Kyle Kellams: Imagine the emerging United States in the spring of 1776 — political uncertainty, mounting threats of violence, and growing concern as smallpox sweeps through the population.
Laurie Halse Anderson’s latest book, Rebellion, 1776, lets us experience that time through the eyes of 13-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper. Anderson is the author of several books, including two finalists for the National Book Award. Speak and Chains. For her work in young people’s literature, she has been honored with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Her books for youth and adults have sold more than eight million copies worldwide.
She’ll be part of the 2025 True Lit Fayetteville Literary Festival this month. Anderson will appear at the Fayetteville Public Library on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m. She says if you think there are parallels between Rebellion, 1776 and say, right now — you’re not alone.
Anderson: Oh, golly, yes. I mean, that’s what drew me to the topic. When I had COVID very early in the pandemic — within a few weeks after it started — thankfully, I came through it okay. But boy, was I sick. For weeks I was just like this lump on the couch.
And I had vaguely remembered from the HBO John Adams series that it showed Abigail Adams being inoculated, having her children inoculated. But I remembered some historian buddies were a little annoyed at that, so I thought, okay, what really happened? When I went down that rabbit hole — thankfully there are so many primary sources online from that time and place — I discovered a world that was not very different from ours in terms of political turmoil, in terms of families and communities being pulled in different directions because of what was going on in their lives.
It was all compounded by the fear of this disease. They had a different disease than we did,
Kellam: Right, but it was overwhelming.
Anderson: Right, and if you compound it even further, one of the things I didn’t learn about as a child — but that certainly hit home when I was doing the research — was that Boston, which is now a city but was then considered a town, had been devastated economically. The loss of jobs when the British occupied and closed the port of Boston in 1774 — thinking about the perspective of a young teen, when your dad’s out of work and your mom has died and you have to go out and work — the uncertainty really hit home with me.
Whenever I write my historical books, I’m always trying to think about what it was like for the family living through these experiences.
Kellams: What I loved about this, of course — Elsbeth Culpepper is who we follow through the book. She’s the protagonist. I realized I don’t think I’ve ever read anything, fiction or nonfiction, about the American Revolution that really puts me into a teen’s or family’s world. It’s usually about the men who fought or were deciding policy.
Anderson: Well, if you liked that one, my friend, I wrote a couple of others you might like too. Social studies was the one subject I could manage to pay a little bit of attention to as a kid- school wasn’t my favorite. Part of that was that my father was a great storyteller. When he explained his side of the family’s history, he’d put it in the context of what was going on in our country then. I found that fascinating.
Kids can learn really well from stories, and I want to make sure that the history in mine is as accurate as I can make it. Come for the story and get engaged — have fun and rip through the chapters — but I want to make sure the facts they’re ingesting are as true to primary sources as I can get them.
Kellams: When you’re at the Fayetteville Public Library as part of True Lit, you’ll be in front of an audience, it’s part of a moderated conversation. Talking to people about your work — do you like that sort of shift?
Anderson: Yes and yes and yes and yes no. How’s that for an answer?
Kellams: I like that it’s about 80% yes.
Anderson: Yeah, I mean, I love it. I’m a grandmother, but I’m also still sort of a fifth- or sixth-grader in my heart. I have such clear images of being that young girl in Northern New York— not in Arkansas, but I’m from the boondocks up where it’s really cold. So, having our nation’s history. But I also remember studying Roman history in sixth grade and being amazed. When your eyes and mind are opening at that time, it’s such a gift. So I’m the luckiest woman in the world because I get to share stories with kids who are of that age.
To be around young people when their hearts and minds are opening to the world — it’s such a gift. And to hear what it feels like to be their age today is such an extraordinary gift. Now, the reason I tacked on the 20% of “no” at the end is the only hard part about these trips is I don’t have time to write. I just got back from Utah, and next week I’ll be in Illinois. In the next six weeks, I’m gone for four of them. Which is incredible, and again, such a gift. but I haven’t written a word of a new story in about five months.
I just need to stop time. Once I figure that out, it’ll be great, everything will be fantastic then.
Kellams: So it’s like an athlete taking too much time off from training, not that you atrophy, but do you lose that flow?
Anderson: Thank you for asking that question that way. I don’t think anyone has ever put it that way before. What a great angle.
The difference is that when I’m hanging out with readers, parents, and educators, I’m learning. The writing flow can take a few days to get back, but it’s worth it.
I have a small room in my house and a very patient husband who knows that when the door is closed, you just leave the mug of tea at the door. But I think it’s important for me to do my job as well as I can to stay in tune with my readers — that helps a lot.
