SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: The Boy Who Stepped Through Time
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.annaciddor.com/
CITY: Melbourne
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
LAST VOLUME: SATA 213
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/programs/literary/wotr/writers/ciddor.html; http://www.viking-magic.com/writing.htm; http://www.bookedout.com.au/authors/Anna_Ciddor/index.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1957, in Australia; children: Daniel, Elissa.
EDUCATION:University of Melbourne, Bachelor of Arts (mathematics); Melbourne State College, Diploma of Education.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and educator. Teacher of mathematics, 1979-80; freelance writer and illustrator, beginning 1989. Participant, Victoria State Writers on the Road program, 2005; speaker at schools and writer’s festivals; judge for Clayton’s Award, 2009.
MEMBER:Children’s Book Council of Australia (Victoria branch), Australian Society of Authors, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators; Oz Kids; Australia Reads.
AWARDS:Children’s Choice Book Award shortlist, and Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable Book designation, both 2003, both for Runestone; Australia Council Literature Board grant, 2005; Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award shortlist, and CBCA Notable Book designation, both 2008, both for Night of the Fifth Moon; shortlisted for KOALA, YABBA, COOL, and KROC child-selected awards; Nance Donkin Award for Children’s Literature, 2021.
WRITINGS
Also author of numerous nonfiction educational books, including in “Look Back” and “Momentum” series, for Harcourt Education and Macmillan Education. Contributor of short fiction to anthologies, including Kids Night in 2, 2008, and Picture This!, 2009.
Ciddor’s “Viking Magic” series was adapted for audiobook by ABC Audio, 2003-04.
SIDELIGHTS
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Anna Ciddor is an Australian author and illustrator of books for young adults. Her novel Night of the Fifth Moon is set in pagan Celtic Ireland where young Cet realizes the power of the druids when a druid forced his chieftain father to surrender his title to him. Cet vows to seize the magic of druids for himself. Five years later, Cet and five other children apprentice with a master druid until the druid declares that at each new moon he will banish one of the apprentices until only one is left. Cet has five moons to show he is ready to be a full druid. Writing in School Library Journal, Lisa Marie Williams noted that despite characters acting like stereotypes, “Ciddor’s attention to detail and knowledge of the setting drive the story forward,” adding that her imagery creates a tangible world.
Another historical novel, The Family with Two Front Doors, is set in 1920s Lublin, Poland, with the large Orthodox Jewish Rabinovitch family with nine children and the father who is a rabbi. The family is so large that they live in side-by-side apartments, hence the two front doors. One of the young daughters, 10-year-old Nomi, is based on Ciddor’s grandmother. Concerned more with showing a day-in-the-life than heavy on plot, the story shows the family cheerfully carrying out their Orthodox traditions, preparing for the Sabbath, and preparing for the arranged wedding of the 15-year-old oldest daughter to a man she meets for the first time on her wedding day. “The story maintains a positive tone, offering a sympathetic look at traditional Jewish life in an earlier era,” declared a Publishers Weekly critic. In Kirkus Reviews, a contributor noted: “In its slice-of-life approach, it prioritizes detail over drama. Heartwarming, painstaking detail and characterization, if also a bit light on plot.”
Ciddor draws on her own childhood in the 1960s in Australia in 52 Mondays. The story follows a year of adventures of Anna and her two younger sisters looking for a doll, going to school, buying half-penny ice cream cones, celebrating Passover, feeding peanuts to the animals in the zoo, and dreaming of the future.
Ciddor takes a trip back in time 1,700 years in The Boy Who Stepped Through Time. Perry is on holiday with his family in France visiting the grape harvest festival at the grand Villa Rubia, a Roman ruin. Suddenly Perry is transported back in time to the original festival during Roman times. To survive he has to blend in as a slave and learn the everyday activities of Romans, which Ciddor thorough researched and presents, such as slaves were given mice to eat. Perry befriends a fellow slave, Carotus, and helps the master’s daughter, Valentine, avert disaster. Perry must decide whether to find his way home to the future or stay to protect Carotus.
In an interview with Ashleigh Meikle online at The Book Muse, Ciddor explained that she had many ideas for setting a story in ancient Rome, but finally decided on “a modern boy and sending him back in time. That was the key to making the historical details accessible – I could reveal and describe the world of ancient Roman Gaul through modern eyes – and it also gave me lots of avenues for creating a more compelling story.”
In a review online at Readingzone.com, a writer commented: “The story is fast-paced, Perry is a loveable character, he is kind, thoughtful but the reader also empathizes with him.” Ciddor admitted to a writer on the Kids’ Book Review website: “For as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to visit other times. But I definitely wouldn’t want to actually live in another time,” she said when recalling what bathroom habits were like in ancient Rome.
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Anna Ciddor told SATA: “My favourite memories of primary school are of playtimes, curled up on a shelf under the coathooks in the hall, absorbed in a book. Teachers would tell this pale, dark-haired little girl to ‘go out and get some fresh air’ but I hated to be dragged away from the world of the story. I have always had a fascination with other lives, past and present, and now, as an author, I am so lucky that I can spend as much time as I like reading, ‘surfing the net,’ or just daydreaming, without feeling guilty.
“When something inspires me to start writing, I become totally obsessive, working odd hours all around the clock, and researching like a detective for tiny details. Sometimes I travel to wonderful destinations, like Ireland, France, or Norway, to research. I’ve written and illustrated over fifty books, and they cover topics as diverse as travel, Vikings, and goldfish!”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2018, review of The Family with Two Front Doors.
Publishers Weekly, February 26, 2018, review of The Family with Two Front Doors, p. 91.
School Library Journal, May 2009, Lisa Marie Williams, review of Night of the Fifth Moon, p. 102.
