me and the Mullins family

GOLDEN DELICIOUS: A CINDERELLA APPLE STORY made its official Grand Debut at the West Virginia Book Festival in our state capital of Charleston. I was delighted with the response. After my slide presentation, both the WV Book Company and Borders sold out of their copies!

A great and unexpected pleasure was meeting several descendants of Bewel Mullins, the brother of Anderson Mullins, the Clay County farmer who discovered the Golden Delicious apple. What a terrific family! The above photo shows Helen Elaine Whited Dawson, Helen Suzanne Mullins Plybon, Nancy Margaret Mullins Schaffner, me, and David Lonnie Mullins. They're justifiably proud to have their "family" story in a book.

As always, the West Virginia Book Festival, held the second weekend in October, was a great energizer for me. It's fantastic to be in the company of so many fellow-booklovers. A huge THANK YOU!! to all those people, especially the librarians, the WV Book Festival committee, and all of the volunteers who work so hard to put this annual event together.

It's also a wonderful opportunity to hear other authors read from their work. I was especially impressed with Ann Pancake who read from her powerful book STRANGE AS THIS WEATHER HAS BEEN. This novel brings home in a visceral way the devastation of mountaintop removal mining on our land and people.

family in Canaan Valley

Here I am with my brother and sister on the top of Bald Knob in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. We picked (and ate) wild blueberries as we hiked to the top. On the way up the trail we saw a fresh bear-paw print in the mud. Made me think of one of my favorite children's stories BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL by Robert McCloskey.

Also, my sister's name is Sal!

I enjoyed giving this interview to The Reading Tub several years ago.

RT:No Star Nights(1989, 1994), your first book, was drawn from your experiences growing up in Weirton, WV. Publisher’s Weekly characterized it as an “oral history embellished with illustrations.” Several of your books, and much of your poetry, center on life in Appalachia. What do you hope readers learn about this unique place in reading your work?

Anna: I would hope readers learn just that – that Appalachia is a “unique” place. In the introduction to my book A History of West Virginia, I describe West Virginia, the only state entirely within Appalachia, as “a place whose hills and hollows are a part of its people, a place where family has always been important . . . where people are proud to call this beautiful, rugged land home.”

RT: Your most recent book, To Keep the South Manitou Light (2005), just like your first one, grew from personal experience, a family vacation. In doing your research about life in a lighthouse, what did you find to be most fascinating? Were you able to capture that in the story?

Anna: Before I began my research I had no idea how difficult a light-keeper’s life was. In addition to keeping the light burning throughout the night, the light-keeper put in a full day of work taking care of the lighthouse, the other buildings, and the grounds. The strict rules and requirements of the job are in a 100+ page book titled Instructions to Light-Keepers. That book was invaluable to me in reconstructing the daily routine of the real keeper of the South Manitou Island Lighthouse (in Lake Michigan). Accounts of the bravery of light-keepers can only leave one with a sense of awe and admiration for these dedicated men and women -- and their children. Hopefully the real details I incorporated in my fictional story will help the reader travel back to the time when lives depended on these keepers of the lights.

RT: ........How important is it for parents and teachers to bring a book to life with ancillary information?

Anna: Nothing exists in isolation. Ancillary information, be it literary, cultural, geographic, historical, scientific, etc., emphasizes this interrelationship enriching the reading experience, opening windows to the world—that is the joy of reading. Historical fiction lends itself especially well to this. In extending stories in this “across-the-curriculum” way, parents and teachers model the skills of life-long learners. I can think of no better way to guide our children along this path.

RT: As a teacher and librarian, there have likely been a number of moments over the years where you could visibly see “the spark” that energized or inspired a child to a love of reading. Is there any particularly poignant or memorable story? Have these events inspired or influenced you as a children’s author?

Anna: I treasure the stories librarians and teachers have told me of how some people have responded to my books: the librarian sharing my book No Star Nights with a group of low-income women who grew up in the shadow of Pittsburgh’s steel mills, who, until they heard my story, didn’t think their lives were worth writing about. The response of a care-giver who reads No Star Nights to the Alzheimer patients with whom she works, telling me how the story helps stimulate their memories. Most recently, the story of a second grader who heard her teacher read To Keep the South Manitou Light, and immediately went to the library and checked it out – her first “big” book read all by herself. I concur with the authors who say that in many ways we write for the child within ourselves – that child who remembers the excitement, adventure, stimulation, and solace that we found, and continue to find, in books.

RT: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Anna: I would just like to thank you and those who work with you for all the work you are doing to promote reading – connecting readers with good books.