SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: THE RAT QUEEN
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.petehautman.com/
CITY: Minneapolis
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 339
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
ADDRESS
CAREER
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews Aug. 15, 2022, review of Hautman, Pete: THE RAT QUEEN. p. NA.
Booklist vol. 118 no. 22 Aug. 1, 2022, Smith, Julia. , “The Rat Queen.”. p. 74.
Voice of Youth Advocates vol. 42 no. 2 June, 2019. Green, Beth H. , “Hautman, Pete. Road Tripped.”. p. 63.
Booklist vol. 115 no. 13 Mar. 1, 2019, Barnes, Jennifer. , “Road Tripped.”. p. 52.
It's Personal
This page is for people who think that if someone wrote an interesting book, they must be an interesting person. Don't you know that if you like an author's work you should hope never to meet him (or her) in person? More than once I have admired a writer and then, upon meeting him (or her), discovered him (or her) to be a self-involved jerk with the personality of a rabid weasel. And don't you find gendering exhausting?
The good news is, you are in luck, as I am not a weasel. If I resemble any member of the Mustelidae family it would be the sea otter, because I love sea urchin, which is what sea otters eat. Also, I am not rabid.
The bad news? I’m nowhere near as interesting to you as you are to yourself, and probably even less interesting to you than your lint-filled navel. Nevertheless, I am compelled by various forces to share information about myself—such as my middle name (Murray), how I like my eggs cooked (poached, or gently scrambled with fresh black Perigord truffle, please), and whether or not I believe in God.
This is also a good page for students who have an "'author report" due tomorrow morning. So here's some miscellaneous personal info. I'll be brief:
I was born in 1952 in Berkeley, California. I lived in the Bay Area until I was five, by which time I had three younger siblings. In 1958 we moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota, where my parents continued to produce offspring. By 1964 I had four brothers and two sisters. I attended Cedar Manor Elementary School (also the alma mater of Al Franken and the Coen brothers), and eventually graduated honor-free from St. Louis Park High School. This is so tedious. Why do you keep reading?
For the next seven years I attended college, first at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, then at the University of Minnesota, where I took nearly every one-level class offered, but very few three- or five-level classes. I left college without graduating, but knowing a little bit about nearly everything, and a great deal about absolutely nothing. That superficial education now serves me well at cocktail parties, and as a novelist.
After college I worked various jobs for which I was ill-suited, including sign painter, graphic artist, marketing executive, painter cap salesman, pineapple slicer, etc. Eventually, having no better options, I decided to write a novel. I finished writing Drawing Dead in 1991. Two years later it was published by Simon & Schuster.
In 2004 my novel Godless won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. That's a huge deal if you are a writer. It made me deliriously happy.
Today, I live with novelist and poet Mary Logue in Golden Valley, Minnesota and Stockholm, Wisconsin. We have two small dogs (are you still reading?) named Gaston and Baudelaire. When I'm not writing or reading, I like to cook, run, bike, inline skate, hunt mushrooms, look at art, and take naps.
There you have it. More than half a century compressed into a few short paragraphs. Feel free to copy and paste for your school project, but don't tell anyone I suggested it. Need to know more? Check out my FAQs page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is your favorite color?
A: Clear.
Q: Where were you born?
A: Berkeley, CA.
Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
A: Yes. Four brothers and two sisters.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: Yes.
Q: How long have you been writing books?
A: My first novel, Drawing Dead, was published in 1993.
Q: Do you know Rick Riorden?
A: We've met.
Q: Do you know J.K. Rowling?
A: No!
Q: Do you know Stephanie Meyer?
A: NO! NO! NO! Enough already! I don't know Suzanne Collins or Bill Shakespeare either!
Q: Why isn't this website more awesome?
A: Click here.
Q: You have written a lot of books about poker. Are you trying to cash in on the poker craze?
A: Listen, Binky, I've been writing books about poker since before you were born (assuming you were born after 1993). Furthermore, my most recent "poker" novel, All-In, was well under way back in 1999, before most Americans had ever heard of Texas Hold'em. So there. But yes, I do hope to cash in on the poker craze. I plan to do it at the tables.
Q: How come you quit writing books for adults?
