Jennifer Bohnhoff
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Miraculous! An Interview with Author Caroline Starr Rose

2/16/2023

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Caroline Starr Rose writes middle grade and picture books that have earned awards through the American Library Association,  the Junior Library Guild, ABA New Voices, and more. They've been on the  Amazon Best Books of the Month for Kids list and have been Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. 

I recently read Miraculous, the story of thirteen-year-old Jack, who becomes an assistant to  Dr. Kingsbury, a traveling medicine salesman. Dr. Kingsbury claims his elixir can cure everything from pimples to hearing loss to a broken heart. Jack believes the claims after Dr. Kingsbury gives a bottle of his “Miraculous Tonic” to him, and it cures his baby sister. But when the medical wagon makes a stop in the town of Oakdale, events happen that cause Jack's faith to waver. Soon, he and his new friend Cora are racing to discover truths that everyone want hidden.

This novel reminded me of Moon Over Manifest and of Tuck Everlasting, both of which have tonics with magical powers that may or may not be all they claim, and which bring about unexpected consequences. It's fast paced and exciting and will keep readers guessing. 

Once I finished reading Miraculous, I got the opportunity to ask Caroline Starr Rose some questions, which she graciously answered. I'd like to share her responses with you:


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Why did you choose the 1880s for Miraculous? Honestly, I don’t remember specifically why I chose the 1880s, but I knew I wanted to be well into the traveling medicine show era. Having recently written a book set in 1889-1890 (A Race Around the World: The True Story of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland), I knew what an exciting era that was as far as innovation goes. (Big cities had electric lights, telephones, skyscrapers, steam engines — all things that would have intrigued my character Cora, a small-town girl interested in experiencing more.)
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Why Ohio? I knew I wanted a town where African Americans were part of the fabric of the community. Early on I knew the story would take place in the Mid-West, but it wasn’t until I took my older son on a college trip that I settled on Ohio. On that trip we toured a park where Cincinnati, OH and Covington, KY converged. There were murals showing the history of the area with panels devoted to various industries, moments in history, and individuals. One panel honored an African American man who ran the town sawmill, was a minister, and a city official. I’d found exactly where my character, Mr. Kennedy, belonged (and with him the rest of the town of Oakdale).

Some of your books, like Blue Birds, have female protagonists. Others, like Jasper and the Riddle of Ridley's Mine, have male protagonists. In Miraculous, a number of different characters get to share their voices. Do you find it easier to have a male vs. female protagonist? What differences do you find as you write in different voices? I’m not sure if it’s easier to write one or the other, but I know I sometimes bring biases I’m unaware of to my work. I remember telling my editor early on when we were working on Jasper that I wasn’t sure how to show his emotions since he was a boy (or if he even had a very big range of emotions). She kindly reminded me that, you know, boys are human. They’ve got emotions, too. Of course they do! I felt pretty dumb (and rather disrespectful — sorry, boys!), but it showed me I’d let some unknown assumptions color my writing without even realizing it.
What I try to focus on now (thanks to my editor) is a character’s humanity above all else. How would this particular person feel and react in this particular circumstance? That’s where I start. I let each character lead.
What is the big message you want readers to come away with after reading Miraculous? I’m a bit uncomfortable with the idea of a message. Writing for me is about exploring, a way to make sense of the world. I want readers to come along on the journey and draw their own conclusions. Looking through that lens I’d say I’d love readers to consider the influence and power of persuasive personalities. I’d like them to see that while advertising techniques of the past might seem extreme or less polished than what we see today, there are very many similarities, especially when it comes to playing to our sense of our personal flaws and ways we might “fix” them. I’d like them to consider the power of friendship and forgiveness and second chances, of not being afraid to question and reevaluate.

​For more information on Caroline and her books, visit her website.



Would you like a signed copy of Miraculous? Leave a comment below expressing your interest. I'll choose one lucky person and announce their name in my email on Thursday, February 23rd. 

Jennifer Bohnhoff writes fiction for middle grade through adult readers. Her next book, Summer of the Bombers, will be available in April 2023. You can read more about her and her books at her website.
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A Confederate Point of View

2/9/2023

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When historians want to know what it was like to be part of the Confederate invasion of New Mexico, one of the people they turn to is Alfred Brown Peticolas.

