Q&A with Jane Harrington
Q: What is your full name (including your middle name)?
A: Jane Frances Harrington
Q: How many brothers and/or sisters do you have?
A: I have three older sisters, an older brother, and a younger brother.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: Until age five I lived on Long Island in New York City, but I did the rest of my growing up in the Washington, DC area.
Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I'm thinking that maybe I didn't really WANT to grow up, because I never had any realistic vision of what I might do. When I was very little, I mostly dreamed of being a bird, for instance. And later, as a teenager, my secret yearnings tended to involve being a singer. Hm. Maybe I DID have a vision, though. After all, doesn't writing give you wings and a voice?
Q: What was your favorite thing to do when you were a kid? Why?
A: When I was pretty young, my favorite thing was probably exploring what little there was of "nature" in my sprawling suburban neighborhood: a winding creek, a sliver of woods, trees filled with cicadas or caterpillars. There was a feeling of freedom in these bits of the wild, I guess. But as I got older I got more into listening to the radio and collecting records (vinyl!). I was lucky, because the Beatles were still together when I was a kid, and there was great music coming out all the time from bands like The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd. My parents spent a lot of energy yelling at me to "TURN IT DOWN!" but I didn't hear them most of the time because the music was too loud.
(Sort of like the way my kids don't hear me because of their earbuds, only I don't realize they can't hear me, so I can go on and on for a really long time, with them not absorbing a single word I say. Of course, it's questionable they absorb anything I say when the earbuds are OUT, but whatever.)
Q: What was your favorite book then? Why?
A: When I was a teeny person: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, by Maurice Sendak. Why? Because, clearly, this book is magic. (I can still recite this book from memory.)
When I was older: MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, by Jean Craighead George. Why? I suppose I was totally intrigued by the notion of a kid running away from a big family to live on a mountain. NO schools, and LOTS of animals. YAY!
Q: What was your worst subject in school?
A: Even though my grades were good most of the time, I didn't like English class. We never did creative writing, and the teachers were always telling us what meaning we were supposed to find in literature and poetry. (I always imagined the authors hovering over the classroom, laughing at us because they hadn't intended ANY deep messages, and just wrote to have fun.)
Q: What is one of your most embarrassing moments?
A: The week I started school was REALLY bad. Preschools weren't popular then, and the public schools did not have kindergartens, so first grade was the first time I had been away from my family. I was PETRIFIED. Day One, I escaped during the Pledge of Allegiance and ran all the way home. Day Two (after locking myself in the bathroom for a while) my dad walked me to school. Actually, dragged would be a better verb. I was kicking and screaming and grabbing onto trees and lampposts, and he patiently pried my fingers and arms off of these things, and pulled me along the streets of my neighborhood. It must have taken an hour to get to school, and lots of people must have witnessed this tantrum, but that wasn't my embarrassing moment. It was later that day, in the classroom, when the teacher went around the room and had the kids spell their last names. I was the ONLY one who didn't know how to spell a last name. And to make things MUCH worse, the teacher was openly annoyed that I didn't have this very basic knowledge that ALL the other first-graders had. That sharp pang of humiliation is something I've never forgotten since that day in my six-year-old life. Since that day, too, I've never forgotten how to spell "Harrington." (My mom taught me that afternoon.)
Q: Why do you write books for kids?
A: It's an uncontrollable impulse, for the most part. Also, since I write in first-person, it makes me feel like a kid—which is usually fun, since my characters tend to have a good sense of humor.
Q: Do you have any pets? What are they?
A: I have a corn snake named Longfellow, a cat named Kitty, a dozen-ish Madagascan hissing cockroaches (with no names), a leopard gecko named Beatrice, a chinchilla named Chinch, a pair of bossy lovebirds (Gobo & Doozer), a giant African millipede, and—right now, though these are seasonal pets—twenty-some monarch caterpillars and about two hundred silkworms. My favorite pet EVER was the beagle I had when I was a kid. His name was Charlie.
Q: Which book written by someone else do you wish YOU had written?
A: There are probably a total of about fifty books I wish I'd written, but here is a sampling:
Adult: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving.
Teen: ANGUS, THONGS AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING, by Louise Rennison.
Middle grade: THE GREEN BOOK, by Jill Paton Walsh.
Picture book: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (of course).
Q: What's the first thing you do when you start a new book?
A: Turn on my computer. (HAHA.)
It's actually true, though. I don't do much planning before I get started with the physical writing of a fiction story. I get the main character in my head, I give her a goal of some sort, and then I type away as she goes about doing her stuff. Supporting characters show up, and they start doing things, too, and soon there's a chapter. Though I work from a basic idea (for instance, I knew that I wanted a teenage girl to travel on the Mediterranean in the GEEKY JOCK story), I find my writing to be more spontaneous and funny if it is allowed to develop on its own. That way, I can even surprise myself, because I'm truly not expecting the things that happen as I write. If I make myself laugh, I know I'm doing okay. Sounds weird, but that's probably because it is.
Q: What is the hardest thing about writing?
A: Finding the time!!! I do a gazillion things all the time, because I have lots of part-time and volunteer jobs (teacher, park naturalist, softball coach, journalist...to name a few), and I'm almost always taking classes of some sort or another. AND I have three kids and a husband who are all fun to hang out with, so they distract me a LOT. There are never enough hours in the day to do all the writing I want to do!
Q: What are you afraid of?
A: Roller coasters and really high bridges. And other stuff, but I'm afraid to talk about it.
Q: If you had three wishes, what would they be?
A: 1. That all people would become peaceful, and never get violent or start wars. 2. That everyone in the world would have enough food and water every day. 3. That pollution would disappear, and our planet would be healthy again.
(And I wouldn't mind a few hours each day JUST for writing!)
