Shannon Hale
Shannon Hale is one writer who doesn’t limit herself to a single genre or audience. While she gained critical acclaim as a children’s author with her Newbery Honor Book The Princess Academy, her first published book was actually an adult novel, Austenland. Subsequent publications include a Western graphic novel (Rapunzel’s Revenge), fantasy series (The Books of Bayern), and an Asian re-imagining of a Grimm Brothers fairy tale (Book of a Thousand Days).
I got a chance to interview Shannon Hale via email and asked her about her creative choices, future projects, and thoughts on children’s literature. The following is an edited version of the interview.
Michael Jung: You based many of your books’ settings on the lands of your ancestors – medieval Germany in The Goose Girl and Scandinavia for The Princess Academy. How much research did you do to create these settings – and how helpful was it to have ancestors who came from these areas?
Shannon Hale: I did a lot of research and didn’t use most of it. That’s the way it goes with research. One of the reasons I chose the lands of my ancestry was I felt like I had a right to explore those lands. It was a part of me, so it wouldn’t be disrespectful to claim those lands.
I’ve since lost some of my geographic inhibitions and Book of a Thousand Days is set in a land based on Mongolia. I have no ties to that land, but a deep respect for it. I think as writers, we shouldn’t be afraid to explore new lands and cultures.
MJ: Was it challenging to collaborate on a graphic novel with your husband/co-writer Dean Hale and artist Nathan Hale for Rapunzel’s Revenge?
SH: It’s true that collaboration takes more time than doing it alone. But the up side is you get a story you never would have told on your own.
MJ: Have you learned any new strategies for this type of collaboration with the book’s upcoming sequel Calamity Jack?
SH: Ironically, Calamity Jack was even harder to write than Rapunzel’s Revenge! But writing is such a lonely business; it’s worth it to me to get to collaborate once in a while, and especially with my husband. He’s such a big part of my life, I like sharing the writing part with him.
MJ: Are there any other types of writing you’d like to try out (poetry chapbooks, short story collections, multimillion dollar screenplays etc.)?
SH: Screenplays would be fun (especially if they’re multimillion dollar!). I used to write lots of short stories, so that would be natural. Poetry scares me. But the novel is my favorite literature to read, and so naturally it’s also my favorite to write.
MJ: These days we put a lot of emphasis on “children’s books” and “adult books.” As someone who has written in both of these areas, do you see any distinctions between these types of books – and do you believe there need to be any divisions?
SH: I don’t see much distinction, beyond the age of the protagonist. Honestly, they all kind of blur together to me. I read them all and write them all and enjoy them all. It’s the quality of writing, not the intended age of the reader, that draws me in.
MJ: And just because I’m curious – do you ever think you’ll set a story in Paraguay since you were there on a mission for 18 months?
SH: I would love to! It just hasn’t seemed right yet. Paraguay plays a small part of the book I’m currently writing. We’ll see if it survives the rewrites.
Learn more about Shannon Hale’s books, including her recent release, The Actor and the Housewife, by visiting the Official Site of Shannon Hale.
Michael Jung is a freelance writer and the Children’s Books Feature Writer for the online magazine Suite 101. Read more of his author interviews, children’s book reviews, and articles on children’s literature by visiting his Suite 101 Children’s Books Website.
To view this author's feature from a previous year, click here.
Reviews
Book of a Thousand Days
Shannon Hale
Princess Saren is in love with Khan Tegus but betrothed to the dark Lord Khasar. Saren fears him, for good reason, and rejects the match. As punishment for her rebelliousness, her father locks her in a windowless tower for seven years. As the novel opens, Princess Saren is alone, except for the companionship of her mucker maid, Dashti. In this recasting of Grimm’s classic fairy tale, Newberry Award winning author Shannon Hale once again delights modern audiences with a feisty, female protagonist, who not only must come into her own but also protect the fearful, insecure Princess from herself as well as from others who would do her harm. Young adult girls, who are also on their own journeys of self-discovery, will be enchanted by this tale about female friendships, healing, and coming of age amidst the real-world tensions of betrayal, abandonment, deception, and loss. Discussion of literary elements, such as the narrative structure of fairy tales or the traditional use of character types, will make this book a productive companion to a study of classic tales in the ELA classroom. 2007, Bloomsbury, Ages 12 Up, $17.95. Reviewer: Phyllis Thompson (The ALAN Review, Summer 2008 (Vol. 35, No. 3)).
