At her home in the English countryside, Robin McKinley talks about her writing and discusses the magical power of the Damarian people - the people who populate her Newbery Award-winning books The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. -20 mins

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Topics for classroom discussion and assignments:

• Robin McKinley says that her favorite kinds of music include opera and heavy metal.  Discuss, and then write about, your favorite kinds of music. Give specific examples of songs or pieces of music and explain what you like about them.

• The author is asked about her hope for our planet.  She is optimistic in her outlook of the planet succeeding. Write what you believe is the future of our planet. What will it be like in 50 years? 100 years? 1,000  years?

• Robin McKinley is a writer of fantasy. She believes that when you write fantasy you make up your own rules and stick to those rules. These rules cannot be changed.  Make up a short fantasy story of your own — or take one of Robin McKinley’s characters and write a new story about him or her.

• In some of Robin McKinley’s literature she has created monsters. Write a creative description of a monster and then draw an illustration of the monster that matches the written description.