The Jealous Writer's Book Review: Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

I would venture to guess that every writer with dreams of publication also dreams about getting great reviews. When I was writing my first book, I would lie in bed before falling asleep and dare to imagine what kinds of words I would want to hear describing my book: luminous, lyrical, breathtaking, thought-provoking, life-changing... Yeah, you get the idea.

Shannon Hale's books get reviews that I can literally only dream about. Princess Academy is a Newberry Honor book in addition to winning heaps of other awards and inspired reviews with the phrases:

"...a precise lyricism to the language and a rhythm to the story that takes its tropes from many places, but its heart from ours...[A]n unalloyed joy." (Kirkus)

"Faceted and brilliant, PRINCESS ACADEMY is a jewel of a book." (bakka-phoenix science fiction bookstore)

"Hale weaves an intricate, multilayered story about families, relationships, education, and the place we call home." (School Library Journal)
 

Excuse me while I set my latest story on fire.

But seriously, this is the kind of praise that makes me want to work ten times harder because in her own blog, Shannon Hale is so unbelievably gracious and humble about her success.

Having the read the reviews of Princess Academy before downloading it on my Kindle, I had high expectations...perhaps overly high. The title conjures images of sumptuous dresses, elaborate palaces, and glittering crowns. I was ready to be hypnotized by lyrical loveliness, lush descriptions, and matchless poetic prowess. In short, I was expecting the YA novel equivalent of Avatar's visual effects. But that would have been the opposite of what PA actually is.

The world created by Hale's descriptive language was quiet and at times, harsh. There were no  glittering crowns and only one sumptuous dress. The immediate settings consist only of Miri's village in Mount Eskel, the academy set up at the base of the mountain in a derelict building, and the road in between. The isolated setting echoes the isolation Miri feels as an outcast from her society's main activity: working in the quarry.

Miri is too small and weak to work in the quarry with her father and sister, and she's whiny about it at first. For this reason, I hate book covers that depict the main character. The cover that came with my Kindle version shows this rosy-cheeked girl on the left. She looks plenty strong enough to work in the quarry. Get with it, girl!

As it turns out, like most things in this book, the reason why Miri isn't allowed to work in the quarry is not what it first appears. Neither is the princess academy, the long-awaited prince, or the new girl in town.

I enjoyed reading Princess Academy, but more than my own experience, I was curious to see how other readers reacted to this unusual book. Clearly, it garnered some awards and great reviews from professionals...but did the people agree?

Overall, most readers seemed to enjoy it, but it was a polarizing book. The things that some readers liked most, others disliked intensely. For some, the plot was full of twists and turns, while others found it predictable. Some found Miri to be a likeable character and praised her emotional growth, while others thought she was catty and lacked depth. Writing Lesson: You can't please everyone, even if you're Shannon Hale.

And then there was Amma, who seemed to have a strange grip on reality:

This is the greatest book I've ever ever ever ever read. It takes place a longggg time ago in Scandanavia and it is so like real life it's scary. It very interseting, a book you can't put down.

Mmmmmk. Are you able to magically communicate through stones, Amma? You might need to get that checked out.

But Shannon Hale's writing was one thing everyone could agree was exceptional. Her use of figurative language, fully imagined setting, world-building through songs and customs, and connection to fairytales all contributed to giving the book the "lyrical quality" that she is known for. Writing Lesson: Readers will notice and appreciate when you maintain consistency with setting, style, and language.

After finishing this book and having some time to think about it, my writerly feelings are still conflicted. I wanted to be able to pick the book apart, find its core programming, and then install it into myself. But that's not the way writing works. Like Miri, I have to embrace my own strengths because I can improve, but I can't become someone else. Damn you and your life lessons, Shannon Hale! I was happy wallowing in my jealousy before you came along.

 

In Summation

Did I like it? Yes
Would I recommend it? If you are prepared to embrace the experience, yes
Did it make me jealous? Sooooo jealous

Of the First 250: A Formula for Success

The dreaded first 250 words of your manuscript -- if you are a writer, you know what I'm talking about. The pressure to make the first page of your book be EVERYTHING is insane. It has to be well-written, attention-grabbing, clear, interesting, filled with voice, start at the right spot, as well as establish character, setting, and the direction of the plot.

