AUTHOR’S NOTE
Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard was inspired by many things and many people, but none more than my mother. My mother grew up on a wheat farm on the plains of North Dakota—a place where books were few. She was a voracious reader, and she read everything she could find. When I was young, she would occasionally mention how, as a teenager, she ran out of novels to read—there were literally no more stories in her library. Anytime she mentioned this, I would think: What if she had found one last book hidden in the corner . . . and what if that book was more than just a story?
Both of my parents took pains to ensure that, even when we had little money, our home was never wanting for books. I was the only child I knew whose house included a “library.” Virtually all of our books were used, which taught me at a very young age to see books as talismans that carried with them the memory of readers past. To this day, I prefer a tattered paperback to a shiny new hardcover.
It was in that home library that I discovered the stories that would one day provide the foundation for Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard. Chief among them is Matilda, by Roald Dahl. Matilda was the first “long” book I ever read by myself. It remains my favorite children’s book to this day. The image of little Matilda Wormwood lying on the floor with an oversized book was undeniably an inspiration for Sophie.
That library was also where I first discovered the stories of Charles Perrault—the author who single-handedly brought the fairy-tale tradition into the literary consciousness, some two hundred years before the Brothers Grimm. Those fairy tales soon led me to discover old bestiaries filled with strange descriptions of creatures at once both exotic and familiar. If you find yourself wanting to read such a book, I strongly recommend T. H. White’s translation of The Book of Beasts, which puts The Book of What to shame. Finally, I owe a debt to Rudolf Raspe’s The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which sparked the hinterland empire. I think it would have found a home on Sophie’s bookshelf.
This was without question the most challenging story I have ever undertaken, and I could not have written it without the help of fellow pilgrims: Sally Alexander, Jim Armstrong, Katherine Ayres, Chad W. Beckerman, Mary Burke, Caroline Carlson, Courtney Code, Orlando Dos Reis, Markus Hoffmann, Lynne Missen, Joe Regal, Bougie Sewell, Thomas Sweterlitsch, Jason Wells, and my friend and colleague Tamar Brazis—who bled for this book nearly as much as its author did. Thank you all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JONATHAN AUXIER is the author of Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes and The Night Gardener. He lives in Pittsburgh with his family. Visit him at TheScop.com.
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