Guest Blog: Anne E. Johnson

This week, we're welcoming YA historical fiction author, Anne E. Johnson. Her latest title, TROUBLE AT THE SCRIPTORIUM, is a medieval mystery set in 12th century England. Anne is here to talk about the novel and offer a copy to a lucky winner. Leave your comment with your email address for a chance to win. Here's the blurb:

Anne E. Johnson's medieval mystery novel for ages 9-12, Trouble at the Scriptorium, features a twelve-year-old boy named Harley. It takes place in the early twelfth century, in Berkhamsted, a fiefdom north of London.

This fast-paced adventure features missing jewels, a missing monk, and a secret message hidden in a book of Gregorian chant! Good thing twelve-year-old Lady Margaret reads Latin, but Harley sure finds it hard to know how to behave around a noble girl he wants to be friends with.

Harley’s father is a traveling jester, his mother a lady’s maid, his uncle the monks’ choirmaster. Through Harley’s eyes, the reader experiences life in a medieval English castle, village, and monastery.

**Q&A with Anne E. Johnson**

Did you have any special reason to write this particular book?

I have a master’s degree in medieval musicology, and I taught music history for 16 years. Therefore, it made perfect sense, when I started writing for kids a few years back, that I should try to funnel that knowledge and experience into middle-grade fiction.

What sets this book apart from other medieval historicals?

In terms of literature for kids, a medieval setting without any kind of fantasy or magic is not the typical approach these days. But I find medieval history so thrilling on its own that, for me, adding in dragons or fairies just detracts from it. I’m hoping readers will see what I mean.

Scriptorium is also different because the knights and swords are secondary to the art of music, yet this is still an adventure story. There’s both physical and intellectual adventure in this book, making it the kind of story I would have responded to as a tween.

What is the target audience for this book, and why is it appropriate for them?

The target audience is kids 9-12 years old, particularly those who are advanced readers and are intellectually curious. The story features two twelve-year-olds, and shows what life would have been like for those kids in the thirteenth century. It also introduces many elements of feudal life, monastic life, book-crafting, and music. But I worked hard to make it an exciting story first and foremost, involving interesting characters, suspense, and humor. The idea is for kids to learn something about the Middle Ages in a context that is nothing at all like a history schoolbook.

Why have two protagonists?

There are two reasons for this choice. First, it allows both a boy and a girl to work on the problem at hand, which I hope will broaden the readership of the book. Second, it allows for two social perspectives on the story. Harley is a servant and Lady Margaret is noble, so they counterbalance each other well, and their class distinction also allows for some interesting tension between them even as they work together.

What is the role of adults in this story?

Although it’s important for kidlit to feature kids, I love filling the character lineup with well-rounded, distinctive adults, who have specific and unusual experience or skills that can help the kids in their quest. In historical fiction, the adult characters also have a function for the reader, allowing them to learn more about the historical world of the novel.

In Scriptorium, the three most important adults are all very different from each other, and therefore help Harley and Lady Margaret in different ways. There’s Martin of Hibernia, chief of the castle guards, who is physically brave and strong. There’s Brother Benedict, who is Harley’s uncle, a monk, and a trained musician. And, there’s Professor Jabir Al-Zarkali, a Spanish Moor who works in the castle as tutor, adviser, and physician.

Thank you, Anne, and best of luck with Trouble at the Scriptorium.

You can purchase Trouble at the Scriptorium directly from Royal Fireworks Press: http://www.rfwp.com/browse/novels

For updates on Anne’s publications and appearances, Like her Facebook author page. 

FollowAnne on Twitter  

Excerpt Thursday: TROUBLE AT THE SCRIPTORIUM by Anne E. Johnson

This week on Excerpt Thursday, we're welcoming YA historical fiction author, Anne E. Johnson. Her latest title, TROUBLE AT THE SCRIPTORIUM, is a medieval mystery set in 12th century England. Join us Sunday, when Anne will be here to talk about the novel and offer a copy to a lucky winner. Here's the blurb:

Anne E. Johnson's medieval mystery novel for ages 9-12, Trouble at the Scriptorium, features a twelve-year-old boy named Harley. It takes place in the early twelfth century, in Berkhamsted, a fiefdom north of London.

This fast-paced adventure features missing jewels, a missing monk, and a secret message hidden in a book of Gregorian chant! Good thing twelve-year-old Lady Margaret reads Latin, but Harley sure finds it hard to know how to behave around a noble girl he wants to be friends with.

Harley’s father is a traveling jester, his mother a lady’s maid, his uncle the monks’ choirmaster. Through Harley’s eyes, the reader experiences life in a medieval English castle, village, and monastery. 

**An Excerpt from TROUBLE AT THE SCRIPTORIUM**

In this passage, Harley is at the Monastery of St. Aidan’s, where his uncle is the choir director. Harley waits in the monastery library and pages through the new chant book that a nearby scriptorium recently made for his lady’s name-day gift. The book has errors in it, though, including at least one missing illumination.

The library always made Harley feel cozy, even when he was alone in it. There was a comforting musty smell from the books and the wooden furniture. Stretching half the length of the room was an oak table that would have seated twelve men with manuscripts laid out in front of them. The edges of its thick timbers were rounded by time, its red-brown finish worn and scratched. The ornate wooden chairs were so heavy that Harley could barely slide one across the flagstones. He climbed onto one, leaving it at an angle to the table. Once he’d mounted the seat, the chair wouldn’t budge. 

Benedict’s satchel had been left on the center of the table, with the chant book still in it. Harley untied the bag and struggled to grasp the big leather volume. When he opened the cover, his nose took in an acrid puff of tanned animal hide. Not just the cover, but the parchment pages themselves were made from skins. He smelled another new scent, rich and heavy, from all those vibrant paints. Brother Benedict had explained that the paints were made from plant leaves, bark, seeds, roots, blossoms---anything in nature with color to offer. Egg yolks and boiled animal bones were used to make the paint thick and keep its hue. No wonder it stank! Harley coughed to clear his lungs.

  Finding that his feet wouldn’t touch the floor, he sat cross-legged to wander through the book’s glittering pages. Soon he got used to the smell. He was awed by such beauty, and the faith it stood for. 

Suddenly, the window rattled. Harley gasped and dropped the page he was handling. There was some scraping from the back of the library.

“Hello?” Harley said weakly.

No answer. There was silence now. Turning so that he was on his knees and grasping the chair’s back, Harley took a quick glance around the room. He couldn’t see anything wrong.

“Hello? Anyone there?” The wind must have picked up, he assured himself. 

He returned to the book, but now with an irrational feeling that he was being watched. Perhaps it was the ghosts of old monastery scholars, guarding their collection. Silently, Harley promised them that he would be very careful with the treasure that lay in front of him. 

To turn each page, he took the sheet of vellum between his finger and thumb, and flipped it gingerly to the left, as if it were a butterfly wing. He admired how smooth and polished the right-hand pages were, and how the back of each leaf often had a bit of fur left from the goat it was made from. 

The glorious illustrations swam across his vision. Deepest blues, greens, yellows, reds, and pure shimmering gold. Saints and martyrs and plants and animals, swirls and curly-cues, Crosses, planets, even goblins. It was like a wondrous city, and turning each page was like turning a corner, with fantastic new things to see. Harley wanted to go on forever, walking through this fantasyland. But he stopped short when he reached the unfinished page.

*   *   *

You can purchase Trouble at the Scriptorium directly from Royal Fireworks Press: http://www.rfwp.com/browse/novels

For updates on Anne’s publications and appearances, Like her Facebook author page. 

FollowAnne on Twitter