Karol Silverstein

A Guest Review and Interview with Ona Gritz, The Shape of Wings Author

THE SHAPE OF WINGS

Written by Ona Gritz

(West 44 Books; Available in Hardcover, Paperback, and eBook,
Ages 14-18/Grades 9-12)

 

The Shape of Wings cover.

 

 

GUEST REVIEW BY KAROL SILVERSTEIN:

Newly connected with her biological sisters (having hunted down her sperm donor-dad on Ancestry), C.C. is loving getting to know them. But when talk turns to sports and other physical activities they all enjoy, C.C. chooses not to share that she has cerebral palsy, enjoying the anonymity of the Zoom room. C.C.’s friend group—which includes bestie volleyball star Paige—is all non-disabled. In fact, the only other disabled person C.C. knows is a local woman who’s a wheelchair user. That changes when Jasmine comes to the library where C.C. works. C.C. instantly recognizes Jasmine’s altered gait and assumes, correctly, that Jasmine has CP too. Jasmine’s astonished that C.C. has no disabled friends and is unaware of the nearby Judy Heumann Center, a gathering place for disabled kids and teens that offers adaptive sports and other activities.

Jasmine takes C.C. under her wing, taking her to the Heumann Center and introducing her around. The experience proves to be a revelation for C.C., who begins spending most of her time with Jasmine and the other disabled teens she meets. She even begins a sweet romance with Lucas, who’s blind, and starts learning adaptive volleyball. Meanwhile, C.C.’s been blowing off her other friends, and Paige is hurt and confused by how unavailable C.C.’s been all summer. Like keeping her CP a secret from her sisters, C.C. hasn’t shared her new friends or her budding romance with Paige.

When C.C. does finally hang out with Paige and her old friend group, she meets Paige’s cute cousin Jack, who takes an interest in C.C. Longing to “test the waters” of attracting a non-disabled guy, C.C. allows herself to be swept up in his attention and they kiss a little on her front porch at the end of the night. She instantly regrets her betrayal of Lucas and intends to tell him what she’s done. But Jasmine saw her kissing Jack, and is furious. C.C. knows she needs to come clean with all the secrets she’s been keeping—from Paige, from her sisters and from Lucas. Somehow she needs to reconcile the fences she’s put up and then broken and to bring the separate parts of her world together.

Like author Ona Gritz’s previous book that introduced C.C., The Space You Left Behind, this new novel is a hard-to-put-down page turner. It explores the benefit of leaning into one’s disabled identity and the power of having a community that understands you in a way those who don’t share your experience might not. C.C. swings from a disabled teen with no disabled friends to one who shuts out and nearly loses her long-time, non-disabled friends. Obviously, finding a balance and communicating more openly with her old friend group is essential for C.C. Seeing C.C.’s eyes open to all the disabled community has to offer was a thrill. The Judy Heumann Center was practically in her backyard, yet she didn’t know about—or about the disability activism of the center’s namesake.

Able-bodied parents of disabled kids often think treating their child “just like any other kid,” deemphasizing their disabled identity, is doing them a service. But it can deprive these kids of the opportunity to appreciate a significant part of themselves and to connect with other kids like them—in addition to their non-disabled friends. The Shape Of Wings is a loving, honest look at one teen’s journey of discovery and revelation around a part of herself she had yet to embrace as unique and powerful.

 

A Q&A With Ona Gritz by Karol Silverstein:

Karol Silverstein: Books are like our children’s. What excites you most about your latest?

Ona Gritz: The Shape of Wings is, in many ways, a love letter to disability friendships and community. I’m excited to share the depth of those connections, the fun to be found there, and how affirming and essential it is for disabled kids to have that particular part of themselves valued and understood from the inside out.

 

KS: Did you always envision (or hope for) a sequel to The Space You Left Behind?

OG: Not long after I began writing The Space You Left Behind, I realized I wanted more time with these characters. When we meet CC, she’s at the absolute beginning of her journey toward self-acceptance as a young woman with cerebral palsy and, by the end, disability pride and community are possibilities she’s just beginning to envision for herself. She was definitely ahead of me at 16 in that respect, but I hoped for an opportunity to fully immerse her in that world.

 

KS: Jasmine’s family leaned into her disability early on, connecting with the disability community and making sure she knew other disabled kids. CC’s parents did not. Which side of that coin landed face up for you growing up?

