Q&A with Emily Barth Isler

 

 

Emily Barth Isler is the author of the new middle grade novel The Color of Sound. She also has written the middle grade novel AfterMath. She lives in Los Angeles.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write about synesthesia in your new novel, and why did you make your character Rosie a violinist?

 

A: I wanted to write about synesthesia because I have it myself. There are over 80 known "varieties" or types of synesthetic experiences that brain scientists have identified, and I purposefully chose to give Rosie, the main character in The Color of Sound, a different kind of synesthesia than the kinds I have.

 

It felt awfully intimate to put the truest contents of my brain on the page and to try to describe the ways that my mind processes the world, so I made some slight changes from my experience into Rosie's, because, after all, it's fiction!

 

But of course, much of me seeps into each of my characters, as I imagine is true for most authors in one way or another, so although the details of Rosie's synesthesia are slightly different from mine, the feelings and consistency (and more-than-occasional overwhelm) are very similar! 

 

A huge piece of the decision to write about synesthesia was that Rosie's voice just arrived in my head one day, exactly as she is, and I didn't feel like it was so much a choice as it was a gift, but my determination to keep writing her story and take it all the way to publication was because I never read anything like this story when I was a kid. I had no idea that synesthesia existed -- let alone that I HAD it! -- until I was in my 30s!

 

I think a lot of people will relate to this -- whether specifically about synesthesia or another neurodivergence or just any ways that their brain or perception is colored by a unique quirk of chance or genetics or lived experience -- that we often don't realize or appreciate the ways in which we are unique or different because we have no idea that not everyone else sees things the way we do!

 

I wanted some kid like me to read the book and think, wait, that way that I feel, that's special? That's different? And yet, I'm not alone?! It's equal parts wanting kids to know that they're unique and also that they aren't alone! Being different-- even like in Rosie's case, as a musical genius-- can be lonely. 

 

It felt logical to me that Rosie would play the violin because the violin is the lead instrument in an orchestra. To compare it to singing, which is my background, the violin is the soprano, the melody, and often the star.

 

The other instruments often provide harmony and support to the violin, and thus, it holds a nice metaphor for the way that Rosie's mother wants her to stand out and be front and center.

 

It's also a good comparison to the viola, which I played and loved in my childhood, but which is literally "second fiddle" to the violin musically and harmonically. (I don't want to spoil anything, but this all comes into play in the story!)

 

Rosie's violin is a symbol of her place in the world, but also the violin is a foundational instrument from which some kids go on to learn other kinds of music...  It seemed like a perfect fit for Rosie! 

 

Q: In our previous Q&A, you said of The Color of Sound, “I’m in the middle of that life-sandwich now--I have a daughter and I am a daughter--and while none of the three characters in this upcoming book are at all like my daughter, my mother, or me, it’s fascinating to think about these relationships from a different perspective.” Can you say more about that?

 

A: It was really fun to write this book through the perspective of being a daughter AND the perspective of being a parent. Thanks to a little bit of magical time travel, we get to meet the character of Shanna in two separate timelines, and see how she has changed and grown between the age of 12 and her 40s.

 

I think a lot of times, kids have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that the adults in their lives were kids once -- often kids just like them -- and that they were children and teens with fears and struggles and challenges.

 

That part of the story was absolutely born from a desire to show both my kids that I, too, struggled with some of the things they are going through now, and that I was able to overcome or embrace or make peace with those things and become the adult I am today. 

 

One thing I love about writing for a middle grade audience is that it's often read by both kids and adults -- parents and caretakers reading with their children or teachers reading with their students -- and those middle grade years are so much about kids differentiating from their adults, yet still needing them and relying on them for so many things.

 

I like to write adult characters who are flawed and real, who learn and grow as much as the kid characters do (hopefully!). I like showing kid readers that we grownups are humans, too, that we make mistakes and fix them, that we do not always have the right answers, that we have hopes and dreams like they do, and that we see them and want to help them be their truest selves. 

