CANR
WORK TITLE: Harriet Tells the Truth
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://elanakarnold.com/
CITY: Long Beach
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 299
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married Keith Arnold; children: Max, Davis.
EDUCATION:University of California, Irvine, B.A., 1996; University of California, Davis, M.A., 1998.
ADDRESS
CAREER
University of California, Davis, faculty member, department of English; Hamline University, Master of Fine Arts program, instructor.
AWARDS:Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, 2015, Westchester Fiction Award, 2019, both for Infaduous; Amelia Bloomer Book List Top 10, 2019, for Damsel, 2021, for Red Hood; Michael L. Printz Award Honor, 2019, for Damsel; Gold medal in the Young Adult category, Sydney Taylor Book Awards, 2024, for The Blood Years.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Elana K. Arnold, who teaches in the English department at the University of California, Davis, is the author of several well-received novels for young adults. Arnold grew up in Southern California and earned a B.A. in comparative literature from the University of California, Irvine and an M.A. in creative writing, with a concentration in fiction, at the University of California, Davis.
Set on Catalina Island off the coast of southern California, Arnold’s first novel, Sacred, is a story of first love. Scarlett Wenderoth, who has lived on the island all her life, becomes withdrawn after the death of her brother. Ignored by her parents, who are shattered by their own grief, Scarlett stops eating and seeing her friends, and begins to hurt herself. She finds her only consolation in long wild rides on her beloved horse. During one of these rides, she meets a stranger: Will Cohen, a boy who has just arrived on the island with his rabbi father and who forges a deep and mysterious bond with Scarlett. Whenever she is in trouble, he somehow appears, offering needed help. Though Scarlett is annoyed at first by Will’s concern, she soon becomes closer to him, and their friendship develops into love.
Scarlett begins to heal. But Will holds a painful secret of his own, and it threatens to shatter their relationship just as they have found happiness together. The path to resolution leads Scarlett into a study of the Kabbalah with Will’s father, and the revelation that Will’s special abilities are deeply connected to this Jewish mystic tradition.
Pointing out that the novel is not autobiographical, Arnold told a contributor to the Jean Book Nerd website that she was surprised to discover some subtle resemblances between herself and her protagonist. “I saw how much of me (the parts of me I’d tried to hide) bled through, anyway—my broken family, my loneliness, the separation I have felt from my own flesh. Writing Sacred, I learned that I am a novelist, which kind of blew my mind, but I also learned that part of me is still that lonely, introspective, self-harming teenage girl I thought I’d left behind.”
A writer for Kirkus Reviews felt that Sacred suffers from a surfeit of themes, from realistic issues such as dating violence, anorexia, and grief to religious mysticism. Booklist reviewer Eva Gaus made a similar point, noting that the novel’s “multitude of issues” seems too much to place on the shoulders of one character. Even so, Gaus considered Scarlett and Will to be appealing protagonists, and their bond an interesting one. Their story, the reviewer concluded, “will appeal to many teens.” Discussing the supernatural elements in the novel, Teen Reads website contributor Erin Allen observed that “what is great about this plot is that [Will] does not save [Scarlett] so much as inspired her to save herself. This allows Scarlett to retain her agency as a character and makes the paranormal subplot easier to swallow.” Allen concluded by recommending Sacred as “a compelling read.” School Library Journal reviewer Lynn Rashid also praised the novel, citing the “tension and angst” between the protagonists and the book’s “compulsively readable” plot.
Asked about the genesis of the novel, Arnold said in an interview with blog writer Holly Schindler: “I have always been a writer, but I spent many years telling myself that I was a short story writer. … Deep down, I wanted to be a novelist, but my fear of taking on a full-length book seemed insurmountable.” Encouraged early in her career to develop a group of short stories into a novel, the author found the project too intimidating and shelved it. Years later, however, a friend suggested that she write a novel for young adults about a superhero. This suggestion became the inspiration for Sacred. Writing the book “was a transformative experience,” said Arnold. “Once I wrote it, once I saw myself as a novelist, suddenly stories were everywhere, banging on my door, demanding to be written.”
Scarlett’s story continues in Splendor. Will leaves Catalina Island to attend college on the East Coast, and Scarlett remains behind to complete her senior year of high school. She is anxious about maintaining a long-distance relationship, and also about the stress resulting from her parents’ recent separation. To make matters worse, her best friend, Lily, has become involved with Gunner, a dangerous boy to whom Scarlett is also strangely attracted.
Scarlett hopes to deepen her connection with Will by continuing her studies of the Kabbalah. But her pregnant mare also demands her attention, as does her growing fascination with Gunner. Distracted by her own needs, Scarlett is headed for a devastating loss that she cannot foresee.
Burning focuses on the love between a white boy and a Gypsy girl. Ben, who has just graduated from high school, has received a full scholarship to attend college in San Diego. His home town of Gypsum, Nevada, is dying. Its single source of jobs, the mine for which the town is named, has shut down, leaving an empty future for its residents. Ben knows he should be happy to have a ticket out, but he is reluctant to leave his friends and his younger brother behind. Hanging out with his friends, Ben meets Lala, whose Gypsy family is in the area to tell fortunes at the nearby Burning Man Festival.
Lala reads the Tarot cards for Ben, and what she sees there is unsettling, not only for Ben but for herself. Having grown up with traditional Gypsy ways, Lala knows nothing of the wider world. She expects to be married as her parents have arranged, and to live her life according to Gypsy custom. But the Tarot suggests that other possibilities may exist. Lala begins to dream of a life shaped by her own choices—and that holds a place for Ben.
In a review on the KUFM website, Renee McGrath found much to admire in the novel: its intriguing setting, its theme of “conflicted transition” for its two protagonists, and its “complex and believable” characterizations of Ben and his friends and family. But in McGrath’s view, Lola “falls flat” as a character. Identifying “too many romantic gypsy tropes” in Lola, a writer for Kirkus Reviews nevertheless enjoyed the character’s determination and independent spirit and admired the lovers’ story as “lyrical and inspirational.”
Arnold writes for a middle-grade audience in her 2015 novel The Question of Miracles, which looks at the question of why miracles happen to some and not to others. Iris Abernathy is a sixth grader in Corvallis, Oregon, where her family has just moved. She is not pleased with the move or with the wet weather in Oregon. Iris is also still reeling from the death of her best friend, Sarah. Then she meets fellow classmate Boris, who seems an unlikely prospect for a friend but better than nothing. When she learns that Boris’s life is a medical mystery and that Catholic nuns are credited by the church with saving him as a baby by praying incessantly for him, Iris starts wondering about miracles and if one might be possible for her. She wishes to communicate once again with Sarah, hoping to understand why her friend had to die in a fatal traffic accident while she, Iris, standing next to her, survived.
Horn Book reviewer Sarah Ellis commended The Question of Miracles, noting that “Arnold tackles tough questions here, but she does so gently, with small, focused effects.” BookPage contributor Kimberly Giarratano similarly observed that “Iris’ loss is heartbreaking, and readers will be touched by her strength as she searches for answers … [and] struggles to accept Sarah’s death.” A Publishers Weekly writer also noted that Iris’s “difficult journey to understand the absence left in Sarah’s wake unfolds with heartbreaking believability.” Booklist critic Ilene Cooper added further praise, remarking that it is Iris’s relationship with Boris that “will catch readers and help pull them toward seeking answers of their own for the story’s very large questions.” Likewise, a Kirkus Reviews contributor termed the novel a “quiet, affecting journey rendered with keen insight,” and School Library Journal writer Kathy Cherniavsky called it a “realistic view of grief, with particular emphasis on the agonizing longing to know if a lost loved one is truly out there somewhere.”
Arnold returns to a young-adult audience with Infandous, set in Venice, California. Sephora Golding is sixteen and has long lived in the shadow of her beautiful mother. It is the summer before Sephora’s senior year, and she is taking the first tentative steps toward womanhood, creating a new relationship with her mother, struggling to remain positive despite their precarious livelihood, and beginning to discover her own sexuality. Sephora tends to filter these experiences through her love of the fairy tales and mythology that deal with young women discovering themselves. These fairy tales are not of the whitewashed Disney style, but rather the gritty realism and surrealism provided by the Brothers Grimm.
A Book Smugglers website contributor had high praise for Infandous, noting: “There are those books that grab you by the throat and don’t let go. Infandous is one such book. This is a short review of a short novel that is perfectly concise in its telling, beautiful in its writing, featuring a narrator with a strong voice and a story that is moving, discomfiting and ultimately healing.” Similarly, a Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “Sephora’s painful journey and its lack of easy answers will stick with readers, as will its razor-sharp commentaries on sexual and societal double standards.” Further praise came from a Kirkus Reviews critic, who observed: “A coming-of-age story consciously reminiscent of Lolita, this multifaceted portrayal of family bonds surprises with its nuanced and sometimes-searing emotional gravity.” Booklist writer Maggie Reagan noted: “Sephora … is a narrator who defies convention, and her story, harsh and spare, is unforgettable.” School Library Journal reviewer Chad Lane also had a high assessment of Infandous, terming it a “well-written and evenly paced dramatic tale about finding peace in one’s own situation.”
In 2025 her novel, Damsel, was banned statewide in all Utah public and charter schools after a conservative push.
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A Boy Called Bat, illustrated by Charles Santoso, begins the middle grade “Bat” series about third-grader Bixby Alexander Tam (Bat), who is on the autism spectrum, has a sensitivity to sound, and loves animals. When his veterinarian mother cares for an orphaned baby skunk named Thor, Bat falls in love with it and wants to keep it as a pet. He has four weeks to convince his mother before the skunk will be sent to the wildlife rescue center. He’s also trying to process his parents’ divorce. The book gently informs readers how children like Bat relate to the events around them. Brimming with “quietly tender moments…subtle humor, and authentically rendered family dynamics,” the book helps youngsters empathize with Bat’s adventures, according to Briana Shemroske in Booklist. “A budding friendship and open-ended questions about Thor’s future will spark anticipation for the next book,” declared a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. “Comfortably familiar and quietly groundbreaking, this introduction to Bat should charm readers,” a Kirkus Reviews writer reported.
In Arnold’s first picture book, What Riley Wore, illustrated by Linda Davick, gender fluid Riley wears whatever clothes feel right for that day, whether it’s a bunny costume for the first day of school, a superhero cape on a trip to the dentist, or a ball gown to a fancy restaurant. Adults around Riley are generally encouraging, and Riley comforts other children by letting them touch the bunny outfit. When a child asks if Riley is a boy or a girl, Riley, wearing a tutu, monster t-shirt, and hat with dinosaur spikes says that today I’m a firefighter, a monster hunter, a pilot, and a dinosaur. “Riley’s creative outfits give this style maven confidence and a stronger sense of self,” according to Kitty Flynn in Horn Book. In Kirkus Reviews, a critic commented: “Riley’s courageous vulnerability is refreshing, fun, and worthy of celebration.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted: “the creators take this timely subject matter into a refreshing realm: normalcy.”
Twisting a common fairytale, Arnold’s Red Hood finds 16-year-old Bisou Martel living with her grandmother in Seattle after her mother’s violent death. When Bisou gets her first period during the homecoming dance, she’s embarrassed and runs out into the woods where she encounters an aggressive wolf. Surprised by her newfound heightened senses and strength she kills it. The next day, a drunken boy who tried to assault her is found naked and dead in the woods, bearing the same wounds as the wolf she killed. She tells her grandmother of the incident and learns of her family’s legacy to protect women against toxic masculinity, and there are always more women who need her help.
Red Hood received starred reviews from several reviewers. “It is a book of blood, where menstruation empowers, predators bleed out, sisterhood is forged, and genetics bestow unasked-for responsibilities,” reported Julia Smith in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly critic praised Arnold for “a sharp critique of male entitlement and a celebration of sisterhood and feminine power,” that will linger with readers.
Arnold spoke to Sara Grochowski at Publishers Weekly about reworking elements of fairytales into a contemporary reimagining and the fact that people are already familiar with the basics of the stories: “I’m interested in poking at the stories that we think we know and looking at them from a different angle… I think that the reason these stories live for so long is because they fit the cultural discussion…[I can’t believe] we’d still be dealing with gaslighting, rape culture, the absence of safety for a female-presenting body in the world.”
The middle grade “Just Harriet” series begins with Just Harriet, illustrated by Dung Ho. Precocious third-grader and consummate liar Harriet Wermer is upset that her father has shipped her off during summer vacation to live with her grandmother, who runs a bed-and-breakfast, on Marble Island in California. She’s comforted by her cat, Matzo Ball, and Nanu’s old basset hound, Moneypenny. But soon Harriet learns that there are many adventures and mysteries to keep her occupied, such as a key that links to her father’s childhood, an abandoned Gingerbread House, the centenarian Mrs. Marble for whom the island is named, and an ornithologist called the Captain who befriends her.
“Cranky, crotchety kids will find a kindred spirit in this young girl who longs to be understood and to understand the puzzling world of adults,” declared a Kirkus Reviews critic. A Publishers Weekly writer praised the book’s “short chapters, lively occasional illustrations by Ho…, and energetic feuds between Harriet’s cat and her grandmother’s beloved basset hound.”
Arnold draws on her grandmother’s childhood in Holocaust-era Romania for her award-winning book The Blood Years. Jewish teenager Frederieke Teitler lives with her older sister, Astra, her mother, and grandfather in Czernowitz, which is invaded by the Germans and then the Russians. With Jewish families facing antisemitism, authoritarian rule, persecution, and violence, Frederieke and her family lose their business and their home, and fear for their lives. The book earned the Sydney Taylor Book Award and many starred reviews.
“Arnold balances this tension with complex characters and meditations on familial love, sacrifice, and maintaining faith amid evil. An unforgettable story and a stark, timely reminder that authoritarianism begins and grows in plain sight,” according to a Horn Book reviewer. In Booklist, Angela Carstensen remarked: “This beautifully written novel juxtaposes passages of transcendent insight with terrible loss. Perfectly curated setting details make Rieke’s emotional journey rich [and] accessible.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 2012, Eve Gaus, review of Sacred, p. 57; November 15, 2014, Ilene Cooper, review of The Question of Miracles, p. 43; January 1, 2015, Maggie Reagan, review of Infandous, p. 94; February 15, 2017, Briana Shemroske, review of A Boy Called Bat, p. 79; November 15, 2019, Julia Smith, review of Red Hood, p. 54; October 15, 2023, Angela Carstensen, review of The Blood Years, p. 50.
BookPage, July-February, 2015, Kimberly Giarratano, review of The Question of Miracles, p. 31.
Horn Book, July-August, 2015, Sarah Ellis, review of The Question of Miracles, p. 128; November-December 2019, Kitty Flynn, review of What Riley Wore, p. 62; January-February 2025, review of The Blood Years, p. 28.
Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2012, review of Sacred; May 1, 2013, review of Burning; November 15, 2014, review of The Question of Miracles; January 15, 2015, review of Infandous; December 15, 2016, review of A Boy Called Bat; June 1, 2019, review of What Riley Wore; December 15, 2019, review of Red Hood; December 15, 2021, review of Just Harriet.
Publishers Weekly, December 8, 2014, review of The Question of Miracles, p. 76; January 19, 2015, review of Infandous, p. 85; January 23, 2017, review of A Boy Called Bat, p. 80; May 6, 2019, review of What Riley Wore, p. 58; December 9, 2019, review of Red Hood, p. 150; November 23, 2022, review of Just Harriet, p. 44; August 28, 2023, review of The Blood Years, p. 122.
School Library Journal, March, 2013, Lynn Rashid, review of Sacred, p. 147; July, 2013, Diana Pierce, review of Burning, p. 87; November, 2014, Kathy Cherniavsky, review of The Question of Miracles, p. 96; December, 2014, Chad Lane, review of Infandous, p. 130.
ONLINE
Book Smugglers, http://thebooksmugglers.com/ (July 18, 2015), review of Infandous.
Books YA Love, http://booksyalove.com/ (April 10, 2015), Katy Manck, review of Infandous.
Dear Teen Me, http://dearteenme.com/ (August 21, 2013), Elana K. Arnold, “Dear Teen Me.”
Elana K. Arnold Website, http://elanakarnold.com (July 18, 2015).
Falling for YA, http://www.fallingforya.com/ (March 11, 2015), review of Infandous.
Fandom.net, http://www.thefandom.net/ (February 13, 2015), review of Infandous.
Holly Schindler’s Novel Anecdotes, http://hollyschindler.blogspot.com/ (August 21, 2013), interview with Arnold.
Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile, http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/ (February 8, 2015), Jessica Nottingham, review of The Question of Miracles.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Website, http://www.hmhco.com/ (July 18, 2015), “Elana K. Arnold”; synopsis of The Question of Miracles.
In Bed with Books, http://inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com/ (March 5, 2015), review of Infandous.
It Starts at Midnight, http://itstartsatmidnight.com/ (March 25, 2015), review of Infandous.
Jean Book Nerd, http://www.jeanbooknerd.com/ (August 21, 2013), interview with Arnold.
Just a Couple More Pages, http://justacouplemorepages.com/ (March 4, 2015), review of Infandous.
KUFM Website, http://www.kufm.org/ (August 21, 2013), Renee McGrath, review of Burning.
Lerner Books, https://www.lernerbooks.com/ (July 18, 2015), “Elana K. Arnold”; synopsis of Infandous.
