling), romance (Mary Stolz, Betty Cavanna), adventure (Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins), fun books like Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy and Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking.
Above all, fantasy-- especially Edward Eager’s magical books, and Carol Kendall’s. I would have adored the Harry Potter books.
What were your earliest writings?
My earliest works include A Garden Book (second grade), Hairdos and People I Know (fifth), and The History of Queersville (sixth). I created a series of weird little books about people. My first short story was Death Waits Until After Dark (eighth grade)--about a teacher who jumps out the window.
