Award-Winning Children's Books

Continuing our celebration of award-winning books, today Jungle Red welcomes Neil Plakcy.

NEIL: As soon as Rosemary told me that the Jungle Red Writers were celebrating awards in April, I thought of all those books I read as a kid which had gold seals of approval from various awards. The ones I remember most are those which won the Newbery Medal, awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's books. I thought it would be fun to look at the list of award winners and see which ones I still remembered. The oldest book on the list that made an impression on me is Miss Hickory, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, which won the medal in 1947. I always liked these kind of anthropomorphic books as a kid-- all the odd little creatures living together by the riverbank, for example with Jack-in-the-Pulpit preaching on Sunday. Miss Hickory is a twig doll who is abandoned by the little girl who owns her, and has to go out among the animals and trees and make a new life for herself. Then there’s My Father’s Dragon, an honor book from 1949.

There are three in the series, which I gobbled up greedily. More magical characters! The boy narrator recounts his father’s adventures rescuing and raising a baby dragon. Just looking at the cover brings back a lot of memories. These books were among my real favorites. Another discovery on the list was Carol Kendall’s The Gammage Cup, an honor book from 1960. To this day I remember the Periods-- the foolish members of the upper crust who had names like Geo. and Ltd. Their names came from a list of abbreviations brought back from an expedition. Reading about it today, it sounds like some sort of anti-Communist allegory, but I just remember it as a great book. Two of the Lloyd Alexander books are on the list-- The Black Cauldron from 1966 and The High King from 1969. I just reread these books last year in preparation for a trip to Wales (there’s a lot of Welsh mythology and language wrapped up in them) and they held up beautifully. They are the story of Taran, an assistant pig-keeper (he helps take care of the oracular pig Hen Wen) and his friends Princess Eilonwy and the bard Fflewdur Fflam, as they battle evil in the land of Prydain. I fell in love with the Welsh language through these words. There are lots of others I remember in bits and pieces-- The Island of the Blue Dolphins; It’s Like This, Cat; and Shadow of the Bull. But the biggies on the list for me are two books by E. L. Konigsburg: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Mrs. Frankweiler was such an amazing book, about a girl and her brother who hide out in the Metropolitan Museum. It was a prequel to all the mystery and adventure books I’ve loved ever since. How will Claudia and Jamie survive in the museum? And what’s the secret of the angel statue? And then there’s Me, Elizabeth. Who wouldn’t want a friend who’s a witch? I went through a long period when I searched for every spell-casting book I could find. I bought all these herbs and spices and tried to make my own potions. Sadly all I ended up with was a lot of not-very-nice-smelling potpourri. But it was the sixties, so that was OK-- it went with my Nehru jacket and my psychedelic T-shirts. There are lots more books that were important to me as a kid, but these are the ones which had that Newbery stamp of approval, and that makes them easier to remember, after all the time that has passed. What books made an impression on you as a kid? Any of these?

ROSEMARY: I have to find a copy of Miss Hickory - it sounds wonderful! Misty of Chincoteague is right at the top of the list for me along with every horse and dog book I could lay my hands on. I had to google the Newbery winners since I didn't trust my memory - I seem to remember more of them from my days as a bookseller than as a child (I moved on to the hard stuff early!) I do remember A Wrinkle in Time and in fact I picked up a copy last week at Left Coast Crime because I want to read it again!

HANK: Oh, Black Beauty, of course. And Jane Langton's Diamond in the Window. And A Wrinkle in Time. (Hi, Neil!) Oh, and please--everyone read the Edward Eager books. Thyme Garden. Magic or Not. Knight's Castle. However--Hallie and I will argue over A Little Princess--I really really do NOT like that book! And Neil--you don't know whether those potions worked or not...do you???

DEB: Loved the Lloyd Alexander's--I still have my copies somewhere. But my all time favorite was Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. I read it when I was eleven and then read all her other books. I'm sure A Wrinkle in Time went a good ways towards setting my view of the world. Black Beauty, of course, Hank, but I never thought about it being a Newberry winner. I just read everything horsey I could get my hands on. One I missed was Mrs. Frankweiler--am going to have to look for that one!

