RAR #256: My New Favorite Book for the Whole Family

Sarah Mackenzie (00:08): Hey. Hey, Sarah McKenzie here. You've got episode 256 of the Read Aloud Revival podcast, the show that helps you make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books. And this is a video podcast, so if you would prefer to watch it rather than just listen, head to Readaloudrevival.com/video to watch this episode on YouTube. Today I am excited to invite a previous guest back on the show. The last time Millie Florence was here was episode 234, and she and I talked about how homeschooling nurtured her as a writer. She shared what her parents did that made all the difference in her writing life, how homeschooling fueled her creativity. She gave us a peek into how her family really supported her early storytelling passions, and she also gave excellent writing advice for young writers, emphasizing the value of writing with joy and persistence over perfection. And one of my favorite things she did in the episode was she encouraged writers to embrace unfinished projects as signs of growth. Rather than thinking, "I never finish anything," We realize, "This is a sign that I'm growing and becoming a better writer." (01:27): It was such a good episode. I loved every minute. In that episode, Millie and I shared this story of how we met literally on an elevator. And then what resulted from that meeting on an elevator were many conversations that came to fruition in what I'm so excited to talk about today, Millie and I have made a book together. Beyond Mulberry Glen is a read-aloud novel for the whole family. It's a magical, whimsical adventure. It's going to win over the hearts of your kids of all ages, and it's got gorgeous illustrations and some lovely pen and ink art inside from the inimitable, Astrid Sheckles. It's also just an absolute work of art to hold in your hands, truly. So Beyond Mulberry Glen is about ready to hit shelves, and I could not possibly be more excited about it. Many, many of you have pre-ordered it already, and oh my gosh, thank you. That helps Waxwing books burst onto the publishing scene. We have been making a little splash and that's been really fun. This is our first novel, so thank you so much. Your pre-orders make a huge, huge difference. (02:41): Plus, you get some free gifts for pre-ordering. Did you know that? It's true. If you pre-order Beyond Mulberry Glen, just order the book anywhere you get your books, at your local independent bookstore, online, absolutely anywhere, then go to waxwingbooks.com slash BMG and tell us where to send your pre-order bonuses. We'll send you a happy little package in the mail, including a sticker sheet, a bookmark, a signed bookplate signed by Millie, of course, and you can stick that signed bookplate right into the book. It's like a sticker. So fun. Today, Millie Florence is here to talk about the making of Beyond Mulberry Glen. Let's go. Millie Florence, welcome back to the Read Aloud Revival. Millie Florence (03:31): Thank you for having me again. I'm so excited to be back and to chat with you. Sarah Mackenzie (03:35): Oh, it's always a complete delight. We're going to start today by giving our listeners or viewers a little taste of this beauty, the brand new book just about to hit shelves, Beyond Mulberry Glen. Do you want to tell everybody what it's about? Millie Florence (03:52): Yes, absolutely. And oh my goodness, I can't wait. I feel like everything is so amazing. Anyway. But yes, so Beyond Mulberry Glen is the story of eleven-year-old Lydia Green who lives in the magical realm of the Valleylands with her mismatched family of fairies and philosophers, until one day, that is, when she hears about a mysterious force known as the darkness that dwells within the forest Tenebrae. But not only does it dwell within the forest, lately it has begun to creep into Lydia's own mind, and that is where the story begins. Sarah Mackenzie (04:24): Yes. Okay. Tell us, where did the story come from? Tell our viewers and listeners, how did this come to you? Millie Florence (04:32): So yeah, it's difficult to pinpoint one thing in particular. I think it came from kind of a collection of different places. My inspiration for most books, it ends up being kind of a collage, I think is a good way to describe it. It was inspired by my love of classic fantasy of the woods behind my house, specifically the heart of the story was really inspired by some personal struggles I was grappling with at the time when I wrote it. Because I originally wrote the book between the ages of 14 and 15, and as parents of fourteen-year-olds and fifteen-year-olds... When I was fourteen-year-old, and fifteen-year-olds will know, you face a lot of the hallmarks of growing up at that age, like a driving permit or a high school workload and a lot of existential questions. Sarah Mackenzie (05:17): Yes. Millie Florence (05:17): So writing Lydia's