picture book and middle-grade author
It is a cliché to suggest the “Devil is in the details.” But those simple details are precisely that which elevates writing: an ability to provide the reader with a sense of the real. And—to make it more complicated, while there is the needful skill of knowing what to put in, there is an equal skill in knowing what to leave out.
— Avi
age range: 8-12 years
genre: contemporary fiction
themes: hope, family, community, and belonging
Christine Day’s website
Christine Day has told a story that doesn’t shy away from hard truths of the past and the present. But with a keen ear for the voice of an Indigenous girl finding her way, with compassion and love and poetry, this is a celebration of community, family, and identity. It will stay with you for a long time, in the best possible way.
— David A. Robertson, author of the Misewga Saga series
Wesley Wilder is big-hearted, thoughtful and kind. She’s figuring out who she is in the context of a wonderful family while bravely becoming her unique, starry self–and she holds space for readers to do the same. I can’t wait for them to meet her.
— Natalie Lloyd, author of A Snicker of Magic and Hummingbird
Told over the course of one day, this cozy and warm story captured my heart. Readers will root for Wesley as she follows her heart and finds her voice. An important story of belonging and identity.
— Jasmine Warga, author of Other Words for Home
Please tell us about your book.
WE STILL BELONG (coming August 2023) follows Wesley Wilder over the course of one big day: she plans to ask her crush to the middle school dance, and she also has a column coming out in the school newspaper for Indigenous Peoples Day. She has big expectations as she boards the morning bus, but once she arrives on campus, nothing goes according to plan. She feels disheartened by the end of the school day, until she attends an intertribal powwow in the evening, where everything changes once again. It’s a story about hope, family, community, and belonging.
What inspired you to write this story?
Many things, really. With each new book that I write, I weave together a tapestry of my personal interests, questions, and thoughts. For WE STILL BELONG, I drew inspiration from: the impact of blood quantum laws on Native youth; video games, gamer culture, virtual community-building and online activism; intergenerational family living; middle school life, friendships, and politics. And also, I wanted to include a cat in this book. So Wesley has a kitty named Vader. (And yes, it’s a Star Wars reference.)
Could you share a few interesting tidbits about your writing process with this book?
While I worked through the final edits, I reread the entire book–from start to finish–out loud to myself. I think reading your work out loud is very insightful. It can be easy to skim or skip things while reading in your head, and it’s easy to become distracted. But when you read the entire text out loud, you are forced to focus on every word.
What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?
I think there are plenty of topics that could inspire research projects and curriculum connections. However, I am most excited for kids and educators to discuss this book’s themes of community and inclusion. There are a few glaring moments within the text when people in Wesley’s school don’t set the best example for fostering community on campus. Some situations are handled unfairly, and I hope my readers will discuss those moments, and imagine better solutions to these scenarios.
Thanks again for including me in your blog, Caroline!
Thank you, Christine, for sharing your new book with my readers.
Song in a Rainstorm: The Story of Musical Prodigy Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins by Glenda Armand, illustrated by Brittany Jackson
I requested this book at my library after reading Glenda’s recent Straight from the Source interview. Tom, who was born into slavery, had an extraordinary musical talent. Glenda said telling his story was her hardest book to write. In her own words:
“It would be a difficult story to tell because, although there were kind people who helped him realize his true potential, there were many bad actors in Tom’s life. How to tell his story? And tell it as a children’s picture book at that! How could I tell it without seeming to dismiss the cruelty of slavery and exploitation, and the realities of having disabilities? His life story was definitely “muddy,” but I knew that it was a story that should be told. I lived with the story for over ten years before I started writing it.”
Glenda tells Tom’s remarkable story with both truth, beauty, and tenderness. A joyful, wonderful celebration! Please find a copy of this beautiful book! And click through to listen to more of Tom’s story and hear recordings of his work.
The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh
If you’re looking for a twisty page-turning thriller, this is it!
Emma and Leo have been happily married for years. When Emma is diagnosed with cancer, Leo, an obituary writer, copes with her illness by preparing a stock obituary for her — something that would run at a later date. But the more he researches, the more he realizes the woman he married isn’t the person he’s uncovering. There’s a lot in this book about trust and risk, and the decisions we make on behalf of others thinking they’re for their good. A heads up: it’s a pretty sad read, but I found it ultimately was hopeful. It was fun to settle into the book and go along for the ride. I learned interesting bits and pieces about marine biology and writing obituaries — who knew!
Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie
When I finished Amy’s latest middle grade, I sent her an email saying something like, “You slayed me in the most beautiful way.”
Eighth-grader Golden Maroni is convinced he can master anything if he puts in the effort. He’s going to be soccer captain and get his team to the championship, he’s going to keep his best friend and neighbor from moving away, and he’s going to help his dad beat ALS — all he has to do is try hard enough. I loved Golden’s totally kid-like impulsivity, his big heart, his realistic relationship with his siblings and friends, and the way he slowly comes to terms with his father’s progressive and fatal illness. Soccer fans will gobble this up. Kids who have a family member with a difficult diagnosis will find comfort and so much love in this story.
After thirteen years of blogging, this post continues to be the most read on my website. Now that school visits are up and running again (I’m looking forward to a visit in Virginia next February!), this feels like a good one to repost.
If you’re interested in me visiting your school in person or virtually, be sure to click through to learn more. As a former teacher, school visits are one of my favorite things — a way to connect with real, live readers and a chance for me to be in the school setting again. If you’re considering asking any author to visit your school, I encourage you to read through this post beforehand.
Yesterday I shared tips on finding authors who are interested in school visits. Today I’m going to bring up compensation, a topic that is never easy to discuss but is nevertheless necessary, especially if you’re interested in inviting an author to your school. Let’s look at some commonly-held assumptions about authors and visits and contrast them with a more realistic glimpse at things.
Assumption #1: Shouldn’t authors offer free school visits? After all, it’s great for publicity. Some authors do offer free visits, whether when first starting out (I did that) or by offering one or two free visits each year (I’ve done that, too) or in other situations when they choose to do so. But here’s the thing:
An author is a professional. Just as we wouldn’t expect a plumber to fix a leak in exchange for publicity, we shouldn’t expect the same from an author sharing her expertise with young readers.
There’s an unspoken assumption attached to this one, the idea that once an author sells a book she has it made. In truth, it’s safe to say many of us make less (in many cases far less) than your average teacher. All of my books have sold for less than what I received my first year teaching, and that was in the mid-nineties in New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the US. For an author, there’s no such thing as a steady income. Selling new books to a publisher can be sporadic if it happens at all. I share this because I think it’s important to have a sense of how slow and precarious establishing oneself in the writing world can be.
Assumption #2: We’d like to have a bookseller come when you’re at our school. Aren’t book sales enough to cover an author visit? Thank you to every school that considers book sales! To give a child the opportunity to own a book — any book — is a gift. And there is special meaning attached to a book written by an author the child has met. Unfortunately, though, book sales are not the same as compensation.
For example, for each book I sell, I earn around $1.80 for a hardback and $.50 for each paperback. (This money comes to me only if I’ve “earned out,” meaning I’ve made back the advance I was given before publication. Only about 25% of books earn out, by the way.) So while selling books at a school visit is wonderful, it is primarily a benefit for young readers.
Assumption #3: I’ve just looked at your rates. You sure expect to make a lot of money an hour! If you click through to my author visits page, you’ll get sense at what I charge for visits in the Albuquerque area, within New Mexico, and out of state. While some authors choose not to list their prices online, I like having that information available to anyone who might consider inviting me to present at their school.*
An author’s rates can’t be translated into hourly fees. When a school pays for an author visit, they are investing in the years of knowledge and skill she’s amassed. Not only does a school compensate the author for the work she does that day, but all the preparation that went into the presentations beforehand, the time spent traveling to and from the school, and the author’s time away from her writing desk. An author visit isn’t just an event, it’s an experience, one that takes time and preparation to get it just right.
Assumption #4: There’s no way my school can afford to bring an author in. Not true! Here’s a great post about how to pay for author visits. SCBWI offers the Amber Brown Grant, which annually gives one school “an all-expense-paid visit from a well-respected children’s author or illustrator.” Here’s a page with information on funding, another on grants. Perhaps money earmarked for field trips might be used for a school visit (think of it as a field trip coming to the school). Or maybe the PTA could help out. And don’t forget virtual visits, which cost significantly less.
Dan Gutman shares a wonderful quote from a student on his Perfect Author Visit page.
I am now reading more than any other part of my life thanks to Dan Gutman.
Isn’t this ultimately the wish of every author and teacher? An author visit is an opportunity to hook young readers, keep them reading, and serve their creativity, writing, and imaginations for years to come. It’s an investment, for sure, one I wholeheartedly believe is worth making.
Here’s a great post about the importance of author visits (and tangible ways to make them happen) from the Nerdy Book Club. And here’s another by Avi.