In addition to all the things it has to do, there are other things it should absolutely NOT do. It can't start off too slow or too fast, be too action-packed or dump too much information. It can't open with a prologue, a car crash, the character waking up, or a character looking in a mirror.

Lord have mercy! It's enough to make anyone tear their hair out and cry into a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Not that I've done that or anything.

Assuming the pages are generally well-written, most of the criticism of the first pages from agents and readers falls into a few categories that are summed up in ambiguous phrases like:

• Doesn't start in the right place
• Doesn't "grab" me
• Wasn't invested in characters or couldn't connect with them
• Was confused or couldn't understand what was happening

After reading a lot on the subject and approximately a bajillion other writer's first 250 on blogs, I think I may have finally found the magic formula. The best openers manage to blend all of these five elements: setting, uniqueness, character, conflict, and reaction (aka SUCCR). This was the best acronym I could come up with. It's pronounced "sucker."

The first three elements of SUCCR -- setting, uniqueness, and character -- should be fundamental to your story. If you haven't come up with a unique premise with compelling characters and a recognizable setting, then you have deeper issues. These three elements shouldn't be conveyed all at once. They should be sprinkled throughout using adjectives, short descriptions, and bits of dialogue. Remember to trust your reader to create the world from hints you give them. In the first 250, don't waste space with long descriptions or world-building tidbits.

A unique premise doesn't have to be outlandish or crazy to stand out. All it needs to do is draw readers in and make them curious about what will happen on the next page or next chapter.

Here are some (ridiculous) examples of how you should and shouldn't incorporate SUC in your first 250:

Not so good 

Marya bent over the iacthix terminal, followed the tracking signal that beamed into her retinas, and smiled triumphantly when the terminal unlocked and spit out her diploma.

"See," she announced to Ripstock. "I told you I passed." Ripstock wagged his tentacles, then licked her toes.

Better 

When it was Marya's turn to be scanned by the registrar terminal, she couldn't look at Ripstock, afraid to see the doubt in his usually trusting face. The laser flashed in her eyes, followed immediately by the whirr of the terminal. An engraved diploma clinked into the bin, and Marya retrieved it triumphantly.

"See," she announced to Ripstock. "I told you I passed."

In the first example, we have no idea what kind of terminal Marya is at or what her relationship to Ripstock is. There are too many new words to comprehend. In the second example, even the tiny word choices of "registrar" and "diploma" help ground the reader and establish the setting and unique situation. In the first example, Ripstock appears out of nowhere and we have no idea why he's there. In the second example, although there is less physical detail, it's clear that Ripstock is friendly, but is doubting her right now.

Here's one more example based on the dreaded waking up scenario:

Not so good: 

Hunter woke up screaming for the fiftieth time that month. His dream that a beautiful woman was clawing at his face was real this time! Without thinking, he unsheathed his dagger and thrust it upwards. The woman evaporated into wisps of gardenia-scented smoke. He lay back, covered in sweat, sure he would never fall asleep again.

Better: 

Hunter's bunkmates were snoring as usual. For the fiftieth time, he checked the dagger at his side, hopeful that tonight he would have a chance to use it on something solid. Determined to stay awake, he reached out for his friend Ito only to find his bed empty. Hunter panicked, feeling the wrinkled bedsheets in darkness. He didn't think he was dreaming, but how many times had he fallen asleep only to be awoken by his own screaming and the scent of gardenias mixed with blood?  

In both of these examples, we end in a similar place, but the second example gets there in a more concrete setting and without the character waking up. As a bonus, it introduces a missing friend, which might be enough mystery to keep a reader or agent intrigued. The first example might get the "starts in the wrong place" reaction, but the second example, depending on how it progresses, might not.

