Welcome to Cantastic Authorpalooza, featuring posts by and about great Canadian children’s book creators! Today’s guest: Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail. Take it away, Danielle!
I can’t count the number of times a writing instructor has said in a workshop to ‘find the universal in the particular,’ but somehow I always need to hear it. It’s such a good reminder that often we think in big ideas and grand sweeps of history, but we need to anchor thoughts, ideas and philosophies to a particular person, event or moment.
Take the two books I’ve published this year for young readers. Yes, they have drama and stakes and help tell a bigger story, but what I tried to do more than anything was drill down to the important details. That’s what’s going to stay with a child (or an adult, for that matter!).
This has taken me some practice. My degrees in History (with a capital ‘H’) taught me theories and methodologies, but they didn’t teach me storytelling. They didn’t teach me characterization. And they certainly didn’t teach me soul. Those I got from the novels and movies I obsessed over before – and after – my semi-successful (and short-lived) academic career.
It’s for this reason that when I stumbled upon the story of the SS Atlantic shipwreck down the road from my new home in Nova Scotia, I focused on the people, journeys, and deeper emotions. And, because it’s a middle-grade book, I particularly wanted to know about the children’s experiences. In this case, it turned out there was only one child who survived, and while it’s obviously tragic that over 100 babies, children and teens died on the awful night of April 1, 1873 near Halifax, from a storytelling perspective it gave me an obvious narrative guide: John Hanley. In Children of the SS Atlantic we follow John Hanley from his home in England, his time on the ship with his family, passengers, and crew, and his amazing survival because of the Nova Scotians – some as young as nine – who came to the ship’s aid. John’s story, along with the young Nova Scotian rescuers, demonstrate courage and compassion to readers today. When people stroll the boardwalk in Terence Bay and visit the cemeteries in the region, I want them to have a clear picture of those individual stories and be inspired by them.
A lighter story also landed (pun intended) in my lap a couple of years ago, this time from an editor based on Prince Edward Island. She knew I researched and wrote about aviation history and would I be interested in seeing if there was a book in a little-known local claim to fame? It turned out that PEI had hosted the first aviators to make a Canadian Trans-Atlantic air crossing in 1930. After visiting the spot near Charlottetown and exploring the research, I took on this delightful challenge. Why was it a challenge? a) the main actors in the story were grownups and b) the main drama of the story actually took place before and after their ten days on PEI watching and waiting for the weather to clear at their hop-off point in Newfoundland.
But there on the sidelines of the historical records were local kids who had seen the planes land and were captivated by these flying heroes. The kids helped make food for the aviators (peanut butter and bacon sandwiches) and hung on their every word. The children also commiserated with all the hoping and waiting. Because, if there’s anything I’ve learned from my kids, they HATE waiting. And the possibility of disappointment from a long-awaited dream? Oof. Crushing. So if we looked at this story from a child’s eye view, it could still come to life. With a sprinkle of 1930s historical background, slang, and a three-act structure (and Jennifer DesRoche’s beautiful watercolours), Flying High on PEI was ready for take off.
All this to say, keep your eyes open for those particular family, neighbourhood, and community stories that can speak to the universal, and bring them to life. I, for one, can’t wait to read them.
Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail is an award-winning author of nonfiction and fiction for all ages who is based in Nova Scotia (Canada). She is available for author visits in-person and online, storytimes, mentoring, editing, podcast interviews, and speaking engagements.
Connect with Danielle at www.daniellemc.com