Provided by Author 2 Kids Questionnaire
Further information about Jane Harrington and her books is available on her website.
Reviews
Extreme Pets!
Jane Harrington
Designer, Bill Henderson
This high-energy guide describes a panoply of nontraditional pets, dividing them into four categories: cold-blooded (for snakes and lizards), pocket pets (small mammals such as sugar gliders, ferrets, and hedgehogs), insects (ranging from creepy-crawlies such as the Madagascan hissing cockroach and the tarantula to the monarch butterfly), and slimy pets (toads, frogs, and slugs). Each of the twenty-one featured animals receives a few breezy pages of information, including a "Report Card" feature that grades the prospective pet candidly on coolness, aroma, neatness, ease of care, and cost factor. There are more than a few formatting and conceptual glitches (and the creative manipulation of photographic images is at times simply misleading), but the combination of information, enthusiasm, and irreverence packed into a browsable and visually appealing format is easy to love (which is more than can be said for some of the featured pets). The tone creates an enjoyable sense of clubbiness, with those interested in weird pets clearly Us to the disapproving adult Them, and even reluctant readers will be all over this like musk on a ferret. A concluding section gives kids hints on winning parents over to the extreme-pet concept, and an index is appended. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2007, Tangerine/Scholastic, 163p. illus. with photographs., $12.99. Grades 4-10. Reviewer: Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June 2007 (Vol. 60, No. 10)).
Best Books:
ISBN: 0-439-82948-8
ISBN: 978-0-439-82948-9
Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best-Friend Must Do in Europe
Jane Harrington
The teenage voice shines in this book. This unique style of writing is sure to grab the attention of fiction readers. The style sets it apart from other YA fiction. The plot unfolds when Brady, a budding teen girl, takes a trip to Europe and chronicles daily happenings and events when she writes letters to a friend left in the states. To spice up the information, readers are set up to understand the friend at home wrote a list on the hand of the letter-writer before she took off. Of course, the list is written with a permanent marker for all to see. And the list is made up of four things the writer must do in Europe. The text starts a bit slow, as the traveler actually travels to Europe, but by the time Europe is reached, the pace is moving right along. Much of the setting takes place on a cruise ship where Brady, who is traveling with her mother, conveys teen angst. Typical teen situations occur as she tries to fit in with other teen travelers. Many emotions connected to teens are addressed; shyness, silliness, and compassion are but a few. Some snide comments are interspersed with the regular text and they work perfectly. Much of the text is hilarious and, as is fitting, the book ends with the perfect question: "Is life is a trip, or WHAT?" 2006, Darby Creek Publishing, $15.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Nancy Garhan Attebury (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 1-5819-6041-7
ISBN: 978-1-5819-6041-9
Lucy's (Completely COOL And Totally True) E-Journal
Jane Harrington
During the summer, Lucy decides to keep an E-Journal on her new computer. She includes e-mails from various friends to form a complete picture of what goes on in her life. Her grandmother, who has Alzheimer's disease, has moved in with Lucy's family and Lucy is both frustrated and worried about her. Lucy wants a ferret for a pet, but her parents insist that the family has enough pets already and ferrets take a lot of work. Her archenemy, Billy, might be moving next door, so Lucy and her friend Taylor plot to scare his family away from the house. Lucy isn't looking forward to going to summer camp, but is pleasantly surprised when she finds computers there so she can continue her E-Journal by sending e-mail to herself. Although the journal is written using common electronic abbreviations (such as UR for "you are"), it is somewhat distracting and certainly isn't a model of grammar for children to follow. Harrington tries too hard to give a contemporary voice to Lucy, from movie references to "net-yak terms." A child picking up the book two years from now will most likely find it out of date. 2001, Scholastic, $4.50. Ages 7 to 10. Reviewer: Amie Rose Rotruck (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-439-32373-8
ISBN: 978-0-439-32373-4
My Best Friend, the Atlantic Ocean, and Other Great Bodies Standing Between Me and My Life With Giulio
Jane Harrington
In this laugh-out-loud novel, ditsy Delia records her feelings about the new Italian exchange student, Giulio, who just happens to be her best friend's boyfriend. With loyalty to match her loopiness, Delia wouldn't dream of putting the moves on her friend's man, but she does decide to wait out a relationship she's sure will last, given teen romance statistics, only 34 days. As she counts down the days, Delia notices that Richard, a nerdy buddy since grade school, turns the same shade of pink as her lip gloss whenever she's near. What's going on? As Delia puts it, life is an "enema" (enigma). Author Jane Harrington is spot on when it comes to the highs and lows of high-school crushes. 2008, Darby Creek, $16.95. Ages 12 up. Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature).
Meet high school freshman Delia, her best friend Brady, and the Italian exchange student, Giulio. Guilio happens to be Brady's boyfriend, but is Delia's potential husband. Delia has discovered that the average teenage relationship lasts only 34 days, meaning Giulio will be free to begin their courtship in a matter of days. Delia's story unfolds as she tries to fit managing the football team into hr schedule after she hears that Giulio played football in Italy. Of course, she does not realize that American and Italian football are quite different sports. Enter Richard, a football player trying to impress Delia. The tangle weaves in and out and finally unravels with everyone where they are supposed to be, and partnered with those they should be with. Harrington presents very believable exchanges between friends in high school, even with a potential discomfort level for Delia and some football players. The resolution is delightful and should be repeated at schools across the country! A perfect choice for a girls-only book club, or just for pleasure reading, though girls will appreciate this sequel to Four Things My Geeky-Jock-of-a-Best-Friend Must Do in Europe more than boys. 2008, Darby Creek Publishing, $16.95. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Elizabeth Young (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 978-1-5819-6070-9
ISBN: 1-5819-6070-0
Added 1/2/09
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