Memorial Day Is May 29, and though it's often a time of reflection and patriotism, we realize that it can also be a moment to talk with the children in your life about what we're celebrating and why. But talking about war can be difficult — how much do you share? What if they ask follow up questions? To help us tackle this, we invited three children's books authors who all write books for young readers about war, both historical and present, to join us via Skype for a fascinating conversation about why they've chosen to write about war and how they approach the topic for children. (Listen to the episode here.)

Here's a breakdown of this week's guests:

• A former researcher and journalist who reported from conflict zones and refugee camps, C. Alexander London has written books for children, teens, even a few grown ups. He’s the author of The Wild Ones series, Dog Tags and Tides of War series, as well as the Accidental Adventures and two titles in The 39 Clues series for young readers. He has also written books like One Day the Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War for older readers. When he is not writing books, he can usually be found wandering around Philadelphia talking to his dog. For more information, visit: www.calexanderlondon.com.
• Kate Messner is the author of The Seventh Wish; All the Answers; The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., winner of the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award for Older Readers; Capture the Flag, an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner; Hide and Seek; Manhunt; and the Ranger in Time and Marty McGuire chapter book series. A former middle-school English teacher, Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family. Visit her online at katemessner.com.
• Lauren Tarshis’s acclaimed and bestselling I Survived series, which has more than 23 million copies in print to date, tells stories of young people and their resilience and strength in the midst of unimaginable disasters. Lauren has brought her signature warmth and comprehensive research to topics such as the sinking of the Titanic, the destruction of Pompeii, Hurricane Katrina, the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In addition to being an author, Lauren is the editor of Storyworks, an acclaimed national language arts classroom magazine for grades 4-6 and the newly-launched Storyworks Jr. for grade 3. She lives in Westport, Connecticut, and can be found online at laurentarshis.com.

Pop in your headphones and give this episode a listen here, or by subscribing to Scholastic Reads via iTunes, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app!

When Scholastic classroom magazine editor Lauren Tarshis began writing, the original idea she had for a series was to write "four little, simple historical fiction books for boys." 16 books and 21 million copies later, Lauren's I Survived series has become a bestselling series for 4th-7th graders.

Each book in her sereies tells a thrilling story from history, through the eyes of a boy who lived to tell the tale. (Correction: through the eyes of a boy or a girl, now that her next novel features a female protagonist!). Readers have a front-row seat to such events as the Joplin tornado, the destruction of Pompeii, Hurricane Katrina, and, most recently, one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in U.S. history—I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens. 

Lauren recently joined us on the podcast to talk about her work, how her ideas come about, and how reader feedback plays an integral role in her writing process. She also talks about her latest project, Storyworks Jr., a new ELA magazine for the third grade classroom which hits schools this fall.

Here's a clip from the episode! Listen to the entire episode, Stories of Survival with Lauren Tarshis, to get the full story.

Every day this week, we have been taking you behind the scenes of I Survived with author Lauren Tarshis and editor Nancy Mercado as they gave you the inside scoop on how the latest book in the New York Times bestselling series was created. Today, Nancy Mercado takes one last look behind the scenes talking about the creation of each book's cover.

JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER by Nancy Mercado

The great thing about working on an established series is that the covers all have a similar look that readers will recognize, so the process of creating the cover can be pretty straightforward. Notice I didn’t say easy! So what goes on behind the scenes of an I Survived cover? First, the designer of the series, Yaffa Jaskoll, contacts the illustrator Steve Stone who has worked on every book in the I Survived series and sends him a general summary of the book, the time period, and a description of the main character and what he should be wearing.

I work so far in advance on the cover, most of the time we don’t have a finished manuscript to share with Steve, so he has to go on our summary of the book.

In the case of the Chicago Fire book, we decided that the cover should feature the main character in a boat as he’s escaping the fire. That meant that Lauren had to be sure to keep the scene where Oscar is in a boat otherwise our cover image wouldn’t make much sense!