The last two elements of SUCCR, conflict and reaction, should take up more space in your first pages. They will help readers connect with your characters. If you have gotten comments from readers and agents that they aren't "grabbed by" or "connecting" with your characters, adding a touch of CR can help.

Here's an excellent example of conflict and reaction from the first pages of The Secret Garden:

One frightfully hot morning, when [Mary] was about nine years old, she awakened feeling very cross, and she became crosser still when she saw that the servant who stood by her bedside was not her Aya.

"Why did you come?" she said to the strange woman. "I will not let you stay. Send my Ayah to me."

The woman looked frightened, but she only stammered that the Ayah could not come, and when Mary threw herself into a passion and beat and kicked her, she looked only more frightened and repeated that it was not possible for the Ayah to come to Missie Sahib.

Mary's reaction to her Ayah's absence tells us something about her and her character. It isn't pleasant, but it helps us understand the "quite contrary" girl whose parents and Ayah are about to die. The conflict here is minor, but by the time we truly understand the horrible situation later, we have some insight into how she will handle it.

Try to incorporate something minor in your first 250 that your character can react to. The key words here are minor and something.

There are two main problems regarding CR that I've noticed in other writers' opening pages. Some have too big of a conflict right away like a car crash or death. In this instance, we don't know the character well enough and any reaction is open to criticism such as crying too much, not enough, doesn't seem scared, etc.

The opposite problem is having no conflict or having other characters reacting to the main character. This is especially noticeable when a character is being bullied immediately. When the main character is shrinking internally, even if we are inside of his or her head, it's not inviting to a reader. Also, if the character is musing about life over a bowl of cereal or observing the landscape instead of reacting to something, you aren't trusting your reader to get to know your character through his or her actions. Actions speak louder than words!

The first 250 are like the reader looking through a keyhole into your book. Do we want to follow this character and author through the door? Happy Writing!

Under the Sealing Wax: A Sixteenth-Century Boy and His Pony (That Never Came)

What is it about kids wanting ponies? No, really. What is it? I don't get it.

I guess ponies are cute, but I bet that most kids today would concede that it would be exceedingly impractical to own one. And yet, there is some mysterious allure to owning a tiny horse that persists even in modern times when our modes of transportation have increased ten-fold.

Before cars were invented, ponies must have been the equine version of Power Wheels for kids. They represented independence, mobility, and responsibility the same way owning a car does today. But they were just the right size! No doubt kids have been begging their parents for ponies since the dawn of time -- or at least for the past several hundred thousand years since the first pleistocine equus galloped its way into the first homo sapiens' heart.

In 1591, young Balthasar Paumgartner pined for a little horse of his own. His merchant father (also named Balthasar) traveled away from their home in Nuremburg quite often, so his mother Magdalena's letters kept his father up-to-date on the goings-on of their household and only child. Young Balthasar was very fond of getting presents and clothes from his father and once he became old enough to start writing himself, he conveyed these wishes clearly:

I am happy to hear that you have arrived [in Frankfurt] safe and sound. Please bring me a little pony. Ask Meringer [ostensibly a dealer] where you can buy one covered in cowhide. Also two pairs of stockings, one skin-colored and one black. I try to be good all the time and I study diligently. Make the best of my writing; I hope to do better soon.

1577, Alonso Sanchez Coello
Portrait of Don Diego, Son of Philip II of Spain with his hobby horse & spear

In this letter, Balthasar is asking for a toy pony covered in cowhide, possibly like the one pictured above. Six months later, the boy became very ill but his desire for a pony did not lessen. His mother wrote to her husband,

Please ask Meringer about horses. He knows where one can find horses covered with goatskin. The boy talks incessantly about a horse, but he has in mind a small living one. You may wish to buy him one.

1609, Circle of Jan Claesz
A boy with his horse & dog

Sadly, with no indication that his father ever sent any kind of pony, Balthasar died a few months later in 1592 after an agonizing illness.  But even while he was bedridden, Balthasar drew pictures of horses in his notebook and presumably kept hoping to ride his own horse one day.

If you're interested in learning more about Magdalena, Balthasar, and their world, check out Steven Ozment's book, Magdalena & Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16th-Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of Nuremberg Husband & Wife.

