Bringing History to Life for Young Readers with Modern Miss Mason: Leah Boden

Leah Boden's new series of fictionalized biographies for middle-grade readers

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Valerie - Welcome to Bookworthy. Today, with the power of technology, Bookworthy is stretching across the pond to speak with a lovely Leah Boden. Leah's passion is helping women grow intellectually, spiritually, and holistically through her books and resources for women and homeschool families. Her latest book series is a series of three books called The Tales of Boldness and Faith, a series of fictionalized biographies for ages 8 to 12. Welcome to Bookworthy, Leah.

Leah - Hey, thank you for having me, Valerie.

Valerie - It is a pleasure. So, we're going to start with our random question of the week. And I was tempted to ask about the Royal family and British foods, but I think I'll go with what is a

Leah -It's not that interesting. It's really not. I mean, England is interesting, just not all that stuff.

Valerie - That's funny because, over here, it seems like it's very interesting. It was like, I don't know. Yes. It's kind of like your own celebrity drama in a sense, but. We'll forgo those things and focus on what is a smell that brings back a fond memory.

Leah -Um, I think I would have to say freshly cut grass, freshly mown grass is, um, definitely a, the smell of kind of late spring, early summer here in England. And I live, um, in a park. Like it. There's a, there's a hedge between my house and a big city park. So they've just started doing the fresh spring cut with the big machines, and that smell is just glorious. Absolutely glorious. Fortunately, this year I am not suffering from hay fever from any allergies, so that is a blessing. I can enjoy the smell and not sneeze.

Valerie -It is definitely a blessing for certain. Hay fever and grass and all that is definitely a struggle for my family. So I love how smells do that. They bring back just this sense of, I don't know, being connected to a memory and God and just how he likes to reach us through all of our senses. And so that's fun. Well, Leah, why don't you tell us a little bit about this series of books?

Leah -Yeah, so The Tales of Boldness and Faith is a series that was inspired by books that I used to read to my children. My children are now all teenagers and adults. And when they were younger and I was beginning our home educating journey, where our big focus was on good literature and reading, I used to read to them a series of biographies that were kind of written in the 1940s, 1950s, And they were biographies, but they had a fictional twist to them. You could tell there was some kind of poetic license woven into the narrative. And we loved them. And I have been a huge student and fan of Charlotte Mason's work. She was a revolutionary

British educator from the late 1800s. And my first idea was to write a book about her talking that through with my literary agent, she said, Great idea, love it. Also, while you're thinking about this, make a list of 10 other people you might want to write about. It was like, okay, why not? So it started off being one idea of one book I felt very passionately about and wanted to write. And now I've had the privilege of partnering with Moody Publishers, and the first three in the series have come out this year. Two are out at the moment. One is about Charlotte Mason. One is about C.S. Lewis. And the third one doesn't come out till August this summer, which is about Sarah Forbes Bonetta. They really are the... The foundation of the story is biographical. But then I have wanted to make this story come alive for the middle grade reader. So I've just used a little bit of creative license to do that, which is so fun. I mean, it's really fun. So we've called them fictionalized biographies. I don't even know if we've made up that genre. I have seen it around, but that's what they are. So it's great fun.

Valerie -I love that it's, I've read the first two about Charlotte Mason and CS Lewis, and it has a, what is it? A little princess, a little woman vibe to it that you're just like immersed in a situation and feel like you know these people, you know, that did exist. They're not fictionalized, but to know them and to understand just how they walk through life. How their experiences changed who they were and how they saw God. And so it's fun to read and kind of reminds me of some classics too, so. Well, you kind of mentioned that Charlotte Mason is one of the first people that you wanted to talk about. What about CS Lewis? And I can't remember the third one. Sarah Forbes, what about those? What about the characters of those people? Not characters. It's hard. So what about CS Lewis and Sarah? Did you get did you wanted right about them?

Leah -Yeah, so, you know, I had this list, I have this growing list actually of people that I wanted to write about and do want to write about. And I guess one of the questions at the beginning was, now, who goes first, who comes first? And we wanted people to complement Charlotte's story. So all three that have come out first have a big part of their story set in Great Britain. So I am British, I am English. And so it was wonderful to be able to tell the story and the history and the narrative of the land that I've grown up in and loved, and live in. And so these three worked well at this point. Know, CS Lewis is loved by so many, young and old,

and has this, you know, and people are fascinated in various, they're fascinated in him and about him for various reasons, everything from Narnia through to his theology and his salvation story and everything in between, the romanticizing of Oxford and all the lovely things. And so I thought, and I've studied his work, personally had my study of his work, and then began to read about what people have written about him, reading about the biographies. And I just was immersed in that, loved that story. And so the real question with Louis was, or Jack, as we call him through the book, that was what we wanted to be called, what element do we share? So I had to, the story is called, the book is called The Story Formed Life of C.S. Lewis, and his life was very much formed by imagination, whimsy, story, and then ultimately the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which transformed his life. And so what I did was take and learn about many, many books that he read and did enjoy. And some were just fun, and others really formed who he was and tied those into the chapters. So there was an amazing book to write. Sarah Forbes Bonetta, my youngest daughter, and I quite a few years ago now discovered her biography about her at Her Majesty's Service, I believe it was called. And Sarah Forbes Bonetta was born in West Africa.

