Jen's Five Children's Books About Children's Books

Okay, so I was all set to work on a grim list of dystopic books starting with The Handmaid's Tale and Native Tongue, and then thankfully I noticed a brand new picture book by Andrea Davis Pinkney about Ezra Jack Keats, author of The Snowy Day*. I picked it up and was won over by her tribute to both a poor Jewish child of immigrant parents and the African American child he chose to bring to life in stories designed to diversify the world of picture books. And then I thought simultaneously of the nearly-as-new bio of E.B. White and the rather older story of Margret and H.A. Rey escaping the Nazis. And a more compassionate list was born.

A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson (Viking, $18.99)
The publishers of The Snowy Day were on the side of diversity, too, even back in 1962. Keats was expecting to use a snow sculpture on the cover, and his editor insisted he use an image of Peter instead.

Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, $18.99)
Another heartfelt tribute. An illustrated biography full of collages of images and letters and early drafts of White's books. Note: Charlotte's Web didn't originally have that arresting first line the world has come to know and love...

The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden, illustrated by Allan Drummond (Houghton Mifflin, $8.99)
The Reys were German Jewish expatriates living in Paris when the Nazis swept through France. They escaped by bicycle shortly before the occupation of the city, and among their few possessions was the manuscript of Curious George. This book, beautifully illustrated, follows the story of their lives, both before and after their daring escape.

Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw by Deborah Kogan Ray (Viking, $16.99)
This is the story of the creator of the classic book Millions of Cats, and her struggles to keep art in her life while helping her family. Her name, by the way, rhymes with bog, not bag. (Assuming you pronounce "bog" with an "ah".) She added the accent herself. And Deborah Kogan Ray is a local author who's read at our Kids' Literary Festival!

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Little, Brown, $18.00)
Before Winnie was immortalized as Winnie-the-Pooh, she was a small brown bear, rescued in wartime and taken to the London Zoo, where she met a kid named Christopher Robin. Actually met. Meaning he was allowed into the enclosure, and they got to hang out together.

*which last year passed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the store's number one bestseller.

Author Interview: Lorrie Kim

by Jennifer Sheffield

Hi, Lorrie! Congratulations on the release of Snape: A Definitive Reading -- Looking forward to seeing you at the release party tonight (more details below)! Here is my synopsis:

The first line of Snape: a Definitive Reading tells us, “The Harry Potter series may be named after the Boy Who Lived, but if you want to know the story, keep your eyes fixed on Snape.” As readers already know by the end of Deathly Hallows, Severus Snape, with his hidden stories and intense emotions and ever-ambiguous actions, holds the keys to Harry’s hidden stories, and to many of the events of the series, from beginning to end, and beyond. What may not have occurred to us is how the series looks, from beginning to end, when seen through Snape’s eyes. Lorrie Kim has woven together a picture of Snape’s motives and internal processes that both rounds out the story and gives new, even comforting, perspectives to what are, for me, some of the hardest moments of Rowling’s series. It’s a beautifully consistent and thorough picture of a powerful and complex person.

How did this book come about? I know you’ve presented papers at academic Harry Potter conventions. Did you draw on that work in putting together your definitive reading?

Story Spring Publishing approached me about a nonfiction book on Snape. The original plan was to draw on my conference presentations and adapt them into a book. But I found that those shorter papers tended to be topical and to skip around the timeline of the series in making focused arguments, whereas for a sustained book, it made more sense to go chronologically through the series and look at how Rowling developed characters and revelations. I also found that many of my readings had changed. I ended up including many of the ideas from those papers, but not much of the wording.

What kinds of insights have you gained about the series from other people’s presentations?

I have such clear memories of moments when other people’s arguments inspired me. I mention a couple of them in the book. For example, in 2009, I heard psychologist Mara Tesler Stein explain that a Patronus is a mirror of one’s most loving self, and that when Harry first attempts to cast one, he can’t because he’s using the wrong kind of memories. When he uses memories of loving connection between people, the spell works. That stunned me – there are right and wrong kinds of memories for happiness spells? It opened my eyes to the way Rowling uses magical imagery to express psychological truths. It made so many readings possible to me. It helped me understand that when Rowling shows people emanating silvery magical light, it has to do with their individual selves – she might say “souls” – but when she shows golden light, it’s about the glow that comes of love between people. Which helped me understand why the dome of light between Voldemort and Harry is golden, and how that threatens Voldemort. Which made me think about wand cores connected through golden light, and how Harry and Voldemort are similar at the core. Which made me think about Hufflepuff colors of yellow and black, which gave me the notion that one trait of Hufflepuffs is that they believe we are all the same at the core.

This cascading effect of mental connections happens to me so frequently when I listen to other people’s presentations based on a text we have in common. I know I’ve had similar reactions listening to Hilary K. Justice or Mark Oshiro. It doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with that person’s readings, just that their way of seeing illuminates something for me and brings more and more understanding.

Does JKR pay attention to analyses of this sort? Have you ever interacted with her yourself?

My understanding is that Rowling knows better than to delve into the ever-growing pile of words that people write about her glorious fiction. She’s been so influential that there’s too much of it for a single author to process, anyway. I cannot begin to envision how much feedback is directed toward her, how many entreaties, whether from literary critics, politicians, non-government organizations that crave her support, teachers, the publishing industry, or individual readers. I approve fiercely of anything she does to safeguard her creative energy and sanity. It floors me that she was even able to publish the seventh Harry Potter book, considering the pressure surrounding her, the multiple international businesses that were financially dependent upon her delivering a finished manuscript, the din of the fans and detractors debating what they thought she ought to achieve with that final installment. That she has gone on to create more fiction to please herself is something that both uplifts me and gives me a growling laugh of pleasure. I have never met her and don’t expect to. She gives so much, through continued publishing in revolutionary formats, through Twitter, and through her fascinating charity work. I appreciate that abundance.

I find that a reference quote from a book I’ve read can bring the original scene powerfully to mind. In this way, reading your book has left me feeling as though I’ve just crammed the entire Harry Potter series into my head in a few days, on fast-forward! Have you had times during the process where you feel you’re living the series?

