Jeanne Birdsall’s Triumphant Return: A Talk About The Library of Unruly Treasures

Yeah, I dunno about that title I just wrote. It’s not mine, actually. That’s the PR coming straight out of Random House Children’s Books about the fact that Jeanne Birdsall, creator of the monumental Penderwicks series, has a new title out. The alternative they’ve been using is, “A Must-Read for a New Generation” which, in hindsight, might be a bit better. Then again, I’m the kind of person who gets attached to terms like “triumphant return”. Even when it feels like the author in question never really left us in the first place.

But yes! Jeanne Birdall is back! With a middle grade novel that has NOTHING to do with the Penderwicks. Called The Library of Unruly Treasures (good name) it’s out this August 5th and it’s a little bit fantastical and a definite paean to libraries. The description from the publisher reads:

Gwen MacKinnon’s parents are dreadful. Truly, deeply, almost impressively dreadful. So Gwen’s not upset at all when she’s foisted onto her never-before-seen Uncle Matthew for two weeks. Especially when it turns out he has a very opinionated dog named Pumpkin.

Things take a turn for the weird when Gwen makes a discovery in the local library. A discovery that involves tiny creatures with wings. And no, they’re not birds. They’re called Lahdukan. But why can only Gwen and the youngest children, gathered for storytime, see them?

The Lahdukan insist that Gwen is destined to help them find a new home. But how can a girl as unwanted, uncourageous, and generally unheroic as Gwen possibly come to the rescue? Pumpkin has a few ideas…

Curious? Me too. Let’s ask the author some questions then, shall we?

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Betsy Bird: Jeanne! Such a delight to speak with you today! It’s been a minute or two since your last novel for kids. So give us a bit of a taste of THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES. Where did this book come from?

Jeanne Birdsall: Years ago, the young son of a friend asked why boy fairies didn’t wear dresses. (An astute question—why do we assume that fairies use human gender norms when choosing their outfits?) The question lodged in my brain until I was falling asleep one night and had a vision of a small winged creature wearing . . . a plaid kilt. Which meant he was a Scot, but what else was he?

That was the beginning of a seven-year journey to figure out that he was a Lahduka, one of a species that arose in the Fertile Crescent at the beginning of time, eventually migrated to Scotland, and then to America in the 19th century, where they moved into a Massachusetts library. As fascinating as all that was (and I did tend to get lost in it, diving down rabbit holes within rabbit holes), I wanted this to be primarily the story of the human girl who helps them, and how and why. That’s where Gwen came in, an eleven-year-old who’s had a rotten life so far, and considers herself uniquely unqualified to help anyone, let alone the eight-inch-high Lahdukan who declare her their Qalba—hero—who must find them a new home. (By the way, kilts quickly disappeared, replaced by tunics and leggings. The kilt wasn’t designed for flying.)

How Gwen finds this new Lahdukan home, gains a small band of comrades, including a stubborn dog named Pumpkin, and finds the courage and strength to organize the Lahdukan emigration—this is the story. I fell in love with Gwen as I wrote the book, and am proud of her for what she accomplishes, for the Lahdukan and for herself.

BB: The book is light fantasy, a genre I’ve not seen you do all that often. And the press for it calls it a combination of THE BORROWERS and MATILDA. Were either of those books on your mind as you wrote it?

Jeanne: Definitely not MATILDA, or any other Roald Dahl. While some of his children’s novels were written during my childhood, they must not have made it to my Pennsylvania library. My first introduction to him was through his adult short stories, full of snark and muted violence. Put me right off the man.

Mary Norton’s Borrowers books, favorites from my childhood, were on my mind. I loved the central conceit—that small items that go missing from our homes (safety pins, spools of thread, single gloves, matchboxes) have been swiped and repurposed by tiny people who live behind the wainscoting and under the floors. These are the Borrowers and, like my Lahdukan, are always in search of a safer home. Unlike the Lahdukan, however, the Borrowers can’t trust any human. Even the well-intentioned are a danger to their survival. Since I didn’t notice this as a child, I must have identified with the Borrowers more than I did with any of the humans in the books. Maybe that was Norton’s intention.

