What inspired you to write FRIDAY I’M IN LOVE? 

I really wanted to write something inspired by the teen movies that I grew up loving, but with a character like me at the center! I loved the idea of coming out being this really joyous thing, so I decided to center the story on that.

What was the most difficult part about writing the book? What part was the easiest?

 I think revising it during the earlier parts of the pandemic was really hard. It’s supposed to be a rom-com, but I think it was hard to lean into the comedy when I wasn’t having a lot of fun myself, and I think it was really a struggle to do those first two rounds. Coming up with the playlists was probably the easiest!

What character or element of the story do you identify with the most and why?

  I really identify with Siobhan not understanding how she identifies and trying to figure it out. I think that’s a struggle I’ve had for the past few years before getting comfortable with the idea that my identity may change and that it’s okay. I think it was always presented to me as something simple, like you knew you were gay or you didn’t, and even though Siobhan’s sexuality journey isn’t the main story, I like knowing that it’s there anyway.

What do you want kids today to take away from this story?

 That they should celebrate themselves and who they are, especially if they’re Black or queer or both! I remember a period where editors and agents were saying that they didn’t want any more coming out stories and I think that all of our milestones are important and should be celebrated, especially when we live in a world that actively works to make things hard for us.

What are you currently reading?

An ARC of Morgan Matson’s first middle grade! I’m really excited about it!

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The Fresh Voices series is brought to you in coordination with the RHCB DEI Book Club Committee.

Praise for Maybe an Artist

“Joyful and thoughtful—The Bulletin, starred review

 “An inspiring journey of self-discovery, self-expression, and self-love” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

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What inspired you to write MAYBE AN ARTIST? 

I wrote it because Annie Kelley, my editor, reached out and asked if I’d be interested in doing a graphic memoir after seeing me on a blog called Cup of Jo! Once it was in my awareness I was inspired by my journey through education as a way of framing the story. I was fresh out of college and still processing that I-just-graduated-now-what shockwave and school seemed like the only thing I really knew anything about.

What was the most difficult part about writing the book? What part was the easiest?

It doesn’t come naturally to me to elaborate, so that was very difficult! I’m a super concise person, which is great for single-panel cartoons, where you have to cram a lot of big ideas into very small real estate, but not so great when writing a book. Left to my own devices, the book seriously would’ve been 20 pages. The easiest part was the cover, I absolutely love the jacket art! It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done.

What character or element of the story do you identify with the most and why?

I guess the Intro because timeline-wise it’s the most recent. I’m currently really identifying with page 5 of the book where I say, “I have no thoughts left. My brain is completely empty.” I’m sure a lot of people are feeling that during this post-Thanksgiving but pre-Winter Break time period!

What do you want kids today to take away from this story?

I hope kids take away that it’s okay to fully embrace where you’re currently at. I wish I could tell my younger self to not stress so much and just be open and present, but that’s also something my adult self probably needs to hear too. We’re all told “nobody has it figured out,” but I hope me showing myself really not having it figured out for most of my life offers comfort to someone.

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading LOVE AND OTHER WORDS by Christina Lauren; a friend recommended it and so far I’m really loving it. A cozy feel-good read is so great, especially once the weather gets cold like this. I’m also listening to EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir on audiobook which I’m also loving, it really jazzes up my morning walk!

The Fresh Voices series is brought to you in coordination with the RHCB DEI Book Club Committee.

 “Budhos weaves a rich tapestry of words that navigates a yearning for acceptance, love, and the unerring need for freedom.”

—Booklist, starred review

What inspired you to write WE ARE ALL WE HAVE? 

I often start with the general atmosphere or larger situation that I want to explore. In this case I knew I wanted to write about a family that were asylum seekers to give readers another window into the immigrant experience—especially in 2019, when everything was so volatile, with the family separation crisis at the border.

Then I find my characters. And literally one day I had a vision on the subway, and I felt I could ‘see’ Rania—with her wild black hair, her kohl-rimmed eyes, her black combat boots, her Brooklyn attitude. I knew she was a poet and her father was a journalist who had gotten in trouble in Pakistan. I knew her mother was a bit haughty and proud and suffered quietly without fully telling the truth to her daughter. I wanted for readers to get a chance to get beyond the headlines and feel for these complicated characters, whose story isn’t neat, doesn’t fit into a box.

What was the most difficult part about writing the book? What part was the easiest?

