Beth O’Brien: ‘Feather Vane’

Welcome to episode 39, season 3, of the Teacher Book Club Podcast!

This is a recording of our most recent special author chat, with author Beth O’Brien!

This episode is in partnership with Harper Collins AD | PR

Tara had the pleasure of speaking to wonderful author Beth O’Brien about their new middle grade children’s book, ‘Feather Vane.’ Tara asked our Teacher Book Club questions plus a few extras! It was great hearing all about the ideas behind the book, the messages behind it and the best bits to write. We hope you love listening to it as much as we loved recording it!

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Disclaimer: This is recorded from a video call, so we apologise if some of the sound is not the best quality.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello and welcome back to the Teacher Book Club Podcast. My name is Cara. You may know me as Cara's teaching, and I run Teacher Book Club. So I'm going to be sharing with you our latest Teacher Book Club live special. Now, unfortunately, this live did not save. So you can't go and watch it back, which is a real shame. And I'm absolutely gutted because I had a wonderful time speaking to author Beth O'Brien, um, who I would absolutely love speaking to. This is the second time I got to chat with her. So instead, you will only be able to listen, but that's probably why you're here anyway, to listen to the podcast rather than watch. So great job for you guys. So I'm just going to read you the blurb of the book. So this is Beth O'Brien's second book called Feather Vane. And on the front cover, you need to see the front cover is absolutely beautiful. And we do talk about it at the start of the episode, and it says mixing up magic always leads to trouble. So here is the blurb. In the village of Brees Under Edge, magical creatures are causing chaos. A green tooth hag lurks in the river. A nest of gnomes are up to no good, and a scatter of salamanders threaten to set everything on fire. Quary and Morfran, trainee sorcerers, have been sent to banish the creatures by brewing an almost impossible potion. To collect the ingredients, they'll need to go on an adventure with dangers at every turn. But as the twins journey through a moon fairy forest into a hag's watery lair under the top of a giant beanstalk, they find that the most powerful magic is not always where you would expect. So as you can tell, it is full of magic, and Beth has a wonderful way of writing where you feel fully immersed in the story, and she just loves a twisted fairy tale, which again we talk lots about as well. So I hope you enjoy the new episode.

unknown 2:03

Hello!

SPEAKER_00 2:05

How are you? It's fine. We like a close-up. I'm good, thank you. How are you?

unknown 2:16

I am very well, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Good. I'm just going to turn you up. Mine is a little bit quiet. There we go. Can you hear me alright?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I can hear you. Is this better?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah, much better. Thank you. Oh, well, it's lovely to be able to speak to you. I was just saying I get to speak to you for the second time, all about your second book, which is amazing. Oh, you're welcome. So very excited to talk all about Feather Vein. It is beautiful. I mean, look at that cover.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I know. Is like so the illustrators, Aitcha L. Rubio, and I get so many compliments from students about the covers. I'm like, it's literally it couldn't have less to do with me if I have no skill whatsoever. But it's so nice, and I message her every now and again just if your ears were burning, it's because everyone loves her covers. She's so talented.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, yeah, it's absolutely stunning, and I think it totally draws you in, and it's just a beautiful summary of the story and just shows how magical it is.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Oh thank you. I'm glad I'm yeah, again, nothing to do with me. No, I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