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (January 30, 2020), Sara Grochowski, “Q&A with Elana K. Arnold.”
Teen Reads, http://www.teenreads.com/ (August 21, 2013), Erin Allen, review of Sacred.
University of California, Davis, Department of English Website, http://english.ucdavis.edu/ (August 21, 2013), faculty profile.
Waking Brain Cells, http://wakingbraincells.com/ (April 6, 2015), review of The Question of Miracles.
Elana K Arnold
ELANA K. ARNOLD completed her M.A. in Creative Writing/Fiction at the University of California, Davis. She grew up in Southern California, where she was lucky enough to have her own horse--a gorgeous mare named Rainbow--and a family who let her read as many books as she wanted. She lives in Huntington Beach, California, with her husband, two children, and a menagerie of animals. She is represented by Rubin Pfeffer of Rubin Pfeffer Content.
Genres: Children's Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Romance
New and upcoming books
May 2026
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Holloway
Series
Sacred
1. Sacred (2012)
2. Splendor (2013)
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Boy Called Bat
1. A Boy Called Bat (2017)
2. Bat and the Waiting Game (2017)
3. Bat and the End of Everything (2019)
4. Bat and the Business of Ferrets (2025)
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Starla Jean
1. Starla Jean (2021)
2. Takes The Cake (2022)
3. Cracks the Case (2023)
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Just Harriet
1. Just Harriet (2022)
2. Harriet Spies (2023)
3. Harriet Tells the Truth (2024)
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Novels
Burning (2013)
The Question of Miracles (2015)
Infandous (2015)
Far from Fair (2016)
What Girls Are Made of (2017)
Damsel (2018)
Red Hood (2020)
The House That Wasn't There (2021)
The Blood Years (2023)
Holloway (2026)
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Picture Books hide
What Riley Wore (2019)
An Ordinary Day (2020)
Pip & Zip (2022)
All by Himself? (2022)
The Fish of Small Wishes (2024)
LANA K. ARNOLD is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.
Elana K. Arnold
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elana K. Arnold
Occupation Author
Nationality American
Website
elanakarnold.com
Elana Kuczynski Arnold is an American children's and young adult author. Her 2017 novel What Girls Are Made Of was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Young People's Literature,[1][2] and her 2018 novel Damsel was named a Michael L. Printz Award Honor title in 2019.[3][4]
In 2022, three of Arnold's books (Damsel, Red Hood, and What Girls Are Made Of ) were listed among 52 novels banned by the Alpine School District following the implementation of Utah H.B. 374, “Sensitive Materials In Schools."[5]
Biography
Arnold obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Literature from University of California, Irvine.[6] In 1998, she Master of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis.[7][6]
Arnold now teaches with Hamline University's Master of Fine Arts program focusing on Writing for Children and Young Adults.[8]
She lives in Southern California.[8]
Awards and honors
Nine of Arnold's book are Junior Library Guild selections: A Boy Called Bat (2017),[9] Bat and the Waiting Game (2018),[10] Damsel (2018),[11] Bat at the End of Everything (2019),[12] The House That Wasn't There (2021),[13] Red Hood (2021),[14] Starla Jean (2021),[15] and Just Harriet (2022).[16]
In 2021, Publishers Weekly named Red Hood one of the top ten young adult novels of the year.[14]
Awards for Arnold's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref
2015 Infaduous Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Young Adult Fiction - General Winner [17]
2016 Amelia Bloomer Book List Selection [18]
Westchester Fiction Award Winner [19]
2017 What Girls Are Made Of California Book Award Finalist [8]
National Book Award for Young People's Literature Finalist [8]
2018 Amelia Bloomer Book List Selection [20]
Damsel Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth Selection [21]
2019 Amelia Bloomer Book List Top 10 [22][23]
Michael L. Printz Award Honor [3][4]
2021 Red Hood Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Selection [24]
Amelia Bloomer Book List Top 10 [25]
Publications
Young adult novels
Sacred (2012)
Burning (2013)
Splendor (2013)
Infandous (2015)
What Girls Are Made Of (2017)
Damsel (2018)
Red Hood (2020)
The Blood Years (2022)
Middle grade books
The Question of Miracles (2015)
Far from Fair (2016)
The House That Wasn't There (2021)
Just Harriet (2022)
A Boy Called Bat series
A Boy Called Bat (2017)
Bat and the Waiting Game (2018)
Bat and the End of Everything (2019)
Bat and the Business of Ferrets (2025)
Starla Jean series
Starla Jean, illustrated by A. N. Kang (2021)
Starla Jean Takes the Cake (2022)
Starla Jean Cracks the Case (2023)
Picture books
What Riley Wore (2019)
All by Himself? (2022)
Pip and Zip (2022)
Reception
In 2024 the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature passed a law[26] mandating the removal of books deemed objectionable from all Utah public schools (including charter schools). On 2 August 2024 the Utah State School Board released its first list of banned books. Elana K. Arnold's young adult novel What Girls Are Made Of was on this list.[27]
Banning
In 2024 the book Infandus was banned in Texas by the Katy Independent School District on the basis that the novel is "adopting, supporting, or promoting gender fluidity"[28] despite also pronouncing a bullying policy that protects infringements on the rights of the student. [29]
Elana Arnold
Graduate Adjunct - CLA
Email: earnold02@hamline.edu
Phone:
Elana K. Arnold is on leave for the very near future.
Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning books for and about children and teens, including the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, Printz Honor winner Damsel, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Arnold's YA novel, The Blood Years, won the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award.
Many of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have frequently appeared on “Best of" book lists, including Rise: A Feminist Book Project, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, and others. Her work has been called “devastatingly vital” and “comfortably familiar and quietly groundbreaking". Elana lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.
Q & A with Elana K. Arnold
How did you come to teach at Hamline MFAC?
I’d long wanted to teach in a low-residency program; every time I sold another book, I wrote to Hamline and others to update my CV and remind them of my interest. Finally, a call came through from Mary, inviting me to apply. I was—and am—such a fan of the tremendous faculty and I knew that not only did I have a lot to give the program, the program would also give me a huge amount. And I was right! At each residency my love of and commitment to the art and craft of writing has deepened.
What’s your favorite part of residency?
I think my favorite part of residency is the first faculty meeting, believe it or not! Though I’m not generally a huge fan of meetings, I am a huge fan of the faculty, and it’s such an exciting thing to see them again after six long months apart. I imagine the cohorts feel similarly about their reunions!
How would you describe your faculty advising style?
I’m pretty hands-on and collaborative. I always do line edits (I can’t help myself!) as well as a letter, and I love to zoom. I joined this program for two reasons: to learn and grow as a working artist, and to be of service. With my students, I aim to be of service during our shared time and beyond.
What’s your favorite book to recommend to MFAC students?
I am a big fan of WHAT IT IS by Lynda Barry. It’s a weird and wonderful book about creativity.
We asked you to send a photo that represents a favorite Hamline memory. What's happening in your photo?
I’m terrible at photos, and so I don’t have any to share, unfortunately. But I absolutely love to workshop…the way we all show up on the first day, nervous and excited like bunnies, and how we soften, learn, and grow together across our time together.
Author Interview: Elana K. Arnold On Writing & Containing Multitudes
Home » Author Interview: Elana K. Arnold On Writing & Containing Multitudes
By Rebecca Kirshenbaum
Today on Cynsations we welcome the prolific Elana K. Arnold, who talks neuroatypicality, her new book, and how she—and all of us—contain multitudes.
I am a big fan of your work, and I’m also in awe of your range in writing picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and YA. And nailing it all! I’m pretty excited about your early middle-grade novel, Just Harriet (HarperCollins, 2022). Can you tell us about it? What else are you working on right now?
Thank you! My core philosophies are these: children are whole people; all people deserve good art. So, I am dedicated to making the best, most artful books I can for readers of all ages.
Here’s the official flap copy for Just Harriet, releasing on February 1, 2022:
There are a few things you should know about Harriet Wermer:
She just finished third grade.
She has a perfect cat named Matzo Ball.
She doesn’t always tell the truth.
She is very happy to be spending summer vacation away from home and her mom and dad and all the wonderful things she had been planning all year.
Okay, maybe that last one isn’t entirely the truth.
Of course, there’s nothing Harriet doesn’t like about Marble Island, the small island off the coast of California where her nanu runs a cozy little bed and breakfast. And nobody doesn’t love Moneypenny, Nanu’s old basset hound. But Harriet doesn’t like the fact that Dad made this decision without even asking her.
When Harriet arrives on Marble Island, however, she discovers that it’s full of surprises, and even a mystery. One that seems to involve her Dad, back when he was a young boy living on Marble Island. One that Harriet is absolutely going to solve. And that’s the truth.
Like the Bat books, Just Harriet will be a series, lightly illustrated—these, by the wonderful Dung Ho!
And I’m working very hard on my next young adult novel. Titled The Blood Years, it’s based on my grandmother’s teenage years in Czernowitz, Romania, where she endured the Holocaust. It’s a story, I think, about the great and terrible things people do in the name of love.
I also have my second Starla Jean book—Starla Jean Takes the Cake, illustrated by the phenomenal A.N. Kang—out in November! It was supposed to be out in September, but… supply chain problems.
Let’s talk about neurodiversity. You wrote the chapter book series beginning with A Boy Called Bat illustrated by Charles Santoso, (HarperCollins, 2018) featuring an autistic character, before publicly recognizing your own neurodivergence. Can you tell us a little bit about what led to that decision? What, if anything, has changed for you since then?
There is this big messy important movement in which, for very good reasons, people want to make sure that they are reading and sharing books written by those from within the communities represented in the books. This comes, I think, from a desire to protect children who may encounter a version of themselves or those they love in books, and a sense that books written by people from within the community are less likely to get it wrong.
But, look. Writers are also individual human beings, and they write their stories from a variety of experiences, a complicated web of identities that don’t always boil down to “inside” or “outside” of a specific label… and, when it comes to dealing with labels that overlap with psychological or medical diagnoses, authors may have complicated reasons for choosing not to disclose every slice of their experience/connections/identities.
Here’s a true story. Not that many years ago, I was denied medical coverage because of “preexisting conditions.” Because I was unable to get health care privately, my husband had to remain in a job situation that wasn’t a good fit in order to keep me covered by health care.
Today we are able to buy our insurance through the wonderful thing called Obamacare… but there’s no guarantee that things will stay this way. The good news is that the Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit seeking to have the ACA repealed in June of this year, but the bad news is that we don’t know for certain that the ACA will remain in place.
“Elana,” you may be moaning, “this is a conversation about neuroatypicality and kids’ books! Not what’s happening with the Affordable Care Act!” But the truth is, everything is connected. How my brain works affects the stories I write, on many levels. How my health care works affects how private I choose to be about many aspects of my selfhood that overlap with what are considered to be medical and psychological conditions.
My hand was forced a bit when I began to see speculation about my brain and how it works, and conversation about whether I was “inside” or “outside” of the neuroatypical community and the autistic community. Suddenly, whereas I had felt that I was protecting my medical privacy, I began to feel that I was lying by omission. And I hate lying. It makes my skin itchy on the inside, to lie.
But truth isn’t simple, and there are many reasons why I will continue to lean towards privacy—some that I’ve illuminated here, and others that I have not.
How do you bring your perspective as a neurodivergent person to your work? How important is it for you to bring neurodiverse voices to the page? Have you always felt this way or has it evolved over time?
Every book I write is a combination of these things:
Lived Experiences + Observations + What If = Story
This means that at least one third of every story I write is based on my own true experiences, feelings, memories, desires, and fears. Another third is based on things I’ve observed—in other people, in books I’ve read, in TV and movies I’ve watched, in music I’ve listened to, on the walks I take, in articles I’ve clicked on, and more. And the third third is the playful, curious spark that comes from who-knows-where and acts as a catalyst. So, this means that I cannot escape the way my brain works, the way I engage with my own lived experiences, my own observations, my own curiosity—not that I want to escape it! I love my brain. I think my brain is terrific. It’s one of my favorite brains.
So, this means that everything I write comes from my perspective, whether I am aware of it or not—my perspective as a mostly-cisgendered woman, my perspective as a neuroatypical person, my perspective as a white agnostic Jewish human, my perspective as a mother, my perspective as a monogamist who wishes she could live a thousand parallel lives, my perspective as someone who’s experienced sexual trauma, my perspective as a person who loves living so intensely as to be plagued by death phobia, my perspective as a person who is aware that the boxes we are asked to put ourselves in are made of cardboard at best and are both flimsy and flammable—I’m writing from all these perspectives, all the time.
I contain multitudes. And so do each and every one of you.
Elana’s YA book Damsel was named a Printz Honor
Now that you publicly identify as neurodivergent, have you shifted your writing focus to include more characters with differently thinking brains? Can you talk a little about that?
No, I haven’t shifted my writing focus. I have always written about myself, the things I observe, and the things I imagine. And I will continue to do so.
You’ve written so many different characters, all so wonderfully unique. Is there one particular character you’ve created that you feel particularly close to? Dare I say, a favorite?
I love all of my characters because they are all me. I am always particularly enamored with the characters I am working with at the present moment—right now, that’s Frederieke Teitler, known as Rieke to those who love her, who is part me, part my grandmother, and part “what if.” But I truly love all of my characters.
Last year you began running your own courses, Vision Season and Revision Season. Any writer knows that revision is where the magic happens! Tell me about how your writing process led into the creation of these courses. Has your own writing benefitted from teaching others about revision?
When the pandemic hit, I found myself feeling remarkably isolated from other humans. I wanted a way to connect with writers, and I also was hoping to find a way to help replace the income I’d lost as a result of all my school visits and speaking engagements canceling. I came up with the idea for Revision Season that spring.
One thing I’ve learned after writing and revising more than a dozen novels for readers of all ages is that each revision is different, but the questions underpinning each revision are essentially the same: What did I make? What do I love about it, and how I can I lean further into those directions? What doesn’t yet satisfy me about what I’ve made? How can I better utilize the seeds I’ve planted to grow my work in directions that bring me deeper satisfaction?
Last spring, I began work on another course—Vision Season. Something I saw over and over again working with students both in Revision Season and in the Hamline MFAC program where I teach—and in my own work—is the tendency of writers to clench, to squeeze, to feel a sense of desperation and scarcity. This is the antithesis, in my experience, of feeling “loose in the wrist,” free and creative. I wanted more of that good, unclenched feeling for myself and other writers, and Vision Season grew out of my research into where our ideas come from and how we can better enjoy the process of writing—even the painful parts.
Cynsational Notes
Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel (Balzer + Bray, 2018), the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of (Holiday House, 2020), and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including Rise, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program as well as privately. Visit www.revisionseason.com to learn more—enrollment open through October 9, 2021.
Rebecca Kirshenbaum has an MFA in WCYA from VCFA, an MA in children’s literature from Simmons University, and an MA in English literature from Columbia. She really, really likes being a student. She grew up in Cleveland and roots for all Cleveland sports teams even though she now lives in Boston.
She lives with her husband Mark, her teenage sons, Caleb and Eli, plus a lot of animals – guinea pigs Frisky and Sprinkles, a bunch of fish, and her family’s therapy dog (aka best dog in the world), Quimby. (All you kidlit people should get the Ramona reference!). When not reading and writing, she teaches fourth and fifth grade literacy and organizes her bookshelves in rainbow order.
Elana K. Arnold: The Role of the Writer for YA and Children’s Literature
Writing as Craft
Banned Books
February 7, 2024
Elana K Arnold Interview Hero Image
Elana K. Arnold | PEN America Member Spotlight
By: Allison Lee | January 31, 2024
Author of more than 20 books for kids and teens Elana K. Arnold is no stranger to book banning. According to PEN America’s latest Index of School Book Bans, Arnold’s titles account for more than 50 instances of book bans in 29 different school districts across 11 states.
These numbers don’t discourage her from churning out award-winning titles, including The Blood Years, which was awarded the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Award in January. This month, Arnold celebrated the publication of two more children’s books: a continuation of the adventures of Harriet the Spy, and a compelling and and hilarious tale of a fish that grants wishes.
In this interview, Arnold navigates her experience as a banned author, lends invaluable insight into craft, and shares her idea of the role of the writer in the context of kid lit.
I am so pleased to have PEN America member Elana K. Arnold with me. Thank you, Elana, for joining us.
Thank you for the invitation, Allison, and for all the work PEN America does. I’m very proud to be a member.
Congratulations on your YA novel, The Blood Years, winning the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Award and the 2024 Young Adult Literature Award from the National Jewish Book Awards. A tale of WWII survival, I understand that the story was inspired by your own grandmother’s experience in Holocaust-era Romania. Can you talk about why you decided to write this story, specifically for a young adult audience?
I have always been an enormous fan of my grandmother’s storytelling abilities. She told me stories all my life. They got deeper and more complex the older I got, and one of my favorite subjects was true stories about her life. I heard snippets of her war years growing up, and she started with the sweet, funny stories: going to the countryside, having the geese chase her, her terrible sister, dance class, her wonderful grandfather, her mother who wouldn’t get out of bed, and all of those things.
As I got older, I started to ask more and more questions. I knew she was Jewish and I knew she survived the Holocaust. Her experience as a Jew in Czernowitz, Romania was different from, but in many ways the same as, Jews across Eastern Europe. It felt like a story I needed to tell, but it took me many years to feel that I was a writer who could even tell it. It was actually the writing of the book over seven drafts that made me the writer who could tell it.