I can’t tell you how transformative an author visit would have been in my young life! Please consider inviting an author to speak at your school, and be sure you compensate them for good work they do.
* Now that I’m working with a booking agency, I no longer handle this aspect of school visits alone. Those interested in learning about my rates can contact Julie Ann Hartman of the Booking Biz.
Reading is migratory, an act of transport, from one life to another, one mind to another. Just like geographic travel, reading involves estrangement that comes with the process of dislocating from a familiar context. I gather energy from this kind of movement, this estranging and unsettling, and I welcome it precisely because it’s conducive to examination, interrogation, reordering. Travel, imaginative or physical, can sharpen perception and force a measuring of distance and difference.
— Jenny Xie
Every Monday, Serenity Bohon sends out an email about life — reflecting on its goodness and how we engage with it. I look forward to them every week! I thought it was time to share one with you.
This is a low bar — but life changing :: Serenity Bohon
A behind-the-scenes look at Anna Rose Johnson’s THE STAR THAT ALWAYS STAYS and the books she honors in the story’s telling. Look for an interview with Anna Rose in 2023. THE STAR THAT ALWAYS STAYS is on NPR’s Best Books of the Year list!
Blending the family story with the coming of age novel :: Teen Librarian Toolbox — A School Library Journal blog
This is an excellent post about staying in the moment while writing (rather than recapping events) and how writing novels is different than writing for television or film. Nathan Bransford is such a good resource. Be sure to check him out.
What happens on and off the page in your novel :: Nathan Bransford
Wow! This is fascinating. “All the manuscripts will be stored for almost a century inside locked glass drawers in a hidden corner of Oslo’s main public library, within a small, wooden repository called the Silent Room. In 2114, the drawers will be unlocked, and the trees chopped down – and 100 stories hidden for a century will finally be published in one go.”
The Norwegian library with unreadable books :: BBC
I’ve enjoyed watching Amy Rogers Hays read through the Newberies over the years. Here’s her comprehensive list of favorites.
After Reading All 101 Newbery Award-Winning Books, Here Are My Favorites :: Amy Rogers Hays
I really appreciated this insight from Julie Falatko’s recent newsletter. “I know when I was posting a lot on social media, I felt useful. I was giving people something of value, right? I was spreading joy, right? And even if you don’t go along with my notion that I was giving everyone a job, I was giving myself a job. But my job is not to post on social media. It’s to write books.”
Small actions get big things done :: Julie Falatko
“This world is sometimes a difficult place. I don’t want to shy away from that reality in my books, but I also want to always offer kids hope. What was really lovely to discover as I worked on Miraculous was the message of forgiveness it offers, too. (Authors don’t always know the full scope of their work until it’s completed.) So many characters in Miraculous are afforded second chances. I found such kindness and generosity in that.”
An Interview with Caroline Starr Rose :: Jenny Marcelene
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
—G.K. Chesterton
Elizabeth Brown‘s debut picture book, DANCING THROUGH FIELDS OF COLOR: THE STORY OF HELEN FRANKENTHALER, was published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, and it was a New York Public Library Best Books of 2019, a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Society of Midland Authors 2020 Awards – Children’s Nonfiction Honoree, and A Mighty Girl 2019 Book of the Year. LIKE A DIAMOND IN THE SKY: JANE TAYLOR’S BELOVED POEM OF WONDER AND THE STARS (Bloomsbury) released in 2022, and THE WORLD ENTIRE: THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY OF EXTRAORDINARY RESCUE FROM WORLD WAR II releases in Fall 2023 (Chronicle Books) with additional titles following. Elizabeth earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She is a member of SCBWI and is represented by Sean McCarthy Literary Agency. You can connect with her at www.elizabethbrownbooks.com and on Twitter @ebrownbooks.
What typically comes first for you: a character? An era? A story idea? How do you proceed from there?
Usually a character comes first for me. Since I have been writing biographies, it’s the subject of the biography that comes to me. Before I get too attached to this figure, I really start my research right away to see if there is a great story to tell and to figure out the way I might want to tell it. Once this is clear, I can officially commit to the writing of the book after I have completed my research.
How long do you typically research before beginning to draft?
I research for a long time before beginning to draft. It varies how long, depending on what I am looking for and how long the project is. The average time is maybe about 6 months. When I have been able to plot and outline the story and feel ready to start drafting, I do. For my research for both Dancing Through Fields of Color and Like a Diamond in the Sky, it took approximately 4 months of research prior. One of my forthcoming historical picture book biographies, The World Entire, took much longer and a couple middle grade nonfiction projects have taken, on average, 1-2 years of research.
