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An exclusive interview with author Elise Primavera
1) What was the inspiration behind The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls?
About nine years ago I began working on an idea for a book called Louise the Big Cheese. The premise of the story was a neighborhood of seven houses on “Gumm Street.” Why Gumm Street—I have no idea. As I was kicking around the idea of “Louise,” I came across two diaries of mine from 5th and 6th grade. I was amazed to see how thoroughly miserable I was at that age. I had a big gap between my two front teeth from a stubborn thumb-sucking habit that I just barely was able to kick by 2nd grade. I had to wear orthopedic shoes for some vague foot problem, while everyone else wore penny loafers. I had this mysterious itchy rash on my legs that prevented me from wearing stockings like all the other kids.
The diagnosis? Nerves.
But who wouldn’t be nervous? My friends seemed to like me one minute and not the next. I had parental expectations that exceeded the truth that everything about me was dismally average. They kept telling me I had a unique talent, but I could not even do a cartwheel if you held a gun to my head. If I couldn’t do a cartwheel, think of all the other stuff I wouldn’t be able to do!
Reading all this, I felt really badly for my eleven-year-old self. If only I’d had something—a book with other kids like me to read about. But there was nothing. Oh, okay, not nothing, there was “Helen Keller” which made me feel guilty and ungrateful for being able to see and hear. There were the teen mags that made me feel even more anxious and insecure what with all those blond colt-like models cavorting around in stockings and penny loafers, their hair ironed within an inch of its life.
I finished reading the diaries and remembered that in 8th grade we moved and I had no more use for kvetching because I was whisked away to a life with ponies. We had a barn and at the zenith of my idyll there were four ponies, two donkeys, two dogs, two cats, and my older brother went away to school. Yay!
I spent hours riding alone through the woods. I had new friends who were other girls with ponies too. There were four of us—and I can’t say it was smooth sailing with them, but there was one summer when we all went to Vermont and lived in a cottage on someone’s property and went to riding camp. A magical time without adults, we were four kids galloping all over Vermont on our trusty four-legged friends.
As I was worked on “Louise,” I found that she was no longer eight years old. She was getting older, and so were her friends. I began to think: Why not write the type of book that I would have loved and never found while I was writing sad entries into my diary every night?
But what would the story be? I wanted to write about some sort of adventure, where the girls would be on their own like I had been with my friends in Vermont, but I wanted some magic in it and it had to be scary as well. Then one night I was lying on my couch flipping around the channels for something to watch and came upon a documentary about the old MGM Studio.
When the studio was bought out, entire historical sets were demolished and costumes were destroyed. One man (whose name now I can’t recall) knew that the costumes and artifacts would be valuable someday and he set out to save what he could. He scavenged through the warehouses for the most important things and he said that in the very back of this enormous storage house was a beam of light shining through the rafters onto a box. He went to investigate and found the ruby red slippers from the movie The Wizard of Oz.
It got me to thinking, what if one of the shoes was the real shoe from Oz? I read the book and found out that in the story the shoes were silver and that in the movie they were red because they would show up better on film. Immediately an entire story unfolded before me.
2) Who is your favorite Gumm Street Girl, and why is she your favorite?
No fair! That’s like asking a mother who her favorite child is! But if you want to know who I feel I am probably the most like, I would have to say Franny. I would love to live way up high in a lookout tower and, like Franny, I am fascinated by mountain climbing and disastrous adventures. Also, I am afraid of being left behind and terrified of not being able to keep up.
Franny was the first character that I created. I love her enthusiasm and her never-ending supply of ideas. She’s kind of klutzy and a little bit geeky, which is how I felt at that age (and sometimes now, too!).
3) Are Fred and Ginger based on your pets?
Yes, my dog Lulu is very similar to Fred and Ginger except that she is a Wire-haired Dachshund and they are West Highland Terriers. The only other difference is that she hasn’t learned to talk yet, but I did catch her buttering her own toast the other morning. I feel speech is not far off.
4) What’s your unique talent?
I guess my ability to draw—I am not sure that qualifies as particularly “unique.” But I have noticed an uncanny ability to know mere seconds before my mail will arrive. This applies to telephone calls as well as FedEx. Also, I once predicted who would win the Miss America Pageant minutes before it was announced. This all makes me think that I may have a touch of ESP. Unfortunately it has not translated to the stock market or handy information like who will win the World Series, for instance.
5) Was it easier or more difficult to write a novel, since you’re a pro at picture books?
At the time it didn’t feel like such a difficult undertaking. The thing is, though, that I never do anything the easy way. Some picture books I have spent almost as much time on as this novel.
6) What advice would you give aspiring young writers?
I think the most important thing for anyone interested in writing is for them to read. Read as much as you can. After you get through reading, get out of your room and have some adventures—experience as much of the world as you can. Do this and the writing will follow.
7) If you could ask the I Ching any question, what would it be?
That’s easy—How will kids respond to Gumm Street? In fact the I Ching is sick and tired of me asking it this. I know because I keep getting the hexagram “Meditation” which means “silence,” but is really just a nice way of saying, get lost.
8) What’s next for the Gumm Street Girls?
Pru will be beginning her year in the mysterious BLT. Ivy’s got both shoes and no doubt she will use them—perhaps to go back and talk to Mr. Staccato. The story will start in the fall and carry over to winter, and the girls will find themselves in a snowy, mountainous land reached through the Arctic Ice Cream Palace. Bling Bling will return as will Aunt V.
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