SATA
ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: Thrilling Thieves
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.briannadumont.com/
CITY: Chicago
STATE: IL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in St. Louis, MO; married.
EDUCATION:Received degree in art history and archaeology.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author; also worked as vet tech assistant. Formerly managed pet-themed boutique.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2015, review of Fantastic Fugitives: Criminals, Cutthroats, and Rebels Who Changed History (While on the Run); June 1, 2018, review of Thrilling Thieves: Liars, Cheats, and Cons Who Changed History.
School Library Journal, January, 2015, Katherine Koenig, review of Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History, p. 128; February, 2016, Sarah Wilsman, review of Fantastic Fugitives, p. 122; June, 2018, Paige Garrison, review of Thrilling Thieves, p. 105.
ONLINE
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ (August 6, 2018), Deborah Kalb, “Q&A with Brianna DuMont.”
Brianna Dumont website, http://www.briannadumont.com (January 16, 2019), author profile.
From the Mixed Up Files, https://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/ (December, 2014), Michele Weber Hurwitz, “Interview with Brianna DuMont, Author of Famous Phonies.“
Brianna DuMont got her degree in art history and archaeology, and classics, intending to spend her time digging in the dirt. Now that she's fallen in love with writing, she explores her love of history through her books. Her non-fiction series for middle graders, The Changed History Series, will debut with Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History in October 2014. She lives in Chicago, IL with her husband.
Interview with Brianna DuMont, Author of Famous Phonies
We’re pleased to welcome debut author Brianna DuMont to the Mixed-Up Files today. She’s the author of a new middle grade nonfiction book, Famous Phonies — Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History.
Q: Welcome, Brianna, and congrats on your debut book. Can you tell us what it’s about?
A: Thank you! It’s been a life-changing journey to learn the ups and downs of publishing professionally. As for Famous Phonies, if I had to distill it down, I would say that the book is about teaching kids how fun and strange history can be. While I love to learn about things like kings and queens and important wars, history is so much more than that. I wanted to write a series that showed kids the quirky underbelly of history. Famous Phonies, the first book in the series, details the “lives” of twelve people who changed history despite the fact that they never existed. Some literally never existed, like Homer. Some were legends whose myth had come to overshadow and obscure the truth of the real person, like Confucius. And some were hoaxes and fakes that tricked people for hundreds of years. I didn’t want it to be a dry textbook either. I wanted the voice to match the material, so I worked hard to make the stories funny. Being able to poke fun at famous people was just a bonus.
Q: How did you come up with this idea?
A: I studied Art History and Classical Archaeology in college and got my second degree in Classics. Ancient history has always been my favorite thing to study. While translating Homer’s Iliad one day for fun (yes, I consider that fun!), I started thinking how it’s too bad most people learn that Homer is a real guy in a bed sheet who sat down and penned two of the greatest stories in Western literature — the Odyssey and the Iliad. He’s not. The idea snowballed from there. Immediately, I came up with three or four other people who never existed. Eventually through more research, I realized there were many people we learn about in history who never existed or were totally different from what we were taught.
Q: Tell us about your research process. How did you find out these behind-the-scenes details about famous historical figures?
A: Luckily, I live right next to Loyola University in Chicago. I pop over there a few days a week to snoop around their stacks and pretend I’m still a student. They have a great collection of scholarly books and articles. And, when picking out a movie, I typically gravitate toward documentaries, so I find a lot of interesting tidbits and trivia that way as well, which I can follow up with more research. It’s mostly a lot of tracking down and cross-referencing. I’d say I spend ninety percent of my time researching and only ten percent writing.
Q: Can you share with us one of the interesting tidbits from the book?
A: One of my favorite characters is Prester John, the imaginary king who inspired Europe to launch crusades and explorations in order to track him down. More than likely, he was one of history’s biggest hoaxes. A bishop made him up in the 12th century, but for hundreds of years, kings and popes were obsessed with finding him because they believed he was rich beyond their wildest dreams, held the secret to immortal life, and would help them reclaim the Holy Land. Also, interestingly, Pythagoras had nothing to do with math.
Q: What are you working on next? Is this book going to be part of a series?
A: I’m under contract for one more book in this series with potentially two more after that. The second book is Fugitives Who Changed History. The manuscript is due in February, with a planned release of January 2016. In addition, I’m always working on side projects — novels, fantasy, historical fiction, maybe a little sci-fi.
Q: What is your writing routine?
