An Interview with Middle-Grade Author Margaret Finnegan
AN INTERVIEW
WITH AUTHOR MARGARET FINNEGAN
ABOUT
SUNNY PARKER IS HERE TO STAY
(Atheneum BYR; $8.99, Ages 8-12,
Now available in trade paperback)
Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Junior Title
INTERVIEW:
GOODREADSWITHRONNA: Welcome to the blog, Margaret. I am a huge fan, but for readers unfamiliar with your four middle-grade titles, can you briefly reflect on them in general and tell us how Sunny Parker is Here to Stay breaks some new ground for you?
Margaret Finnegan: Thank you so much, Ronna. It’s an honor to be here. One way or another, all of my novels (We Can Be Heroes, Susie B. Won’t Back Down, New Kids & Underdogs, and Sunny Parker is Here to Stay) include characters, often with special needs, who are struggling to find their place in the world and be accepted for who they are. My books are humorous and heartfelt, yet don’t shy away from complex and difficult themes. In Sunny Parker, a lot of those themes stem from the fact that Sunny lives in an affordable housing complex in an affluent area, and so that means the book deals a lot with things like class and economic opportunity.
I think the main way that Sunny Parker breaks new ground for me is that there are a lot of characters, and so creating a world that felt like a community, and not chaos, was a challenge. But it was a fun challenge, and I really like Sunny’s world.
GRWR: Sunny Parker is Here to Stay features a spunky, introspective, and independent-minded main character. How is she similar to and/or different from how you were at 11 years old?
MF: I’m not sure if I would call eleven-year-old me spunky, but I was a little oblivious and socially awkward, and that might have looked like spunkiness to some people. I was introspective and independent. My family moved a lot, and I figured out quickly that I would need to entertain myself and be highly observant of the world around me. Sunny’s introspection and independence come from different sources. She is independent, in part, because she has this wonderful community where people look out for each other. But she’s introspective because her world is turned upside down, and she is exposed to realities she’s never considered before.
GRWR: Topics including affordable housing, hard-working low-income families and stereotypes, racism, Autism, physical abuse, and local law enforcement are sensitively and thoughtfully addressed. Was there one particular subject you found most challenging to write about?
MF: If you are going to write about affordable housing, and you are going to do so honestly, you are going to have to tackle a lot of these issues. In the United States, housing, race, class, and disability are often braided tightly together. But that’s hard and complicated. As a white woman, I do understand how racial privilege has shaped my options and opportunities. I was like Sunny. I lived in affordable housing in an affluent area between the ages of about eleven and twenty-one. I may have been poor; I may have lacked designer labels and other physical markers of economic security and wealth, but I could still blend pretty well into the mostly white city of Palo Alto, California. But for the people of color who lived in my complex—and who live in Sunny’s—I think that was harder. That is something Sunny comes to realize much sooner in life than I did.
GRWR: Sunny’s mother died when she was young, and her dad, the manager of the Del Mar Garden Apartments, doesn’t speak about her much. He also expects Sunny to help him with certain chores around the apartments. He’s a complex character who does not like to make waves. His views ultimately clash with Sunny’s multiple times. Was it hard to get into Mr. Parker’s head?
MF: It wasn’t too hard to get in Mr. Parker’s head; I’ve known people like him, people who might—at first glance—come off as a little neglectful or simply exhausted by life. But really, he is emotionally closed off. He has his own difficult backstory. He is doing the best he can. What really interests me about Sunny’s dad is Sunny’s response to him. She lacks the emotional maturity to truly understand him. Plus, she’s lived with him her whole life. She thinks he’s perfect, until she realizes that he is merely human.
GRWR: Readers see how Sunny loves her life at the Del Mar Garden Apartments despite not having many things her peers have, such as new clothing, yummy snacks at home, or the ability to attend summer camp. How has this influenced Sunny’s character?
MF: It’s hard for Sunny. She sees what her peers have, what they get to do. But she is not one to dwell on the negatives. In part, that’s because her father has convinced her that he needs her to stay positive. But no one can stay positive all the time. Part of Sunny’s arc is her learning that she can have a full range of emotions. But she also learns that there are things money can’t buy, including community, safety, and self-respect.
GRWR: The book beautifully portrays how it takes a village since Sunny finds surrogate moms in several women in her community. Is your empathetic portrayal a result of the positive experience you had as a child living in affordable housing? And does this factor into some of the crucial decisions that Sunny makes in the book?
MF: I wouldn’t say I had surrogate moms. I was pretty attached to my own mom. But we did have many wonderful neighbors, and some tried hard to connect with me and broaden my world. One family took me to church. They introduced me to pierogis. Other families let me babysit their children. But I don’t think those experiences played into Sunny’s character or the decisions she makes. Mostly, I think I understood early in the writing process that the wonderful thing about Sunny is that she is really eager to connect with people. Many of her actions and decisions grow out of that intrinsic quality.
GRWR: I liked getting to know Haley, Sunny’s best friend. Then there’s Mrs. Garcia, who Sunny takes walks with along with her Autistic son AJ. I especially enjoyed Izzy, AJ’s sister who works at Yum Burgers. She, like Sunny, is full of opinions. All the characters feel so real. Do you have any faves?
MF: Naturally, I’m fond of all of them, but I have a special place in my heart for Izzy. She is bitter, resentful, and hard, but she wants to do the right thing, and I think she will grow up to be just as warm and lovely as her mother.
GRWR: Names of characters like Sourpuss Scanlon, and the Ghost Boy, as well as catchy expressions you use like the bitter barn, were just SO good. Does it take you a long time to create these, or do they evolve organically as you write the story?
MF: Usually, they just find their way into the story. If you have fun when you write, fun things and fun expressions will happen. But I did “borrow” the phrase bitter barn from my friend Patty. I can’t even remember how it came up in conversation, but it is something her family says about a person who is not quite ready to let go of their bitterness and so, instead, they are staying in the bitter barn. I loved it so much that I just knew that I had to share it.
GRWR: What would you like young readers to take away from reading your novel?
MF: My priority is always that readers enjoy the book. If you enjoy a book, you’ll read another book. Beyond that, if they come away from the story feeling more empathy for the people around them, I would be delighted.
GRWR: Can you share what other books you have in the pipeline?
MF: I’m glad you asked! In May 2025, Atheneum Books for Young Readers will release my fifth middle-grade novel. It’s called Spelling it Out. It’s about a boy who spends a fateful summer studying for the National Spelling Bee as his beloved grandmother slips into a haze of dementia.
GRWR: Is there anything else I might not have asked that you’d like to speak to before we finish?
MF: I’d love to take a moment to thank the bloggers, influencers, and readers who are embracing Sunny’s story. As you note earlier, Sunny is fortunate to have a village of people who care about her and each other. Kid lit authors benefit from their own village of people who passionately care about books for children. Thanks for being part of that village, Ronna!
BUY THE BOOKS:
Sunny Parker is Here to Stay
Spelling it Out
BIOGRAPHY:
PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Finnegan
Rachel Kaufman is a current sophomore studying communications at the University of Southern California. She’s passionate about books and hiking with her dog, Scout. Rachel enjoys how books reshape her imagination of the world around her. Rachel knows firsthand how important books are in aiding children’s futures, working with a reading program, Reach Out and Read, by reading, organizing, and donating over 200 children’s books. In her free time you can find her either reading or thinking about what she might read next.
