Junior Community Reads: The Shadows

Jacqueline West, author of The Books of Elsewhere series, discussed her inspiration and her writing process. Her events included a Q&A with the audience followed by a book signing. The Books of Elsewhere is a fantasy series for young readers which follows the adventures of eleven-year-old Olive Dunwoody as she travels to Elsewhere: the world inside the antique paintings on the walls of the old stone house on Linden Street. Danger and mystery are around every corner as Olive encounters evil magic, talking cats, and a small boy trapped inside the painted world. We also held Shadows Parties in Waseca, Le Sueur, Waldorf, Montgomery, and New Richland to get the kids excited about the books. We had several stations where kids could do activities that went along with the book, like paint and imagine entering their painting, pretend they were in a painting, draw a shadow chasing them, and use shadow puppets. One parent said thanked us and said this was the highlight of her daughter’s summer. Our Community Reads events provided an opportunity for the readers of the Waseca and Le Sueur areas to have a shared literary experience with the communities reading the same book at the same time. West’s appearance allowed readers the opportunity to discuss the books in-depth with the author. The Friends of the Le Sueur Public Library and Library System bought additional copies of the book to make sure we had enough copies to cover the demand. We have turned the extra copies into book club bags. The Friends of the Le Sueur Public Library also gave away 3 sets of West’s books as part of the event. The kids asked the following questions of West: Did you get to pick the illustrator? Have you met the illustrator? Which is harder to write, the beginning or the end? When did you start writing? When did you start writing THIS book? How do you come up with the ideas? Is this your only series? Which of the books was your favorite?