Independence Day 1929 to 2011

A fun Luck of the Buttons review appeared online today, written by a twelve-year-old reader who retells a bit of Tugs’s Independence Day 1929. Thanks, Faith McPhee!

It’s hard to believe that it is already mid-summer and Independence Day 2011 is upon us. The Fourth of July is one of my favorite days of summer because all over the country, communities are gathering in celebrations similar to ones I participate in as well as the fictional celebration in Goodhue eighty-two years ago.

The image I had in my head when I first sat down to write a scene of what would become The Luck of the Buttons was of the community Fourth of July event that takes place in the neighborhood where I lived for many years, St. Anthony Park in St. Paul, Minnesota.

There is a parade down Como Avenue. Convertibles carry various local dignitaries and veterans march with flags. When I was a kid, my Grandpa marched with the World War I vets. A vintage fire engine rolls down the avenue followed by a lawn mower brigade, a group that choreographs steps with lawn chairs, clowns of course, school groups, musicians, and more. When all the paraders have passed, children join in on decorated bikes and trikes, then all the spectators follow the parade down the hill to Langford Park. Families claim spots with blankets. Kids wander. Everyone eats. Patriotic essays are read. There are races for all ages, and ribbons.

I dropped Tugs and the Buttons into a Fourth of July like the ones I’ve known and felt immediately at home in Goodhue. Check out the chapters Independence Day, Ribbons, and Click to read about Tugs’s Independence Day.

Enjoy your community celebrations this Fourth of July and may you have many lazy hours for reading this month! 

Just a note: I will be away from the internet until late July, but will respond to your comments and emails when I return. 

Novel and Nouveau...Settling Esther B

One of the things I like about writer Barbara Watson's Novel and Nouveau blog is that she keeps posts concise and to the point. With so many sites to keep up with these days, it's nice to know that when I pop in here, I'll get an interesting, focussed tidbit in a manageable size. 

One of her regular features is Marvelous Middle Grade Monday for which Barbara recently reviewed The Luck of the Buttons. Lucky me. She also asked me to write a guest post about the process of writing the book. It got me thinking about where characters come from, which got me thinking about my dear Grandma B. I pulled out a photo of her and was surprised to find how much she looks like the picture that ended up on the cover of the book. Click over and have a look!

Children Coasting

One of my favorite childhood memories is sledding with my brother and sister at Giggly Hills near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. We were just steps from home, right in the middle of the city, but when we dipped past the pedestrian path along River Road it felt like we were out in the wilds. 

When I left my friend Jackie Briggs Martin's house in Mount Vernon, Iowa last week, I passed my two favorite signs and it took me right back to my Giggly Hills days. These signs are up year round at the base of a steep city street. In the winter the street is indeed closed so children can sled right down the middle of the street smack in the middle of town. Now that's a town I could live in. But since I can't actually live there, I imagine fictional Goodhue, Iowa, home of Tugs Button in The Luck of the Buttons, to be much like Mount Vernon. Can't wait to visit again. 

 

Thank you, Red Balloon!

Could a publication party be any more fun than this? Button cake, a tiny Thos Britton tombstone like the one that inspired The Luck of the Buttons' Tugs, family, friends, readers, even the family that lives in the Dear Papa house! Oh, and how about selling out of books! Hurray!

A huge thank you to the magnificent staff at The Red Balloon, especially Amy Baum for her extraordinary party planning skills (want to come help with a grad party in California?) and Carol Erdahl for the enthusiastic introduction. Click here to see a few pictures from the day.

The Rowdies

Setting The Luck of the Buttons in 1929 gave me an excuse to peruse newspapers from that year. One of my most charming discoveries was The Brooklyn Standard Union. In the company of headlines like "Woman's Wit Foils Bandits After Payroll" and "Florence Berger Not Worried" I found this gem:

McGUINNESS After Park Rowdies
   Alderman Peter McGUINNESS is making good his threat to war on rowdies who
visit the parks in Greenpoint. He has been seen strolling about the parks for
several nights.

And from there, Goodhue's band of rapscallions, the Rowdies, were born. Luther Tingvold, Walter Williams, Bess McCrea, and Finn and Frankie Chacey mostly lump about parks and alleys looking tough but one never knows where they'll turn up or what their intentions may be. 

Midwest readers, I will see you soon! Come hear more about Tugs, the Rowdies, and other Button tales in St. Paul at The Red Balloon on Saturday or in Iowa City at Prairie Lights on Sunday, 2pm both days.