A: I’m big on routines and schedules. Every Sunday night I write down a list of what I want to accomplish for the week. Then every morning, I work on nonfiction, take a coffee break, and leave the afternoon for novels if I feel I’ve gotten enough done on my history books. I take frequent dance and jump-around-like-crazy breaks. My cats love and hate that I’m home all day. They have no opportunity to jump on the counters and sniff for crumbs. Some days I spend the whole morning at Loyola researching then come home in the afternoon to write about what I discovered. I love what I do, so I don’t mind working all day.
Q: You’re a big history buff, obviously! Were you always interested in history, even as a kid?
A: Yes. In fourth grade, my parents moved us to Germany for six months. There, we got to travel to many of Europe’s castles, museums, and historical sites. I think that really ignited my love of history and travel. Getting to see where Marie Antoinette was beheaded is pretty life-changing for a nine year old. I could imagine in exquisite detail what she would have felt like walking to her doom (or so I thought at the time).
Q: Growing up, you were the oldest of three. You credit being the oldest with helping you become a creative person. Tell us about that.
A: When it was rainy or when none of the neighbor kids could play, it was up to me, the big sister, to come up with something to do. I invented many games in our basement to occupy the younger two, which usually involved Indiana Jones adventures, playing pioneers on the frontier, or spinning a globe to choose a new country to pretend to visit. I’d make us look up the country in my Dad’s encyclopedias and give reports. Also, I was the biggest, for a while. (Now I’m the shortest.) And I was naturally bossy, so my rules were golden. I wanted to be the one to make up the games, and I hated to sit still or be ladylike.
Q: What do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors?
A: I love to read nonfiction! Of course, I always love learning new stuff about the world, people, and history, but I also enjoy a good, old fantasy. My favorite authors are J.K. Rowling, Katherine Kurtz, and Rick Riordan. But my childhood hero will always be Laura Ingalls Wilder — Little House in the Big Woods was the first book I ever read alone.
Q: Fill in the blanks: I’m really awesome at___. I’m embarrassed to admit I can’t___. If I had the chance, I’d like to___.
A: I’m really awesome at cooking obscure, snooty French food. Chicken liver mousse, anyone? I’m embarrassed to admit I can’t tie my shoelaces with the one loop method. I’m a bunny ear believer! If I had the chance, I’d like to travel back in time and see what happened to the Lost Colony: Roanoke.
Thanks, Brianna, for visiting! Teachers and librarians can download a guide to Famous Phonies on Brianna’s website at briannadumont.com. It’s Common Core aligned, and free.
Michele Weber Hurwitz is the author of two middle grade novels, The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days, and Calli Be Gold, both from Wendy Lamb Books. Visit her at micheleweberhurwitz.com.
The Short Version.
Author: Brianna DuMont
After getting my degree in Art History and Archaeology (with a side of Classics, and Animal Science, just for kicks), I decided digging in the dirt was not for me. I wanted to write about history for kids and re-live it every day! Now, I live to travel all over the world in search of great museums and historical sites to visit. When I'm at home in my adopted city (Chicago), I'm a full-time writer and quickly becoming best friends with my local librarians. History is most fun when it's getting made fun of, so my nonfiction series are all about laughing. What's history without a little perspective?
The Long Version.
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the oldest of three. There’s a lot of pressure, and responsibility that comes with
being the oldest. You’re the one who has to come up with all the cool games when everyone else is bored
senseless. I’d like to think my creative powers took shape during these formative, pre-Candy Crush years.
Then came middle grade, which was pretty rough on cameras. It’d be best for my ego not to show you,
but what’s “ego” but a Freudian construct? Right? Anyway, here: me in 7th grade. (view on your desktop)
My parents always said they knew exactly which kid was me—the one with the shortest hair. I preferred
the tomboy lifestyle and never left home without my soccer shoes, ball cap, and adidas shorts. Except for school picture days when I was forced.If you mistook me for a boy, my feelings won’t be hurt. I grew some thick skin after my husband mistook me for my brother in
photographs on more than one occasion.When I wasn’t beating the neighborhood boys in footraces or
soccer shoot-outs, I was reading in a tree. Laura Ingalls Wilder was and always will be my childhood
hero. And a really great party trick. I can spew LIW facts until everyone is inching towards the dip bowl.
