What do Hurricane Katrina, Pearl Harbor, The Battle of Gettysburg, and The Japanese Tsunami have in common with one another? These are just a few topics that bestselling author Lauren Tarshis has covered in her mega popular book series, I Survived.
This fall, Lauren has two new releases: I Survived The Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79 and I Survived True Stories: Five Epic Disasters, the latter is a thrilling collection of narrative nonfiction that explores the real names behind some of history’s greatest disasters featuring real kids in the midst of epic adversities. Check out Publishers Weekly feature story on Lauren here.
We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask Lauren about her research, her message to kids, and what’s next for the I Survived series. Take it away Lauren!
You do copious amounts of research for each I Survived book and you seem to have a knack for finding that perfect little nugget of information about a time period or event in history that kids will find fascinating! Can you describe your research process for the I Survived books? What kinds of factual information do you look for, and have there been times where you struggled to include a bit of research and couldn't?
I always joke that my little 112 page paperbacks require as much research as a Ph.D. dissertation. I begin by reading and reading and reading. I read 23 books for my most recent book, I Survived #10: I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79. I also visited Pompeii, spent hours at the Yale Museum of Art looking at artifacts, and studied paintings and sculptures for clues about life in Ancient Rome. I need to research not only the event itself, but information related to the fictional characters I create. For example, In I Survived #8: I Survived the Japanese Tsunami, 2011, Ben’s father had been a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. So I read three books about F-16 pilots. For I Survived #7: I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863, my main character Henry was an escaped slave. So I read every slave narrative I could get my hands on. I never know where my research is going to take me, but this is the most exciting part of the series for me!
You've covered everything from Pompeii to Pearl Harbor, from the San Francisco Earthquake to the sinking of the Titanic. What's next for I Survived and how did you come to choose that topic?
I just finished writing the eleventh book in the series, I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871. This topic was chosen by I Survived readers through a contest that Scholastic created. As I recently admitted to my readers in the books afterward, I wasn’t actually rooting for Chicago to win; I was hoping to sink my teeth into the Revolutionary War. But I wound up loving my “journey” to Chicago. The research was fascinating and I learned an incredible amount about the 19th century in America. I loved roaming the streets of Chicago and imagining myself in the shoes of my character, Oscar.
The theme of resilience is so deeply woven into each of the I Survived books. Why do you think that's such an important thing for kids to understand?
Researching the I Survived series is often a grim task – the events I write about are so intense. But in my research I am always discovering incredible stories of resilience, and I am deeply inspired by these. A big part of my research into the Chicago fire was first-person accounts of the fire written by people who lived through the fire. Their experiences were so harrowing! Most lost everything they owned, were on the run from the fire for hours, suffered physically and emotionally.
But so many of them also stayed in the city and rebuilt their lives. I think this message is especially important for kids. But it’s important that we don’t simply convey the idea that “people can survive difficult experiences.” Rather, my stories show how people endure—with the help of their families, their friends, their teachers, their communities, their spiritual beliefs.
It’s also important to show that a healing process can be long and difficult, and that painful memories don’t magically disappear. Being resilient, I think, means accepting that grief and sadness can be part of our lives. We don’t just “get over it”. Rather, we hopefully find the strength and resolve to move forward.
OOMers, what do you hope the next I Survived book will be about?
Photo Credit: David Dreyfuss
