by Linda Johns
“I still don’t get why you guys didn’t just expose the people who were dumping the herbicides,” Lily said.
“Alice tried contacting someone to take action or to charge them with polluting or illegal dumping. Everything is a big mess because there are at least five towns that border the lake plus the Archipelago of Tui Tui, and they’re not sure which one of them will press charges. It could take months—or longer—for them to get it all straightened out,” I said.
“That’s gross. They’re getting off way too easy,” Lily said.
“The story isn’t over. Look, there’s Mary!” I waved to Mom’s friend the television reporter, who had a camera woman with her today. She was getting some footage to round out her story about illegal dumping. Alpha had already given her preliminary water test results to Mary. I didn’t know if my photos would play any role or not, but at least I had them in case anyone decided to charge Estie and Monica with some kind of crime.
“Hey, Hannah,” said Polly Summers, Mom’s friend who had just paddled up in a kayak with her husband, Tom. As avid kayakers, they were helping to clean up the bay as well. “I just told your mom that I got a lead on someone in Fremont who needs a live-in dogsitter while she goes to Hong Kong for a business trip. You could be living in—”
“The Center of the Universe!” I finished for her. Fremont is this funky, artsy Seattle neighborhood that decided to name itself the Center of the Universe. If I could walk on water living in Portage Bay, who’s to say I can’t journey to the Center of the Universe?
Q and A with NANCY PEARL and LINDA JOHNS
NANCY PEARL: Where did the inspiration for the Hannah West books come from?
LINDA JOHNS: My favorite mysteries are stories set in real places, like Harriet the Spy, which takes place in New York City. My favorite city is Seattle, where I’ve lived most of my life. I wanted to write a mystery story that was set in Seattle, but it didn’t all start coming together until I had the character of Hannah West in my head.
I needed a way for Hannah to be in different parts of the city so she could solve mysteries. I knew she also needed some sort of “cover,” a way to be out and about observing things. A good detective is always observing. Walking a dog is a great way to explore new neighborhoods, and it seemed natural that Hannah, a dog lover, would have a dogsitting and dog walking business. If Hannah and her mom were also professional house sitters, they’d have a chance to live in fancy places and meet all kinds of interesting people. And all of this gave me the opportunity to spend countless hours walking my dog, Owen, around funky and charming neighborhoods.
NP: Why did you choose to make Hannah Chinese?
LJ: I based the character of Hannah on one of my favorite girls, who happens to have been born in China and adopted by an American family. I hadn’t read many books for young readers that represented the people I know and see every day. And I didn’t know of any books, at that time, with a main character who was Chinese-born and adopted as a baby and brought to the US.
NP: When you wrote the first book, Hannah West in the Belltown Towers, did you think you’d write three more about the same character? Do you ever think about writing more about Hannah and her friend Lily?
LJ: I’m very attached to Hannah as a character and I hoped that I’d be able to write more stories starring Hannah solving mysteries. I wrote and rewrote the first mystery several times, with lots of edits and tweaks in each new version, before I sent it to my agent. I wrote a brief overview about two more potential mysteries. I was thrilled to get to write not just two, but three more. I am sure there are more mysteries that need to be solved in Seattle, and I think Hannah and her best friend Lily are the duo to do it.
NP: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Did you write stories as a child? If so, do you still have some of them? How do you feel reading them now?
LJ: I was in second grade when I decided I wanted to be a writer. My mom kept the story that set me on this path. It was really sweet of her to keep it, and it was also indicative of how much both my parents supported me as a writer. In fact, every job I took as an adult, my mom would always ask, “Are you sure you’ll have enough time to keep writing?” But back to my second grade story: It would have been better with more action. It still delights me to remember how much fun I had writing it.
NP: Do you like to read? What sorts of books? As a child, were you a big reader? How did (or not) your parents encourage you to read? What were some of your favorite books as a kid?
LJ: I love to read! Right now I tend to read mysteries and general fiction. I read books written for children, teens, and adults. I’m from a family of readers, and it was a common occurrence to see my parents and my sister and I all together in the living room, each a world away in a book. We were definitely a family that took “reading together” to heart. My parents encouraged me to read whatever caught my fancy. Sometimes that meant sitting next to a set of encyclopedias and flipping through the pages. The “D” encyclopedia was my favorite because it was the one with several pages on dog breeds and their history.
At my elementary school, once we were in fourth grade, our daily reading time was spent in the library reading whatever we wanted. How great is that? Almost an entire hour each day at school where you could sprawl out on the floor or curl up in a chair and read. I claimed the “H” aisle in the library as my reading spot because that’s where Marguerite Henry (she wrote horse books, like Misty of Chincoteague) was. I read my way through the library, choosing a book from each section. Whenever we finished a book, we’d sit down with our librarian, Ms. Elrod, and talk to her about what happened in the book and what we liked about it. A lot of who I am now is grounded in those hours in the library and the conversations with Ms. Elrod.
When I was younger, I loved the picture book Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion, illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. My friend Hannah (who is a librarian) gave me a Harry the Dirty Dog T-shirt for a recent birthday and I am so happy whenever I wear it.
NP: If someone liked your books, what others would you recommend?
LJ: Try the Gilda Joyce mystery series by Jennifer Allison. Gilda is a psychic investigator who often underestimates how her own intelligence is what’s actually solving a mystery. She’s a resourceful spy and has a flair for disguises when she needs to go undercover. And don’t miss The Wig in the Window by Kristen Kittscher, starring best friends Sophie Young and Grace Yang as unstoppable young detectives. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is an older mystery (published in 1978) that I think stands the test of time. It features a young detective piecing together clues to solve a rock-solid mystery. The Westing Game is my all-time favorite mystery, and that includes the adult mysteries I’ve read as well.
NP: I know that you’re a librarian—is that a good career choice for someone who likes to read and write stories?
LJ: Being a librarian is a perfect job for someone who loves reading and writing! In addition to getting to be around books and talk about books, a librarian spends a lot of time working directly with people and hearing their stories. A big part of being a writer (or a detective!) is observing people and tracking down information. A librarian gets to do this every day, a hundred times each day.
I had a great professor at the University of Washington who inspired many of my coworkers and I to be librarians. Her name was Nancy Pearl and she taught us that there is a book for every reader. If you can get someone to talk about a book he or she has loved, you can pick up clues to find the right book at the right moment for that reader. Writers, detectives, and librarians—we all use clues, stories, and information to save the day.
ABOUT the AUTHOR
PHOTO © INGRID PAPE-SHELDON
LINDA JOHNS is a writer, reader, and librarian. The order changes depending on the day. She works at the Seattle Public Library’s downtown Central Library, a gorgeous eleven-story building with a million books inside. She grew up in Cheney, Washington, and graduated from Washington State University with a degree in jo
urnalism. She has a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Washington. Her first job, at age fifteen, involved a lot of stapling. Subsequent jobs (after college) included reporter, editor, and bookseller. Linda lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and a basset hound named Owen Henderson.