 

Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, in part, “Intricately entwining interpersonal growth with each character’s relationship to their Jewish faith and culture, Isler highlights the role of family history in identity formation through metaphorical time travel.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Honestly, that is the most wonderful review and I am so appreciative that the reviewer was able to take from the book exactly what I was hoping readers would! I mean, we're all always aiming for that, but it doesn't always happen!

 

I feel so seen by that sentence in particular, and honored that the book will hopefully reach more readers who feel seen or learn something or find joy or catharsis! I've come to learn how much a great review like this one can help a book reach a wider audience, and I am just so incredibly grateful!!! 

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: I am always hoping that my writing provides and instils empathy in readers, regardless of their age, and with this book, it's particularly acute.

 

When crafting the story, I thought a lot about the fact that my children and their generation don't have as many opportunities to meet living Holocaust survivors as I did when I was growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and that will only be more true in the coming years and generations as time passes and there are fewer survivors living.

 

On the one hand, I don't want people to automatically think "Holocaust!" when they think of Jews and the American Jewish Experience, but the truth is that it wasn't actually that long ago, and so our culture is still quite impacted by the ripple effects of it.

 

I want readers who maybe don't know a lot of Jewish people or know much about the culture and history, to be able to empathize with how we are still living in the long shadow of the Holocaust.

 

I think the way that Rosie's family is in the pendulum swing of clinging to and rejecting their culture is so common, and a crucial thing to understand when one looks at the overall experience of Jewish people living in diaspora in the 2020s. 

 

And similarly, perhaps in parallel, I want people reading the book to empathize with Rosie about what it's like to be different, to feel like you have to be one specific thing to please your parents, and to know that maybe you don't fit into that mold anymore.

 

If people reading the book see similarities to Rosie's way of perceiving the world and either learn of or feel positive about their own neurodivergence, that's wonderful.

 

But if Rosie's neurodivergence doesn't feel familiar to the reader, I feel certain they already know or will soon meet someone with some kind of neurodivergence, and hope that they'll be able to empathize with that person more easily for having read the book and gotten a peek into Rosie's brain.

 

Lastly, I definitely want people to see that neurodivergence is a wide and varied experience. There are so many great books out there about other forms of neurodiversity -- Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, etc., and even some other synesthesia stories! -- and I hope this one offers a peek into the ways it makes Rosie's life great and the ways in which it can make her life more difficult at times.  

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am thrilled to say that I have TWO picture books coming out in the near-ish future, one in 2026 and the other TBD, which will mean getting to know a whole new set of readers and teachers and librarians!

 

I'm excited to share those stories -- picture books have long been a passion of mine! I'm not an artist, like, at all!, so collaborating with other storytellers to create something that has both words (mine) and pictures (theirs) is so exciting and different!

 

I'm also trying to expand my writing on the other end of the kidlit age range: I am writing a YA romcom about a minor league baseball player and an aspiring sportswriter (she's based loosely on me when I was 17 and 18, working in PR for the Baltimore Orioles, thinking I wanted to be a sportswriter!), who fall in love and have to deal with the fact that their lives are going in completely different directions!

 

It has feminism and social commentary about unpaid internships and income inequality and lots of fun stuff like that! And kissing! I like writing about kissing, which is something you just don't get to do much when writing for younger audiences! So hopefully that book will find a home soon!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Well, it's an election year, so I'd be remiss if I didn't use every opportunity to remind people to make sure they're registered to vote! https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/register-to-vote

 

As readers might know from my first book, AfterMath, I am actively involved in working for safe gun laws in America, and that work continues -- most crucially with getting people to vote for leaders who also feel like this issue is important. 

 

I also love the work of The States Project, https://statesproject.org/, which "connects the importance of state legislatures to every aspect of our lives and brings together communities to help build a healthy, sustainable, and prosperous future for all."

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Emily Barth Isler.