emotional journey was how I processed a lot of my life at the time. Her fear of change and her confrontation with the darkness were themes that were very much written from the heart, I think. Sarah Mackenzie (05:31): Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So you wrote it between 14 and 15, you self-published it originally under a different title, and then I read it and was like, we need to publish this at Waxwing. Millie Florence (05:43): Yes. Sarah Mackenzie (05:44): And you did some changes in rewrites. Do you want to talk about that at all? Millie Florence (05:48): Yeah. Yeah. It was interesting. It felt a little bit like whiplash, to be honest, to edit that book. It was very, very difficult to go back and edit, at age 20, the book I wrote when I was 15 just because so much life has happened between then and now. And like I said, so much of the heart of that story was my emotional journey at age 15. And so it's hard... I read my old journals and stuff and going back to what I was thinking at the time because I didn't want to lose the heart of that story because I am a better writer now, and I think the story is definitely better now. I think it's improved a lot from when I originally published it. But in those improvements, I didn't want to cut out the things that made it special to begin with. And that was a tricky balance for me because there are so many things about it that ultimately it is always going to be the book I wrote when I was 15. (06:44): And I don't think that's a bad thing, and I am still obviously very, very proud of it and what it has become. But I do think that that was a very interesting challenge specifically, and it's not something I've ever encountered before when editing a book, is editing something that was so intrinsically part of my life as a fifteen-year-old and wanting to keep what made it special, but also improve it now with the knowledge and the skills I have now. Sarah Mackenzie (07:19): Yeah. One of the things I love about it so much is, I'm always looking for books that can be read aloud with a wide range of ages. And what I love is you could read Beyond Mulberry Glen aloud and your five or six-year-old sitting in the room is just hearing a fairy tale. That's what they're going to hear. Your 14 or fifteen-year-old's going to resonate with it on a different level. And then your 18 or twenty-six-year-old, or you as a mom or dad are going to resonate with it on a different level. It feels like you're going to see there's a lot of different layers, but there's something for everyone. Not every book is like that where I think you could read this book and your teenager is going to be just as interested as the younger child, but it's because they're actually hearing two different stories, almost, in the same one. Millie Florence (08:04): And that is super important to me when I write all of my books, honestly, because my family did so many read-alouds growing up. I think that's the reason number one, is just my family did so many read-alouds. So whenever I write a book, the ideal setting I am writing it for is being read aloud to a wide range of ages. That's how I imagine it in an ideal scenario. But also I think it's because as a teen, I was still reading middle grade fiction because I love the world built... Sarah Mackenzie (08:31): I'm 42 and I'm still reading middle grade fiction most of the time. Millie Florence (08:37): There's something so special about it and just the whimsy you can infuse in middle grade books, but you almost can't find in other genres, I think. I feel like you mostly find it in middle grade. So obviously I'm a teen who loves to read middle grade books, and I'm a young adult who still loves to middle grade books, but obviously I still want to read books that make me think as well on an emotional level. So I am all four books that grow with the child, a book that you can read throughout your life. So you can read it to siblings, a wide range of ages, but also you as an individual can read it at one age and get something different out of it than you do when you read it later in your life. Sarah Mackenzie (09:17): Yeah. One of the ways you do that, I think, is through your use of beautiful language, really delicious language. Let's put a sample of the audiobook in here for our viewers and listeners so they can get a little taste. Audiobook (09:32): In principio. In the beginning. Our tale begins on a merry morning in autumn. Well, the weather was merry, Lydia Green was not, but the forest seemed perfectly indifferent to that fact. The air was flushed with a chill that coaxed color into Lydia's cheeks, and the restless branches danced with whispers of sky. On any ordinary day, Lydia would've danced with them, but today she preferred to be left alone with her mixed up melancholy. She was 11, freckled cheeked and round eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin shielded