Of Book Collecting on a Budget

One of the few instances when the adage "don't judge a book by its cover" is not applicable is in the world of book collecting. When I say that I love books, I mean that I love what's inside of them but also the actual book itself. If I read a good book, I want to own the most beautiful, original copy that my budget can afford. I have a small collection of my own, and when I look at the shelf, it warms my heart. Collecting books is like collecting art. You can admire them, read them, and invest in them!

And if you're a writer or interested in a particular subject, building your own collection can add a whole new dimension to your research. (As if you needed another reason to procrastinate actually writing.)

My very modest book collection

If you have an empty shelf and a few bucks, you have everything you need to start collecting books.

Thrift stores, antique stores, and secondhand book stores are great places to begin. You can also ask family members for heirloom books from your childhood or see if there are old books they want to get rid of. Whenever a cover or title catches your eye or piques your interest, that's a great place to start.

The world of book collecting can be intimidating to the uninitiated. Really, though, there isn't a "wrong" way to do it, and you don't need to know the technical terms for things to be able to make good decisions about what to buy.

A few general rules to keep in mind:

    Hardback > Paperback
    Hardback with a jacket > Hardback without a jacket
    Older publication date > Newer publication date
    First Edition > Anything Else (second, third, fourth edition; first edition in another country)
    Signed Author Copy > Non-signed copy
    Pristine Condition > Scuffed, ripped, marked-up or water-damaged

The holy grail of fiction book collecting is a first edition, signed author copy in pristine condition. Hardback books are always a better investment than paperback for several reasons: they are more durable, usually better made, and are more likely to be an earlier edition. A "first edition" means the very first printing of a book. Any subsequent editions can have changes and are thus further from the original. This is another great reason to go to author signings and buy the first edition of an author's book. Who knows how much that book could be worth in a few years?

Another great resource is AbeBooks (abebooks.com). It's the best used book site on the web and can be helpful when you're trying to find information on books and their value. If you want to collect books on a specific topic or are looking for a particular book, it's the place to go. You can filter by first editions, arrange search results by date and price, which can help you find the best copy in your price range.

Now, if you'll indulge me, I will pick a book from my lovely little shelf and show you how it came into my possession.

A year or so ago, I went to a local consignment store to help my mom look for furniture. We didn't find anything for her, but a slim book caught my eye. If it was a guy, it would have been love at first sight. It was a copy of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Right away, I saw four important things: it was hardcover, it had a colorful jacket, it was old, and it was in good condition.

Hello, gorgeous! Want to come home with me?

I flipped open the cover and the price was $5. Next, I looked at the title page and copyright page. These pages should tell you who the publisher is, when it was published, if it is a first edition or not, and other vital information. In this case, it appeared to be a first edition, although not the first printing. All excellent things...and at $5, I was head over heels. If only finding good men was so easy.

Title page

Copyright page

When I got home, it went right onto my shelf next to its new friends. Just for kicks, I wanted to find out more about my purchase. A little browsing on the Internet revealed that I had obtained a UK first edition, but the US first edition of this book is much more desirable. I then headed over to the AbeBooks site to see if I had made a good investment.

I searched by title and author, then put the name of the publisher in the keyword section. Sorting those results by price, high to low, quickly showed that if Hemingway had signed this book, my investment would have paid off big time.

I could have bought a lot of chocolate bars for $6000. Sigh.

A little further down the page, I found some results that were more in line with the condition of my copy. The prices ranged from the one below at $123 to others around $60.

The thing about collecting books, much like art and real estate, is that a book is only worth what someone else will pay for it. Even if I sold my copy for $50 to undercut the competition, that would be almost a 1000% profit or 20 chocolate bars. Not too shabby.

Are you ready to get out there and scour the shelves for hidden treasures? If you could own any book in the world, what would it be?

Of How Life Feels Sometimes

Of Finding Writing Inspiration and Ideas: 5 Tips

Sometimes when I tell people I write fiction, I get asked the question "What inspires you?" or "Where do you come up with ideas?"

