Fan Mail for The Hundred

On Friday, I received three handwritten letters from middle-school kids who had read The Hundred. They came from children in a school in the Bronx, who had been introduced to the book through their teacher.

I was so astounded and moved by these letters, and I wanted to share a couple of specific quotes. I trembled as I read the letters, for I knew that something I had done really mattered to a child. While a praiseworthy review on Amazon or Goodreads always makes my heart soar, these were different. These were handwritten. One was three pages long.

“I couldn’t stop reading page after page. I only stopped because my mom threatened to ground me, but even then I waited until everyone was asleep and took out my flashlight and read it to the end.” (From a girl)

“By the middle of your book, Mrs. Prescott, I had been walking around the floor without knowing it. Adrenalin is something panicking mothers and skydivers experience, not 14-year-olds who do little but walk around occasionally when the need strikes them. But as a reader, I feel adrenalin all the time. Lift a bus? I swear to you, Mrs. Prescott, I could have done seventy one-handed pushups right then and there. Nevertheless, to say, when I finished The Hundred, I was wrung out.” (From a boy)

 

So if I hadn’t published my book, even one child whom I may never meet would have lost a vital experience. Does one child matter? Do three? Twenty? How many before we say we matter? Success may be told in numbers, or in one simple story.

At moments when I feel weary and sad and too winter-tired to write the next chapter of The Hundred (Book Two), I think I’d like to tape up one or two of these letters and remember that someone, out there in the darkness, is waiting to hear the next story. I have to write back to to these kids who thanked me profusely for “introducing us to this fascinating world.” But how can I possibly thank them properly? I suppose the only way is by never giving up. And writing.

Never Underestimate a Young Reader

When I wrote my debut novel, The Hundred, I wasn’t thinking of children in a specific age range who might read and enjoy the book. I just wanted to tell a story. When it was finally edited and complete at a whomping 500+ pages, I realized that I had a dilemma on my hands.

People (and agents, in particular) think that long books for kids are a death knell. Everyone advises against them, unless you are big A+ author whose editors have been cowed into submission and won’t delete nary a word. So much so that one agent wrote to me in a peevish tone, asking was I not aware that middle-grade books are best at 35,000 words? I should trim my book down, he advised, and then think about resubmitting.

I believe that’s nonsense. Publishers are thinking of their profit margins rather than the abilities of kids to devour long books. If you’re enjoying a book and its imaginative world, do you want it to be flimsy and thin? Done before you have the chance to say, “Aww! I was just getting into it!” Personally, I like a book with a bit of heft. Better for wielding at one’s enemies.

I had a choice here. I could gut my book, producing a “for dummies” truncated version that would completely obliterate its original purpose for being. I could resubmit it to the cranky agents who expected me to color inside the lines, and hope for a break. Or I could believe in breaking the rules. I chose the latter road. My book would best appeal to kids 10 and older, and most likely those who were advanced in their reading level. So be it.

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when a local third-grade teacher invited me in to speak to her class because a few of the kids were “into the book” and others wanted to know a local author. Third graders? Surely they would struggle over a 500+ page book. Surely they would be bored. This book was best for, I would say, eighth graders! Fifth graders at least. The vocabulary alone would flummox the average 8-year-old. How would  I master this situation?

I had barely sat in my seat when the children started to ask me questions, among them the kids who had started the book and wanted answers. I described the characters. The kids all shouted out their visions of what they thought those characters looked like. “This is why there are no pictures in my book,” I said. “And why you must always read the book before seeing the movie.”

I read an excerpt. Hands shot up. Questions were asked. Among them:

“How much money do you make and how much does Amazon make when you sell a book?” (Oofh.)

“When did you start writing?” (Around your age.)

“Are there many-mes in your book? “(What?!) “Are there enemies in your book?” (Oh, YES, there are.) One kid who has read the book starts to shout out and I shut him down…”No spoilers!”

“Do the Shrikes have electric spiky feathers and look like big flying rats and have purple feet?” (Why yes, if you see them that way! That’s why we don’t use pictures in this sort of book.)

“What is Aarvord?” (He is a Fantastic Grout. He can make all sorts of tools from his body, including a globe of glowing light from his forehead.)

“I heard an author, Dan Greenberg, speak at our school andI wanted to buy his books because he excited me. Now I want to buy your books for the same reason!” (You, Phoebe, are my hero. And yeah, the Zack Files are on my son’s Christmas list.)

“I see your characters in my head, like they are real.” (So do I. And you have now made my day. No, maybe my year.)

When I was done I signed a copy of a book one girl had bought for her cousin. Everyone gathered around, wanting to touch the book. In fact, some of them touched me. I barely got out of the place with my coat intact. The book was probably mangled in the fray. Sorry, cousin Jake.

Some of these third-graders are not ready to read my book, not yet. But if I have ignited in them a love of literature, we all win. And for those 8-year-old and 9-year-olds who can master a 500+ page book? Never underestimate a child. Never.

Announcing the publication of The Hundred: Fall of the Wents

I’m excited to announce the publication of my new YA/MG fantasy novel, The Hundred: Fall of the Wents!

Best for ages 10 and up, the book takes readers on an epic journey into a future where humans no longer exist. Evolution has produced a host of wondrous and intelligent beings: shape-shifting Fantastic Grouts with globes of light atop their skulls; creatures descended from flowers; and massive swarms of bees that can bore perfect holes through metal or bone.

But some seek a way to bring the humans back into the world—a world filled with creatures like twelve-year-old Tully, a young, amphibious Eft who imagines humans as nothing more than old bones and fairy stories. When his beloved guardian is stolen by a menacing black shadow, Tully must embark on a journey to a cruel, northern land to save her and his entire species. In an adventure that blends time travel, magic, and science, Tully learns whom he can trust, and who will betray him—for the price of reawakening the Hundred.

It’s already received a positive response on Amazon, but the most amazing reward for me are the early and personal notes from parents. Among them:

“In the future please consider publishing your books during school vacation. I had to wrestle the Kindle from my daughter’s grasp 1 hour and 5 reminders past her bedtime. If her grades suffer it is on your head!”

“My daughter and I just read the first chapter of your book…hooked! It’s brilliant!”

“Your descriptive writing made the book SO GOOD! The plot really held her attention, and that is something that is sometimes lacking in YA fantasy books!”

You can find the book here on Amazon:

Print version

Kindle version

Add it to your Goodreads “to read” list!

(Are you a blogger who is interested in reviewing a copy? Email me at jennyphresh (at) yahoo (dot) com.)

Please let me know what you think, and spread the word to any young (and old) readers you know. Thank you for all your support. My next blog post will tell the story of how this book came to be.