- Best Books:
- Best Books for Young Adults, 2008; YALSA American Library Association; United States
- Best Books, 2007; School Library Journal; United States
- Best Children's Books of the Year, 2008; Bank Street College of Education; Outstanding Merit; United States
- Booklist Book Review Stars, Sep. 15, 2007; United States
- Capitol Choices, 2008; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
- Choices, 2008; Cooperative Children's Book Center; United States
- Middle and Junior High Schoool Library Catalog, Ninth Edition Supplement 2008, 2008; H.W. Wilson Company; United States
- Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, September 24, 2007; Cahners; United States
- School Library Journal Book Review Stars, October 2007; Cahners; United States
- Senior High Core Collection Supplement to the Seventeenth Edition 2008, 2008; The H.W. Wilson Co.; United States
- SLJ Best Books, 2007; Cahners; United States
- Top 10 Youth SF/Fantasy, 2008; Booklist; United States
- Top 10 Youth Romances, 2008; Booklist; United States
- State and Provincial Reading Lists:
- Beehive Award, 2010; Nominee; Young Adults' Books; Utah
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, 2008-2009; Master List; Vermont
- Grand Canyon Reader Award, 2010; Nominee; Tween; Arizona
- Virginia Readers' Choice Award, 2009-2010; Nominee; Middle; Virginia
- Volunteer State Book Award, 2009-2010; Nominee; Grades 7-12; Tennessee
ISBN: 9781599900513
ISBN: 1599900513
Enna Burning
Shannon Hale
Enna was first introduced to the Young Adult audience in Shannon Hale's award winning prequel, Goose Girl, as the faithful friend to Isi, who is a renowned heroine in her own right. Two years later, Enna faces challenges, dangers, and adventures even greater than before. Living peacefully among the forest of her origin seems to be the path of Enna's future until her brother, Leifer, following the directions of a mysterious cloth, learns the art of fire-talking. Although Enna fears the powers demonstrated by Leifer, she is also fascinated by the possibilities for patriotism, especially when Bayern, home of her beloved Isi, is swept into war. Readers are impelled along as Leifer suffers the consequences of his hypnotic discovery, and Enna experiments with fire, just for the benefit of the country, she tells herself. Although she has warned Leifer that fire can only live by destroying, Enna becomes entangled in the web of fire-talking, destruction, and secret sorties into enemy country with her friends Razo and Finn. Capture, drugs, deception, escape, death, and final victory for good, all take readers on a fast-paced ride into metaphorical questions that are a contemporary as tomorrow's news. Enna's story is a compelling moral tale that teens, classroom teachers, and parents will find memorable and hopeful. Readers will eagerly anticipate the third book in the series. 2004, Bloomsbury Publishing, $17.95. Ages 12 to 16. Reviewer: Janice DeLong (Children's Literature).
- Best Books:
- Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006; H.W. Wilson; United States
ISBN: 9781582348896
ISBN: 1-58234889-8
The Goose Girl
Shannon Hale
The Grimms' collection of folktales contains two stories of a Gñsemagd, or goose girl. Author Hale has expanded one of them to almost four hundred pages and filled the spaces with a multitude of characters, new locales, and numerous events to explain what is unexplained in the original. In folktales, girls are often forced to undergo humiliation and hard labor before they can come into their own, and this princess is no exception. Betrayed by her envious lady-in-waiting, she must escape from vicious guards, serve as goose girl, and live with the oppressed workers of the city while she gains confidence and allies to confront the king and reclaim her identity. More attention has been given to dialogue, detail, and character development than is the case in folktales. This princess has the opportunity to meet her intended prince (handsome and perceptive); the magical white horse Falada assumes less importance. After many adventures and a bloody climax, the impostor is exposed and the princess triumphs as the saviour of her people, a typical journey in heroic fantasy, into which the goose girl story has been transformed. Those who love this genre, and who don't object to the violent ending (the prince must kill to prove his manhood and the gruesome death allotted to the false bride is retained), may find this journey absorbing. Those who love folktales will prefer Wilhelm Grimm's short, pithy narrative--betrayal, humiliation, reinstatement, revenge--and the opportunity to imagine for themselves the motivations and the magic. 2004, Bloomsbury, $17.95. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft (Children's Literature).