by the dappled shade of the trees she so loved, the trees she would soon have to leave behind. Lydia reached out and pressed her hand against the rough bark of the house tree where she slept in fair weather. She tilted her head up, losing herself for a moment in the maze of green and golden foliage in the branches above. (10:40): She had dreamed odd, unpleasant dreams the night before, and now being awake felt strange. She could not remember what the dreams had been about, merely the weight of something dark and heavy pressing upon her. The feeling lingered like a bad taste in her mouth, and yet the world was alive, singing and calling and whispering and laughing in a way that was impossible not to love. Lydia swallowed the knot in her throat. Oh, why was it so easy to fall in love with changeable things? Sarah Mackenzie (11:18): Oh, I love that audio so much. The audiobook is fabulous, narrated by Lisa Brown, just spectacular. Millie Florence (11:26): It's amazing. I love hearing all the different voices she does for characters. Sarah Mackenzie (11:29): Yes. Yes. What's one part of the world in Mulberry Glen that you wish could be real? Millie Florence (11:39): Honestly, the libraries. Easy answer for me. Easy answer. Sarah Mackenzie (11:43): Yeah. Millie Florence (11:44): I love it so much. And it was such a cool part of the story to write. My favorite chapter in the entire book is the chapter where they go to the libraries for the first time. Sarah Mackenzie (11:57): Yes. Millie Florence (11:58): It was my favorite to write at the time. I had so much fun writing that chapter, but even now, I just feel like my favorite parts of storytelling come through in that chapter so well, and it's an interesting place probably just because of the whimsy, right? Because it's this vast collection of books, shelves that go on for miles, and these shelves shift and move, turning it into a giant maze, and it's called the libraries, plural, because in the whimsical logic of this world, it's so big, it has to be plural. It's too big to be just one library, right? Sarah Mackenzie (12:31): Yes, yes. Millie Florence (12:33): So I think it's special because of that whimsy to me. But I think it's also special on a more philosophical level because I liked the idea of making a library feel a little bit dangerous. This library represents knowledge, this infinite wealth of knowledge. Everyone says knowledge is power, and if that's true, then power inherently has some danger to it, right? And the thing I had in my mind at the time was my parents would always tell me and my siblings, once you see something, you can't un-see it, or once you learn about something, you can't unlearn it, so to be careful what you expose yourself to. And I think that was kind of a theme for that location, was this amazing wealth of knowledge at these characters fingertips. And it's a good thing, it's an amazing thing, it's a beautiful thing, but it's also a little bit dangerous. And I think that, I don't know, I just really love that balance of like... Because fairy tales, there is that element of sort of eerie, beautiful but also a little bit eerie, and I loved striking that balance with that location so much. Sarah Mackenzie (13:35): There's also my favorite character in the library. Millie Florence (13:38): Yes. I already know who you're going to say. Quill, right? Sarah Mackenzie (13:42): It's Quill. It has to be. And when the readers get to that section, you're going to be like, "Of course this is everyone's favorite part." Millie Florence (13:49): Yes, yes. He's the hobgoblin and a self-proclaimed poet. He only speaks in poetry. Sarah Mackenzie (13:56): Yes. When I read this book aloud to my own kids, that's the part where they could not stop giggling. So I think especially bookish kids who are familiar with poetry are going to get a really big kick out of Quill and what he views as poetry. Millie Florence (14:12): It was so fun. He was such a fun character to write. And fun fact about the library, while we're on the topic, I noticed that I have an important library in every single one of my books. It keeps happening. Every single one. Sarah Mackenzie (14:25): How interesting. Millie Florence (14:27): Yeah. And some of them are things... Sarah Mackenzie (14:30): And you didn't set out necessarily on purpose to do that, it's just sort of that you just can't help but write about libraries. Millie Florence (14:36): I didn't. It just keeps happening, but now I feel like I want to keep the streak going. Sarah Mackenzie (14:41): I once heard Kate DiCamillo talk about, I think she talked with me about it here on the show actually, about how she didn't realize that so many of her books had this theme of light, like stars being this little prick of hope in the night until a reader commented to her, "Why do you always put stars and light in your books?" And she was like, "Do I do that"? And