BIO

Jill Santopolo is not a super sleuth, though she is particularly good at walking quickly and quietly through the streets of New York City, where she lives. She is currently working on her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College, and spends most of her time reading books, writing books, and editing some other ones. You can visit her at www.jillsantopolo.com.

INTERVIEW

July 2008

In this interview with Kidsreads.com's Chris Shanley-Dillman, Jill Santopolo --- author of the new children's mystery Alec Flint, Super Sleuth --- explains how her own reading habits as a child inspired the idea for this series and describes from where her hero obtained his unique and endearing personality traits. She also discusses her collaboration with illustrator C. B. Canga, shares what she hopes readers will take away from her book and reveals details about future installments in the series.

Kidsreads.com: Alec Flint, Super Sleuth is such a fun and creative mystery! How did you come up with the idea for this book, and the clever title?

Jill Santopolo: Thank you! I came up with the idea when I started thinking about the types of books I loved as a kid. Many of my favorites were mysteries --- Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, Nate the Great, Cam Jansen, The Bobbsey Twins --- the list goes on and on. So I wanted to write a book that I would’ve liked to have read as a kid. And then I was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and thought about what would happen if one of the exhibits went missing and the only people who were able to figure out what happened were some elementary school kids. At the time, I lived on Columbus Avenue, so all those thoughts mixed together and I ended up with the first book in the Alec Flint series.

The title credit goes completely to my wonderful editor, Lisa Sandell. I had been calling the book "The Case of Christopher Columbus," which she told me --- rightly so --- was a little bit flat. She came up with THE NINA, THE PINTA, AND THE VANISHING TREASURE, which I loved immediately.
 
KRC: The hero of the story, Alec Flint, is extra special and loaded with personality, including sensitivity for others’ feelings, courage to follow his dreams, intelligence, a sense of humor, and lots of energy and spunk. How did you develop this character?

JS: Alec has a little bit of me in him, he has a little bit of my different family members and various friends in him...basically I thought about the qualities I thought a good sleuth should have, and I gave them to him. Then I thought about the qualities a good friend should have, and gave them to him, too. But I wanted him to feel real, so I made sure he had some insecurities, some things that made him mad or sad or afraid, and some things that made him grumpy. And last, I made sure he had a big sense of humor. The more I wrote about him, the better I knew him, and the more details I could put in about his thoughts and feelings and dreams.

KRC: In your story, Alec often rubs his spiked hair to force thoughts into his brain. How did you come up with this funny trait?

JS: I have shoulder-length, curly-ish hair, and I sometimes find myself flipping the end of one of my curls back and forth through my fingers when I’m thinking hard about something. I wanted Alec to do something similar, but since he’s a boy and has spiky hair, I thought the hair-rubbing made more sense.
 
KRC: Are you a history fan, or, like Alec, a bit bored with Christopher Columbus? How did you go about researching the history for your story?

JS: I love the story parts of history and the odd facts, like the one about Columbus bringing live animals along on his voyage, but I’m very bad at remembering dates or when certain things happened in relation to other things. To research Columbus, I read a big bunch of books and some articles online. I also remembered back to the things that I’ d learned in school about him.
 
KRC: How did you feel about history when you were in school?

JS: History was my third-favorite class in school --- my first was English/Language Arts and my second was Spanish. I liked learning about all the different historical characters and the way that one seemingly small thing --- or one decision by a seemingly unimportant person --- could lead to a big change in society and the world.
 
KRC: Alec has the beginnings of a detective kit, including a pen that writes upside down, a notebook, a detective watch and essential pockets. How did you come up with these key items, and how did you create the fun puzzles and secret code?

JS: The detective items just made sense to me --- those are the things any detective would need, I think! The puzzles that Alec and Gina have to solve in school came directly from the sorts of puzzles I used to solve in second and third grade with my teachers, Mrs. Jones (the real Mrs. Jones that the fictional character is based on) and Mrs. Rosen. The secret code was one I’d learned about when I was younger and always wanted to write in, but never had someone to write in it with, so figured this was a great time to bring it out. Now I can write in code with all my readers.
 
KRC: Alec’s mom is away on a business trip during the entire story. Why did you decide to keep her part to such a minimum?

JS: I’m very interested in families that are a little different than usual, and in boys and girls who do things that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with their gender. That’s why I wanted Alec’s dad to be the primary parent in charge of Alec, and I wanted his mom to have a job that took her away on trips often.

KRC: Alec loves the color green (and so do I!). Why did you choose this color? Is it significant in some way?

JS: I wish green were significant in some way --- it’s just a color that I thought Alec would like, after I developed his character enough for him to have a favorite color. Other characters have favorite colors, too, though I didn’t write them into the book. Gina’s is red, for example, and Allegra’s is purple. I think green matches Alec’s personality somehow.
 
KRC: Your writing style and humor fit your readers perfectly. What’s your experience with this age group that allows you to be so well connected with them?

JS: I have two younger sisters, and I worked at a summer camp all through high school, so I was around elementary school kids a lot. But the real connection, I think, is that I am a former elementary school kid myself and haven’t forgotten a thing (to paraphrase Ursula Nordstrom). Some adults I know don’t remember elementary school very well, but I find it easy to slip back into the girl I was then, with my ponytail and glasses, playing soccer and doing the monkey bars during recess.
 
KRC: Illustrator C. B. Canga does an excellent job with the illustrations for this book. Did you work with C. B. to try to match the images in your imagination? How do you feel about the outcome?

JS: I love the art in THE NINA, THE PINTA, AND THE VANISHING TREASURE! I got to write notes to the artist about what I imagined the characters to look like, and what I thought they’d wear, and then he took my notes and read the manuscript, and created the characters. I think they’re really great. I especially love how C. B. Canga drew Alec’s hair.
 
KRC: What steps did you take to accomplish this dream of writing and publishing a book? What advice would you give readers in following their own dreams?

JS: I never gave up. And that’s the advice I’d give to anyone. No matter what your dream is, if you work your hardest and keep at it, you’ll go far. Just stay true to yourself and put your heart and soul in everything you do. If you do that, you’ll be a winner no matter what.
 
KRC: What do you hope your readers will take away from this clever and fun mystery?

JS: I hope readers will realize that kids can do anything --- even outsmart grown-ups sometimes --- if they put their minds to it and use their brains. And that sometimes the things you learn in school will end up being useful to you later on, even if they don’t seem useful at the time.

KRC: Have you ever had a real-life mystery to solve?

JS: I haven’t had any mysteries to solve involving criminals, but I’ve had to solve many mysteries of missing house keys, lost clothing items and disappearing manuscript notes.  

BRC: What do you like to do in your spare time?

JS: My absolute favorite spare-time activity is reading...but I also like to play recess-sorts of sports. My friends and I play kickball, dodgeball and touch football through a league in New York City that raises money for charity. I take dance and yoga classes when I can, too, but haven’t had much time to do that recently.
 
KRC: Your fans eagerly want to know: What are your current and future writing plans? Are there more Alec Flint mysteries on the way?

JS: The second Alec Flint book called THE RANSOM NOTE BLUES: An Alec Flint Mystery is in production right now. I just saw the jacket art, and it’s fabulous. I’m also kicking around ideas for a few more books in the series. In addition to stories about Alec, I’m working on a few non-mystery novels for kids and teens at the moment.

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