The reason it’s a book for young adults is because my previous titles have been books for young adults. I work with a fantastic editor named Jordan Brown at HarperCollins, at Balzer and Bray. He was such a partner in caring for this book and for daring to tell me, in early drafts, that the character wasn’t on the page in a way that was so difficult for me to hear. I don’t think this book could have been what it was without his guidance.
To me, a young adult book is simply a book that centers the teenage experience as if the character is still at that young age and does not have a reflective, looking-back-from-adulthood-on-teenage-years perspective. That’s a must that separates books in the young adult category. I’d be very happy to see a challenge to that, but that’s the only parameter in the books I’ve written. I didn’t feel like there was anything I had to do differently or anything I had told back on. It was going to be published by a young adult imprint.
Why were you drawn to the children’s and YA genre? Why do you think it’s important for young readers to hear stories that challenge their understanding of their worlds? Of their cultures? Of their histories?
What authors want to give readers of any age is an opportunity to have windows into lives other than their own, whether they be out on a spaceship or back in history or in the future. That is what we do. What unites all of us authors is the desire to touch readers and allow them to see something they didn’t see before, or for us, to explore something that we didn’t completely understand when we set out to write about it.
I read once—in a psychology class, I think—that if something really traumatic and terrible happens to you, you get stuck at that age. I like to think of myself as six to eight years old, 12 to 13 years old, and 16 to 17 years old because I had different crises in my life at those three points. I think that’s why I continue to circle back to those times. I continue to untangle all the complicated things that made me who I was at those different ages.
“What authors want to give readers of any age is an opportunity to have windows into lives other than their own, whether they be out on a spaceship or back in history or in the future. That is what we do.”
In PEN America’s latest Index of School Book Bans, which tracks bans in school districts from the 2022-2023 school year, your titles account for 51 instances of book bans in 29 different school districts across 11 states. What goes through your mind when you hear these statistics?
I think about the individual number of kids who won’t ever come across my work, and that makes me very sad. I’m honestly a little surprised that the numbers aren’t even higher based on the number of Google alerts I get. Maybe they will be for ‘23/’24 because I only have Google alerts set-up for three of my books: What Girls Are Made Of, Damsel, and Red Hood. I get between one and four Google alerts almost every day. Just yesterday, I got this one that I thought was kind of perfect. It says, “St. Joseph Public Schools [Michigan] has banned Elana K. Arnold’s What Girls Are Made Of. Critics of the book claim it ‘has several instances of explicit sex, normalizes abortion, and gives accolades to Planned Parenthood.’”
I thought to myself, “Well, that’s what the people who gave me awards for this book also said.” It does do those things, and I’m very proud of those things. It’s just such a clear divide. Sometimes, I see things that are terrible. They call my books pornography, or they call me a pedophile or a groomer. That hurts my guts. But I see this and it makes me laugh.
“I think about the individual number of kids who won’t ever come across my work, and that makes me very sad.“
Right, cause you’re like, “that’s what girls are made of.”
Yeah, like, “Check, check, check!” Sometimes, I feel like they didn’t read the book, but this time it feels like they read it, at least. I’ve gotten better at laughing about it. For a while there, I felt this terrible, sick sense of dread all the time. But I guess you can get used to anything, which is kind of terrifying, too.
It’s not as if any writer goes into writing and says, “I’m gonna write a banned book. I want to be a banned author.” You didn’t get into this work because of that, and yet, here you are. So many of our members end up on these lists. What would your advice would be for other PEN America members who are facing book bans, or other writers who are writing what they feel creatively compelled to write about and are concerned that, because of the subject matter, because of who they are, because of where they’re going with the story or the character, that they could end up on a list?
First of all, there’s no making yourself small enough to avoid this time in history. We’re in the middle of another sort of scare. I remember the “satanic panic” in the eighties. We’re in another moral panic and I don’t think our job as writers and artists is to make ourselves smaller to try to avoid being hit. There’s just no avoiding it.
I have a few things that I tell myself. The first one is that art comes first. And art is a person alone. At least, my art is. It’s filled out by the world, of course: I am me because of all the writers I’ve read, all the terrible things that happened to me, all the great things that happened to me, all the teachers I’ve had, the privileges I’ve had. But then I turn to the page and it’s me alone. My job is to put on the blinders and focus just on the story, just on the art, being the truest I can be. That’s always vulnerable and scary, but no one else can be in the room if you’re gonna make your art.
And then craft. How do I make a story that can reach an audience? Craft takes what worked in the art and elevates it. It eliminates the things that turned out not to be necessary for the art.
And then business. How do I find a home for this, and what are people going to say about it? I don’t ask how I can trim it to make it satisfy those people, but how I can armor myself so that, when it comes, I am either so busy with the new project that I don’t have the time to care, or I’m part of an organization like PEN America so I know I’m not alone, or I’m in conversation with other writers. These are things I can do from a business perspective to allow my art to stand on its own. That’s my advice.
And for those of our members that are not Professional Members but are Reader Members, those who are here because they appreciate the power of the written word and want to advocate for the freedom to read. What’s your message to them?
First of all, thank you for joining PEN America and for turning up not only our freedom to say things and to write things, but for the reader’s freedom to have access to these things. People of all ages are entitled to every right.
When you are standing up for the freedom of writers, you’re also standing up for the freedom of readers. It takes a whole bunch of people getting together and having organizations to protect these things. When you look at the past, the question is, “How could these things happen?” And then you look around and say, “Oh, this is how those things happen. Now I can understand how it happened.” I didn’t know how fragile these things were. And now I do.
“When you are standing up for the freedom of writers, you’re also standing up for the freedom of readers.”
You’ve written so many excellent books for young readers that span a variety of topics, from picture books on gender fluidity to neurodiversity to YA fantasy novels. Are there any topics that you hope to explore through your work in the future?
I have an adult novel coming. It’s a gentle fictionalization, in some ways, of my own childhood in the eighties. I don’t know how gentle it is, but it’s a story of a little kid growing up in the eighties in a neuroatypical body and mind in a very unhealthy household, and isn’t able to see it. I’d love to see that published. It’s out on submission, so we’ll see. It’s called Little Bear and I’m very proud of it.
As far as other topics, I mean, I never really know what’s gonna please, delight, and scare me until I find it. I do find that I tend to write in clusters. Damsel and Red Hood were two fantasy novels that I wrote. Before that, I had What Girls Are Made Of and Infandus that are both about embodied shame in cisgender females.
This book I’m working on now in the YA field is another sort of historical book, but from a different perspective, and that’s really exciting to me. I’m looking at the throughlines of just post-Covid and just post-World War II time, and the cyclicality of what happens in the aftermath, because I don’t think Covid and is completely over (and fascism). How do those things align? How do people find community and put pieces together when everything they thought was true about the world is falling to pieces?
I want to read that.
I want you to. I have to finish the next draft. I just had a phone call from my wonderful editor, Jordan, yesterday, so I’m really excited to dig into revision.
Of new topics, you just published two new titles last week. They are The Fish of Small Wishes and Harriet Tells the Truth. Can you tell us a little bit about what these books are about, what was the inspiration behind them, and what your hopes are for them?
The Fish of Small Wishes is a picture book. It’s sort of a modern, original fable. It came from a bedtime story I told my daughter when she was younger. It’s about a little girl named Kiki who finds a fish in the middle of the street. When she takes it home, puts it in the bathtub, and cranks on the water, the fish tells her that it is the Fish of Small Wishes and it would like to grant her a wish. She tries to think of a wish, but each wish she comes up with is too big, so she has to make her wishes smaller and smaller. It’s very funny.
It’s a story that was based on my grandmother telling me about how her great-grandfather had brought home a carp for Passover dinner and put it in the bathtub to get it clean. There are many other fish-in-a-bathtub stories, but this is my version. I think it’s lovely and it’s beautifully illustrated by Magdalena Mora, who made such dreamy, fishy, watery illustrations—I think she’s magical. I’m really excited for kids to pick that story up.
Harriet Tells the Truth is the third in a series of gentle mysteries. It’s set on an island called Marble Island, which is kind of like Catalina Island right off the coast of our California here. They’re about a girl named Harriet who goes to spend the summer, sort of unwillingly, with her grandmother, Nanu, who runs the Bric-a-Brac B&B (it’s fun to say). Harriet encounters a mystery in each book, but the biggest mystery is, “How do we human? Why do we do the things that we do and how can we have honest, real relationships with one another and with ourselves?” I’m very proud of that.
Every book comes back to my grandmother in one way or another. My nana and I read mysteries, constantly trading the back and forth. She was a great lover of California, as am I, and she was my very best friend, like Harriet’s Nanu is for her. What I hope for them—what I hope for each and every one of my books—is that everyone in the world will read them. I want them to be in every school and every library and every home collection and I want them to win all the awards.
Good thing you don’t have a fish of small wishes.
That’s the thing. I have no control over any of that. I only have control over what I have done, and now the books will go off into the world and I wave them a loving goodbye with all my hopes for them. Then I just have to turn and put my focus back on what I’m working on next.
This afternoon you’re participating in You Are A Writer, which is a series of workshops that PEN America runs for new writers. It’s for those who are starting to think about what it means to be a writer, have started, or are relatively early in their journeys as writers. Thank you so much for lending yourself and your expertise to that community. Can you give us a little bit of what you’re going to share with them in your session?
When I was younger, I really, really wanted to finish books and become a writer and be a writer. I remember my mother telling me, “Writers write every day,” and I remember feeling this deep sense of guilt and shame about the fact that I didn’t write every day, and therefore wasn’t a real writer. It wasn’t until after I published several books, many years later, that I realized, “What the heck does she know?” She’s not a writer. Why am I pinning this sense of who I am on someone who doesn’t share that identity in any way? I realized it’s not even true for most writers. Most of us don’t write every day.
One thing that keeps people being writers and artists, regardless of whether or not they’re actually producing work at the time, is remaining deeply curious and interested in both the world outside of you and the world inside of you. All the time, always remembering to be open. When I am working on something, it feels like the universe is throwing things in front of me—if I’m willing to look for them—that fit right into my story. This means that everything can go into any story because everything is connected. Opening yourself to delight and being gentle is something that took me so long, and I’m still working on it, but nothing good comes of shame. Work doesn’t grow out of shame and fear. It grows out of gentle tending.
A big part of writing is spending enough time being a human on this earth to fill up the well, and then having this ability to hush yourself enough to let things percolate up, and remembering that sense of wonder that comes with story. No little kid feels like they don’t deserve to tell a story, or that they’re not good enough at crafting the story to tell it. When my kids were little, I truly believed that all children are born with perfect self-esteem. Our jobs as parents and caregivers is to protect what they have. And I think that’s true of a creative source, too. You have to protect your wonder and make room for it to grow. That, to me, is more important than spending time at your desk.
“Work doesn’t grow out of shame and fear. It grows out of gentle tending.”
That’s beautiful. Even for someone who doesn’t have a writing practice, it’s an important reminder.
Writing and humaning are the same thing. If you can approach your life with wonder and curiosity, it makes life better, even if you don’t ever finish a book. You have given yourself this opportunity to have a more enriching, magical life. It’s a win.
If we want kids to be people who grow up with complicated, complex stories of their own to tell, we have to make sure that the field is full of stories for them to discover that are complicated and challenging and terrifying and beautiful and all those things. I’ve done a lot of thinking about where my weird ideas come from, and a lot of them come from stories that I encountered. I think all story is one-third me (my experiences and fears and neuroses the way my brain works); one-third things outside of me (stories I have encountered in the world); and one-third “what if,” which is the playful, creative thing. I need all three of those things to come up with a story. You want that one-third “things outside of me,” for kids, to be as rich and as complicated as possible so that they can make interesting stories, themselves.
“If we want kids to be people who grow up with complicated, complex stories of their own to tell, we have to make sure that the field is full of stories for them to discover that are complicated and challenging and terrifying and beautiful and all those things.”
If my records are correct, you first joined PEN America around 2016. Why did you join PEN America, and why have you stayed a member for all these years?
The reason I joined is because writers can be lonely people. A lot of my work is spent alone in my own head, turned inward. The same reason I started to teach again is from a desire to be with other people who are thinking about things the way I am, or maybe thinking about things in ways that I’m not.
Having a support group is certainly why I joined. I just felt I wanted to and should, but now with the current situation, it feels almost like an armor to have a group that’s keeping track of these things. Otherwise, every time another one of these things comes across my email, I would have felt like I needed to follow-up and do all these things. Now, I think, “PEN America has that covered. They’re keeping track.” I can turn my work to my writing and they’re keeping an eye on the big picture and asking for me when they need me. It feels nurturing and embracing to have an organization that cares about things I care about.
Do you have a favorite banned book that you grew up with, or favorite topic that often comes under threat?
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was such an important book to me, growing up as a kid who didn’t really have religion, but definitely had questions, desires, and a secret interior life.
Forever by Judy Blume was another one. That answered a lot of questions for me. I’m a big Judy Bloom fan. I can still feel it in my bones the first time I read the scene where she and her boyfriend have sex for the first time. They’re at someone else’s house and he lays a towel down, and I remember thinking, “That’s a good idea.”
I read that, and I had conversations without shame with my grandmother. I remember asking my grandmother, “Nana, what’s an orgasm?” And I remember exactly: she was standing at the stove cooking matzo ball soup. She looked at me and she thought about it very seriously as she told me that it was like a tickling feeling that was better than any other tickle and you don’t want it to stop. I remember thinking, “Great answer.”
In her library at home, I came across so many books when I was a kid, and whenever I had a question, she would answer them. And that, I think, is the difference. I spoke with a grandmother at an event that you and I did recently. She said, “How do we get the porn off the internet?”
I responded, “You’re not going to get the porn off the internet, but you could have a conversation before your kid intersects with porn, to explain what porn is and why you think they shouldn’t be looking at porn and offer them other resources that are more age appropriate.” Arm them with knowledge. I think that we conflate ignorance and innocence in a very dangerous way.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to PEN America’s audience of writers and lovers of literature?
Every generation says, “We’re living through such challenging times, such divisive times.” This is one of our moments to say that and feel those things. As much as I want us to be gentle and listen to our own stories, and as hard as it is to do that with people whose perspectives are different than ours, we want all this great diversity of literature because of our uniting belief that speech should inherently remain free. Sometimes that means we have to be uncomfortable. And that’s okay. It’s okay to be uncomfortable. I just hope that our community can come through the current challenges intact and strong.
Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Batand its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.
Q & A with Elana K. Arnold
By Sara Grochowski | Jan 30, 2020
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Last year, Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel was awarded a Printz Honor, a third book in her Bat series was published, and her first picture book, What Riley Wore, hit shelves. This year, she returns to another well-known tale with Red Hood, a contemporary retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” and will publish her second picture book, An Ordinary Day, in March. Arnold spoke with PW about the appeal of delving into familiar stories, themes that reappear again and again in her work, and why she writes for young readers.
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What appeals to you about reworking elements of fairy tales into a contemporary reimagining?
Lots of things actually. First, it’s tapping into a conversation that’s already started. Readers have, at least here, a base knowledge of the stories in the Western canon, of Red Riding Hood and the damsel. When I choose to engage with them, I’m entering a conversation that’s been going on for a long time. Part of the emotional work has been done for me by history and all the versions that have come before. I’m interested in poking at the stories that we think we know and looking at them from a different angle. With Red Hood, the question is, “What if the predator has a predator. What if the prey isn’t just prey?” I think that the reason these stories live for so long is because they fit the cultural discussion in ways that those in the original oral tradition couldn’t have imagined when telling their own daughters and granddaughters; that we’d still be dealing with gaslighting, rape culture, the absence of safety for a female-presenting body in the world. Or, maybe they could have imagined.
From where did the inspiration for this newest novel come?
About three and half years ago, I was ice-skating in an outdoor rink near Yosemite. It was cold and the rink was ringed with trees and up above my head was a full moon. I had just begun my period. As I was skating, I thought to myself, wait a minute: if werewolves cycle with moons and menstruation cycles with moons, why wouldn’t there be someone—a girl? a teen?—who when she starts her period in conjunction with the full moon, finds that with her blood comes the ability to hunt werewolves? And I thought, that’s a great idea. I went back to my hotel and started Googling and nothing came up. I couldn’t believe this story hadn’t been written and was so excited to be the one to do it.
Where does your writing process begin?
Each book is something different, but, after writing multiple books, I’ve noticed that usually it begins when I notice something in the real world, usually in my own body or my own life. And then I ask, “what if?” That combination of noticing something real and asking “what if” leads to a story.
The themes and subjects that you address in Red Hood and your previous YA novels are difficult and, by their nature, often violent. What compels you to tell these stories, even when some adults may think they are too dark for a teen audience?
I think of Damsel, Red Hood, and What Girls Are Made Of as female. I call them “she.” And it’s interesting to me that books we write for and about young women are also treated like young women. They are seen as both insignificant and dangerous at the same time. We write off girls and then we blame them when bad things happen to their bodies, or we say their bodies compelled men or boys to do things. And I think the same is true of young adult literature in general and books that center female bodies specifically. I can most accurately talk about my experience because I know my books and the reaction to them most intimately.
