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Plotting a novel sounds easy, doesn’t it? After a […]

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*Middle-grade historical fiction with Christian themes (WWII)
*13-year-old girl as main character
*Rating: Last Page in the Diary will really appeal to girls who like historical fiction and like writing in their diaries. It is a great book to use in a home school or Christian school setting as so many tweens deal with this question: “How can God let bad things happen?” This book is especially great because it also teaches about history!

Short, short summary:

So what do I do with this book?

1. If students do not know much about the period of history this book covers, then have them research different things mentioned in the book, such as Pearl Harbor Day or the Japanese Internment Camps. Students can write reports, do Power Point presentations, create posters, or some other way to share information with students.

2. Have readers ever felt the way Pat or Mike do in the novel–either with their relationship with God or as a victim of bullying/racism? These are great journal writing topics and discussion topics for tweens. Through the characters in this book, tweens may feel more comfortable talking about and/or writing about these issues and comparing/contrasting their experiences with the ones in the novel.

3. If students were involved in an essay contest, what would they write about? And why? You can even hold your own essay contest if you want to. . .:)

I am happy to be hosting sisters, Hilda and Emily Demuth, on my blog today to discuss their wonderful middle-grade, historical fiction novel, Plank Road Summer. Here’s a description of the book from Amazon.com: ” Welcome to the adventures of two 13-year-olds, Katie McEachron and her friend Florence Mather, who experience an exciting summer in 1852 as the plank road that runs by their homes brings mysterious strangers to their dinner tables and the plight of runaway slaves to their consciences. Katie McEachron is a forthright, impulsive girl who has not yet learned the importance of keeping silent. Her friend Florence Mather, a solemn and hardworking girl, came with her family from Cornwall, England. She has an eager mind, but her mother is less interested in Florence’s education than in having her help at the inn. One day in May, a stranger arrives at the Mather Inn. The visit of the stranger launches a string of events that will make this a most unforgettable summer for the two girls. . . . “

**Anyone who leaves a comment or question for Hilda and Emily will be automatically entered into a comment contest. One lucky commenter will receive a copy of the book. Please leave comments by Thursday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m. CST. Now on to the interview. . .

Margo: Welcome, Hilda and Emily. What made you decide to write Plank Road Summer together?

HILDA: In the spring of 1999, I’d started writing again after a ten-year hiatus, and I was casting about for a new project. Emy had been working on various projects. At some point, she or I mentioned the plank road story she’d had in mind for years. In some free-writing, I described a view of the lilacs from the bedroom window of the farmhouse in which we’d grown up, and somewhere Emy had written a very similar description. She and I had shared that bedroom for many years, after all. For me that was the sign that the two of us were meant to write a story set in our childhood home.

EMILY: It really was my idea to write about the plank road. When Hilda approached me about writing it together, I decided there was a better chance of getting it done if we collaborated. That we were both very familiar with the setting—the lay of the land, the McEachron homestead, the two staircases in the Mather Inn—made the work much easier. We didn’t need to describe to one another what the Mather Inn might have looked like—we’d both been there.

HILDA: And we’d both run across the pasture to visit the neighbor girls, just like Katie McEachron runs across the pasture to visit Florence Mather.

Margo: How wonderful that you took your childhood home and made it into this story! How did the collaboration work? Did you each write different parts, work on it together?

HILDA: That first summer, we spent a couple of days together plotting the novel, sitting up late after our kids went to bed. Emy’s three children and my three, all aged ten and under, were thrilled to spend so much time with their cousins. Early on, Emy and I decided to have two main characters, a toll-gate keeper’s daughter and an innkeeper’s daughter and to alternate the points of view in the chapters. It seemed perfectly natural that each of us would focus on one character. We’d write our chapters and then e-mail the drafts and edit one another’s work.

Margo: E-mail is so wonderful–what did we used to do without it? And with it, you both have created a beautiful, interesting, and educational book for children! Why