Q: How were
you inspired to write a story about this little piece of history--the Knit Your
Bit campaign for soldiers during WWI?
A: I am fascinated
by stories of ordinary people in history, and also intrigued by historical
photographs. Years ago I worked at the
American Red Cross in Honolulu and learned about the home front efforts to knit
for soldiers. That drew me to learn more about the social history of knitting
in America and the result is Knit Your
Bit!
Q: Are you a knitter yourself?
Or perhaps a family member? If so, did that play a role in your inspiration for
this story?
A: I actually do
love to knit and I love yarn stores. But
there is a big caveat to this – I am, quite honestly, not very good. I knit for relaxation only and I’m a bit like
Mikey in the book – I keep dropping
stitches! So I am content to knit
scarves for myself – or for friends who can’t knit at all and so are a bit more
forgiving of mistakes. I have a number
of friends who are wonderfully accomplished knitters and the book is dedicated
to them.
Q: Knit Your Bit tells the story
of those at the home front during war. Do you hope that this book will be read
by those children with moms and dads in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere? Will
you be doing any special outreach to military families?
A: One of the
wonderful things about the “Knit Your Bit” tradition is that it continues
today. The book is already featured on a
blog called “Deployment Diatribes,” http://deploymentdiatribes.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/knit-your-bit/
For more
information about current Knit Your Bit projects check out:
Q: Please tell us a little bit
about your research process for this book.
A: I consulted a
couple of books that detail the history of knitting; No Idle Hands, The Social
History of American Knitting by Anne Macdonald (Ballantine Books 1988) was
especially helpful. You can also read
the actual New York Times report on
the Central Park Knitting Bee (“Many Enter Knitting Bee”) at http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30915F73F5A11738DDDA90B94DF405B888DF1D3
And there is a
great article on HistoyLink.org at: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5721
Q: I loved the illustrations by Steven Guarnaccia, which
gave the story a real period feel. In fact, the illustrations reminded me of
the TinTin comics. Can you comment about how the illustrations contribute to
your text?
A: I absolutely
agree! I love how Steven’s artwork
complements the wonderful graphic style of the period. The Red Cross posters of the time were part
of what drew me to the story, so when you add the historical photos on the
endpapers along with the art and the poster in the note, it all seems to come
together to give young readers both a sense that this did happen in a different
time, but that some things remain the same.
Q: Please give us a brief
preview of your upcoming book, The Great Trouble. And can you share with us
some of the projects you have coming up?
A: The Great Trouble, A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and
a Boy Called Eel, is
middle grade historical fiction about the 1854 cholera epidemic in London. I tried to give the story a Dickensian feel,
while at the same time celebrate the pioneering public health work of Dr. John
Snow, who was born 200 years ago, in 1813.
I think kids will enjoy it. I am
also working on projects about Beatrix Potter and World War II.
To find out
more about my books I hope readers will visit me on the web at: www.deborahhopkinson.com or look at my Pinterest boards at:
Thanks again to Deborah Hopkinson for appearing at The Fourth Musketeer. For other stops on her Knit Your Bit Blog Tour please check www.deborahhopkinson.com.
4 comments:
I really enjoyed learning more about your book Deborah! Thanks for the wonderful interview Margo! Pinning and tweeting!
Great post! I'm an avid knitter and lover of children's books, so I really enjoyed this book, and the interview. Thank you for contributing this post to this month's Carnival of Children's Literature!
Thanks for posting this interview. I love to knit as well and I really appreciated all the links to historical sites and patterns.
My DD asked me if she could learn to knit recently :) So this post comes as a pleasant surprise! The links in the interview were very interesting. thanks for sharing!
-Reshama
www.stackingbooks.com
Post a Comment