OG: Unfortunately, my family fell on CC’s side of that coin. I was the only disabled kid in my friend group growing up. As a result, I had no sense of disabled identity and tended to see myself as clumsy and lesser than because of the way my body moved and the physical things I couldn’t do. When I finally met my first disabled friend at 25, we had an immediate and breathless finish-each-other’s-sentences kind of connection. Soon after, I asked my mom why she didn’t seek out other families with disabled kids when I was small. She said it had never occurred to her.

 

KS: What’s your message to misguided disability allies—the “I don’t think of you as disabled” folks?

OG: That it’s not the compliment they think it is. Words like that not only discount our experiences and identity, but communicate a belief that disability is necessarily and solely a negative.

 

KS: Scoops seems like a fun place. What’s your go-to ice cream parlor order?

OG: Assuming they carry gelato, vanilla stracciatella.

 

KS: What books, shows, movies or music have you encountered recently that blew you away? Why?

OG: For books, Roxie in Color by Stacy Cervenka and Diane Debrovner is a unique and compelling story of a sighted 7 th grader with blind parents. My husband is blind, and the book felt authentic and true to our experience. It also happens to be a real page-turner. Another MG novel I loved was The Moon Without Stars by Chanel Miller. There’s something so fresh and surprising about Miller’s voice. She, and therefore her characters, have such a poetic and empathetic way of viewing the world. This is a book about books, friendship, and peer pressure that’s both heartbreaking and hopeful. I also can’t say enough good things about Against Breaking: On the Power of Poetry by Ada Limón. It’s a lyrical and inspiring treatise on the importance of poetry. As a poet and verse novelist, I return to it often for inspiration. A movie I was especially charmed by this year was Eternity. It offers a wonderfully quirky and imaginative version of the afterlife, plus it has a lot of heart. And since we’re KidLit people, I’ll add that I absolutely love the film adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. It was my first-ever favorite book, and I thought it was beautifully translated to film. Shows I’ve loved recently are Hacks, Shrinking, and All Creatures Great and Small. What all three share in common are dimensional and irresistible characters.

Author Ona Gritz photocredit Wendy Setzer
Ona Gritz, Photo Credit: Wendy Setzer.

AUTHOR BIO:

Ona Gritz holds a master of arts in poetry from the creative writing program at New York University. She is the author of the hi/lo young adult verse novels Take a Sad Song, a Kirkus Reviews’ best YA title; The Space You Left Behind, a Children’s Book Council Disability Pride Month Recommended Read; and its brand-new sequel, The Shape of Wings, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Her books for middle grade readers include If You Find This Letter, recently featured in People Magazine for Disability Pride Month, and August Or Forever, a Reader’s Choice and Wishing Shelf finalist in middle grade fiction. She also writes poetry and nonfiction for adults.
Find out more at her website: www.onagritz.com.

Author socials:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onagritz/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557125428404

Buy the book: Children’s Book World, Haverford, PA for signed copies, or Bookshop.org.

REVIEWER BIO:

Karol Ruth Silverstein (she/her/disabled) is an award-winning children’s book author. She’s
represented by Abigail Samoun at Red Fox Literary and lives in West Hollywood, California, with
two unmanageably fluffy cats. Check out www.karolruthsilverstein.com for more info.

Share this:

Young Adult Book Review – Joined at the Joints by Marissa Eller

JOINED AT THE JOINTS

Written by Marissa Eller

(Holiday House; $19.99, Ages 14 and up) 

 

Joined at the Joints cover boy and girl teens sitting back-to-back.

 

 

Once again, it’s a delight to have guest reviewer and author, Karol Silverstein, back to share her thoughts on Joined at the Joints, a young adult novel that resonated with her.

 

REVIEW:

At 17, Ivy’s great love is baking, and she’s more than content to spend her summer elbow-deep in her project to convert all of her beloved grandmother’s recipes to gluten-free since her older sister Caroline has Celiac disease. Having been diagnosed with juvenile arthritis a couple of years earlier, she shares living with a chronic illness with both her sister and her mom, who has Lupus. Also managing significant social anxiety is just the gluten-free icing on Ivy’s cake

At Caroline’s urging, she reluctantly attends a support group for teens with chronic illness and meets Grant, who shares her arthritis diagnosis, setting off an infestation of butterflies in Ivy’s stomach. Regardless of her attempts to deny what she’s feeling, Ivy falls for Grant—hard. He’s gorgeous, sweet, funny, and understands the pain and uncertainty she faces on a daily basis like no one else she’s ever met.

