Karin's latest book fits so well with English tales that delight adult and child alike. What a fun read when all snug in bed or wrapped in your favorite
blanket on the sofa.
Welcome to Tea and Books, Karin. Tell us about Geraldine Woolkins, and
a few facts about yourself.
Q. How did you generate the idea for your book The Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins?
A. As
I explain in my Note from the Author at the back of the book, my first story mouse wasn’t Geraldine; it was Nigel, her father. I saw him—or what became him in my mind—at a wedding reception twenty years ago and started making up stories about
him on the spot. Geraldine’s story took form a few months ago, while I was trying to sleep one night. Before I knew it, I’d written the entire first chapter of her adventures in my head.
Q.
What was your favorite childhood read?
A. I have several. I think my earliest favorite was The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack, about a little duck that lives on a boat in China and one
day, while on shore, misses the call back to the boat. That story always broke my heart a little! I also loved Winnie-the-Pooh, The Wind in the Willows, and Sam and the Firefly by Dr. Seuss. A little later in childhood I got
hooked on the Nancy Drew series.
Q. What do you like most about your main character in this book?
A. Geraldine, a “new mouse”
(that is, one who hasn’t yet seen all four seasons) is everything a young mouse (or child) should be: earnest, eager, curious, generous, and just a little dissatisfied by what she sees as the unfairness of life—in her case, her having been born
a tiny “ground thing,” seemingly incapable of real adventures or even bravery.
Q. What was your favorite flavor of ice cream as a child? Now?
A. As a child it was mocha almond fudge, but now it’s any thick and creamy sea salt caramel. Gee, thanks for asking, Marilyn. Now I have to make a run to Safeway!
Q.
Will you please tell us about your book?
A. Geraldine Woolkins began as a cozy bedtime book for adults, but as I started work on the second chapter, I realized
it was also a book for children—and that I needn’t change the language and thus “talk down” to younger readers.
The book’s description
on Amazon reads:
“Young Geraldine longs to have adventures as thrilling as those in the Book of Tales, the book her papa reads to her and her brother Button at
night. More than that, she wants to be brave--a seemingly impossible task in a world where ravens throw black shadows over the earth and wolves prowl barren lands in search of their prey. But Geraldine is a mouse. The weakest of ground things. Why was she,
who wants so much to be brave, created by God to be small and quivering?
“The book’s ten stories follow the Woolkins family--Papa, Mama, Geraldine, and Button--from
October to December, as they face their rather human trials and tribulations and Geraldine struggles to understand Very Very Big Hands, the creator of all, including ravens and wolves.”
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Karen's books are available at AMAZON.
Web site: http://www.karinkaufman.com