You're just lucky to have it.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah, honestly, I'm so grateful, so lucky.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Oh, amazing. So, did you want to start maybe by giving us a little summary of what the book is all about?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yes, I can try and do that. Um it is overall, it is a magical quest, as you've sort of already alluded to, and it follows twin brother and sister, Morfran and Creary, and they are the children of a very powerful enchantress. And this enchantress has been sent to a village that is being besieged by a whole range of chaotic magical creatures, and her job is to banish them. Um, but her son, Morfran, is was born covered with feathers, and he gets a lot of negative treatment because of that. And quite early on, the mother breaks one of the core rules of their magical world and because of that is taken away. And the task she was set then falls to her children to complete to earn her freedom, which means they have to sort of take on this village who is quite hostile to magic generally, and them specifically, as well as all of the magical creatures that were um causing chaos in the first place, and they decide the only way they can do this is to brew a potion that hasn't been brewed in many, many years because of how difficult it is, and it's it's their quest to to try and combat all of that. Bless them. I threw it, I really did.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Quite the task. Amazing. So, how did the idea come about? Because I know that you love a fairy tale and a bit of a twist, so maybe tell us more.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah, I have one thing and I'm sticking to it, sorry. Um, absolutely, yeah. So it is based very loosely, I will say, on a Celtic folktale, a Welsh Celtic folktale called Kerudwin's Cauldron. And in that story, um, there is an enchantress called Kerudwin, and she has two children. And in the original folk tale, the son is born, and depends on the version you read, but he's described as ugly or hideous, um, and yeah, not very kind descriptions. Um and the daughter is described as just being very beautiful, and that's it, nothing more. Um, and the mother decides to brew a potion of knowledge and wisdom for her son to make people like him, basically, to think, oh well, if he's wise, then people won't mind the way he looks. Um but the plot from there sort of goes away, the wrong person takes the potion and it becomes sort of a different story. Um and the original twins are in the background and more or less forgotten. Um the daughter only appears literally in that reference of her being um beautiful. So I I heard this story and I thought, oh, there's like so much there that would be really fun to to explore. And um like from the very start, I decided like I really want the story to be from both twins' alternate points of view, which um practically my editors let me do. Um so uh very much consciously because of how um minor they end up being in the original story. So it's so it's based on that on that premise. Um and and then as you as you say, I I took a lot of liberties.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Got to, why not? No, I love it, no, brilliant, and yeah, I just love anything magical, so yeah, it totally gripped me.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Oh, thank you, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

You're welcome. So you will probably be familiar with some of these questions as I have asked you them before. So they are our teacher book club questions because we are obviously teachers, and so it's great to hear from authors like yourself when we take your books into our classrooms, getting to tell the children all about your ideas and everything from your perspective is amazing. So, my first question is who is your favourite character and why? Which I think is really hard when you've got twins in there, it's like you're their mother. How can you do?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

This is such an unfair question. Horrible, I know. Yeah, I it feels so disloyal to pick to pick one. I have such affection for both of them. So I thought I would just be annoying, and excluding the twins, who I will say I love equally. Yes. Um I love the giants, which I know is two characters, yeah. But um they were two of my favourite characters to write. Also, I did this last time, you'd ask me a question, and I'd give like four answers. That's allowed. Um, and then also Ellen, who becomes the twin sort of uh best friend with it within the village. Um so that is that is technically three people that I have answered that question.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Amazing. Yeah, I really loved Ellen as well, actually. And then one of the questions later on gonna tell you a bit more about my thoughts on her because I did really like her. Um, but I just I did love the twins. Um I thought they were quite contrasting in some ways, which was really lovely, and they kind of obviously were so helpful to one another, but yeah, I liked that they had their differences, and I think unfortunately, twins are often sort of tarred with the same brush, aren't they? And but yeah, I love their differences.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Oh, thank you. I it was that was genuinely uh a difficulty in making the different enough, but they're siblings and they are similar in ways too, and they have a lot of unique experiences that only those two, as the children of this great enchantress, would have. So so it was sort of a yeah, I I taught very similarly to my sister. So it's almost like get like edits being like, they sound really similar, because in my head that's like how siblings taught. Yeah, um, so yeah, that was um yeah, something to to think about, but they are very different in in other ways. They they sort of have some of the same issues, but the way they respond to them is kind of polar opposite in some ways, um particularly how they sort of deal with the limelight of being around their mum. So um yeah, yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

No, it's good, yeah. They complement each other, which is really lovely and and needed in their time of need.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I do feel bad I did put them through it.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