Not the series, no. But the psychological realities depicted in the stories, yes. For example, a few years ago, I had a terrible argument with someone in which I was greatly at fault, and I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t stand the sight of this person. I was also conscious of the things this person had done to create the fight and contribute to it. Eventually, I approached them to give a full apology, mentioning only my own part in it and my regret, but it was never easy to see that person’s face again after that. I was surprised when they apologized for their own part – I didn’t expect or require that – but it was gratifying to take that as evidence that they believed I was sincere. That whole episode helped me understand Slughorn, in his shame, altering his memory and running away from Harry. It was the only thing that helped me understand how Snape could possibly convince himself of such whole-cloth lies as Harry enjoying his fame – I couldn’t forget how ashamed and guilty I felt when I behaved badly toward someone, and how hard it was to stop thinking angry thoughts about them. I never enjoyed glimpsing this person again, even after the mutual apology. This made me understand why Rowling shows that Harry and Draco never become friends, why Rowling has said in interview that Harry gets Snape a portrait in the headmaster’s office but never feels the urge to go visit it. Not every conflict has to end in forgiveness and friendship. And if I want stories of enmity that turns into closeness, I feel as though I can find those stories more easily. I appreciate that the series gives stories of resolution without friendship.

After a discussion about Gryffindors and Slytherins generalizing and demonizing each other’s entire House, you say of Chamber of Secrets that “This entire volume is about the danger of dormant resentments that can be awakened in an atmosphere of suspicion.” Later on, you mention that “The Inquisitorial Squad may be hand-picked by Umbridge, but as individuals, they are just as expendable to her as the other students. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix provides young readers with extraordinarily precise insight into the thinking of tyrants.” Do you feel these issues have particular relevance with current events?

I’ve thought about these elements of Harry Potter so often during the ghastly news of shootings, bombings, and other large-scale crimes of hate. Rowling repeatedly poses the question in her series: What kind of monster would kill a baby? This is a war crime. How does a person become that? How do we allow it to happen? It resonates with me particularly when we hear that a mass murderer has very recently declared allegiance to a larger terrorist group. This is how Voldemort attained followers. Rowling showed, through that character, a tyrant who had his own agenda, internally inconsistent and mad, which he shared with no one. He identified the agendas and weaknesses of others and appealed to them, giving people whatever would feed their own unhealthy appetites, which would distract them from looking at him too clearly. Teen Snape fell for this, like many others who became Death Eaters while young. He was an unstable, vengeful person who was hungry for the grandiosity promised by Voldemort. Voldemort’s actual aims weren’t even compatible with Snape’s desires, but it didn’t matter. We see this in the news when we investigate claims of ties to terrorist groups. Those ties don’t always go deep.

As for current events such as the xenophobia driving Brexit or the chilling spectacle of this year’s U.S. presidential campaign…yes. When I read quotes from British citizens about what they thought it would accomplish to leave the European Union, I could only picture Uncle Vernon. When I see politicians egging on angry, resentful voters to commit acts of violence and other crimes, it’s agonizing to see how the voters are being duped – as though these politicians have any empathy at all for these people whose votes they want, as though they won’t betray these voters in an instant for their own convenience. I think the Potter series is brilliant in showing us the feelings behind such conflicts. The difference between someone using people without caring, like Umbridge using Draco but distrusting him, and someone willing to give actual help, like Dumbledore offering to put Draco’s entire family into hiding. Those things feel different. Stories reach us and help us know that.

The gift of the Harry Potter series, to me, is that it’s so widely read, such a shared text, that episodes from the series can be used to communicate about complex issues. If you sense that a politician is an Umbridge, know that nothing good can come of allying with her. If you read demonstrably false negative press about a public figure, know that it might reflect an agenda that has nothing to do with that person – that Stan Shunpike might not be a Death Eater, that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets and Fudge sent him to Azkaban anyway, for his own political gain.

In this book, you get inside more characters’ heads than just Snape. One of the things that most surprised me in reading it was your insight into Hermione, including both her thoughts about and her connections to her potions professor, throughout the series. Were you noticing this in your original reads of the books, or did it come out through working on the analysis?

The dynamic between Hermione and Snape always drew my notice. It puzzled me. I found her disavowal of “books and cleverness” at the end of the first book to be problematic; I sensed something unresolved in the author because I don’t feel satisfied that we are shown why Hermione would believe this enough to blurt it out at such a pressured moment. I found her patience with Snape, while he alternately ignored and insulted her, to be curious. I had to remind myself, a few times, to write less about their dynamic for this book. The dynamic between Snape and Harry should be the central one for writing about Snape’s story, whether or not I personally find Hermione to be a more intriguingly written character than the titular hero.

I was pleased to see the attention you gave to bullying and discrimination, and to the importance of protection and de-escalation. It’s important to recognize the ways that some teachers, even the nice ones, can be complicit in encouraging these kinds of harmful behaviors, and that some teachers, even the bullying ones, can work to limit the damage such behaviors cause.

Chapter 3, “Severus Snape and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” was by far the hardest for me to write. I thought I knew the series pretty well, but on my re-read for writing this book, I kept finding surprise after surprise when I started to delve into what Lupin and Snape were really thinking throughout that year. I think many readers resist seeing that Lupin, as well as Snape, inflicted damage in his teaching, because Snape’s harmful classroom behavior is so outrageous. It can feel as though acknowledging Lupin’s wrongdoings might mean letting go of the reader’s enjoyment of his retorts to Snape. I may be proudest of that chapter because I think perhaps, when you read it, you can sense the energy I felt from making new connections rather than writing about things I’d been considering for some time.

This continual experience of new connections, more than anything, captures why I love the Harry Potter series so much. I’m well above the target age group for the writing and I’ve written about the series for years, but every single time I re-read the books, I find new things. Rowling has created something extraordinarily complex. When the series was not yet finished and some critics argued that it was not, and would never be, good enough to become a classic, I remember the scholar Hilary K. Justice saying at a conference, “Does it reward re-reading?” For me, at least, it’s a resounding yes.

What was the writing process like for you? Did you have everything pieced out and then stitch it together like a quilt? Did you find that new connections came to you while you were writing? Did anything surprise you in creating this book?

