Synopses & Reviews
Q. The anthropomorphic animals you choose to write about are not the typical dog or cat— where did you find the inspiration for your characters? A. Central Park, in the case of my first animal book, A RAT S TALE. While jogging around the reservoir there, I realized that the rustling in the fallen leaves wasn t always caused by squirrels. Also, notices were posted on trees in the area warning dog owners of rat poison. The poor, persecuted rats . . . Do they hate us as much as we hate them? Since that was set in the city, I decided to set my next animal book," THE WAINSCOTT WEASEL, in the country— the east end of Long Island. There are scads of rabbits out there, but bunnies are a bit sweet and cuddly for my taste, so I chose weasels, who share with rats a not-so-hot reputation. In MEAN MARGARET the chief protagonists are woodchucks, which aren t quite so bad (unless you re a gardener), but my favorite character in the book is the snake. In short, I look for creatures with a bit of an edge. Q. What kind of animal research have you done for your writing? How has it influenced you? A. I do some research, but I m no naturalist. I actually get a kick out of playing with the dichotomy between realism and fantasy. For instance, my rats can sing songs and engrave rings and paint seashells, but they can t sweat (rats having no sweat glands). Q. It is more challenging to write from the human perspective or from the point of view of the animal world? A. I don t know which is more challenging, but I do know the challenges are slightly different. In writing from the human perspective, you feel obliged to keep your characters and situations fromveering too far from those you might encounter in the world around you (unless you re Charles Dickens, able to transcend such concerns). Writing from the point of view of animals relieves this pressure. When you have weasels who talk and attend cotillions, you ve clearly left " reality" behind. You re free! But of course this is only an illusion. For even if anthropomorphizing lets you be a bit broader, and gives you freer rein for your sense of humor, you re really only exchanging one set of rules for another. If your weasels can talk among themselves but not to human beings in chapter one, the same must hold true in chapter twenty. As soon as you create a new logic, you have to stick to it. Besides which, there s the added challenge of keeping your reader from tossing your book aside after half a page: " Talking weasels, what nonsense!" Q. Did you always want to be a writer? When did you decide that you wanted to write for children? A. I have a pretty clear memory of the day I realized I wanted to be a writer. I came home from school— I think I was ten— and pulled a skinny book out of my parents bookshelves (THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder). By the time I finished it, I d decided I wanted to create my own world, too. As for writing for children, I never give much thought to my audience. I write the stories I feel like writing. If they appeal to kids, wonderful. Q. Your books have been compared to those of E. B. White, Randall Jarrell, and Kenneth Grahame. Is there a book that has changed your life, or an author who has had a major influence in the way you tell stories? A. Countless books changed mylife. OLIVER TWIST (read in seventh grade), LUCKY JIM (eleventh grade), MACBETH (twelfth grade)," PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN (read over and over during college), WAR AND PEACE, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Trollope, Yeats, George Eliot, TS Eliot, Proust . . . As far as children s books are concerned, I devoured forty-odd books by Thornton W. Burgess when I was a third and fourth grader. I don t know how good they are, never having gone back to them, but they were filled with animal characters and clearly made a deep impression on me. Q. What other jobs have you had, and what job would you choose if you weren t a writer? A. I ve had a motley collection of jobs over the years. The most challenging was probably teaching fiction writing to college students, though I m not a particularly gifted teacher. The older I get, the more I wish I could have tried my hand at other things— law, editing, marine biology— but time passes so quickly that I don t hold out much hope for myself. Q. BROTHERS BELOW ZERO focuses on the relationship between two brothers— how are your life experiences reflected in your books? A. I have a wonderful older brother, and we re about as different as two people could be, so perhaps that book has subconscious roots in my childhood. But as a rule I don t " use" my life in my books. If I did, I d put my readers to sleep. Q. In TERPIN, you have created a modern-day parable. Where did the idea come from? A. The impulse for the book came from thinking about the equivocal nature of truth and progress. As kids we re all encouraged to tell the truth, punished for lying even, yet life isconstantly presenting us with situations where true candor would get us into scalding-hot water. Similarly, the grown-ups around us, especially here in the United States, hold up Progress as a great virtue— yet the spectacle of a beautiful birch wood being bulldozed to make way for a development of " second homes" can leave a boy like Terpin scratching his head. Q. THE TAR PIT features an extraordinary friendship between a boy and an Allosaurus. Did you ever have an imaginary friend? A. No. But I had a pretty active fantasy life. There was Tor Seidler the greatest baseball player ever (complete with carefully kept statistics), the brilliant general (complete with maps of remarkable campaigns), the amazing golfer (who wins the US Open as an amateur with an eagle 2 on the seventy-second hole). Q. Your books seem to share a theme of shifting balances between solitude and relationships. Does this have special relevance to y
Synopsis
While other young weasels dance under the pines, Bagley thinks about Bridget, the mesmerizing fish who lives in a pond down the brook from his den. Only a true hero can save Bridget from the gruesome death that awaits her'and this is exactly what Bagley, much to his own surprise, proves himself to be.
Notable Children's Books of 1994 (ALA)100 Books for Reading and Sharing 1993 (NY Public Library)
1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)
Synopsis
While other young weasels dance under the pines, Bagley thinks about Bridget, the mesmerizing fish who lives in a pond down the brook from his den.Only a true hero can save Bridget from the gruesome death that awaits her'and this is exactly what Bagley, much to his own surprise, proves himself to be.
Notable Children's Books of 1994 (ALA)
100 Books for Reading and Sharing 1993 (NY Public Library)
1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)
About the Author
Born in Littleton, New Hampshire, Tor Seidler grew up in Vermont and later, Seattle, Washington, in both of which places his parents were involved in the theater. Encouraged by his family's love of the arts, Mr. Seidler studied English literature at Stanford University, and at the age of twenty-seven his first book,
The Dulcimer Boy, was published, launching his celebrated career as a writer.
Over the past twenty years, Mr. Seidler has become one of the most important voices in children's fiction with such classics as, A Rat's Tale, The Wainscott Weasel, an ALA Notable Book, Terpin, and Mean Margaret, which was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997. He currently lives in New York City.