HALLIE: My Father's Dragon! I'd forgotten all about that one. I can see the illustrations. I loved all of E. B. White's books for children, but most especially Charlotte's Web which I read aloud to my children. SOME PIG! The Dr. Doolittle books were great favorites, and I read every one of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, though they don't hold up so well on rereading. Then there were the books I gobbled up after my daughter. The Ramona Quimby books, Judy Blume (Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.) -- why didn't a single one of her books ever make the list? Oh, and of course Sarah Plain and Tall. DEB: More Newberries: Johnny Tremain. King of the Wind. The Grey King by Susan Cooper. Interesting to see some of the books that DIDN'T win: Laura Ingalls Wilder. Charlotte's Web. Misty of Chincoteague . . .

ROSEMARY: Misty didn't win? Marguerite Henry was robbed!

RHYS: The ones I remember most are those I read as an adult. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. The Westing Game--truly one of the cleverest mysteries written for kids (and adults). Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw--again such a deep and clever book. Did Zylpha Keatley Snyder ever win? Loved all of hers (and I'm not just saying that because we used to be good friends). I think only adults truly appreciate the best children's books. Kids prefer action and clever dialog. Oh, and I've just remembered an alltime favorite: Bridge to Terabithia.

JULIA: It's wonderful to me to see how vital these books remain for kids today. Between my three children, now 18, 17 and 10, we have a huge number of the titles mentioned here on our bookshelves at home. There's The Wizard of Oz, the first long chapter book my youngest and I read all the way through. My Father's Dragon (and sequels) which my son adored, despite the old-fashioned language and illustrations. And my oldest, who has a treasured copy of Diamond in the Window signed by Jane Langton herself. One series I adored as a kid and have pushed on my own children are the Freddie books by Walter Brooks. Freddie the Detective was my introduction to the world of mystery fiction, as Freddie the Pig and Jinx the Cat solved the mystery of a disappearing train set at Farmer Brown's house. I reread a few of the books with my youngest a couple years back and I agree with Rhys; I loved them as a kid but I only truly appreciated the language and the sly cleverness as an adult.

ROSEMARY: Which books from childhood have stayed with you? Any award-winners?

Neil Plakcy is the author of the Mahu mystery series, about openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka. They are: Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, Mahu Vice, Mahu Men, and Mahu Blood (2011).

He also writes the Have Body, Will Guard adventure romance series, Three Wrong Turns in the Desert, Dancing with the Tide and Teach Me Tonight (2011).

His other books are the Golden Retriever Mysteries In Dog We Trust and The Kingdom of Dog, as well as the novels GayLife.com, Mi Amor, and The Outhouse Gang and the novella The Guardian Angel of South Beach.

Visit him at http://www.mahubooks.com/ http://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy

On Mahu Fire

"I love the contrast between light and shadow, metaphorically, good and evil. . . . Graham Greene wrote that there was something about shady characters in sunny places. You're isolated down here, and there's a certain type of person who gravitates to these edge communities. You find the same thing in Hawaii. And I love the cultural mixing we have here, the multicultural melting pot."
Neil Plakcy quoted in the Miami Herald

We're all going to Left Coast Crime in Hawaii, right? Right? Here's the guy who knows all about it.

And we've always wanted to say Book'em, Dano. But we can say it to Neil, because his books are set in Hawaii. (And he's probably really tired of hearing it.)

Neil Plakcy is the author of Mahu, Mahu Surfer, and Mahu Fire, mystery novels which take place in Hawaii. He is co-editor of Paws & Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog (Alyson Books, 2006) and editor of the gay construction worker erotica anthology, Hard Hats. A journalist, book reviewer and college professor, he is also a frequent contributor to gay anthologies.

On Neils website, http://www.mahubooks.com/ we found this fascinating and useful stuff.

Lolo means crazy in Hawai'ian. Mahu means gay.