The writing process involved thanking my husband and children repeatedly for managing without me while I wrote frantically. I created a painstaking outline that hit all the themes I wanted to cover and then ended up ditching the whole thing and just going chronologically through the series, as is, I think, appropriate for analyzing the writing of a mystery story. New connections came to me as I re-read in preparation for writing, and then I had to be disciplined about writing only what I had in my notes and not rambling further.

Probably the thing that surprised me the most this time was the realization that Snape truly believed, based on evidence, that Lupin was deliberately grooming Harry to trust him because he was planning to bite Harry while in werewolf form. I never understood that before and it’s shockingly dark. Rowling is so good at resisting the temptation to spell things out; she keeps some things subtextual or completely unspoken, granting so much respect to her young readers and their ability to read deeply. Turns out that her subtlety is often wasted on some of us middle-aged readers, too. Every re-read leaves me wondering what else I’ll find the next time I go back.

Do you have other projects that you’d like to tell us about?

I’ve been thinking about the reading of Harry Potter from the point of view of parents, transmitting this story to the next generation, reading it together as a family, participating in the transformation of the series from a publishing phenomenon into a children’s classic, embedding it into the popular culture. So my next project will be to put together a proposal and find an agent for that!

Excellent. We'll look forward to reading it!

And now for our "3 for 3" book questions:

1. What were 3 of your favorite books from childhood/teen years?

I just had fun answering this in my interview with Book Jawn Podcast!
For them, I said Jane Eyre, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Let me think of different answers for you…

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
I was obsessed with this book when I was 6 and 7.

A Bargain for Frances, Russell Hoban
One of the most brilliant books I think I’ve read for any age group. So complex, and rewards dozens – hundreds – of re-reads, just as the Harry Potter series does.

The Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder
I nearly had it memorized. To this day, deep down, I probably still believe (incorrectly) that I know how to make cheese or plane a shingle because of those books. Their romantic depictions of cooking, sewing, knitting, and quilting definitely inspired me to learn those skills.

2. What are 3 books that you've read recently that surprised you?

I have read almost no books this year, since I was busy writing this one!

One of them, though, has been Immanence, a short story collection edited by J.L. Aldis. Full disclosure: some of the stories were written by people I’ve come to know because I’ve read and admired their fiction online, for free. What surprised me is that these profoundly well-edited short stories are even higher in quality than the stories that made me want to seek out these authors and leave them glowing reviews. That kind of stunned me, actually. And made me appreciate anew that no matter how much we enjoy the explosion of different platforms for writing these days, the fact of knowing that something will be published between physical book covers can elevate even the best writers to achieve more.

I’ve read the Hamiltome, of course. Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. I bought it from Big Blue Marble, in fact. It was another experience of being surprised at what we can give ourselves permission to achieve, how much ambition we’re allowed to indulge. The wit of the Revolutionary-era typefaces and phrasing kept delighting me. The matching of different songs to different behind-the-scenes stories about the musical or the cast felt so deep, so satisfying. Such a good matching game.

And honestly, those are the only two books I’ve read recently that surprised me. So many of my friends are writers who work in different media, such as serialized web fiction or online cultural critique, that I read almost no actual books while I was writing Snape. I did enjoy a web comic called Check, Please (omgcheckplease.tumblr.com) that surprised me with a whole new world of collegiate slang that was fun to learn. The characters play hockey, about which I know less than nothing, but I was lured into reading it because it also contains figure skating, pastry, gay love stories, and feminist food studies, all of which are very much my areas.

3. What are 3 books that influence/d your work?

I have never thought of this question in reference to my own nonfiction writing! It’s a question I associate more with novelists. Hmm.

I mentioned this to Book Jawn Podcast, too. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Annette Gordon-Reed taught me so much about how to construct arguments using common sense. This book was published before DNA evidence vindicated those who maintained, despite racist denial, that Jefferson did have a slave wife and children. The author’s meticulous scholarship won my respect and awe, but it was her extremely dry humor that won my heart.

The Power of Beauty by Nancy Friday. I think that book had a very mixed critical reception, and I don’t love all of it. I do, however, love the risks she takes with her leaps of intuition, delving into powerful emotions and using those as her starting points. That strategy means she will sometimes miss the mark, but when she hits, she hits deep. As a reader, those hits make her book worth it to me, and I probably learned something from her about including intuition when writing critical nonfiction.

The Bones of the Others by Hilary K. Justice. I encountered this writer through her Harry Potter work, and that led me to her work on Hemingway. I experienced so much meditative bliss when reading along with some of her analyses. Like the Hamiltome, I felt that her work gave permission to indulge in ambition, not to hold back. This writer likes to analyze word by word, and then to analyze the spaces between the words, some of which are silences and some not. I think Snape would appreciate the beauty in this approach.

Thank you so much for joining us, Lorrie!

Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

Lorrie Kim lives in Philadelphia, PA with her clever, grumpy, magical spouse and their Harry Potter-reading offspring, one born between Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince and one in gestation during the publication of Deathly Hallows.

Thanks for reading!!! If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order a copy of Snape: A Definitive Reading. You can also come to Lorrie's Book Launch Party, TONIGHT, Saturday, July 30, 8:30pm, In the midst of our Harry Potter and the Cursed Child series of events! If you can't make the party, you can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Five Journals Mariga Loves

                

Rainforest Decomposition Book (Michael Roger, Inc., $8.00)

Anorak Rabbits Notebook (Quadrille Publishing, $10.95)

Peacock Handmade Embroidered Journal (Galison Books, $14.99)

Jackie Morris Notebooks (set of three, Jackie Morris, $15.99)

Oz Passport Notebook (Unemployed Philosophers Guild, $3.25)

Mariga Temple-West, November 2015

        

Author Interview: Galen Longstreth

by Jennifer Sheffield

Hi, Galen! I’ve really been enjoying Yes, Let’s since we heard you read at the bookstore’s Kids’ Literary Festival in May. We took the book with us on a camping trip this summer, and it was a lot of fun to read and ponder, even inspiring a timed family photo in the woods!

I understand the story is based on a game you played growing up. What was the game like? How did you arrive at the idea to base a book on it?

