My long-held desire to be heroic got some satisfaction through writing The Curse if the Neverland – a desire every child (and most adults!) share. It falls in with wanting to be special. I’ve not met a human yet who didn’t want to be special. When we want to stand out, to be heroic, it’s natural to copy the fictional heroes on your radar. The question is, are they healthy heroes?
I can’t tell you how many Halloween costumes I saw this year at the library involving capes and superpowers. Ok, there were a lot of fairies and princesses as well, but fairies and princesses have superpowers, too, right?
My favorite heroes, both male and female, are the ones driven by human pain—circumstances and emotions we recognize. The new movie version of Spiderman is a great example. He’s driven to right wrongs after he loses his stepfather, a loving man with enormous integrity. I also love the heroes who seem really ordinary but behave with extraordinary courage when faced with overwhelming difficulty. Like Indiana Jones.
Want to know a secret? I named myself “Lindy” after seeing the first Indiana Jones movie. Lindy—rhymes with Indy. It made me feel larger than life. Plus it was easy to pronounce. Long story…
I want girls to have as many choices of girl heroes to emulate as boys have choices of boy heroes. Piper Pan and her Merry Band offers up Piper and seven more girls who behave with extraordinary courage when faced with overwhelming difficulty.
Have you preordered your copy yet?
Speaking of the book and its emergence into the world, I hope this will be the last time I have to announce a publication date delay. Having chosen the “hardback aiming for libraries” route, I’ve got to get it submitted for reviews with a solid 3-month window prior to publication. So… the new date will be March 12, 2015.
Don’t despair—I’ll make it worth your while! Last month I sent out the link to the Piper Pan poster – here it is again. The new pub date means you’ll get 5 character posters by the time the book comes out.
And let’s use the intervening time to talk about important things like healthy heroes! Who was your favorite hero as a child? Favorite book character? Were they what you would now call healthy heroes?
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