Peticolas was
was born on May 27, 1838, in Richmond, Virginia.. In 1859, he came west to Victoria, Texas, where he set up a law partnership with Samuel White.

On September 11, 1861, he joined the Confederate Army. 
Peticolas enlisted in Company C of the Fourth Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers,. This was part of Henry Hopkins Sibley's Army of New Mexico, a brigade with which Sibley intended to capture the rich Colorado gold fields, then secure the gold and harbors of California for the Confederacy. Throughout his time in New Mexico, Peticolas kept a diary in which he set down his keen observations about the country through which he traveled. He was also an artist and sketched his surroundings. The diary filled several books, the first of which was destroyed when the wagon in which is was stored was burned.

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Peticolas sketched the San Miguel mission church in Socorro, New Mexico. After the Civil War, Bishop Lamy remodeled this adobe church.. . 

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He also drew San Felipe church, in Albuquerque's Old Town. In his sketch, the Confederate flag flies from a flag pole in the center square of the village, right in front of the church. 

The Confederate, Mexican, Spanish, and American flags, flew over Albuquerque's Old Town representing all the governments that had controlled the town. In 2015, deemed too controversial, the stars and bars were taken down.
Departing Albuquerque, Peticolas' unit traveled through Tijeras Canyon, then turned north, taking the road now known as N14 towards Santa Fe. They camped for over a week in the mountain village of San Antonio. The church, the building at the far left of the picture, burned down and was rebuilt in 1957. The Confederate tents and wagons are on the far right of the picture.
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 After Sibley's retreat back to San Antonio Texas, Peticolas participated in the Louisiana Campaign. Finally, illness led to his reassignment as a clerk at the quartermaster headquarters, and he finished the war behind a desk. 
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​Rebels on the Rio Grande: the Civil War Journal of A.B. Peticolas, edited by Don E. Alberts, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1984 is a compilation of the passages from the diary that related to New Mexico. 

While he is not represented in Jennifer Bohnhoff's trilogy of novels about the Civil War, his material was instrumental in shaping the narrative and illuminating it with the little details that make historical fiction feel accurate. 


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Jennifer Bohnhoff is an author and educator who lives very close to the mountain town that Peticolas sketched. Where Duty Calls the first novel in her triloogy Rebels Along the Rio Grande, came out in 2022. The second, The Worst Enemy, will be published in the summer of 2023.

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A New Cover for a New Book

2/6/2023

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Back in the spring of 2000, a controlled burn in the Jemez Mountains jumped its control lines and became a raging wildfire.  Known at the Cerro Grande fire, it burned over 400 homes in Los Alamos, New Mexico, shut down the National Laboratory there, and threw life into confusion and chaos for thousands of residents. 
The news story stuck with me for a long time, haunting my thoughts and leading me to ask a lot of questions. What would it have been like to live through something like that? How would losing one's home affect a family? What about the pets of the people burned out? Was everyone helpful, or did predators also descend on the victims of this fire?

Finally, 
my thoughts propelled me to write. I began writing Summer of the Bombers in 2014, during November's  National Novel Writing challenge. I got a third of the way through, then set it aside. I didn't pick it up again for eight years.
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I usually create a mock-up cover early in the writing process. It helps me think about what I have to say and where the story is going. When I pulled out the manuscript began working on it again last year, I created a cover that had some of the elements of the story in it. Fire. Forest. One of the bombers that dropped fire retardant on the flames, and whose drone became the background music for the entire time that the fire raged. I also included a picture of someone on horseback because that horse and his rider are central to the story.

Does anyone recognize the horse and rider? I took that image from another of my novels!


But while creating a cover to help guide my writing is helpful, what I create isn't professional enough for the published novel itself. A published novel needs a cover that reflects the story and lets the reader know what genre the book is in. Horror covers look very different from Romance covers, and a cover for a middle grade novel must be different from a novel written for adults. Many of my latest covers have been created by a Ukrainian company called Get Covers.  I gave the artist a brief synopsis of the story, similar to this copy, which I plan to put on the back cover: 

When the Forest Service announces a controlled burn to clear dead wood from the National Forest, no one in Alamitos, New Mexico is worried. But the fire goes out of control, burning a path of destruction that threatens everything that fourteen-year-old Margaret “Punkin” Davis holds dear. Her home destroyed, her horse stolen and her family broken apart, she must find the inner strength to rebuild her life one piece at a time or lose everything.
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Based on events during the devastating Cerro Grande Fire in May, 2000, one of many wild fires that have raged throughout the Western United States, this is a novel about resilience and self determination.