As you might know, every syllable in a Hawai'ian word must end in a vowel. Neil says he's sure that this, plus the fact that there are only fourteen letters in the Hawai'ian alphabet, was a real challenge to the first missionaries, who sought to translate the Bible into the native language. And here's what you really need toknow: By using the next available letter, and adding vowels to the ends of syllables, "Merry Christmas" became "Mele Kalikimaka." Now you can go to Hawaii at Christmas.

How intimately do you know your characters? Neil's been thinking about this...and wants us to, too. Welcome, Neil!

Recently, my friend Nancy Cohen sent me some character development tools she’d built to help her with her Bad Hair Day mysteries. The tools asked a lot of questions about your characters, things like their favorite speech phrase, ruling passion, and dominant trait.

It was all interesting, especially thinking about the dominant trait, which Nancy defines as a non-physical adjective + decision-making noun–i.e. protective guardian, charming nuisance, compassionate caretaker, restless homemaker. I feel that if you’re going to write about a character, at least a main character such as the protagonist or antagonist, you should know this stuff.

When I was discussing this with Christine Kling, who has written four mysteries about tugboat operator Seychelle Sullivan, she sent me an even more detailed list of questions to ask, including things like the character’s body language and mannerisms, birth order, diet, grooming, and romantic history.

It’s all great—but it didn’t help me when I got my favorite (so far, at least) question from a reader. He’d read my first two mysteries (Mahu and Mahu Surfer) and wanted to know if my protagonist, Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka, had a hairy body.
I’ll bet the big names in literature and mystery don’t get that kind of question. (Well, maybe Janet Evanovich does.)

It made me stop and think. You can fill out all the character questionnaires you want—but how intimately do we really know our characters? And how intimately do we need to? Should we know everything about them before we start to write? Or is writing about someone the same as starting to date someone—a process of getting to know them?

Of course, no matter how long you and your character (or your significant other) are together, there’s always something new to learn. In my case, I sat down to consider my fan’s questions. Kimo is part Hawai’ian, part Japanese, and part haole, or white. Since neither the Hawai’ians nor the Japanese are known for much body hair, there was my answer. Kimo’s pretty smooth. I didn’t want to totally alienate that fan, though, so I assumed he’d have a little hair here and there.

Since I’m writing about Kimo’s coming out process as well as his investigation of the cases, sex does play a part in the books. In describing his first experiences, Kimo says that denying his attraction to other men was like standing outside a candy store with his nose pressed against the glass. Once he accepted himself for who he was, he was able to open the door to that candy store and start sampling the wares.

So I guess I do need to get more intimate with him, and I’m glad that my fan raised that question for me to consider. The results may never show up on the page, but at asking and answering those questions helps me get to know Kimo better. Going back to those character questions that Chris and Nancy gave me, I’m still working on figuring out what his most treasured object is. Maybe that will show up in the next book.

Not so fast, Neil. Before we say aloha, Time to take: the Jungle Red Quiz!

Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot?
Miss Marple

Sex or violence?
Sex!

Pizza or chocolate?
Chocolate

Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan? (We won't even include Sean Connery because we know the answer. Don't we?)
Pierce Brosnan

Katherine Hepburn or Audrey Hepburn?
That's a tough one. Audrey, I guess.

First person or Third Person?
First person

Prologue or no prologue?
Prologue. Sometimes you have to set the scene before the story starts.

Making dinner or making reservations?
Making dinner (and dessert.)

And Finally: The Jungle Red Stump Your Readers Quiz:
Tell us four things about you that no one knows. Only three can be true. We'll guess.

My "nom de porn" is Dirk Strong
I am a very distant descendant of the Russian royal family
Only as an adult did I discover that my father's nickname for me, Noodnik, meant 'pest' in Yiddish.
I was "Mr. Flag" in my second-grade class play and sang "You're A Grand Old Flag" to thunderous applause.

JRW: Oh, Neil, we hope you were really Mr. Flag....and we demand to see the photos.

And by the way, Aloha nui oe.

Tomorrow: Another wonderful author! And this one: hunted rats on a first date! Some fun.

And she'll--oops! a clue--will be giving away a free book or two!