Her planned summer of carefree baking now includes navigating her first romantic relationship and a flare in her arthritis that becomes too severe for her to ignore. Her senior year of high school brings a new doctor and treatment, awkward conversations about birth control (since her new medication would cause harm to a pregnancy), and the chance to reconcile with her former best friend who Ivy kept in the dark about her arthritis diagnosis.

Joined at the Joints is both a typical YA romance and revolutionary. Most contemporary realistic YAs feature a teen who falls in love while dealing with the traditional trappings of teen life … plus. The plus can be academic pressures, family drama, a specific sought-after goal, etc. In Joined at the Joints, Ivy’s plus is her chronic illnesses. This isn’t a diagnosis story, specifically focused on coming to terms with a dramatic health shift. It’s more “season 2” in Ivy’s life, and therein lies the revolution. Guess what? Sick kids fall in love, too. Diagnosis stories will always be essential and necessary parts of the disability and chronic illness representation canon. But so, too, will be telling stories beyond that initial jolt, and that’s exactly what author Marrisa Eller has done here. She shows us how a teen with social anxiety, chronic pain, and fatigue can fall in love, begin dating, and handle all the awkward complications that come with that experience. Eller makes you root for Ivy and Grant without ever sugar-coating their challenges. Engrossing, sexy, and fun, Joined at the Joints is a must-read YA romance that’s both typical and revolutionary.

I would be remiss to complete this review without mentioning the book’s cover—which is also revolutionary. The illustration shows two teens sitting back-to-back in a pretty outdoor setting, shyly (almost) holding hands. And it’s their hands that drew my attention right away as both kids are wearing wrist braces, commonly prescribed for those with arthritis. The illustrator, Fevik, even went a step further in depicting a realistic image by featuring two different types of braces! The story never even mentions the braces but any kid with arthritis knows them well—and knows how awkward and embarrassing wearing them in public can be. This cover clearly lets readers know that the story is a romance. The wrist braces, for those who spot them, let readers know a romance story can and should include teens with health issues. I can’t begin to imagine how impactful having a book like this—with a cover like this—might have been for me when I was thirteen and newly diagnosed with juvenile arthritis.

  • Reviewed by Karol Silverstein

 

BUY THE  BOOK:

Special purchase link – Bookmarks (signed copies available):

https://www.bookmarksnc.org/book/9780823456215

 

Photo courtesy of Marissa Eller
Author Photo courtesy of Marissa Eller

BRIEF AUTHOR BIO:

Marissa Eller is a novelist with chronic pain and an abundance of emotions. She holds a BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University, which she uses in her work as an academic consultant. She resides in Hickory, North Carolina, with her family and two rescue cats, all of whom she couldn’t love more if she tried. When not writing, reading, or helping students, she can be found thinking entirely too much about her favorite TV shows, obsessing over a band she’s loved since she was fifteen, or enjoying an afternoon nap.

Find Marissa here:

https://marissaeller.com/

https://twitter.com/marissaeller

https://www.instagram.com/themarissae/

 

BRIEF REVIEWER BIO:

Karol Ruth Silverstein (she/her/disabled) is an award-winning children’s book author and longtime SCBWI member. Her debut young adult novel, Cursed (Charlesbridge Teen, 2019), was loosely drawn from her experience of being diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at thirteen and won the Schneider Family Book Award in 2020. Originally from Philadelphia, Karol now lives in West Hollywood, California, with two unmanageably fluffy cats.

 

Find illustrator Fevik here:

https://www.instagram.com/fevik.studio/

 

 

Share this:

A Review + Interview – Karol Silverstein Interviews Author Elaine Dimopoulos

AN INTERVIEW WITH

MIDDLE-GRADE AUTHOR ELAINE DIMOPOULOS

BY KAROL SILVERSTEIN

 

The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow (Book #1)

Written by Elaine Dimopoulos

Illustrated by Doug Salati

(May 16, 2023, Charlesbridge, Ages 8-11)

 

The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow cover bunnies fleeing.

e

The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow (Book #2)

Written by Elaine Dimopoulos,

Illustrated by Doug Salati

(May 21, 2024, Charlesbridge, Ages 8-11)

 

The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow cover rabbit chased by birds.

