No matter who the author, or ones opinion on his or her writing, meeting an author and speaking with them about the novels they have written is a privilege in itself. I was fortunate enough to hear Ms. Christina Baker Kline speak in the James Caldwell High School auditorium, and I was rather amused with her tales, despite the fact that I am not at all a fan of her hit novel, Orphan Train.
Her first tale is of why she made Niemh, the main character of Orphan Train, a redhead. This was because her two sons are both redheaded and she wanted to use the redhead stereotypes to give reasoning behind Niemh not being adopted as quickly as the other children had been. The next rather interesting story of hers was how she decided to write this novel was her picking up a book in the house of her mother-in-law during a snow storm, explaining how her father-in-law was adopted from one of these trains. This then drove her to insure there was a high amount of accuracy in respect to the still living train riders. Kline also discussed the way she formed Molly as a character. This was from her observations of her sons' friends, but in this case I believe she should be slightly more strict about those whom her sons bring home because Molly is a depressing pessimist in my eyes. Lastly, she discussed her potential for a new novel which will be starring a future version of Molly and quite frankly, as my previously expressed opinion would make obvious, I do not plan to read.
Overall, I was pleased to have Ms. Kline speak at my school and it made the doldrums of a school day slightly better. She had a rather friendly presentation and also a professional way of speaking, which was rather appealing to me and other audience members.
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