The Idea for Sarah Jane's Daring Deed

Readers often ask, "Where did you get the idea for the story?" This is such a frequent question when I'm giving author visits, doing presentations, teaching workshops, and attending book signings, that I thought blog readers would like to know about the "story behind the story" and have some idea how one children's authors thinks.

Sarah Jane's Daring Deed, which has becme one of my favorites, resulted from research I was doing for a column on local history for a weekly newspaper. As I read about the lives of the early pioneers sho settled the region of New Hampshire where my family and I reside, I wondered, "What was it like for youngsters to live here during that time?"

As I pondered upon this, the story of Sarah Jane evolved. She and her family settled in the latter 1700s or thereabouts far from their city home. Because I live in New Hampshire and my research was focused here, the story, in my mind, took place here.

The story was published in four church school magazines for youngsters. (I retained the rights.) Possibly it appealed to editors all over the country because I didn't name the town or state where Sarah Jane lived and encountered Little Fawn. Therefore, it could have been set in many areas where blackberries grew. (In the opening scene, Sarah Jane is picking them.)

When I was asked to compile an anthology of my children's stories, Tales of Adventure & Discovery, I chose this one as the lead story. It's a story I've always enjoyed and children do when I visit schools and libraries. My daughter even made dolls of Sarah Jane and Little Fawn to accompany me to school.

(c)2006

(If you have questions about Sarah Jane and my programs for schools and writers' groups, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Type "Sarah Jane's blog" in the subject line. )