 

 

INTRO + REVIEWS:

I came to these wonderful books a little backwards—that is, I read book 2 first! The good news is you do not need to have read the first book to thoroughly enjoy the second. The even better news is that both books are equally enchanting!

 

The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow int1 Rabbits in Root Room.
Interior art from The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow written by Elaine Dimopoulos and illustrated by Doug Salati, Charlesbridge ©2023.

In The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow, we’re introduced to expert storyteller Butternut. Storytelling is a way of life for her colony of rabbits, led by the wise Grandmother Sage. Along with storytelling techniques, Butternut and her many siblings are taught to stick to their own kind and avoid unnecessary danger.

The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow int2 Fierce Owl Flying
Interior art from The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow written by Elaine Dimopoulos and illustrated by Doug Salati, Charlesbridge ©2023.

All that changes when Butternut befriends a joyful robin named Piper. Her new first and best friend believes that all creatures have good in them and crave one another’s company. Butternut’s anxieties—which she calls her “brambles”—spin into overdrive when Piper suggests they befriend a wounded faun, but the more she pushes past her fears, the more confident she becomes. When the need for the titular remarkable rescue arrives, Butternut must convince her family to be as brave as she’s become to help save a litter of coyote pups. The experience changes life in the meadow for the better.
★ Starred reviews – Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly

 

The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow welcomes back Butternut and all her meadow friends. But exciting new creatures, a traveling theater troupe of wild turkeys, enter stage right. The talented turkey thespians are marvelous storytellers, which makes Butternut a bit jealous. When the troupe enlists the meadow dwellers to put on a fabulous play, Butternut’s brambles tell her that something’s not quite right with these grandiose gobblers. She senses her friends and family are in danger but struggles to figure out what, exactly, the wild turkeys are up to and how thwart their plans.  ★ Starred review – Kirkus Reviews

 

The first-person storyteller style employed by author Dimopoulos for both books is pitch-perfect, as are Salati’s delicate illustrations. Butternut herself spins her tales with dramatic precision, utilizing tension, foreshadowing, plot twists, and character building as any great writer would. And though the books’ characters are animals, their emotions and motivations are very relatable to human listeners. In particular, Butternut’s “brambles”—which sometimes are overwrought and hold her back and sometimes grant her heightened and accurate insights—are a wonderful metaphor for young readers who are learning to navigate and interpret their own inner thoughts.

INTERVIEW:

I asked Elaine Dimopoulos to tell me a little more about the creation of this delightful duology. Here’s what she had to say:

Karol Silverstein: The tradition of storytelling, begun by Butternut’s Grandmother Sage, is a way of life for the rabbits of Milkweed Meadow. Why rabbits and why storytelling?

Elaine Dimopoulos: In 2017 I moved to a suburban home near a meadow and saw rabbits frolicking on our lawn every morning and evening. They delighted me and my family. I decided to write about a young rabbit who lives on the border of a lawn and a meadow and who grows curious about the human family in the house although her elders have told her to stick to her own kind. The emphasis on storytelling came from my many years teaching writing. I had been rolling craft concepts around in my head for so long—conflict, tension, voice, character growth—and wanted to create a narrator who was an expert storyteller and who commented metafictively on the story as she was telling it. I had a lot of fun creating Butternut’s narrative voice.

 

The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow int1 Butternut and Piper.
Interior art from The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow written by Elaine Dimopoulos and illustrated by Doug Salati, Charlesbridge ©2024.

 

KS: Butternut’s “brambles”—which readers will likely recognize as similar to their own worries and anxieties—are an important part of her character. Was her anxiety a characteristic you set out to explore from the beginning or did it develop as she revealed herself to you?

ED: I knew Butternut would have anxiety from the very beginning. I’d noticed an increase in anxiety in the students I taught and began to think about how many children out there were having anxious thoughts these days. I wanted to create a character they might see themselves in, who learns to manage her anxiety, act bravely, and live a full life.

 

KS: In the second book, a traveling theater troupe of wild turkeys comes to the meadow, and the Gobblers entrance the inhabitants with their theatricality. Why wild turkey and why theater?

ED: In addition to rabbits, I have gorgeous wild turkeys on my lawn! The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow is a sequel, and I really wanted to get turkeys into the first novel, but there wasn’t room. I’m so thankful I got the chance to include them in Book 2. Here’s a photo I snapped. They’re such divas!