So my next question is what was your favourite part and why maybe your favourite part to have written?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Oh yeah, I loved writing this whole book, honestly. Like it was just so fun. I I I don't think I've ever enjoyed writing more, like I just loved the world. But my favourite probably part to write, I loved writing the giants dialogue. Um that you don't see them to begin with, and they giants are often portrayed in fairy tales as being quite stupid um and a bit slow. And you could argue that about my giants, but they're actually having kind of like quasi-intellectual discussions about quite specific things and debating things that we wouldn't maybe consider. And I just found it so fun the way they thought they pull apart different words, and and it was just really it was just so fun to to to write that. I don't know where that came from, in what part of my brain that was in. Um but it was so that's probably their sort of exchanges were some of my favourite things to to write of the whole book.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Oh brilliant. Yeah, they I loved it, it made me laugh quite a lot as well. Which is great. Yeah, brilliant. Um I think one of my favourite parts, in fact, including the giants, um, is when they start climbing the beanstalk. I really felt like I was in their shoes at that point, um, which was lovely, and I kind of was thinking, oh, Jack and the Beanstalk here, we're getting other elements of fairy tales, which I loved. Um, yeah, and just when they kind of felt the sudden thud from a giant. Yeah. Without too many spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Oh, thank you so much. Um, I feel like that's such a like child dream to like climb the climb the bean store. As a kid, if you saw a beanstalk out your window, you would absolutely be climbing it. Now I'd be way too scared. I'd think, oh my gosh, I'm not gonna get there. Too high. But um, yeah, to imagine what that would have been like, um, yeah, was also fun. So I'm glad you enjoyed enjoyed the climb.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah, that was brilliant. Um what was your favourite quote from the book?

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Yeah, that is also a good question. Um I I really like it's it's relatively long and I probably won't get it exactly right, but it's sort of the the theme that was where the title then stemmed from. Yeah. And it's about um opinion on the whole being like a weather vane swayed by the strongest current, whether or not it's blowing in the right direction. Um paraphrasing myself, probably. There's something along those lines. That's beautiful. And I just I just uh I like that imagery of the weather vane flowing in whatever direction is the strongest, um, because the twins are so often fighting that current um that's that's uh they're they're going they're going up against it. So um for me that's probably my favourite quote just because of how it sort of sums up what the twins have to have to push through, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, lovely. And like you say, linking then to the title and where that stems from. That's lovely. So I've written down my favourite quote. Um it is the it is the mistake of the foolish to think the biggest problem problems need hurried fixes. If you consider this carefully, then you'll agree that that to rush is to ruin. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

I really think that's great, because I think that's it's so true. Like we need to slow down, don't we? And yeah, not make brash decisions and yeah, knee-jerk reactions and yeah, slow down, think things through.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, advice many characters could have done with taking that, actually.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yeah, you and me both. Yeah, brilliant. Well, now we've got that up our sleeves.

unknown 13:23

Yeah, thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

It's brilliant. So, what would you like readers to remember and kind of take away from the book the most?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Reading reviews so far that people have kindly tagged me, and what what I love reading is people who have just felt there in the book, been so immersely. So I know that's not a specific thing, but I felt that writing it. I I I've written about this and it does make me sound slightly crazy, but I have very few memories of actually writing this book because when I sat down to do it, I was procrastinating other work I was meant to be doing. It was just escapism into into this, and I just felt like I was there with the characters and I was figuring out the story as they were, and it was so fun, and it's been so lovely to see that I'm sure not all, but the readers who have written about it have said similar that they just sort of felt immersed in it. Yeah, definitely. I can't I can't really wish for more from a book that the readers just sort of of there, but I suppose messaging-wise, um, it is a story of um confidence and self-acceptance, I would say. Um, you can't control what other people think or how they judge, but you can control how you respond to it, and and that's something that I definitely struggled with as a like kid and teenager. Um and um yeah, something that the twins deal with in their own ways, but more from especially. So I guess, yeah, those two things.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah, amazing. Yeah, what you said about being immersed, I definitely felt. Yeah, absolutely. Um I I read some of it and I also listened to the audio of some of it. Um just to I just enjoy doing that sometimes, just to hear, you know, the voice as well. And yeah, both both times though, reading and listening, totally immersed in it, which yeah is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Cl Claire Morgan does the narration for the audiobook, and she is incredible. I could listen, I hate hearing my own words at the best of times because I just worry I'm gonna hate them. Yeah. Hearing her read it, like I could just be immersed in her telling the story. She told it so yeah well. Um, but yeah, she she did an amazing job, so I'm glad you you enjoyed her link.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, I really did, yeah, yeah, absolutely lovely. And that's what we want for children, don't we? We want them to just yeah, go into that world and feel a part of it and really connect with the characters in that way.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Yeah, but that's the dream.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yeah, definitely. I it was it's going to happen absolutely with this. Um so which other characters' point of view would you maybe want to hear the story from?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah, this is also a good question. And given that I said that I specifically told it from the two points of view, because like that was already a conscious decision from the from the original folk tale. Yeah. Um Ellen is quite funny, so I feel like her version of events would be quite entertaining. Yeah, just because I feel like her voice is funny. Um yeah, so I guess hers would maybe make the most sense because she is a non-magical person who has all of this magic sort of uh closing in around her.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Um so I think maybe her. I think that like the rest of the characters, although I love the giants, they wouldn't see a lot of what was going on of the of the plot. So I think probably Ellen and I feel like she'd have some she'd have some witty lines that we would we would probably enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Exactly. And that is exactly who I think as well. Uh yeah.

