Soaring Adventure

TFK Kid Reporter Vicky Sun speaks with author Jeanne Birdsall about her new book, The Library of Unruly Treasures.

What inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always wanted to be able to fly. All my life, especially when I was younger, I’ve had dreams of flying. That feeling of freedom! And then you wake up and you realize it’s a dream. So I think that affected me. It made me want to create creatures who are part human but also can fly.

How did you create the Lahdukan, the species of flying creatures in the book?

The book took me eight years to write. That’s partly because, once I thought of the Lahdukan, I wanted to make them more and more real. So I needed to understand their history and where they were from and what language they would be speaking. I loved doing that so much.

Do you have a favorite character in the book, or one that you secretly relate to the most?

Secretly relate to? I’m probably most like Zarakir, the kind of wild one. I have a calm part of me. But [there’s a part of me that] is always ready to protect people and fight for the people I care about. Favorite character? I love Gwen. But it feels funny to talk about her as a favorite character. She just seems so real to me.

What do you hope kids will love most about this book?

I hope they’ll like Gwen trying to understand what these goofballs [the Lahdukan] are talking about. For me, it was a metaphor for how I go around the world never speaking quite the same language as everybody.

What was it like working with the book’s illustrator?

Matt [Phelan] and I did a picture book together a long time ago, I think in 2012. What he did for that book was perfect. So I asked for him on this book, knowing he’d be exactly right.

I think the Lahdukan are depicted really well, exactly how I saw them in my mind.

That’s really good. We had to go back and forth around the Lahdukan, how much of them is bird and how much is human. [Phelan] experimented with making their faces more birdlike. That just felt off, to me. So they’re more human, except with those big eyes. I think it works really well.

What advice would you give TIME for Kids readers about writing their own stories?

That’s easy. I have one answer: You have to read a lot. You read and read and read and read. Then think about what you liked about a certain book or what you didn’t, and how it made it you feel.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.