~post by Meghan Dietsche Goel, BookPeople’s Children’s Book Buyer
Top Shelf in November: Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly
Signed copies now available!
Local author Jacqueline Kelly’s magnificent debut novel The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate swiftly became one of our store’s top picks for young readers when it released in 2009 and went on to collect a prestigious Newbery Honor, so I was delighted to hear that she was penning a sequel to one of my absolute favorite books. I have to admit I was a little nervous about what a sequel to The Wind in the Willows would look like, since it stands so perfectly on its own. But with this buoyant homage to the classic, Jacqueline Kelly does not disappoint, returning readers to the warmth of the Riverbank and the dark of the Wild Wood with just the right mix of true friendship, rousing adventure, and old-fashioned charm. To give us all a little more insight into the book, I recently asked her to answer a few questions about her experience writing it. I hope you’ll enjoy this return trip to the willows as much as I did.
BOOKPEOPLE: Do you have special memories of The Wind in the Willows from your own childhood?
JACQUELINE KELLY: A family friend gave me a copy of The Wind in the Willows when I was eight years old and in bed with the flu’. I was feeling completely miserable until I opened the first page and began reading about Mole whitewashing his little home and suffering from a terrible bout of spring fever. Then he threw down his brush and went out into the wide world, and that did it for me. I was completely transported to the world of the Riverbank, and fell in love with all the characters there. My publisher calls the original “comfort literature,” and that’s exactly what it is and why I fell in love with it. I still like to read it when I’m feeling sick or blue or tired. Next time you’re laid up in bed, have a read, you’ll feel better. Promise.
BP: Was there a character that you found easiest to capture or most challenging to write?
JK: When I started writing, I had a real problem with Toad. He’s such an egocentric blowhard that I really didn’t want to spend much time with him. But Toad (being Toad) pushed his way to then front of the cast and eventually grew on me. By the time I was half-way through, I realized I was giving him more time center stage than the others, and the book turned out to be mainly about him. He was so much fun to write about because he’s such a dim creature and it’s fun to put him in various pickles and watch him try to fight his way out. And he’ll learn a tiny lesson about life, and then immediately forget it. But what saves him from being completely insufferable is that he is essentially good-hearted and generous at the core. Ah, Toad! You aggravating, lovable creature!
BP: This story takes each of Grahame’s characters into the next chapter of their lives. When you started the project, did you already know where you wanted each of them to end up?
JK: When I started the book, I had no idea where our four lead characters would end up. It was so much fun to let their adventures unspool as I went along. The only clear ideas I had were that I wanted to put Toad in a flying machine, which seems a natural extension of his auto-mobile mania, and I also wanted to put him in the same room with gun powder. Need I say more?
BP: What aspect of Return to the Willows do you most hope resonates with fans of the original?
JK: I hope that fans of the original will see my book as what I mean it to be, a heart-felt thank-you to
the peerless Kenneth Grahame.
BookPeople 