Kellams: When I was reading Rebellion, 1776, it reminded me of when I first discovered that novels could be invigorating — almost endorphin-inducing. There are people who read books like that when they’re young and think, “This is great, I want to read another,” and there are those who think, “Oh, this is great. Maybe I’d like to write.”
When you were young, did you think you could be a writer, or were you just along for the ride?
Anderson: Oh gosh, nobody ever thought I was in danger of becoming a writer when I was a kid. It took me a little longer to read than other kids because I had some challenges, but once I cracked the code, I was the kid who always had her nose in a book.
I was such a bad speller — still am — but reading was joyful for me. I lov living in the world of books and then having to emerge into the real world.
I studied linguistics in college, which is associated with words and very nerdy and not very great preparation for any sort of practical job. This might strike you as amusing, but I kind of fell into journalism when my children were young and I needed a job I could work at night.
You go on assignment, get the facts, grind them out, and they chop them in half if you’re doing the old-fashioned newspaper column. That’s why you don’t bury the lead. That was my entry into writing. I found out I could actually use the dictionary pretty quickly if I had to.
Then, I had these kids. My beautiful daughter. What brought me to writing for children was sitting on the couch with my girls and reading books to them. That completely transported me back to sitting on the floor of my school library, taking home stacks of books.
Kellams: So Elsbeth Culpepper is of a different generation, a different time. But could spending time with her — creating this story — make you feel more at ease about the world 250 years later?
Anderson: I think it does. Human beings have always used story to pass on wisdom, experience, and entertainment. Back in the nights when we didn’t have electricity and we just sat by the fire. We always used story.
We use stories to help children set their moral compass. Especially around fifth or sixth grade, they’re becoming aware that the world is very very hard. The world can be unjust and scary. We can share stories with them of other people in other times who’ve also gone through hard things. That's how we help our kids begin to develop their inner resilience.
I get letters, well, I used to get letter letters. Sometimes, a teacher will send a collection of letters from the classroom, or, they will find me on instagram and send me a direct message. I think the most rewarding type of letter I kid is when a child or teenager says, “I felt like I knew that character. That character’s experience has helped me deal with X, Y, Z.”
During the pandemic, parents told me they were using another book of mine, Fever, 1793, which is about a yellow fever epidemic after the Revolution. They appreciated how it helped kids connect today’s challenges to the past and see that people before them endured and grew stronger. When the pandemic was still in the early throes, I was getting a lot of letters from parents who were using another book I wrote called Fever 1973, which is, interestingly enough, about a different epidemic that set after the American Revolution. looking at a yellow fever epidemic that devastated Philadelphia, which was then the baby capital of this baby country, America. What the parents told me they appreciated about - and it's not just my historical fiction, I've got so many friends who write historical fiction that try to do the same thing- create stories so that the reader and maybe with, you know, a parent or an educator or a friend, they can triangulate their experiences of today and yesterday and go, “Oh, they got through this.”
And it was hard. But they learned, you know, they doubled down on on with their friendships and their love for their family and what was important in their lives. And they could. I think this is so important for kids to recognize the role they have in getting families through hard times, but that helps prepare them to become the next generation of Americans.
You know, that's something I might need to write an essay about for grownups. Now, you're giving me good ideas. Now, I'm never going to get back to writing books.
But I think one of the things that I find so intriguing about studying the lives of young people during the American Revolution and immediately after it, is that those were the first generations of Americans. I mean, they were, but they were born thinking, “Oh, my mom's in Scotland and my dad's from England, but we're all British, right?”
Except, I mean, obviously there are people from very different experiences, Native American; people who are descended from kidnapped Africans. But then all of a sudden there's this new country. And they begin to refer to themselves as American. What an astounding group of people they were.
Kellams: And you know what an astounding sort of gift or opportunity it is to be where you are, right? Something that might connect with a young reader in the rural Ozarks or rural Wyoming or wherever.
Anderson: Yeah, I’m a very lucky girl.
Kellams: We’re very lucky you’ll be here for the True Lit Festival at the Fayetteville Public Library. Thank you so much for a few minutes of your time.
Anderson: Oh, anytime. Thank you very, very much. I can’t wait to get down there and meet everybody.
Kellams: Laurie Halse Anderson is the author of several books, including Speak, Chains, and her latest, Rebellion, 1776.She’ll discuss her work and career at the Fayetteville Public Library on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m., as part of the 2025 True Lit Fayetteville Literary Festival. You can find a complete lineup of events for the festival at faylib.org.
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