At first, I thought people were curious about where I got the specific ideas for my own books, but after perusing other writer's blogs and hearing them get asked the same question, I've realized that it's a more general inquiry. Specifically, some people want to know "Where can I find inspiration for a story." I don't really get it because coming up with ideas has never been a problem for me. Figuring out if they are good ideas and then actually sitting down to write them is my issue.

But in the spirit of sharing, I now present my 5 out-of-the-box tips to getting inspired.

 

1.  Adopt a "What If" Mindset or Use Your Anxiety

 I believe there's a reason why so many writers share a similar anxious temperament. I've struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, it was called being "shy." When I was older, it was called "Why are you acting so weird? Just get over it."

 

When you are anxious, you allow the "what ifs" of life to take over. Potential scenarios play out in your head over and over again, going through every variation of the future again and again until your brain is satisfied that it can tackle any future danger. For example: what if I show up to the movie theater too late and there are no tickets? What if all the seats are taken? What if I have to climb over someone to get to a seat? What if the movie is too scary? What if I see someone I know? What if I have to use the bathroom during the movie? What if...? What if...?

 

All of those anxious thoughts wear a rut in your mind and lead thinking about a thousand possible futures that will probably never happen. I have found that those are the same thinking patterns that can lead to ideas for a book. "What if" is the best question to ask yourself if you want to come up with crazy book ideas.

 

If you take your favorite genre and a "what if" mindset on your trip to the movie theater, you could be asking yourself some questions that could turn into a plot:

 

Sci-fi: What if I go to the movie theater and an alien is running mind experiments during the movie?

Contemporary YA: What if I go to the movie theater and I see my boyfriend making out with someone else?

Women's Fiction: What if I go to the movie theater and see my long-lost first love acting on screen?

Thriller: What if I go the movie theater and witness a murder in the projection room?

 

2. Be Judgmental and Critical of Popular Media Failures

A few weeks ago, I tuned into the premiere of Dominion, a new show on SyFy. The ads looked interesting: attractive guys, angel wings, action. After hearing the intro about a "chosen one" and then seeing the hunky blond lead, I realized I was in for another "white guy saves the world" show. There's nothing wrong with that, but its predictability annoyed me. Another thing that annoyed me was that the chosen one's sidekick is an urchin named Bixby who looks like she took a wrong turn on the way to the young Cosette auditions for Les Miserables. It's not clear what her purpose is or why she's there, but dang it, I really wanted her to be the "chosen one." That would have been a real twist. Someone needs to write that story.

 

 

When you're seething during a bad movie or reading a book that doesn't quite work, think about it critically. What would you do to make it better? How would you tell this story differently? If you tap into the right emotion of righteous anger, you might find the spark of your own story. Don't plagiarize someone else's work, obviously, but maybe your spin-off will be better than the original.

 

3. Pay Attention to the News

Take a page from Suzanne Collins who was inspired to write The Hunger Games while flipping between the news and reality TV:

 

One night, I was lying in bed, and I was channel surfing between reality TV programs and actual war coverage. On one channel, there’s a group of young people competing for I don’t even know; and on the next, there’s a group of young people fighting in an actual war. I was really tired, and the lines between these stories started to blur in a very unsettling way. That’s the moment when Katniss’s story came to me. (SLJ)

 

Remember: the truth is stranger than fiction.

 

I don't write crime stories, but if I did, I would imagine that the police blotter in the newspaper would be a good place to get inspiration. Keep an eye out for local news stories that go viral. Clearly there's some element to the story that captured the public's attention and that could be a good starting point for a story.

 

4. Go to a Museum or Antique Store

As a writer of historical fiction, I find that museums are great places to find inspiration. On a recent vacation to London, I had a germ of an idea in my brain. When I went to the Victoria & Albert museum, that germ exploded into a full-blown concept when I saw a collection of ancient and medieval well-heads. Being exposed to objects that I had never seen before really got my mind working. And hey, even if you don't get inspired, you might have learned something.

