Some questions from the publisher on the launch day of my last book in the Women of Action series.
Q: The first edition of Women Heroes of World War II,was published in 2011. The second edition includes 6 more women and girl's stories. What was your process for choosing which women to feature and what angle to approach their story from?
A: I was originally writing for my own undermotivated 12-year-old self, very young for my grade but an avid reader. How could I persuade this type of young person to read a history book? By finding the most compelling stories of women who made a significant contribution to the war effort, then arranging the facts of each story to sustain interest to the end.
Q: Whose story surprised or inspired you the most while writing Women Heroes of World War II?
A: All of these women inspired me profoundly but I’d have to nominate German resister Sophie Scholl for the top award.
Q: How was your writing process different from the first to second edition?
A: I spent most of 2009 writing the first edition and a few months in 2018 writing the material for the second, with four books in between. It’s impossible to become completely acclimated to stories like these but writing that first edition nearly knocked me off my feet with admiration.
Q: What do you hope kids (and adults) take away from reading this book?
A: To perhaps rethink their definition of the word hero. This book features ordinary women whose conscience wouldn’t allow them to do anything less than risk their lives to withstand a cruel totalitarian regime.
I’d also like to let readers know that this book is in no way to be seen through a contemporary political lens; the stories must be placed within their historical context. That being said, I think many of the women I wrote about would be horrified at the toxicity of our current political climate (although the German and French women would definitely recognize some of that toxicity as it was prevalent in their nations during the pre-war years). And what I love about them was their ability to overlook political leanings for the greater good. Pearl Witherington absolutely detested politics and worked beautifully with men on both sides of France's political spectrum during the war. Monica Wichfeld was a wealthy landowner who worked with a Communist in order to defeat the Nazis in Denmark. The Dutch section contains the stories of Hannie Schaft and Corrie ten Boom; the first was an assassin who worked for an organization peopled with Communists and the second was an Evangelical Christian. Motivations and actions, not necessarily political ideologies, make one good or evil.
Q: What five people—living, dead, fictional or nonfictional—would you have over for a dinner party and why?
A: If we limit the guest list to the women I wrote about, I would enjoy seating Pearl Witherington and Nancy Wake together. They both did phenomenal work in the same general area of France, but they never met, which is possibly a good thing since they were polar opposites: the party girl weapons trainer vs. the non-nonsense leader.
Another interesting pair might be Edith Cavell and Gabrielle Petit, two women separately involved with resistance work during the First World War who were executed by German firing squads in Brussels within months of each other. Cavell was as cool and reserved as Petit was emotional and outspoken, so it would be fascinating to see if (or how quickly) they could find their common ground.
For my final guest, I would invite one of the war correspondents. Most of the journalists featured in my books chronicled how war affected ordinary people, so I’d love to see what Mary Roberts Rinehart, Martha Gellhorn, Peggy Hull, Dickey Chappelle, Tracy Wood, Kate Webb, or Jurate Kazickas would make of the interactions at my table.
Amazon link to second edition of Women Heroes of WWII: https://www.amazon.com/Women-Heroes-W...
A: I was originally writing for my own undermotivated 12-year-old self, very young for my grade but an avid reader. How could I persuade this type of young person to read a history book? By finding the most compelling stories of women who made a significant contribution to the war effort, then arranging the facts of each story to sustain interest to the end.
Q: Whose story surprised or inspired you the most while writing Women Heroes of World War II?
A: All of these women inspired me profoundly but I’d have to nominate German resister Sophie Scholl for the top award.
Q: How was your writing process different from the first to second edition?
A: I spent most of 2009 writing the first edition and a few months in 2018 writing the material for the second, with four books in between. It’s impossible to become completely acclimated to stories like these but writing that first edition nearly knocked me off my feet with admiration.
Q: What do you hope kids (and adults) take away from reading this book?
A: To perhaps rethink their definition of the word hero. This book features ordinary women whose conscience wouldn’t allow them to do anything less than risk their lives to withstand a cruel totalitarian regime.
I’d also like to let readers know that this book is in no way to be seen through a contemporary political lens; the stories must be placed within their historical context. That being said, I think many of the women I wrote about would be horrified at the toxicity of our current political climate (although the German and French women would definitely recognize some of that toxicity as it was prevalent in their nations during the pre-war years). And what I love about them was their ability to overlook political leanings for the greater good. Pearl Witherington absolutely detested politics and worked beautifully with men on both sides of France's political spectrum during the war. Monica Wichfeld was a wealthy landowner who worked with a Communist in order to defeat the Nazis in Denmark. The Dutch section contains the stories of Hannie Schaft and Corrie ten Boom; the first was an assassin who worked for an organization peopled with Communists and the second was an Evangelical Christian. Motivations and actions, not necessarily political ideologies, make one good or evil.
Q: What five people—living, dead, fictional or nonfictional—would you have over for a dinner party and why?
A: If we limit the guest list to the women I wrote about, I would enjoy seating Pearl Witherington and Nancy Wake together. They both did phenomenal work in the same general area of France, but they never met, which is possibly a good thing since they were polar opposites: the party girl weapons trainer vs. the non-nonsense leader.
Another interesting pair might be Edith Cavell and Gabrielle Petit, two women separately involved with resistance work during the First World War who were executed by German firing squads in Brussels within months of each other. Cavell was as cool and reserved as Petit was emotional and outspoken, so it would be fascinating to see if (or how quickly) they could find their common ground.
For my final guest, I would invite one of the war correspondents. Most of the journalists featured in my books chronicled how war affected ordinary people, so I’d love to see what Mary Roberts Rinehart, Martha Gellhorn, Peggy Hull, Dickey Chappelle, Tracy Wood, Kate Webb, or Jurate Kazickas would make of the interactions at my table.
Amazon link to second edition of Women Heroes of WWII: https://www.amazon.com/Women-Heroes-W...
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