Her family was caught up in a raid by a slave trader king in Congo, and very, very traumatic beginning to her young life, and she ended up being captured. And the story is about its a real redemption story, but there's tons of history in there. And it was really important to me to tell the real story. You know, I dug deep into like what was going on here. And one of the Queen's captains, who was an abolitionist, was out there trying to contend with this king. And the story goes that this king in West Africa gave Sarah Forbes Bonetta to the captain to take back to the Queen and say, Give this girl as my gift. Which is crazy for us to think about, even to consider, but the history books tell us this happened and this is true. So the story that I've written is about a young girl who didn't have much choice in this displacement and this complete uprooting, but ended up in England and didn't just end up in England in some home and was just kind of caught up in her system, but she ended up in England and under the care of Queen Victoria of all people. What we know of Aina is her African name. So I refer to both Sarah and Aina. But what they saw on her was that she had royal markings, which were on her skin. And so they knew she came from royalty. And the interesting thing is what was going on. Colonialism and trying to, you know, bring children and men and women out of slavery and out of these entrapped situations, but then wanting to anglicize them in that through and through. So she was baptized, given an English name. And what's interesting is that I know means royalty, born of royalty, and Sarah means princess, which means royalty as well. So a big part of her story that I tried to tell is that even though so much was out of her control. Her identity remained the same, and God intended her to be called royal, as we all are, as men and women of Christ. But that remained the same throughout her story. And I won't tell the whole thing because I want people to read it. You know, when I read that story to my daughter, we were both moved, and it stayed with us. There was something I'd never read it before, never heard of her before, even though she marked part of British history and English history. And so as soon as I had the opportunity, I knew, you know, I want to write her story. This is an important story to write. So, yeah, and I'm thrilled that I got to do that, and she will be, her story needs to be told. It needs to be made known and because there's so much attached to it and in all three of the stories, you know, there are these themes of displacement and grief and there's a lot of sadness and I don't shy away from the hard stuff, even though these books are for children, but I do bring the redemption story through and the story of hope and community and kindness and that all comes through as well. They weren't, well, you've read two of them, but they weren't, you know, these kinds of like fairy tale books to write. I was dealing with some hard stuff, Valerie. I was like, my goodness. I mean, sometimes during the editing, I was in tears, and how do I do this? This is, you know, especially with Sarah's story. Yeah, some parts are heartbreaking. So I hope that obviously my heart is to share these real stories with families that will hopefully learn from them as well as be inspired by their lives.

Valerie -I love the story of these three men and women because they each, like you said, didn't experience a perfect life. It was hard. It was rough. Was seeing both sides of two different cultures in a sense, now, a culture without a Christian idea, a culture with, and like all three of them, which is very unique. But what I love is, you know, for this middle grade age, that eight to 12, they're trying to decide, oh, who am I? What am I? What do I believe about myself? And I love that these three characters go through that journey that we all do. I was in tears. Was it Charlotte Mason's story? Because it is, it's just a story of belonging to God and to know that our value, our purpose, is all wrapped up in who God made us to be, not in what society says about us or our circumstances. And those are just core things that the little child inside of us needs just as much as the children's lives.

Leah -Absolutely and beyond not in not beyond that as an addition but alongside that, all three of the stories. What I find moving, even just writing them, researching. So, what I found as well in discovering these stories and in really just kind of enveloping myself in them is that the relationships they had and the people that they brought around them were key, just as we know, as being part of the body of Christ. So, in all three of these stories, I think what's moving is the impact of their life on other people or how they relate to it. So you'll read in Sarah's story, you know, she has these real female mentors in her life. And these are the kinds of thematic through her stories, that there's a woman at each stage of her life, even though her biological parents had died. God brought alongside her these incredible women to help form and shape who God has made her to be. And we see that in Charlotte, you know, she never married, never had children. She was pretty much alone, but she had these incredible people around her. So much so that there's this woman, Elsie Kitchen, who, after Charlotte died, says, I want to serve this woman in life and death. When I die, I want you to put my gravestone at the foot of her gravestone so people can stand on it to look at her gravestone. And I've stood on it, Valerie, many a time I've stood on that gravestone. And it's powerful that you think we have relationships like that? That that's moving, isn't it, and you know we see that in connections and friendships and relationships that CS Lewis had like with people like Tolkien, and it's just amazing that we get to do our journey with each other, and I hope children capture that as well.

