Khadijah VanBrakle is the author of the new young adult novel My Perfect Family. She also has written the YA novel Fatima Tate Takes the Cake.
Q: What inspired you to write My Perfect Family, and how did you create your character Leena?
A: The inspiration for my second young adult novel was my love of the fraught mother/daughter relationships in the Gilmore Girls but within a fractured Black American Muslim family.
I knew I wanted to create a teenage character who didn’t have her future after high school all figured out, who was being raised by a single mom. I started with that premise and built Leena’s character from there.
Q: What do you think the story says about family dynamics?
A: I wrote this novel to reflect the complexities of family dynamics. Relationships within families are often challenging. Once 16-year-old Leena finds out a deeply-held family secret, she learns that sometimes getting what you’ve always wanted threatens what you already have.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I chose the story’s title since it reflects what the main character, Leena, believes she’ll have if the extended family she’s always wanted comes into her life. For me, the title signifies that nothing, when it comes to family, is perfect.
Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: Without revealing any spoilers, I did know my story’s ending before I started drafting. I incorporated some minor changes in revisions but nothing major from what was first envisioned.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have several projects, in different genres, in various stages of completion. In addition, I have another completed, contemporary young adult manuscript in desperate need of a revision.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Because of the scarcity of books like mine that feature a Black American Muslim teen protagonist in contemporary young adult literature, I hope that seeing my traditionally published stories out in the world encourages other marginalized authors to tell their own stories.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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