ONLINE
Anna Ciddor Home Page, http://www.annaciddor.com (June 1, 2023).
Kids’ Book Review, http://www.kids-bookreview.com/ (September 21, 2021), “10 Quirky Questions with author Anna Ciddor.”
Reading Zone, https://www.readingzone.com/ (November 2021), review of The Boy Who Stepped Through Time.
The Book Muse, https://ashleighmeikle.com.au/ (June 1, 2021), Ashleigh Meikle, “Interview with Anna Ciddor.”
First, Anna answers some FAQs…
(skip to the bottom of the page for a short bio)
Anna, when and where were you born?
I was born in January 1957 in Melbourne, Australiababy anna
Tell us about your childhood
I was brought up in a house without television so my sisters and I were very creative – drawing, writing stories and acting plays. My fondest memories of primary school are of playtimes, curled up on a shelf under the coathooks in the hall, absorbed in a book. Teachers would tell the pale, dark-haired little girl to ‘go out and get some fresh air’ but I hated to be dragged away from the world of the story. I’ve drawn on some memories of my childhood to create the incidents in 52 Mondays.
Did you always want to be a writer?
No, my first career was as a senior school maths teacher, but when I got married and had children I decided to have a go at getting a book published. Since then I have written and illustrated over 50 books on topics as diverse as Vikings, Irish druids, Australian history, travel, and toilets.
What do you like about being a writer?
I can spend as much time as I want reading, ‘surfing the net’, or just daydreaming, without feeling guilty!
Have you won any awards or grants?
Anna Ciddor with Nance Donkin Award trophy
Anna winning the Nance Donkin Award for Children’s Literature
In 2022 The Boy Who Stepped Through Time was shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Children’s Fiction.
In 2021, I was honoured to win the biennial Nance Donkin Award for Children’s Literature, and to see The Boy Who Stepped Through Time longlisted for the prestigious ARA HNSA Historical Fiction Prize.
In 2019, 52 Mondays was longlisted for the Book Links Award for Children’s Historical Fiction and shortlisted for YABBA and KOALA awards.
In 2017 I was amazed and thrilled by all the recognition achieved by The Family with Two Front Doors. It won a Notable Book Award, a shortlisting for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year, and a selection by the prestigious Junior Library Guild in America prior to its release in the US!
In 2005 I was very fortunate to be awarded a 2-year grant by the Literature Board of the Australia Council to work on my forthcoming book Night of the Fifth Moon, which was chosen as a Notable Book by the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 2008.
In 2003 Runestone was chosen as a Notable Book by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and all the Viking Magic books have been shortlisted for various children’s choice awards.
Where do you work?
When I first started writing, over thirty years ago, I worked in a corner of my kids’ playroom. I had one desk and an old manual typewriter with sticky keys. When my children were little there were many advantages to being a mum working from home, but also lots of distractions! I spent one summer holiday getting up during the night and working between 2am and 5am in order to get a book illustrated.
deskNowadays I have my own study with three desks, a Mac computer with two screens, a lap-top, a scanner-photocopier machine, an overflowing filing cabinet, and LOTS of bookshelves (but never enough). I have boxes and papers piled everywhere including all my artwork and my notes for all the books I have written and illustrated. I constantly refer back to notes from earlier books when I work on new books.
Does it take a lot of discipline to write at home?
I find it suits me well. My office is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and I use it round the clock! I can get my cleaning, cooking and washing done while I think about my work, and I can run to the computer and jot down inspirations. The advantage is that I can manage a home without leaving my office. The disadvantage is that I never escape from either the housework or the office, so whichever I’m spending time on I always feel guilty that I should be doing the other one!
Where do you get your ideas?
As a child, I always wondered how people lived in ‘the olden days’. How did they go to the toilet? How did they cook? What underwear did they wear? I was disappointed when history lessons at school only taught me dry facts about kings, queens and wars. So I did research on my own, devouring anything I could find about life in the past, and the first books I created were filled with the fun stuff about history I didn’t learn at school.
This obsession has continued, and has inspired many of my books – both fiction and non-fiction. The only problem is, I love research so much, I always have to drag myself away from it to force myself to do the writing! I love being a detective and I enjoy the excuse that being a writer gives me to intrude in other people’s lives and ask questions. It even gives me the opportunity to travel. When I was researching for The Family with Two Front Doors, a book about my Nana’s childhood in Lublin, Poland, I flew across the world to Lublin to do my research. It was amazing to visit the apartment block where my Nana used to live, and to buy bananas at the market where her family did their shopping nearly 100 years ago. Click here to find out more about the book.Lublin market with anna buying bananas
Students inspire me too. I do a lot of workshops in schools and many of my ideas come from the students’ questions, or their reactions to things I tell them about. The main plot inspiration for The Boy Who Stepped Through Time came from students in a school!
Can you give us some illustrating tips?
Always draw from real life or a photograph. I keep all our albums of family photos in my study and look through these for pictures to draw from.
For 52 Mondays I did all the artwork on a Surface Pro laptop. I used one layer to do a rough draft and then another layer for the finished artwork.
For my earlier books, I used to do rough drafts in pencil and then use a light box to trace through onto good quality paper using black ink. If I wanted a coloured picture, I photocopied this blackline onto watercolour paper and coloured it with watercolour paints. You can see one of my blackline drawings here, and print it out to colour in yourself!
When you have created your own masterpiece, you can enter it at Oz Kids in Print for a chance to be published online or in a magazine. You might even win a prize!
Can you give us some writing tips?
Again, the tip is to use real life as your model. You might find ideas on the news or in history books, But the best place to find them is in your own life.
