Beth Anderson Explores Patriots, Pox and America's First President

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This month, we are excited to “pick the brain” of Beth Anderson, a Rate Your Story Judge, and multi-published, award-winning author of Cloaked in Courage, Franz’s Phantasmogorical Machine, Hiding in Plain Sight, Lizzie Demands a Seat, Revolutionary Prudence Wright, “Smelly” Kelly and His Super Senses, Tad Lincoln’s Restless Wriggle, An Inconvenient Alphabet, Thomas Jefferson’s Battle for Science, and now, The Patriots and the Pox, with Sculpting President Lincoln coming in 2027!

RATE YOUR STORY: There’s so much I want to ask – but first, looking at your broad body of non-fiction works, I would love to know, in general, where you get all your ideas? 

BA: Thank you so much for inviting me to share! For most all the stories I’ve written, it’s an article or podcast or previous research that sparked my interest.Then I explore to see if it might be something worth pursuing, looking for hooks, relevance, angles, and something that strikes me on a personal level. 

RYS: Once you get an idea that rises above the rest, how do you qualify it as to whether it’s a good idea, or a bad idea?

BA: First, it comes down to a personal connection or passion. To spend several years on a story, I need to feel excited about it. And if an idea really grabs me, (Like The Patriots and the Pox!) it can push whatever else was underway out of the way. So I do end up with many starts that never go further. That personal connection and passion tends to “rank” ideas as to what moves forward.

Second, I weigh the value of the project for kids in today’s world. When I hit on what became The Patriots and the Pox, bells went off on the urgency scale due to the current conversation around vaccination and also the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. 

Third, since many people have some negative aspects to their lives, I have to decide what a story is worth and its appropriateness.

RYS: Stepping back a bit, what inspired your love of non-fiction and when did this occur? Did you like history class in school? 

BA: I always loved social studies, but not necessarily history. I read a lot of biographies, and I think that indicates I was looking for the human side of history. When I was in school, it was presented as a pile of facts that didn’t really invite connection.

When I started writing for children, I played with fiction first. But there was one historical tidbit that I had learned about in college that haunted me for decades as the idea of writing for kids grew in my mind. When I worked on that, I discovered my love of nonfiction and little-known true stories. BOOM! That was it!

RYS:  For those who are just dipping their toes into writing non-fiction, how would you say that non-fiction books have changed over the years (for example, since the  60s, 70s and/or 80s when many of us were introduced to them)? Why is it so important to understand the change?

BA: The world of children’s nonfiction books has changed immensely! In the past two decades, we’ve seen nonfiction become increasingly creative, and as a result, books invite and engage a wide range of readers into topics they never thought about. And…it’s so much more fun to write when you have the freedom to choose the most effective and engaging way to deliver information! 

Authors need to keep up to date to understand the possibilities and create a book with marketing potential. Submission of an “old school” style manuscript leads an editor to believe that you’re not invested in and realistic about writing for children. When kids can search anything on a computer, what we present has to be more than a pile of facts. It has to matter.

RYS: There have been many books about George Washington, but none like yours – an angle that’s fresh and new! Why did you pick to write about George Washington? How (and perhaps when – Covid?)  did you decide upon this angle? 

BA: Approaching a familiar and famous figure is of greater interest if we offer a side that we haven’t seen. Digging into a small moment, we can go deeper and discover the human being—someone we can connect to. Also exploring HOW and WHY they did what they did is much more fascinating than just being told WHAT they did because then, we can see possibility. 

I think it was in late 2022 when I saw an article on George and his decision to inoculate his troops against smallpox—after the worst of Covid. UGH! Though I never knew that he did that, I was kicking myself for not discovering that a couple years earlier! This was a hugely timely event with the upcoming 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and also the current conversations about vaccination. But I had to do more than report on the disease and inoculation. The risk and stakes were in his decision—the WHY and HOW. That’s the human story that lets us see Washington’s anguish, agony, and courage in his responsibility to lead the fight for independence. 

RYS: What is your favorite historical period in history? Why? 

BA: I have to say the American Revolution fascinates me to no end. It’s so much more than the military fight that dominates our history books. It’s a time of change, of new ideas in all aspects of life. Some of my other books share women’s lives, the emergence of scientific thinking, and even spelling! This period pushed people into new ways of thinking. Sharing the stories helps kids see people dealing with change, challenges, and opportunities and invites them to explore possibility, new forms of independence, and practice critical thinking. 