A: I (sputter) I never...I didn't!!! In the first place, my so-called "YA" books are not off limits to adult readers. It might do you good! Secondly, I never stopped writing "adult" novels. I published adult novels in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2006. So gimme a break—I do what I can.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Ideas are everywhere. Every issue of every newspaper, every casual conversation, every postcard, every commute to work, every cup of coffee is packed with ideas. Even if you've never written a word, you already have thousands of ideas bouncing around inside your skull. The trick is to figure out how to turn those ideas into a story. That's the hard part. And the fun part.
Q: How much money do you make?
A: Royalties on my books come to approximately $312,000,000.00 per year. That's about $2000 per word. Although I am richer than J. K. Rowling, Stephen King and John Grisham put together, I live a modest lifestyle and use most of my money in an effort to save the Reticulated Elf Weasel. Today, it is estimated that only 19 elf weasels still survive in the bottomlands of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Efforts to save them include the construction of "weasel tubes" (corrugated steel passageways which allow the weasels to safely cross roadways) and the introduction of habitat in the form of "weasel boxes." These weasel boxes, which look like elongated wren houses on short poles, are now common in certain areas of southwestern Wisconsin, where the Save the Reticulated Elf Weasel Foundation has offered a reward of $1,000,000 to anyone whose weasel box becomes occupied by a breeding pair of elf weasels. Thus far, the reward fund remains undepleted. To learn more about Reticulated Elf Weasels visit the official website of the Save the Reticulated Elf Weasel Foundation at www.savethereticulatedelfweaselfoundation.org
Q: What do you like to do when you aren't writing?
A: I read books, hunt mushrooms, take naps, talk with Mary Logue, watch movies, nap, inline skate, bike, and nap some more. I love to cook. Most Friday nights I dress up in an evening gown and high heels and sing opera on street corners with my partner Winky the Blind Flutophonist.
Not really. You can't believe everything you read on the web.
Q: What kind of music do you listen to?
A: The current playlist on my iPod contains...let's see... Kelis, Snoop Dogg, Glenn Gould, Concrete Blond, Eminem, Iggy Pop, Queens of the Stone Age, Depeche Mode, Rhianna, Victoria Williams, The Sex Pistols, Tim Buckley, Dolly Parton, K.D. Lang, and Billie Holiday. I prefer not to listen to music featuring bagpipes, accordians, or singing whales.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: There are hundreds! Here are ten of my favorites--they aren't necessarily the top ten, just the first ten that come to mind:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Leaving Cheyenne by Larry McMurtry
Triton by Samuel R. Delany
The Lord of the Rings by J. R .R. Tolkein
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming
The Book of the New Sun (tetralogy) by Gene Wolfe
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Lyonesse (trilogy) by Jack Vance
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Unknown Man No. 89 by Elmore Leonard
Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
Oops, I guess that's thirteen—two living authors and eleven dead. I could easily come up with a couple dozen more , including works by Raymond Chandler, Algis Budrys, and P. G. Wodehouse. You may notice that there is a lot of science fiction and fantasy on the list, probably because SFF comprised the bulk of my reading during my protracted adolescence (1962 to yesterday).
Q: How long does it take you to write a book?
A: It depends on the book. Mr. Was took about 8 years from the time I started thinking about it to the time I finished the first draft. No Limit took a mere 9 months. I wrote the first chapter of Hole in the Sky in 1988, wrote the first half of the book over a few weeks in 1998, let it sit for six months, then took another year to finish it, working on it a few days at a time. Sweetblood took 25 years to write, while Invisible was written in about six weeks. I often get stuck when I'm writing. Rather than brood about it, I'll set a book aside for weeks, months, or years and work on something else. I usually have several projects underway.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm working on a book of fairy tales about Litvanian magic and intelligent rats.
About me
Gender MALE
Location Minnesota and Wisconsin
Introduction I write novels. Some are for teens, some are for grownups, some it doesn't matter how old you are as long as you can read.
Pete Hautman
(Peter Murray Hautman)
USA flag (b.1952)
Pete Hautman is the author of many well received young adult novels, one of which, Godless, won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Hautman moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota at the age of five. He later graduated from St. Louis Park High School and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota over the next eight years, without receiving a degree from either institution. After working at several jobs which he describes as "ill-suited", Hautman published his first novel, Drawing Dead, in 1993. He loves to cook, has two small dogs, and is currently living with mystery writer Mary Logue. Pete Hautman is a popular author and has made multiple works that can directly relate to the young or adolescent reader.
