Kicking Back with Kick-Butt and Jenn Bishop!
Welcome to “Kicking Back with Kick-Butt!”
Today we’re chatting with Jenn Bishop, the author of
THE DISTANCE TO HOME
Last summer, Quinnen was the star pitcher of her baseball team, the Panthers. They were headed for the championship, and her loudest supporter at every game was her best friend and older sister, Haley.
This summer, everything is different. Haley’s death, at the end of last summer, has left Quinnen and her parents reeling. Without Haley in the stands, Quinnen doesn’t want to play baseball. It seems like nothing can fill the Haley-sized hole in her world. The one glimmer of happiness comes from the Bandits, the local minor-league baseball team. For the first time, Quinnen and her family are hosting one of the players for the season. Without Haley, Quinnen’s not sure it will be any fun, but soon she befriends a few players. With their help, can she make peace with the past and return to the pitcher’s mound?
Let’s talk to this fantastic author about her amazing book!
This is Jenn! Everyone say “Hi, Jenn!”
Welcome to Kick-Butt Kidlit, Jenn! Tell us about yourself!
Sure thing! Thanks for having me, Casey. I’m based just outside of Boston right now (though moving to Cincinnati at the end of the summer), and when I’m not writing or reading, you can find me running or watching the Red Sox. I’m a former librarian, which I think translates roughly to permanent book hoarder.
I thought the rule was it wasn’t hoarding if it’s books…
Let’s call it creating a book sanctuary!
Where did the idea for THE DISTANCE TO HOME come from?
For the longest time, I had this idea of a girl being awoken in the middle of the night to go somewhere … for something good. But who was this girl? Where was she going? It’s funny how books start for me with just the tiniest glimmer of an idea. The other pieces that fed into this book came from my experience being an avid baseball fan. My husband and I were at a minor league baseball game outside of Chicago and we met this couple that hosted players in their house. How cool, right? Sign me up! At that exact moment, I didn’t know that I wanted to write a book about that, but years later when I came back to my idea of the girl having to go somewhere late at night, I had this a-ha moment. She’s going to get a baseball player! Okay, now I have something …
I love that a whole book can come from the smallest spark of an idea!
What were you doing when you found out there was an offer on your book?
So, The Distance To Home has a bit of a complicated story, in that it originally had a different home with EgmontUSA. But when Egmont shuttered and a lot of books were left homeless, my superhero agent sprang into action to find it a new home! It was a month or so in the winter of me gnawing my arm off as I waited patiently (or perhaps not patiently, as my husband could probably tell you), but then a few days before I was heading off to France, my agent tipped me off. There was an editor at Knopf who wanted to talk on the phone. I about exploded, but, you know, tried to keep my cool. And then, amazingly, the morning of the phone call with my potential editor, my agent shared that she got to work to find an offer for a 2-book deal in her inbox. What better way to head off to France, right? I cannot think of one.
Oh, wow! I’m so glad that story has such a happy ending! Plus, France!
What were three interesting things you discovered while working on THE DISTANCE TO HOME?
Such a great question! I think the first and best discovery was that I love middle grade. I’d been writing YA for a couple years leading up to it, and querying, and not finding an agent, but then in my second semester at VCFA, I decided to try something new. That’s what a writing MFA program is for: experimentation! I’m so glad I took the plunge because middle grade is such a sweet spot for me now, both as a reader and a writer. That age is so tender; everything is new, and your sense of the world and your place in it is really opening up. As I reread my favorite middle grade books from my childhood and started writing The Distance To Home . . . I don’t know how to put words to it. It just felt right.
My advisor at VCFA while I worked on this project was Rita Williams-Garcia (I know, right? What a dream. I still pinch myself sometimes) and she suggested I delve into research to get the culture of minor league baseball right. I had so much fun reading non-fiction books about these teams in middle of nowhere towns and how deeply the towns embraced them. It gave me an even greater appreciation for the sport of baseball—I wouldn’t have dreamed that was possible!
Finally, the last discovery came late in the process when The Distance To Home went into copyedits. I had no idea what it would be like to have everything that was wrong pointed out to me by a complete stranger, but you know what? It was amazing! I have such respect for the copyediting team at Random House Children’s. They were so thorough and coming out on the other side made me that much more confident in the finished product.
If you could transport your characters across book dimensions, which book would you most like them to end up in and why?
Oh, how fun! Well, not to spoil anything, but Quinnen reads a few books over the course of The Distance To Home and actually wishes she could live in the world of some of them. She’d love to hop into Ingrid Law’s Savvy and find out her own special superpower. And I’d love to see what it is!
There’s a lot of classic baseball movies out there. If you could hang out in one of those movies, which one would you choose and why?
So hard to choose, Casey! Probably A League of Their Own so I could play baseball with Madonna and wear the cool vintage uniforms. But a pretty close second is Moneyball, since meeting Chris Pratt is a life goal.
I support both of these choices.
Why were you drawn to writing middle grade?
Middle grade books were the first books I read independently and remember loving. I can still recall certain titles I read as a ten, eleven, and twelve year old, that made a lasting impact on me: Number The Stars, Walk Two Moons, Reluctantly, Alice. I can’t remember ever being disappointed by a book I read at that age. Each one felt like it was speaking directly to me. (Okay, maybe not all the Goosebumps books I devoured.) It’s such a privilege to write for these readers, to create the books that help them understand themselves and the world around them. I still can’t really believe that I get to do this.
Aside from your own book, what is your most anticipated read (or reads!) of 2016.
Oh dear. So I’m going to take “anticipated” to mean books I haven’t read yet. While I’ve had the chance to read nearly all of the middle grade books that are a part of The Sweet Sixteens (https://thesweetsixteens.wordpress.com/mg-books/), which are all fantastic, one of the books I am dying to read is Randi Pink’s Into White, a YA novel about a high schooler named LaToya who prays to be anything but black, and has her prayer answered. I mean, that concept! Having met Randi back in January and seen her fantastic TED talk, I simply cannot wait for this book.
What has been the most surprising part about being a debut author?
How much fun it’s been to connect with other authors, librarians, and teachers in the lead-up to publication! Writing can feel so solitary, but thanks to Twitter and writing meet-ups and conferences, it’s much easier these days to find your tribe.
So true! I’m very glad to have found my various teams!
Thank you for joining us, Jenn!
Kick-Butt Kidlit fans, make sure you check out THE DISTANCE TO HOME! It’s available as of June 28th. That’s right! TOMORROW!
Add THE DISTANCE TO HOME to Goodreads!
Connect with Jenn on Facebook, Twitter, or through her website!
AND! Since this is our only Kicking Back with Kick-Butt interview this month - here’s the draw, too! Enter to win a copy of Jenn’s amazing book!