Join me in wishing a happy book birthday to Dianne Salerni and her new middle grade novel, Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts, out from Holiday House now!
Dianne shares the inspiration behind the story:
Dianne shares the inspiration behind the story:
Thank you for hosting me on your blog today! I am excited to talk about my latest book, Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts. My inspiration for this story blossomed out of a single question: What if ghosts were real and treated like infestations?
If you discover that your house is infested with bugs (or other critters), you call in a professional to identify what type of infestation you have and determine how to eradicate it. In my alternate reality, ghosts are treated the same way. If a ghost “erupts” in your home, you summon a licensed diagnostician to identify what type of ghost you have. There are three types:
If you discover that your house is infested with bugs (or other critters), you call in a professional to identify what type of infestation you have and determine how to eradicate it. In my alternate reality, ghosts are treated the same way. If a ghost “erupts” in your home, you summon a licensed diagnostician to identify what type of ghost you have. There are three types:
- Friendlies – These ghosts like to interact with the living in harmless ways.
- Unawares – These ghosts don’t know they’re dead.
- Vengefuls
I chose to set my story in 1898 New York City and center it on one of America’s most famous families. Alice Roosevelt, daughter of Teddy Roosevelt (future president), is rambunctious and impulsive. Various members of her family referred to her as “a guttersnipe,” “a hellion,” and “a wild animal put into good clothes.” Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a Roosevelt even before she married her fifth cousin Franklin (also a future president) is painfully shy and awkward.
The two girls don’t get along. But when a ghost that erupts in their pregnant aunt’s house is diagnosed as Friendly but starts performing sinister acts, Alice and Eleanor work together to discover the identity of the ghost’s progenitor and do everything in their power to eradicate the specter before harm comes to their aunt.
The two girls don’t get along. But when a ghost that erupts in their pregnant aunt’s house is diagnosed as Friendly but starts performing sinister acts, Alice and Eleanor work together to discover the identity of the ghost’s progenitor and do everything in their power to eradicate the specter before harm comes to their aunt.
DIANNE K. SALERNI is the author of middle grade and YA novels, including Eleanor, Alice, & the Roosevelt Ghosts, The Eighth Day Series, The Caged Graves, and We Hear the Dead. Her seventh book, Jadie in Five Dimensions, will release in the fall of 2021. Dianne was a public school teacher for 25 years before leaving the profession to spend more time hanging around creepy cemeteries and climbing 2000 year-old pyramids in the name of book research
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