Genres: Mystery, Children's Fiction, Young Adult Romance
New Books
October 2022
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The Rat Queen
Series
Joe Crow
1. Drawing Dead (1993)
2. Short Money (1995)
3. The Mortal Nuts (1996)
4. Ring Game (1997)
5. Mrs. Million (1999)
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Denn Doyle
Stone Cold (1998)
aka No Limit
All-In (2007)
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Bloodwater (with Mary Logue)
1. Snatched (2006)
2. Skullduggery (2007)
3. Doppelganger (2008)
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Klaatu Diskos
1. The Obsidian Blade (2012)
2. The Cydonian Pyramid (2013)
3. The Klaatu Terminus (2014)
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Flinkwater Chronicles
1. The Flinkwater Factor (2015)
2. The Forgetting Machine (2016)
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Novels
Mr. Was (1996)
Feeling Lucky (1999)
Hole in the Sky (2001)
Rag Man (2001)
Doohickey (2002)
Sweet-Blood (2003)
Godless (2004)
Invisible (2005)
The Prop (2006)
Rash (2006)
How to Steal a Car (2009)
Blank Confession (2010)
The Big Crunch (2011)
What Boys Really Want (2012)
Eden West (2015)
Slider (2017)
Otherwood (2018)
Road Tripped (2019)
The Rat Queen (2022)
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Anthologies edited
Full House (2007)
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Non fiction
Libraries of Minnesota (2011) (with Marsha Wilson Chall, John Coy, David LaRochelle and Will Weaver)
Pete Hautman
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Peter Murray Hautman (born September 29, 1952) is an American author best known for his novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god."
Contents
1 Biography
2 Awards and honors
3 Books
3.1 Young-adult novels
3.2 Adult novels
3.3 Middle-grade novels
4 References
5 External links
Biography
Hautman was born in Berkeley, California on September 29, 1952[1] and moved to St. Louis Park, Minnesota at the age of five. He graduated from St. Louis Park High School and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the University of Minnesota during the next seven years without receiving a degree from either institution. After working at several jobs for which he calls himself "ill-suited", Hautman's first novel, Drawing Dead, was published in 1993. He lives with novelist and poet Mary Logue in Golden Valley, Minnesota and Stockholm, Wisconsin.[2]
Awards and honors
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, 2011, The Big Crunch
National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2004, Godless[3]
Minnesota Book Award for Mrs. Million (2000), Sweetblood (2004), Godless (2005) and Blank Confession (2011)
Wisconsin Library Association Awards for Rag Man (2002) and Invisible (2006)
Michigan Library Association "Thumbs Up" Award for Mr. Was (1997) and Rash (2007)
Edgar Award for Best Juvenile for Otherwood (2018)
Books
Young-adult novels
Mr. Was (1996)
No Limit (1998)(Stone Cold)
Hole in the Sky (2000)
Sweetblood (2003)
Godless (2004) — winner, National Book Award[4]
No Limit (2005)
Invisible (2005)
All-In (2007)
Full House (2007)
Rash (2006)
How to Steal a Car (2009)
Blank Confession (2010)
The Big Crunch (2011)
What Boys Really Want (2012)
The Klaatu Diskos
The Obsidian Blade (2012)
The Cydonian Pyramid (2013)
The Klaatu Terminus (2014)
Eden West (2015)
Adult novels
Drawing Dead (1993)
Short Money (1995)
The Mortal Nuts (1996)
Ring Game (1997)
Mrs. Million (1999)
Rag Man (2001)
Doohickey (2002)
The Prop (2006)
Middle-grade novels
The Bloodwater Mysteries (co-authored with Mary Logue)
Snatched (2006)
Skullduggery (2007)
Doppelganger (2008)
The Flinkwater Chronicles
The Flinkwater Factor (2015)
The Forgetting Machine (2016)
Slider (2017)
Otherwood (2018)
Pete Hautman Q&A
February 7, 2022
Pete Hautman writes for all audiences with equal dexterity.
“When I get stuck, and I do, I switch gears and work on something else, which is why I have three or four books underway at any given time. It took me years to figure out how to do that — to not be paralyzed by the blank page. You become blocked by thinking that you have to write some particular thing next, and you don’t know what it is. So write something else and come back to the sticking point later.”