At summer camp one summer I learned an improv game called Yes, Let’s. The version we played entailed a group of eight or ten campers. One would make a suggestion, something like, “Let’s run over to the creek!” And the whole group would respond, “Yes, let’s!” We always had to say yes, and we ran all over camp doing silly things. It was exciting and fun, and I loved the positive spirit of it. I still love saying, “Yes, let’s” when someone makes a suggestion for something to do.

Yes, Let’s is a wonderful exploration of hiking and nature. Did you do day trips like this a lot with your family? Do you do much hiking yourself these days?

My family did lots of hiking, camping, and day trips when I was growing up in Seattle. We spent a lot of time outdoors with our dog in the woods near our home or farther afield in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains. Now I’m a city girl and I love living without a car. The trade off is that I don’t get to the woods very often. My husband and I go on a backpacking trip every year. Our favorite so far on the east coast has been Bond Cliff in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

What was the writing and publishing process like for you, as the writer of a picture book?

I wrote this book for fun while I was getting my MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. A person I knew in Portland, Oregon, who publishes comic books liked it and bought it. His company, Tugboat Press, published the book as a small, staple-bound paperback, and people liked it! Later I sold it to Tanglewood, and the hardcover edition was born. I’ve been very lucky to have had a great experience with my first book.

How much input did you have for the illustrations? Once the illustrator was assigned to the book, did you get to make requests/suggestions? If so, what kinds, and how did that process work?

Usually a writer doesn’t have any say about the illustrations, but Tugboat Press encouraged me to be involved with the illustrator for Yes, Let’s from the very beginning of the process. We auditioned different artists and chose Maris Wicks. I provided detailed illustration notes for her, and we talked about the number of characters, their personalities, and specific moments to include, like the dog shaking off after a swim and spraying the father. On top of all this, Maris added her own details to the pictures, and a lot of humor. I had ideas, but she’s the expert!

I love the distinct and well-illustrated personalities of the kids and parents. Are they at all like your own family? Is there someone who seems most like you?

In my family, there are three kids. My younger brother, my older sister, and me, right in the middle. I wanted the family in Yes, Let’s to have four kids so that every page would be bursting with energy – lots of activity, lots of personality. Also, my father grew up in a family with four children, and this always fascinated me when I was a child. What would that have been like? So it was fun to play with that in the book. The only explicit link between a character and someone in my family is the boy with the yoyo. On one of our family vacations my sister got a yoyo and did not stop playing with it for a solid week. She had that yoyo going in the hotel room, at the gas station, outside a restaurant waiting for a table – anywhere she could. It became one of our family stories and I love having been able to include it in Yes, Let’s.

Throughout the book, there are all sorts of little surprises -- details and connections from page to page, or on the inside covers. Micah (age 3) liked the morning and evening owl, and some of the other animals that repeat throughout the book; I also liked the lists and photos...and the various footwear issues. Were these surprises to you as well? Do you have any favorites?

Yes! Maris included so many wonderful surprises in the pictures. My favorite is the squirrel, which you have to watch carefully during the middle of the book.

Are there going to be more books that feature this family? Do you have current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

Maris and I would love to do another book together. We both have lots of projects going at once, though, so it hasn’t happened yet. I’m working on other picture books (including one biography), and a graphic novel about two best friends at summer camp.

And now for our "3 for 3" book questions:

1. What were 3 of your favorite books from childhood/teen years?

When I was young and reading picture books, I loved Elizabeth by Liesel Moak Skorpen, Peabody by Rosemary Wells, and The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.

2. What are 3 books that you've read recently that surprised you?

The Loopy Coop Hens: Oh No! A Fox! by Janet Morgan Stoeke made me laugh out loud. Cynthia Kadohata’s newest novel, Half a World Away, struck me for its captivatingly destructive and dysfunctional main character. And I love the simplicity and beautiful illustrations of William Low’s new picture book Daytime Nighttime.

3. What are 3 books that influence/d your work?

At the time I was writing Yes, Let’s, and ever since, I’ve paid a lot of attention to successful rhyming picture books. I am in awe of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr., and Roadwork by Sally Sutton. I also love Jamberry by Bruce Degen. These are all wonderful books to read aloud.

Thank you so much for joining us!

Thanks, Jen!

Galen Longstreth grew up on Mercer Island, Washington, where she spent a lot of time outdoors with her family and their dog, Sunday. One summer she learned a game called “Yes, Let’s,” which involved a lot of running and laughing. Galen has taught kindergarten, sold children’s books, and written book reviews. She now lives in Philadelphia and works at Children's Literacy Initiative. Yes, Let’s is her first book.

Thanks for reading!!! If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order a copy of Yes, Let’s. You can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Author Interview: J.L. Powers

by Cordelia Jensen

Your newest book is a picture book, though you’ve written three young adult novels (one of which I'll ask about later in the interview). Can you tell us a bit about how the writing process felt different for Colors of the Wind?

You know, every book is different. I’ve never had a “same” experience with any of them. I never would have written The Confessional, my first YA novel, if I hadn’t taught at an all-boys Catholic high school. This Thing Called the Future required the time I spent earning two master’s degrees in African history and taking 3 years of Zulu language lessons. But writing an expansive, sprawling novel (if 60,000 words can be called expansive or sprawling) requires many more layers and levels and plot twists than a picture book of a less than a thousand words. For this picture book, I had to distill the story of a person’s life down to its essence. What really matters? What doesn’t? And how to say it in compelling words that are also partly lyrical, easily readable?

Because this is also non-fiction, instead of fiction, I had less leeway. I had to figure out how to characterize “George” while, at the same time, sticking to the facts.

Colors of the Wind is an amazing (and true!) story. Was Colors of the Wind your own idea or did you meet George Mendoza in another context, which led to the idea?

I used to write articles about and do interviews with artists along the U.S-Mexico border for Revista Tradicion, a New Mexico based publication. The editor asked me to write an article about George, a blind artist who, ironically, paints what he sees. I met George and was astonished. He’s blind and what that means for him is that objects are multiplied and reflected back, like a kaleidoscope; and also, he sees things that aren’t really there—eyes floating in the air, suns, etc. So he really does paint what he sees—and the end results are jaw-dropping stunning.

