Welcome, friend! With schools reopening for a new year, I thought it would be a great time to highlight a Middle Grade series. Today I am chatting with author Kate McCarroll Moore about her middle grade series, The Elinormal Saga. It is composed of Elinormal and New Girl: The Further Adventures of Elinormal. Let’s welcome Kate and learn more about the books.
Get to know the author: Kate McCarroll Moore
Hi Kate! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
I am a life-long educator, voracious reader, and collector of stories, memories, and discarded objects. I served as the Poet Laureate of San Ramon California for three terms, and I teach poetry workshops to teens and adults. I’m the author of two novels for children, Elinormal and New Girl: The Further Adventures of Elinormal (The Elinormal Saga). My debut picture book is scheduled for an early 2024 release. I’ve also published poetry collections for adults; Alphapoetica: A Poetry Primer for the Everyday Poet and Avians of Mourning.. I hold a Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice, and continue to promote poetry as a tool of transformation and healing. I never grow tired of people-watching and eavesdropping, using my writer’s imagination to turn ordinary events into unique characters with interesting stories to tell. Most days you can find me in my garden reading, writing, painting, and listening to the birds – they have stories to tell too!
What inspired you to write this book?
My daughters danced when they were young. I spent a lot of time witnessing interactions between mothers and daughters and eavesdropping on conversations. I started jotting ideas in my notebook or on anything close at hand. In the dance studio, I wrote the first idea about Elinormal on a scrap of newspaper.
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
It actually took twenty years from initial idea to published book. I had some character and chapter notes, but I didn’t have time to actually sit down and flesh out the whole story until I retired!
What makes your story unique?
As Elinor works to find herself and her place in the world, she is befriended by an older girl with seemingly magical powers. Even though this book is realistic fiction, there’s an element of magical realism that propels the story and maintains an air of mystery. Whether it’s coincidence or magic, it helps Elinor grow and evolve.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
This is a book that appeals mostly to tween girls, but it’s also enjoyed by mother-daughter book groups. It’s the perfect book for sparking those important conversations about right and wrong, independence, and relationships.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
I hope readers will see that it’s important to be honest and share your true feelings with others, and with yourself. Middle school is a fraught time, and staying true to yourself will help readers navigate those tween/teen years.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
There’s a scene in the book where Elinor first meets Indira and we see that Indira has a magical quality. She knows things about what Elinor needs and wants that Elinor has yet to discover. I love that scene. I also love the scene between Elinor and her father when they’re watching a movie together and talking about life and love, the scene when Elinor discovers who Indira really is, and the scene at the very end of the Elinormal Saga when Elinor has orchestrated a celebration with all the important people in her life.
The Elinormal Saga is composed of Elinormal and New Girl: The Further Adventures of Elinormal. Had you always planned on writing a second book?
When I finished Elinormal, I was totally satisfied that I had said all I’d wanted to say. Then my publisher asked me what happens next. “Nothing,” I told her, “the story is complete.” But then that question started rattling around in my brain – what happens next? Suddenly, I wanted to know too.
What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?
There is a reader for every book. Write from the heart. Know your character well and trust them enough to let them live on the page authentically.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?
It’s the best and oldest advice – if you want to write, read everything you can!
If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!
This is a page from my notebook, when I first imagined Elinor. It’s based on a lesson about character development that I learned from the late children’s book author, Paula Danziger. Knowing everything about a character before writing the story helps the story to feel authentic. Even if there are things you know that never make it into the book, knowing those things will still make for a more well-rounded, fully-realized character.
Where can readers find you on the Internet?
I am on Facebook, Twitter, Threads and. Instagram.
The Elinormal Saga: The Adventures of Elinor Malcolm
Middle grade fiction, Published 2021
Eleven-year-old Elinor Malcolm just wants to be normal. Lonely, she goes in search of her best self and a best friend. In Elinormal, her bossy mom threatens to sue if Elinor is not granted a spot in a prestigious ballet academy. The problem is, Elinor has no interest in ballet. While sitting out the first class in an area park she meets Indira who helps her realize that she is a capable and kind individual. Elinor opens up and makes a friend at school who enjoys all the same things she does. The people in her life finally converge-secret identities are revealed, and Elinor has an epiphany about the nature of relationships and the power of love.
