Award-winning author Janet Fox recently visited the East Helena Library to discuss The Mystery of Mystic Mountain, her middle-grade novel that has just been added to the Library of Congress.
Speaking to a half-dozen elementary school attendees, Fox laid out her writing journey and explained why her stories and characters, like 12-year-old Becca Soloway in Mystic Mountain, always include a piece of her.
“I was kind of a nerd,” said the Bozeman-based author, wearing an olive-green felt vest and knitted ascot that one could imagine on Jo March of Little Women. “And that’s the way Becca feels. She feels like she doesn’t fit in quite, and she’s finding herself in this story.”
Fox was blown away when she received an email last year informing her that her new novel – her 12th book for younger readers and fourth set in Montana – had been selected for Library of Congress induction as part of the Great Books from Great Places program.
“I didn’t even know it had been submitted,” she said.
The tale follows Soloway, unwillingly whisked away from her Connecticut home to a Montana dude ranch literally called Far Away. Hoping to salvage her summer, Becca befriends the wrangler’s son, Jon, teaming up with him to solve the mystery of a Robin Hood-style bandit, Pearl Handle Peete, and track down his missing treasure.
The idea for Mystic Mountain hit Fox while sitting on the front porch of a family cabin near Livingston. Hoping to capture Montana’s colorful history, strong sense of independence, and communal spirit, she was brainstorming with her son, a Whitehall-based author, when he came up with the name of the bandit, Pearl Handle Pete. The story just came to her from there.
Libraries, publishers, and independent booksellers from every U.S. state and territory annually submit to the National Endowment for the Arts a list of books they believe best represent the character of that place. A jury of readers within each state’s top humanities body then judges the books and selects two for Great Books from Great Places.
Mystic Mountain had already been gaining steam as a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best juvenile mystery writing when Fox received the email informing her of the selection. Her East Helena appearance was part of Humanities Montana’s revived One Book Montana program, which is celebrating Library of Congress inductees.
Jennifer Bevill, Humanities Montana program director and one of the jurors assigned to review Fox’s book, had been impressed by its strong sense of identity. “It had a great central character who grew through the course of the book,” she said.
The book’s emphasis on Montana history and strong setting highlights Fox’s obvious love for the state. “Everything about Montana inspires me,” the author said.
Andrea Eckerson, the East Helena Library’s branch manager, has worked with Humanities Montana before and was happy to participate in the One Book Montana Project. Plus, she enjoyed Mystic Mountain.
“It took me back to my childhood,” Eckerson said as Fox signed her copy of the book.
Pondering the book’s popularity, Eckerson credited its narrative and theme of self-discovery for its success, offering a counter to ghosts and fantasy. Fox has spent the last year visiting libraries around the state and talking to young readers.
“They had such great questions about the themes, about the characters,” she said.
The young readers at Fox’s East Helena event remained quiet during the Q&A, but their enthusiasm was evident. When Fox asked the audience if they knew Nancy Drew, a fictional teen detective and one of her inspirations, one little girl whispered her assent as her sister nodded enthusiastically.
The two Nancy Drew fans were East Helena natives Leyla and Jemma Tabor, 12 and 10. Leyla read Fox’s book and brought her sister along for the talk. Leyla is a mystery enthusiast: her first literary love was the Enola Holmes series, which details the adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ equally brilliant little sister.
Mystic Mountain was thus right up Tabor’s alley. She waited patiently to speak to Fox, looking at her with cautious wonder. “If they had an event like this again, I’d come,” she said.
Fox expressed delight at the enthusiasm of young readers, including their response to her announcement of a Mystic Mountain sequel.
“I do think that there is some magic in the world,” she said. “So I love to write things about that kind of magical experience that we can have.”
