The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper (12 page)

What, I wondered, would my children do if they ever decided to leave home? Where, I wondered, would they go? At the very least, they would want all the comforts of home, and they would probably want a few dashes of elegance as well. They would certainly never consider any place less elegant than the Metropolitan Museum of Art. How they love it! And how do I!

Yes, I thought, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There they could surround themselves with elegance and enjoy the comfort of those magnificent beds. And then, I thought, while they were there, perhaps they could
discover the secret of the mysterious bargain statue, and in doing so, they could also learn a much more important secret—how to be different on the inside where it counts.

That is all very interesting, Mrs. Konigsburg. How did winning the Newbery Medal for that book make you feel?
Proud and courageous.

Courageous? The Newbery Medal is an award for an outstanding contribution to children's literature. It is not given for courage. Are you getting your medals as mixed-up as your files?
Not at all. I'm not saying that I won the Newbery Medal for
having
courage; I'm saying that winning the Newbery Medal gave me courage. Let me explain. After I won the Newbery Medal, children all over the world let me know that they liked books that take them to unusual places where they meet unusual people. That gave me the courage to write about Eleanor of Aquitaine in
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
and about Leonardo da Vinci in
The Second Mrs. Giaconda.
Readers let me know that they like books that have more to them than meets the eye. Had they not let me know that, I never would have written
The View from Saturday.

I'm glad you brought up the subject of
The View from Saturday.
Why did you write that book the way that
you did—having four short stories right there inside the novel?
It was the most natural thing in the world. I had started writing a story about a young man named Ethan Potter who boards a school bus the first day of sixth grade. The bus takes an unexpected turn, and a strangely dressed young man boards and sits down next to Ethan. He introduces himself as Julian and explains that his father is about to open a bed and breakfast inn—
a B and
B. At that point, I left my desk and took a walk along the beach.

When I write a book, I more or less start a movie in my head, and there I was walking along the beach, doing a re-run of what I had written. When I got to where Julian was telling Ethan about the B and B, I remembered that I had a story in my files—my mixed-up files—about a young man named Noah whose mother insists that he write his grandparents a bread and butter letter, a B and B letter. Fact: That made me remember another short story I had about a dog named Ginger that plays the part of Sandy in the play
Annie.
And that led me to another story about an Academic Bowl team.

Fact: Before I had finished my walk, I realized that all those short stories were united by a single theme. Taken together, they reinforced one another, and the whole became more than the sum of the parts.

I knew that kids would love meeting one character and then two and three, and I also knew—because I had
learned it from them—that they would think that fitting all the stories together was part of the adventure.

So how did you feel when you found out that you had won a Newbery Medal for
The View from Saturday?
Filled with joy. And that's a fact. I knew I had been right about the spirit of adventure shared by good readers.

Do you have any hobbies?
I love to draw and paint. I love to read and walk along the beach. I also love movies.

What makes you feel bad?
Eating too much chocolate, reading trash, and letting dust balls gather under the sofa.

What makes you feel good?
Eating too much chocolate, reading trash, and letting dust balls gather under the sofa.

Really, Mrs. Konigsburg, will you try to be serious?
I am very serious about chocolate.

Let's get back to your books.
I am very serious about those, too.

People tell me that your books don't always appear to be serious.
I consider that a compliment. Thank you.

I guess that's about all I had to ask. I don't know how to end this interview.
Try saying “Thank you.”

Thank you, Mrs. Konigsburg.
You're welcome, Mrs. Konigsburg.

BOOKS BY E. L KONIGSBURG —

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley,
and Me, Elizabeth
0-689-30007-7
Atheneum
Newbery Honor Book
ALA Notable Children's Book

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
0-689-20586-4
Atheneum
0-689-71181-6
Aladdin Paperbacks
Newbery Medal
William Allen White Award
ALA Notable Children's Book

About the B'nai Bagels
0-689-20631-3
Atheneum

Altogether, One at a Time
0-689-20638-0
Atheneum
0-689-71290-1
Aladdin Paperbacks

A
Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
0-689-30111-1
Atheneum
ALA Notable Children's Book
National Book Award Nominee

The Second Mrs. Giaconda
0-689-70450-X
Aladdin Paperbacks

Father's Arcane Daughter
* Coming spring 1999
0-689-82680-X
Aladdin Paperbacks
YASD Best Book for Young Adults
IRA/CBC Children's Choice

Journey to an 800 Number
* Coming spring 1999
0-689-82679-6
Aladdin Paperbacks

Throwing Shadows
0-689-82120-4
Aladdin Paperbacks
ALA Notable Children's Book
American Book Award Nominee

Up From Jericho Tel
0-689-31194-X
Atheneum
0-689-82120-4
Aladdin Paperbacks
ALA Notable Children's Book
Parents' Choice Award for Literature
NCTE Notable Children's Trade Book for the
Language Arts

Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's
0-689-31766-2
Atheneum

T-backs, T-shirts,
COAT
and Suit
0-689-31855-3
Atheneum

TalkTalk: A Children's Book Author
Speaks to Grown-ups
0-689-31993-2
Atheneum

The View from Saturday
0-689-80993-X
Atheneum
0-689-81721-5
Aladdin Paperbacks
1997 Newbery Medal Winner
ALA Notable Children's Book

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(George)

Samuel Todd's Book oj Great Colors

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division where
imaginations
meet
1230 Avenue of the
Americas New York, NY 10020
www.SimonSaysKids.com

This is what E. L. Konigsburg has to say about writing
The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper.

“Venice, Italy was the site of the very first
ghetto.
In 1516, the governing body of Venice decided that all Jews were to be confined to a quarter of the city where there once was a foundry, which is called a
geto
in the Venetian dialect. Jews were allowed out during the day, if they wore a hat and a badge that identified them. There were guards at the gates to keep them in at night.

“Now, in almost every city in the United States, there are gated communities that have been built around golf courses or lakes or country clubs. They have guards at their gates who may not forbid inhabitants from getting out at night, but who do keep non-inhabitants from getting in without some sort of badge—even if it is a car pass. Almost every city has the other kind of ghetto, too. The kind that does not have guards at its gates and probably doesn't have gates at all. This is the community where the poor or disadvantaged live. This ghetto is often as hard to get out of as the gated community is hard to get into.

“I wanted to explore these two ghettos—the gated and the ungated; the one that is planned and the one that is spontaneous; the one that has houses and the one that has neighbors; the one without dragons and the one with. And I wanted to let Andrew J. Chronister do it—with the help of his grown-up friend, Edie Yakots.”

E. L. KONIGSBURG
is the author of several books for young readers, including the Newbery Medal winners
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
and
The View from Saturday,
and the Newbery Honor Book
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth.
Mrs. Konigsburg has a degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and has done graduate work in organic chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Before becoming a writer, she taught science at a private girls' school. She and her husband live on the beach in North Florida. Their three children are all married.