The most difficult part was I wrote an entirely different manuscript. My editors (Dana Carey and Wendy Lamb) were encouraging, but I knew something wasn’t right, wasn’t dynamic enough, and I literally pulled the manuscript down to its studs, retained my main characters and their background, and set the narrative in a different direction—creating, yes, a road story. I would say I used at most ten percent of the old material, even while holding on to my core character. I had to admit that I hadn’t yet found the right story environment to bring out what I was trying to say. In all my years of writing and publishing, it was one of the most humbling experiences for me as an author.

However, the hardest part also became the easiest. Once I tapped into my new approach, the voice and energy of Rania just flew out onto the page, especially when I was writing about her teenage life in Brooklyn, her friendship with Fatima, and her poetry. 

What character or element of the story do you identify with the most and why?

Rania! Hands down. I identify with a character who is fierce and stubborn and full of will, but sometimes doesn’t know how to access her own vulnerability; who can even be a bit shut down internally. Rania is also an aspiring writer, someone who loves words, who grew up in a household of words and reading, as I did. In the course of the book, Rania finds a certain kind of inner sanctuary—that of becoming her whole self, the one that had pushed down so many memories from Pakistan. And while I haven’t gone through what Rania has, I do understand that need to be so functional in the outer world, you forget to nurture your inner self. We both use words to find our way to our own selves.

What do you want kids today to take away from this story?

First, I just want kids to go on the road with my characters and get swept up in what it feels like to have the whole world bursting open ahead of you, to fall in love for the first time, to discover an America that is yours.

But I also hope my readers learn or identify with the fragile nature of immigration and understand all the different kinds of reasons someone’s life can suddenly be shattered. There are many layers to the story. It’s about political asylum, which kids may not understand. It’s about mothers and daughters, and what it feels like to find your own path, not just follow the one that has been put before you. It’s about friendship at the end of high school, when you and your best friend who you were always joined at the hip with are starting to go in separate directions and you have to start dealing with your differences.

In general, I also hope kids come to understand something about the immigration system and what it means to make your case—that sometimes it’s not about the story you have, but the story immigration authorities want to hear. I also hope I’ve captured the general atmosphere around immigration at that time, how scary and unpredictable it was.

What are you currently reading?

I’m reading a mix of things that have to do with research for forthcoming projects and just my own reading pleasure. I am reading Tomorrowland, a book about the 1964­­-65 World’s Fair, as I am musing a potential new middle grade book set during that time frame. (No commitments yet!) I am also reading about World War II in Holland, for another project. And I’m also enjoying Sara Saedi’s Americanized: Rebel Without A Green Card, Ari Tison’s Saints of the Household, and I am *supposed* to be cracking open Wolf Hall for my adult reading group.

The Fresh Voices series is brought to you in coordination with the RHCB DEI Book Club Committee.

Welcome to the Fresh Voices series! We are excited to share a special Q&A with author Andrea Beatriz Arango about their new middle-grade novel, IVELIZ EXPLAINS IT ALL.

The Fresh Voices series is brought to you in coordination with the RHCB DEI Book Club Committee.

What inspired you to write IVELIZ EXPLAINS IT ALL? 

That’s a hard one to answer! I’ve always been interested in exploring mental health and family dynamics in my writing, but I’d never tried to write middle grade before, and certainly not in verse. I think it came down to the timing of the world, really. We had just been sent home unexpectedly, schools closed for the indefinite future, and I suddenly found myself a middle school ESOL teacher (of newcomers!) far away from students who had suddenly been stripped of the place that provided them all of their communication and mental health support. I definitely used writing as a bit of an escape.

What was the most difficult part about writing the book? What part was the easiest?   

The easiest part was Iveliz’s voice. It came so naturally – like she had been waiting for me to tell her story just so she could burst out into the page. The hardest part was writing the emotional components of the book. If a reader has cried reading a particular scene, chances are I also cried while writing it.

What character or element of the story do you identify with the most and why?

I love intergenerational stories because I grew up in a place and culture that really values family duty and relationships. My maternal grandmother passed away from Alzheimer’s, and while I still lived in Puerto Rico, I helped with her care. Alzheimer’s is very difficult both for the person living through it and the people living next to it, and a lot of that emotion came from my family’s experiences.

What do you want kids to take away from this story?   

I hope the book helps kids strip away a little bit of that shame associated with going to therapy or being on medication. There is nothing wrong with needing or wanting either of those, and I think that needs to be spoken about more in classroom settings.

What are you currently reading?

I read a LOT (check out my bookstagram if you want constant book recs), but at this moment I am reading The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes (YA), Adrift by Tanya Guerrero (MG), and The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett (Adult Romance).