- Best Books:
- Best Children's Books of the Year, 2004; Bank Street College of Education; United States
- Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Ninth Edition, 2005; H.W. Wilson; United States
- Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to the Eighth Edition, 2004, 2004; H.W. Wilson; United States
- School Library Journal Book Review Stars, July 2002; Cahners; United States
- Awards, Honors, Prizes:
- Garden State Teen Book Award, 2006 Winner Fiction Grades 6-8 New Jersey
- Josette Frank Award, 2003 Winner United States
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, 2004 Finalist Children's Literature United States
- Teens' Top Ten List, 2004 Winner United States
- State and Provincial Reading Lists:
- Beehive Award, 2004-2005; Nominee; Young Adult; Utah
- Garden State Teen Book Award, 2006; Nominee; Fiction-Grades 6-8; New Jersey
- Great Lakes Great Books Award, 2005-2006; Nominee; Grades 6-8; Michigan
- Lone Star Reading List, 2004-2005; Grades 6-8; Texas
- Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award, 2007-2008; Nominee; Grades 6-8; Minnesota
- Teens' Top Ten List, 2004; Nominee; United States
- Horn Book Guide:
- Volume XV Number 1 Spring 2004 Intermediate Fiction Rating 3, Recommended, satisfactory in style, content and/or illustration.
ISBN: 1-58234-843-X
ISBN: 9781582348438
Princess Academy
Shannon Hale
Miri yearns to prove herself useful to her widowed father by working in the village quarry, but, he forbids this, thus cutting his daughter off from the bond of the villagers who earn their living carving stone on Mount Eskel. In this unusual blend of coming-of-age, adventure, fantasy, and fairy tale story Shannon Hale gives us a strong girl persona, wicked “outlaw outsiders,” corrupt business dealings, strict “princess trainers,” and a prince in need of a proper princess. Miri proves her worth to her father, the village, the head of the Academy itself, and to the fellow worthy of this quick-witted, hard-working “almost a woman.” The crux of the tale is the “quarry speech” used by the stone workers to communicate over the noise and confusion of the quarry, which is adapted by Miri in her desperation to save the village girls after they have been kidnapped by the outlaws. As usual, Hale ties her characters to the land in which they have been born and to Nature itself. This is an engaging, plain “good read” that just happens to be filled with life lessons about friendship, acceptance, courage, endurance, and finding the right path. Guard against dismissing this fantasy as more of the same old genre; there are a lot of fresh ideas and solid truths to be had in this finely-crafted novel. 2005, Bloomsbury, Ages 12 Up, $16.95. Reviewer: Sheilah Egan (Children's Literature).
- Best Books:
- Best Children's Books of the Year, 2005; Bank Street College of Education; United States
- Book Sense Kid's Picks, Fall 2005; American Booksellers Association; United States
- Children's Books 2005: One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2005; New York Public Library; United States
- Kirkus Book Review Stars, July 15, 2005; United States
- Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog 2006 Supplement to the Ninth Edition, 2006; H.W Wilson Company; United States
- Notable Children's Books, 2006; American Library Association-ALSC; United States
- School Library Journal Book Review Stars, October 2005; Cahners; United States
- Awards, Honors, Prizes:
- Beehive Award, 2007 Winner Children's Fiction Utah
- John Newbery Medal, 2006 Honor Book United States
- Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award, 2008 Nominee United States
- State and Provincial Reading Lists:
- Beehive Award, 2007; Nominee; Children's Fiction; Utah
- Colorado Children's Book Award, 2008; Nominee; Junior Book; Colorado
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, 2006-2007; Nominee; Grades 4-8; Vermont
- Georgia Children's Book Award, 2007-2008; Alternate; Grades 4-8; Georgia
- Grand Canyon Reader Award, 2008; Nominee; Tween Book; Arizona
- Maine Student Book Award, 2006-2007; Nominee; Maine
- Massachusetts Children's Book Award, 2007-2008; Master List; Massachusetts
- Nene Award, 2007; Book List; Hawaii
- Nene Award, 2008; Nominee; Hawaii
- Nene Award, 2009; Nominee; Hawaii
- Sequoyah Book Award, 2008; Masterlist; Young Adult; Oklahoma
- South Carolina Junior Book Award, 2007-2008; Nominee; Grades 6-8; South Carolina
- Sunshine State Young Reader's Award, 2007-2008; Nominee; Grades 6-8; Florida
- Volunteer State Book Award, 2007-2008; Nominee; Grades 4-6; Tennessee
- William Allen White Children's Book Award, 2007-2008; Nominee; Grades 6-8; Kansas