I also told the artist that Punkin was a redhead and Wildfire, her horse, was a Palomino. The novel is a YA, short for young adult novel, which means that anyone from the sixth or seventh grade on up would be able to read it. Based on that, this is what the artist came up with:  
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I showed this cover to my critique group, and they were less than enthusiastic. While the girl is a redhead, the look on her face made them feel that this was a horror novel, and the background was just too grim for them. They wondered if people looking at it might think she'd caused the fire. Was she a firebomber? An arsonist?

I went back to the drawing board, looking for a picture of a girl who had more emotion and more of an attachment to her horse. Also, I wanted a bomber in the picture since it was in the title. Maybe that would keep people from thinking that the girl was a firebomber who set forests ablaze! This is what the second attempt at a cover looked like: 
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This was closer, but not quite right, either. My critique group thought it looked like the girl's hair was on fire! They also thought the bomber looked pretty toy-like: definitely not the type of plane we'd seen leaving Kirtland Airforce Base with a belly full of slurry. Also, this girl is way fancier than my Punkin. She'd never wear a top like that one! And the horse was not the Palomino I'd written about. I went back to the artist again. 

They say the third time's a charm. The artist was able to find a better plane, and make the slurry the orangy-red color that most of us had seen on news clips. She was also able to change Punkin's shirt into something a little more suitable for the character. But she wasn't able to change the horse, or get rid of the model's fingernail polish. 

So the mountain came to Mohammed. I contacted my rancher friend (whose help with the horsey and cow scenes in my books has been invaluable!) who could tell me that the horse in the picture was a bay. I changed the story to make my horse a bay, and I added a scene where another character talked Punkin into trying nail polish. It's funny, the things we have to do as writers!

​Here is the final cover (minus the back copy.) What do you think?
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A Sweet Book for Valentines Day

2/2/2023

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Although Saint Valentine's Day is not a public holiday in any country, it is a significant cultural and commercial celebration of romance and love. Observed on February 14, it generates millions of dollars in chocolate, flower, and card sales.

Originally, Saint Valentine’s Day recognized the martyrdom of a third century Roman priest who was executed in 269. One legend says that he was killed for performing weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry. Another is that, while being jailed for his faith, he restored the sight of the jailer’s blind daughter, to whom he wrote a letter which he signed "Your Valentine" before he was executed.

Regardless of why and how it started, Valentine’s is a day that causes a lot of stress. This is especially true for middle grade students, who feel they are too old for the silliness of elementary school Valentines Parties, yet aren’t confident in matters of the heart.

Hector “Hec” Anderson is a good example of a middle grader blundering his way through first love. An awkward, geeky sixth grade boy, Hec finds himself speechless when a new girl, Sandy Richardson, enrolls in his school. Sandy is beautiful and kind and Hec is instantly smitten with her. Unfortunately, so is the tall, handsome and popular captain of the basketball team, who sics his goons on Hec in an attempt to intimidate him.

The Valentine’s Day Dance is coming up. Hec tries to get Sandy’s with flowers and candy, but everything he does turns into a disaster. Does he dare ask her to dance with him – and earn a chance to win her heart?  
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Tweet Sarts, the Valentines-themed middle grade novel in the Anderson Chronicles series, is for middle grade readers and older readers who remember the difficulties of young love. 



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Jennifer Bohnhoff taught middle school for years. She is now a full time writer of books for middle grade through adult readers. 

Tweet Sarts is onsale to download onto an ereader from Amazon from February 2-9 for only .99.  Rather have a signed copy sent direct from the author? You can do that here. 

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    ABout Jennifer Bohnhoff

    I am a former middle school teacher who loves travel and history, so it should come as no surprise that many of my books are middle grade historical novels set in beautiful or interesting places.  But not all of them.  I hope there's one title here that will speak to you personally and deeply.

    What I love most: that "ah hah" moment when a reader suddenly understands the connections between himself, the past, and the world around him.  Those moments are rarified, mountain-top experiences.



    Can't get enough of Jennifer Bohnhoff's blogs?  She's also on Mad About MG History.  

    ​
    Looking for more books for middle grade readers? Greg Pattridge hosts MMGM, where you can find loads of recommendations.

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