then she realized she did it, and now I think she has to... It probably just comes naturally as she's writing it anyway, but I bet. I don't know, I've not asked her this, but I bet she's like, "And it's going to be in every book." Millie Florence (15:14): Yeah. Well, those are the best moments though, when a reader is like, "This was so clever that you did." And I'm like, "Yeah." Sarah Mackenzie (15:21): I was so clever. Yes. Millie Florence (15:24): I definitely did that on purpose. Sarah Mackenzie (15:26): Do you know, I think there's something about that though, about the story being smarter than we are as authors. Millie Florence (15:31): Oh yeah. For sure. Sarah Mackenzie (15:32): And things happening on a subconscious level because you were fed and nurtured by stories growing up, and then not even realizing when your story might be doing something super clever like that even if you didn't intend for it to. Millie Florence (15:47): No, I've said this before. I think once you write a story, once you complete it and send it out into the world, it sort of takes on a life of its own, honestly, which is something else. You could go back to the metaphor of the libraries, that it has a life of its own. Yeah, I believe that is true of all stories because one of my favorite quotes is, "No two people ever read the same book," I believe. Sarah Mackenzie (16:09): Yeah. So good. Yeah. Millie Florence (16:10): Yeah. I think there's this relationship that happens between the book, the story, and the reader. It's not even a relationship between the author and the reader, it's between the story and the reader, and that's a unique relationship for every person. I don't know. I think it's so cool. Sarah Mackenzie (16:28): Cool. Yeah, it is so cool. How did you decide what kind of magic or wonder to include? That's probably a question every time you're writing a book, especially if there's some magical realism, which I know happens in a lot of your stories. How do you decide what kind of magic to include in a book? And specifically in Beyond Mulberry Glenn, do you remember sort of painting the boundaries of that magic? Millie Florence (16:57): I do, actually. Yes. Yeah. So the process for that is a little bit different in every book. In every book I write, I intentionally try to challenge myself to try new things. You can kind of see if you read my books in the order that I wrote them in each thing, I've added something new to try to teach myself and learn. I intentionally try to make the magic system different in every book that I write. For Beyond Mulberry Glenn, one thing I specifically decided for the world is that all the magic would be attached to places instead of people. So the library with their shifting shelves or the dark forest, Tenebrae forest. In this world, people can't learn magic. Magic is sort of its own character. It's like a force of nature, like wind or rain, and it chooses certain places to live, like the libraries. No one knows how the libraries got like that, magic just chose to make it its home. Sarah Mackenzie (17:51): Oh, that's beautiful. I mean, how many times have I read this? So many. So many, and I didn't actually make that association. That's really beautiful. One thing that kids listening or watching this right now might not realize is you might think as that fantasy writer, you just get to make up any rules you want. And that's true, you kind of do, in your own writing... Millie Florence (18:09): We have to stay consistent to them. Sarah Mackenzie (18:11): Exactly. Because otherwise there's no story because everything could just be solved by magic that you decide exists on page 200 that didn't exist on page 120. Millie Florence (18:21): Yeah. Yes. Sarah Mackenzie (18:23): Oh, that's so cool. Okay, so were there any books or movies or specific experiences that you feel like impacted your writing of Beyond Mulberry Glen? Millie Florence (18:34): Absolutely. Yes. So in terms of experiences, when I was in the process of writing Beyond Mulberry Glen, I actually went on a couple trips overseas with my dad to Germany and England, and those were a huge inspiration, which I think you can tell if you read the book. So that was huge, just getting to see all the architecture, learning about the fairy tales and the legends of those countries because he was going on business trips, but we have a thing in our family where whenever my dad goes on a business trip overseas, we all take turns one sibling at a time going with him, which is very, very fun. But yeah, I got to go on a few of those in the process of writing that book. But architecture, fairy tales, the culture, the food, there's some very British food, very traditionally British food in the book. So that comes through for sure. (19:28): I was also learning Latin as my high school foreign language. That is probably a quite obvious inspiration there because there's lots of Latin in