 

Wild Turkeys in yard of Elaine Dimopoulos

 

 

As for theater, I acted through middle school, high school, and college. I love performing and knew I could write about it with expertise. I also loved the idea of the meadow creatures putting on a midsummer show.

 

KS: Redemption—and characters who change and/or turn out to be different than they first seem—is featured in both books. Why is it important to explore this theme in kids’ books?

ED: It seems to me these days that we are quicker than ever to criticize and slow to forgive. We all make mistakes, adults as well as children. If we change our mind about something and apologize, we should be able to earn forgiveness. This is an important part of human connection. We ought not to lose the ability to extend kindness to each other and to turn the page on the past.

The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow int2 Turkeys and Piper.
Interior art from The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow written by Elaine Dimopoulos and illustrated by Doug Salati, Charlesbridge ©2024.

 

KS: Was there always going to be a second book (or more)? If so, how much of the plot for The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow did you have set in place before publishing the first book? If not, how did you and Charlesbrige decide to continue Butternut’s story, and what sort of decision-making went into creating the storyline of The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow?

ED: I wrote the first novel wishing that I could continue the story of these characters. Nothing was guaranteed, however, so I didn’t focus on setting anything up for book 2. The sequel was happily greenlighted before the first book came out, so I was able to influence, of all things, the map endpapers. I figured out that there would need to be a little clearing in the oak forest where the performance in the second novel would take place and also a swing set clubhouse where Butternut and the little female human from the house would meet. Doug Salati was kind enough to add these elements to the endpapers of book 1 so there would be continuity.

I knew I wanted to include a theatrical troupe of turkeys in the sequel, but I was struggling with Butternut’s central conflict. My editor, Julie Bliven, helped me see that Butternut ends the first novel confident in her storytelling abilities, so it would be interesting if this confidence was shattered when a new art form entered the picture. I ran with this idea!

I hope to write even more stories set in Milkweed Meadow. The first two books are set, respectively, in spring and summer, so I’d love to complete a seasonal quartet and write an autumn and a winter book. We’ll see!

 

Huge thanks to Karol and Elaine for this informative interview!  – Ronna

 

BUY THE BOOK:

Belmont Books (signed & personalized): https://www.belmontbooks.com/book/9781623544270

Bookshop.org: The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow a book by Elaine Dimopoulos and Doug Salati (bookshop.org)

Publisher’s Page: The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow – Charlesbridge

 

Elaine Dimopoulos Headshot Photo Credit Ars Magna Studio
Elaine Dimopoulos Photo Credit: Ars Magna Studio

AUTHOR BIO:

Elaine Dimopoulos is the author of several novels for children, including the critically acclaimed Milkweed Meadow series, Turn the Tide, winner of the Green Earth Book Award in Children’s Fiction, and the young adult fast-fashion dystopia, Material Girls. Elaine served as the Associates of the Boston Public Library Writer-in-Residence and has taught writing at Simmons University and GrubStreet. She lives in Massachusetts. She lives in Massachusetts with her spouse, two children, and a Balinese cat named Plato. www.elainedimopoulos.com

 

 

 

SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Author Elaine Dimopoulos

https://twitter.com/ElaineDimop

https://www.instagram.com/elaine_dimopoulos/

• Illustrator Doug Salati

https://dougsalati.com/

Doug Salati Photo Credit: Erin V Carr

ILLUSTRATOR BIO:

Doug Salati is the creator of the picture book Hot Dog, recipient of the Randolph Caldecott Medal and Ezra Jack Keats Award. His first book was In a Small Kingdom by Tomie dePaola, and his second, Lawrence in the Fall by his partner, Matthew Farina, was an Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award Honoree, a Society of Illustrators Original Art Show selection and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. Doug lives and works in New York City.

 

 

 

INTERVIEWER BIO:

Karol Ruth Silverstein (she/her/disabled) is an award-winning children’s book author and longtime SCBWI member. Her debut young adult novel, Cursed (Charlesbridge Teen, 2019), was loosely drawn from her experience of being diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at thirteen and won the Schneider Family Book Award in 2020. Originally from Philadelphia, Karol now lives in West Hollywood, California, with two unmanageably fluffy cats. Find her online at
Author Karol Ruth Silverstein.

