MEET THE AUTHOR
Shivaun Plozza is an award-winning writer for children and young adults. She lives in Geelong with her cat, Fenchurch. Today we’re thrilled to chat to Shivaun about her latest book Meet Me at the Moon Tree.
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Meet Me at the Moon Tree.
From the publisher:
For Carina Sugden, nothing is more special than a moon tree – a tree grown from the seeds taken on the Apollo 14 mission into space. Her father taught her everything she knows about them. But he passed away before they found one together. When Mum relocates the family to the Otway Ranges, Carina becomes determined to find a moon tree on her own. After a mysterious encounter with a black cockatoo, Carina realises there’s magic in this forest. And if magic exists, anything is possible, like seeing her dad one last time…
How did you first hear about moon trees?
I was researching the world’s strangest trees for a story when I came across a reference to ‘moon trees’. Just the name ‘moon trees’ sounded so fascinating to me so I knew I had to discover everything about them. When I learnt their history I threw away my original idea and began working on Meet Me at the Moon Tree. It just goes to show how helpful research is (as well as allowing yourself to follow whatever sparks your curiosity!) to creative writing.
Trees (many kinds!) feature strongly in the story. Were you already knowledgeable in this area or did you need to do some research?
I’ve always been interested in trees but I wasn’t at all knowledgeable about the different species or the many interesting facts I learnt about them along the way (such as the fact that they talk to each other!). I definitely had to do a lot of research. If anyone is interested in learning more about trees I’d highly recommend Can You Hear the Trees Talking by Peter Wohlleben.
Grief is at the centre of this story. Was this part of your plan for the book when you sat down to write the first draft or did it arise during the writing?
From the beginning I knew that I wanted to write a story about a girl looking for a moon tree so I asked myself why she was looking: why did finding a moon tree matter so much to Carina? I wanted the reader to desperately want her to find one, as much as she wanted to find one herself, so it made sense for it to matter because of a promise she’d made to her much beloved father.
Do you have a tip for young writers who’d like to write stories with real-life settings?
One thing that helps is to treat your setting like it’s a character. Often we think about how we can bring our characters to life but we don’t always think about bringing the setting to life—we just assume our readers will know what we’re talking about when we write that our characters walked down a street or entered the kitchen. But does every street look the same? How about every kitchen? All settings, like people, are distinct so find out what makes that setting distinct and bring it to life on the page.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the shift from childhood into the tween years and how it can create tension in friendships if each friend is moving at a very different pace. So I’m writing about that.
Meet Me at the Moon Tree is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
AWESOME EXTRAS
Visit NASA’s website for more about the history of Moon Trees.
Download the Teacher’s Notes for Meet Me at the Moon Tree.
Visit Shivaun Plozza’s website for more about her and her books.
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