- Wisconsin Battle of the Books, 2007-2008; Middle Level; Wisconsin
- Young Reader's Choice Award, 2008; Nominee; Grades 4-6; Pacific Northwest
ISBN: 9781582349930
ISBN: 1582349932
Rapunzel's Revenge
Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
The original fairytale about Rapunzel has her shut in a tower by a witch and rescued by a prince. This graphic novel version definitely twists the character and the storyline. This Rapunzel is no fainting flower. In fact, she takes the lead in a series of adventures, using her long braids to get herself out of all kinds of bad situations and to help others in the process. For example, she rescues herself from the tower by lassoing a nearby treetop to escape her prison. Then, she turns the tables on the conceited handsome cowboy who shows up thinking to take advantage of a naïve maiden in distress, even though he had no plans to actually rescue her. This version is set in the Wild West, where horse-thieving is a crime and seemingly no one can be trusted. The woman who put Rapunzel in the tower is a ruthless land baron who is holding the miners, ranchers and farmers hostage with her witching ability to make things grow or wither away. The artwork is engaging, as are the characters of the resourceful female protagonist and her sidekick, Jack--who carries around a goose and hoards a magic bean. This is a wonderful recasting of the traditional helpless female fairytale, and you will want to pass it along to all the girls you know. 2008, Bloomsbury, Ages 10 Up, $14.99 and $18.99. Reviewer: Paula McMillen, Ph.D. (Children's Literature).
- Best Books:
- Choices, 2009; Cooperative Children's Book Center; United States
- Notable Children's Books, 2009; ALSC American Library Association; United States
- Notable Children's Books, 2009; ALSC American Library Association; United States
- Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, August 4, 2008; Cahners; United States
- School Library Journal Book Review Stars, September 2008; Cahners; United States
- Top 10 Graphic Novels for Youth, 2009; Booklist; United States
- Awards, Honors, Prizes:
- Cybils, 2008 Winner Graphic Novels (Elementary/Middle Grade) United States
- State and Provincial Reading Lists:
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, 2009-2010; Master List; Vermont
ISBN: 9781599902883
ISBN: 1599902885
ISBN: 9781599900704
ISBN: 159990070X
River Secrets
Shannon Hale
Shannon Hale has an uncanny knack of grabbing your interest in the Prologue and not letting go until you finish the entire book. The chapter heading spurred me on to finish the book in one day. I could not put it down. This mystery is wonderfully written, boasts excellent character development and vivid descriptions that bring the scenery and characters of this magical land in full view. The land of Bayern is trying to prevent another war with neighboring Tira by agreeing to an ambassador exchange. The Ambassador will be accompanied by Enna, who is secretly a fire-speaker, and Captain Talone, along with twenty hand-picked from the king’s personal hundred-band of soldiers known as Bayard’s Own. Razo is eager to be chosen, but he feels he has no special skills that would be helpful on this peace-keeping mission. Razo is not the only one to question the wisdom of the Captain’s choice when he is picked to go to Ingridan, the capital city of Tira. As the entourage nears the end of their destination, a burned body is found. Suspicion threatens Razo’s friendship with Enna. The discoveries of more burned bodies threaten to sabotage their peacekeeping mission. No only is this book a reading treasure but this is a great book for affirming to teens that everyone has value and possesses many talents and qualities that can prove useful. Razo could be any undersized teen who needs reassurance and encouragement. It is a must for every school library. 2006, Bloomsbury, Ages 12 up, $17.95. Reviewer: Ann Sanger (Children's Literature).
- Best Books:
- Booklist Book Review Stars, Sep. 15, 2006; United States
- Capitol Choices, 2007; The Capitol Choices Committee; United States
- Kirkus Book Review Stars, August 15, 2006; United States
- Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to Ninth Edition, 2007; H.W. Wilson Company; United States
- Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, September 4, 2006; Cahners; United States
- School Library Journal Book Review Stars, October 2006; Cahners; United States
- Top 10 Fantasy Books for Youth, 2007; Booklist; United States
ISBN: 9781582349015
ISBN: 1582349010
Updated 09/28/09
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