 

Antique stores are full of unusual, beautiful objects that could spark an idea. Think about the lives these pieces of history witnessed. Who treasured them? Who discarded them? Unlike museums, you can hold these things in your hand, open them up, and search for hidden treasure.

 

Don't know what this is? That's okay. Make something up.

5. Suspend Your Own Disbelief

If you are a logical person, it can be hard to let go of your rationality and use your imagination. Unfortunately, you need to unleash your imagination to come up with interesting and original story ideas. When you're trying to come up with ideas for stories, don't listen to the voice that says "that's not possible." Who cares if it's not possible? You're trying to entertain people, not write a dissertation.

 

If you feel the seed of an idea start to grow and your rational voice squashes it, tell that voice to take a hike for a while. So what if there's no proof angels exist? So what if tracking a phone call is actually an instantaneous process? So what if cats can't talk? If you can believe it, so can your readers.

 

 

 

I hope these tips are helpful if you're looking to get inspired. If you're a writer, what are you sources of inspiration? What do you tell people when they ask where you get your ideas?

 

Of Living in the Past at Colonial Camp

The first line of L.P. Hartley's novel Go-Between, "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there," has special meaning for me because eleven years ago, I spent one very interesting summer living in the foreign country of the past.

Finding summer jobs back in North Carolina was hard while I was in college in Massachusetts, so I felt lucky to get a job as a counselor at an outdoor, colonial-living style residential camp. I was going to work with kids, be a role model, maybe figure out if I wanted to be a teacher, and get paid pretty well for it! My parents were insistent that I work during the summers, and the Michaels where I was a cashier for my first summer job had closed. The next year, I worked at an oil change service center. It was hot, the pay was terrible, and my coworkers did drugs together in their cars during work. (Just to be clear, I did not join them.)

I also had another unusual reason for wanting to work as a counselor. When I was eight years old, I ran away from girl scout camp. My poor counselors probably felt terrible. Becoming a camp counselor myself felt like cosmic penance for being such a crappy camper when I was a kid. And who could be more empathetic to homesick kids than me?

Modeling the latest in colonial camp fashion.

At the end of my freshman year, my parents gave me a car to use and off I went to colonial camp. The lovely couple who runs the camp lives in a log cabin in rural North Carolina. They completely embraced the lifestyle and values of the eighteenth-century in their everyday lives whenever possible but still made use of modern conveniences like washing machines and automobiles (thank goodness). They also do year-round events for school groups and had been going to Revolutionary War reenactments for a long time. I didn't know it at the time because I hadn't worked at many places, but they turned out to be some of the best businesspeople and all-around good people I've ever met.

The camp was set up in a clearing a few miles away from the main house. This was not the cushy lifestyle of the gentleman farmer or the cobblestoned lanes of Colonial Williamsburg. The living conditions were more in line with a Revolutionary War camp. The site consisted of canvas tents with straw floors, lots of picnic benches, a covered cooking area, a water pump, and lots and lots of trees. Mercifully, there was a port-a-potty. Oh, did I mention this was in North Carolina in the summer with no air conditioning? Did I also mention that we were wearing colonial-style clothes? It was hot, my friends. Very hot.

Deluxe sleeping accommodations

The first four weeks of camp were boy's weeks, meaning there were only boy campers. The female counselors were responsible for cooking, some general cleanup, helping out with activities, but mostly cooking. All of the cooking was done over open fires, and so as soon as the sun came up, we started cooking breakfast. When breakfast was done, it was time to start lunch. Once the pots were cleaned out from lunch, it was time to start dinner. To fuel the cooking fires, the campers would chop wood from the time they woke up until mid-morning.

After lunch, when the heat was the most intense, campers were encouraged to take naps, write letters, and generally take a break before activities started back up later in the afternoon. At night, we would sit around the fire and tell stories. When black clouds rose up in the west, we battened down the hatches and waited for rain. Never before had I been so in tune with the natural rhythm of the day. I woke up to the song of nightingales and fell asleep to the hooting of owls. When it was hot, we rested in the shade. When it was cool, we enjoyed it. Sometimes, I long to escape my present, air-conditioned cubicle life and go back.