George asked me to consider doing a glossy art book with him. We spent considerable time together talking about his paintings and his life as a result. Over time, I realized that his story would make a great picture book. This was actually a long time ago. I think I wrote it first in 2004 or 2005, maybe? In any case, it was a long long time ago.

George is convinced I never told him that I was doing this, that one day I just sent him an email saying, “Here’s the picture book.” Whether that’s how it happened or not, thankfully, he loved the idea and here we are.

Did you help George choose which of his paintings to use in the book?

Our editor at Purple House Press, Jill, designed the book and chose the paintings, although she did ask for my input. George didn’t choose any of the paintings. Because he’s blind, he actually can’t see his own paintings unless he gets up really really close—and then he can only see part of the painting, not the whole—so he just sent Jill a lot of photos of his artwork and she selected the ones she felt would best work for each page. She did an amazing job. And as you’ll see, she included small pictures of paintings at the end that she loved but couldn’t include.

Are you a visual artist yourself?

I do like to take photographs and, through sheer luck and intuition—certainly not because of training, I’ve shot some interesting pictures over the years, usually of people rather than things or landscapes. I feel like my visual intelligence is very low. Maybe that’s why I’m so interested in what artists do.

This Thing Called the Future is a captivating book. I read it in about two days. One of the most interesting parts about it is Khosi’s struggle between traditional South African medicine and healing practices and Western medicine. I love how her strong belief in both worlds is present from the beginning of the book and come to shape the crux of the novel. How much did you know personally about this struggle in South African belief systems before writing the book?

I knew quite a bit, actually. I have two master’s degrees in African history and have spent a lot of time traveling throughout South Africa. I became really interested in healing and ideas about healing, as well as the problem of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, and I wanted to see how “traditional” medicine had absorbed the biomedical understanding of the disease and its treatment, as well as how ordinary Africans dealt with the clash between the two cultural systems and what kind of hybrid cultures are emerging as a result, all over the continent.

In South Africa, generally speaking, many people choose to visit traditional healers first before they’ll go to a medical doctor. This is partly cultural—because people feel more comfortable with their own culture’s healing traditions—but it’s also more convenient. There are approximately 300,000 traditional healers and only 42,000 doctors—in a country with 4.5 million people. For people living in rural areas, hospitals and clinics may be many hours away but the healer lives just down the street. So naturally, traditional healers are more convenient. Although there has historically been real enmity between medical doctors and traditional healers, many people on both sides have overcome that distrust in order to combat the AIDS epidemic—together. I find that a very interesting trend.

By the way, I think it’s important to note that cultural systems along with traditional medical systems are constantly changing so it’s a bit of a misnomer to use the word “traditional” for traditional healers—as though the things they do now are the same they’ve always done. By contrast, traditional healers are always changing their methods as they learn what works and what doesn’t. Nevertheless, “traditional” is the best word we’ve got so for the time being, it’s the one we use.

Has This Thing Called the Future reached a South African teen audience?

South African publishing and book distribution are really separate from the U.S.’s system so it’s not available cheaply and widely in South Africa though people can find it if they really look. In 2013, I took my family to South Africa and I was able to visit two schools and read from the book as well as talk about my life as a writer. One of those schools is an old, established elite all-girls school in Johannesburg—formerly an all-white school, but now integrated. The other was a “container” school in Cosmo City—classes were held in “containers,” those box-structures frequently lacking windows—where many of the students live in nearby squatter communities. I was received with real interest in both schools but I was struck that the girls in the poorer school were most interested in whether I am a poet, not so much the novelist, and some of the girls got up to recite their own poetry—to standing ovations. In fact, and I have to appreciate this, they got a better reception for their poetry than I did for my book or talk. Next time, I’ll come armed with poetry.

The language in the novel is often breathtaking, like “my emotions are a nest of troubled snakes, slithering and sliding around in my stomach.” As a reader, I felt completely present and taken into Khosi’s world even though in many ways it is vastly different from my own. In your image construction for this novel, did you try and use images you felt were specific to this world or ones any reader could relate to?

I definitely tried to use images that were specific to Khosi’s world. Snakes are really important in Zulu cosmology. A snake that appears before you might be an ancestor trying to get your attention, for example, so the imagery has a great deal of symbolic meaning as well as being an image people can pick up on. But of course, I also wanted my book to be completely accessible to American audiences, so a) I don’t explain the symbolic meaning in the text and b) I tried to choose ways to saying things that would be meaningful to Americans as well.

When you set about to write this book was the devastating impact of AIDS on African people always going to be a major part of the book? Was that what first inspired you to write it? Or did that part come from wanting to write about a girl like Khosi?

When I first went to South Africa in 2006, I was struck by the AIDS statistics, which are worse in KwaZulu-Natal (where Khosi lives) than anywhere else in the country. But I didn’t know I was going to write this book when I went there—I went as part of my graduate program in African History at Stanford University. I lived with a Zulu family and the two teen girls in that family inspired this story. Indeed, one of the girls was named Khosi Zulu, just like my character, and her personality provided me with the beginnings of my own character. I was very worried about those girls growing up in a place where older men see young girls as fair game, and where the majority of girls report their first sexual experiences as violent ones. The two teenagers in the family I lived with were such sweet, innocent girls—and I wasn’t sure if it was possible for them to retain that innocence for very much longer. So I wrote this story.

Can you tell us about any upcoming projects?

I’m working on a fantasy trilogy, co-authored with my brother Matt, also YA. It deals with death but it’s also very humorous.

Although it’s only in the thinking stage, I also plan to write (very soon) a sequel for This Thing Called the Future.

Anything else you would like us to know about these two books or your other books?

I try to write books that matter but are also entertaining. I hope people fall in love with the characters and also enjoy the story, but I also want my books to make people think and to question the status quo.

And now for our “3 for 3” book-related questions:

1.     What were 3 of your favorite books as a child/teen? I loved Anne of Green Gables and related books by L.M. Montgomery; the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder; and the Austin family series by Madeleine L’Engle, in particular A Ring of Endless Light.