Then came high school. My face hurt the cameras marginally less. I stopped challenging boys to races,
but mostly because I got really shy. Books were my refuge. And animals. I traded in my cleats for three
jobs. (Mostly so I could afford that awesome red car!) (view on your desktop)
I was a tech assistant at a vet where I got to do fun things like play with puppies and not so fun things like put IVs in cats’ tiny veins. On
weeknights, I went to a wildlife rescue where I let baby ducklings wade in plastic pools, and syringe-fed
opossums and squirrels. On weekends, I trained dogs at Purina Farms, ran digestive and palatability tests,
and made poop smoothies for analysis. Yummy. I guess I always thought I’d become a ground-breaking
scientist. Like a vet, or an astronaut or, I don’t know… other sciencey stuff. That dream died abruptly when
I went to college where I took a job on a dairy farm. Getting up at three a.m. to milk cows and scoop poop
for six straight hours with breaks of sticking my whole arm up cow butts all in the name of science might
have had something to do with it.
Dissecting was fun, A.I. wasn’t. So I handed in my sludge boots, flip-flopped my major and my minor (Animal Science to Art History), and never looked back. Instead of driving a manure-filled tractor all day, I was now deciphering Homeric Greek and labeling pottery shards in a musty museum basement. But at least I got to sleep in.
Within a week of graduation, I moved to Chicago, my favorite US city, where I grasped at any job that came my way. This brought me right back to animal care. I managed a small holistic pet boutique, which is pretty much the opposite of Purina and dairy farms. After a year of that, I quit in order to focus on writing. It sounds crazy, but luckily I had a supportive husband. And even better, it only took four months to sign with an agent, and a year more to sign a book deal. If you’ve got an amazing idea, don’t give up hope! Great ideas will always get noticed.
These days, I love to travel, even if it’s just to the Arabic neighborhood down the street to find great shawarma or across the globe to really immerse myself.
In more relevant news, I’ll be posting once a week on Wednesdays about middle grade books I adore, life under contract, the writing experience, and of course, history tidbits that don't make it into the books. Or
maybe whatever tickles my fancy that week. Once a month, I’ll have a Travel Tuesdays post with a
historical bent, because that’s the way I love to travel!
Monday, August 6, 2018
Q&A with Brianna DuMont
Brianna DuMont is the author of the new kids' book Thrilling Thieves: Liars, Cheats, and Cons Who Changed History. It's the third in a series that also includes Fantastic Fugitives and Famous Phonies. She lives in Chicago.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for your new book, and for the series?
A: The Changed History series actually stemmed from the first book I ever tried to write. It was about thieves in mythologies. After writing out a few short stories of mythological bad guys, I asked the simple question: What if? What if there were real people who impacted the world by stealing?
I signed with my agent based off of this idea, but a lot of editors were asking about series potential. I came up with more what if questions, including people who never existed who changed history and fugitives on the run who changed history.
Interestingly enough, Sky Pony, my publisher, loved the series, but wanted the never existed idea first. That became Famous Phonies. Then they wanted fugitives, which became Fantastic Fugitives. So that’s how thieves became my first “sellable” idea, but the third book in the series.
Q: Some of these people--like Queen Elizabeth I and Thomas Edison--are not people generally thought of as thieves. How did you choose the historical figures to include?
A: Choosing people was fairly tricky. They have to check a lot of boxes to be included: having stolen something and having that theft impact history.
I also thought it was fun to include people who weren’t remembered as the “bad guys” and absolutely to include women. A lot of times, women didn’t have much agency in history, but if you dig, you start to find they still accomplished things, albeit on a quieter, smaller scale than a Napoleon level.
In seeing new sides to old faces, readers can begin to understand how complex history is.
Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: I have the great privilege of living near many top-notch universities in Chicago. When I was writing this book, I lived about a block away from Loyola and spent most of my afternoons in the stacks with a large cup of coffee. I recently moved to Hyde Park and now spend my days wandering the University of Chicago’s library.
My process is pretty simple, however: Go to the experts. I like to start with a simple Google search to see who’s in the field of study for the person I’m writing about. I check out all of their articles and books (this is where the universities come in handy) and spend weeks getting acquainted with the details and which scholar agrees or disagrees about what fact.
If I have specific questions, I always reach out to them, making sure to be friendly and open. I’ve found them all to be extremely welcoming and excited to talk about their favorite subject!
I was shocked to stumble across Madame Cheng—I’d never heard of her! While doing some general searches on pirates, I found a Chinese woman from 1800 who controlled the largest confederacy of pirates in all of history.
To put it in perspective, she commanded 70,000 pirates while the height of Western piracy in the Caribbean had around 5,600 pirates. She only quit pirating because the Chinese emperor offered her a great retirement package.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?