You won the National Book Award for Godless. What was that moment like when you heard the news?
The NBA ceremony is live, structured like the Oscars. I was sitting with my publishers in an enormous ballroom in New York. When they announced the winner in my category I instantly went from a state of breathless anxiety, dread, and nausea, to utter calm. It is one of the experienced gambler’s truths — the reward is in the anticipation. Hoping for joy is nice. Winning is like, OK, fine. Next? Those people who jump up and down screaming when they win? Amateurs! It felt the same winning the L.A. Times Book Prize event in 2011, and at the Edgar Awards a couple of years ago. And not winning? Great! I don’t have to get up and speak.
Your book Slider was like watching the film Big Night to me. Made me hungry! How did you get interested in the world of competitive eating?
That’s interesting. I think most grown-ups are kind of grossed out by Slider. I became interested in competitive eating most because it’s so … bizarre. Like boxing, or football. I don’t know how I would explain such sports to an alien visitor. After watching Big Night — do you remember the final scene? — I immediately went home and made some scrambled eggs.
How do you handle writer’s block?
When I get stuck, and I do, I switch gears and work on something else, which is why I have three or four books underway at any given time. It took me years to figure out how to do that — to not be paralyzed by the blank page. You become blocked by thinking that you have to write some particular thing next, and you don’t know what it is. So write something else and come back to the sticking point later.
Whenever I see a water tower, I think of you, because of Godless. Do you hear that a lot?
People are always sending me water tower pics.
You often write about spiritual matters. Do you find the acting of writing affirms your place in the universe?
Not belief, but it gives me the sense that I am at least trying to understand. It is my way of trying to view reality through other lenses. In that sense, it brings me closer to the “other.” And maybe, if I write well enough, it can bring others closer to me.
You write books for YA audiences as well as adult audiences. Did you have an epiphany early in your career that you sort of get readers in the age group?
My first YA novel, Mr. Was, was written for adults, or so I thought. When my agent proposed publishing it as YA, I didn’t know what YA was. I learned quickly, and the more I thought about how impactful the experience of reading as a young person was for me, the more I became interested in being a part of that. I do, however, have a couple of adult novels in the works. One should be out in early 2023.
Your partner is also an acclaimed author. Do you have house rules about each other’s writing time?
Not really. We are always up in each other’s shit. Just this morning Mary yelled, “Pete! Pete! Come here!” I jumped up from my desk and ran into her office. “Look!” she said, pointing at her computer. It was a photo of a cow licking a woman’s face. Big tongue! I didn’t mind seeing that.
What is next for you?
The Rat Queen, an “upper middle-grade” novel, will be coming out in the fall from Candlewick Press. It’s a sort of horror story with fairy-tales and talking rats. My editor describes it as “A middle grade novel featuring a young girl who grapples with the utility of the conscience.”
Hautman, Pete THE RAT QUEEN Candlewick (Children's None) $18.99 10, 11 ISBN: 978-1-5362-1858-9
Annie has always wanted to visit Litvania, but the trip, when she finally goes, reveals a sordid family history and a need for reparations.
Motherless, home-schooled Annike Klimas was raised in America on Litvanian folklore, which features lots of rats. When she turns 10, Papa tells her that it's a family tradition--and secret--that she begin feeding the nuodeema burna, or eater of sins. Writing down her bad deeds and dropping the notes into the burna, a hole in the floor, will help relieve her conscience. Papa does it and is rejuvenated afterward, but Annie resists--it deadens her experiences, and she wants to feel both the good and the bad. Also, she stops growing taller every time she feeds the burna. Slowly revealed hints about Papa's questionable character combined with unsettling fairy tales embedded throughout the story create a menacing atmosphere and foreshadow events. Annie, trying to discover the source of the burna's magic, finds a plague of rats--and accidentally burns down their home. Now her father seems to be dying. He demands they travel to Litvania to petition Queen Zurka to extend his life. There, Annie discovers the depth of her father's betrayals, leading to a moral quandary: Does Papa deserve a second chance? Remorse, honor, and forgiveness are just some of the themes in this creepy, symbolically rich saga featuring a default White cast from a fictional Baltic nation.