It is the little details that make the story come alive, so picture the scene in your head – like watching a film – before you start to write it down. Don’t just write: ‘The boy walked down the street.’
boy walking
Think:
who was the boy?
what did he look like?
how was he walking?
what did the street look like?
what was the weather like?
who else was in the street?
what was the boy feeling?
what sounds could he hear?
When you have created your own fabulous story, you can enter it at Oz Kids in Print for a chance to be published online or in a magazine. You might even win a prize!
Does your family help you with your work?
When my children were little they posed for all my illustrations and I used them to test out my stories. These days my inspiration and advice comes from my very precious grandchildren and from children I visit in schools.
What are some secret funny facts about you?
My favourite food is porridge. I cook it slowly in a saucepan till the bottom gets all brown and chewy. Yum!
If I listen to songs, the tunes get stuck in my head and annoy me all night.
I trick my grandchildren into eating vegetables by mixing pureed baby food in their scrambled eggs – but please don’t tell them!
I hate wasting time so I always wait till the last possible second to go somewhere, and then panic all the way that I’ll be late.
I’m terrified of moths but I love butterflies – and I don’t mind spiders.
Click on Media appearances for more interviews
SHORT BIO
Anna Ciddor was brought up in a house without television so she and her two younger sisters were very creative. They loved reading, writing, drawing and making up plays. One of their favourite activities was drawing pictures of characters on cards and acting out stories about them. Anna was also fascinated by the past. When she was about ten, she started writing a novel about a boy in ancient Roman times, but she didn’t finish it till fifty years later!
Anna’s first career was as a senior school mathematics teacher. When her children came along, she had a break from teaching and decided to have a go at becoming a writer and illustrator…
Anna never did go back to being a teacher. She is now an award-winning author and illustrator of almost 60 books covering topics as diverse as history, travel, fantasy, biography, and family history. In 2021, she won the Nance Donkin Award for Children’s Literature.
In 2021 she also finally finished her story about ancient Romans! This novel was The Boy Who Stepped Through Time (Allen and Unwin 2021). It immediately hit the best-seller lists, and was shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards and longlisted for the ARA HNSA Historical Novel Prize.
Anna has since followed that up with another story about going back to the Roman Empire. A Message Through Time is a an action-packed time-slip adventure that carries stepsiblings Felix and Zoe back to Ancient Roman times – and also, accidentally, drags a Roman girl into the present. It is a standalone companion to the best-selling The Boy Who Stepped Through Time.
Anna’s meticulous work has been recognised by a grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council, and three of her novels have been selected as Notable Books by the CBCA as well as being shortlisted for numerous other awards. They have been made into audio books and translated and published around the world.
Anna Ciddor is an inspiring presenter and loves sharing her knowledge of research, planning, drafts and editing. You can find out more, and read a few chapters of her books, at http://www.annaciddor.com.
Anna Ciddor has been fascinated by the past for as long as she can remember. It would be her dream come true to step through time! Instead, she immerses herself in research and digs out the tiniest details so she can bring the past to life in her imagination - and in her books. Anna is based in Melbourne, Australia, but her research quests have led her across the world. She has hunted for druids in Ireland, Vikings in Norway, and her grandmother's childhood in Poland.
Anna's work has won her many accolades, including the Nance Donkin Award for Children's Literature, a grant from the Australia Council, Notable Book awards from the Children's Book Council of Australia, and shortlistings for numerous other awards. Some of her best-loved books include Runestone, The Family with Two Front Doors, and The Boy Who Stepped through Time.
To find out more, visit annaciddor.com.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anna Ciddor (born January 1957) is an Australian author and illustrator.
Ciddor is a patron of Oz Kids, an organisation to promote and support children's literary and artistic talents[1] and an ambassador for Australia Reads[2]. In 2021 she won the Nance Donkin Award for Children's Literature.[3]
Biography
Ciddor was born in January 1957 in Melbourne.[4] She was brought up in a house without television, and had an inventive and creative childhood.[5] She also had a strong interest in mathematics, and after finishing school, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in mathematics from the University of Melbourne and a Diploma of Education from Melbourne State College.[4] Her first career was as a senior school mathematics teacher, and it was only after marrying and having children that she began writing and illustrating.[5]
Her first book accepted for publication was a picture book,Take Me Back, published in 1988.[4] This book took the reader back in time to show how people lived in Australia in the past.[5][6] For the next few years, Ciddor continued to write and illustrate non-fiction books, concentrating on bringing history to life for children.[6] In 2002 Allen and Unwin published her first historical fantasy, Runestone, book 1 of Viking Magic. This children's novel, and the other Viking Magic books that followed, use historical details and strong storylines.[5][7]
In 2005 Ciddor was awarded a two-year grant by the Literature Board of the Australia Council.[8]
Ciddor based her fantasy books on global folk, fairy tale, and myth[9] as well as research into historic lifestyle and belief systems.[10] At the Melbourne Writers Festival in 2007 Ciddor appeared on a panel with Sophie Masson and Kate Forsyth discussing the historical truth behind their fantasy novels.[11] In a study of Canadian children's fantasy, author K.V. Johansen included a chapter on Ciddor's Viking Magic books because 'Although not by a Canadian author, the Viking Magic series is noteworthy' and 'does more towards realistic historical fiction than many "time-travel to learn history" novels'.[12]
In 2016 Ciddor changed to historical fiction with the release of The Family with Two Front Doors, published by Allen and Unwin.[13] It won a Notable Book Award from the Children's Book Council of Australia in March 2017.[14] The Family with Two Front Doors is based on interviews with the author's grandmother Nomi Rabinovitch, and tells the story of Nomi's childhood as the daughter of a rabbi in 1920s Lublin, Poland.[10][15][16] The writing style is inspired by Little House on the Prairie, presenting vignettes of the everyday life of a family.[10] The book combines historical fact and imagination but no fantasy elements.[15] According to a review by the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English, it is "an informative, gentle read' that "offers insight into how a Jewish household is run".[17] Unlike most books about the Jewish past, this one does not focus on the Holocaust and "there is... no violence and no hatred... but a charming reconstruction of daily routines".[18] Readings Bookstore, winners of the international Bookstore of the Year Award[19] described The Family with Two Front Doors as a modern counterpart to the classic book Little Women.[20] It was published in the US by Kar-Ben, a division of Lerner Books in 2018,[21] and chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection.[22] In 2019 it was translated into Polish as Dwoje drzwi i dziewięcioro dzieci and published in Poland by Mamania .