unknown 16:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah, I totally agree. I think, yeah, it would be a really comedic perspective, which I love. And like you say, she's kind of not an outsider, but she's got a different perspective from the twins. So yeah, I really think that you'd see things in a different light and understand sort of the villagers and what the rest of them are thinking throughout.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yeah, I think you're right.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Yeah, it would be interesting. There we go. Next book.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Okay, okay, nice, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

So I've got a few extra questions for you. Have you got any children's book recommendations that you could give us?

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Yes. I had to think about this one a lot because I was like, oh my gosh, which only three.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

I know, again, so mean, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Um so I did think ahead, I planned this one. So um the first one I'll say, just because this book I loved, um, It Made Me Cry Twice, is October, October by Katya. Alan Phelan. I don't know how you say her name, sorry. Yes, amazing. I I I love it. Um like it just pops into my head, you know, one of those books that you just like think of now and again, and I just found it so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yes. Um her writing style as well, I think, is just so unique.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Her voice is just yeah, really.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

And talking about being immersed, like you just feel like your descriptions are so vivid, um and it just reads so smoothly that you don't ever like feel yourself being called up, it just it just flows. So nice. Um big love for October October. Um, and then um another book uh it came out last year, uh The Girl with Gills by Becca Rogers, because it is a rivery folklory beautiful story.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I've not read it yet. Oh, you should, it's so good, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

And Becca Rogers has a second book coming out, this July, which is already pre-ordered. I'm very hyped. So um yes, so and and it and sort of in terms of it matches further vein in some of the like folklory uh elements. So a very new book, I loved it. Um and then um uh the third one I I I would recommend is The Shell Keepers. Have you read that one? By Judy Johnston. Um that also came out last year. It's uh it's about um it's a summer holiday kind of read book, but they find um the kids find shells on the beach have people living inside them. Um and and and what I mostly love about this book is the way the language these people talking is kind of like I don't know if this is actually correct time-wise, but I was gonna say old English-y, like it's it's such a high so um, and I just love the book I love sort of magical books where they're set in our world and could easily be real. You know, whereas whereas the world of Featherbane is unfortunately very much fictional, yeah. Um, the shell keepers, it's it you could imagine as a kid reading that and thinking, oh my gosh, I've got to check all the shells on the books. Oh I love it. You know that sort of like yeah. So um those would be my three, and I stuck to the rule this time, three three recommendations for books that I've I've loved.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Oh amazing. Yeah, okay. So that third one, what did you say it was called?