What is your favorite thing about research?
My favorite thing about research is when I learn interesting, little known facts about my subject, and when I find out one of these hidden gems will make the story soar. When this happens, it makes me very happy! This usually always happens in my research phase, and I encourage all writers to remain open to seeing your story in new ways throughout the process of research, plotting, and drafting. You never know where your story will take you!
What’s your favorite thing about writing biographies?
When I get to shine a light on an unsung hero or a historical figure who should be known, it is rewarding. This is my favorite thing about writing biographies. I enjoyed learning so much about Helen Frankenthaler when I wrote Dancing Through Fields of Color. There were so many interesting facts about her life, and threading those most special details into the fabric of the story was both enriching and challenging. Similarly, telling the little known story of how the song “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” came to be one of the best known lullabies was also such a fascinating experience. Jane Taylor’s struggle to write in a time when women writers were ignored and often had to hide their true identities in order to publish will hopefully serve to inspire young writers everywhere.
Why is biography important?
Biography is important because it can be motivating and educational for young readers to read about figures who may inspire them in their own lives. There is no greater reward for me as writer! I have additional forthcoming biographies as well as I’m currently working on seven other books and two films. Even though I write in other genres at times, biographies, especially picture book biographies, are my favorite to write. I enjoy sharing my books with readers everywhere!
Running this post has become an annual tradition. Here it is again for new and old readers alike. Perhaps you’ll find a book or two for yourself or a writing friend. Happy writing and reading!
I love to read about writing. These books teach me, encourage me, and help me remember I’m not alone on this journey. My creative struggles and triumphs have all been experienced before. If you’re looking for gift ideas for the writer in your life (maybe YOU!), this list of my favorites, broken down into books on craft and books on the writing life, is a great place to start. Instead of my own description, I’m letting a quote speak for each book. Note: these books are decidedly fiction focused. That said, writers of all stripes can make a home in these pages.
You can find this same collection on my Bookshop.org list, Must-Read Books on Writing.
Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
“Making art…means working in the face of uncertainty; it means living with doubt and contradiction, doing something no one much cares whether you do, and for which there may be neither audience nor reward…Making the work you want to make means finding nourishment within the work itself.”
A Sense of Wonder: On Reading and Writing Books for Children
(note: This book is unfortunately out of print. The prices of used copies available on Amazon are sometimes ridiculous. Check to see if your library might have a copy.) “I will not take a young reader through a story and in the end abandon him. That is, I will not write a book that closes in despair. I cannot, will not, withhold from my young readers the harsh realities of human hunger and suffering and loss, but neither will I neglect to plant that stubborn seed of hope that has enabled our race to outlast wars and famines and destruction and death.”
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
“Over the years I have come to recognize that the work often knows more than I do. And with each book I start, I have hopes that I may be helped to serve it a little more fully. The great artists, the rivers and tributaries, collaborate with the work, but for most of us, it is our greatest privilege to be its servant.”
If You Want to Write
“No writing is a waste of time – no creative work where the feelings, the imagination, the intelligence must work. With every sentence you write, you have learned something. It has done you good.”
Views from a Window Seat: Thoughts on Writing and Life
“Writing reminds me that life isn’t all beginnings and endings, but circles. Just as spring winds back to winter, finished goes back to not. My writing means lots of looping and splitting, moving back as much as forward, revising as I research, and researching as I revise. After staring down commas, I’m glad to be reckless again with punctuation, and even straightening my back and walking smack into mistakes. I put wrong words down on paper so I can find ones that might be right.”
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair — the sense that you can never completely put on the page what is in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed…You can come to it…because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”
A Writer’s Diary
“On responding to criticism: I will not be “famous,” “great.” I will go on adventuring, changing, opening my mind and my eyes, refusing to be stamped and stereotyped. The thing is to free one’s self: to let it find its dimensions, not be impeded.”
Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process
“A merciless reviser is in a much better position to write a really good book than one who hasn’t got the stomach for it. That may be the distinction between what makes a really good book and a great book.”
A Circle of Quiet
“…a great work of the imagination is one of the highest forms of communication of truth that mankind has reached. But a great piece of literature does not try to coerce you to believe it or to agree with it. A great piece of literature simply is.”
Letters to a Young Poet
“If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches, for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place.”
Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters by John Steinbeck
“That’s the way it is. You fight a story week after week and day by day and then it arranges itself in your hands.”
Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making by Andrew Peterson
“When we manage to make something pretty, it’s only because we are ourselves a flourish on a greater canvas.”
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”
Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere)
“Whose life will you utterly upend?…Rather than asking who will run through your novel’s preordained gauntlet of challenge, the goal is figure out who you’ll build that gauntlet to test.”
The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults
“I believe that the number one thing that hooks readers is authority — a sense that the writer is in complete control of the story and how it’s being told. An author with authority isn’t in a rush to give away the central plot line of the book in the first page, because she knows she has a good plot, and she takes the time to set it up right. Nor is he sucking up to or desperate to attract the reader…Rather, she can offer little details, hints, shafts of light that illuminate the characters and world that’s about to open up to us, and help us get anchored within that world, so when the inciting incident happens, we readers already have an emotional relationship with the setting and the characters. The action then leads us to become even more deeply involved with them.”
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
“A myth… is a metaphor for a mystery beyond human comprehension. It is a comparison that helps us understand, by analogy, some aspect of our mysterious selves. A myth, in this way of thinking, is not an untruth but a way of reaching a profound truth.”
The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction
“…You, the writer of the historical novel, will have to put your readers down in the middle of that unfamiliar place called the past, in such a way that they won’t feel alien or bewildered by strangeness…make them feel at home in that time.”
Writing Irresistible Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers
“Choices are especially fertile moments of tension for your character. Don’t make decisions easy for your fictional people. Nothing should ever be so black and white as to make a choice or action easy. Give your characters two shades of the same issue that are complicated by their existing identity and values.”
Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise
“The connection between the inner and outer arcs, the emotional arc and the plot arc isn’t always easy to see! When you set up an initial plot conflict, you need to immediately ask yourself what obligatory action scene is set up. When the inner conflict is set up, you need to ask what epiphany is set up.”
Writing the Breakout Novel: Insider Advice for Taking Your Fiction to the Next Level
“Breakout novels are written from an author’s passionate need to make you understand, to expose you to someone special or to drag you somewhere that it is important for you to see. No breakout novel leaves us feeling neutral.”
Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. Le Guin
“Good writing always gives pleasure to the ear. But in most good narrative, especially long narrative, it’s less the immediate dazzle of the words than the sounds, rhythms, setting, characters, actions, interactions, dialogue, and feelings all working together that make us hold our breath, and cry…and then turn the page to find out what happens next. And so, until the scene ends, each sentence should lead to the next sentence.”
Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
Paper Hearts, Volume 1: Some Writing Advice by Beth Revis
Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry by Sage Cohen
A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
Any recommendations you’d add to the list?
age range: 4 – 7 years
topics / themes: home, family, belonging, Native communities
Laurel Goodluck’s website
This matter-of-fact yet poignant story brings that [family] bond to vivid life. A sweet story of friendship, family, and community.
— Kirkus Reviews
The story is a familiar one, but Goodluck, who has an intertribal background of Mandan, Hidatsa, and Tsimshian, weaves in cultural details that bring a cheerful freshness and situate the cousins fully within both their family and their Native experience.
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Forever Cousins is tribally specific. Both, the author and illustrator, are Native. The story is set in the present day. It can–and should be–read year-round (not confined to a heritage month or day). It is getting a ‘highly recommended’ label from me, but my enthusiasm for the book is much more than a ‘highly recommended’ label conveys. With this story and the note, Goodluck and Nelson give teachers or parents information that they can carry with them when they close this book and choose another one that features Native people. They see us as people who live in a city or on a reservation. They can see us as people whose identities and lives as Native people are central to who we are, and who share the same sorts of joys and fears that kids of other cultures do, too. Forever Cousins is one of the best books I’ve read. I’m delighted to read it, to write about it, and to recommend it to everyone.
— Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children’s Literature; Highly Recommended
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Please tell us about your book.
Thanks for talking about Forever Cousins, Caroline. I remember my first SCBWI-NM conference in Albuquerque, where I met you. I thought I’d be on my way if I could have an ounce of your confidence and skill of craft. Thank you for your inspiration!
Laurie, that is truly one of the kindest things I’ve ever been told. I have been so impressed watching your career take off these last few years. Thank you for sharing your first book with my readers!
Forever Cousins is my debut picture book with award-winning illustrator Jonathan Nelson (Diné), published by Charlesbridge on October 4, 2022. It has been named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. It was an honor to be selected and realize that editors read my story before it was published and found it worthy of a “best of list.”