Ciddor's book, 52 Mondays, published by Allen and Unwin in 2019, is a fictionalised account of Ciddor's own childhood, filled with memories of Melbourne in the 1960s.[23] It was shortlisted for the 2019 REAL Awards,[24] longlisted for the inaugural Book Links Award for Children's Historical Fiction.[25]
In Ciddor's most recent book, A Message Through Time, published by Allen and Unwin in 2023, ‘the relationships between the characters … provides some rich discussion and reflection for readers ... clear themes of gender roles, wealth and privilege, resilience, ingenuity, the issues of slavery and moral compass/conscience as well as rich historical details.'[26] It is a standalone companion to The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, published by Allen and Unwin in 2021[27]. The historical details for both novels were provided by Tamara Lewit who is an archaeologist and historian specialising in Ancient Rome [28]. The Boy Who Stepped Through Time was long listed for the ARA Historical Novel Prize in 2021[29] and shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards for Best Children's Fiction in 2022.[30]
In 2021 Ciddor won the Nance Donkin award for Children's Literature.[31]
Ciddor has written and illustrated over fifty books.[15]
Awards
Nance Donkin Award for Children's Literature[3] winner 2021
The Boy Who Stepped Through Time – ARA Historical Novel Prize long list 2021[29] Aurealis Award for Best Children's Fiction short list[30]
52 Mondays – shortlisted for the 2019 REAL Awards,[24] longlisted for the inaugural Book Links Award for Children's Historical Fiction[25]
The Family with Two Front Doors – Notable Book, Children's Book Council of Australia 2017,[14] shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book Award 2017,[32] Junior Library Guild selection in America[33]
Night of the Fifth Moon – Notable Book, Children's Book Council of Australia 2008[34]
Two-year New Work Grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council 2005[8]
Runestone – Notable Book, Children's Book Council of Australia 2003[35]
Books
Trade market books
Have Kids, Will Travel, 1995, Silver Gum Press, ISBN 1-875843-08-6
Going Places: The Kids’ Own Travel Book, 1995, Silver Gum Press, ISBN 1875843078
Unplugged: the bare facts on toilets through the ages, 1997, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 1864484543
Runestone the first book in the Viking Magic series, 2002, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 978-1-86508-689-7
Wolfspell the second book in the Viking Magic series, 2003, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 1741140137
Stormriders the third book in the Viking Magic series, 2004, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781741143607
Prisoner of Quentaris, 2006, Lothian Books an imprint of Hachette, ISBN 0734408870
Night of the Fifth Moon, 2007, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781741148145
1000 Great Places to Travel with Kids in Australia, 2011, Explore Australia Publishing, a division of Hardie Grant, ISBN 9781741173406
The Family with Two Front Doors, 2016, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781925266641, 2018, Kar-Ben ISBN 978-1-54150-011-2, 2019 as Dwoje drzwi i dziewięcioro dzieci, Mamania ISBN 9788365796974
52 Mondays, 2019, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781760523480
The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, 2021, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781760526443
A Message Through Time, 2023, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781761180125
Educational market books (a selection)
Christmas in Australia, CIS Publishers, 1993, ISBN 9781875633388
Through Children's Eyes series, 1995, Macmillan Education Australia, ISBN 0732921139
Australia in the Twentieth Century set of 11 volumes, 1998, Macmillan Education Australia, ISBN 0732953820
Mountain of Gold, 2001, Barrie Publishing, ISBN 1740654064
Federation: Changing Australia, 2001, Macmillan Education Australia, ISBN 0732966655
Download hi-res
EVALUATION FORM
Anna Ciddor
Author, Illustrator, Online - Virtual Visits
Anna Ciddor inspires audiences with her passion for uncovering historical secrets and turning them into gripping narrative, and her lively presentations are filled with ‘show-and-tell’ and audience participation. In 2021, Anna won the Nance Donkin Award for Children’s Literature. Her newest book, A Message Through Time is coming out in April 2023. It is a gripping adventure that immerses readers in a world filled with excitement, laughter, and amazing (and accurate) historical detail about life in Gaul in ancient Roman times – and also brings a Roman girl into the present! It is a stand-alone companion to The Boy Who Stepped Through Time which was short-listed for the Aurealis Award and long listed for the AHA Historical Novel Prize. Anna has written and illustrated nearly 60 books, including the best-selling Runestone, a historical fantasy, The Family with Two Front Doors, a story based on her grandmother’s childhood in 1920s Poland, and 52 Mondays, inspired by Anna’s childhood memories of 1960s Australia.
Read more at www.annaciddor.com
What other jobs have you had?
Believe it or not, my first career was as a senior school maths teacher, but I always had a creative side as well, (my maths was a bit creative too!). When I had kids, I took a break from teaching and decided to have a go at getting a book published. The rest is history…
What themes are recurring in your work?
I love research, so my books are always based on some amazing truth I have uncovered – usually about another time or place because I am obsessed with the past.
What have been the highlights of your career?
