(from Cindy, age 12)
Dear Cindy,
Mora is a pretty remarkable old lady. She knows more about plants than anyone in her clan, she is compassionate and loving to Dar, her grandson . She insists on taking care of Dar as a newborn after his mother dies. Although it’s difficult, she tries to understand Dar’s uncle and his problems. I would put her age at around seventy (life span was shorter in prehistoric times times). I would love to have had a grandmother like Mora and I try to use her as a model with my five grandchildren.
Thanks for your question.
Marjorie Cowley
(from Shaniya, age 11)
Marjorie answers:
Dear Shaniya,
This is a hard one! I believe that a powerful and repeated experience was when my family (three children and often their friends and our friends) would go back-packing in upper Yosemite. Magnificent area, huge trees, lakes and rivers, deer, and two bears! We did this for many years and I learned a great deal from these adventures, such as how not to complain if it was cold or rainy. How to put together the best meals we could think of with the limited food we carried on our backs. How to go straight up a steep mountain trail that was like a stairwell. How to love eating lunch by a stream with your boots off and your aching feet in cold water. Many bits and fragments of these trips have ended up in my books which makes me know how important these experiences were to me. Good question. Did it make you think how you would answer it?
Sincerely,
Marjorie Cowley
(from Shaniya, age 13)
Dear Shaniya,
Good question and one that will take a little time. The most basic thing that makes them alike is their “humaness.” Both clans must be skilled in maintaining an adequate food supply and that means being skilled in tool making, hunting, and knowing which plants to cook and eat. Both clans must have devised ways of handling injury and illness.Both must have developed a society that works, and that means creating ways to hold down out-of-control competitiveness that can get out of control and become violent. These ways can include a method of selecting a competent leader (not a power-hungry dictator) and creating an orderly system of testing young people so that they gain recognition in the clan for achieving their maturity (tests for bravery, emotional strength, and an understanding of the clans’ rules of behavior that hold groups together. No clan or tribe or nation can survive for long without solving these all-too human problems.
I hope my answer helped answer your question, Shaniya.
Marjorie Cowley
(from Adlaine, age 11)
Dear Adlaine,
You’ve asked an honest question. To me, but I think not to you, the novel ends with a profound achievement: Dar slowly conquers his problems of lack of confidence and loneliness. The book traces his difficulties and his triumphs. He finds the strength to help Bowan through his initiation ceremony and begins a friendship with him. He goes up a steep cliff to play a part in the rescue of his difficult uncle. He makes a frightening trip alone to Toreg’s clan to see if he can trade his sunstone for an amazing spearthrower. He turns down the invitation to live in Toreg’s clan and the opportunity to be trained by Seelag to become a skilled carver because he feels he has an obligation to his beloved grandmother who saved his life whe he was an infant. But the action that took the most courage was honestly confronting his uncle in the Pine Forest at the end of the book. The conversation was difficult,, but ends in a better understanding on both sides, which is important for them both and the entire clan as a unit. An important line at the end is: “The two MEN headed for home.” Hope this helps, Adlaine!
Marjorie Cowley
(from Kalay, age 11)
Marjorie answers:
Dear Kaylay,
The big lesson is not something we are not familiar with because most of us, young and old, go through this process and it’s called maturity. How do most of us (sadly, not all) go through this process? Dar starts off as an insecure boy, without parents, criticized by his uncle, and not skilled at the two things he must know: how to hunt and how to make tools. Slowly he gains confidence and finds he is able to help Bowan through his initiation ceremony, he goes up a steep cliff which if part of an effort to rescue his uncle, and he sets out alone on a difficult trip to find Toreg’s clan and see if he can trade his sunstone for the amazing spear-thrower. Finally—and this takes real courage—he meets his uncle in the Pine Forest and speaks to him honestly. The result is they come to an understanding of each other which is important to them both and to their clan. A mark of his growing maturity is that Dar goes back home to take care of his grandmother, knowing that he owes her his love and care; without her he would not have survived. Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Cowley
(from Autumn, age 11)
Dear Autumn,
“The Golden Bull,” my last book, was included in the 2009 Guide to the Best Children’s Books of the Year; it was selected selected by the Book Committee of the Bank Street College of Education. I was born in 1925, a very long time ago. When I was your age I thought people of my years were incredibly old. Now I consider myself lucky because I’m still writing and enjoying my life. There’s a bio on my website that may give you more information you feel you need or look at the Q and A’s on the website.
My best,
Marjorie Cowley
(from Skyla, age 11)
Dear Skyla,
One of my happiest discoveries was finding out I was a demon ping pong player in elementary school. My mother died when I was six and I was sent to live with my grandparents until I entered Stanford University. There I discovered a wide range of books and plays, art, history, music, and anthropology, and on and on—all eye-opening for me. Besides writing, today I belong to a book group, a writers’ group and take classes at a local collage. Films, friends, and family round out my life, a full one. I have a BA degree and wish I had gone on for a Masters or a PhD. I taught prehistoric archaeology in middle schools for some twenty years; my historic novels grew out of my teaching experiences. “The Golden Bull” is included in the 2009 Guide to the Best Childrens Books of the year by the Bank Street College of Education. There is more material on my website and under Google. I hope this helps.
Marjorie Cowley
(from Jasmine, age11)
Jasmine,
Project due this Friday—wow! I’ve Iived in Los Angeles all of my life. My childhood could have been more joyous because my mother died when I was six and my older sister and I
were sent to live with my grandparents until I Ieft to go to Stanford University. This was an eye-opening period for me. I learned a lot and found out that I loved studying. I think my love of
doing research for my historical novels comes from these college years. I married a man attending Stanford Medical School and had a good life with him and our three children. On my website
at www.marjoriecowley.com you’ll find a brief biography of me that might be of help, or Google me where you’ll find lots of material. Hope this helps, Jasmine.
Marjorie Cowley
(from William)
Marjorie answers:
I spent a lot of time thinking about how Dar should end and these were my thoughts: I wanted to establish that Dar comes home in spite of being invited to stay with Toreg and his great-uncle Seelan. He wants to stay, but decides not to because he feels he has responsibilities to his loving grandmother and to his entire clan. Seelan gives him encouragement by telling him that he taught himself to carve and Dar can do this too. In the Pine Forest on the way back home Dar unexpectedly meets Kenok and after they have an honest and difficult conversation, Dar is finally able to discuss his life-long problems with his stern and critical uncle. Kenok is moved by Dar’s thoughts and tells Dar how guilty he is for not being able to prevent his brother’s death. Kenok had set out to find Dar in spite of his injuries, and this time it is Dar who is moved, They pack up their gear “and the two men head for home.” The point is that they have reconciled with each other and Dar has truly matured into his manhood. I did not write the standard returning scene (such as his grandmother’s delight that he is alive and his demonstration of the wondrous spear-thrower. Why not? Because these events are things that all of us can imagine—and should imagine.
William, thank you for your good and thoughtful question.
Marjorie Cowley
(from Thea, age 11)
Marjorie answers:
Dear Thea,
I spent several years learning about prehistoric archeology at UCLA and then I taught the subject to middle school student for some fifteen years. It never occurred to me to write a book until I put together a birthday poem for my first grandchild. I was so delighted when I did this I thought: what if I could write a “real” book. I began and five years later I finished it and sold it! I was off and haven’t stopped.