In Forever Cousins, Kara and Amanda are cousins who grow up together in the city as best friends, but then one of them moves back home to the Rez (reservation). The cousins are sad and miss each other throughout their year apart. Then, it is time for the family reunion; each wonders if her cousin will be happy to see her and if they will remember how to be together again.
The modern-day story also highlights how Native children navigate a sense of belonging in the city and the Rez. The common thread of a strong and loving family and culture ties them together no matter where they live.
This contemporary story also resonates with all children who experience loving best-friend relationships that endure and inevitably change.
What inspired you to write this story?
First, I am a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation and an Alaskan native citizen of the Tsimshian Nation. I am inspired to tell modern Native-themed stories that reflect Native children’s cultural experiences and everyday life, showing Native children that they have a unique and powerful perspective. Most of my forthcoming books reflect universal themes all children can relate to, such as friendship, prominent families, special days, intergenerational love, misunderstandings, etc. While a couple of my books are themed entirely on Native culture, this can open up new perspectives for non-native readers.
Like most writers, my childhood experiences inspired Forever Cousins. I was lucky to grow up in a very close family and a community full of cousins who were best friends and grew up like sisters and brothers. Like my sister and me, most of my cousins were born in the city (suburbia) in California; in contrast, our parents were born in our tribal homelands, also called our Nations or reservations (Rez in the story).
I wanted to show how our dedicated family, full of love and strong cultural traditions, kept us bonded through life changes. I also felt it necessary to deliver that Native children can have two equally essential communities that we consider “home.”
Could you share with readers a few interesting tidbits about your writing process with this book?
Oh, my goodness, where do I start with my writing process on this book? First, I was very new to writing. I was still learning the craft and busy taking online courses at Storyteller Academy. I also had a mentor through We Need Diverse Books, who was so helpful in steering me towards a new community of Native kidlit writers/illustrators and conferences. I attended Kweli, The Color of Children’s Conference in New York City, and a Native Writing Intensive workshop. All this support improved my confidence, forwarded my craft, and helped me tune up my picture book writing. An editor at Charlesbridge asked me to submit my manuscript, Forever Cousins.
I wrote and edited Forever Cousins during the first year of Covid, and I still wonder how I accomplished this. I worked full-time at my husband’s medical office as a Practice Manager. Simultaneously, I was educating myself, staff, and patients on Coronavirus. We eventually closed our office at the end of the year, and I had two more of my picture books acquired.
It took me a whole year to escape this manic mindset and learn I could take a breath and be a full-time writer as my only responsibility. My husband misses his office and patients, but after a lifetime of endless doctor hours, he deserves the enjoyment of retirement.
What are some special challenges associated with introducing a setting your audience might be unfamiliar with?
How to introduce an unfamiliar setting is a great question. As a new writer, I didn’t want to explain my culture, yet all readers should be able to understand the story. I asked myself, where do I draw the line?
I needed to keep true to my goal of portraying Native people in modern settings. And Native people’s culture is part of their everyday life. So, I didn’t need to do any cultural explaining, but I needed to intertwine culture into the story as naturally as we do in real life. I intended to show and not tell.
Next, I want the adult reading the book to access the story’s inspiration. The deeper meaning stems from my family and tribal history. I realized the power of backmatter. Eighty percent of Native American history curricula in the schools do not go past the 1890s, so modern Native history is critical to relay. As Native people, we’re often thought of in the past and not living here in the present, yet our history is American history.
The back matter in Forever Cousins explores the federal government policy of assimilation that brought Native families from their homelands to the city. Today over 80% of the Native population lives in the city away from their homelands. It was another devastating U.S. policy to shrink Native land further by removal to erase our culture.
What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?
There are several topics that Forever Cousins will make a perfect fit for the classroom—first, exploring the elements and emotions when a friend or family member moves away. The students can identify how Kara and Amanda handled the separation, then further brainstorm and discuss other strategies to support this life event.
In the story, Kara and Amanda write to one another on postcards to stay in touch when they’re far apart. Teachers can utilize postcards as a writing exercise.
The cultural aspects of the book also provide many lessons for the classroom. The family is from the Hidatsa Nation, so that students can learn about the modern life of the tribe today and its history. There is also a ceremony in the book where students can explore the meaning and implications of keeping a family connected.
The most essential is the back matter in Forever Cousins. It identifies that modern Native history is not shared in educational curricula, thus leaving out actual events, such as the Native American Relocation Act in the 1950s. Students must learn all history, and new Native writers bring history to the classroom with our children’s books.