2.     What are 3 books you’ve read recently that surprised you? I really enjoyed Jandy Nelson’s second young adult novel I’ll Give You the Sun, which just came out. The language in it really surprised me—extremely poetic, full of wonderful images. I also recently read Little Liberia by Jonny Steinberg. I’m a big fan of Steinberg’s books, but what really surprised me was that my 3½-year-old son wanted me to read that book to him. He was taken by these two stories of two Liberian men who found themselves battling each other in the United States. I also recently fell in love with a picture book, Morris Mickelthwaite and the Tangerine Dress—a beautiful picture book about a little boy who loves a tangerine dress because it reminds him of tigers, sunsets, and his mother’s hair, and how he overcomes the prejudice of the other children in his class in order to keep wearing the dress he loves.

3.     What are 3 books that influence(d) your writing? That’s a hard question to answer because, as a writer, every book I ever read influences my writing in some way. Sometimes I see how a really great book could have been better, or sometimes I’m just jealous of how brilliant a book is, or sometimes I’ll find something in particular (e.g., Jandy Nelson’s colorful writing) that a writer did exceptionally well that I want to mimic or adopt into my own writing.

But in terms of overarching influence, I think the Little House books, as well as Anne of Green Gables books, caused me to see setting as an organic part of a book’s whole. Setting influences plot and characters because setting is not just a physical place where a character happens to live. No, that same character couldn’t exist just anywhere. People are created by their settings, in part, and settings are bound up with culture, history, religion, politics—and all of these specifics have to be accounted for (however minutely) within a character’s growth and development as a person. A book set in Salt Lake City must, by default, be different than a book set in Los Angeles. People tend to understand this when a book’s setting is a foreign locale but not so much when it’s an American city, but it’s just as true for American cities as anywhere else. I get annoyed when I read books and the writer has presented us with a sterile, bland setting, as if it doesn’t matter. That writer has just not stopped to think about how important location is.

Another book that has greatly influenced me is Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood by Benjamin Alire Saenz. I feel like a one-woman-choir preaching about that book because I bring it up everywhere—it’s my favorite young adult novel. I love the setting, of course (the U.S.-Mexico border, where I grew up), but I also love the novel’s ultimate message: that being someone who “matters” has absolutely nothing to do with becoming wealthy, powerful, or beautiful or being noticed by the powerful, wealthy, and beautiful. This message is incredibly important for American teens to hear because they’re not hearing that very many places. One of the most common messages they DO hear is that if you lack wealth, beauty, and/or power, you are a nothing and a nobody and you don’t matter. It fills me with so much rage to realize how that message is proliferated and propagated in all sorts of subtle and not-so-subtle ways in our society, and it’s a message that brings death. Sammy and Juliana is a powerful antidote.

Thanks so much for being with us!

J.L. Powers is the award-winning author of 3 books for young adults (The Confessional, This Thing Called the Future, and Amina) and editor of two collections of essays (Labor Pains and Birth Stories: Essays on Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Becoming a Parent and That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone). Colors of the Wind: the story of blind artist and champion runner George Mendoza is her first picture book. She teaches English at Skyline College in San Bruno, California. You can find her online at www.jlpowers.net, www.thepiratetree.com, or www.motherwritermentor.com.

If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order Colors of the Wind or The Thing Called the Future. You can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Young Writers Interview Author Lisa Graff

by Cordelia Jensen and Story Corners Writing Camp

During the last week of June, the bookstore hosted Story Corners Camp for Young Writers. Led by writer Cordelia Jensen, and intern Sarah Alden, the kids worked on creating Mt. Airy Musers, the new Kids Lit Journal for the neighborhood, worked on their own writing craft and had the chance to visit with two local authors. Lisa Graff, author of many books including Absolutely Almost and A Tangle of Knots, visited with us on Tuesday, June 24th. Lisa played a really fun game of Book Truth or Dare with the kids. And students also got to ask her questions, some of which are answered below. Here is our interview with the talented Lisa Graff: 

Q from Annie: How long does it take you to write a book?

It depends on the book. My longest book to write was Umbrella Summer, which took about three years. Absolutely Almost took the least amount of time of any book I’ve written so far—that one probably took about six months, from first draft to final revision. That’s very quick!

Q from Lucy: How many books have you written?

I’ve written seven middle-grade novels, and two young adult novels (I co-write my young-adult novels under the pen name Isla Neal. Those books are part of the Ever-Expanding Universe trilogy). In addition to that, I have another middle-grade novel, Lost in the Sun, coming out next year, as well as the last book in the trilogy of my YA series. I also have my very first picture book, It Is Not Time for Sleeping, coming out in 2016, and I’m working on new things all the time!

Q from Georgia: Why do you write kids’ books?

One of my favorite reasons to write children’s books is that children are really discerning about what they read. If they aren’t being forced to read a book for school, they’ll put it down as soon as it gets even the slightest bit boring. Adults don’t often do that. So I love that my books are held up to such a high standard—it keeps me on my toes as a writer.

Q from Sadie: How old were you when you started writing?

I started writing for fun when I was about eight years old. I didn’t really start writing seriously until I was twenty-one, when I moved to New York City to start graduate school for creative writing.

Q from Maggie: How do you pick the names for your characters?

Names come from all sorts of places. Sometimes I’ll name characters after someone I know, but usually the names are completely made up. I often get inspiration from baby name websites. I love trying to match names to characters—when I’ve found exactly the right name, the character’s personality seems to click perfectly into place.

Q from Mikaela: How much input do you get on your book covers?

Usually not much. For the most part, authors aren’t in charge of what goes on the covers of their books, which can seem unfair until you realize that the people at the publishing house who are in charge (designers, marketing teams) do that sort of thing for a living so they’re generally better at it than most authors would be.

Q from Julia: What’s the publishing process like?