I’ve seen that response to Red Hood already: “Oh, this is a book that says it’s okay to kill boys” and “this is a book that’s putting forth this dangerous idea of female violence.” It’s a book about a girl who kills werewolves because they want to kill her. They’re trying to kill her, and her friends. And yet, we don’t hear people say, “Oh this is a dangerous book because it shows how dangerous werewolves are.” I’ve never had a teenager tell me that my books were too much for them. I’ve had teens tell me that they’ve put it down, but I think that’s so great. It’s a success story. Because if a young person comes across my books and feels overwhelmed by it and chooses to close the book and walk away, that’s a total win because that’s a girl, usually, who has decided that she’s in an unsafe space and leaves it. That’s what I want for young people, for them to recognize when they’re not comfortable and to leave that situation. And what a great and beautiful place to practice consent and self-care. No one is holding their eyes open and forcing them to read; it’s a place to be uncomfortable and to say no.
Do you find that the experience of creating stories for different ages and audiences is a noticeably different process?
Yes and no. I follow the story. I don’t sit down and say, today I’m writing a picture book or young adult novel and, so, therefore I need to be this edgy or this constrained. .Later, during revisions, I might let the reader into the room, but the reader is never there during the first manifestation of a book.
Does being plugged into the concerns and perspectives of a specific audience at all impact other projects?
I wrote a talk once called, “Sex, Death, and God: Or What the Back of My Brain Is Whispering,” because in my YA, I find that my interests tend to revolve around sex, death, and spirituality and the way those things overlap. I have a picture book coming out, called An Ordinary Day, and, in a way, it’s also about sex, death, and God. It has a dog that’s dying and a baby that’s being born—as the result of sex, obviously—and there’s a crow that is definitely spiritual. Whatever your nut is to crack as an artist or writer, it will go into everything you work on.
Do you feel those three themes are the threads that connects your stories, across audience and subject?
In a lot of my work, but not all. I don’t think my Bat books concern themselves with sex, death, or God. They’re more about gentle love and kindness, animal husbandry, and the ways we can listen to ourselves and one another. Some of those things feed into my other books, too, but I think those books are even more simple than my picture books. They have a precise, tunnel-like focus on one of my interests. We all contain multitudes and no writer or artist should feel they need to limit themselves; we should all feel compelled to explore all the things that fascinate us as thematic through-lines, because you never know where they’re going to take you. And the world will tell you no many, many times, so I don’t think the artist should tell herself no when it comes to exploring thematic issues at the beginning of a project.
Does your work in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program inform your career?
I’ve been at Hamline now for two years. I wanted a job like it for many years because it’s weird to be a writer and have so much of your time focused on yourself and your relationship to your work and reviews. It can feel very gross to be so much in your own head and it can also be very isolating. I’m a person who has a hard time with social skills and events, so I can really tuck in and be alone. I wanted a place where I could have community, which is selfish, and place where I could be of service. It has been a wonderful opportunity for me to try to help other writers feel brave and powerful and the right to be big and take up space.
It’s been good for my creative work, too, because it has forced me to explain the way the back of my brain works in a way that I never really thought about before, so that I can help other people get more in touch with the back of their brain, too. Which is where I think a lot of our idea generation comes from: the parts we can’t quite focus on, like the murky waters of a well. It’s helped me go there more myself.
Where did your interest in writing for young readers begin?
I was always a reader and I always wanted to be writer, but I never met a writer growing up. I never believed it could happen for me. My graduate studies were in a traditional MFA program. It was the ’90s, so [we read] a lot of Raymond Carver and Ernest Hemingway and I didn’t really think my stories about teen girls mattered or were literary. I tried for a long time to write different types of stories, but I felt like a fraud, so I stopped writing for a long time. When I returned to writing around 2011, I knew I wanted to write stories that centered young people—and that now had a name: young adult. It was getting a lot of space, especially romance, which I wasn’t really interested in, but it was close enough. It was adjacent to my interests.
I had some traumatic things happen to me during my teenage years and I heard from a psychologist once that, when terrible thing happens to you at a certain age, sometimes your psycho-emotional development stops there. I think, for a long time, I felt very much like a hurt and lost teenage girl, so writing these books helped me grow and heal. You work with what you have, making art out of whatever materials are at your service. I had pain, and shame, and fear, and icky body stuff, so that’s what I made art from. If you make enough art with that stuff, you do heal. If someone were to read my work from the beginning, they would see me as a person, changing. All my other books end with a girl, alone, stepping into the future. Literally, physically. Every one. A solitary girl taking an independent step away. But Red Hood ends differently. I think part of that is Hamline and my community of friends there, too.
You often publish more than one book per year. What does your writing schedule look like? Do you work on books concurrently?
I do work on books concurrently; I think of them as palate cleansers for one another. I wrote A Boy Called Bat when I was writing What Girls Are Made Of. When I got overwhelmed with What Girls Are Made Of, it felt good to turn to this gentle and kind place that was also true to my lived experience.
Picture books are different. If I’m lucky, I have an idea and I write it, but that doesn’t happen very often, so they don’t take up as much space in my day-to-day life.
How has your approach to storytelling or the industry changed over the course of your career?
I’m very lucky that my agent, Rubin Pfeffer, tells me that my job is to write the book and his is to find a home for it. I have been very careful to try not to pay much attention to the industry as a business, which I realize is a privilege. I have stability and am not scrambling to make money. It’s hard to put art first when you’re hungry and I recognize that. I know it’s a business, but I do my best work when I focus on art first. I’ve also become more focused on reading and elevating voices that are different than mine.
What’s next on your to-do list?
This is an exciting year. I’ll be doing two tour legs for Red Hood. One is with my publisher for the Epic Reads tour at the end of February and beginning of March and will be mostly in the Midwest. Then I’m doing a series of events with Anna-Marie McLemore and their wonderful book Dark and Deepest Red, which we’re calling the Red Tour because both of our books retell fairy tales, mine Red Riding Hood and theirs The Red Shoes. My picture book, An Ordinary Day, comes out in March and is very special to me. Then I’m working on line edits for my next middle grade novel with my editor Jordan Brown at Walden Pond, called The House That Wasn’t There. It’s a gently magical exploration of the spaces between us and includes many things, from teleporting kittens to a taxidermy opossum named Mort. I think it will appeal to lovers of the Bat books in that it has a gentle heart and focuses on animals and immediate relationships in childhood.
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 Feb. 25 ISBN 978-0-06-274235-3
Spotlight on a Banned Author: Elana K. Arnold
Published September 7, 2023
By Cassandra Lane
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At least 16 of Elana K. Arnold’s books have been banned or challenged. A Long Beach native, Arnold is an award-winning author of YA and middle-grade novels. PHOTOS COURTESY ELANA K. ARNOLD
Long Beach native Elana K. Arnold was in middle school when she fell in love with her first fictional character — Anne of Green Gables.
The PBS miniseries adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books premiered in 1985, and Arnold’s seventh-grade teacher assigned her students to watch it for homework. Because she was on punishment at home, Arnold watched the show on a tiny black-and-white portable TV that she snuck into her room, fiddling with the TV’s rabbit ears to get the picture as clear as she could, then melting into the story moving across the screen. And when she learned that the show was based on a book series, she became enraptured by the literary version, too.
“Anne was my idol,” Arnold says. “She understood what she wanted; she knew how to ask and advocate for it. Even before I met Anne, I wrote — poems, little stories, lots of beginnings.”
Arnold went on to become a prolific and bestselling author of books for children and teens, garnering awards and honors that include being named a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and receiving the Michael L. Printz Award honor.
Arnold’s latest, “The Blood Years,” is a fictionalized version of her grandmother’s teenage years growing up during the holocaust in Czernowitz, Romania. The novel’s launch on Oct. 10, though, will look quite different from the launches of the author’s other books — namely because she finds herself caught in the book-banning frenzy that has swept the nation. At least 16 of Arnold’s YA and middle-grade books have been banned or challenged. On Oct. 22, she’ll serve on a Banned Books Week panel co-hosted by the Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles and PEN America Los Angeles, and on Oct. 26, she’ll be a panelist for a similar book censorship talk at UC Irvine, also co-hosted by PEN America L.A.
I spoke to her in the weeks leading up to her launch.
Book banning is not new. So many of our beloved authors — Judy Blume, Toni Morrison — were banned in years past. How would you compare what’s going on today to past censorship?
Today’s book banning fervor seems akin to other moral panics of the past: the Satanic Panic and the Dungeons & Dragons panic in the 1980s and 1990s, to name just two of the more recent panics. Everything is cyclical, as Opa, a character in my forthcoming novel, “The Blood Years,” often says. Panic is cyclical, too. The target shifts, but the urge to blame and scapegoat seems eternal. This time, books and their authors — especially books and authors that challenge heteronormative patriarchy and white supremacy — are at the center of the target.
Why do you write?
I write for lots of reasons. When I was young, I desperately wanted people to like me. I deeply yearned for friendship, and to be understood, and to understand others. But I didn’t have these things. What I didn’t know then is that many of my difficulties in social situations, much of my yearning to connect but inability to penetrate the circles of friendship of my peers, most of the reasons the other kids considered me “weird” were related to the fact that I’m autistic. As a child of the ’80’s and a girl, I was passed over as “gifted and talented” and “just quirky.” No one seemed to notice my deep loneliness, my constant state of confusion, my sense that I was walking around in a world fogged thick with clouds. Books were a place where I got to hear what the characters were thinking — what they feared, what they hoped, what they dreamed. I suppose music is a similar portal for some people, but as a noise-averse person, music wasn’t something I turned to. A quiet room, a bowl of fruit or chocolate, a snoring dog or purring cat close by, a book. Ahh.
Writing is a natural evolution of the relationship I’ve always had with books. It’s where I go, still — to the page — to sort out that which fascinates, horrifies, titillates, amuses and compels me.
Have you, in the past, dealt with having your books banned or threatened to be banned?
The book banning fever that has taken up so much air space over the past couple of years is really the first time I’ve seen a coordinated effort to remove my work from public spaces and school collections. In the past, I have been told quietly by librarians and teachers that they love my work but won’t put some of my titles on their shelves because they’re not sure about the content being “appropriate” for teens, but it’s not until the coordinated efforts of groups like Moms for Liberty (a ridiculous misnomer) that I’ve seen widespread targeted attacks.
And now, several of your books are on the “challenge” list. Which ones and why?
I have 16 titles that have been banned or challenged — the second largest list of targeted books of any American author, according to PEN America. My job is to create more art, and giving too much space in my head to ignorant, bullying people who want to strip all children of access to a diverse, vibrant body of literature does not serve my art.
In general, though, I can tell you that the arguments against my young adult novels (the books that are most commonly challenged) include claims that they are pornographic, anti-Christian, support abortion and are pervasively vulgar. I shouldn’t need to say this, but my novels are none of these things. They explore and reflect the fascinating, complex, sometimes bloody, fraught, dangerous experiences and emotions of my own coming-of-age.
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Elana K. Arnold’s latest book, “The Blood Years,” will hit stands Oct. 10.
How did you first find out your books were being banned (or challenged)?
I hear about bannings in many ways: concerned parents and students have reached out to me through my website, through Twitter and Instagram to let me know what’s going on in their communities; a friend of mine who partners with PEN America to track the bannings sometimes gives me a heads-up. Very often, I get a Google alert about it when it makes it into the news.
I know that the things that I write can feel subversive and uncomfortable and unsettling and even gross. But that’s what writing is. It’s about wrestling with life, and life is all these things, too. These parents say they want to keep kids “innocent.” But that’s not true. What they want is to keep kids ignorant — ignorant about America’s history and racism, ignorant about violence towards cisgender and transgender women, ignorant about the LGBTQIA+ community, ignorant about their own bodies.
I don’t write books to teach lessons. I write to untangle that which confuses and compels me; I write to transform my own painful lived experiences into art; I write to celebrate being a human. So the bannings don’t stop me from working. They remind me that it’s my great privilege to have a voice, and they spur me to be even louder.
Elana K. Arnold (she/her)
“As a kid for whom the world felt out of control and uncertain, books were a place where things made sense. My work is to continue to make sense of the world through telling stories, and I hope that young people can feel seen, understood, and empowered through engaging with my books and presentations.”
Biography
Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, and young adult novels, including The Blood Years, winner of the National Jewish Book Award and Sydney Taylor Book Award, as well being named a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and California Book Award honoree; the Printz Honor winner Damsel; the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of; and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Her catalog of books for kids and teens has garnered dozens of starred reviews, state list citations, and other accolades. Her long list of titles has sold over a million copies, and she’s a fixture at conferences and schools across the country. Her work has been called both “devastatingly vital” and “comfortably familiar and quietly groundbreaking.”
Born in Long Beach, California, Elana spent her childhood and teen years in many parts of southern and central California before earning her undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature at UC Irvine and her master’s degree in English and Creative Writing at UC Davis. In addition to her work as a writer, Elana is a member of the faculty at Hamline University’s MFA in writing for children and young adults program. She lives with her family and menagerie of pets in Long Beach, California.
The Blood Years
by Elana K. Arnold (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)
In The Blood Years, based on her own grandmother's experience, Arnold explores an under-told tributary of Holocaust history. Jewish teen Frederieke's intimate narrative spans the ominous rise of antisemitism and authoritarian rule, then horrific persecution, violence, and survival--not in an isolated concentration camp but rather in her family's Romanian hometown. Arnold balances this tension with complex characters and meditations on familial love, sacrifice, and maintaining faith amid evil. An unforgettable story and a stark, timely reminder that authoritarianism begins and grows in plain sight. KHE
The Blood Years is my first work of historical fiction. And it's more than that: It's also what I've made of the stories my Nana shared with me about being a Jewish teenager in Czernowitz, Romania, during WWII and the Holocaust. Though she told me many things, and I knew there was a story to write, in order to craft a novel I had to do deep research into the complex and unique history of her particular region, other survivors' narratives, creative work produced by those survivors, scholarly works about the events that transpired in and around Czernowitz, Romania, and much, much more.
Imagine that someone gives you a precious plate, and it shatters. Now imagine dropping that plate into the shards of six million shattered plates, some radically different from your plate, some nearly identical. Can you ever put the plate you were given together again? Most likely, no. But what you can do is sift gently and delicately and reverently through the shards, finding as many of the pieces of your plate as you can, and collecting other sharp-edged, beautiful, terrible pieces as well. And then you can take all these pieces and sit with them for many years, and then do your very best to make something with them--a mosaic. A piece of art that honors the original plate, even if it cannot be salvaged, that finds a way to make art from so many broken, priceless things. That's what writing this book felt like. It's my Nana's story, but it's not hers alone. It's also a tribute to the other Czernowitzers who endured the Holocaust, and the pogroms before--and to all those who perished.
THE BLOOD YEARS is a love story about sisters. It's about ballet, and bears, and the ways our families can fail us. It's a book about the great and terrible things people do in the name of love. And it's my attempt to do with my Nana's gift of stories what I try to do with all my work--to transform pain into art, to embrace ambiguity, and to find beauty even in the ugliest of moments.
I want to thank the committee for honoring The Blood Years. I also want to thank the team at Balzer + Bray--and now, at Clarion--especially my editor, Jordan Brown, who shepherded this story across many years and through many drafts. Additionally, I've been fortunate to have the career guidance of Rubin Pfeffer and Sara Crowe, both incredible agents and human beings. Many friends and family members read drafts of The Blood Years and offered me insights and help. I am grateful to all of them, especially Laurel Snyder, who was essential in helping me wrestle with this story as well as with larger questions about identity and belonging.
Congratulations to my fellow honorees and the winners, and my deepest gratitude and respect to the librarians, the book lovers, the teachers, and the storytellers. All of us, together, build the world, with love.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Arnold, Elana K. "The Blood Years." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 101, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2025, pp. 28+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A822951845/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7906e4d5. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. HARRIET TELLS THE TRUTH Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (Children's None) $18.99 1, 30 ISBN: 9780063092181
Lively Harriet Wermer returns for a third congenial mystery on idyllic Marble Island.
As the end of summer nears, Harriet grapples with conflicted feelings about leaving her grandmother Nanu's bed-and-breakfast and returning to the mainland to be with her parents and new baby brother. But when Nanu's beloved dog suffers a medical emergency from eating something toxic--closely followed by a similar episode involving 99-year-old neighbor Mabel Marble--Harriet sets her anxieties aside to focus on finding a poisoner. Harriet, who is Jewish and reads white, has relatable flaws, including impetuosity and a tendency toward fibbing. The book's titular theme of truth-telling gains more nuance after Harriet directs honest but hurtful verbal attacks at a priggish poet who's staying at Nanu's B&B; she later understands his prickliness as stemming from loneliness. Upon absolving the poet, Harriet's next suspect for the poisoning becomes her best friend, Clarence, who is Black, a development that feels implausible even with a careful trail of red herrings. The book resolves rosily, with the friends teamed up to unravel the mystery, and catastrophe is averted before Mabel's 100th birthday party. Harriet's other worries soon vanish with news from her family that neatly resolves many of her concerns. Ho's cheerful illustrations help bring the setting to life.
A satisfactory installment in a gentle series. (Mystery. 6-9)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: HARRIET TELLS THE TRUTH." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A780840936/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8046e81a. Accessed 1 June 2025.
* The Fish of Small Wishes.
By Elana K. Arnold. Ulus, by Magdalena Mora.
Jan. 2024. 40p. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (9781250765321).
PreS-Gr. 3.
