Interview with Evonne Krell, author of The Tower

We enjoyed this book so much I had to share it! The Tower by Evonne Krell is a Selah Award winning chapter book that follows the adventures of three children at the Tower of Babel. It’s got dinosaurs, Nimrod, crazy storms and pterodacytols–all the exciting elements of the early post-flood period. It would be a perfect read-aloud for homeschoolers studying ancient history. 

Evonne graciously agreed to do a Q and A with me so that readers could learn more about this book!

Q and A with Evonne Krell, author of The Tower

What age is The Tower written for? Children ages 7–11

If you could time-travel to the days right after the flood and pick one (currently extinct) animal to bring back, what would it be? Leviathan! I want to see what it looked like (based on the description in Job 41).

What excites you about writing and story? I love the creative process of following my characters once I’ve outlined the main plot points. I put myself in the story to hear what they’d say and what they’d do when I place them in various situations.

What was your goal in writing The Tower? I wanted to help children today connect with what it would be like to experience the confusion of languages at Babel.

Do you have any advice for young writers? Read a lot! You can learn good writing techniques from fiction and nonfiction books and articles.

What else do you write? I write church curriculum, short stories and articles, and books for children.

What were some of the challenges in writing about the peoples and customs of the early post flood people? It was hard to find specific details that I wanted to know about their daily life, like what games children played back then, which animals were considered pets, or what responsibilities children handled.

Were there any archaeological findings you were able to lean on in researching the book, or do we have any from that time period? I researched all the possible sites for the original tower of Babel, and it was interesting to see where those are located and what archaeologists found for its size based on the foundation.

Connect with Evonne on her website, where you can find out more about her writing and download free activity pages to go with the book (perfect for if you’re doing a read-aloud with younger kids!)