Welcome to Fresh Voices! We are excited to share a special Q&A with author Glenda Armand and illustrator Steffi Walthall about their new picture book, BLACK-EYED PEAS AND HOGHEAD CHEESE!

The Fresh Voices series is brought to you in coordination with the RHCB DEI Book Club Committee.

Glenda Armand: Even though this story is very personal to me, I had no plans to write it. My agent, Karen Grencik, informed me that an editor, Sonali Fry, was looking for someone to write a picture book about soul food. Would I be interested?

I did not jump at the chance because I am not a foodie. However, my family is from Louisiana and I grew up eating delicious Creole cooking. With that experience and with picture books being in my wheelhouse, I thought I would give it a try.

It turned out to be an unexpectedly rewarding experience. I learned many things about the history of African Americans and of my own family. I learned how deep my family’s roots are in Louisiana. I gained a deeper understanding of how intricately the story of African Americans is entwined with the history of the United States. I grew to appreciate the extent to which what we eat makes us who we are.

Steffi Walthall: The story was absolutely beautiful and so joyful! I work on a lot of historical nonfiction and even though this book is based around facts during that time period, I had an opportunity to be playful and fun with the character designs and adding a little bit of magic to the pages.

Armand: The hardest part of writing the book was deciding what to leave out. There is just so much there! I’d uncover one bit of information and that would lead to another and another. I had to remind myself that this is a picture book and you only have room for so many words!

The most satisfying part, was weaving together the different threads of the story, the past and the present, the food and the feelings.

Walthall: I think the most difficult part for me was trying to best represent the vision of the author. Every book is different and I always want to do justice to the characters and the stories. We had to do some pretty creative thinking on how we would handle the historical scenes for the sake of content and time but I really love how they came out. The easiest part was adding in the final details and adding character to the house. I referenced things from my grandparents’ home like pots and pans and cabinets and I also looked at photos from my family.

Armand: I am Frances! Except that she has more curiosity about the process of cooking than I had when I was her age. Now I wish I had spent more time in the kitchen as Mom created the meals I grew up eating. Recipes are great, but there’s really nothing like learning from the cook herself.

While my four sisters learned at Mom’s side, I was somewhere curled up with a book or training our family’s dog, Mr. Boy, how to shake hands. I know that my mom would be tickled that, of her five daughters, I am the one who wrote a “cookbook.” However, I know that she approves because, even though the wonderful illustrator never met her, Steffi Walthall’s depiction of Grandma in Black-Eyed Peas looks remarkably like my mother. She is smiling down on us.

Walthall: The familial bonds are what resonated most with me. When I read the manuscript I was instantly reminded of my grandparents and great aunts and uncles and how we love on each other when we’re together. The celebration at the end reminded me of Kwanzaa with my extended family!

Armand: I would like young readers to take away from this story the same lessons I learned when writing it.

I would ask them to learn from their elders. Take advantage of family get-togethers to “interview” family members. What was their childhood like? What did they dream of?

I often told my students, “Once you learn to read, you read to learn.” So read and learn! Learn the history of our country, the good and the bad. Learn about your own ethnic group and the role it played in that history. Knowing these things will give you a sense of belonging, purpose, and pride. And learn how to cook!

Walthall: I hope that the kids who read this story are motivated to look into their personal histories and do research on their family traditions, regardless of background. I also hope readers are encouraged to look into some of the practices talked about in the book as well.

Armand: When it comes to books for pleasure, I listen to them. When I read a physical book, it tends to be spiritual in nature, or for research. I like to have actual copies of books that I use for research because, once I’ve written in the margins, highlighted and decorated them with Post-it notes, I return to them again and again.

As far as books I’ve recently listened to, usually while gardening, they would be hard to fit into one category. Yesterday, I finished Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet, before that, I listened to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, after having spent about a month weeding with David Copperfield. Prior to the Dickens’ classic, I enjoyed an intriguing non-fiction book called A Short History of the World According to Sheep. Now I am listening toDragons in a Bag.

As a middle and high school teacher and librarian, I was always on the lookout for books that would hook boys on reading. Even though I’m retired now, I am still on that search, which shows up in my reading choices. When I am choosing just for me, I lean towards biographies and historical fiction.

Walthall: So a lot of times, because of my schedule, I don’t have a chance to “read” as much as listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I just finished listening to Ghost Summer by Tananarive Due and I’m adding Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen, The Good House by Tananarive Due, and The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones to my rotation!