Sheila O’Connor loves the possibilities of middle-grade fiction

As someone who loved books from the time she was little, Sheila O’Connor had many books that stand out from her childhood. Recently, however, she was drawn back to the “Boxcar Children,” by Gertrude Chandler Warner. Sheila was rereading the book in preparation for a conversation with Patricia MacLachlan who recently wrote a prequel to the series.

“I read that book when I was a brand new reader, many years ago, when I was learning to navigate the world without a lot of parental protection,” Sheila told Cracking the Cover. “It was a lonely, difficult time, and I loved that book because it made me see my own adversity as adventure. It also made me long for more adventure.”

The middle-grade years were incredibly alive for Sheila who had complicated friendships and amazing adventures. “Those were also the years I moved from a small town to a city, my mother remarried, and I began to explore the larger world alone,” she explained. “Everything felt possible for me, and I love that possibility in fiction.”

That possibility has evolved into the novels “Keeping Safe the Stars” and “Sparrow Road.” Sheila has also edited two collections of writing by young people: “Come Home Before Dark” and “In My Hands Forever.”

It was with “Sparrow Road” that Sheila’s work really garnered international attention, winning the 2012 International Reading Association Award for Intermediate Fiction and earning numerous “best book” listings. Sheila hopes to carry that momentum with her latest novel, “Keeping Safe the Stars,” which hit bookstores yesterday.

“Keeping Safe the Stars” tells the story of Pride, Nightingale and Baby — the Stars. Orphaned and living with their grandfather in rural Minnesota, the children are isolated and have learned to be wary of outsiders. But when their grandfather — Old Finn — falls ill, the children are left to fend for themselves, and that can only last for so long.

The novel’s foundation was built many, many years ago while Sheila was on vacation in northern Minnesota. “We pulled into a place that sold pony rides,” she said. “It was run by two young sisters, with no adult in sight, and these two girls in bare feet walked a little pony around their dusty lot. Years later, I thought about those young sisters: Who were they? Why did that run that business alone? And in those questions, ‘Keeping Safe the Stars’ was born.”

For Sheila, a historical time period is always an element of setting. She says the ways the larger world presses in on our personal realities is interesting, even in the lives of kids.

“When I began the book (“Keep Safe the Stars”), I had a sense it was set in an earlier time, in part because of the details that were finding their way to the page,” Sheila said. “But, it wasn’t until I wrote the scene where Pride and Nightingale are in the café listening to the news, that I discovered Nixon was resigning.

“When I write, I try to stay open to those turns, to let the story find its own truth; once I knew the Nixon resignation was happening, I paid attention to the ways it would effect the action of the story, how it would inform the characters’ conflicts.”

Though the characters in “Keeping Safe the Stars” were inspired by two sisters, Sheila said she has no real knowledge of those girls. She didn’t know the stars until they came alive on the page. “I like to meet my characters more than create them — I meet them and I grow to love them,” she explained.

When reading Sheila’s novel, one can’t help but wonder if children of today were placed in the same situation as the Stars, how they would respond. The answer, Sheila says, is as varied as the reader.

“There are children today, lots of children, who have the same survival skills as the Stars: they know how to take trains and buses, buy groceries, earn money,” she said. “They have siblings they protect, they know how to cook and clean. On the other hand, there are children who don’t know how to fry an egg or wash a dish. So how a child might survive depends upon their skills and also their connection to community. That’s part of what the Stars need to discover — self-reliance can only go so far, sometimes you have to learn to ask for help.”

With every book she writes, Sheila hopes that some readers will see their own story, the story of strength and survival, and their own heroic courage. “I hope some readers will come to understand where that kind of courage comes from, how it’s possible to rise to the occasion, and triumph, and get help along the way. And of course, the power of family loyalty and love.”

Sheila says her writing appeals to young readers because she’s telling them the truth in all of its complexity. Her stories are ones they can trust.

“I was a complex kid; my own kids were complex,” she said. “I’ve spent the last several decades working with kids, and I know their emotional lives are incredibly complex. For me, that’s part of what’s exciting about the age — the growing awareness of life’s many complexities. I try to honor that reality, to tell a story that respects the reader’s intelligence and heart.”

*Read the complete transcript of Sheila’s interview with Cracking the Cover. Read Cracking the Cover’s review of “Keeping Safe the Stars” and “Sparrow Road.”