It’s been an unreal and exciting joy to have several of my books chosen by kids for children’s choice awards, to win three Notable Book Awards from the Children’s Book Council and be shortlisted twice for the Speech Pathology of Australia Book of the Year. It’s a thrill every time I receive emails from readers telling me how much they love something I’ve written, or how my books have set them on the path to reading and enjoying books.
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
10 Quirky Questions with author Anna Ciddor
1. What's your hidden talent?
Making porridge! Seriously, I am a terrible cook and the only thing I can make is porridge. All my grandchildren demand ‘Nana porridge’ as soon as they see me. My secret is soaking rolled oats in milk all night before cooking, and never spoiling the dish with sugar or fruit.
2. Who is your favourite literary villain and why?
It would have to be Lord Vetinari, the evil Patrician, from the Terry Pratchett Discworld series. All of the characters in Pratchett’s books are hilarious spoofs, and Vetinari, despite his dastardly ways, adds a great humorous touch.
“I have to ask, sir...Why does it have to be done like this?"
Vetinari smiled. "Can you keep a secret, Mister Lipwig?"
"Oh, yes, sir. I've kept lots."
"Capital. And the point is, so can I. You do not need to know.” (From Raising Steam, by Terry Pratchett)
3. You're hosting a literary dinner party, which five authors would you invite? (alive or dead)
Oh, fantastic! I’m going to invite some of the authors who were my favourites when I was a child – the people who put me on the path to becoming the writer I am now:
Rumer Godden, who wrote Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, and fascinated me with her unique writing style; Rachel Field, who wrote Hitty, the adventures of a wooden doll, and ignited my obsession with the past; Enid Blyton who carried me off into other worlds with all her fantasies; Joyce Lankester Brisley, who wrote Milly-Molly-Mandy, and taught me the joy of music and rhythm in prose; Noel Streatfeild who wrote Ballet Shoes and other stories that pulled at my heart strings; A.A… Oh dear, that’s five. I’ll have to stop. Do you think they’ll mind if I serve them porridge for dinner?
4. Which literary invention do you wish was real?
Time travel, of course! For as far back as I can remember, I have wanted to visit other times. But I definitely wouldn’t want to actually live in another time. When I sent Perry back to the Roman Empire, in The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, he had to sit on a shared toilet seat with other people, wipe his bottom with a sponge on a stick, and share a bath with people he didn’t know, in dirty, scummy water. Yuck!
5. What are five words that describe your writing process?
Research, research, research, research, research. I have to drag myself away from the research to actually write – but then I procrastinate for ages with lots of planning! And if I ever get stuck with the plot I just head right back to research and I always find the answer there!
6. Which are the five words you would like to be remembered by as a writer?
Took me into another world.
7. Picture your favourite writing space. What are five objects you would find there?
A closed door – I need peace and quiet to write, a photo of all my grandchildren, a computer, a printer, a pencil – because, although I compose on the computer, every now and then I print out what I’ve written and read it out loud with a pencil in my hand, making corrections. By reading out loud, I hear the rhythm and flow of the words – and check they make sense!
8. Grab the nearest book, open it to page 22 and look for the second word in the first sentence. Now, write a line that starts with that word. (Please include the name of the book!)
Don’t be afraid to follow your dreams. (Word taken from The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne that I’m in the middle of reading to a grandson)
9. If you could ask one author one question, what would the question be and who would you ask?
I always have problems thinking up plots, so I would like to ask any author who writes really gripping, emotionally powerful plots to give me an idea for my next book. Garth Nix would be a good start… Or Glenda Millard…
10. Which would you rather do: 'Never write another story or never read another book'?
That’s easy. I looove reading, and ever since I was little, I’ve kept a book to read on the kitchen table (while I eat my porridge). But if I have to make a choice, I’d have to say I’d never read another book, because I never, ever want to give up writing. While I was writing The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, I was so caught up in the plot that I propped my laptop on the table instead of a book and kept on writing while I ate. I was so emotionally involved in the life and world I was creating, I didn’t want to leave it to read any other book!
Anna Ciddor has always been fascinated by the past. It would be her dream come true to step through time! Instead, she immerses herself in research and hunts out the tiniest details so she can bring the past to life in her imagination – and in her books. Anna's meticulous work has been recognised by a grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council, three of her novels have been selected as Notable Books by the Children's Book Council of Australia, and several have been translated into other languages to be enjoyed around the world. For more information, see www.annaciddor.com.
Interview with Anna Ciddor about her new book, The Boy Who Stepped Through Time
June 1, 2021
Ashleigh
Cover with a blue background, and an old Roman temple in the foreground. A young boy stares at the temple and the ancient people surrounding it. The title is in the centre of the temple, above the boy in blue. It is called The Boy Who Stepped Through Time. The author's name, Anna Ciddor, is also in blue above the title.
Cover of the Boy Who Stepped Through Time by Anna Ciddor
To begin, can you tell us what The Boy Who Stepped Through Time is about?
It’s about an ordinary Australian boy, called Perry, who goes on holidays to the south of France and finds himself having extraordinary adventures. I had lots of fun transporting him back to the time of the Roman Empire and thinking up all sorts of twists and excitements and funny situations for him.
I always like to know where the inspiration for novels came from especially when it comes to historical fiction, so what inspired this particular story?
Well, for the main plot I was trying to work out how Perry could use his knowledge from the future to help someone in the past. Maybe he could save a sick person using modern medical knowledge or…
I asked my researcher Tamara, what was engraved on the tombs from Roman times. Did they reveal what people died from?
“No,” she answered. “On children’s coffins they put their exact age – three years, two months and six days, or whatever. But they didn’t say what they died of. And I don’t think you’d want to use a child’s coffin for your story…”
“Yes I would!” I cried excitedly.