Complex and provocative. (author's note, glossary) (Fantasy. 9-13)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Hautman, Pete: THE RAT QUEEN." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A713722520/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f95e1bfa. Accessed 21 Dec. 2022.
* The Rat Queen. By Pete Hautman. Oct. 2022.400p. Candlewick, $18.99 (9781536218589). Gr.5-8.
Rats scurry through Annie's dreams, turning them into nightmares, but she cannot explain their presence. Hautman teases Annie and readers with their unseen presence, injecting a quiet dread into the layered story that follows. Annie is proud of her Litvanian heritage, despite the fact that this tiny Baltic nation is often omitted from standard globes and maps. On the eve of her tenth birthday, Annie's father tells her, "in Litvania, 10 is a magical age. It is the age of the conscience, when bad things begin to eat at your soul. Tomorrow ... I will introduce you to the nuodeema burna." Using the nuodeema burna requires Annie to write the day's mistakes on paper and feed it to the burna, which magically erases them from her conscience. Annie's not quite sold on the practice but does it to please her father. A tutor from Litvania and an old book of Litvanian fairy tales start to open Annie's eyes to her family history, her disturbing dreams, and the value of feeling the consequences of one's actions. Through exemplary storytelling, Hautman builds a fairy tale within a fairy tale, interspersing stories from Annie's book throughout and creating a captivating world in Litvania. Like most stories of this nature, there are dark corners to explore and challenging lessons to be learned, but the overall effect is magical.--Julia Smith
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Smith, Julia. "The Rat Queen." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 22, 1 Aug. 2022, p. 74. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A714679595/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=132eb0f1. Accessed 21 Dec. 2022.
Hautman, Pete. Road Tripped. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, May 2019. 336p. $18.99. 978-1534405905.
4Q * 4P * S
Steven Gerald Gabel--otherwise known as Stiggy to his "friends" at school and the police officer who pulls him over in the morning after Stiggy flips him off while speeding by him through a school zone--has left home in his father's Mustang after learning that his dad committed suicide. Stiggy takes off for some unknown location, at least to him, but through meeting various people, from "Bob the Knob," who teaches him that you have to meet certain people at certain places in order for you to make "connections," to a trio of teenagers, who, unbeknownst to Stiggy, use him as their getaway driver from the robbery of a grocery store. Stiggy is hopeful to find his girlfriend, Gaia, who ended up "ghosting" him. Hautman has done an exceptional job of putting the reader into feeling the pain of Stiggy's personal trauma, from his father's suicide and the way that Stiggy learns about it, to the way that Stiggy feels that he only attracts "assholes" into his life, even going so far as to maintain that he is an "asshole magnet." Readers will feel for Stiggy and will cheer for him throughout, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he learns just exactly what he can offer to the "connections" in his own life.--Beth H. Green.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
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Green, Beth H. "Hautman, Pete. Road Tripped." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 42, no. 2, June 2019, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A594663313/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5077159c. Accessed 21 Dec. 2022.
Road Tripped. By Pete Hautman. May 2019.336p. Simon & Schuster, $17.99 (9781534405905). Gr. 9-12.
Steven Gabel, aka Stiggy, should be at school. Instead, he's hit the open road in his deceased father's Mustang, with no particular destination in mind beyond following the long and winding Mississippi River. The drive is supposed to stave off all thought--the girl who ghosted on him, the father who took his own life earlier that year on Groundhog Day, the lack of real friends--but all that time alone only achieves the opposite. That isn't to say that Stiggy doesn't stumble upon intriguing folks and adventures along the way--from friendly hitchhikers to grocery-store-robbing Renaissance-faire workers to meth addicts--only that his internal journey is just as engaging, if not more. In Hautman's skilled hands, Stiggy's grief is fully embodied, ebbing and flowing as the days and events pull him back to memories of his dad and the questions that linger. Stiggy himself lies somewhere between curmudgeon and misanthrope, and yet readers will be hard-pressed not to root for him as he comes to discover the ways he's made things harder for himself and the ways in which he is and is not like his father. True-to-life conversations, a keen sense of Midwestern topography, and sharply detailed supporting characters round out this superb road trip novel. By turns introspective and humorous.--Jennifer Barnes
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Barnes, Jennifer. "Road Tripped." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 13, 1 Mar. 2019, p. 52. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A579538486/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3bb01e88. Accessed 21 Dec. 2022.