Walking outdoors one day, Kiki notices a fish looking up at her from the asphalt and asking for help. She picks up it, runs home, and puts it in the bathtub. Submerged in water, the grateful fish thanks Kiki and says that it would like to grant her a small wish. Her first wish (lots of friends), her second (to be less shy), and even her third (a deep hole in her apartment building's courtyard) are too large for this "fish of small wishes" to manage. Kiki, who has noticed that the fish is growing, begins to dig a deep pond outside. She asks kids and adults to help, and together they create a new home for the fish. Meanwhile, Kiki has made many new friends, while also overcoming her shyness. Well suited to reading aloud, this imaginative narrative was inspired by a family story about Arnold's great-great-grandfather. The illustrations, created with gouache paints, colored pencils, inks, and collage, glow with warmth and color. While the art has a dreamlike element, the characters are neither idealized nor ethereal. Kiki is determined to save the fish, who seems embarrassed by its limited ability to grant wishes. Their down-to-earth demeanors and emotions suit this endearing picture book well.--Carolyn Phelan
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Phelan, Carolyn. "The Fish of Small Wishes." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 7-8, 1 Dec. 2023, p. 129. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A777512588/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=94f92347. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. THE FISH OF SMALL WISHES Roaring Brook Press (Children's None) $18.99 1, 30 ISBN: 9781250765321
A fish helps a young girl forge connections.
Kiki Karpovich, a brown-skinned girl with thick dark hair, doesn't have a lot of friends. Shy and quiet, she notices something glistening in the street. It turns out to be a huge fish mouthing the word help. Kiki rushes the fish home, fills the bathtub, and places the fish inside. It then reveals itself to be "a fish of small wishes." Kiki wishes for more friends, but that proves to be too big of a wish for the fish to handle. Her wish to be less shy is met with the same response, and when Kiki asks for help digging a big hole in her courtyard (for reasons that become clear only later), the fish repeats itself. So Kiki swallows her shyness, calls for help, and makes friends as the whole neighborhood unquestioningly pitches in, making a safe home for the fish to live in and granting Kiki her wishes at the same time. It's a sweet story but a bit uneven, with stray lines that feel out of place and a slow, understated tone. Mora's smudgy, saturated artwork depicts a racially diverse community. The author's note in the back, describing Arnold's Jewish family's practice of buying live carp for gefilte fish, has more life in it than the preceding tale.
A quiet lesson about finding your voice. (Picture book. 4-7)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: THE FISH OF SMALL WISHES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A770738925/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b2db9410. Accessed 1 June 2025.
The Blood Years. By Elana K. Arnold. Oct. 2023. 400p. HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray, $19.99 (9780062990853). Gr. 9-12.
Arnold's (Red Hood, 2020) extraordinary historical novel takes place in Czernowitz, Romania, during WWII. Frederieke and her "beautiful, terrible" older sister, Astra, live at the mercy of neglectful parents until their observant Jewish grandfather takes them in. This fascinating dysfunctional family pulls together when war arrives with the Russians in 1940, the year Rieke turns 14. They are lucky to remain in their home after the Nazi invasion that follows, but this means witnessing the destruction of their city alongside the deaths and deportations of friends and neighbors, experiencing intense hatred on the streets, and falling ill from starvation. Yet, their story is suffused with the pure love between Rieke and her Opa and the more complicated love between sisters. It also creates an intense dread of what might befall them. Opa insists "we can love more persistently than they can hate." Rieke struggles to believe it, especially after she secretly yields to nonconsensual sex in exchange for food. Fortunately, readers know from the beginning that Rieke, based on the author's grandmother, will survive the war. This beautifully written novel juxtaposes passages of transcendent insight with terrible loss. Perfectly curated setting details make Rieke's emotional journey rich, accessible, and immediate. An excellent choice for readers of Monica Hesse and Ruta Sepetys (particularly 7 Must Betray You, 2022) and a first purchase for all teen collections. --Angela Carstensen
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Carstensen, Angela. "The Blood Years." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 4, 15 Oct. 2023, p. 50. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A770323943/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1a6cb462. Accessed 1 June 2025.
The Blood Years
Elana K. Arnold. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $19.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-299085-3
In this searing historical novel set in 1939-1945 Romanian Czernowitz, Arnold (Red Hood) presents a deeply personal telling based on her grandmother's experience living through the Holocaust. After her philandering father abandons the family, Jewish 13-year-old Frederieke Teitler, her mercurial older sister Astra, and their depressed and physically weak mother must rely on Reike's fiercely kind maternal grandfather Opa, who is a jeweler, to survive. Opa has always acted as her stalwart guardian. But the approach of brewing unrest from neighboring Poland toward Czernowitz--long considered a safe haven for Jews--means that Reike must confront the idea that Opa may not be able to protect her from everything. As war breaks out throughout Europe, Reike struggles to manage relationships with her family and wonders what she'll have to face to find peace. Arnold confronts tough subjects, including genocide, hunger, rape, and suicide, via unflinching depictions of war and compassionate renderings of intense familial drama. Even amid these somber topics, the author conveys hope and resilience through Reike's persevering personality and her vulnerable relationships with Astra and Opa. Includes an author's note, a history of Czernowitz, b&w archival photographs, and a reading list. Ages 14-up. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Blood Years." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 35, 28 Aug. 2023, p. 122. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A765086270/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3c64a1b0. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. THE BLOOD YEARS Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (Teen None) $19.99 10, 10 ISBN: 9780062990853
There are millions of Holocaust stories. This is one you haven't heard yet.
Acclaimed author Arnold leaves behind her metaphor-laden fantastical fare to tell the fictional tale of Frederieke Teitler, a Jewish girl whose life was inspired by that of the author's grandmother Frieda Teitler during the Holocaust in then-Romanian Czernowitz, where nearly 40% of the population was Jewish. Painstakingly researched (the extensive backmatter details the blend of scholarship and family history) and sometimes painful to read, this book is many things: an examination of love and duty, a revelatory account of a Holocaust experience many won't know, and a wrenching coming-of-age story. Rieke experiences hunger, illness, rape, and the loss of all she has known, yet somehow holds on to hope and love. The small and sometimes terrible complexities of familial drama play out against the vastness of the Holocaust. Rieke's mother pines for her unfaithful husband; Astra, Rieke's older sister, is the axis around which all things must turn, and someone Rieke adores beyond reason despite her chronic, careless malice, belied by sudden gestures of immense love. The rock amid this tumult is Opa, her grandfather, whose steady kindness and honor remain, even as the world around them descends into hate and violence.
A moving glimpse into a past that is an all-too-possible vision of our future. (foreword, timeline, author's note, archival materials, reading list) (Historical fiction. 13-18)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: THE BLOOD YEARS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A760508234/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a01f24a5. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. STARLA JEAN CRACKS THE CASE Roaring Brook Press (Children's None) $15.99 4, 18 ISBN: 9781250305800
Starla Jean and her bug-eyed side-chicken, Opal Egg, are back for a third neighborhood adventure and this time it's a mystery!
Starla Jean, expert on all things chicken-related, embarks on a well-meaning but rather erratic walk with her beloved pet and her bubble-obsessed little sister, Willa. Along the way, they uncover a handful of mysterious beads. More neighbors join the walk until the case is finally cracked, just in time for a bubble-filled celebration. Starla Jean's indelible voice continues to be the strength of this series, especially evident in the polished comedic timing of the dialogue. In Chapter 1, Starla Jean introduces each of her neighbors in the same order she encounters them in the following three chapters. This structure, along with the large font and plentiful white space around and between words, provides support for developing readers transitioning to early chapter books. Similar in visual layout and text complexity to Laurel Snyder and Emily Hughes' Charlie & Mouse series, each page has a handful of sentences with occasionally challenging vocabulary. There are a few idioms that may be a little daunting to readers, but overall the text uses familiar words and phrases. The playful illustrations feature soft colors and humorous facial expressions. Even readers unfamiliar with Starla Jean's world will take to this winsome tale. Starla Jean, Willa, and most characters are depicted with pale skin; neighbor Nate is brown-skinned.
An egg-cellent addition to this humorous series for readers en route to early chapter books. (Fiction. 6-9)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: STARLA JEAN CRACKS THE CASE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A743460555/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2c5d4461. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. HARRIET SPIES Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (Children's None) $16.99 2, 7 ISBN: 978-0-06-309213-6
In this follow-up to Just Harriet (2022), the protagonist is spending the summer with her grandmother when she finds herself at the center of a mystery.
Harriet is staying with Nanu on Marble Island while her father works and her pregnant mother is on bed rest. There is a lot to do at Nanu's Bric-a-Brac bed-and-breakfast, but the best things are all the guests, especially regulars like the Captain, an ornithologist who researches loggerhead shrikes. She has the most pockets and the coolest tools of any grown-up Harriet has ever seen. Unfortunately, the Captain's prized binoculars go missing the same day Harriet has her yard sale. Even more unfortunately, the Captain and Nanu seem to think Harriet may have something to do with their disappearance--and not without reason. Harriet may have had some issues with honesty in the past. As she sets out to find the binoculars and clear her name, Harriet befriends local boy Clarence, who agrees to help her on her quest. Clarence ultimately plays the role of Harriet's moral compass as she learns what it means to be honest and a good friend. Her voice and internal struggle with truth-telling are genuine even if the messaging is heavy-handed. The adult characters also feel a bit flat, and the Marble Island setting is rather bland. Sweet spot art breaks up the text. Harriet reads White; Clarence and his family are Black.
A quiet read for those seeking a gentle slice-of-life story. (Fiction. 6-9)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: HARRIET SPIES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A738705146/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d426aed8. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Pip and Zip
Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Doug Salati. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-250-79698-1
In a picture book set when "we all had to stay home for the whole long springtime," a white-presenting family on a walk finds two eggs in the shallows of a park lake. The family's brown-skinned neighbor, Ted, who has the distinct knowledge of a wildlife rehabilitation specialist, identifies them as duck eggs and lends the family an incubator. Loosely worked, digitally colored pencil vignettes by Salati (Hot Dog) show the family's two children staying close to the incubating eggs on their kitchen table--doing homework, making art, celebrating a birthday--during the 28-day wait, which Arnold (An Ordinary Day) situates within the context of a planet in a moment of pause ("all across the neighborhood/ all around the world"). When both eggs hatch, the family is elated, and Ted is, too: "In all my years working with birds, this is a first." And as the ducklings mature (the artist captures with care the patterns of their feathers, the graceful curves of their bodies, and their delight in each other's company), the story cherishes this small triumph amid tension and despair, ending on an upswing that parallels their release with a second venturing-out "into the great blue world." Ages 3-6.
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"Pip and Zip." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 49, 23 Nov. 2022, p. 33. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A728493765/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=43ed3fe8. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Just Harriet (Just Harriet #1)
Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Dung Ho. Walden Pond, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-309204-4
Rising fourth grader and narrator Harriet Wermer starts this chapter book with "the worst things first." Specifically, Harriet reveals, she lies, has night terrors, occasionally wets her bed, and can get what her mother calls "out of hand." The latter occurs when Harriet learns that her parents are sending her to stay with her paternal grandmother, Nanu, for the summer due to her pregnant mother's prescribed bed rest. Harriet resents the decision, but once she and the family feline, Matzo Ball, settle into her grandmother's B&B on Marble Island, Calif., she does manage to encounter some of the "adventure and mystery" that Nanu claims are "everywhere, if you know how to look." There's the old-fashioned key Harriet finds in the shed, and a seemingly abandoned "Gingerbread House"; learning how both are tied to her father's childhood, Harriet gains insight into him and herself. Mixing humor with drama, Arnold (Starla Jean) once again shows her clear understanding of children's emotions and behaviors as she traces presumed-white Harriet's changing heart and views. With its short chapters, lively occasional illustrations by Ho (Eyes That Kiss in the Corners), and energetic feuds between Harriet's cat and her grandmother's beloved basset hound, this series opener is a winner. Ages 6-10.
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"Just Harriet (Just Harriet #1)." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 49, 23 Nov. 2022, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A728493805/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=57a5438f. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. ALL BY HIMSELF? Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (Children's None) $18.99 9, 6 ISBN: 978-1-5344-8989-9
When we help one another, we help the world go round.
The cover image offers a clue to the story within--hands of various skin tones holding blocks painted in primary colors. This foreshadowing continues throughout the text and the artwork, unfolding a temporal and geographical chain that connects a light-skinned boy who builds a tower of blocks ("all by himself!") to the actions of the people who came before him: the light-skinned farmer who planted a seedling that became a tree, the brown-skinned arborist who tended the tree, the light-skinned woodcutter who felled the tree, the light-skinned woodworker who carved blocks from the wood, the brown-skinned artist who painted the blocks made from the wood of that tree, and so forth. People of all backgrounds do work to contribute to a thriving society--rather a heady theme for such a young picture book, though if caregivers or educators focus more on the lesson of how blocks are made, children may find it more appealing. The tale is conveyed in rhythmic language--reminiscent of "The House That Jack Built"--and watercolor-and-ink illustrations in an earth-toned palette in Potter's signature style. Deep greens, browns, and oranges punctuated by bright blues and reds connect one spread to another, though in rather repetitive perspectives that likely won't resonate with children, and depictions of people feel stilted. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A missed attempt that leaves readers feeling flat. (Picture book. 4-7)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: ALL BY HIMSELF?" Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A709933150/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=65f5b9e5. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Doug Salati. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-250-79698-1
In a picture book set when "we all had to stay home for the whole long springtime," a white-presenting family on a walk finds two eggs in the shallows of a park lake. The family's brown-skinned neighbor, Ted, who has the distinct knowledge of a wildlife rehabilitation specialist, identifies them as duck eggs and lends the family an incubator. Loosely worked, digitally colored pencil vignettes by Salati (Hot Dog) show the family's two children staying close to the incubating eggs on their kitchen table--doing homework, making art, celebrating a birthday--during the 28-day wait, which Arnold (An Ordinary Day) situates within the context of a planet in a moment of pause ("all across the neighborhood/all around the world"). When both eggs hatch, the family is elated, and Ted is, too: "In all my years working with birds, this is a first." And as the ducklings mature (the artist captures with care the patterns of their feathers, the gtaceful curves of their bodies, and their delight in each other's company), the story cherishes this small triumph amid tension and despair, ending on an upswing that parallels their release with a second venturing-out "into the great blue world." Ages 3-6. (July)
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"Pip and Zip." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 21, 16 May 2022, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A706439060/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ec7aed45. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. PIP AND ZIP Roaring Brook Press (Children's None) $18.99 7, 26 ISBN: 978-1-250-79698-1
A world, closed up and waiting, sometimes holds small miracles.
Two eggs at the edge of a lake are found by a family (two adults, two children, all light-skinned) on a masked, socially distanced walk during the pandemic shutdown. Their neighbor Ted, who has brown skin, explains that this can sometimes happen with ducks with their very first clutch of eggs. Since the wildlife center is open only for emergencies, Ted lends them an incubator. The eggs stay warm and watched by the children for days--"but everyone was waiting / anyway / all across the neighborhood / all around the world." At last the ducklings (Pip and Zip, named for terms used to describe the hatching process) break out of the shells. The pair grow under Ted's care, and by the time Pip and Zip are ready to be released into the wild, the world may have begun to come out of its shell as well. Emergence from a quiet, sheltered, strange time to the thrill of grown ducklings flying with others of their kind is a reminder that life contains moments of wonder. Friendly, cartoon, full-color illustrations offer the right amount of detail for the story, from a montage of the family waiting by the incubator to the flock of ducks in the sunshine. An author's note describes the true story of the duck eggs; backmatter explains what readers should do if they find a duck egg. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently engaging and cheerful. (websites) (Picture book. 3-7)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: PIP AND ZIP." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2022. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A701896746/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b379080d. Accessed 1 June 2025.
All by Himself?
Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Giselle Potter. Beach Lane, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5344-8989-9
The eponymous "himself," a white-presenting youth who proudly builds an elaborate block structure, doesn't appear for the first half of this cumulative picture book. Instead, Arnold's (Just Harriet) "The House that Jack Built"-tinged narrative and Potter's (Sister Wish) watercolor and ink art--which has a stylized geometry and playful directness reminiscent of Grant Wood--introduce the people, portrayed with various skin tones, who make the child's triumphant moment possible. First is the tree farmer who planted a seedling "years ago/ before the child was even born," followed by an arborist and woodcutter; then it's on to the studios of the wood-carver and artist who fashion the blocks, the truck driver who delivers them to the shop where the shopkeeper puts them up for display, and, finally, the grandmother who buys them. "Because of all this,/ today/the child built a masterpiece.// ALL BY HIMSELF!" Lightly underscoring the message, the story then shifts into reverse, reviewing the work involved, and ending not with the farmer but rather, "of course.../the tree itself." With a measured tone and quiet beauty, the creators celebrate people's interdependency, indebtedness to nature, and the importance of recognizing one's support structures. Ages 3-8. Author's agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. Illustrator's agent: Jennifer Laughran, A ndrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)
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Laughran, Jennifer. "All by Himself?" Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 28, 4 July 2022, p. 69. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711576649/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3caafb4a. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Just Harriet (Just Harriet #1)
Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Dung Ho.Walden Pond, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-309204-4
Rising fourth grader and narrator Harriet Wermer starts this chapter book with "the worst things first." Specifically, Harriet reveals, she lies, has night terrors, occasionally wets her bed, and can get what her mother calls "out of hand." The latter occurs when Harriet learns that her parents are sending her to stay with her paternal grandmother, Nanu, for the summer due to her pregnant mother's prescribed bed rest. Harriet resents the decision, but once she and the family feline, Matzo Ball, settle into her grandmother's B&B on Marble Island, Calif, she does manage to encounter some of the "adventure and mystery" that Nanu claims are "everywhere, if you know how to look." There's the old-fashioned key Harriet finds in the shed, and a seemingly abandoned "Gingerbread House"; learning how both are tied to her father's childhood, Harriet gains insight into him and herself. Mixing humor with drama, Arnold (Starla Jean) once again shows her clear understanding of children's emotions and behaviors as she traces presumed-white Harriet's changing heart and views. With its short chapters, lively occasional illustrations by Ho (Eyes That Kiss in the Corners), and energetic feuds between Harriet's cat and her grandmother's beloved basset hound, this series opener is a winner. Ages 6--10. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. (Feb.)