As soon as Tamara mentioned the child’s coffin, the plot burst into my head.
Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter:
‘Don’t mention that museum,’ groaned Melissa. ‘I still can’t believe you and Mum spent two hours looking at dead people.’
‘It wasn’t dead people. It was ancient stone coffins. From Roman times,’ protested Perry.
‘Same thing.’
‘Well, they were interesting. I found one of a girl who died when she was exactly my age: eleven years, two months and one day old. Her name . . .’
QUOTE FROM ANNA’S BOOK, THE BOY WHO STEPPED THROUGH TIME
You see, my plot idea was to have Perry see a name on a coffin in a museum, and then, when he goes back to Roman times, I’d make him meet a real girl with the same name – a girl who hasn’t died – yet!
You took fifty years to write this story – I don’t think I’ve ever heard of something like that happening! What was it that about this story that took so long, and why do you think now was the right time for it to come out?
It wasn’t the story that was the problem. It was me! Back in the 1960s, when I was about ten years old, I read a book about the ancient Romans and became obsessed with them, picturing men in togas feasting on peacocks, and people sitting in huge, steamy bathhouses rubbing themselves with olive oil instead of soap, and scraping it off again with funny metal tools called strigils. I decided to write a novel set in ancient Roman times. I began with a boy dressed in a knee-length tunic, running down a cobbled street. The sun was shining and his feet thumped along the hot cobblestones. And then… and then…
I quickly realised I didn’t have enough information – or ideas – for a whole novel, and I went back to playing with my two younger sisters. The image of a Roman boy running down a cobbled street still haunted me though.
Jump forward about 30 years… After a short career as a teacher, I had become a writer and illustrator, mostly focusing on non-fiction. I was asked to contribute to a reading program for the education market, and I wrote and illustrated a series of little books about children from other times. One of them was called A Roman Day to Remember (Macmillan Education,1999). At last, I was done with my Roman boy.
Or so I thought!
Writing these imaginary little stories about the past had whetted my appetite for fiction and I decided to write a novel. At that time fantasy was all the rage, so I created Runestone (Allen and Unwin 2002) – a fantasy rooted in history.
Other ideas caught my imagination and demanded to be written – more historical fantasies, a story about my grandmother’s childhood (The Family with Two Front Doors, Allen and Unwin 2017), a story about my own childhood (52 Mondays, Allen and Unwin 2019)… but finally I realised I was still haunted by that boy in his tunic. So I turned to my sister…
You see, while I’d been growing up and becoming an author and illustrator, my baby sister Tamara had become a Roman historian and archaeologist. (I think I might have influenced her career choice with the games we played as children!) Anyway, I asked if she’d collaborate, and together we began to research and work out the full story of that boy from Roman times!
What was the research process with your sister, Tamara like, and where did you start? How long did it take?
Tamara turned up to our first planning meeting at a café with a pile of books from the Melbourne University library. She’d started marking things she thought would be useful, but we soon discovered we had two different approaches. Tamara was an archaeologist looking for evidence and I was a creative writer looking for a story! However, we quickly learned to work together.
Tamara begged me to set the novel in a late Roman villa (a country mansion), something she had been researching. We had lots of fun planning the setting. Tamara found out about a real excavated Roman villa near a place called Taradeau in southern France and we used this as the basis for our fictional ‘Villa Rubia’. We drew plans of the whole villa and farm and worked out things like the location of the shrine, the toilets, and where each of the characters would sleep and work. It was just like being children again, when we used to create little villages for the card families from our Happy Families game!
I could not have written the book without Tamara’s help. It was the first time in my writing career I’ve worked with a collaborator and it was fabulous to have someone to brainstorm with, and to find all the details I needed. We planned the book chapter by chapter, then before I started each new scene Tamara tried to guess what information I might need and prepared it all for me in a shared drive – the clothes, the furniture, the food, etc!
This was only the beginning though. As soon as I started to write the scene, I would flood her with questions. For example, when I was writing a chapter set in a grand bathhouse, I wanted to know:
How hot was the water in the hot bath?
Was the water in the bath clean? (It wasn’t, we worked out it must have been murky and disgusting with bits of hair and stuff floating in it!)
Did they all walk around naked?
Were the slaves and masters all equal in the bathhouse?
Tamara was amazingly fast responding to my flurry of texts and emails so I could stay immersed in the story.
It still took a long time though! We started in late 2018 and Tamara was still checking sources (she read more than 1000!) and making corrections when we were proofreading for publication at the start of 2021!
Anna Ciddor sits in a chair, wearing a white shirt with black spots, and is smiling at the camera. She is a white woman with dark, curly hair.
Anna Ciddor
Historical fiction often calls for exemplary research and facts woven throughout a compelling and accessible plot for readers – how did you pull these two aspects together, so you were true to the story and still managed to maintain historical accuracy?
Actually, at first it looked as if I wasn’t going to be able to do it! I started the book as a straight historical novel, brimming with all the wonderful details Tamara had found for me. However, when I trialled my first chapters in primary schools, the students couldn’t picture the scenes because they didn’t understand the historical terms such as lattice, chamber pot, tunic, and dung. I was flummoxed. How could I bring the past to life without the right vocabulary? Luckily, I had the idea of starting again, creating a modern boy and sending him back in time. That was the key to making the historical details accessible – I could reveal and describe the world of ancient Roman Gaul through modern eyes – and it also gave me lots of avenues for creating a more compelling story.
How pedantic was Tamara when it came to the historical side of the story, and how do you feel this impacted the story overall?
Both Tamara and I were adamant that everything in the story had to be accurate, although sometimes her answer to my questions was “nobody knows”. Every time she corrected something or we found out a new detail that forced us to change the story, the novel just got better. The real historical information always improved the plot or the writing.
