A visit with Claire Legrand
A few days ago, I was lucky enough to have Claire Legrand visit my library. She is the author of The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls (2012) and The Year of Shadows (2013), both published by Simon and Schuster. An eclectic crowd of 5th-7th-graders, parents, and older adults attended the program. Everyone was impressed. Though Claire's books may be classified as middle-grade horror and the stuff of nightmares, Claire, herself, is a delight. In fact, the most often asked question was "How did you ever think of that ?!" "That" being something creepy, horrific, or downright terrifying. (How could someone so nice spawn Miss Cavendish, one of the most frightening villains of children's literature?) I'm holding Igor from The Year of Shadows Ms. Legrand shared her earliest writings and drawings (horses, unicorns, more horses), her rejection letters (74), her publisher's edit requests (11 pages), passages from each book (creepy ones), ...