Denise Lewis Patrick grew up in Natchitoches,
Louisiana. She has always loved words. Her Natchitoches grandmother was a great
reader, and her New Orleans grandmother was a great storyteller. Before Denise could
even write, she played with her dolls, giving them names and inventing their stories.
Later, she started drawing cartoon characters and creating comic strips about them.
“I loved writing so
much that I wrote and illustrated my very first book when I was about 10. It was
a mystery story. I sewed the pages together on my Mom's sewing machine and glued
yellow cloth to cardboard for the cover. I still have it."
In high school Denise
wrote for the school newspaper, and also provided spot art as "filler."
In 1977, she earned a B.A. in Journalism from Northwestern State University of Louisiana
and moved to New York City that same year.
She worked briefly
in magazine and newspaper jobs before beginning her career in the children's publishing
industry as an Assistant and later Associate Editor at Scholastic, Inc. During her
years there, Denise wrote and edited news stories, plays, and puzzles for students
from fourth through sixth grades. She also wrote classroom materials for teachers.
Denise moved on to become Editor at Joshua Morris Publishing, where she developed
and edited mass-market children's books.
Over the years, she
worked on various free-lance and work-for-hire projects. She has written narratives
for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's exhibitions and preschool
board books adapted from episodes of the Gullah Gullah Island television series.
She was also a Project Editor for Macmillan Publishing's "Adventures of Raggedy
Ann" book series, and has written for Children's Television Workshop publications
Golden Publishing.
"I finally got
the courage to write my own book after I remembered my favorite red Sunday shoes.
I loved those shoes, just like the little girl in my first picture book, Red Dancing Shoes."
With Red Dancing Shoes, Denise made the transition
from writer to author. Her subsequent work includes several picture books and two
historical fiction novels for middle graders,
The Adventures of Midnight Son (Holt,
1997), and The Longest Ride (Holt, 1999). Both were selected as New York
Public Library Best Books for The Teenage. Meet Cécile, Troubles for Cécile, and Cécile's Gift are her first books for American Girl.
At the same time that
Denise has pursued writing, she has been a wife and mother to four sons, with the
youngest now in high school. As her sons grew, Denise became involved with writing
in schools, first as a volunteer. For five years she served as a manager of a revision-based
writing program for a local middle school, where she helped provide one-on-one student
"coaching" on various writing projects. She also worked in this capacity
for one year with high school students.
Her strong connection
to student writing has continued. Today Denise is a volunteer mentor for a middle
school all-girls writing club, Inklings, and since the fall of 2010, she's been
an Adjunct Professor of Intermediate Writing at Nyack College's Manhattan, NY campus.
Author
Denise Lewis Patrick responds to questions about Cécile and her stories
Q:
What did you do to prepare to write Cécile's stories?
The first thing I did was to read
about what New Orleans was like at the time her stories take place. What did the
city look like? How did the different people live together? What kinds of work did
free people of color do, and where did they live in the city? I found answers to
these questions in books, drawings, old newspapers, and in the narratives, or diaries,
of real people who lived in the 1850s. Next, I read about yellow fever, and how
that terrible disease affected everyone who lived in the city. I imagined that people
must have felt in many ways the same as they did after Hurricane Katrina, or after
9/11 in New York. I decided that I wanted Cécile's stories to show how something
so big touched and changed the lives of real, normal people. But the most important
thing I did was to go back and walk the streets of New Orleans, to smell the history
in the old buildings and see the wonderful cast iron rails. New Orleans is more
than a place to me. It's a feeling.
Q:
What were the most challenging aspects of writing the Cécile books?
I believe the most challenging
aspect of writing these books was deciding what to leave out of Cécile's story!
Almost immediately, I began to imagine this lively, smart girl and the family she
came from. In my own family, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are very important,
and cousins are, too! I even created a family tree for the Rey family, with details
such as what Papa's mother did (she made hats), and how Cécile's parents met (their
fathers were friends). "Building" a life for the Rey family helped me
to know Cécile as well as I know any real person.
Q:
How would you describe Cécile's personality?
In my mind, Cécile Amelie Rey
is bright, curious, and has a mischievous sense of humor. She loves secrets, of
course, and also enjoys learning new things and meeting new people. She's not quite
a "girly-girl," because unlike most girls of her time, she hates sitting
still and being quiet!
Q:
How would you describe Cécile's circumstances in the story?
I would say that she's a child
who grows up fast, because she has to face some very serious events in her family
and community. She also outgrows the kind of sheltered life she's had before, in
becoming friends with Marie-Grace and actively helping children who are less fortunate.
Q:
Were any of Cécile's stories based on your own or your family's personal experiences?
My father and my New Orleans relatives
used nicknames for us, the same way her family does. Food is very important to my
family, as it is to the Reys–especially when we're celebrating anything. But on
the other hand, maybe Cécile herself is a bit like I was as a girl: always listening
to the grownups talk, and always asking questions!
Q:
What did you discover about New Orleans in writing the Cécile books?
What I discovered about New Orleans
as I was writing these books is that there's even more to love about this city.
Q:
What do you hope girls will learn from Cécile?
I hope that girls learn from Cécile
that sometimes, true friendship finds you even when–or especially when–you're not
looking for it. It comes when you need it. She discovers an ability that all girls
have–to bravely open their hearts to a bigger world than the one they've known.
Contributor: American Girl Publishing