Share this:

A review of The Magical Imperfect and an Interview with Author Chris Baron

THE MAGICAL IMPERFECT

by Chris Baron

(Feiwel & Friends; $16.99, Ages 9-12)

 

A Book Review, and Interview with Author Chris Baron

by Karol Silverstein

 

 

MagicalImperfect_CVR

 

★Starred Review – Booklist

 

REVIEW:

In The Magical Imperfect, Etan has had trouble speaking since his mother checked into a hospital to get well, and his friends at school don’t know what to make of his silence. Baseball is about the only thing he can share with his father, but luckily, 1989 is looking like a good year for their Giants. Spending time with his immigrant grandfather, a shopkeeper in the local village, is much easier for Etan. Though his family is Jewish, their small hometown north of San Francisco is home to many refugees from various countries, so he’s exposed to many different cultures.

On an errand to deliver items for one of his grandfather’s fellow shopkeepers, Etan meets Malia, a girl who has severe eczema and began being homeschooled when the bullying at the local school became too much. These two outcast kids have an instant connection and build a moving friendship. Etan’s grandfather has a small supply of clay from “the old country,” which is supposed to have curative properties. Could the clay possibly cure Malia’s eczema? Etan wonders. Malia has tried many medicines and “cures” and is more interested in connecting with and learning from the nature that surrounds her, particularly the trees. Malia also dreams of singing in the town’s talent contest—unthinkable before she met Etan. As the talent show—and the World Series—draw closer, Malia practices her performance with Etan’s encouragement and Etan secures some of his grandfather’s “magic clay,” hoping it will help a particularly bad eczema outbreak Malia is experiencing. If only the scary tremors would let up…

As was the case in author Chris Baron’s 2019 debut All Of Me, the gentle unfolding of character and emotion through evocative verse is again on full display in The Magical Imperfect. The juxtaposition of Etan and Malia’s small tremors of growth with San Francisco’s devastating 1989 earthquake provides a potent metaphor for how life can shake you up but not necessarily knock you down. I worried a little that this book might delve into “magical cure/disability that needs to be fixed” territory that hampers many books with disabled and/or chronically ill characters and can actually be harmful to that community. But I don’t think that’s the case here. Etan’s clay isn’t really the magic fix he’d hoped for, and I believe both kids come to realize that acceptance and small victories are, in the end, what matter most.

Ultimately, the intertwined themes of love, culture, baseball and just a touch of magic . . . or is it faith? . . . make this a wonderful and wonder-filled read.

 

INTERVIEW:

Karol Silverstein: The Magical Imperfect is set around the time of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. How and at what point in the writing process did you decide on that time period? What led to this decision?

Chris Baron: This is a great question with a very twisty-turny answer. Let me see if I can straighten it out enough. Just like in All of Me, this book takes place in the Bay Area, where I went to middle school. This place is just a part of me. The setting lives in my heart—from the ocean to the redwoods and beyond.  I’d experienced earthquakes before, but somehow this one, in the middle of the World Series seemed to disrupt life in such an unpredictable and deep way. This story is all about the ways in which life is disrupted for the people in the story in unexpected ways by things that are beyond their control. Something as a big as an earthquake is terrifying, but it also has a chance to bring people together.

 

Karol: Baseball, music, food, and cultural traditions are wonderfully intertwined in your book. Can you talk about how you worked with these themes to tell Etan’s story?

Chris: Intertwined is actually a beautiful word for this. I think all of these things are intertwined in the story. When we hear a song, we feel the beat and hum the melody. We can remember the words no matter how long it’s been. Not only that, if the song has a special meaning to us, the music and the lyrics come together to fuel the memories that bind us together. I think it’s the same with cultural and sacred traditions, (which of course include food). The traditions, the tastes, the people—they become intertwined in who we are. They connect us. Even though Etan and Malia are from different cultures, and even though traditions might look different, they find that their values are actually intertwined.

As for baseball: Baseball is its own tradition—a symbol, an activity played at every level, and just a very fun game. For so many of us, baseball represents normal life, but it’s powerful enough to bring so many kinds of people together. For Etan, baseball is one of the only ways he can connect with his father. When things get tough, they at least can talk about baseball.

In 1989, when a unifying tradition like the world series was shaken by an earthquake, it caused many of us to feel scared and uneasy, but the quake also brought many people together. I tried to weave that into the backdrop of the story. There is so much news coverage from that day, and it’s fascinating to watch. I wanted to explore what it would be like for this close-knit town to experience this event together. I also have to confess that writing poetry about the earthquake was all-consuming. I think I wrote one hundred pages of “moments’ from the quake, but of course only a few made it into the book.

