feiwel and friends

Jill S. Alexander: On High-Lift Blondes

Jill S. Alexander is the author of The Sweetheart of Prosper County, available now!

Remember that Whac-A-Mole game? The one where the moles pop up randomly and you try to compete by beating them back into their hole before they disappear? Just when you think you’ve got a chance, one disappears and another pops up from a different direction. Or maybe you’re a fan of the classic comedy Caddyshack and the futile attempts of Bill Murray’s character to battle the gopher. I always think about that game and movie when reflecting on my high school years and the #12 High-Lift Blondes.

Known for their womanly figures and silky bleached locks (#12 on the hair color lift chart), the #12 High-Lift Blondes were a seemingly endless line of sisters whose queens-of-everything reign extended across two decades in my East Texas community. Like Marilyn Monroe, they were iconic dream girls. They were Christmas queens and sequined-slipped twirlers and perky cheerleaders and FFA sweethearts. No “Most Popular” title escaped their magnetic pull. When one graduated, another, maybe two more, took her place. And to make it even more frustrating, the #12 High-Lift Blondes were as genuinely kind as they were beautiful.

Although she is a composite and a complete work of fiction, the character of Sundi Knutt was certainly inspired by the #12 High-Lift Blondes. More importantly, it was the emotion of my coming of age with those girls that found its way to the heart of The Sweetheart of Prosper County. More than envy, the desire of the girl stuck on the curb as the sweethearts, the high school icons, roll past like rural route royalty influenced the story. I wanted to capture that desire that hits when you’re fourteen or fifteen and you’re trying to find your place in the world.

Sometimes, we chase the bright shiny things we can see instead of looking inward and finding our own style and gifts. The heart of The Sweetheart of Prosper County is just that; embrace your individuality. Be your own icon.

The Sweetheart of Prosper County is available at your local book store, or online:

IndieBound

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Jill S. Alexander: On Hood Ornaments

Jill S. Alexander is the author of The Sweetheart of Prosper County, available now!

 

Folks always ask me what inspired the idea for the hood ornament reference in The Sweetheart of Prosper County. Well, on the first Thursday of every month, my son and I check out Hot Rod Night at our local Whataburger parking lot. Really. It’s a blast. Milk shakes and muscle cars, two of my favorite things. Although I’m a fan of Carroll Shelby’s pony cars and any 1960’s/1970’s ride with a Hemi, I’m always intrigued by the hood ornaments on classic cars.

Technically, hood ornaments are symbols, cast in bronze and finished off with a slick polishing of chrome. They represent the car manufacturer’s ideal of what that vehicle is all about, like the leaping jaguar on a Jaguar or the rocket on an old Oldsmobile. In Texas, ranchers have been known to stylize their trucks with longhorn cattle horns mounted on the hood. My favorite hood ornament is the flying winged goddess found on some 1940’s model Cadillacs. It’s a beauty. I am drawn to the wide-open freedom and power that that hood ornament represents—flying face first, chest strong into the wind.

In the opening parade scene of Sweetheart, Austin inventories each girl riding proudly on the hood of a car as an iconic representation of her sponsoring organization. I didn’t plan on Austin seeing those girls as hood ornaments; it came organically in the moment of the writing. But it was perfect and fitting since Austin’s journey is all about her defining who she is as a young woman, being her own icon.

I love the evolution of the hot rods at the Whataburger to the detail of a hood ornament to the sweethearts on parade to Austin’s coming of age.  For me, life experience is the mother of inspiration.

The Sweetheart of Prosper County is now available at your local book store, or online:

IndieBound

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Are You a "Roupie Groupie"?

If you are, then you probably know about Rupert Grint's Web site—“Rupe” is otherwise known as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films. RG is mentioned several times in Julie Halpern’s new novel, Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, and the great people at his heavily visited Web site picked up on that, reviewed the book (it's a good one), and interviewed Julie. Click on the link to read another great author interview, and check out Rupert/Ron as sculpted from Peeps candy. I kid you not!—Liz S.

If you would like your own copy of Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, it's available now, at your local book store, or online:

IndieBound

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Jeanne Betancourt is Out and About

Jeanne Betancourt is the author of Ava Tree and the Wishes Three (illustrated by Angela Dominguez)--a charming story about a girl named Ava who makes a wish on her birthday, and it comes true! Can she make a wish to undo the saddest thing in her life so far?

Jeanne recently visited the Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, New York, and the Oyster Ponds Elementary School in Orient, New York, to read Ava Tree and discuss wishes with the students.

There, the children came up with their own wishes, and developed their own illustrations for the book. You can read more about it at Jeanne's blog. See this post for the artwork.

What would you wish for?

If you would like your own copy of Ava Tree and the Wishes Three, it's available now at your local book store, or online:

IndieBound

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Jill S. Alexander: On the Future Farmers of America

Jill S. Alexander is the author of The Sweetheart of Prosper County, about a girl named Austin, her rooster named Charles Dickens, and her quest to become the FFA Sweetheart in the annual Christmas parade.

 
    In The Sweetheart of Prosper County, Austin Gray joins the FFA, pining to be their sweetheart, and raises a rooster to show in the county fair. Teens like Austin enjoy participation in the Future Farmers of America organization, an iconic part of communities and schools across the country. The FFA is in all fifty states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Isles. Established in 1928 by a group of Kansas farm boys, the Future Farmers of America offers middle- and high-school students a practical study in all areas of agriculture.
    My father, the son of a sharecropper, was an FFA member back in the 1940s. He learned to graft pecan and peach trees like a botanist and to castrate a bull quicker than the average college-trained veterinarian—important skills when you have to farm to eat. Thirty years later, my brother also participated in the FFA. His agriculture instruction included hands-on training in welding, and designing everything from fences to feed troughs. He’s now an engineer.
    Currently, the FFA is celebrating its 40th anniversary of allowing women to join.  When I was in high school, girls did participate. I even had a Hereford bull named Buster. However, our FFA chapter mainly consisted of boys, so I signed up for Home Economics class. Although today’s Home-Ec courses offer cool opportunities like Top Chef competitions and fashion design, my teacher was old school. We sewed aprons and learned to can peaches or pickle cucumbers. I felt like Laura Ingalls and feared I was one embroidered hankie away from a prairie skirt and braids. When my wandering eye caught a glimpse of the velvet and sequined high kickers on the drill team, I thought I’d found my passion—top hats, red lipstick, and jazz hands. But I’ve always regretted not giving Buster his opportunity to shine.
     Nowadays, the FFA boasts a female membership of 41 percent, and at least 50 percent of the leadership roles are held by women. Many FFA chapters still hold to the tradition of electing a Sweetheart, a girl who reflects the organization’s values and serves as their ambassador. And, yes, represents them at events such as Christmas parades or ribbon-cutting ceremonies. However, girls in the FFA are not just waving from the hoods of cars. Much like Austin and her friend Sundi in the novel, girls are showing prize-winning roosters and lambs, and they’re leaders pursuing careers in the science, technology, and business of agriculture.
    
 Learn more about the FFA here. 

The Sweetheart of Prosper County is now available at your local book stores, or online:

IndieBound 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Borders

Immediate Gratification

Author interviews—I never get tired of reading ’em. Inspiration, process, favorite music . . . I always learn something useful, whether the author is someone I work with or not. A particularly sharp interview came out this week on author Kurtis Scaletta's blog: F&F’s James Preller on his new novel, Bystander. I worked with Jimmy on this book and I still learned so much from this interview. Check it out. It's about writing, it’s about this country's bullying epidemic, it’s about two dedicated authors talking shop. Thanks, Kurtis.