In Conversation With Author Caroline Starr Rose
The Burning Season, a multiple-starred new release, is out now
We are welcoming Caroline Starr Rose to the stack today! Caroline is a super amazing human with a fantastic new book out, THE BURNING SEASON (with multiple starred reviews). It’s a lyrical, riveting, page-turner.
Twelve-year-old Opal, a lookout-in-training has a secret: she’s deathly afraid of fire…
I bug Caroline all of the time via email. We have a shared love of books, nature, motherhood, and both just started taking creatine (drink it with orange juice, she said, and I did). Yes, Caroline has changed my life for the better.
The Bio (read the longer version here; it involves koalas, emus, and Vegemite)
Caroline Starr Rose is a middle grade and picture book author whose books have been ALA-ALSC Notable,* Junior Library Guild, ABA New Voices,** Kids’ Indie Next, Amazon’s Best Books of the Month for Kids, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. In addition, her books have been nominated for almost two dozen state award lists. Caroline was named a Publisher’s Weekly Flying Start Author for her debut novel, May B. She spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico and taught social studies and English in four different states. Caroline now lives with her family in her hometown, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
THE INTERVIEW!
Your latest novel, The Burning Season, has both emotional resonance and historical significance (fire lookouts!). How do you approach researching for middle-grade readers, striking the balance between factual accuracy and crafting a compelling narrative that draws young readers in?
I try to include in my books what is relevant to my character’s world. There are facts that need to be there for the reader’s understanding and for the plot to develop, but I aim to keep the focus on what my character knows (or needs to know) rather than shoehorning information in. Story should always trump facts, and the character holds the lens we readers view the story through.
Many aspiring authors dream of finding their unique voice. When you look back at your journey from your debut, May B., to The Burning Season, how do you feel your authorial voice has evolved, and what advice would you give to someone trying to discover or refine their own distinct writing voice?
That’s an interesting question! I think learning to listen to my writing is the easiest way to describe the experience. I’ve learned to trust the voice of each story and each main character (because I believe each book does have a different voice while still connecting to the author’s overall voice, if that makes sense). I feel like I am often circling the same themes in my writing, things that ultimately inform my voice: character’s finding their places in the world, a reverence for nature, experimenting with the ways words sound on the page, and unique settings. I also strive for a sensation I want readers to have with each book — it’s kind of like mood but it’s more than that. I believe that informs voice, too.
You've written both verse novels and traditional prose. The Burning Season is written in verse (which I find so incredible!). What draws you to a particular form for a story, and how does the choice influence your writing process?
I have never been a natural at plotting, but very early on I know the form a new project is meant to take. I can sense if it’s meant to be a verse novel or a poetic picture book or multi-POV prose and so on. I think this comes from that sensation I’m trying to convey to readers, but it also is because I think a lot about how and what form communicates. I believe there’s a “best way” to tell each of my stories, and I’m grateful I am able to discover it early on in the creative process.
When you're deeply immersed in a story, bringing characters and worlds to life, what are some of the most surprising or unexpected discoveries you've made about yourself, your characters, or the writing process itself? Any 'aha!' moments that shifted your perspective?
So many things! It is always a bit of a shock when a story takes a turn I didn’t expect or a character reveals something I didn’t know. I’m as surprised as the reader coming to the book for the first time.
One thing writing has taught me is I don’t have to get something right the first time (or the first fifty times). As challenging and sometimes frustrating as the writing process can be, it is freeing to know practice (in the form of revision) and the passage of time help me grow and see things I couldn’t have discovered early on. Writing really is one of those “trust the process” experiences.
For those who are nurturing the dream of writing their own book someday, what's one piece of practical advice and one piece of encouragement you would give?
Read and read and read! Read everything. Please don’t set aside this joy (which I’m assuming you have if you want to be an author) because you’re now writing. What else will inform you, feed you, entertain you, teach you, inspire you, challenge you, guide you, or befriend you like a good book? As for practical advice, the thing that kept me going during the twelve years it took me to sell my first book was believing I had something unique to say and trusting my work could only get better if I kept at it. This is true of everyone who dreams of writing.
Thoughts on AI? Should an author use or not use in any particular way?
I’m not one to tell others what they can or can’t do, but I don’t use AI outside of those responses that pop up on Google. (I realize I’m sounding ancient and out of touch, and that’s fine with me!) I also know I’m personally happier staying away from platforms that have used authors’ stolen work to train AI. I don’t think AI is all bad. My son is actually in grad school right now getting a degree in AI. He has shared good things happening and a lot of incredible potential. I’m just not interested in involving my creativity with it. For me, it was ethically gross to hang around on social media sites powered by companies that have stolen my novels and thousands of other people’s books. I left social media a year and a half ago and am much, much more creatively happy. I heard author Martha Brockenbrough once say that while AI’s “creativity” will continue to improve, any AI-created art can’t ever mirror the human experience or the human heart, which is what we all consciously or subconsciously long for when we read.
Next book you're really looking forward to reading? And what are you writing?
Chris Baron’s Spark comes out in July. It’s another middle grade verse novel about wildfire! I can’t wait to read his approach and see where the story leads.
Next up for me is a picture book coming August 2026 called Books Up the Mountain. It’s the story of the Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression. Think of book mobiles but on horseback. I love how these Book Women (as they were called) served their communities by bringing books to patrons in remote Appalachia who’d never had library access before.
In spring 2027 I have another verse novel publishing called Song of the Raven. It’s about a young raven named Tumble as she and her siblings, Muddle and Bone, leave their nest and learn to fend for themselves in the beautiful and brutal raven world.
How can we help you further launch this book into the world?!
Thank you for asking such an important question. There are so many ways to help a new book: buy a copy for yourself or a young reader, gift one to a local school, ask your library to purchase a copy, leave a review on a website, and if you loved it, tell a friend! Word of mouth is the secret sauce in a book’s “success”.
Thank you so much, CAROLINE. And now, everybody…go get this book! Or ask your librarian (because librarians can do anything and everything). And then, PLEASE, review and recommend - starting with a share of this post. It’s so good. And so are you, Substack pals.
Amy <3
Summer Reading:
Hey! I have another PERFECT summer read for you…The McNifficents!
Every day, Lord Tennyson the Miniature Schnauzer does his very best to care for the six McNiff children and keep them from destroying their pink New England farmhouse— and the rest of the town for that matter. But when summer vacation brings the kids home together all day, his chaos-containing skills are put to the ultimate test.
You can get your copy wherever books are sold and at BOOKSHOP.ORG (which is a little cheaper than Amazon right now!)
After you read it, invite me to your school this fall and we’ll talk about the book! I have the cutest miniature schnauzer stuffie that I bring everywhere. It’s a big hit.
Stay tuned for a summer reading list - I have a whole bunch of great books for you and the kids…!
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖
Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽
The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!
awesome!
I LOVED this book! I always look forward to Caroline's work, and this one is my new favorite! I'm glad to hear she has more PBs and MGs on the way. Thanks so much for this interview :)