And our Sue's Clues Mystery Author is:

Our Mystery Author this round is Jennifer Donnelly. She is the author of four books—three novels and a children's picture book. Her second book, A NORTHERN LIGHT, has won much acclaim along with the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Not a bad start, eh? And I'm thinking this isn't beginner's luck, either. Jennifer's newest book, THE WINTER ROSE, is getting lots of rave reviews also.

Jennifer has taken the time to let us get to know her better with the interview below. When you are done, visit her at her website. http://jenniferdonnelly.com/index.htm

Thanks, Jennifer!

1. Can you tell us about your family? How long have you been married? How old is your daughter? What do they think of your writing?

How much time do you have? All day? Good! I love talking about my family. They are my life.

I’ve been married for twelve years to a wonderful man whom I’ve known since we were in high school. Our daughter is four. I can honestly say that I would not be an author without my family.

My husband, and my parents, and sister, and cousins, and in-laws have all encouraged me, supported me, and put up with my nonsense through all the difficult times. In fact, one piece of extremely important advice I have for aspiring writers is this: Get a good family! It doesn’t have to be immediate family. That’s not always possible. People are spread out these days, or this one’s fighting with that one, but I’m telling you, find someone—a friend, a cousin, a fellow writer, a bartender, your mailman, someone to encourage you. Because the road to publication can be long and hard, and I myself would have given up long ago without the people I’m fortunate enough to have in my corner.

2. Your family pets are not unheard of, but not the usual either. (Smiling here) What exactly does one "do" with two fat rats? What are their names? How did the decision come about to buy rats rather than, say, a goldfish or hampster?

Well, here’s the thing. We had two of the most beautiful greyhounds ever. But they both died over the last three years. We want another greyhound, but we recently moved, and I have one book about to launch, and two more in the works, and we decided it would be insane to get a new dog just now. But… our daughter was pining for a pet. So we went to get her a hamster.

We got to the pet store and saw some hamsters. We pointed at one. “Oh, not that one,” the assistant said. “He’s mean.” We pointed at another. “No, not that one. He bites.” This went on and on. “Not that one, he’s not good with children.” “Not that one, he has issues.” Our little girl’s face was falling and we realized we had to do something, so we asked what other kinds of rodents they have. “Well,” the assistant said, “we have rats. No one wants them because they’re rats. But they’re really friendly and they’re really smart.” We took two. And they are really friendly and smart. We love them. One is rather noble, like Ratty in The Wind and the Willows. The other is a bit greedy, like Templeton from Charlotte’s Web.

3. I saw a reference to 'going back to journalism' in the FAQs at your website. How long were you a journalist and what time of reporting did you do?

I was a general assignment reporter at The Watertown Daily Times in Watertown, NY. I still miss that paper. It was the most wonderful finishing school I could ever have attended. I learned how to handle myself there, how to think on my feet, how to track down a story, how to talk to people, and how to work really hard. I learned to never bury the lead. And most importantly, I learned that to write, all you do is write. It’s that simple. You don’t wait until the muse shows up—not with a madman editor yelling at you across the newsroom for copy. You just sit down and do it.

4. Why and how did you make the transition to fictional writing?

I really didn’t make a transition. I’d always written as a kid. Melodramatic stories. Bad poems. You name it.

My friend Lisa and I made whole books for each other—with gum in them, and prizes and puzzles and activities and sent them to each other. It was just always there, this book thing. But of course, few of us can just decide we want to become novelists and make a living at it right away. It takes a lot of time to achieve that. So before I was able to make a living from my novels, I made a living doing other kinds of writing—reporting, copywriting, and copyediting.

5. About something you wrote about your childrens' book, HUMBLE PIE: "Some people aren't for the old blood-and-thunder stories. They think they're too scary for kids. But kids instinctively know that life is sometimes scary. .... I think that far from being disturbed by fairy tales, children are comforted by these ancient stories where good people triumph and bad ones are punished." Can I tell you how happy I am to see an author actually write that out loud and state it so well? I couldn't agree more! I think secretly many people feel the same way. How often do people disagree with you on this point of view?

Well, thank you! I think that where the difficulties come in, where we as writers and readers and parents agree and disagree, is not over the question of whether scary fairytales, or later the so-called “problem” books, should be read at all, but when they should be read. Some preschoolers can take witches and ogres early on, some can’t. Some middle readers can take divorce or death, some can’t. And some high schoolers can handle stories that might include sexuality or substance abuse, some can’t.

It’s a difficult balancing act, guaging a child’s readiness to read certain stories, but it’s important that we keep trying to get it right, even if we sometimes fail. Why? Because giving children stories is giving them power. Read a child Red Riding Hood, and you’re telling her more than story, you’re telling her that a small girl—a girl just like her—a girl who’s alone in the woods and frightened, can defeat a big bad wolf. Read a boy Shiloh and you’re telling him that a boy, just an average everyday boy, can put a bad thing right. Not easily, not overnight, but he can do it. If that’s not empowering, and sustaining, and inspiring, I don’t know what is.

6. Congratulations for receiving the Carnegie Medal for your novel, A NORTHERN LIGHT. It must have been very exciting and quite a rush to hear you had won; not to mention the other awards and reviews it received. Wikipedia states your book "could be considered a young adult version of Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, although Donnelly's book is concerned less with the murder itself and more with the life of a young girl who gets caught up in it." Do you think that is a fair statement? I believe you mentioned Dreiser's book was an inspiration for your story?

Thank you!

I’d like to think that A NORTHERN LIGHT is its own story, not a version of anybody else’s story. An American Tragedy is one of my favorite novels. I love it. I’m moved by it, awed by it, and inspired by it, but Grace Brown’s words—the words of a young, pregnant woman who was brutally murdered by the father of her child—were the main inspiration for my book.