An Interview with Valerie Walker
My guest today is Calgary author, Valerie Walker.
Welcome, Valerie. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your work?
Thanks Simon, it’s a pleasure to be here. I’m self-published and am the author of four books in the Hedley the Hedgehog series, two time-travel historical fiction books set in Calgary and Kananaskis Country, and one YA adventure novel set in Italy in the summer of 1956. I first began writing around 1989, but didn’t
publish my first book, The Adventures of Hedley the Hedgehog, until 1998.
Where do you get your ideas from?
I’d actually started an adventure novel but put it aside when my partner suggested I should write a book for kids. I thought about my own childhood. During World War II, I spent several summers with my aunt in the country. She told me that if I put out a bowl of milk every night, hedgehogs would come to drink. I did as she suggested and was thrilled while watching these fascinating little creatures. One of my playmates was also on holiday from Wales, so he and I made homes for the hedgehogs from apple boxes. Of course, they escaped, but we kept on doing it anyway. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to write a story, so I did so and set it in Wales, naming the hedgehog after the little playmate, Hedley. Hedley meets a little mouse named Marvin, and together they travel with the old grandfather and James to their new home on a farm in Somerset, where they have many adventures along the way, including being captured, and escaping from a poacher.
There are two other books about Hedley’s adventures with Marvin. The second is Hedley’s Celtic Adventure. Hedley is digging in the garden for worms and comes across a Celtic ring. He hears the old grandfather say it could be part of a treasure, so Hedley follows his nose and with the help of other woodland creatures does indeed turn up a treasure which has been missing for fifty years.
Hedley’s Magical Adventure is the third book in the series. Hedley and Marvin overhear the old grandfather talking with the curator of the museum about visiting the abandoned site where the treasure had been found. When the curator and grandfather get into the car, Hedley and Marvin hide in the spare wheel. The abandoned site is a very gloomy place, and Marvin hides in the undergrowth, but Hedley follows his nose again and tumbles down a hole, is rescued by a mole, and the two of them stumble into a secret cavern where they meet Merlin himself and begin a brand-new adventure.
Tell us about Mystery in the Attic.
Mystery in the Attic is set in Calgary on the eve of Alberta becoming a province. Jamie, a descendant of James, is visiting his cousins, who live in an old house in Calgary. James brings with him three gifts he found hidden behind the old standing stone on the farm in Somerset back in England. While exploring the old house, they find a hidden room and a painting of the house when it was first built. They’re admiring it when a figure of an old man in a top hat, carrying a cane with a crystal handle, appears in the painting. He speaks to them and explains that the three gifts are in fact portals enabling them to travel back in time. He then invites them into the painting to take part in a series of events which lead up to the celebration of Alberta being made a province.
What about The Quest for Kananaskis?
The Quest for Kananaskis takes place when three teenagers are hiking in the Kananaskis area in Alberta. Anne finds an unusual stone with the calcite outline of a dancing man. They decide to take it to show their dad. Anne slips the stone into her pocket, unaware that she’s awakened an evil spirit of the man who attacked the young brave with an axe. It was John Palliser who named the area after this young brave who survived his injuries. The teenagers know of this story, and while talking about it, they come across a coyote who leads them back in time, where they search for the brave, not knowing that they have inadvertently aroused the evil brave, who is now determined to find Kananaskis and finish him off.
The inspiration for this story came about while hiking in Kananaskis area. We’d stopped to sit on a bench, where I found an unusual rock. While sitting and chatting, I looked up and saw a coyote trot down the pathway. He stopped for a moment when he saw us, then continued down and stood right in front of us, just looking us over. We tried shooing him away, but he didn’t budge. Finally, he realized that there were no handouts to be had and kept on trotting down the path. We continued our hike, then I stopped and announced that I knew what I was going to write about. My friends wanted to know more, but all I could tell them was that it had to do with an unusual stone and a coyote.
Tell us about Looks Can Kill, the exciting adventure set in Italy in 1956.
Looks Can Kill, a young adult novel, came about when I was looking through some old manuscripts and came across one that I’d started in my writing class. I was given a photograph of a young blond-haired girl, on a boat on which she was sailing, and was asked to write the first page of a story. I did, and when I read it out in class, several people asked me what happened next. I replied that I had no idea but went home and wrote three more chapters before putting it in a drawer and forgetting about it, as I’d started the first book of the Hedley series.
I read it and wondered where the rest of the story was, then remembered that I’d never finished it. The next day I continued the story and turned it into an adventure novel involving a young Canadian art student who was hiking in Italy with friends in the summer of 1956. When her friends are called back to Canada, she decides to continue to Naples on her own. She accepts a ride from a young Englishman, who is also travelling alone. Her idyllic holiday soon turns to a nightmare when she’s kidnapped and held captive because of her striking resemblance to a young woman who’s just been killed in a car crash. Her captor threatens that if she doesn’t comply with his plan, he’ll kill the innocent Englishman.
It’s a fast-paced story with surprising twists and turns that take her from the lush vineyards of Tuscany, to Naples, Rome, and the island of Sardinia.
What are you currently working on?
The latest book, Hedley the Hoglet of Sunbury Farm, came about because of readers wanting to know more about hedgehogs. It is, in fact, a prequel to The Adventures of Hedley the Hedgehog, and is set on the farm in Somerset, where a female hedgehog gives birth to five hoglets. It soon becomes obvious to the young mother that Hedley is going to be a handful as he’s constantly getting into trouble and is much more adventurous than his siblings. The mother teaches her family all she can about hunting for food, hiding from predators, and how they should trust the old grandfather and his grandson, James. It’s the beginning of a strong bond between the little hoglet, Hedley, and James, the lonely young ten-year-old who’s missing his friends and parents. He’s delighted when his grandfather tells him they’ll be moving from Wales to Somerset to live there with his daughter and her family. James is very happy that he’ll be able to go to school with his cousin, Robert. It flows right into The Adventures of Hedley, where the grandfather agrees to take the young hoglet with them to live on the farm.
Do you do lots of research for some of your books?
I did quite a bit of research for the time travel books. The history of Alberta becoming a province and the story of a brave who survived an axe blow to the head. Evidently, John Palliser heard of the story and decided to name the area after the brave, who was known as Kananaskis. I did research into the indigenous peoples who hunted in the area and chose to go with the Kutenai tribe. They hunted and fished in the area every summer, but their teepees were made differently and they played flutes. I was pleased to discover that the old curator of Calgary’s Glenbow Museum also thought that Kananaskis was from the Kutenai tribe.
What are you currently working on?
Where can people learn about your books?
The Adventures of Hedley the Hedgehog and Hedley the Hoglet of Sunbury Farm are available from Barnes and Noble and Writers’ Branding. They’re also available along with my other books through my website at www.hedleythehedgehog.com
