I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and a wonderful weekend. I am beyond thrilled to be part of Miranda Kenneally's Racing Savannah Blog Tour. I love Miranda's books and her strong female protagonists. What I love most about Miranda's books is that all of Miranda's characters are real teens overcoming an obstacle-either internal or external with grace and through self discovery. Racing Savannah, Miranda's latest book, is no exception. I asked Miranda about what her characters taught her and what she hoped her readers would get after reading Racing Savannah. Stay tuned for my review of Racing Savannah tomorrow!
They’re from two different worlds.
He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.
With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…
Miranda Kenneally is the author
of Catching Jordan, Stealing Parker, Things I Can't Forget, and Racing Savannah. Her fifth book, most likely to
be titled BREATHE, ANNIE, BREATHE, is coming out in July 2014. She enjoys
reading and writing young adult literature, and loves Star Trek, music, sports,
Mexican food, Twitter, coffee, and her husband. To find out more about Miranda check out: Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blog, and Wattpad.
What have your characters taught you?
In Racing Savannah, Savannah had very little money
while growing up. Her father makes minimum wage, her mother died of
breast cancer, leaving the family with large medical bills, and now her
father has a new pregnant girlfriend. Her father takes a new job at
fancy Cedar Hill Farms in order to try to make a better life for his
family. Savannah doesn't have college aspirations - all she wants is a
steady job where she can make some money, so she tries out to be an
exercise rider for the farm. She doesn't want to end up working as a
maid at a hotel.
This book was difficult for me to write. I grew up
with little means myself, but I always had dreams of college. Now that
I'm adult with a steady career, it's hard for me to remember what it was
like not having enough food to eat and always having to wear
hand-me-down clothes. A lot of people in America live like Savannah and
her family do - they have large debts and worry about where they'll get
their next meal. What happens if a family member gets sick and they
don't have health insurance?
In the book, the main guy character Jack urges
Savannah to consider college, knowing it will open more doors for her.
Part of her character development involves her learning to think outside
the box.
While writing this book, I wondered who my audience
is. (Every author should know who their audience is before they start
writing.) I wrote this book for the girls and boys who have big dreams
but worry about how they'll accomplish them. But I wondered if libraries
would carry my book and if it would get into the hands of those
underprivileged kids. Conversely, would the kids who could afford my
book relate to Savannah?
I ultimately decided that if my book encourages even
one kid to think in a different way, I would be happy. I will also be
happy if kids who come from more prosperous backgrounds begin to
understand how parts of America live. Writing this book reminded me that
the dreams of every single teen are important.
About the Book
They’re from two different worlds.
He lives in the estate house, and she spends most of her time in the stables helping her father train horses. In fact, Savannah has always been much more comfortable around horses than boys. Especially boys like Jack Goodwin—cocky, popular and completely out of her league. She knows the rules: no mixing between the staff and the Goodwin family. But Jack has no such boundaries.
With her dream of becoming a horse jockey, Savannah isn’t exactly one to follow the rules either. She’s not going to let someone tell her a girl isn’t tough enough to race. Sure, it’s dangerous. Then again, so is dating Jack…
About Miranda
Posts
Great Post! I don't know if she goes to college or not, but I do know some kids who think they are just not college material and have different dreams. And we tend to forget that our neighbors and classmates could very well be living just like Savannah. It's so easy to forget what you have. Thanks for your post!