the book. And that was actually part of my motivation for learning Latin, was so I could include it in the book. Sarah Mackenzie (19:45): I love it. Millie Florence (19:46): Because I thought it was so cool that we have this language that no one speaks anymore, and I love the idea of making it the language of the fairies and the elves and all the mystical creatures. Sarah Mackenzie (19:57): Well, and there's so much of that double symbolism because even one of the characters, Tara, her name in Latin means Earth. Millie Florence (20:04): Earth. Sarah Mackenzie (20:04): Right? Millie Florence (20:05): Yes. Sarah Mackenzie (20:05): Okay. And she's a healer, so it's like, oh. Yeah, yeah. Millie Florence (20:10): No, I love the double meanings thing so much. Yeah. So Tara meets Earth, and then you have a chapter... One of the chapter titles in Latin translates to either the earth heals or you can think of it as Tara Heals. It's like the character heals. Both happen. I love the double meanings. So yeah, lots of names, lots of double meanings there. The Latin was really, really fun to play with. Sarah Mackenzie (20:31): I think it'll be really fun, especially for any students that are learning Latin to be like... It'll be like a little treasure hunt. Millie Florence (20:37): Yes, yes. Okay. I actually have a funny story about this. When the book was self-published, at one point I did an event at a homeschool co-op and I was selling books there afterwards, and a mom bought the book and then later she posted on Facebook. And I didn't find this post. My mom found it and showed it to me because she hadn't tagged me or anything. She was just posting about it to her feed that her son read the book, and they had been learning Latin before this, and he was not into it. But then he read the book and he got so excited about learning Latin, and suddenly he was asking his mom all these questions about Latin because it was so cool that it was the language in this magical world. Sarah Mackenzie (21:21): That's a win. That's a major win. Millie Florence (21:23): I know. Really. Sarah Mackenzie (21:24): You're like, you are welcome. I love it. Is there any of the characters that you feel like are most like you or least like you? I bet I could make some guesses, but I'm just... Millie Florence (21:37): So I would say that Lydia is the most like me. She has a very different personality. Because her thoughts and fears and just internal emotions were so heavily inspired by my own, I would say that she's the most like me in terms of that. Least like me is definitely Prenna, and she is also the character I struggled with the most because she's very analytical, which is a good balance to Lydia's whimsy, but she's just a very step one, step two, step three, very, I guess, type A sort of person, which was very different to write, and it took me a long time to get her character right and make it what I wanted it to be. But yeah. Sarah Mackenzie (22:23): She's sort of like a Diana to Anne Shirley, but she's a little more... What's the word I'm looking for? Takes initiative or a little more, I don't know. Aggressive is not the right word. So that got [inaudible 00:22:38]. Millie Florence (22:39): No, Prenna is more like... Oh, wait, no, there is a word for this. Assertive. Prenna is more assertive than Lydia, which she needs sometimes, as you see in the first scene where they meet. Sarah Mackenzie (22:50): Yes, yes, exactly. Put on full display there, right outside the canoe shop. Yes. I am super curious about this because I don't know the answer. I know the answers to some of these just because you and I worked on it so much together, but I don't know this. Was there anything that you were kind of nervous to write? Like, you were excited about, but you wanted to get it just right, you weren't sure how to pull it off or anything that was kind of jumps out at you like, "Oh, I didn't know how I was going to pull that one off."? Millie Florence (23:19): So I don't know if I would say nervous because the great thing about writing is no one is watching you. Sarah Mackenzie (23:23): It's true. Millie Florence (23:24): You can write badly a million times and no one needs to know. Sarah Mackenzie (23:28): This is true. Exactly. Millie Florence (23:30): But I definitely struggled with the climax a lot. I rewrote that I think more than any other part of the book because... I'm going to try and say it without spoilers. The ending is very fantastical, and I wanted it to be because I wanted it to feel like a fairy tale, but I also wanted the emotion to feel real even in such a surreal setting, and it took me a while to get that right, to get the balance right. And some of the first drafts I wrote of that definitely make me cringe looking back on it now. Sarah Mackenzie (24:03): All my first drafts make me cringe. Millie Florence (24:07): So I think that was the biggest challenge. And also