Sep 2, 2013 12 min read

Liza Ketchum has been making up stories since she was 7 years old, when she created tiny handmade books and scribbled stories under the covers at night. Her fascination with pioneer history dates back to her teenage years, when she read the autobiography of her mother’s ancestor, James Ohio Pattie, a trapper who explored the southwest during the 1820s – the same decade when Orphan Journey Home takes place.

Liza studied writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received a masters in education from Antioch Graduate School. She also attended theater school, where the portrayal of characters onstage helped her to imagine the lives of fictional characters. Liza has always combined writing with teaching. She founded a preschool in Vermont and has taught writing to students of all ages. She is currently on the faculty of Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She also has taught writing in the MFA program at Vermont College, at Emerson College, and at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College.

Q. It’s not unusual for writers to say they have learned something by writing a particular story.

Can you share anything you have learned by writing Orphan Journey Home?

A. Writing this story opened my eyes to a region of the country – southern Illinois and Kentucky – and a time in history (1828) I knew almost nothing about. When I was in school, our classes in American history focused on wars-and skipped over the periods in between them. Until I did the research behind this novel, I didn’t know about the leadership skills of Tecumseh, the great Shawnee; I didn’t understand the tensions that existed between slave and free states; I knew nothing about the practice of orphans being “bound out;” and I hadn’t heard about the gigantic earthquake that made the mighty Mississippi run backward. My research for Orphan Journey Home also taught me that buffalo once roamed through the wilderness area we now call Kentucky; their trails – or “buffalo traces” – became the main roads for travelers. Most important, I learned more about the lives of ordinary people – like the Damron family – who were capable of extraordinary acts of courage and resourcefulness.

Q. Does writing a Breakfast Serials story differ from writing a traditional novel?

A. Yes. The strict word limit (less than 1,000 words per chapter) and the need to create a cliffhanger for the end of each episode results in a story that focuses more on plot and story tension than in a traditional novel. A serial story needs sustained drama and action as well as a sense of mystery, danger, or suspense that will keep the reader coming back for 18 weeks. Creating a story within these boundaries is an exciting challenge, like solving a puzzle. I compare it to writing a sonnet, where the writer can play with content, language, and meaning within a set form. Also, writing a serial story has helped me to create tighter plots for my longer novels, and creating short chapters reminds me to be more concise in everything I write.

Q. How do you do your research?

A. I am lucky to live in the Boston area, where I have access to marvelous research libraries, historical societies, and museums. I use the Internet to browse through library catalogs and I then I travel to research institutions, reading primary source material whenever possible. I read newspapers from the time period, as well as diaries, journals, and letters. As I researched Orphan Journey Home, I found the diary of a man who made the same trip as the Damron family, but in the opposite direction (from East to West). In his journal, I read about the size of the trees in the wilderness, the sound of a panther’s scream, the frequency of snakes, the way you could start a fire without matches, etc.

I also tell friends and family what I’m working on. My cousin’s husband, who grew up in Kentucky, sent me some wonderful books about Kentucky history that were not available in libraries. As I read,

I take notes on 4×6 cards and file them in a box labeled with categories such as “Diseases and treatment,” “Wildlife,” “Food,” “Children’s Toys,” “Shawnee Indians” etc. I also look for historical maps as well as images from that time and tack them up on the wall over my desk, to help me with my descriptions.

Q. Lots of people say history bores them. Obviously, you are not one of them. Why?

A. As a child, I often wished I could climb into a time machine and visit the past. Writing about history is as close as I can come to that experience. In addition, my father is a historian and he often took our family on trips to historical sites related to the American Revolution. His excitement about the past was infectious, but it didn’t carry over to the history I learned in school, which focused mainly on wars fought by men. It wasn’t until I took a course in college, taught by a Mexican American historian, that I began to learn more about the history of the men, women, and children from many cultures and backgrounds who have helped to create our common history. I am particularly interested in digging up the untold stories, small slices of the past that can illuminate our present.

Q. Do you think young people read books differently than adults?

A. Interesting question! I think young readers are sometimes more discerning than adults; they are impatient when a story drags or when the writer doesn’t pull them into the tale. They won’t stand for condescension and they know when the writer doesn’t take them seriously. I don’t know if my own experience as a young reader was typical, but I often became so lost in a story that I felt as if I’d become enchanted, that I’d been able to enter the story by stepping right into the pages of the book.

As adults, we often lose that wonderful ability to get lost in a story. I can close my eyes today and still call up vivid images from my favorite childhood book, “The Secret Garden.”

