 |
      |
|
|
|
|
|   Deborah EllisDeborah Ellis's first book, Searching for X, won the Governor General's Award in 2000. Her next book, The Breadwinner, was shortlisted for the Red Maple Reading Award, and the sequel to that book, Parvana's Journey, won the 2003 Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award. Ellis grew up in Paris, Ontario, and now lives in Toronto. Q: Why did you decide to write about the town of Frank at the turn of the twentieth century? DE: Because it was a new town, with new chances for people, at a time when civilization and wilderness lived right next to each other. Q: What kind of research did you do to find out about the world Keeley lived in? DE: I contacted the Frank Slide interpretive centre in Frank and read a lot about life in the Crowsnest Pass at the turn of the twentieth century. Q: What would you find the most difficult about life back then? DE: I think the most difficult thing about life at that time is the same thing that's difficult about now—dealing with other people's expectations about us and making other people deal with our expectations about them. In some ways, we do it better now. In many ways, we don't. Q: Do you think that Keeley would be a very different person if she were growing up today? DE: Keeley has a lot of energy she takes great delight in spending freely. I don't think she would enjoy being corralled into a lot of organized activities, the way many kids are today. She's a little wild and likes to have a lot of space around her, so Frank at the turn of the twentieth century was a good place for her. Q: Would you want to go back and live in that time yourself? DE: Absolutely—I'd be like Patricia's two wonderful, eccentric grandmothers. |
|
|
|
|