It’s very complicated! But in a nutshell, if you are an author who has written a book, you first need to find an editor at a publishing house who wants to publish your book (often this step is accomplished with the help of an agent, but that’s a whole different story). After that, your editor will give you notes about big and small things you might change to make your story stronger. You may have to go through several rounds of this. Editing can take anywhere from a few months to over a year, depending on the book. When that stage is finished, the editor will do a line edit, which is a smaller edit, mostly looking at words you may have overused or that might be unclear. That can take anywhere from a few days to a month. Then the book goes to copyediting, where the magical person called the copyeditor checks all of your grammar and spelling and punctuation and checks for typos and continuity errors, and other things you and your editor may have missed in the billions of times you read the book (you’d be surprised what you can gloss over!). A book goes through several rounds of copyedits, although you the author may or may not see them all. Meanwhile, other people from the publishing house—designers, production people, publicists—get in on the action and start doing their various jobs, which include everything from making the book look pretty (both on the outside and the inside), and figuring out the logistics of turning an electronic document into a physical book (what sort of paper the book will be printed on, where it will be printed and how it will be shipped, etc.), to making sure booksellers have heard of the book before it comes out. It’s a lot of work! It typically takes a full year after a book has gone to copyediting for it to be officially published and available to the public.

Q from Liam: Why did you choose a character to have a peanut allergy in Double Dog Dare?

I have a brother with a peanut allergy, so it was something I knew a little bit about. Originally I just thought this would be an interesting character trait for Kansas’s little sister, but I later ended up turning it into a major plot point.

Q from Cordelia: The voice in Absolutely Almost is so strong; how did Albie first come to you? What did you know about him right away?

I’m not entirely sure where he came from—his was one of those voices that seemed to pop into my head from nowhere. He’s definitely not based on anyone in particular. Before I started writing, I really only knew that he wouldn’t be as smart as his peers, so his voice would sound very innocent at times, and that there would be several moments where the reader would understand a lot more than Albie did. It’s a challenge to write from the point of view of that sort of narrator, but it was a whole lot of fun too.

We had an awesome time with Lisa and thank her so much for visiting with us!

If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order any of Lisa's books. You can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Author Interview: Jill Santopolo

by Cordelia Jensen

Hi Jill! Thanks for joining us on the Big Blue Marble Bookstore blog. We are also happy you will be participating in our Kids' Literary Festival as part of the Middle Grade roundtable event on Saturday, 5/17, at 3pm, at the store.

Here’s a bit about the Sparkle Spa series:

Making friends one sparkly nail at a time – a new series!

Sisters Aly and Brooke love spending time at their mom’s popular and successful nail salon—it’s their “home away from home.” At the end of another incredibly busy day, Mom complains she is completely overwhelmed at work, even more so by all the kids who come to have manis and pedis. 

That’s when the sisters have a brilliant idea: Why don’t they open up a mini nail salon just for kids within Mom’s store?

My favorite part of the series is how distinct Aly and Brooke are from each other but also how fiercely they’re both devoted to each other and the nail salon. Were Aly and Brooke’s characters clear in your head from the beginning or did they change at all? When you were a kid, were you more like one sister?

Aly and Brooke were both very much themselves from the start—I knew I wanted 
one sister who was super responsible and organized and practical and another who 
was extra creative and artistic and chaotic. But as the books progressed, I added 
to their characters, giving them favorite colors and likes and dislikes and physical 
attributes. I also, knew, though, that even though their personalities were pretty 
different, they would love each other—and the salon—fiercely, and that hasn’t 
changed at all. 

As a kid I was probably a little more like Aly. I was thoughtful and a pretty good 
rule-follower.

How much research did you do for this book? Did you come across new nail polishes you had never heard of before? Did you see any real dogs get their nails done?

The main research I did was attempting to polish my parents’ dog’s nails with 
special puppy nail polish. Sadie the dog was not too happy about it, and I ended up 
doing only two toenails before my sister convinced me to give up. 

The nail polish names in the book are all made up, but they’re based on the sort of 
polish names on the bottles in the nail salons near my apartment. I feel like new ones 
have arrived every time I stop by!

What was fun about writing these books? What was hard?

I had the most fun coming up with the nail polish names and the special manicures 
the girls do in the salon. And I think the hardest part was trying to get everything I 
wanted to write to fit into such a short book!

I like how the message in the series is that you can be a girl who is both “sparkly 
and strong.” As a mother of a sparkly and active sort of girl, I so appreciate this sentiment. I am assuming this was a very important piece for you to work into the story without wanting to seem heavy-handed?

Yes, it absolutely was. I feel like there’s a false dichotomy set up in society that 
says that either a girl can like princesses and sparkles (etc) or she can like sports 
and tree-climbing (etc). And part of why I wanted to write this book is to show that 
it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. I was a kid who climbed trees wearing 
sparkly party shoes and played soccer with ribbons in my hair. I want girls to know 
that they don’t have to choose—that they can embrace all sides of themselves.

Tell us a little about your other books and upcoming projects.

Well the next Sparkle Spa book is coming out in June. It’s called Makeover Magic 
and it’s about what happens when a new salon opens up across the street and Aly 
and Brooke have to fight to keep their customers for Auden Elementary’s Fall Ball. 
And then I’m also working on a series for teens called Follow Your Heart, in which 
each book has thirteen different endings to choose from and each reader can pick 
the one that’s right for her—or him. The first book, Summer Love, just came out 
a couple of weeks ago. And then there will be more Sparkle Spa and Follow Your 
Heart books to come in 2014 and 2015.

Is there anything else you would like us to know about the Sparkle Spa series or 
about you as an author?

I’m really happy to be coming to the Big Blue Marble Bookstore!

We are very excited to have you--here's a picture of my daughter Lily and her friends with one of the Rainbow Sparkle pedicures featured in the first book of the Sparkle Spa series:

And, lastly, our “3 for 3” book-related questions:

1. What were 3 of your favorite books when you were a child/teen? 
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, A Tree 
Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

2. What are 3 books you’ve read recently that surprised you? We Were Liars by 
E. Lockhart, I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson, Creativity Inc. by Ed 
Catmull 

3. What are 3 books that influence/d your writing? Kristy’s Big Idea by Ann M. 
Martin, Sunset Island by Cherie Bennett, Here’s To You Rachel Robinson by 
Judy Blume

Thanks! If you live in the Philly area come see Jill at the bookstore on Saturday, May 17th! She'll be part of a roundtable discussion with Shawn Stout, also interviewed here recently, and Kathleen Van Cleve, author of Drizzle.