The setting is as real to me as if I’d actually opened the creaking gate, smelled the old musk roses, and heard the birds singing inside.

• Where the Great Hawk Flies

• West Against the Wind

• Into a New Country: Eight

Remarkable Women of the West

• The Gold Rush, a companion to the PBS series “The West”

• Orphan Journey Home

• Blue Coyote

• Twelve Days in August

• Fire in the Heart

• Allergic to My Family

• The Ghost of Lost Island

• Dancing on the Table

• Good-bye, Sammy

Educated in Lawrence, Kan., C.B. Mordan has been creating art professionally since his graduation from the University of Kansas in 1988.

His awards include two Omni Awards, package design included in the Graphis Annual, two pieces included in the Print regional annual, and awards from the Worcester Art Directors and Kansas City Art Directors.

In 1995 he was the Hallmark Symposium speaker at the University of Kansas. He also has authored and illustrated the book, “American West Designs.” In 1998, he was the guest speaker in the Visiting Professional Artist Program at Kansas City Art Institute. He was the drawing media instructor at the University of Kansas in 2000, and illustration process instructor at the Kansas City Art Institute in 2005.

Clients include Pizza Hut, Union Pacific, Boston Harbor Hotel, Eveready Batteries, Sony, Kansas City Zoo, Lyric Opera, New York Times, Scholastic, DK Publishing, Henry Holt, Simon & Schuester, Dutton Children’s Books and Horticulture Magazine.

Born in Texas, he has lived all over the world as the son of an Air Force fighter pilot. His great-grandfather served under Gen. “Black Jack” Pershing in World War I. His grandfather was a soldier in France in World War II. His father was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, and his brother is a pilot in the Air Force. He currently resides in Roeland Park, Kan., with his wife and two daughters.

Q. Why did you decide to illustrate Orphan Journey Home?

A. Avi contacted me and described to me the concept behind Breakfast Serials. He indicated that he had a story that he considered consistent with my work. I sent him further examples of my art, and he sent me the manuscript. I was anxious to contribute to Breakfast Serials in any way I could because of the goals of the program and the way in which they are being accomplished. Once I received the manuscript, I was especially anxious to contribute, and probably would have done these illustrations for myself even if things hadn’t worked out with Avi. The story is simply wonderful. The historical aspects of the tale, and the manner in which I work, go hand-in-hand.

Q. Have you always had an interest in history?

A. I’ve had to do a lot of research in the years that I’ve been working, and have grown to love history.

The research behind the images portrayed in Orphan Journey Home is almost as much fun as making them. I love the process of learning something new, and have put myself in a situation where I have ample opportunity to do that. The medium in which I work has a wonderful history behind it. It grew out of a need to find an alternative to metal plates or lithographic stone. It has been used from the late 1800’s to mid-1950 when different methods of reproduction caused it to fall out of favor. In the mid-1980’s, it was rediscovered and has been in widespread use since. Because my work has a historical look to it, the majority of assignments that I’ve received have been historical in nature.

Q. You have such a distinctive style what is this kind of art medium called?

A. The short answer to that is scratchboard, but that is somewhat inaccurate. Scratchboard is the name of the board used, and the artist uses a number of tools to scratch out the ink that is on the board. I use a board called “clayboard” and a technique that is probably closer to wood engraving and etching.

Plus I use ink to add back into the image in a variety of ways. The medium originally evolved out of printmaking.

Q. Is illustrating this story very different from what you usually do?

A. I have been a freelance artist since I graduated from the University of Kansas in 1988. The majority of work that I did in the beginning of my career was editorial art, advertising and design.

Publishing is an area of illustration that I have wanted to be involved in ever since I was drawing my own comic books when I was a child. I think, however, I needed some seasoning. The difference is that in publishing, you have to show that you can render a character(s) consistently, whereas in advertising, it is usually simply a one shot opportunity.

Plus the idea of doing something with a narrative quality to it as opposed to an object for it’s own sake is a challenge as well. Concepts are important in both fields, but with storytelling, it is so much broader.

Q. Did you find it difficult to make the transition to a serialized newspaper story?

A. Since I had my beginnings as an artist drawing comic books, the nature of serialization has been something that was an extension of who I am, rather than something I had to invent. The biggest challenge is trying to capture the spirit of the chapter and portray it in a single image, and keep a consistent feel for the entire series.

Q. Have you always been an artist?

A. Yes, but being an artist is more than simply drawing. It is a mindset. A friend of mine once said that there are more artists out there than we realize… it is simply the blessed ones who have an outlet with which to express it.