What was the most exciting fact or artefact you and your sister found during the research process?
Oh, there were so many exciting finds, but I think the most thrilling one was the villa…
This is how it happened. When Tamara told me about the villa we would use for the story, all she had was a plan archaeologists had been able to draw from a few lines of stones in the ground. The villa was a ruin. Well, I wanted to be able to picture the setting it was in. Was the ground hilly or flat? Were there woods or rivers nearby? Even though it was 1700 years later, we decided to scroll through Google satellite view and see what we could find. I was thrilled to see it looked quite unchanged, a peaceful area full of woods and vineyards. Suddenly, I noticed a bare patch of ground..
“Zoom in, zoom in!” I cried.
And there it was – neat rows of ruined stone walls, just like we had on the archaeologist’s drawing, in front of us. We could actually see the villa! We danced around the room with excitement.
The next exciting find was something Tamara found in the archaeologist’s report: a mention of a huge stone from an oil press found in the villa ruins, that had an extra hole carved in it by mistake.
“It would be fabulous if you could weave that into the story,” Tamara challenged me…
“I will,’ I promised.
What impact did this have on the story, and did you use it, or save it for something else?
I definitely used it! I was searching for a way my modern boy could prove he came from the future. I decided he could see this stone on display before he went back in time, and then… But I don’t want to give away the plot, so I won’t reveal the rest here!
Roman life wasn’t always gladiators and kings – what were some of the grittier things you uncovered, and do you think that you could have lived during Roman times?
I am definitely glad I don’t live in Roman times! I could not imagine sitting on a shared toilet seat with other people, or having a bath with strangers, or living in a household full of slaves. Slavery was actually one of the hardest things to describe and deal with in the story. Although I chose to make the master in my novel a kind man who doesn’t whip his slaves, it was still confronting to deal with the fact that he owned other people and had that power over them. I was glad I was writing a time-slip story so my modern boy could express his outrage about this to his ancient friends, and there is a really interesting conversation in the book where three viewpoints collide – the viewpoint of a slave boy, the master’s daughter, and the modern boy.
What Roman sports do you think would be fun to watch in modern times?
Romans only threw balls rather than kicking them, so in the novel the modern boy teaches his Roman friends to play footy. But we found out that the atmosphere at Roman chariot racing events would have been very like a footy match, with supporters dressed in their team’s colours and shouting and singing. In the end I couldn’t fit a chariot race into The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, but maybe it’ll find its way into the next book.
Were there any whacky or unusual facts you and your sister uncovered about Ancient Rome that
We found out that remedies for a cough included horse saliva drunk with hot water, pigeon dung gargled with raisin wine, and ground millipedes mixed in vinegar and honey! Also, that when ancient Romans made a spell they wrote “Abracadabra”!
1700 years ago, feels impossible to imagine – what made you decide on that number, and what to you, were the key events and key people that made this time fascinating in Ancient Rome?
Well, I didn’t actually have a choice with the number because that is Tamara’s favourite time in history, and the one she has studied the most! However, I’m glad we did pick that date – 313 CE to 314 CE.
It is not your stereotypical period in Roman history so it’s not one you often come across in books. When people hear the words “ancient Roman” they usually picture a man wearing a toga and reading from a scroll. But they come from a much earlier period. I think it was more interesting and unusual to set our story in the early 4th century, when many things had changed. Men no longer wore the traditional toga, except for rare ceremonial occasions, and women wore robes with long sleeves. The rich were buried in carved stone coffins like the one in our story (earlier Romans cremated their dead) – so that gave me the opportunity to use a coffin inscription in the plot.
A common phrase is ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ Did this phrase have any bearing on how Perry taught himself to act in Ancient Rome?
In this book, I decided to snatch a rather unadventurous, sheltered modern child out of his fun holiday and throw him into a daunting and challenging situation, being taken as a Roman slave. This gave me the opportunity to create some funny scenes where he makes mistakes and learns to behave like a slave. However, I also explore his feelings when he is confronted by the different attitudes of another culture, including their acceptance of the lack of rights for slaves and children. As the story progresses, Perry discovers hidden strengths and abilities, and learns to embrace new experiences. Interestingly, by the end of the book his friends from the Roman world have absorbed some of his modern attitudes, and he, himself, is not the same unadventurous, sheltered child of the first chapters.
Which historical characters were you keen to have Perry interact with during his time in Rome?
This is a book about ordinary Romans, not historical figures. However, when Tamara found an ancient description of the Emperor Constantine visiting the city at the time of the story, I couldn’t resist including it!
Did Roman religion come up in your research, and if so, how did it inform your plot and characters?
Religion was a large factor in Roman life, so it had to come into the story – but, again, it wasn’t the stereotypical depiction of Roman religion involving animal sacrifice, priests and temples. From our research we discovered that religion was an integral part of everyday life, that every home had little shrines and household gods, so I wove this into the plot, and into the characters’ belief systems. Tamara helped me compose appropriate prayers based on real Roman texts. When the main girl character prays on her birthday, asking her guardian spirit to keep her safe and give her many more birthdays, that is based on a real ancient prayer. I was so thrilled when Tamara found that form of prayer – it was so appropriate to the story! As the reader, and Perry, listen to her praying, they know she is really in danger and may not see another birthday…
Finally, what do you enjoy about writing historical fiction, and what do you think it can teach us?
Usually when I write a historical novel, I have to imagine myself as a character from the past and I am restricted to trying to experience scenes through alien eyes. In this book, for the first time, I was able to ‘visit’ the past as a modern person, a version of myself. I could try to make sense of it, comment on it, and make comparisons.
