Q&A: Mary Pope Osborne
The author's latest book is Kate and the Beanstalk
Staff -- School Library Journal, 11/1/2000
Children's book writer Mary Pope Osborne's latest book is Kate and the Beanstalk (Atheneum, 2000).
Why did you rewrite Jack and the Beanstalk with a girl heroine? I had always lamented that in my childhood, in the '50s and '60s, there were so few female heroes. The ones that I was most familiar with were Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Goldilocks. I was telling this to my husband not long ago, and he said, "They were all famous for sleeping. And Cinderella was famous for having a small foot." I thought, my brothers could be Jack, but I couldn't be Jack. My role models had to sleep and have small feet. I realizedâ?¦ that it was insane that there hadn't been [books with] girls having adventures that had nothing to do with finding a prince, or winning the favor of a man.
Is there anything about Kate that reminds you of yourself? I was very terrified as a child. I suffered from every possible kind of fear. I would imagine, constantly, terrible things happening to myself or my family. I was always trying to fight against that. I was terrified of little things, like insects and worms and big dogs, crabs in the ocean. And it was always a struggle to get over those fears. But I wasn't that afraid of people situations, like standing up for somebody. When Kate says she fears nothing when she is doing rightâ?¦ if I had one strength it was that.
Does Kate's story have a message for girls? I had a number of books come out this year. Andâ?¦ even though they're all quite different from each other, they all involve the quest taken by a female hero. For thousands and thousands of years [in world literature], women didn't go on those [adventures unless] they pursued a manâ?¦. Now, thank goodness, [girls] are being given a lot of wonderful books [with female heroes]. But when I was growing up, we weren't. I think I would have been less of a frightened child if I had read books like this.