A: History is fun! Don’t worry about the details—names, dates, battles can all blur together, so focus on the big picture first. The details will be there when you’re ready.
Also, all of my footnotes for every paragraph of information is detailed on my website. Due to an unexpected time crunch (we went from having a month deadline to 24 hours), they didn’t make it in the book, but I felt very passionate about making sure they were available for students conducting research.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m mostly working on keeping my sanity with my two little kids under three at home all day! But that being said, I can’t turn off the desire to write and create. After two months on “maternity leave” with my youngest, I started plotting out a MG adventure novel during midnight wake-up calls, which is what I’m working on currently.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I own Harry Potter in five languages, including ancient Greek! My minor in college was ancient Greek, and we had a professor who taught a semester of Attic with the new translation (that’s the dialect of Greek used in Athens during the Classical period 5th-4thcenturies BCE).
As you can tell by my books, my approach to history and learning is all about making it relevant and humorous. This article by the translator explains some of the challenges and the fun of bringing magical words into an ancient Greek lexicon.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
DuMont, Brianna: THRILLING THIEVES
Kirkus Reviews. (June 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
DuMont, Brianna THRILLING THIEVES Sky Pony Press (Children's Informational) $16.99 7, 3 ISBN: 978-1-5107-0169-4
Thieves of the highest magnitude--think Napoleon--get a good tattling from DuMont in a continuation of her Changed History series.
These are thieves who really did change history by moving the stolen items around the globe, sometimes in a small span, around Paris, for example, and sometimes from one continent to another. DuMont starts with the Venetians, who not only stole St. Mark's body, but made alarming gains during the Crusades. She moves on to Francisco Pizarro and his conveyor belt of gold and silver from the Incan Empire to Spain. It took Francis Drake six days to empty one of King Philip's Spanish treasure ships of its gold and silver. That is the same Drake to whom Queen Elizabeth gave "more ships to cram more Africans aboard to sell in the West Indies." DuMont can come off as glib, but for the most part she is just throwing sauce in the face of egregious greed. There is also one heroic con man: Robert Smalls, an African-American pilot who ran the Confederate blockade of Charleston to take freedom for himself and a good number of slaves. DuMont also names secondary characters, which is particularly satisfying, as in introducing Vivant Denon, Napoleon's choice to direct his growing art hoard and inventor of the modern museum.
A sassy, historically sound visit with some of the more (mostly) rudely audacious characters who have taken what wasn't theirs. (Nonfiction. 11-16)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"DuMont, Brianna: THRILLING THIEVES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540723336/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=915bda22. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540723336
DuMont, Brianna: FANTASTIC FUGITIVES
Kirkus Reviews. (Nov. 1, 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
DuMont, Brianna FANTASTIC FUGITIVES Sky Pony Press (Children's Nonfiction) $16.99 1, 5 ISBN: 978-1-63220-412-7
A dozen vest-pocket profiles of notorious fugitives--good, bad, and, in the case of Typhoid Mary, ugly. "If you're going to change the world, you better be good at running and hiding," writes DuMont at the start of this uneven collection of bold outlaws. Most of the characters are well-known figures--Cleopatra, Harriet Tubman, John Dillinger, Nelson Mandela--but there are also a handful of lesser-known but serious rabble-rousers: Koxinga (who hoped to restore the Ming dynasty from the Manchus), suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst, and Virginia Hall, who spied for the Allies during World War II. DuMont neatly notes the historical significance of these outlaws, and there is an entertaining collection of artwork to complement the text. But the title of the book gives away its weakness: DuMont overdoes it trying to be chums with her audience. "Spartacus and his new BFF, Crixus," is typical, as is mention of Cleopatra's "bling" or "Legend has it that [Martin] Luther was on the toilet when he had his 'aha' moment....Instead of stinking up the place for the next thirty minutes, he got to thinking." It is not just that this approach is pandering, but it removes the subjects from the times in which they lived, thus failing to conjure distinct images about the characters in their particular surrounds. A fair wealth of good information too often obscured by what feels like a desperate need to be liked. (Collective biography. 9-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"DuMont, Brianna: FANTASTIC FUGITIVES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2015. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A433048065/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=523f615e. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A433048065
DUMONT, Brianna. Thrilling Thieves: Liars, Cheats, and Cons Who Changed History
Paige Garrison
School Library Journal. 64.6 (June 2018): p105.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
DUMONT, Brianna. Thrilling Thieves: Liars, Cheats, and Cons Who Changed History. 192p. (Changed History), illus. index, notes, photos, reprods. Sky Pony. Jul. 2018. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781510701694.
