With a B.A. in English and M.A. in Linguistics, college professor and children's author Melody Trowell has a passion for literature and words.
And this love spills out in a variety of ways to encourage others toward Christ through the written word—both stories and poetry.
Let's dive into our interview with Melody to learn more about her and her newly released chapter book,
The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground, from Calla Press Publishing.
1) The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground is a fairytale. What role does this type of literature play in shaping Christian values and wonder?Fairytales reveal Christ in that they teach us to see with new eyes that which is spiritual, supernatural. They lift the veil, so to speak, and re-enchant us to a childlike faith. God created the spiritual and natural worlds to coexist. Children know this innately.
Originally, fairytales were written for adults as a way of reminding us that Christ is our Savior: the prince who comes to save the day! C.S. Lewis said, "But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again." Because, for a time, we feel quite grown up and lose our sight. Fairytales give it back to us.
2) Which fairytale has most impacted you? Why?Sleeping Beauty. My earliest memory of reading and feeling like a story was mine is as a young girl, probably 4 or 5-years-old, sitting on my bedroom floor next to my bookshelf pretending to read
Sleeping Beauty aloud. I couldn't read the words yet, but I knew the story from readalouds and had memorized what happened on every page.
I grew up never letting go of my love of
Sleeping Beauty, so much so that my wedding was medieval-inspired like the Disney film version (I love that artwork!). Honestly, I've never really known why that story captivated me so, but I imagine it has something to do with feeling out of place in this world and wanting to be rescued from an evil of which I was unaware yet sensed somehow.
I was a people-pleasing, high-performing child. Aurora was beautiful and talented and kind, but those gifts were not enough to save her. Prince Phillip loved her even before he saw her. And she knew she belonged to him even before she met him. He fought for her, risked his life for her. He woke her up from "death." Even from a very young age, I longed for belonging and knew I had not yet "woken up" to who I was yet. Plus, it was a French fairytale, and I adored all things French!
3) What sparked your idea to create The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground?Three things: George MacDonald, a child's exclamation, and a vision.
I was reading
The Lost Princess by George MacDonald for the first time and was fascinated by the plot concept: spoiled princess learns to work for her food.
One day, my dad told me that while he was driving my niece home (she was four at the time), they passed a beautiful cathedral. She exclaimed, "I need to be a princess in that castle!" Of course, this cracked me up and made sense all at once, because what little girl doesn't want to be a princess?
A week or so later, while working at the check-in table at my son's swim meet one evening, I finished reading the final chapter of
The Lost Princess, and this exclamation rang in my ears again: "I need to be a princess in that castle!" I thought, "What if a child like
The Lost Princess really did try to make herself a princess in someone else's castle?"
And then an image popped in my mind—I saw a little girl in a dress get angry, cross her arms, and frown all the way to the ground. I grabbed the closest piece of paper I could find—a swim meet information sheet—and wrote the title to my book,
The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground. And so it began.
4) What do you hope families take away from The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground?Wonder and truth. I hope families begin to see the veil lift, to see this world's beauty despite its fallenness, and to have their sight re-enchanted. I hope they know that the Helper is real and accessible to us all.
5) On your website, you share how "we are creations made by a Creator to create." What is one tip you'd give parents on how to foster creativity and wonder in their kids?Wonder with them! Have childlike faith. Watch and listen. Slow down and pay attention to what your children love, and if it is something good, beautiful, and true, show them how God made that thing they love and how He made them to love Him through it. It will awaken them. And their parents, too.
Melody Trowell has taught middle school, high school, and college English at both public and private institutions since 2004. Currently, she teaches writing full-time at Dallas Christian College. She enjoys Bible studies with her sisters in Christ, tending her cottage garden, diy-ing home projects, and loving on her husband and three children. She has been writing stories and poetry since childhood and believes language is one of God’s most beautiful gifts.