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"Just Harriet (Just Harriet #1)." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 1, 3 Jan. 2022, p. 42. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A690097900/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=59c2b360. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. JUST HARRIET Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (Children's None) $16.99 2, 1 ISBN: 978-0-06-309204-4
Third grader Harriet is convinced that she's in for a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad summer.
Her mother is having a difficult pregnancy, so Harriet is getting shipped off for the summer to stay with her grandmother who runs a bed-and-breakfast on Marble Island. She's always loved short visits to the tranquil island with her parents, but spending two whole months there without them means change, and Harriet does not like change. She especially doesn't like the idea of getting a new sibling. Fortunately, she's got her beloved cat Matzo Ball to keep her company on Marble Island, and when she finds a beautiful old key in her grandmother's shed, things start to pick up. Suddenly, there's a mystery to be solved, one involving her dad's childhood on the island and Miss Marble, the witty centenarian who is the island's namesake. And when Harriet befriends a sharp-eyed ornithologist whom everyone calls Captain, she discovers that there's as much to learn about herself as there is about the island's history. A flawed but intriguing heroine from the start, Harriet's stubbornness, hot temper, and habit of lying will undoubtedly draw comparisons to the titular character in Beverly Cleary's Ramona series. Cranky,crotchety kids will find a kindred spirit in this young girl who longs to be understood and to understand the puzzling world of adults. Meanwhile, the mystery of the antique key yields a solution better than a secret garden. All major characters read as White.
An engaging series opener about the power of truth to moor and free even the sulkiest of souls. (Fiction. 7-10)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: JUST HARRIET." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A686536624/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1cc89a5c. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Elana K. Arnold. Walden Pond, $16.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-293706-3
In an enticing story about "opossums and teacups and kittens and doors. Fathers and sweaters and yarn balls and more," Arnold (Starla Jean) centers a series of coincidences that lead to magic and change. Eleven-year-old Alder resents the new next-door neighbors, who have cut down the giant, beloved walnut tree that shaded his and his widowed mother's "small but neat" home. As a result, Alder, a knitter who recently lost his best friend to cross-country club, wants nothing to do with new neighbor, Oak, who's herself angry about moving from San Francisco to L.A. Nevertheless, they're drawn together time and again--the classmates even inadvertently adopt sibling kittens, who lead them to a mysterious house on the site of the downed tree, one that is occupied by a living version of Arnold's most beloved companion, a taxidermied possum named Mort. Told through alternating perspectives that offer clearly rendered details, this compassionate novel gives a unique twist to familiar situations--feeling lonely, adjusting to new environments, forging new bonds--while inviting readers to open their imaginations to all sotts of wondetful possibilities. Ages 8-12.
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"The House That Wasn't There." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 48, 24 Nov. 2021, p. 76. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A686559689/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=598c6626. Accessed 1 June 2025.
The House That Wasn't There. By Elana K. Arnold. Mar. 2021. 288p. HarperCollins/Walden Pond, $16.99 (9780062937063). Gr. 4-6.
Alder and his widowed mother live in a home shaded by a large walnut tree. When someone buys the house next door and has the tree removed, they feel resentful about its loss. Soon Oak and her mother move into the house, and the girl becomes Alder's sixth-grade classmate. Their initially prickly relationship becomes less awkward after each separately adopts a kitten from the same litter, and they enjoy watching them play together. Alder has had only one real friend, who seems to be drifting away, but Oak makes him feel comfortable, while sometimes challenging his thinking. Together they share experiences involving feline-related teleportation to other dimensions and a formerly taxidermied but now-living opossum named Mort. Coincidences abound, including Oak and Alder's tree names, their choice of sibling kittens, and a foreshadowed revelation concerning their mysterious sense of kinship. Still, Arnold depicts the kids' emotions, relationships, and thought processes with unusual clarity and nuance. Middle-grade readers, particularly those with a taste for light fantasy, will find plenty to enjoy in this quirky, original novel.--Carolyn Phelan
HIGH-DEMAND BACXSTORY: The popularity of A Boy Called Bat and Arnold's many accolades will drum up a crowd for this.
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Phelan, Carolyn. "The House That Wasn't There." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 12, 15 Feb. 2021, p. 58. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A654650005/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1c753132. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. THE HOUSE THAT WASN'T THERE Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (Children's None) $16.99 3, 30 ISBN: 978-0-06-293706-3
The arrival of new neighbors kicks off strange events and life-changing experiences for two families.
With an inward focus reminiscent of the novels of Kevin Henkes, Arnold sets shy, 11-year-old Alder Madigan, living with his mom at 15 Rollingwood Dr., against outgoing Oak Carson, who has moved next door to No. 11 with her mom while her dad stays behind in San Francisco to tie up loose ends. Relations get off to a rocky start after Oak’s mother arbitrarily has the huge old tree between the houses cut down. Distress at the tree’s loss is compounded by Alder’s erstwhile best friend’s hanging out with a popular kid, leading to hostile initial encounters with Oak. Still, Alder and his new neighbor are drawn together by a series of mystifying experiences—including finding out that it’s not always true that there’s no No. 13 on their block and discovering that they’ve independently adopted sibling kittens. Saving one last, wonderful coincidence for the climactic arrival of Oak’s father, the author enriches her sparely told story with other hints of magic, song lyrics, good choices that key sudden sea changes in several relationships, and the small background details that make settings and backstories seem real. Readers will find Alder’s conclusion that everything is connected, and also complicated, well taken. The cast presents as White.
A low-key marvel rich in surprises, small fuzzy creatures, and friendships old and new. (Fiction. 10-13)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: THE HOUSE THAT WASN'T THERE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A646950119/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=cfc11625. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. STARLA JEAN TAKES THE CAKE Roaring Brook (Children's None) $14.99 9, 14 ISBN: 978-1-250-30578-7
Starla Jean and her beloved chicken, Opal Egg, are back for a second escapade.
Starla Jean can’t want to make a cake for her baby sister’s first birthday party, but they’ve run out of eggs. Dad offers to get some from the store, but Starla Jean believes in Opal Egg’s ability to lay an egg in time. Proactive Starla Jean goes to work supporting her feathered friend with encouragement, exercise, and relaxation, but the nesting box remains disappointingly empty. Will Opal Egg lay an egg in time? And what if it’s not exactly the kind of egg Starla Jean had in mind? Following the structure of the first, much-lauded book, this story for transitional readers is told in four short chapters. Colorful illustrations on every page have a hipster aesthetic and are rendered in friendly colors and soft textures. Starla Jean’s bright, bold narration is printed in large, easy-to-read type bolstered by generous white space between and around words, sentences, and blocks of text. The intrigue of the mysterious meowing Starla Jean hears is somewhat muddled by the visual presence of Starla Jean’s own black cat; nevertheless, the story’s punchline is amusing and joyous. The book is equally charming as a stand-alone or follow-up to series opener Starla Jean (2021). Starla Jean’s family is depicted with light-brown or dark hair and pale skin. The new kid in the neighborhood is drawn with light-brown skin and dark-brown hair.
Established and new fans alike will find much to love in this whimsical outing. (Fiction. 6-9)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: STARLA JEAN TAKES THE CAKE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A671783212/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f9ce667d. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. STARLA JEAN Roaring Brook (Children's None) $14.99 1, 19 ISBN: 978-1-250-30576-3
A girl and a rescued chicken become best friends in a new series for developing readers.
When Starla Jean finds a skinny, bug-eyed chicken at the park, her dad promises her if she can catch it, she can keep it. To her father’s dismayed surprise, Starla Jean does indeed catch the chicken, immediately naming her Opal Egg. The more she learns about Opal Egg, the more Starla Jean wants to keep her, but what if the chicken belongs to someone else? This series starter features Starla Jean’s exuberant first-person narration, liberally punctuated with dialogue with her family and neighbors. Readers transitioning to early chapter books will appreciate the four short chapters and the limited amount of text per page, wide margins, and ample space between lines of text. Occasionally, the white space around the text is humorously interrupted by bold, red chicken sound effects. Soft, textured cartoons in muted colors further the comedic storytelling and provide readers natural places to rest their eyes. Present on every double-page spread, illustrations range in size from small pictures set within the text to expansive illustrations taking up most or all of a spread. The setting is quaint, a rural town with picturesque stone bridges and old-fashioned houses. Starla Jean’s family is depicted with light-brown or dark hair and pale skin. Elderly neighbors are depicted with pale or light tan skin and white hair.
Mercy Watson fans will flock to this whimsical new series for developing readers. (Fiction. 6-9)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: STARLA JEAN." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A643410657/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e47a44c3. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. AN ORDINARY DAY Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (Children's Fiction) $17.99 3, 10 ISBN: 978-1-4814-7262-3
On an ordinary day, extraordinary events occur as Arnold's parallel stories of loss and life show how the world's shared experiences connect humanity.
In the neighborhood, all seems as it should--a garden is being watered, kids are at play, and a crow caws; then two visitors arrive. The black veterinarian, upon entering one home, attends to a dog at the end of her life. An Asian midwife or obstetrician, upon entering the house next door, helps a woman through labor. Commonalities abound between the two households despite their different compositions and experiences. In both, love and family are fully present as one life expires and a new one is born. Skilled, muted drawings, in charcoal, pencil, and watercolor and digitally rendered, depict a diverse neighborhood with mixed-race and nontraditional families. Emotions are clearly conveyed by the appealing characters, who are rendered in a simplified graphic style. The intimate interior events are juxtaposed with the unaware community members outside, who continue the rhythm of their ordinary day, until in one silent dark beat of the crow's wings, the world shifts. "It was an ordinary day in the neighborhood. / It was an extraordinary day in the neighborhood. / Like all days, and all neighborhoods, everywhere."
Powerfully demonstrates how small but monumental events can connect and change the world. (Picture book. 5-8)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: AN ORDINARY DAY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A609998954/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aa598b1c. Accessed 1 June 2025.
An Ordinary Day. By Elana K. Arnold. Illus. by Elizabet Vukovic. Mar. 2020.40p. Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, $17.99 (9781481472623). PreS-Gr. 2.
On any given day in this idyllic suburban neighborhood, children play, plants are watered, and people come and go from houses. On this day, those ordinary things are happening--but also so much more. In two houses, side by side, a quiet waiting occurs. Two visitors arrive, each with a stethoscope and small bag. In one home, a racially diverse family of two women and three children has come to the sad decision that their beloved dog must be put to sleep. Meanwhile, next door, a brown-skinned man, woman, and child await the arrival of a new baby. Vukovic's softly colored illustrations, rendered in subdued charcoal, pastel, watercolor, ink, and graphite, contrast the concurrent events. Perspective is anchored by the ominous, unifying presence of "Magnificent the Crow," a bird that appears on the first page and departs in the final spread, providing readers with a safe distance from this universal but deeply intimate narrative. Profound in the way it underscores how "life-changing" events are happening all the time, even as regular life continues, this book is especially effective at communicating big, difficult concepts to children in terms they will understand, despite--or, perhaps, because of--being quiet and understated. Many will be moved by the artful book design and a thoughtfully simple text that delineate an extraordinary ordinary day. --Lucinda Whitehurst
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
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Whitehurst, Lucinda. "An Ordinary Day." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 8, 15 Dec. 2019, pp. 102+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A611334518/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a35b9928. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. RED HOOD Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (Young Adult Fiction) $17.99 2, 25 ISBN: 978-0-06-274235-3
Sixteen-year-old Bisou Martel's life takes a profound turn after encountering an aggressive wolf.
Following an embarrassing incident between Bisou and her boyfriend, James, after the homecoming dance, a humiliated Bisou runs into the Pacific Northwest woods. There, she kills a giant wolf who viciously attacks her, upending the quiet life she's lived with her Meme, a poet, since her mother's violent death. The next day it's revealed that her classmate Tucker-- who drunkenly came on to her at the dance--was found dead in the woods with wounds identical to the ones Bisou inflicted on the wolf. When she rescues Keisha, an outspoken journalist for the school paper, from a similar wolf attack, Bisou gains an ally, and her Meme reveals her bloody and brave legacy, which is inextricably tied to the moon and her menstrual cycle. Bisou needs her new powers in the coming days, as more wolves lie in wait. Arnold (Damsel, 2018, etc.) uses an intriguing blend of magic realism, lyrical prose, and imagery that evokes intimate physical and emotional aspects of young womanhood. Bisou's loving relationship with gentle, kind James contrasts with the frank exploration of male entitlement and the disturbing incel phenomenon. Bisou and Meme seem to be white, Keisha is cued as black, James has light-brown skin and black eyes, and there is diversity in the supporting cast.
A timely and unabashedly feminist twist on a classic fairy tale. (Fantasy. 14-18)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: RED HOOD." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A608364480/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4bf0cf36. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Red Hood
Elana K. Arnold. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-274235-3
"There isn't always a wolf... but there is always the threat of one." Arnold artfully spins a dark, magictinged "Little Red Riding Hood" retelling in which a young woman discovers the power that is her birthright. Bisou Martel, 16, has lived with her grandmother, Meme, since her mother's brutal murder when Bisou was only four. Attacked in the forest by a vicious wolf after the homecoming dance--the night she first gets her period--Bisou must slay her pursuer or succumb to its murderous intent. The next day, a boy who behaved forcefully with Bisou at the dance is found naked in the woods, dead from the same wounds as the wolf that Bisou killed. When a classmate, Keisha, is attacked by another wolf, and another faces bullying by a likely incel, Bisou's family's past and her grandmother's closely guarded secrets come to the fore. Arnold (Damsel) effectively employs a second-person narrative ("You were ready--lipstick on, hairpins in") that evokes a sense of immediacy, blurring the gap between reader and character. Though Arnold never shies from discomfort, depictions of positive male-female relationships and sexual interactions--which clearly illustrate healthy, joyful, consensual experiences--juxtapose the trauma and pain of nonconsensual acts. At once a sharp critique of male entitlement and a celebration of sisterhood and feminine power, this story will linger with readers long aftet the final page. Ages 14--up. (Feb.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
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"Red Hood." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 50, 9 Dec. 2019, p. 150. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A609311097/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b7c2a1c1. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Red Hood. By Elana K. Arnold. Feb. 2020. 368p. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (9780062742353). Gr. 9-12.
In the wake of her Printz Honor-winning Damsel (2018), Arnold blazes a new and equally powerful trail through toxic masculinity by way of a fairy tale. This time it's the mythology of "Little Red Riding Hood" that pulsates through the narrative, setting primal instincts loose in modern times, where wolves wear the clothes of men and the faces of teen boys. The mortifying arrival of Bisou's first period sends her running from her boyfriend and the homecoming dance into the nearby woods, where she quickly senses she is being stalked. Her lupine pursuer attacks with a single-mindedness that leaves Bisou no choice but to fight back, and she finds her unusually heightened senses assure her victory-the body of the dead wolf morphing, bewilderingly, into the naked form of a male classmate. Eventually, Bisou confides in her grandmother, with whom she lives, who reveals their lot as hunters of the wolves who would force themselves on women. This alone would make for an enthralling story, but Arnold ekes out the grandmothers history and the circumstances of Bisou's mothers death in tantalizing increments, while also spinning an emotionally complex high-school drama. It is a book of blood, where menstruation empowers, predators bleed out, sisterhood is forged, and genetics bestow unasked-for responsibilities. So read, shed your pelt, and be transformed-for blades are being sharpened.--Julia Smith
Smith, Julia
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
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Smith, Julia. "Red Hood." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 6, 15 Nov. 2019, pp. 54+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A608183803/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=a2bed645. Accessed 1 June 2025.
What Riley Wore
by Elana K. Arnold; illus. by Linda Davick
Preschool Beach Lane/Simon 40 pp.
8/19 978-1-4814-7260-9 $17.99
e-book ed. 978-1-4814-7261-6 $10.99
For Riley, clothes are more than practical--they're expressions of feelings. On Monday, a bunny costume is reassuring for the first day of school ("Riley felt shy"), a superhero cape helps during Tuesday's visit to the dentist ("Riley wanted to be brave"), and a ball gown sets the tone for Wednesday's dinner at a fancy restaurant (because of course). Other people's encouraging reactions to Riley's creative outfits give this style maven confidence and a stronger sense of self. When a crying classmate asks to touch Riley's bunny ears, comforting her helps Riley feel more at ease. The dentist's query about Riley's superpower leads Riley to wonder later if "being a friend" might qualify. Always true to the perspective of Arnold's upbeat, self-possessed (and gender unspecified) young protagonist, Davick's cheery digital illustrations, with their solidly shaped figures, are entirely kid-centric, showing adults only partially--if at all. On Sunday, a kid at the park asks, "Are you a girl or a boy?" Riley, sporting "the world's best tutu, a crazy monster shirt ... and a hat with dinosaur spikes," doesn't miss a beat: "Today I'm a firefighter. And a dancer. And a monster hunter. And a pilot. And a dinosaur." The other child's response says it all: "Want to play?"