Valerie - I love that too, just how the impact we can have on the people around us. Sarah, Charlotte, and CS Lewis, or Jack, didn't set out to change the world, but they did through their actions and how they treated the people around them, how they interacted and encouraged. It's one of those. I love books. So many wonderful books out there, but to know that these people were people, they were real people. These are not fictionalized characters. They are real

men and women who walk through similar stories that we go through. And it's powerful to walk through biographies and to see people they are struggling alongside me. Even when we look at the Bible, we're looking at, you know, David and Paul and Peter and like, relating to these people and being like, okay, so I even though I could be a loudmouth, I could still be a leader to Peter. So it's powerful what you've done with these books just to help kids see real people walking through hard times as well as finding faith in those hard times too, because that's when you grow up in a Christian home, a lot of times you're like, okay, but when hard times come, you're like, that really shakes your faith and to be like, can I, do I really believe what I've been taught? And I love that you get to walk with these biographies and do the same thing with these men and women who have gone before them. It's really powerful. Leah, did you always want to be a writer?

Leah -I didn't know it when I was a child. I was a big reader, and I was a journaled. Used to journal and do diaries, and I used to write poetry. I wrote poetry in childhood, in my teen years. I still write poetry. I just don't share it very often. Someday, when the time is right, that will be a genre that I jump into. Yeah, yeah, it is. It is a personal thing. And also just

Valerie -Poetry is very personal.

Leah -I'm self-taught, really, so you just want to be able to form that. So I was immersed in all that. My mother and both parents, big readers, and I always had lots of books in the house, but I don't know if I ever, nobody ever said you could become a writer. Like, I didn't know any writers, didn't know any authors. Didn't know anybody who. I had a cousin who went into journalism, but it wasn't part of that dreaming. Like I want to be a writer one day. I don't know if I put myself in that category. I just enjoyed reading books. So, no, it has, it probably wasn't until I was in my, I wanna say definitely into childbearing and rearing years that I considered, maybe this could be part of my life. It was like a little thing that would regularly be on my mind. And then it would be something that I could sense, you know, in a spiritual way, something that was on my heart to do. But I didn't know in what way. So, know, when something you know, when something you can't shake, that's how I describe it. Like I would wake up thinking, I just need to write today. I need to write. Need to write. But I didn't. It wasn't until. Yeah, I mean, gosh, five, six years ago that I even considered publishing journey at all. So, I just knew I needed to get some words on down. Yeah, so that grew in me. I did my part of my undergrad was English literature. Words have always been a great passion of mine. Yeah. That's a long, windy dance, as you are learning.

Valerie -It's a good answer. It's just passion. That's a good thing. Leah, what is a book that has impacted your life a lot other than the Bible?

Leah -Well done for throwing that in. Yes, other than the Bible. I mean, there are many. It's like an easy thing to say, but when you've been reading voraciously for most of your reading life, your ability, then there are many, many books. I love Anything by Wendell Berry, and his books

always stay with me. And one of his books, which is part of the Port William series, is called Hannah Coulter. And the Coulters are a family of people that he writes about, he's a male author, obviously, the man, but he's writing the book as her. And it is incredible. You forget that he's writing as her. But there's this powerful story of a wife and a mother that is it's just so moving. I've read it quite a few times. I've read it in the book club that I lead, you can, got, and it's an international book club. So we're all on Zoom and you've got us all like weeping and reading bits out, and it's just really incredible. So yeah, if you haven't read, if you haven't read Wendell Berry, the listeners, I would, and you love reading, then I'd encourage you to jump in. Jayber Crowe, Hannah Coulter so they're two of my favorites, but I think they are the ones. There are many, many books, but there are a few that have stuck with me.

Valerie -Those are sweet. Have to add them to my TBR for sure. Well, what can we expect next from you, Leah?

Leah - Well, hopefully, Valerie, more of the same. That's what we're working towards. I haven't started anything yet. I've got my next three ideas of the people that I'd like to introduce to children. So hopefully more of the same for now. And obviously, Ina's book comes out in August. And then, yeah, watch out. Who knows? I might get some poetry out there. Yeah.

Valerie - I'll be watching out for that, for sure. Well, Leah, where can people find out more about you and your books?

 Leah- I'm really easy to find, actually leahboden.com. I did well on the whole domain name there. So, www.leahboden.com or my kind of tag name on Instagram and everywhere else as well is Modern Miss Mason, also the title of my first book. So, www.modernmissmason.com or www.leahboden.com all send you to the same place. I'm mostly the two places that I'm on most of the time are Instagram, which is Modern Miss Mason, and Substack is where I host my online community, which is called the Collective Community. And so that's a growing global online community where we read together, I do workshops and coaching, and all that kind of stuff. So, you can find out all about that on my website.

Valerie -How wonderful, I'll make sure to have those links in the descriptions for sure. Thank you for joining me today, Leah.

Leah -Thank you. Thank you for having me. This has been great.

Valerie - And thank you for joining Leah and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed, and let us know in the comments what is a smell that brings back fond memories for you. And be sure to like and subscribe to discover more great books together.

Happy Reading.

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