SPEAKER_01 20:02

The shell keepers.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Great, that's my summer holiday. Well, one of my summer holiday. I'm not limiting it to one, I've got six weeks. Yeah, oh I love that. Amazing, thank you. So, have you got any tips that we can give to children? Because obviously, as teachers, we teach writing every day to them. So, if you've got any advice that we can kind of give within our teaching.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Oh, I imagine you do an a hundred percent better job than I would. Um I I I suppose what I find when I'm doing workshops and things, and I guess this is more for creative writing specifically, but um um I bring up on a PowerPoint all the a bunch of the stories I wrote when I was nine, and all of them were based on the things that I'd read. So based on China Chocolate Factory, based on War Horse, based on a fairy tale. Yeah. Um and and then we sort of in they often in pairs, or if it's a writing activity, um we just do it verbally, they come up with their own fairy tale retelling. But giving them sort of a a basis of base it on something that you know, it immediately gives even the kids who think I don't have ideas, they already have ideas. Yeah. Because they're basing it off something. Um and that tends to really work. And I and I generally do this sort of five-step activity where they come up with the story they're gonna retell and um who their main character is and encourage them to pick a different main character. Yeah. Um and then they sort of describe their character, um, then they think about what their character wants in the world and why that can't happen. And I give these five prompts, and by the end, I swear they all have fully blown narratives. I've not asked for a fully blown narrative, but just those sort of prompts and asking them to describe their character and get to know them a little bit. Yeah. Sort of encouraging that thinking work means when they come to write, they've got the ideas rather than the fear of staring at the blank. I don't know. I don't know. So I I think like don't underestimate the sort of planning or the brainstorming or the the sort of um ideas generation maybe. Um because the yeah, the amount of times we get to the end and I say, okay, what's your story idea? And and they've got twists and webs. And that's all the same five sort of steps thing. So yeah, amazing. Um that yeah, it always blows it always blows my mind how much they can come up with in such a short time when it's sort of in that in that guided way and based on something that's sort of familiar, so it doesn't feel like they're having to think of anything from scratch, even though some of the wackiest ideas are very much from scratch, they come up with, you know. So I think it just free them up a bit to think they know what to change to make it different.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Yeah, that's great. That stepping stone is that's exactly what they need, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 22:51

I think yeah, it and and I think um it's always fun because I'm like I these are the things I wrote as a kid where I was just retelling things I'd read or and I literally still do that now. Yeah, like it's the same skill. So it's not it's not it's not lesser writing, it's just not written in. So um yeah, they tend to enjoy that. So I don't know if that's really advice at all.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

No, that is completely, and actually, even going back to you saying, you know, you sharing what you read as a child as well, and that being inspiration, that's also helping us in promoting reading, and you know, the more you read, the more ideas you're gonna have for your own stories that yeah, you could change and adapt and use. Yeah, that's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Yeah, well thank you.

unknown 23:43

That's my only wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

No, definitely helpful, so thank you. So are you working on anything at the moment? Is there anything in the pipeline for us to look forward to?

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yes, I well I have I have two things that I can't talk about.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah, I thought that could be the case.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

So yes, um well I have to be annoying and mysterious because I'm not allowed to say yet. But um yeah, I I'm still writing, I'm editing at the moment one thing, and I'm oh actually no, I'm editing two three things, I'm writing one thing. So lots to come. I can't even keep up. I don't know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Busy. You're busy.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

So yeah, definitely two things that I can't officially talk about, and more things um after that to come. Um things. Oh yeah, sorry to be annoying and vague.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

That's fine, it's fine. I understand. But exciting for us, at least we know there's more to come from you.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Oh, well, that's kind of you to say, not gonna again.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, oh no. No, it's always great to talk to you, so thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Thank you so much for having me and for your questions, make me pick favourite things and whatnot.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Sorry. Hosh, I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

So nice to talk to you.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, thank you, Beth. It's been amazing, and I will obviously share the book far and wide now because I've absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

You're welcome. Hopefully, speak to you again soon.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yes, hopefully. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

So there we go. That was my wonderful chat with Beth O'Brien. Absolutely love speaking to her this evening, and I hope you enjoyed being able to listen back to it. So if you haven't yet subscribed to our Teacher Book Club boxes, then please do. We have just had our latest one arrive. So if you subscribe now, you will also get your hands on that exact box. And if you are not part of Teacher Book Club, you can sign up for free to join us in our private group and join in with our chats as well. All links are on our Instagram page underscore teacher book club. So thank you again for listening, and please do follow our sponsors, which are VIP Reading, who create our book boxes. Thanks again, and see you very soon.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Can you get care of?

unknown 27:05

Can you care? Can you think that's a good idea?