This was such an eye-opening experience, and such a different way of looking at the past that I am now on a mission to encourage other people, especially students, to try the same experiment.
We always encourage our children to be empathetic, to picture themselves in another person’s shoes. As readers and writers that is what we are usually required to do. For this book, instead of asking the reader to imagine being another person, I am actually saying ‘how would you feel if you saw this, or if this happened to you?’
Ciddor, Anna THE FAMILY WITH TWO FRONT DOORS Kar-Ben (Children's Fiction) $16.99 4, 1 ISBN: 978-1-5415-0011-2
A window into the everyday life and rituals of a large Orthodox Jewish family in pre-World War II Poland.
Two parents and nine children of various ages make up the lively Rabinovitch family. Headed by Papa Rabinovitch, a rabbi, the family is large enough to need two side-by-side apartments, making them the titular "family with two front doors." They are religiously observant, and readers get close-up views of preparations for the Sabbath and an Orthodox Jewish wedding as well as insights into class and gender roles of the era. Based on the childhood experiences of the author's grandmother (who is the character of 10-year-old Nomi, who, per the author's note, is one of the few to later survive the Holocaust), the centerpiece of the story is the oldest sister's marriage at 15 to a young man whom she does not meet until her wedding day, when she rapidly transforms from teen to woman. Told in a third person that is sometimes omniscient and sometimes filtered through Nomi's perspective, the tale is nicely peppered with colloquial Yiddish phrases of the era; it's reminiscent of but has less emotional depth than the iconic Fiddler on the Roof story and the All-of-a-Kind Family series by Sidney Taylor. In its slice-of-life approach, it prioritizes detail over drama.
Heartwarming, painstaking detail and characterization, if also a bit light on plot. (Glossary) (Historical fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Ciddor, Anna: THE FAMILY WITH TWO FRONT DOORS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A527248102/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c9f2cf9e. Accessed 17 May 2023.
The Family with Two Front Doors
Anna Ciddor. Kar-Ben, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5415-0011-2
Ciddor's lively novel transports readers to the Jewish quarter of the town of 1920s Lublin, Poland, where the Rabinovitch family of 11 (including a rabbi father, a mother, and their nine children) carries out its Orthodox traditions in both rambunctious and respectful style. Reverence and love for the religious and cultural rituals are seen through the eyes of two of the younger children: enthusiastic 10-year-old Nomi (named for the author's grandmother, whose memories were the basis for the book) and mischievous eight-year-old Yakov. The story is rich in sensory details--food is always being bought, prepared, eagerly anticipated, and savored--and flows with energetic family dynamics and warmth, though it's somewhat light on plot. The narrative centers on the betrothal of 15-year-old Adina, the family's eldest girl, and on preparations for her arranged marriage; the major element of suspense is whether she will have to leave Lublin for faraway Warsaw after the wedding. Apart from one scene in which the children are harassed for being Jews, the story maintains a positive tone, offering a sympathetic look at traditional Jewish life in an earlier era. A glossary of Jewish and Yiddish words and an author's note are included. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Family with Two Front Doors." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 9, 26 Feb. 2018, p. 91. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A530637524/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=19c69ce7. Accessed 17 May 2023.
CIDDOR, Anna. Night of the Fifth Moon. 243p. CIP. Allen & Unwin. 2008. pap. $9.95. ISBN 978-1-74114-814-5. LC number unavailable.
Gr 5-8--A richly woven story set in pagan Ireland. After his father loses his chieftain robes and title, Ket leaves his family to study as a fosterling under the direction of the druid. Five years later, he and the other five fosterlings are no closer to becoming his anruths, or assistants. But with the cry of a raven at the new moon, the druid decides that it is time for new beginnings and that one fosterling will be sent away each new moon until only two remain. Of those two, only one will be chosen to become an anruth. Though the characters are often stereotypical in their actions, Ciddor's attention to detail and knowledge of the setting drive the story forward. As it moves through the seasons, so, too, does the author's imagery, creating a world so tangible that readers can feel the chill of the wind and the frost underfoot during the long winter. Young people interested in a historical look at Celtic Ireland will love Night of the Fifth Moon.--Lisa Marie Williams, East Gwillimbury Public Library, Holland Landing, Ontario
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Williams, Lisa Marie. "Ciddor, Anna. Night of the Fifth Moon." School Library Journal, vol. 55, no. 5, May 2009, p. 102. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A201548288/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9a98371e. Accessed 17 May 2023.
Reviews
Emma
Anna Ciddor's novel The Boy Who Stepped Through Time is a glorious tale of a boy who time travels back to the Roman era whilst on holiday with his family. The story begins with Perry and his family visiting a Roman grape harvest festival at a Roman villa in France. Perry inadvertently ends up being transported back in time and has to work as a slave in the same villa.
There, Perry (Peregrinus) begins the most magnificent adventure; he not only has to fit in with his new friend, Carotus, but he also has to help avert a disaster involving Valentina - the master's daughter. The story is littered with historical facts and it's apparent that the author has researched the Roman era to the nth degree - there were lots of facts that I did not know, especially the peculiar foods Romans ate and the way the slaves were treated.
The story is fast-paced, Perry is a loveable character, he is kind, thoughtful but the reader also empathizes with him - it's easy to forget that he is still a young boy that is missing his family. This story would be an excellent class read - especially if the class is studying the Romans. I would also use it alongside Egyptians or ancient Greek topics as it would be a brilliant link to retrieval practice - where links can be made to other periods in time.
If it was to be read as a standalone text - it would suit upper key stage 2 (for readers aged 9+), the vocabulary is just pitched right for this age. This will definitely be a welcome addition to my class library.
336 pages / Reviewed by Emma Nelson, teacher
Suggested Reading Age 9+