Margaret Blair

Hi! I'd like to tell you something about myself and my books.

About Me:

I was raised in Glencoe, Illinois, one of the lakeside towns north of the Windy City. I grew up just a few blocks from Lake Michigan and spent many of my summer days swimming in its cold waters.

I was a happy kid but always harbored a secret desire to see the big, wide world -- especially the exotic Orient. So I studied international relations and Japanese in college and soon afterwards landed a teaching job in Japan.

My next big adventure was joining the Peace Corps. I asked them to send me to a nice warm country and I wound up in Thailand. I taught at a small college on the Gulf of Siam for two years and returned with another Peace Corps volunteer, Bob, whom I married shortly thereafter. On our long way home, we worked at a kibbutz in Israel (Bob picked bananas and I sorted apples), bummed around the Greek islands, and backpacked through Europe. Those were the days!

After getting my MA in International Relations, I worked as a reporter covering international trade, particularly focusing on Japan. I got tired of economic writing, though, and decided to try my hand at something more creative. I was also growing more and more interested in history. Just as I loved traveling and studying exotic cultures in my youth, in middle age I liked the idea of time traveling to the past.

When my older son became interested in the Civil War when he was in the third grade, we took him and his brother on trips to Civil War battlefields and reenactments. Watching my two sons reenact battles in our back yard gave me inspiration for a kids' book: two quarreling brothers who are Civil War reenactors wind up time traveling back to the real war, and become enemies on the battlefield. That concept developed into Brothers at War, which was published by White Mane in 1997, and the rest, as they say, is history.

All of my books contain a strong historical element, and I teach a workshop on writing historical novels at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. I've also had a lot of fun interviewing other historical novelists for programs at the Smithsonian Associates. I was thrilled when I got to interview two of my all-time favorite authors: Charles Frazier (Cold Mountain) and Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha).

About My Books:

I think history should be fun and exciting, and I hope my books are that way, too.

Historical Fiction

In this series of three books (for grades 5 and up), teenaged Civil War reenactors Rob and Jamie Henry, with their friend Sarah Singleton, travel back in time to the U.S. Civil War. In Brothers at War, they journey back to the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of fighting in American history. In House of Spies, they get involved in Civil War espionage in Washington, D.C., and in The Sand Castle, they must deal with crews attempting to run past the Union naval blockade near Wilmington, North Carolina, and get caught up in the Battle of Fort Fisher.

Brothers at War
1996, White Mane Publishing Company, Incorporated

“The time travel device works well in this story, allowing the characters to experience events from the past without romanticizing them . . . Young history buffs will enjoy this journey back in time.”
--ALA Booklist


House of Spies
1999, White Mane Publishing Company, Incorporated

“Margaret Blair’s exciting tale of time travel, espionage and a nation divided will fire the imagination of today’s young people, inspiring them to learn more about the Civil War and the fascinating personalities that make that era so compelling.”
–Brian Pohanka, Author and Television Civil War Commentator


The Sand Castle
2005, White Mane Publishing Company, Incorporated

“What a great way to learn history! Blair takes readers on a wild ride back to North Carolina in the midst of the Civil War. Suspense, humor, and fast-paced action abound in this carefully researched story.”
--Elisa Carbone, author of Stealing Freedom and Storm Warriors

Nonfiction

The National Geographic Society will soon publish my first nonfiction history book for middle school students entitled The Roaring 20. It's about the first cross-country air race for women held in 1929 in which Amelia Earhart was just one of the 20 fascinating pilots. I am in awe of the bravery of those women and especially enjoyed getting to know the daughter of the woman who won that race. The book will be released for Women's History Month (March) of 2006. I am now researching another book for Black History Month in 2008.

The Roaring 20
2006, National Geographic

“Superbly illustrated with fifty evocative duotone photographs, and featuring a detailed National Geographic map of the route, this is a book to capture the imagination and dreams of young girls from coast to coast.”
--National Geographic Children's Books Catalog

Available for purchase Jan. 10 on-line and in bookstores. Hardcover ISBN 0-7922-5389-2. Also will be made available in a library binding edition.

I am more than happy to come to schools for classroom talks- Click here for details, or please email me at 4blairshere2@comcast.net. I'd love to hear from you!