Gr 5-8--The latest installment in the series is a well-organized collection of minibiographies of historical figures who stole their way into history books, from Elizabeth I and Thomas Edison to Robert Gardner and Madame Cheng. Overall, the text is easy to read. Even students who dislike history will find DuMont's style engaging rather than dry. Chapters are not lengthy and do not go into great detail, but they manage to explain exactly why a specific person fits into the theme. In many instances, the content offers opportunities for discussion about whether or not the term thief, liar, con, or cheat really applies to a subject, such as Robert Smalls, who escaped slavery by stealing a Confederate ship to get himself, his family, and others who were enslaved to freedom. Terminology specific to the era or further elaborations on the vocabulary is highlighted in text boxes alongside paragraphs. The author also includes her sources for students who may wish to do more in-depth reading. VERDICT A solid purchase for collections where nonfiction anthologies, like Georgia Bragg's How They Croaked, are popular--Paige Garrison, The Davis Academy, Sandy Springs, GA
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Garrison, Paige. "DUMONT, Brianna. Thrilling Thieves: Liars, Cheats, and Cons Who Changed History." School Library Journal, June 2018, p. 105. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540903018/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=37f475b0. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540903018
Dumont, Brianna. Fantastic Fugitives: Criminals, Cutthroats, and Rebels who Changed History (While on the Run!)
Sarah Wilsman
School Library Journal. 62.2 (Feb. 2016): p122.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
DUMONT, Brianna. Fantastic Fugitives: Criminals, Cutthroats, and Rebels who Changed History (While on the Run!). illus. by Straker Bethany. 192p. (Changed History). illus. photos. notes. index. Sky Pony. 2016. Tr $14.99. ISBN 9781632204127.
Gr 4-7--DuMont's follow-up to Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History (Sky Pony, 2014) covers 12 radical historical personalities from ancient times through the present. Employing an informal tone, DuMont presents figures such as Nelson Mandela and Cleopatra, with results that are entertaining but less than credible, despite the solid list of sources. Because of her fictionalizing and informal tone, the prose is sometimes off-putting "[Martin Luther] returned to Germany in more personal turmoil than when he farted a lot," which makes the work unsuitable for report use. The layout is appealing, with colorful images, glossy pages, and pop-out highlighted definitions and facts. VERDICT An additional purchase for students seeking nonfiction pleasure reading.--Sarah Wilsman, Bainbridge Library, Chagrin Falls, OH
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Wilsman, Sarah. "Dumont, Brianna. Fantastic Fugitives: Criminals, Cutthroats, and Rebels who Changed History (While on the Run!)." School Library Journal, Feb. 2016, p. 122. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A442780730/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=537b1338. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A442780730
Dumont, Brianna. Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History
Katherine Koenig
School Library Journal. 61.1 (Jan. 2015): p128+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
DUMONT, Brianna. Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History. 160p. ebook available. illus. index. notes, photos. reprods. Sky Pony. 2014. Tr $14.95. ISBN 9781629146454. LC 2014022733.
Gr 4-9--Think Confucius was a wise old man revered in his lifetime? Under the impression that George Washington was a great hero? Believe that Pythagoras came up with a theorem that changed mathematics forever? Prepare to be disillusioned as independent historian DuMont debunks .many of history's legends, both those who really existed and some who never did. The book's lively, breezy style often descends to the snarky and sarcastic and may spark a healthy skepticism about textbook history. A number of pop culture references (Bedazzler, the Angry Birds) have current appeal but will quickly date the text. DuMont lists sources for each chapter, most of which are reliable, even excellent. However, there are no in-text citations, which makes corroboration problematic and should leave readers with at least a modicum of doubt about this version of history. Some popular websites, such as BrainyQuotes.com and John Green's short, flashy "Crash Course" YouTube videos, are questionable; students would be better served if they had been directed to these as entertaining sidelights rather than as reference sources. A fun read, but unsuitable for research or reports.--Katherine Koenig, The Ellis School, PA
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Koenig, Katherine. "Dumont, Brianna. Famous Phonies: Legends, Fakes, and Frauds Who Changed History." School Library Journal, Jan. 2015, p. 128+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A443055526/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=85dcab15. Accessed 16 Nov. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A443055526