Colonial fowl!

The best part about working at the camp was watching the kids feel the same way about being there. It takes a certain kind of kid to want to go to colonial camp, and most of them were totally excited about being there. Each new set of campers marveled at how hard it was to chop wood. They loved learning how to throw tomahawks and shoot a blunderbuss. For a week, they left behind their phones, TV programs, video games, and all modern conveniences, and magically didn't die of boredom! Even though they couldn't wait to eat hamburgers when they got home, they learned how much work it is to cook over an open fire. (Churning ice cream was worth it, though.) Some of the campers would come back year after year, eventually becoming counselors themselves.

When it came time for me to take on my own set of campers during the final two girl's weeks, I was nervous to be in charge of my own campers. My nerves turned out to be the least of my worries. I discovered a new fact about myself: my limit for living outdoors in colonial times is approximately four weeks. During the fifth week of camp, I contracted a hellacious virus. I couldn't keep any food down, and could barely sleep during the hot nights. When I started hallucinating one night, I knew I needed some modern medicine. It wasn't the same as running away as a kid, but I felt like I had failed at being a counselor.

I hated that I wasn't strong enough to push through my illness, but if I had learned anything from the previous weeks, it was that your body knows when it needs to take a break. Living like a colonial person was fine; dying like one was not. I kept working there during the day, but drove to my parents' house each night to sleep. To this day, I still feel bad that I might have disappointed my campers, my other counselors, and the owners, but I think I did okay for an 18-year-old.

My stay in the past may have been a short one, but I would go back and visit any time -- on a four-week visa.

Under the Sealing Wax: Fifteenth-Century Parenting with Agnes Paston

A few weeks ago on Last Comic Standing, my favorite contestant Joe Machi joked about how his married friends said they didn't want to bring a child into the world the way it is now. Joe says, "What do you mean, the way it is now? The best it's been in history? Back in the day, people would be having 15 kids, and most of them would die. Most of your life was having kids, then watching them die. Then you would die. Of something they'd prevent by washing your hands."





Andrea Mantegna,
The Virgin with the
Sleeping Child,
1465/70.

It's true that child rearing and acceptable parenting practices have changed a lot since the Middle Ages. Documents like the Paston letters give a rare glimpse at how parents and children interacted half a millenium ago. The Paston letters are a collection of medieval letters and documents exchanged between members of the Paston family in England during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. While their primary value is to legal and historical scholars, there is a wealth of detail about family relationships. To learn more about the Paston letters, visit 

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/paston.htm.

Medieval historians are still debating how childhood was viewed in the pre-modern era. Were children treated as miniature adults, expected to conform to the same standards of behavior? In a time with such high infant mortality rates, how did parents cope with the reality of losing their children? Did parents cherish their children in the same ways that many modern parents do? Evidence from art, literature, and historical documents like the Paston letters doesn't present a singular answer to those questions. One thing is for sure: the phrase "spare the rod and spoil the child" was taken literally.

 

Agnes Paston was the matriarch of the upwardly mobile Paston family in the mid-fifteenth century. As her family grew and left her nest, she had strong opinions about how her five children should conduct their lives. In the letter below, she instructs Greenfield, the tutor of her fifteen-year-old son Clement, to whip him if he is not being diligent at his studies:

 

Errands to London of Agnes Paston, the 28th day of January, 1457, the year of King Henry VI. the 36th.

 [...] To pray Greenfield to send me faithfully word by writing how Clement Paston hath done his endeavour in learning.

And if he hath not done well, nor will not amend, pray him that he will truly [whip] him till he will amend; and so did the last master, and the best that ever he had, at Cambridge.

That's some tough love. But just wait, Agnes' next instruction is to check the condition of her son's clothes:

 

[S]ee how many gowns Clement hath, and that they be bare, let them be raised (let them have a new nap set upon them.)

 

From this we may deduce that even in the fifteenth century, moms were still taking care of their kids' laundry. Some things never change.