RYS: We’re impressed by the clear and clever way that you described small pox. How did you come across this portrayal? Was it challenging to find a way to explain this disease to little ones?

BA: In his letters, Washington described the disease as an enemy more powerful than the British, so, it was basically his idea. But also, portraying smallpox as an enemy provided a familiar way for children to understand the power of the disease and what he was dealing with. (And nerdy me always loves a chance to use imagery and extended metaphors!) The most challenging part of the disease was the medical terminology: contagion, infection, quarantine, immunity, and inoculation. These ideas were essential to understanding motivation, risk, and stakes (the emotional elements that push the arc). It took a looooong time to find the best sequence and context to deliver those ideas clearly and concisely. 

RYS: When writing, when might you decide to tell, rather than show, and also, show, rather than tell?

BA: Being a craft nerd, and after I did some research on scenes for a conference session, I found that scenes and transition pieces mostly match up with show and tell. Scenes are the opportunities to zoom in to allow the reader into the main character’s experience, to build the emotional arc. So this is the spot to show. Transitioning from scene to scene is where you summarize and move more quickly through time, place, etc, and that’s where telling is appropriate. You need both. After I started drafting in scenes, my process changed. I look for those pieces of story from the start as building blocks of the plot. That ensures that I focus on showing these powerful moments and avoid any tendency for  “and then this, and then this…,” kind of telling.

RYS: What advice do you have for someone trying to find a viable topic to write about in non-fiction?

BA: I think caring and connection make all the difference in the quality, creativity, and enjoyment of the writing. If you’re not excited about the prospect of a topic or aren’t passionate about it, I say keep looking until an idea feels irresistible. 

RYS: Which of your books was the most challenging to write? Why?

BA: They all challenged me in different ways, and all taught me things about writing, as well as myself. (Even the ones still in “the drawer.”) Lizzie Demands a Seat  was the hardest emotionally and maybe for finding the right words, too. The pacing was tough in Hiding in Plain Sight. And I think The Patriots and the Pox has been my biggest challenge with focusing the sheer volume of research and intersecting topics. The amount of information on Washington and the war is tremendous and smallpox in the army seemed to be tangled with a myriad of other issues. And thus…the battle with TMI—Too Much Information!

RYS: Your latest book, The Patriots and the Pox will be featured in a Launch and Learn on Wednesday, September 23, 2026. . .

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There, you will discuss what to do when there is too much information. Please share an example where this happened in another one of your books, as well (we look forward to hearing about Patriots in your talk!). 

BA: Thomas Jefferson’s Battle for Science had a large historical record. For the story of Jefferson and the moose I found documents that made me laugh out loud. Most of those were reduced to a few words of the text, but a couple of those made it into the art. I was fortunate to have Jeremy Holmes illustrate as he also loved those “extras.” One “darling” scene that didn’t make it was what happened first when Jefferson arrived at Buffon’s home for dinner. Buffon put him off by handing him a manuscript and saying, basically, once you’ve read this you’ll know I’m right. The pompous, biased scientist then left the room. But…not a lot of room for that as their dinner conversation was enough to make the plot and character point, and it was more valuable to spend words on Jefferson’s scientific process once I landed on that.

RYS: Why do you believe that teaching history to kids (and adults) is so very important?

BA: I think history helps us understand our world today, especially when that history widens our scope and thinking. The perspective of time allows us to see how people meet challenges and break barriers—as opposed to being in the middle of a challenge in the present and struggling to maintain hope. There’s also a lot of research that shows history, and social studies in general, is key to building background knowledge about the world, resulting in better reading comprehension and critical thinkers. And as some of the Founders said, a democracy depends on citizens that are readers and critical thinkers. 

Thank you so very much! This is an important book – thank you for writing it! We truly appreciate your time and thoughts! 

Bio: Beth Anderson has always been fascinated with words and language—from sound and meaning, to figurative language and point of view, to cultural and scientific aspects of language. After earning a B.A. in linguistics and a M.Ed. in reading, she taught English language learners for more than 20 years. That classroom community taught her valuable lessons as she advocated for students and encouraged them to share their voices. Surrounded by young people from all over the world, with literature as her favorite tool, Beth used the power of story to teach, connect, and inspire.