a lot of that changed, even editing the book now, editing the book, most recently with you. This is a funny thing to look back on, but the character of Cole, I could not, for the life of me, I was so bad at writing mean characters when I was younger, which is maybe a good thing and shows, oh, I've been around nice people in my childhood, but he was a struggle to write when I was younger, and that's, I feel like, one of the biggest things that has improved in edits with the republished version where I was like, yeah, he actually sounds like the normal person. Like a real person now, right? Sarah Mackenzie (24:50): Yeah, I'm trying to say this without any spoilers, but more than meets the eye. There's more happening, like multifaceted, not two dimensional. This is just kind of a fun question that kids sometimes ask authors at Read Aloud Revival Premium. If you could spend a day with any one of the characters from the book, who would you choose and what would you do together? Millie Florence (25:13): Tara, for sure. Sarah Mackenzie (25:15): Oh, I didn't expect you to say that. I don't know why. That makes sense. Okay, tell me, what would you do? Millie Florence (25:19): Yeah, I would spend some time in her cottage and she could teach me all about herbs. I'm sure she knows a lot more about herbs than me. I would just want to learn from her and help her make remedies and cook in the kitchen. She's so kind and joyful, and she has such good advice. Sarah Mackenzie (25:35): Yes. Millie Florence (25:35): I think she'd be a really good friend. Sarah Mackenzie (25:38): I think you're right. She would be a very good confidant. Millie Florence (25:41): Yes. Sarah Mackenzie (25:43): I think it'd be fun to also spend time with Mrs. Castro maybe because I like good food. Livey too. That'd be good. There's a lot of good food in this book. There's a lot of good food. Millie Florence (25:53): Mrs. Castro is fun. You would hear all the gossip of the town if you spent time with Mrs. Castro. Sarah Mackenzie (25:59): You might need a nap afterward, but it would be a really lovely afternoon. I think it'd be fun. Very entertaining at least. Millie Florence (26:05): Yes, for sure. Sarah Mackenzie (26:06): I know you are a big reader and you're raised in a family that really prioritized reading. Who are some of the authors that have most inspired you in your writing? Millie Florence (26:17): So I would say The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart is one of my all time favorite books. I've not published any of these, but I have basically written essays on this book just to study it and figure out why I like it so much and what works about it so well. I think one of the biggest things I learned from that book was how to balance a book being both quirky and deep and thought-provoking because I think that is the main thing I love about that book, is it is very whimsical and quirky and the characters with very big personalities. A lot of it feels larger than life. But it's also so thought-provoking and has so many good themes and good conversations happening in that book that just really make you think as both a child and an adult. That's another book that grows with you. Sarah Mackenzie (27:13): Yes. Millie Florence (27:13): And then also Kate DiCamillo. I think that will come as a surprise to no one. Sarah Mackenzie (27:18): Yes, yes. Millie Florence (27:19): I love how she is able to make small moments feel emotionally big. Sarah Mackenzie (27:26): Yes. Millie Florence (27:26): I think that is a huge thing I have learned from her. Also, language motifs. So a phrase or a word or a concept that reoccurs throughout her stories and it gains meaning over time. I think that is beautiful. In Flora and Ulysses, for example, the word capacious appears throughout the book, and each time it gains new meaning and it gives color to the characters' arcs, and I think that is so cool and such an interesting way to do that. With the whole show, don't tell rule that all writers hear, it's a beautiful way to show it. And then in terms of writers, I would also say that the writers and the storytelling in the TV show, Avatar, The Last Airbender have taught me a lot about storytelling. Sarah Mackenzie (28:16): Tell me more. Millie Florence (28:17): Yeah. I love learning about storytelling from movies and TV shows as well. I think any form of storytelling, it just expands what you know about all the different ways to tell a story, and I think that's really important no matter what kind of storyteller you are. But specifically Avatar, The Last Airbender taught me a lot about letting a story build over time rather than trying to shove everything a reader needs to know about a character into the first chapter. Sarah Mackenzie (28:45): Oh yeah. There is that temptation, you want to dump everything you know about your character in the opening chapter, but your reader definitely