 

Karol: Both Etan and Malia have health conditions. What drew you to create characters with selective mutism and eczema, respectively? If you don’t have personal experience with these conditions, what type of research did you do?

Chris: Great question. I have the deepest respect and empathy for those of us who live with these health conditions. Both selective mutism and eczema are extremely complex.

I wrote about the life of an artist’s family quite a bit in All of Me. But there was one behavior that Ari didn’t express that Etan does in The Magical Imperfect. In the book, Etan stops speaking when his mother has to leave because of her severe depression. He didn’t choose it. His anxiety came on suddenly, and like most kids his age (and especially in 1989), he doesn’t know how to recognize it. In Etan, I am writing a character I know well—someone who suffers from anxiety. Because my mom is an artist, we moved all the time. Whenever I moved to a new town, a new state, a new school, I may have seemed calm on the outside, but inside of me was a storm of emotions: There was always joy and excitement of moving to a new place, new friends, new adventures, but of course it was all mixed together with the brutal pain of being taken out of one life (routine, friendships, and environment), and then suddenly dropped into another. I suffered from anxiety. I didn’t know how I would fit. For a kid, it can be a complete loss of control. Often, the way I reacted to this loss of control was to find something I could control. It was sometimes eating, but it was also something quieter. I found myself often unable to speak, so I embraced that. I stopped talking at school. I was quiet. I kept all my words to myself. Eventually, I found friends and teachers I could trust who helped me through it, and slowly the words came out.

Eczema is very complicated. Most people have rashes that itch, but as my wife Ella deCastro Baron explains it, she has itches that rash. Ella has had extreme eczema off and on her whole life. Her memoir, Itchy Brown Girl Seeks Employment (2012) is all about a life lived with eczema. When we first got married, she had eczema that ravaged her body from head to toe. The triggering effects of the condition caused so many secondary problems: depression, insomnia, isolation, and hopelessness. If you know Ella, then you know that she is a luminous, hilarious person full of life. Watching her deal with chronic bouts of eczema has been some of the hardest parts of our life together (and still are at times). In The Magical Imperfect, Malia experiences a similar bout of eczema. It’s so bad that she is isolated from school because of the way other kids treat her and because of her own discomfort.

The healing process for both of these conditions is not simple magic. In each case, it’s a complex journey, but the hope itself leads to moments of magic that provide joy and healing from the most unexpected places.  That’s a big part of what I explored in the book.

I also want to note. Even though these conditions are integrated into my own life, I did more research than I expected. I know that these conditions vary from person to person, so I talked to many. I interviewed doctor friends about both subjects, and a few others who have firsthand experiences with these conditions. I also read Christina Collins’s stunning book, After Zero which I highly recommend.

 

Karol: The “magic” in your book is very much left up to your readers’ interpretation. Can you discuss what role you feel magic plays in helping Etan and Malia get to a better place emotionally by story’s end?

Chris: I know one thing I hope readers don’t take away—the idea that magic is some sort of cure for everything. Without too many spoilers, I would say that the magic in the story connects the many worlds of the characters. There is ancient magic from the worlds more connected to Etan’s grandfather and the other immigrants in town, but also hidden everywhere. This is the part I had the most fun writing. I think the magic is crucial for Etan and Malia—not because it cures things—but because it provides hope and makes it tangible in their everyday lives. The story is rooted in the idea that magic is all around us—that if we might only stop and listen—pay attention—we will see and hear the trees, or discover the ancient things living right beside us.

But also—I love trees—and I know that they are made of magic.

 

AUTHOR BIO:

Chris Baron is the author of the middle-grade novels in verse, ALL OF ME and THE MAGICAL IMPERFECT (2021) from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan, a Junior Library Guild Selection. He is a Professor of English at San Diego City College and the director of the Writing Center. Learn more about him on Twitter: @baronchrisbaron, Instagram: @christhebearbaron, Facebook:  Chris Baron – Author, Poet, Educator, and on www.chris-baron.com.
e

WHERE TO BUY THE BOOK:

Click here to purchase from Run For Cover Bookstore
e

Click here to purchase from Mysterious Galaxy

 

Share this:
Back To Top