Just recently, an astute bookseller asked if yet another book, Pauline Clarke’s THE RETURN OF THE TWELVES, had been an influence for my new book. Cue head explosion! Yes, but it had all been unconscious. (I swear.) Clarke’s book was published in England in 1962, but I didn’t come across it until the Akadine Press (RIP) published it in 2000. It’s the story of a boy who discovers an old set of wooden soldiers that come to life for him. They need his help to return to their original home, which, we discover, is the parsonage in Haworth where the Brontë family lived. The soldiers were once played with and written about (this is truth, not fiction) by the Brontë children—Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. It is a truly wonderful book. I gave Gwen and her Lahdukan the same mutual love and trust Clarke gave to the human boy and the soldiers.

BB: I know you often dropped references to real people—Easter eggs, if you will—into the Penderwicks books. Anything like that in THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES?

Jeanne: Lots, but I’ll list only a few. (I like secrets.) I gave the children’s librarian, Ms. Koenig, the name of a real children’s librarian—Laura Koenig, team leader for children’s services at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library. It was the photo Laura posted of herself with her fellow BPL librarians dressed as crayons that did it for me, and inspired the construction-paper sheep ears my librarian is wearing when Gwen first meets her.

Here’s one reference that works the other way around. At some point along the way, I had a Lahduka named Fergus who was always quoting Robert Burns. Fergus eventually disappeared from the story, but not from our lives. We gave his name to our next puppy, now grown up but unfortunately resistant to Robert Burns.

One last, and somber, example. When the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School happened in 2018, I was still dreaming up the teenage boy who becomes part of Gwen’s band of adventurers. Horrified and feeling helpless—as we all were—I decided to name the boy Joaquin, a way for me to honor and remember Joaquin Oliver, one of the victims, and with him, all the others: Alyssa Alhadeff, Martin Duque Anguiano, Scott Beigel, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Chris Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alexander Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, and Peter Wang.

BB: The press for your latest says, “The Penderwicks series became an instant classic, drawing comparisons to LITTLE WOMEN and capturing the hearts of readers for over 20 years. Now, those same fans can share the magic with their own children through THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES.” So, naturally, that made me curious. Have you encountered parents of kids who read you when they themselves were kids?

Jeanne: I do hear from adults who read the books when they were children, but not yet from any who have gone on to read it to their own children. We may be getting closer. A 10-year-old reader in 2005 would be 30 now.

BB: This book also marks you reuniting with Matt Phelan as your illustrator. To this day I have my copy of FLORA’S VERY WINDY DAY (the picture book you two did together) on my shelf. Did you request Matt for this book, or was that just a fortunate happenstance? And what do you think of his work on this title?

Jeanne: Isn’t Matt’s FLORA art stupendous? Yes, I absolutely did request him for this book. I needed someone with a sense of humor and delight, not to mention one who could portray the beauty, grace, and power of flying. If you go back to FLORA, check out the spread with the eagle, for example. It’s all there, everything I wanted for my Lahdukan. And not just with the Lahdukan. His renderings of human emotion are subtle, and exactly right.

BB: Finally, I know this book hasn’t even come out yet, but what else are you working on these days?

Jeanne: I’m not talking about it much. The new book will morph as I go, and besides, it’ll take me forever, just like THE LIBRARY OF UNRULY TREASURES did. It will have elements that show up in my other books—music, pies, a motorcycle, New Jersey, a dog—and new ones, too. Like the FBI. Shhh.

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Shhh, indeed. Many thanks to Jeanne for taking the time to answer my questions today. And thanks too to Kathy Dunn and the team over at Random House Children’s Books. The Library of Unruly Treasures is, as I have mentioned, out this August 5th. If you’ve a hankering for more Birdsall and miss your Penderwicks sorely, this shall surely fill that need.

Filed under: Interviews