doesn't want that. Millie Florence (28:53): Yes, yes, yes. It's okay to be like, chapter one, Zuko is angry. That's all you need to know. And then over time, this character gains depth and more layers to them as you get to know them. Sarah Mackenzie (29:06): Which I think you've actually done in this book really beautifully. Millie Florence (29:09): Thank you. Sarah Mackenzie (29:09): Yeah. I can't say much more than that without giving away spoilers. Millie Florence (29:12): I know. The spoilers. It's a struggle. Sarah Mackenzie (29:14): Spoilers. If Beyond Mulberry Glen had its own soundtrack, what kind of music or songs would be on it? Millie Florence (29:23): I think folk music, kind of a folk music vibe. Folk and classical. When I was writing it, I listened to the band The Hunts a Lot, which is an indie folk band of... It's made up of homeschooled siblings. They're all adults now and grown up and have their own family. I love their music and I listen to that a lot while writing it, and it fits perfectly because the style is very flowing and gentle and right, and a lot of the lyrics are about growing up. So a lot of it applied to the story, and I really enjoyed that. Sarah Mackenzie (29:59): So you can listen to music with lyrics while you're writing? Millie Florence (30:02): Oh, no. Sarah Mackenzie (30:03): Oh, okay. Millie Florence (30:04): No, no, no, no. I'm saying I had this in my earbuds while I was pacing in circles around the backyard, imagining a music video with the characters from Beyond Mulberry Glen. Sarah Mackenzie (30:14): Got it, got it, got it. This makes a lot more... I'm like, wow, that's next level there. Yeah. Okay. That makes so much sense. What's a question that you hope or wish that readers of this book will ask you? Millie Florence (30:28): Honestly, I think my favorite question to get asked by readers is just, do you have any fun facts about the story? Because I have so many fun facts, little random behind the scenes things from... I don't know. For example, in an early draft, Lydia had a magical birthmark. Sarah Mackenzie (30:50): Oh, really? Millie Florence (30:51): In the first draft. It's not there anymore because it didn't work. It was kind of replaced by the seeds as a plot device, and that made a lot more sense. And readers, if you want to know what this all means, you'll have to read the book. Sarah Mackenzie (31:04): Yeah. Millie Florence (31:05): Another fun fact is something I have noticed with a lot of my books is that I tend to gravitate about writing about apprentices specifically in Beyond Mulberry Glen, but in other books as well, and I think this is because I'm a homeschooled. So there are so many books that take place at magical schools, but for me, I can't relate to that as much because I was homeschooled, I can't relate to the school aspect, but books where the character gets apprenticed by a wizard I think feel more relatable to me because it's more similar to my homeschool experience of having a closer relationship with the person teaching you and being focused on subjects that you choose and having a more flexible schedule, that sort of thing. So I've noticed that, again, multiple books of mine, there are apprentices or some concept similar to that of... Sarah Mackenzie (31:57): Like a one-on-one kind of teaching. Millie Florence (31:59): Yes. Yes. Exactly. Like in my other book, the Balter of Ashton Harper. Sarah Mackenzie (32:03): I was just thinking about that. Millie Florence (32:04): There's a dance tutor. Right. Sarah Mackenzie (32:06): Yeah. That's so cool. I had never thought that through, but that makes a lot of sense that my own six children, three older ones never really stepped into a school. Unless they were playing sports at the school, they never really stepped into a school until they went to college. Yeah. They might not resonate exactly with that school experience that we see in a lot of stories, but apprenticeship. Millie Florence (32:26): It's not that I don't enjoy it, I do, but it feels more like a fantasy world to me, I think, the magical school than it does for kids who go to school. I think it has a different level of relatability. I don't know. And that's not something I did on purpose. Again, like the library thing, it's something that has happened over time, until recently I've realized, I'm like, "Huh, I think that's why." Sarah Mackenzie (32:46): Yeah. How do you hope your readers will feel after they finish your book? Millie Florence (32:51): I hope that they will feel motivated to find determination and hope in their every day. More than anything else I want Beyond Mulberry Glen, and all my books, but especially Beyond Mulberry Glen, to give people hope. My goal is always to write stories that acknowledge the darkness of the world with honesty, but also the truth that there is light even in that darkness if you're stubborn enough to find it. Because I do think