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Flynn, Kitty. "What Riley Wore." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 95, no. 6, Nov.-Dec. 2019, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A610418868/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ee3c352c. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. WHAT RILEY WORE Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (Children's Fiction) $17.99 8, 27 ISBN: 978-1-4814-7260-9
Is Riley a girl or a boy? Riley decides to answer an entirely different question through the creative self-expression of their clothing.
Each day of the week, Riley invents a new outfit to wear to school, around the house, and to the park. The tan-skinned, dark-haired protagonist has clothing for every mood and occasion: a bunny suit for first-day-of-school shyness, "a superhero cape to the dentist's because teeth cleaning is scary," and a tutu, perfectly mismatched with a dinosaur hat, for the weekend. Instead of making Riley a target of bullies, the gender-fluid ensembles draw their classmates in. Heartwarmingly, Arnold and Davick depict the spectacularly nongendered protagonist in positive connection with the people around them. Children are at the center of this colorful story: Adults, when they appear, mostly line the periphery of Davick's double-page-spread illustrations while classmates of various skin tones are featured in cheerful detail. In the growing landscape of children's books that explore gender, this offering beautifully normalizes the multifaceted gender expressions people can have, demonstrates the support adults can provide to nonbinary children, and models how easily young ones can relate to one another without having to choose between two gender options. Though Riley's gender identity is never explicitly stated in the narrative, Arnold and Davick's entertaining tale speaks volumes about the creativity of nonbinary kids.
Riley's courageous vulnerability is refreshing, fun, and worthy of celebration. (Picture book. 3-9)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Arnold, Elana K.: WHAT RILEY WORE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A587054403/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=90ba59ab. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Children's/YA
What Riley Wore
Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Linda Davick. Beach Lane, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4814-7260-9
Riley has an outfit for each clay's experiences. On Monday, the first day of school, the child combats shyness by wearing a bunny costume; for a rainy Friday, it's rubber boots, a tutu, and a police officer jacket. And for a Sunday trip to the park, Riley throws together an outfit that includes purple jeans, the tutu, and a hat with dinosaur spikes. At the playground, a kid asks Riley, "Are you a girl or a boy?" Arnold (Damsel) doesn't employ a gendered pronoun for her protagonist, and bright, rounded illustrations by Davick (It's Not Easy Being Mimi) show Riley in states ranging from pajama clad at school to dressed up in a ball gown for dinner ("Ball gowns are the fanciest"). Riley's answer at the park is equally and confidently non-binary--"Today I'm a firefighter. And a dancer. And a monster hunter. And a pilot. And a dinosaur"--and everyone is cool with that. ("Want to play?" the child asks.) By connecting Riley's gender nonconforming to the costumed role-playing that most kids engage in, the creators take this timely subject matter into a refreshing realm: normalcy. Ages up to 8. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. (Aug.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
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"What Riley Wore." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 18, 6 May 2019, p. 58. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585671675/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2338b597. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. BAT AND THE WAITING GAME Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 27 ISBN: 978-0-06-244585-8
Bat, a biracial, autistic grade schooler with divorced parents, is raising a baby skunk, Thor.
It's easy to read between the lines and imagine that might not end with a sweet smell. Bat's older sister, Janie, has just won a leading role in the school musical. Her interactions with friends and preparation for the play weave in and out of Bat's less-typical experiences as he navigates the complexities of friendship with white classmate Israel, tries to live up to his Chinese-American father's sometimes-unrealistic expectations, and manages the needs of Thor under the compassionate supervision of his white mom, a veterinarian. She and his teacher both have effective ways of helping Bat when he starts to lose control, and Israel matter-of-factly reminds him when he ought to be more polite. Bat's differences are there, but they never dominate the story, which focuses on the challenges of getting along with siblings and Bat's awareness that Thor is growing up and will have to be released eventually. That's made all the more evident when he tucks the skunk into his shirt and takes him to the play, where the inevitable occurs, emptying the auditorium during Janie's solo and ending the show under smelly circumstances.
A gentle tale of shared similarities rather than differences that divide and a fine read-aloud with a useful but not didactic message of acceptance. (Fiction. 6-9)
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"Arnold, Elana K.: BAT AND THE WAITING GAME." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A522642914/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0b8406c2. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Elana K. Arnold; WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF; Carolrhoda Lab (Children's: Young Adult Fiction) 18.99 ISBN: 9781512410242
Byline: Stephanie Bucklin
Elana K. Arnold's What Girls Are Made Of is realistic fiction at its most touching, following one young girl's struggles to make her way through the world using a broken frame. Her attempts to free herself from that limitation, and to discover the truth beyond, make for a compelling and heart-wrenching journey.
What Girls Are Made Of begins with a chilling scene in which teenager Nina Faye's mother tells her that all love -- even mother-daughter and husband-wife relationships -- comes with conditions. She coldly tells her daughter that sex and attraction are just two of the reasons that her father has for loving her mother, thereby lending to Nina the broken worldview that she will then use to navigate the world. A few years later, when Nina is sixteen, she uses such ideas to understand her relationship to her boyfriend -- but when he dumps her, she grows lost and confused, and she struggles to understand the meaning of love.
The novel alternates chapters with brief, dreamlike descriptions that touch at Nina's inner turmoil. The chapters that she narrates, by contrast, are hard and sometimes methodical, with Nina presenting a mask of indifference to shield her inner pain. The imprint of her mother's conversation is on almost everything she does and everything she thinks about, affecting how she approaches the world.
What Girls Are Made Of doesn't flinch away from stark presentations of a struggling teen, from her sexual activity to her mother's unflinching coldness and struggles. The novel is stark, but relatable, and Nina's final confrontation with her mother leads to both a frustrating -- and perfectly fitting -- end.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Foreword Magazine, Inc.
http://www.forewordmagazine.com
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Bucklin, Stephanie. "What Girls Are Made Of." ForeWord, 9 May 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A491735470/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=db7e973a. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. What Girls Are Made Of. Carolrhoda Lab/Lerner, 2017. 208p. $18.99. 978-1-5124-1024-2.
When she was fourteen years old, Nina's mother told her that "there is no such thing as unconditional love." Arnold explores themes of conditional and unconditional love through sixteen-year-old Ninas self-revealing narrative about her love for Seth. There is raw intimacy in Ninas unvarnished descriptions of her sexual experiences with Seth; her first pelvic examination; her discovery of sexual pleasure; her experience of an early "medical" abortion; the pain she feels when Seth rejects her for the beautiful Apollonia; and the loss of the friendship of her best friend. She realizes that her unconditional desire for Seth causes her to be a young woman who is dependent upon Seth's needs and moods. In the high-kill dog shelter where she volunteers, she sees the unconditional love dogs have for their owners, despite being abandoned to die.
Her relationship with her mother (who has a history of miscarriages) is explored in memories of their trip to Italy where Nina reflected on martyred female saints and saw the wax sculptures of "flayed" women's bodies. Entwined with Nina's narrative are her short stories linking sex and death in which she writes, for example, about the death cycle of a laying hen and about those female saints whose unconditional vows of chastity resulted in death. Arnold uses powerful scenes and vivid imagery to emphasize the vulnerability of the female body but Nina emerges from traumatic experiences as a strong female, secure in her identity. There is probably not another YA book that describes all things "girl" in the brutally honest way Arnold does here. Teen girls should read this book, even if it is not easy.--Hilary Crew.
QUALITY
5Q Hard to imagine it being better written.
4Q Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses.
3Q Readable, without serious defects.
2Q Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q.
1Q Hard to understand how it got published, except in relation to its P rating (and not even then sometimes).
POPULARITY
5P Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday.
4P Broad general or genre YA appeal.
3P Will appeal with pushing.
2P For the YA reader with a special interest in the subject.
1P No YA will read unless forced to for assignments.
GRADE LEVEL INTEREST
M Middle School (defined as grades 6-8).
J Junior High (defined as grades 7-9).
S Senior High (defined as grades 10-12).
A/YA Adult-marketed book recommended for YAs.
NA New Adult (defined as college-age).
R Reluctant readers (defined as particularly suited for reluctant readers).
(a) Highlighted Reviews Graphic Novel Format
(G) Graphic Novel Format
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
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Crew, Hilary. "Arnold, Elana K. What Girls Are Made Of." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 40, no. 1, Apr. 2017, pp. 54+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A491949461/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=036f05ee. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF Carolrhoda Lab (Children's Fiction) $18.99 4, 1 ISBN: 978-1-5124-1024-2
Pulling back the curtain on the wizard of social expectations, Arnold (Infandous, 2015, etc.) explores the real, knotted, messy, thriving heartbeat of young womanhood. When Nina Faye's mother tells her that there is no such thing as unconditional love, that even a mother's love for a daughter could end at any time, Nina believes her--after all, she has already seen many conditions of love at play: beauty, money, aloofness, sex. Two years later, the white, now-16-year-old not only confirms that these and more are unspoken stipulations of her relationship with her boyfriend, Seth (also white), but also finds they are part of the very fabric of cisgender girlhood that suddenly threatens to smother her. Nina's embroiling first-person prose alternating with what are revealed to be her own short stories lifts and examines the veils that encapsulate all the "shoulds" and "supposed tos" of teenage girlhood to expose bodily function, desire, casual cruelty, sex and masturbation, miscarriage and abortion, and, eventually, self-care. Arnold interweaves myriad landscapes, from the parched affluence of California neighborhoods to the ordered sadness of a high-kill animal shelter where Nina volunteers, from the sculpted terrain of Rome's brutalized virgin martyrs to the imperfect physicality of Nina's own body, into a narrative wholeness that is greater than its parts. Unflinchingly candid, unapologetically girl, and devastatingly vital. (author's note) (Fiction. 13-17)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Arnold, Elana K.: WHAT GIRLS ARE MADE OF." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A479234496/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6d0cfda6. Accessed 1 June 2025.
A Boy Called Bat. By Elana K. Arnold. Illus. by Charles Santoso. Mar. 2017. 208p. HarperCollins/Walden Pond, $16.99 (9780062445827); e-book, $16.99 (9780062445841). Gr. 1-4.
This charming tale of newfound friendship in a pint-size package introduces third-grader Bixby Alexander Tam. Bat, nicknamed for his sensitivity to sound, sometimes Buttery hands, and, of course, initials, covets two things above all else: order (crustless sandwiches, freshly stocked vanilla yogurts, expertly organized dresser drawers) and animals. So when Bat's veterinarian mom returns home with an orphaned skunk kit, it becomes Bat's mission to not only meticulously care for it but also keep it--for good. With a rescue center willing to rehabilitate the skunk in four weeks' time, Bat must hustle to prove himself a worthy caretaker. Brimming with quietly tender moments (Bat braiding his sister's hair or examining the kit's black eyes), subtle humor, and authentically rendered family dynamics, Arnold's story, the first in a new series, offers a nonprescriptive and deeply heartfelt glimpse into the life of a boy on the autism spectrum. Youngsters will empathize with Bat's adventures and revel in the endearing illustrations that accompany them. As Bat would say, this one's "all the way great." Final art not seen. --Briana Shemroske
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
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Shemroske, Briana. "A Boy Called Bat." Booklist, vol. 113, no. 12, 15 Feb. 2017, p. 79. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A485442590/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=319e65b5. Accessed 1 June 2025.
A Boy Called Bat
Elana K. Arnold, illus, by Charles Santoso.
Walden Pond, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-06244582-7
When Bat's veterinarian mother brings home an infant skunk to foster for a month, Bat--a third grader on the autism spectrum--hopes to prove that he's responsible enough to keep the skunk, Thor, as a pet. Written in third person, this engaging and insightful story makes readers intimately aware of what Bat is thinking and how he perceives the events and people in his life. With empathy and humor, Arnold (Far from Fair) delves into Bat's relationships with his divorced parents, older sister, teachers, and classmates. In one tender scene, Bat braids his sister's hair: "Getting along with people was hard for Bat. Figuring out what they meant when they said something, or when they made certain faces at him ... People were complicated. But braiding was easy." Bat's supportive family and school encourage his strategies for navigating a confusing world, and Santoso's b&w spot illustrations quietly speak to his isolation, as well as the way he takes to Thor. A budding friendship and open-ended questions about Thor's future will spark anticipation for the next book in this planned series. Ages 6--10. Author's agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. Illustrator's agency: Shannon Associates. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
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"A Boy Called Bat." Publishers Weekly, vol. 264, no. 4, 23 Jan. 2017, p. 80. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A479714250/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9ae631e5. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. A BOY CALLED BAT Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 14 ISBN: 978-0-06-244582-7
A third-grader becomes fascinated with an orphaned skunk kit and wages a campaign to convince his veterinarian mom that their family should care for the animal until it can be released to the wild. Bixby Alexander Tam is known as Bat. In many ways his experiences are quite ordinary. He squabbles with his older sister and navigates the complications of his parents' divorce. He doesn't always like following school rules, and he loves animals. Arnold's sensitive but matter-of-fact description of some of Bat's behaviors, however, make it clear that he isn't entirely neurotypical. When he's nervous he repeats certain actions, like sucking on his shirt or flapping his hands. His mom notes that he has difficulty with eye contact, and a prospective friend has to work hard to connect with him. These details, along with others about family members and his multicultural classmates, bring the characters to life and contribute to the lively and engaging plot. The decision not to use labels to classify any of the characters (except the skunk, which Bat notes belongs to the family Mephitidae) encourages all readers to enjoy and connect with the events and emotions that ring true for them. In Santoso's appealing illustrations, Bat and his sister share their dad's dark, straight hair; the whole family has fair skin. Comfortably familiar and quietly groundbreaking, this introduction to Bat should charm readers, who will likely look forward to more opportunities to explore life from Bat's particular point of view. (Fiction. 7-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Arnold, Elana K.: A BOY CALLED BAT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2016. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A473652309/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=04d7be08. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Far from Fair
Elana K. Arnold.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99
ISBN 978-0-544-60227-4
Living in an RV is the last thing 12-year-old Odette Zyskowski wants--in fact, it tops her list of "things that aren't fair." But her father took a "voluntary layoff' from work, and the family is selling its California house to care for Odette's ailing grandmother in Washington State. The family (along with Odette's new dog and her younger brother's ferret) sets off on an eventful road trip. Between cramped quarters, car trouble, her parents' rocky marriage, and endless hours of driving, Odette is miserable (not even running helps), and everyone knows it. Arnold's The Question of Miracles dealt equally well with topics of leaving home and losing a loved one, and she has a knack for sympathetically expressing Odette's confusing emotions about those events, as well as feeling disconnected from her best friend and liking a boy she meets. Arnold's descriptive prose and short, episodic chapters warmly relay the family's struggles. It's an engaging, emotional ride as Odette learns the truth of one of her grandmother's sayings: "Even in the bad ... there is opportunity for good." Ages 10-12.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
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"Far from Fair." Publishers Weekly, vol. 263, no. 49, 2 Dec. 2016, p. 72. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A475224602/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ce385152. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Southern California and the Pacific Northwest may not seem far apart to some, but they might as well be separate countries for two of Elana K. Arnold's protagonists: Iris Abernathy (The Question of Miracles, 2015) and Odette Zyskowski (Far from Fair, 2016). Each girl is forced to leave her school and friends, and each, readers learn, is dealing with some kind of grief.
Iris, an only child, moves when her mother takes a new job in Oregon. Her dad maintains the house and makes plans to plant a garden and raise chickens. Boris, a seemingly odd boy at school, befriends Iris and explains that he is, medically speaking, a miracle child. He thinks the house where the Abernathys live resembles a haunted mansion, and convinces Iris that the sound she hears from her closet may indeed be the voice of her friend Sarah, who died just before the Abernathys moved. He even encourages her to visit a psychic to help her make a connection with Sarah. Why couldn't there have been a miracle for Sarah? Iris' parents sense that she is still struggling with Sarah's death, and they send her to a therapist. The journey is tough, but the sprouting of new plants and the hatching of the eggs her father has nurtured represents new life and serves as a symbol of hope for Iris.
Odette's situation is more complicated. Her parents have hidden their troubled marriage, but it becomes obvious when the family sets out for Oreas Island, off the coast of Washington, in a used RV. They sold most of their belongings when they vacated their home, and now Odette, her autistic brother, and their parents live in cramped quarters with only one cell phone between them. Odette makes several observations upon arrival on the island. Grandma Sissy's bakery is dark, and the apartment above it where her grandmother lives is aglow with light. She knew that her grandmother had been sick, but she didn't realize until now that Grandma Sissy wasn't going to get better. Then Odette learns that Washington is a right-to-die state and Grandma Sissy has elected to determine her time to die. When that day comes, the family holds Grandma Sissy's memorial service in her bakery. It's not without hope: Odette's family is able to take over the bakery and begin a new chapter in their lives.
Quiet and almost old-fashioned in tone, Far from Fair and The Question of Miracles both tackle tough issues for a middle-grade audience; Arnold offers hope as she asks readers to ponder some of life's biggest struggles. In the following conversation, she discusses not only these two titles but also the depictions of death, grief, and recovery in her novels and how such depictions change when writing for a younger audience.
