Katherine Ashenburg is the prize-winning author of three non-fiction books: Going to Town: Architectural Walking Tours in Southern Ontario; The Mourner's Dance: What We Do When People Die; and The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History, which was recently adapted for children. After completing her Ph.D. dissertation on Dickens and Christmas, Ashenburg worked as a radio producer at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then at the Toronto Globe and Mail as the arts and books editor. Today she works as a freelance writer, lecturer and teacher. What was your inspiration for the adult book version of The Dirt on Clean? An exhibit in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto where I live, which taught me that in the 17th century the aristocrats were as dirty as the peasants because everyone feared water. Since the Black Death, the killer plague of the 14th century, people had believed, on doctors’ advice, that warm water would allow the plague to enter your body. Hence: no washing for up to four centuries, depending on the country and the class of the person. But they thought they were “clean” because they changed their shirts as often as they could. I looked at this exhibit and the proverbial light bulb went on in my head: a book about all the different meanings of “clean” throughout history. How did you envision the adult book and the children's version in the literary landscape? I envisioned the adult book as a book of social history, not academic but readable for anyone with a curiosity about how we lived and how we form our opinions, with lots of juicy anecdotes and connections to the larger side of history — it was like looking at history through a soap bubble. The kids’ book is similar, and I also wanted to get kids to realize that the “authorities” — the doctors and teachers and priests of the past— were the source of a lot of misinformation. I wanted kids to realize how suggestible we are, and how slow or quick we are to change old ideas. How did the kids version come about? Was it always part of the plan? When I was researching the adult book, an editor said, “You know, that is a great subject for a kids’ book.” I left that lying in my head for about 5 years and then suddenly I wanted to write it. If the premise of the book is we bathe too much, are you suggesting that kids wash less? I wouldn’t say that is the premise of the book, but it is certainly part of the last chapter, that is, there's a suspicion in the book that soap and advertisers are benefiting more than we are from all this washing. I’m suggesting in the kids’ book that kids should understand  that not all the “wisdom” and “good advice” they receive is necessarily correct. I wanted to introduce them to the idea that advertising is a very powerful influence in our world, and that we sometimes decide that something is “healthy” when it isn’t necessarily so. And also to give them a good read. And also to keep them healthy by emphasizing the importance of washing their hands, frequently and properly.

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