it comes down to stubbornness. A lot of it does. You don't have to be some extraordinarily noble or talented person, you just have to refuse to give up to find that light in your life. You just have to keep trying, keep moving forward, keep growing towards the light. As I say in the book, there's something that Pitt, Lydia's guardian fairy, says to her that ends up becoming a bit of a language motif throughout the story, which is, "You are stubbornly gentle, stubbornly kind, relentlessly compassionate. Never lose that, Lydia," And I think we need more of that in this world, just being, yeah, stubbornly kind, stubbornly looking for the beautiful things in life. Sarah Mackenzie (34:04): Well, I want to take a minute while I have you on screen with me here, Millie, to just tell you just as direct as I possibly can, I think you know this, but I want to just say it where everybody can hear it. For Waxwing's first novel to be this absolutely beautiful, hope-filled, whimsical, delightful tale is such an honor for us, and so thank you so much for trusting your book with Waxwing, and I hope it gets into so many readers hands because it is truly a magnificent story, so well done. Millie Florence (34:34): You are so welcome. Thank you so much. Sarah Mackenzie (34:41): I've said it before, but I'll say it again, every book we publish at Waxwing is created for the whole family in mind, with reading aloud in mind, for parents and grandparents to read to their kids of all ages. We just know you're going to love this one. Every pre-order and every purchase you make makes such a difference. As a brand new boutique publishing house that has just burst onto the publishing scene, and we're trying to make the really beautiful high-quality books you can trust, every order you make is truly game-changing for us. Bookstores, libraries, schools take us more seriously and realize that we are indeed making books that families have been waiting for when you order and pre-order the book. So thank you, thank you, thank you for every pre-order. You can get your copy of Beyond Mulberry Glen, anywhere you like to buy books, any bookshop that you like. You can order our books from there. And then if you want those pre-order goodies, go to waxwingbooks.com slash BMG and you can input your information there so we can send you a little happy mail. (35:46): Now, let's go hear from the kids and what they're enjoying lately. Gideon (35:51): My name is Gideon and I'm five, and my favorite story is Korean Children's Favorite books. I love it so much because I like the part where the bunny tricks the tiger, and I like where the granny tricks the tiger because she wants him to stop eating all her radishes. Taylor Joy (36:20): My name is Taylor-Joy and I'm four. Kids Interviewer (36:28): And where do you live? Taylor Joy (36:29): In [inaudible 00:36:30], Ohio. Kids Interviewer (36:31): And what's your favorite book right now? Taylor Joy (36:40): [inaudible 00:36:39]. And I like the flip flappies. Kids Interviewer (36:44): You like the flip flappies in the book? Taylor Joy (36:45): Yeah. Kids Interviewer (36:46): All right, thank you. Timber Grace (36:48): My name is Timber Grace and I'm from Arkansas, and I'm six years old and my favorite book is Amber the Orange Fairy, the Rainbow Fairy books. I like it because there's Furry and Amber. Dakota (37:10): Hi, my name is Dakota. I'm 14 years old and I live in Jonesboro, Arkansas. My favorite book is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I like it because of the cool black and white pictures and the exciting tale it had inside. Kids Interviewer (37:34): What's your name? Lula (37:35): Lula May. Kids Interviewer (37:37): How old are you, Lula? Lula (37:38): Five years old. Kids Interviewer (37:40): And where do you live? Lula (37:41): In Arkansas. Kids Interviewer (37:43): And what's your favorite book? Lula (37:44): Muncha Muncha Muncha. Kids Interviewer (37:48): Muncha Muncha Muncha by Candace Fleming? Lula (37:51): Muncha Muncha Muncha by Tana Trenin. Kids Interviewer (37:52): And what's your favorite part in that book? Lula (37:58): The bunny. They eat his garden. Kids Interviewer (38:01): They eat all the garden. Is it funny? Lula (38:03): Yeah. Noah (38:05): My name and Noah and I live in Arkansas and I'm four years old, and my favorite book is Cinderella and I write about it when I sit down and get warm by the fire. Thank you. Sarah Mackenzie (38:34): Thank you. Thank you, kids. The show notes for this episode are at readaloudrevival.com slash 2 5 6. Don't forget to order your copy of Beyond Mulberry Glen hitting shelves January 7th. I cannot wait. Go to any bookshop that you'd like to order it from and then grab your pre-order goodies by going to waxwingbooks.com slash BMG. I'll be back in two weeks with another episode, but in the meantime, you know what to do. Go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.