In New Girl: The Further Adventures of Elinormal , Elinor is ready for the first day of seventh grade when a last-minute phone call turns her world upside down. She misses the first week of school and when she gets back she’s called “the new girl” even though she’s not. Elinor quickly learns that people are complicated and relationships take work. Lots of work. As she discovers who she is, who she wants to be, and what she wants most in life, she struggles to balance friendships, both old and new, while also unraveling her mother’s mysterious past. Both of these delightful books explore the complexity of friendships, the reality of disappointments, and the trouble with secrets.
Book Excerpt from
The Elinormal Saga
Indira is supposed to be writing a biography for English, but she has decided to write the park’s story instead. Every day she picks up one object to add.
“See,” she tells me, “the way I figure it is like this. If you’re writing about a person, you take all these little scenes from their life and you string them together into a story. But that just gives you a bunch of snapshots of their life. It doesn’t really tell you about the whole person. It really tells you more about the writer than the subject, don’t you think?”
Before I can answer, she goes on. “I mean why do they write about the time it was so cold that the grandfather had to sleep on a hot brick wrapped in a towel to stay warm instead of about the time he sat in a chair in the library and read two chapters of The Grapes of Wrath one rainy Sunday afternoon? Both things are true. Both are important.”
A squirrel scampers across the path in front of us and rushes up the oak tree. A shower of acorns land on our blanket. “I get it,” I say. “I could write about getting the bluebird today or about almost getting conked on the head with an acorn. Both things are true and both are important.”
“Well, I think the gift from the universe is slightly more important, but yeah, kind of like that. Anyway, it’s the little details that make a story come alive. I tried explaining that to Ms. Fris but she just gave me her usual pained expression and sighed.”
“She seems mean.”
“Nope, not mean. Just sort of clueless. Anyway, I decided I’m going to write the park’s story for my biography. That’s my project. And it’s not really for school. It’s for me.”
I hold out the little bluebird in my hand and finally ask Indira what I’ve been wondering the whole time she’s been talking. “So,” I say, “did you find this in the park, too? Is it part of your project?”
“Your bluebird of happiness? No, of course not, pepperpot! It was on a shelf in my room. I have a whole collection of little glass animals, and when I saw it yesterday, I just knew it was something you needed. I just knew it. Am I right?”
My arms are covered in goosebumps, and I can feel the hair on the back of my neck doing that stand-up thing again.
Indira smiles at me. “I knew you’d think it was special. Now, want to help me find today’s artifact? We can start over there.” She points to a bench where two old guys are feeding the birds. “The trick is to walk quietly and be patient. Don’t pick up the first thing you see. You have to wait until you can feel it wanting to share its story.”
We walk slowly, and I fight the urge to pick up everything. “Let me show you how it works,” Indira tells me. “You have to listen with your heart.”
Indira keeps her head down and her hands clasped behind her back as we walk and I do the same. “Tune out all distractions,” she says. “Focus on the story of the park.”
“I think I can hear something,” I say as a big gust of wind rattles the leaves on the trees along our path.
Indira stops, and stands perfectly still, her toes turned toward each other and her hands on her hips. She slowly raises her hands above her, with her palms open and lets out a long, loud exhale of breath.
She is staring at something small and light that rolls right across our path, pushed by the wind. Indira tiptoes over to a tree where it’s come to a stop. She bends down and picks it up gently, then holds it out towards me. It looks like a clump of string sitting there in her outstretched hand.
“Yipes, stripes,” she whispers. She probes it with her finger. “Will you looky here? It’s a little bird’s nest.”
“Wow! That must be for a very tiny bird!”
“Not even close,” Indira replies. “This is an abandoned nest. Poor bird never even finished it. Blown away before it had a chance. This is the best discovery yet. You have very good karma, my friend. Exceptional karma, I’d say!”
Indira hands the nest to me. “You can carry it. This is a special day.”
The path winds around a grove of trees and exits onto a sidewalk that runs along the outside of the park. “This is a shortcut back to our spot,” Indira tells me. “This is the quickest way to get back.”
As we are walking along, the weirdest thing happens. Three girls, all hooked together arm in arm, are coming towards us, taking up the whole sidewalk. Indira and I have to step off onto the dirt to let them pass.
They all have identical blond hair pulled into tight buns.
They don’t even see me, but they look right at Indira. The girl in the middle says, “Hey, Tiffany!” then they all giggle and keep moving.
“Who’s Tiffany?” I ask, but Indira doesn’t answer.
She holds out her hand to me. “That’s your signal to leave, I guess,” she says. I’ll take the nest. You’d better run!”
Interested?
Find The Elinormal Saga on Goodreads, IndieStoryGeek and Amazon.
Thank you for hanging out with us today. Have a great weekend!
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