Then, Steve sends over some possible models that he’d like to use. Every book in the series so far has featured an eleven-year-old boy, so Steve and Yaffa look for boys who are in that age range, and who match the description of Lauren’s main character. Fun fact: They have never used the same model twice, so every cover features someone new.

Once Steve has completed his photo shoot, he sends us some sample images and Yaffa decides which one will work best with the design. We love how realistic Steve’s work is, and how he puts the main character right in the center of the disaster in a way that feels immediate, terrifying, and true to life.

Yaffa also tries to keep in mind how the cover will look when it’s seen with all of the rest of the books in the series, and she works hard to make sure that they look different enough, both in the colors that are chosen and in the pose of the model. Here are all of the I Survived covers at a glance. Do you have a preference for one over the other? Why?

To read all of the I Survived Behind-the-Scenes posts, click here.

About the author:

Lauren Tarshis is the editor of Scholastic's Storyworks magazine and group editorial director for language arts for Scholastic classroom magazines, in addition to being the author of the I Survived series and the critically acclaimed novels Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. She lives in Westport, Connecticut, and can be found online at www.laurentarshis.com.

Want to learn more? Watch this video about how Lauren got the idea for the I Survived series and this one about the differences between writing for a magazing and a book. 

For additional classroom resources, visit www.scholastic.com/TeachISurvived.

Author photo © David Dreyfuss.

Every day this week, we are taking you behind the scenes of I Survived with author Lauren Tarshis and editor Nancy Mercado as they give you the inside scoop on how the latest book in theNew York Times bestselling series was created. 

ADVENTURES IN RESEARCH by Lauren Tarshis

When I first had the idea for the I Survived series I thought, great—I’ll whip these books out in no time. I’d already written nonfiction articles on many of the topics. I have four kids, and I figured that they and their friends could be the inspiration for the fictional characters that would star in each story.

So easy, right?

No!

It turns out that for me, historical fiction is the most challenging genre to write, more difficult than nonfiction and way more time consuming than realistic fiction.

Historical fiction packs a double whammy of work. I have to conjure up a whole fictional world in exacting detail, and then squeeze this world inside a true event. All of this requires an enormous amount of research—dozens and dozens of books, articles, videos, maps, paintings, interviews, and, whenever possible, visits to the place I’m writing about. It’s not enough to learn about the event itself. I need to completely immerse myself into the world of my characters so I can make them as realistic as possible.

For my latest book, about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, I began by reading three VERY thick books on the history of the city. From there, I read through the dozens of first-hand accounts of the fire, collected by the Chicago Historical Society. These incredible stories captured the terror of that day, in the voices of those who ran from the flames, choked on the smoke, and felt blessed to have escaped with their lives.

These voices were ringing in my mind when I traveled to Chicago, where I did further research. Little remains of Chicago as it looked in 1871, but I was able to understand the geography of the city, and walk the streets that my characters Oscar, Jennie, and Bruno made their terrifying journey through the smoke and flames. I imagined streets crowded with horses and wagons, sidewalks made of wood and raised up off the ground. I took a boat trip along the river, and plotted out the journey that my characters would take as they ran for their lives. I actually fell in love with Chicago, which is beautiful, and pulsing with the same energy that many early travelers noticed when they arrived there by steam train.

I came back from Chicago with a suitcase filled with yet more books and magazines. I needed to learn about orphanages of the 1870s, train travel across the prairie, early American painters, and gangsters of the American west. Answering even simple questions often takes hours of research.

But the research is actually my favorite part of creating this series. By the time I finish writing each book, I really do feel like I’ve taken a trip through history. And the best part is that I get to take you along with me. 

About the author:

Lauren Tarshis is the editor of Scholastic's Storyworks magazine and group editorial director for language arts for Scholastic classroom magazines, in addition to being the author of the I Survived series and the critically acclaimed novels Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. She lives in Westport, Connecticut, and can be found online at www.laurentarshis.com.

Want to learn more? Watch this video about how Lauren got the idea for the I Survived series and this one about the differences between writing for a magazing and a book. 

For additional classroom resources, visit www.scholastic.com/TeachISurvived.

Author photo © David Dreyfuss.