A sudden rain deluge, a flooded gold mine, and a father trapped underground. Today we’re excited to be talking to Julia Lawrinson about her latest book: Trapped! The Entombed Miner of Bonnie Vale. Julia is an award-winning author of more than a dozen books for children and young adults. Her books are often about friendship, family … and the occasional Jack Russell. Trapped! is her first verse novel.
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Trapped!
From the publisher:
In 1907, the mining town of Bonnie Vale experiences a sudden deluge of rain that floods a gold mine while miners are still at work down the shaft.
Joe’s dad is one of them. And it soon becomes clear that he’s the only one who hasn’t made it back out yet. Where is he? Why didn’t he escape with the others? And more importantly, how will they rescue him?
You’ve written many novels for children and teenagers. Can you talk a bit about the experience of writing a verse novel for the first time?
I started off writing the story of Trapped! in regular prose. I went between the main character of Joe and the rescue of his father from the mine. As the story went on, I got bogged down in the details of the rescue – partly because it was all so interesting. So then I tried to work out what the main story was: what was essential, rather than just fascinating. Before I knew it, I had all these short sentences.
It was different to writing prose because I read a lot of it aloud as I wrote, to make sure it sounded like a song or a poem.
How did you first come to hear of the entombed miner?
I was in Coolgardie for Children’s Book Week, and I went into the Coolgardie Museum. It had a whole room dedicated to the story, written out on these long panels. Everyone who was there was captivated by the story, moving from panel to panel, learning about this Italian miner who was trapped underground for nine days.
Then I read on one panel that the miner had five children, and the oldest was 12. My imagination was sparked, and then I found out everything I could about the event, which made headlines around the world.
The tale is inspired by a true story from 1907. How/where did you find information for the story?
I used a combination of newspaper articles, a brilliant and very detailed book called The Entombed Miner by Tom Austen, and the State Library Western Australian collection, where I got accounts of what school life was like in 1907. I also bought The Temple Reader, which was a book used in schools with short stories, poems, and excerpts from ancient history texts and the Bible. I love doing research – it’s my favourite part of writing!
Modesto (also known as Charlie) is trapped underground for days on end, in the dark. If you were trapped underground, what do you think you would do to keep yourself calm and to pass the long hours on your own?
I would sing every song I could remember and talk to my imaginary friends.
Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to write stories based on true events?
First, find a strong story – there are so many out there! Then find a strong character and put them in the middle of the action. Once you have those two things, you’ll be able to work out what historical detail you need to flesh out your story.
Trapped! is out now. Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
AWESOME EXTRAS:
Download the Teachers’ Notes for Trapped!
Visit Julia Lawrinson’s website for more about her and her books
