Tracy Barrett

Five stories in the educational series "The Reading Works," 1975

Nat Turner and the Slave Revolt, The Millbrook Press, 1993

Harpers Ferry: The Story of John Brown’s Raid, The Millbrook Press, 1993

Growing Up in Colonial America, The Millbrook Press, 1995

Virginia, in series "Celebrate the States," Benchmark Books, Marshall Cavendish, 1997 (second edition 2005)

Tennessee, in series "Celebrate the States," Benchmark Books, Marshall Cavendish, 1998 (second edition 2006)

Kidding Around Nashville, John Muir Publications, 1998

Kentucky, in series "Celebrate the States," Benchmark Books, Marshall Cavendish, 1999

Anna of Byzantium, Delacorte Press, 1999

The Trail of Tears: An American Tragedy, Perfection Learning Corporation, 2000

Six entries in the multi-volume encyclopedia Women in World History, Yorkin Publications, 2000

"The Children’s Crusade," AppleSeeds Magazine, December 2001

Cold in Summer, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2003

The Ancient Greek World, in series "The World in Ancient Times," Oxford University Press, 2004 (with Jennifer Roberts)

The Ancient Chinese World, in series "The World in Ancient Times," Oxford University Press, 2005 (with Terry Kleeman)

On Etruscan Time, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2005

The 100-Year-Old Secret, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, May, 2008

The Beast of Blackslope, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2009

The Case that Time Forgot, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2010

I grew up in a town where many authors live, and thought of writers as just ordinary neighbors. The wonderful Jean Fritz was one of these authors. She gave me an original illustration from her book that is still my favorite, The Cabin Faced West (the drawing is now hanging on the wall above my computer). And since I liked writing I thought it might be a good job to have someday.

But when I grew older I got discouraged about writing, because every time I read a wonderful book I would think, “Oh, I could never write that. Why even try?” And I was right. I could never write Charlotte’s Web or Mrs. Mike (two of my favorite books). It took until I was grown up to realize that this was okay—I didn’t need to write those books. Someone else had already done it! But there were other books that no one but I could write. So I started writing again. My first book wasn’t published until I was almost forty, and I regret that I wasted all that time being discouraged.


FAQs

Where do you get your ideas?
I learned about Princess Anna Comnena while doing research on medieval women writers. I wondered how she became the kind of person she was, and even when I finished my research, I couldn't get her out of my mind. So I wrote Anna of Byzantium to try to figure her out. I'll never know if I succeeded in uncovering why the real Anna Comnena turned out the way she did, but at least I was able to stop wondering about her!

The idea for Cold in Summer came to me slowly. We used to spend a lot of time on Center Hill Lake in Tennessee, which was formed when a dam was built, flooding a valley. It felt creepy to swim above what used to be a town, with houses and churches and stores. But that odd feeling wasn’t enough to make a story.

The author Sid Fleischman says that one idea is like a stick: you can’t do much with it. But two ideas are like two sticks: you can rub them together, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a fire. My “second stick” for Cold in Summer was something that an old man who lived by the lake told my husband. He said that there was a crack in the side of the hill that blew out cold air in summer and warm air in winter. These two ideas came together to form the basis for Cold in Summer.


Will you write a sequel to Anna of Byzantium?
No, because I'm not curious about her any more!

I did, however, write a sequel to Cold in Summer. The main character (Ariadne's younger brother, Hector) gets involved in time travel to an ancient village in Italy where he has to right an old wrong without influencing the present. It's called On Etruscan Time and it came out in May, 2005.


How long does it take you to write a book?
I never know! I squeeze in writing between so many other things that I don't think I could ever count up the hours. I wrote one book in six weeks, but others have taken two or three years. I lead a busy life (I teach at a university and have a family and pets) so I fit my writing in where I can.


Which of your books is your favorite?
Whichever one I'm working on at the moment!


Are you working on anything now?
I usually have a lot of projects going! Right now I'm writing a sequel to Cold in Summer and On Etruscan Time (with the working title The Renaissance Man). In The Renaissance Man, a sequel to Cold in Summer and On Etrsucan Time Ariadne and Hector team up to travel in time and save the world as we know it. I'm also working on a historical novel about a slave-girl set in the Viking era; and a four-book mystery series called "The Sherlock Files," which will be published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. The first book in the series, The 100-Year-Old Mystery, is due out in May, 2008, with one book coming out each year after that. The second is called The Beast of Blackslope and the third is The Case that Time Forgot. Still working on a title for the fourth!

I've finished and am revising two other books: a historical fantasy about Telemachus, the son of Odysseus (hero of Homer's Odyssey) and a Cinderella story told by her stepsister.