Jill Santopolo is the author of the Sparkle Spa series, the Alec Flint mysteries and the Follow Your Heart books.  She's also an editor at Penguin Young Reader's Group and an MFA thesis advisor at The New School. You can visit her online at www.jillsantopolo.com or follow her on Twitter @JillSantopolo.

If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order books from the Sparkle Spa, Follow Your Heart, or the Alex Flint series. You can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Finally, join us in June for Cordelia's interview with Lisa Graff, author of many books including A Tangle of Knots and the new Absolutely Almost, both edited by the multi-talented Jill Santopolo! 

Author Interview: Skila Brown

by Cordelia Jensen

Today's interview is with Skila Brown, debut author. Her Middle Grade verse novel Caminar hit the shelves in March. It has received starred reviews from the Horn Book and School Library Journal. Here's a summary of the book:

Set in 1981 Guatemala, a lyrical debut novel tells the powerful tale of a boy who must decide what it means to be a man during a time of war.

Carlos knows that when the soldiers arrive with warnings about the Communist rebels, it is time to be a man and defend the village, keep everyone safe. But Mama tells him not yet—he’s still her quiet moonfaced boy. The soldiers laugh at the villagers, and before they move on, a neighbor is found dangling from a tree, a sign on his neck: Communist.

Mama tells Carlos to run and hide, then try to find her. . . . Numb and alone, he must join a band of guerillas as they trek to the top of the mountain where Carlos’s abuela lives. Will he be in time, and brave enough, to warn them about the soldiers? What will he do then? A novel in verse inspired by actual events during Guatemala’s civil war, Caminar is the moving story of a boy who loses nearly everything before discovering who he really is.

Thanks for joining us on the Big Blue Marble Bookstore blog, Skila! I just finished reading your beautiful book, Caminar. I had the privilege of reading an earlier version, which made the reading (and holding) of the final product that much more amazing. Your book has been receiving sensational reviews (no surprise), so, also, many congratulations on those.

Thank you for having me, Cordelia, and for those kind words. It’s an honor to be here!

What was your initial inspiration for this story? Tell us about how and where it began.

I’d spent ten years reading about the terrible violence in Guatemala, but I never had the intention of writing a story about it. I had several novels in draft form that I was writing, but nothing was really working. Shelley Tanaka, my writing mentor at the time, asked if there wasn’t something I cared more about. Wasn’t there some story I might have hidden away in my heart that I needed to put on the page instead? Turns out there was.

How did you make the decision for Carlos to be an only child? How did that seem integral to his journey?

I don’t remember ever considering a sibling for Carlos. In an earlier draft, he had a father who had been ‘disappeared’ by the Army, though I later whittled that away. I knew it was only Carlos and his mama in his family. I just had that feeling in my gut early on.

I really like the “animal spirit” theme in the book and how Carlos finds his own guide. It gives a sort of playful quality to the book which is, obviously, a serious book overall. Did you play around with a few animals before choosing one? Or was there always one?

It was always an owl. Long before I knew nahuales would make an appearance in the story, I had printed off a picture of an owl and taped it to my notebook. I thought of Carlos like the owl—always watching, perched in a tree, easy to pass over if you aren’t paying attention. It was only when he was literally in that tree and I knew he needed something to look at, something to focus on, that I realized it would be the owl.

Do you have an animal you feel spiritually connected to?

Jellyfish are my favorite animals on the planet. I could spend all day watching a jellyfish move through water. It’s mesmerizing and so calming.

My favorite part of your poetry style is the way you carve white space with your words. The shape of your poems so often reflect the imagery and/or content of the poem. Is this an energizing part of writing for you?

Yes! It’s so fun. I don’t think about shape when I’m drafting a poem; it’s only in revision that I start to play with space and stanza. And that’s always my favorite part.

What draws you to the verse novel form in general?

There’s no fluff in a verse novel. It’s potent, sparse language that cuts to the heart of the emotion without wasting words. I like that novels in verse are accessible to a wide range of readers. They can be a fast page-turner for the reluctant reader or a slow story to savor for someone else. They often leave things unsaid, making it digestible for a wide range of ages.

Anything else you would like us to know about this book?

I’ve had more than one person ask me if this story is really appropriate for a ten-year old child. The answer is a resounding yes. It’s about a tragedy, yes, but it’s also about growing up, facing fears, figuring out the right thing to do. The violence in the story happens off-screen and without graphic detail. I’d encourage teachers and parents to read this first, if they have doubts that a particular reader is ready for the story, but I think we need to give kids the credit they're due. They can handle more than we realize. And stories about survival can be a reassurance for a child reader.

Any other upcoming projects?

I have two books forthcoming with Candlewick—a second novel in verse out next year and a picture book collection of poetry about sharks out in 2016.

And now for our “3 for 3” book-related questions. What were 3 of your favorite books when you were a child/teen?

I was a huge fan of Shel Silverstein and read to my kids now from the dog-eared copy of A Light in the Attic that I had as a child. I read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret at least a dozen times as a kid. And I’m fairly certain I owned the entire Sweet Valley High collection. (I was Elizabeth – wishing I were Jessica.)

What are 3 books you have read recently that surprised you?

I am always surprised by books because I never read summaries or jacket flaps or even blurbs—I just open them up and dive right in, not knowing what to expect at all. Recently, I loved Amy Timberlake’s One Came Home. The tone of the story was such a surprise to me as it wasn’t what I expected from the cover. P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia surprised me because it’s so rare to find a sequel even better than its predecessor. Finally, I’ll have to go with Two Boys Kissing. Just when I think David Levithan can’t get any more brilliant, he goes and writes another piece of spectacular.

What are 3 books that influence/d your writing?

Only three?! That seems incredibly unfair. The first three that pop into my head are: George Ella Lyon’s Where I’m From, Katherine Applegate’s Home of the Brave, and Encounter by Jane Yolen (illustrated by David Shannon.)

 Thanks, Skila!

Skila Brown holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She grew up in Kentucky and Tennessee, lived for a bit in Guatemala, and now resides with her family in Indiana. Caminar is her first novel. You can find her at www.skilabrown.com

Thanks for reading!!! If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order a copy of Caminar. You can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Next up on 5/13: Jill Santopolo, author of the new Sparkle Spa series.