By Barbara S. Huff

"If my books have an overall theme it is that life is better if we smile a little more and are a little kinder to others. Sometimes I can tell by the letters that a child has understood that and that makes me feel good."

1. On your Harper Collins web page you tell the story of how you were caught under the dining table reading when you should have been dusting. How did your childhood influence your writing?
Since a lot of what I write is funny, children often assume I had a wonderful childhood. I did not. My escape was to tell myself stories. They were long, involved tales that went on day after day. I was raised in the west, so most had to do with cowboys, Indians and wild horses. Of course, I was always the heroine who saved everybody! I never told anyone what was going on in my head, but it was great practice. I also loved to read, but in an effort to turn their shy misfit daughter into an outgoing cheerleader type, I was forbidden to read (really!) I never went to a library until I was grown, and didn't discover children's books until I started reading to my own children. So now I write for other kids all those books I didn't read when I was young. That is probably also why I own a children's book and toy store (in Mt. Vernon).

2. Your contemporary novels, such as Toenails, Tonsils and Tornadoes and Poison Ivy and Eyebrow Wigs, have unusual or funny predicaments for the main character included in almost every chapter. Where do you get your ideas?
I have studied other writers who manage to turn one funny incident into a book, but never could seem to do it. So when I sit down to write a "family" story, I need lots of funny things. Fortunately, I have six children and fourteen grandchildren, so I have lots of funny things draw upon. I don't write exactly what happened of course, but family stories are often the "seed".

3. How do you manipulate ideas to suit your story?
a.) That's a hard question. I just do. (Although there have been a few times when I could not work in something I wanted - but I just save it for another time.)

4. What kind of historical research do you do for your work?
I do quite a bit of reading before I start a historical fiction novel to try to get a feel for the times. I have also talked to people at historical societies and so on.

5. Did your research influence what kind of main characters you chose for your historical novels?
Not really. I usually start with the character. What he does, will be determined by the time period, but I think people are people no matter when they lived.

6. How do you decide what kind of historical details to weave into your stories?
I look for things that interest me, and then look for details I think kids will find interesting. Sometimes I leave out things I really wish I could use, rather than make the story boring.

7. Your characters, like Joseph and his friends in Joseph 1861-A Rumble of War, seem so real from the very first paragraph of your books. Do you do character studies before writing to flesh them out?
I daydream up characters. I let them live in my head until they are almost like one of my children. Sometimes a character will be in my head for months before I write him a story.

8. What kind of process do you use to create the story lines that seem to flow seamlessly along?
Again, the daydreaming. I usually pretty much know what I am going to write before I start. I do one peculiar thing though. I write a chapter, then go back and edit, sometimes several times before I go on to next chapter. This works well except for mysteries. Sometimes when I get to the end I have to go back and put in clues, or take them out - which of course means you have to rewrite the whole things again.

9. What or who was your inspiration for writing children's books?
My husband bought me a typewriter and more of less dared me to quit dreaming and just do it. Mostly, it was just something I had wanted to do for years.

10. What do you like most about writing for children?
I love getting letters from children who say things like this character is just like my sister, or like me. If my books have an overall theme it is that life is better if we smile a little more and are a little kinder to others. Sometimes I can tell by the letters that a child has understood that and that makes me feel good.

11. What new projects are you working on?
Five years ago my publisher was bought out and closed, and my editor died. There were a couple of pretty bad years. But I just finished an historical novel for Enslow. It is about a girl pirate (privateer actually), during the Revolutionary War. I am trying my hand at a non-fiction book next, but I am still at the researching stage.

To find out more about Bonnie Pryor and her many books, check out her website!

Barbara Savage Huff writes picture books and middle grade fiction. She lives in Oberlin, OH where she is an assistant school librarian by day, cello teacher by evening, and writer in the deep of night (usually 3 a.m. when she has to put some thought that wakes her up into her laptop before it escapes.)
Would you like to be a featured member? Contact Barbara at barbarahuff@oberlin.net