Interview with Kim Michele Richardson
Junia, The Book Mule of Troublesome Creek
Releasing March 15, 2024, from Sleeping Bear Press
Learn more: https://youtu.be/HxSHm8TK5rA
Kim Michele writes about the brave historical Pack Horse librarians of Kentucky and especially loves writing about her beloved Kentucky, its history, traditions, and people. You can learn more about Kim Michele Richardson at www.kimmichelerichardson.com.
Q: In Junia, The Book Mule of Troublesome Creek you bring to life a fan-favorite character from your best-selling adult series. How have your fans been receiving the news of your foray into children’s publishing?
Readers are very excited that Junia is finally getting her day in the sun. She’s been a beloved character for years now, and fans are eager to saddle up and ride with Junia on her adventurous journey to deliver books.
Q: Junia is a spunky mule on a mission. What about Junia motivated you to explore her character further?
As a native-born Kentuckian, it’s always an honor when the world lets me share my stories and history. For years, educators, teachers and readers have asked me to write a children’s book about the Packhorse Librarians. I have a great love for animals, and I thought who better to share this unique history and many adventures than the sassy and lovable, book toting mule, Junia.
Q: How did you put yourself in Junia’s hooves (so to speak!) while coming up with the story? Was it a different experience from writing from Book Woman’s perspective?
Junia’s character was already alive and kicking in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, so in that sense it was easy to flesh out her character more. However, the story really took off with the generous support of my children’s editor Barb McNally. We engaged in many thoughtful discussions, where I greatly benefited from her wise suggestions and edits. She took a good story and made it great.
It was very different writing from Junia’s perspective. When writing from the adult character in Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Cussy Lovett’s point of view, we are visiting many, many themes, and shedding light on historical social injustices. With the children’s picture book, you get to experience the world and power of books through the eyes of a Packhorse Librarian’s most vital partner; an adorable, brave and loyal mule who delights us while showing what a day in the life of a Packhorse librarian was truly like delivering books into the wilds of 1930s Kentucky.
Q: The story sheds light on the WPA Packhorse Library Project. Why is it important for kids (and adults) to understand this program and its impact on Kentucky?
The Pack Horse Library Project represented one of the most innovative and forward-thinking initiatives of the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s and 40s.
The program began as an initiative to put the poverty-stricken Kentucky women to work. It was mostly made up of women who were called ‘Book Woman’ who delivered reading materials, by riding horse or mule on treacherous routes. Little did anyone realize the program would boost education and economic opportunity, raise literacy rates and become a precursor to Johnson's 1964 War on Poverty and inspire other programs like Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
In the 1930s, many Americans suffered from poverty during the Great Depression—but none greater than those in eastern Kentucky. Coal miners were going hungry, being exploited and overworked, so they rebelled with violent strikes against coal companies. None of this stopped these fearless librarians. They found the courage and strength to deliver books and reading materials to people who had few schools, no libraries, and not a single bookstore—and accomplish the task without any books when the program first began.
Without any books. This was one of the most striking things that stood out to me during my now 10 years of researching the Packhorse librarian project. Roosevelt’s New Deal promised that they would provide employment and pay the poor Kentucky women 28.00 a month to ride those dangerous paths and deliver books, but they would not provide any mounts, books or places to house books. So, our clever librarians rented their mounts, became authors, and began creating scrapbooks for their patrons until they could solicit cast off books from big cities, PTA penny funds and women’s groups. Then they pleaded with the communities to lend their nooks and crannies located in the back of post offices, chapels, general stores and other buildings to house books.
Despite huge obstacles, the beloved library program became a successful educational outreach and an important bridge to education. Every day, I am grateful for the privilege to tell their story and honor my Kentucky sisters’ legacy. Valued more than any award or prize, has been witnessing the great acts of kindness these Kentucky Packhorse librarians are inspiring—from the thousands of letters I’ve received from folks across the U.S. and abroad, to those who started book mobiles during the height of the pandemic, and others buying books for book deserts, and yet more who now donate regularly to food banks, and those who raise money for underserved libraries, and more.
Q: How did you adapt your writing style to suit a younger audience? Did you find it challenging?
It’s a very challenging process that requires using less words (average about 800-1,200-word limit for children’s books versus needing 75,000 words for an adult book). I was extremely fortunate and grateful to have my children’s literary agent Andrea Morrison guide me and share her years of wisdom, providing tons of patience while I navigated the children’s writing world.
Q: In children’s picture books, the art must carry the story as much as the text does. How does it feel to see your words come to life visually?
It’s always been my belief that art, music and storytelling cannot exist without each other. Every work should weave a tapestry of all three— and the greatest storytelling has lyrics and paint flowing through it. So when I received the sketches and artwork from illustrator David C. Gardner, I was thrilled. It was of the utmost importance to me that the artwork respected and honored the history, culture, people and land. David’s illustrations did just that. As New York Times bestselling author, William Kent Krueger said about the art, “David C. Gardner’s illustrations are the perfect accompaniment, warm and comforting, like a quilt on a cool Kentucky night.”
Q: For educators looking to build lessons and programming around this new title and the Pack Horse Librarian Program, what resources would you suggest?
I contributed my research to Kentucky’s KET/PBS programming for a documentary about the Packhorse Librarian Project. “The Packhorse Librarians of Appalachia” is a 26-minute educational program and accurately reflects the history. It can be found at the PBS channel under the title.
We also have an extensive teacher’s guide available for download at sleepingbearpress.com.
Q: What’s on the horizon for you, writing-wise? Will you continue to write more Junia stories for children?
Junia and her Book Woman are still riding those deep, dark hills of Troublesome Creek, getting books into the hands and hearts of readers, providing opportunities, offering hope and inspiration like our modern-day librarians do today.
Just last month, Junia delivered books to a young boy who has been struggling after the death of his mother, coaxing him out of his isolated world. The old mule has also been seen visiting Fire Tower Lookout, R.C., bringing him the latest forestry journals so he can pass his Park Ranger test and get better pay through a promotion. There’s Susan, a teen, who dreams of one day seeing the ocean, and is eagerly awaiting a copy of Jane’s Island, and a new pie recipe. She hopes Junia will deliver a prize-winning temptation she can bake for the Annual Pie Bake Dance. And our dear Junia always finds a way to meander off her path to deliver the latest sewing patterns to Miss Loretta while sneaking bites from the seamstress’s bowl of delicious berries.
Piddle Flynn, you ask? The young girl has been saving her pennies to buy a mule from a mule skinner over in Thousandsticks, Kentucky. When Piddle turns fourteen, she’s going to be a Packhorse Librarian!