SCALES: The Question of Miracles and Far from Fair have characters that move to the Pacific Northwest. Why are you so drawn to this setting?
ARNOLD: In 2009, my husband and I--for complicated reasons--sold our beautiful Southern California '50s ranch-style home and moved our two small children, our dog, Sherman, and our illegal ferret, Vegas, into an old RV, beginning a journey up the coast of California and toward an uncertain future.
Before getting in the Coach, as we called it, life hadn't been perfect. There was the enormous mortgage we really couldn't afford, which I wrestled with each month, trying to do magic math to make our money stretch in ways it really couldn't; there was my husband's regular disappearance into the garage to smoke cigars and ruminate on the stresses of his work; there was the tension in our marriage, fed by all of the above. So when he came home from work one day, wild-eyed and nervous, and said, "I got laid off today," we chose to try something different. We sold it all--at an enormous loss--and drove away.
On the road north, I started writing again for the first time in many years. I had a blog--People Do Things--about our travels, our hopes, my fears. I had time to write without the house and the chores, without laundry to wash or dishes to do.
When we pulled into Corvallis, Oregon, not too many months later, it felt like a town that could be our home. We parked the RV in the driveway of a rented house on Roseberry Lane. The kids found friends. I found a job teaching at Oregon State University. My husband stayed home for the first time in our kids' lives and found he was pretty good at being a stay-at-home dad.
It sounds like the end of a book, but I've learned from writing and from life that a structurally satisfying ending usually isn't where things stay put.
We didn't stay in Corvallis for very long--just under a year--but the Pacific Northwest has stayed with me. The time we spent there, though some of it quite hard, was important. The rainstorms, the constant wetness, and the many shades of green followed me home to Southern California. I visit them in my writing.
SCALES: Iris Abernathy, the main character in The Question of Miracles, and Odette Zyskowski, the main character in Far from Fair, are dealing with grief. You have also written young-adult books that deal with grief. Tell us about your journey to explore this theme for middle and young-adult readers.
ARNOLD: When we were living in Corvallis, Oregon, our favorite place to eat was American Dream Pizza. One day, all tucked in and cozy in a booth, a beautiful pizza in front of us, feeling happy and celebratory and fine, I got a call from my sister back home in California. She called to tell me that my best friend from high school had killed herself that afternoon. My first response was, "But she'll be okay, right?" It was too much to believe that the girl I loved so much, who was so full of life and smarts and ambition, was all the way dead. I wanted for her to at least be a little bit alive.
Less than a year after her death, I began writing my first novel, Sacred (2012), a book about a girl dealing with a sudden, unexpected death. And I have written about death many times since then. Death is something that bothers me, a lot. I'm afraid of dying, but even more than that, I love living so very much that the knowledge that life must end--my own life, the lives of those I love, and my children's lives, most of all--is almost impossible to bear. So I return again and again to the questions of death and how one lives a meaningful life in spite of death and grief.
SCALES: In Far from Fair, you deal with the right to die with incredible grace. At what point in writing the novel did you know you wanted to tackle this important issue?
ARNOLD: When I began writing Far from Fair, I imagined it as a road trip story about a family jammed together in a broken-down, old RV. The family was going to travel across the country, visiting the parents' parents and stepparents. It was going to be light and funny and without death. But like a road trip, novel writing sometimes takes turns one can't anticipate. About 60 pages into the first draft, I realized that when my characters got to Grandma Sissy's house, they were going to find a terminally ill woman, and they were all going to have to deal with questions about mortality and the right to die.
But now, looking back, it seems so obvious that this would be where the book would head; in the midst of writing the book, I was driving with my dad to his weekly appointments at the City of Hope, a cancer hospital, and talking with him about the end of his life and how he hoped to face it.
My dad lived until after I finished writing Far from Fair, and he read an early draft. He was proud of the book, and he was proud of me.
SCALES: Odette is confused by her parents' relationship in Far from Fair, and her autistic brother adds to the strained interaction between all members of the family. Take us through the creation of this complicated family.
ARNOLD: There are elements of this family that mirror my own family, and parts of it are entirely fictional. What always surprises me is when my own self seeps into my work in ways I didn't intend. I don't see these places clearly until I've taken a step back, usually during the revision process. This is true of Odette's parents' marriage. During the first draft, there was no concrete mention of their troubles, but when I dug back in, I saw the strain and tension between them and recognized it as a reflection of the difficulties my husband and I had encountered during our overextended years. As I revised in conjunction with my wonderful editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt--and there were many drafts--the marriage problems became clearer to me, more on-the-page in a way that strengthens the book. All the family dynamics became more complicated, and Odette's central complaint--that things just aren't fair--became louder, too.
SCALES: Iris has a stay-at-home dad in The Question of Miracles. Did you set out to write a book that addresses the changing gender roles in our society, or did it happen naturally?
ARNOLD: I didn't set out to write a book that addressed anything in particular. I had a character--Iris--who I knew was deeply sad and lonely, and I knew she and her family had moved to a new town. The family unfolded for me very much as they unfold for the reader. Of course, with some distance, I see the many ways Iris' family mirrors my own, but when I was writing, I didn't see the similarities.
SCALES: Do you believe in miracles? ARNOLD: Yes. No. I don't know.
SCALES: Light and darkness are presented in different forms in your novels. Why is it so important for young readers to see both lightness and darkness in novels?
ARNOLD: Maybe not during my earliest years, but definitely as long as my memory reaches, I have been careful to soak up the things that bring me joy--the sweet citrus scent of an orange just peeled; the warm weight of a lapful of sleeping cat; the anticipation of coffee nearly made. I notice and enjoy these things because one day I will die. The awareness of death--that human recognition of mortality--does it enable us to engage more fully in the time and experiences we do have than if we were ignorant of our inevitable end? I think so. Light and dark--life and death--are with us every day, whether we speak of them or not. I think it's comforting and empowering for readers of all ages to confront the various ways lightness and darkness exist in our everyday lives.
SCALES: How is writing middle-grade fiction different from writing for young adults?
ARNOLD: I like to say that I write books for kids and books about teens. When I am working on a YA project, I do my very best to ignore my hope that one day the book will find an audience. I write the book that pleases and challenges me, and I follow the story wherever it goes. When I write for younger people--middle-graders and children--I do consider my audience. Of the two, I find writing books for kids to be much more pleasurable than writing about teens, but I am grateful that I am able to follow the stories that come to me, and that no one has tried to brand me as one kind of writer.
SCALES: Which of your characters is most like you?
ARNOLD: There's a famous belief that first novels are thinly veiled autobiographies. My first book, Sacred, set on Catalina Island, off the coast of California, tells the story of Scarlett Wenderoth, a lonely, bookish teen whose brother dies, and who meets a mysterious newcomer to the island who may be a kabbalah mystic (spoiler alert: he is). I have never lived on an island, and I have never lost a sibling, and I have never (yet) fallen in love with a kabbalah mystic. So I felt smugly certain that I had avoided the novelas-autobiography trap, until I reread my book after some time had passed, after it was published. Suddenly, I saw myself as a teen--the way I felt about my body, the way I felt about boys and friends and parents and horses--and it was brutally clear that I had laid myself bare on the page, even though the plot was fictional. That said, I know I am in all of my characters--the teens, the kids, and the grown-ups, too. In fact, Claude, a psychic that Iris visits in The Question of Miracles, tells a story of her first, heartbreaking friendship that I lived word-for-word.
SCALES: Tell us about some of the books you remember most from your childhood.
ARNOLD: I loved Bridge to Terabithia, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and Harriet the Spy. I didn't think about it at the time, but now I see that all three of these books feature girls who love to read and whose reading inspires them to take real-life chances, whether that means building an imaginary world, running away from home to live in a museum, or spying on the neighbors. When I was a little older, Anne of Green Gables absolutely captured me. I wanted to be Anne. The Halloween of my seventh-grade year, I tried to dye my hair red with a bottle of food coloring and ended up with weird pink stripes that lasted until New Year's.
SCALES: Have any of these titles inspired your writings?
ARNOLD: Absolutely, all of them have influenced my writing. I liked the everydayness of these books, how magic happens in the ordinary. I liked the connections between realistic characters; I liked the imperfect but not ridiculous parents; I liked how the smallest shifts in dialogue, plot, and mood could create seismic transformations in how the characters saw themselves and those around them. Both The Question of Miracles and Far from Fair work in this tradition of "quiet," realistic books.
SCALES: What questions do you get from your readers? Have any of their letters inspired ideas for other novels?
ARNOLD: The most common questions I get are about the endings of Splendor (2013, Sacred's sequel) and Burning (2013). These stories, though romantic, are not romances, and as such, don't make any happily-ever-after promises. I get letters from readers asking me to tell them more, asking me to say that yes, eventually, the characters do decide on a lifetime with each other. I get asked for sequels to these books, but for me the endings feel perfect just as they are. So far, I haven't gotten any inspiration for new novels, but I am open to the possibility!
SCALES: What are you writing now? ARNOLD: I just finished the final edits of A Boy Called BAT and am working on its sequel! This is the official description: "In the spirit of Clementine and Ramona, the books follow Bixby Alexander Tam--nicknamed BAT--a third-grader on the autism spectrum, and his funny, authentic experiences at home and at school." I love BAT, as I love Iris and Odette, and I am deeply grateful for each reader, child and adult, who loves these characters, too.
Sampling Arnold
Burning. 2013. Delacorte, e-book, $9.99 (9780375991080). Gr. 10-12.
Far from Fair. 2016. HMH, $16.99 (9780544602274). Gr. 4-7.
Infandous. 2015. Carolrhoda/Lab, $18.99 (9781467738491). Gr. 9-12.
The Question of Miracles. 2015. HMH, $16.99 (9780544334649). Gr. 5-7.
Sacred. 2012. Delacorte, $17.99 (9780385742115). Gr. 9-12.
Splendor. 2013. Delacorte, $17.99 (9780385742139). Gr. 9-12.
After more than 35 years as a school librarian, Pat Scales is a freelance writer, children's literature advocate, and the author of the revised edition of Books under Fire: A Hit List of Banned and Challenged Children's Books (2015).
Further Reading
The following titles about children coping with grief, often after a tragedy within their own families, make excellent teaching companions to The Question of Miracles and Far from Fair.
Bridge to Terabithia. By Katherine Paterson. 1977. Harper, $16.99 (9780690013597). Gr. 4-7.
In this Newbery award novel, Jess Aarons becomes friends with a new girl in town, and the two create an imaginary kingdom they call Terabithia. When Leslie drowns while crossing the creek to Terabithia, Jess struggles to deal with his loss.
Finding the Worm. By Mark Goldbiatt. 2015. Random, $16.99 (9780385391085). Gr. 5-8.
In this sequel to Twerp (2013), seventh-grader Julian Twerski and his friends are up to their usual mischief, but when their friend Quentin is diagnosed with cancer, the kids are suddenly faced with hard questions about life and death.
The Fourteenth Goldfish. By Jennifer L. Holm. 2014. Random, $19.99 (9780375970641). Gr. 4-7.
Middle school Is tough for 11-year-old Ellie after she and her best friend part ways. Things look up for her when her grandfather, a scientist, moves in and helps her contemplate tough issues and navigate the many changes in her life.
Kira-Kira. By Cynthia Kadohata. 2004. Atheneum, $17.99 (9780689856396). Gr. 6-8.
Katie's family moves from Iowa to a small town in Georgia to work alongside other Japanese Americans in the chicken business. The family is devastated when Lynn, the older daughter, dies of leukemia and they have little money to pay the medical bills.
Missing May. By Cynthia Rylant. 1992. Orchard/Richard Jackson, $15.99 (9780439613835). Gr. 5-7.
Summer, an orphan, has finally found a loving home with Aunt May and Uncle Ob deep in the heart of Appalachia, and when May dies, Summer and her uncle are overcome with grief. Then they take a road trip together, and the two learn to celebrate May's life by sharing special memories of her.
Nest. By Esther Ehrlich. 2014. Random/ Wendy Lamb, $16.99 (9780385386074). Gr. 4-7.
Naomi "Chirp" Orenstein's family is turned upside down when her mother, a dancer, falls into a deep depression after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and ultimately commits suicide. Joey, a neighbor who is abused by his father, seems to understand Chirp's sadness.
The Thing about Jellyfish. By Ali Benjamin. 2015. Little, Brown, $17 (9780316380867). Gr. 4-7.
Suzy is sad about the fight that she and Franny Jackson, a longtime best friend, had months before their seventh-grade year. When Franny drowns, Suzy must find ways to deal with the many layers of grief.
The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. By Christopher Paul Curtis. 1995. Delacorte, $16.95 (9780385321754). Gr. 4-7.
The Watsons set out on a long trip from Flint, Michigan, to Birmingham, Alabama, to deliver Byron, the oldest son, to his grandmother for some strict discipline because he bullies his younger brother, Kenny. They travel through the Jim Crow South and witness the bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church, which turns out to be a life-changing moment for all of the Watsons, especially Byron and Kenny.
Common Core Connections: Elana K. Arnold
The following activities allow students to examine ethics and empathy in relation to Arnold's novels, and according to common core standards. You can find more information about the standards at www.corestandards.org.
In the Classroom: Iris Abernathy, the main character in The Question of Miracles, and Odette Zyskowski, the main character in Far from Fair, move from California to the Pacific Northwest. Allow students to work as partners and have them each take the role of one of the main characters. Then instruct them to exchange letters about the difficulties of adjusting to their move, making new friends, and so on.
Common Core Connections
* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4-6.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
In the Classroom: Engage students in a discussion about the family issues in the two novels. Students can contrast Iris' and Odette's parents: How are the girls' relationships with their respective fathers? How are their mothers strong in different ways? You can expand the discussion into the ways each family finds hope, by discussing the following quote from The Question of Miracles: "But hoping, Iris decided, is not the same as knowing" (p.230). What is the difference in knowing and hoping? How do these family relationships fit in?
Common Core Connections
* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4-6.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
In the Classroom: Iris is dealing with the sudden death of a friend, and Odette is facing the death of Grandma Sissy after a battle with cancer. Ask students to read another novel, from the suggested list or elsewhere, where the main character is dealing with death. Have them write a brief paper that compares this loss to those of Iris or Odette. Encourage students to cite specific passages from the books to support their thoughts.
Common Core Connections
* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4-6.9. Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4-6.1. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
In the Classroom: Read about the Death with Dignity Act on the following website: https:// www.deathwithdignity.org/learn/ access/. What are the guidelines that doctors and patients must follow? The right to die has created heated debates in some states. Older students may wish to engage in a debate about this issue.
Common Core Connections
* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.7. Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate
* CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
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Scales, Pat. "Talking with Elana K. Arnold: this acclaimed author discusses the examination of grief and difficult family dynamics in her two latest novels for middle-grade readers." Booklist, vol. 112, no. 15, 1 Apr. 2016, pp. S20+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A450036915/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e93cb846. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Far from Fair
Elana K. Arnold. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-544-60227-4
Living in an RV is the last thing 12-year-old Odette Zyskowski wants--in fact, it tops her list of "things that aren't fair." But her father took a "voluntary layoff" from work, and the family is selling its California house to care for Odette's ailing grandmother in Washington State. The family (along with Odette's new dog and her younger brother's ferret) sets off on an eventful road trip. Between cramped quarters, car trouble, her parents' rocky marriage, and endless hours of driving, Odette is miserable (not even running helps), and everyone knows it. Arnold's The Question of Miracles dealt equally well with topics of leaving home and losing a loved one, and she has a knack for sympathetically expressing Odette's confusing emotions about those events, as well as feeling disconnected from her best friend and liking a boy she meets. Arnold's descriptive prose and short, episodic chapters warmly relay the family's struggles. It's an engaging, emotional ride as Odette learns the truth of one of her grandmother's sayings: "Even in the bad ... there is opportunity for good." Ages 10-12. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
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"Far from Fair." Publishers Weekly, vol. 263, no. 1, 4 Jan. 2016, p. 52. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A439804227/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=785dcde7. Accessed 1 June 2025.
Arnold, Elana K. FAR FROM FAIR HMH Books (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 8 ISBN: 978-0-544-60227-4
Odette Zyskoski's life is being ruined by her parents' decision to sell their house and head north in an RV they've dubbed the Coach. After most of their possessions are disposed of in a garage sale, the prospect of living in tight quarters with her parents and little brother and just one cellphone among them leaves Odette feeling hurt and angry. She resents not having any say in the decision that means leaving her best friend, Mieko, and spending seventh grade being "roadschooled." The family meanders from Southern California to the Northwest coast to spend time with Grandma Sissy, whose health is declining faster than any of them realizes. On the ferry to Orcas Island, Odette meets a cute, dark-skinned boy named Harris, and they exchange phone numbers. Missed connections nearly spoil their brief friendship, bringing Odette's frustration with her parents' lack of understanding to a head. By using a third-person narration that keeps Odette at a slight remove from her family, Arnold captures the loneliness of a young teenager's inability to express the emotions that accompany life's upheavals. It's only Grandma Sissy's insight into Odette's complicated feelings--and her aphorism that "the best way out is always through"--that allows Odette to get past her difficulty coping with the unfairness of it all. An affecting, delicately handled story of growing up. (Fiction. 9-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Arnold, Elana K.: FAR FROM FAIR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2015. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A437247690/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=926f6575. Accessed 1 June 2025.