Aurora: What was your inspiration behind Dragon Girls?
HR: We wanted to create series full of adventure and magic, that also sent the right messages to young readers about solving their own problems and forming positive and lasting friendships. And we wanted the series to work for American and Australian kids – as well as readers all around the world. That’s much easier said than done!
MB: Hilary and I knew we wanted to create a fantasy series for girls and Hil had the idea of setting it in a magical forest which was inhabited by human-animal hybrids. It was my teenage daughter, Madeleine, who suggested that they be half dragons. Both Hil and I instantly saw the possibilities with this. Dragons can fly, they are gorgeous, they are deeply involved with magic and so in some ways they are like fairies. But dragons have the edge over fairies because they are physically powerful, loud and tough. If you try to mess with a dragon girl, she is going to blast you with her roar! We believe dragons are the fairies of today.
Please describe the content of Dragon Girls and what can readers expect from the series.
HR: In each book, a girl steps from the ‘real’ world into the Magic Forest, an extraordinary and beautiful place where all sorts of strange, wonderful creatures and plants thrive. In the forest, our girl discovers something thrilling: she is a Dragon Girl. The enemies of the forest are The Shadow Sprites, who are mischievous and invariably up to no good. It’s up to the Dragon Girls to save the forest. We’ve tried to keep the language simple to ensure the books are accessible for newly confident readers but still richly imaginative for stronger readers.
MB: You can expect acrobatic flying, lots of excitement, magical roaring, and cheeky Shadow Sprites intent on taking over the forest. Through this action we follow a group of powerful, relatable girl characters who solve their own problems, do not need rescuing, and who support and celebrate each other. As an added bonus, you might get erupting volcanoes, underground vaults filled with treasure, flying dolphins, bird-unicorns, glow-bees (who have a democratically elected president, NOT a queen) or a sea-donkey dad who tells terrible dad jokes on his way to school pick-up.
Why do you feel chapter books with powerful and unique themes are so popular and have such a voice right now?
HR: Kids are like sponges, soaking up the messages in the stories and world around them. This is why the historical lack of strong female characters and diverse protagonists in books (and on screens) has been such a problem. Kids need to see characters they can relate to, having agency and solving their own problems. We took the idea of finding your voice to the extreme in Dragon Girls – they find their roar, literally!
MB: There is a lot of competition for kids’ attentions these days – a chapter book doesn’t only have to compete with a plethora of other chapter books but it also has to compete with YouTube, Minecraft and a hundred other online distractions. This is why it’s so heartening to see that many kids still get so many important things from books, things that nothing else can provide. Books that deal with difficult or unique themes offer kids a chance to imagine tough situations and to see possible ways of navigating through them. The relationship a child develops with a book that really resonates with them can’t be replicated by any other medium.
What’s next for you both in the bookish world?
MB: We are in the early stages of talking to Scholastic about a new fantasy series, this time for boys. We love this part of the process, when we get to chat endlessly about all the possibilities.
HR: We’ve also just written a rhyming picture book called The Greatest Mistakes that Went Right. This will be published in Australia later this year. The book explores how making mistakes is a natural part of life – and that our errors can lead to new discoveries. We use examples of mistakes (or happy accidents) that have led to fun inventions or important discoveries. We don’t want kids to fear messing up. It’s part of life and can lead to wonderful things. We’re hopeful this book will be available in the US soon, too!
Who are your current favorite writers? Why?
MB: My two favorite adult books from last year were Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo because Evaristo writes so authentically about female characters and the complicated relationships between them and All of Me by David Sedaris because I don’t know how Sedaris is able to make me bend over with laughter one moment and then gasp with shock the next.
Although I am Australian, I am currently living in Germany and I teach ESL as well as writing. Last year I introduced my young kids to some Australian authors, including Billie B Brown by Sally Rippin. Sally is masterful at writing deceptively simple stories that are full of fun and relatable situations.
HR: Ferrante is one of my all-time favorite authors. Reading her latest, The Lying Life of Adults, I get to feel like I’m in Italy while reading. Actually, during lockdown (we had a severe lockdown here in Melbourne, lasting many long months), I read a lot of fiction from other cultures, including lots of surreal Japanese and Korean fiction, such as Earthlings (Sayaka Murata), The Vegetarian (Han Kang), and There’s no such thing as an easy job (Kikuko Tsumura). I also loved Too Much Lip by Australian first nation’s author Melissa Lucashenko.
Any writing advice for aspiring writers?
MB: A wise writing teacher of mine once suggested gathering up all the unfinished stories and early drafts of things you have lying around, putting them in a shoebox and letting them sit for a while. Then, when you’re ready, open the box up, spread everything out and see if you can see new connections and relationships between the various pieces. I’ve done this and it’s always interesting to see old ideas in new ways.
HR: When you’re writing, try not to edit or judge your work as you go along. Just allow yourself to write, and be sure to imagine it’s fabulous. Because it might be! Then give your work a bit of time, ideally a week, before you put on your judging cap and see if what you’ve written is actually any good. If you’re judging yourself as you write, you may never get anywhere …
Up next, Marti Leimbach!