Q&A with Jade Chang

Jade Chang is the author of the new novel The Wangs vs. the World. She has worked for the BBC, Metropolis, Glamour, and other publications, and she lives in Los Angeles.

Q: You’ve said that you wanted to “write an immigrant novel that was kind of a rebellion against immigrant novels.” Can you say more about that, and about how you came up with the idea for the Wang family?

A: Sure! I think that traditionally, in America, stories of immigrant and people of color that get a platform are generally stories of pain.

Sometimes it’s small-scale pain, like the problem of not fitting in to mainstream society, and sometimes it’s far more large-scale, like the giant pain of slavery. When those are the only stories that get told, everyone loses.

And that’s not to say that I don’t love many of the immigrant novels that have come before mine, it’s just that I think it’s time that we heard another kind of story. And I think many people agree—in 2016 we’ve seen an increasingly broader range of narratives.

With the Wangs, I knew that I wanted to write about a family that was larger-than-life and genuinely fun to read about, who do not see themselves as outsiders. That thought doesn’t even enter their minds! They are absolutely central to their own stories, and to the story of America.

Q: Money is a big issue throughout the novel. Why did you decide to focus on that as one of the novel’s themes?

A: Money is endlessly interesting because, of course, money isn’t just money! It’s a symbol of how we place value on something, and it can buy freedom just as easily as it can buy a material good, if you know how to use it.

Also, I really wanted to set this book in the summer of 2008, during the financial collapse, because that was such a strange, uncertain time.

Q: You go back and forth among various characters’ points of view—did you plan that from the beginning, and was there one perspective you especially enjoyed?

A: I always like a challenge, and the idea of writing from each character’s POV was exciting to me. Yes, that was definitely the plan from the very start. I honestly loved each one as I was writing them, but I’d say that I most enjoyed writing Andrew’s stand-up comedy scenes!

Q: Much of the novel takes place during a family road trip. Why did you structure it that way, and do you have any favorite novels that take place on road trips?

A: Road trips really do lend themselves to novels! They’re just about the right length. Also, I wanted to get an on-the-ground view of America, and this was a great way to do it!

I do love the classic American road trip narratives like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, On the Road, and Lolita, but I also love Station Eleven—it’s a post-apocalyptic journey that has two important road trip elements: discovery and nostalgia.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Another novel! But it’s not really at the discussion stage yet!

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Melissa Sweet

Melissa Sweet is the author and illustrator of the new children's biography Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White. Her other work includes Carmine: A Little More Red and Balloons Over Broadway. She has illustrated almost 100 children's books. She lives in Maine.

Q: Why did you decide to write about E. B. White, and what did you learn about him that particularly surprised you?

A: In thinking about my next book that I wanted to write and illustrate, E. B. White came to mind. I thought: He was some writer!, and there was my title.

Immediately there were questions: How did he come to write his three children's books, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan? When did he begin working for The New Yorker? And what were the names of all of his dogs?

In a way, everything surprised me. I only knew a few tidbits about White's life, and one thing that was particularly wonderful was learning about St. Nicholas Magazine.

As youngsters, White, and other future authors, Edna St. Vincent Millay, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Rachel Carson, to name a few, were all subscribers to St. Nick. They entered their work in the magazine's contests (White later wrote that as budding writers they were "a fiendishly competitive band of tots."). 

I loved their enthusiasm for seeing themselves in print. It was a fun piece of literary history that I had never heard before.

Q: How did you come up with the technique you use involving text, photos, illustrations, and other media, and how did you track down the material you include in the book?

A: As I began the research (about five minutes after I had this idea) it didn't take long to realize that White's own essays and letters described his life so beautifully, there was no way to say it better or more clearly.

The White family was incredibly generous in allowing me to use archival materials: letters, excerpts from essays, photos, manuscript pages, and I planned to include my own collages.

Using all these elements determined how the book was designed. The placement of each element had to make sense and further the story.

As an illustrator, designing the book along the way is integral to marrying the words and images. I created the "sketches" for this book almost as timeline and began placing the photos, letters, etc. where they supported the story.

I started the art by creating each chapter opener (13 in all), since these chapters punctuate the book. This was an exercise in play, and breaking the rules of what a chapter opener could be. 

Q: Do you have a favorite among E.B. White’s books, and why or why not?

A: Strunk and White's Elements of Style has been a favorite ever since I wrote my first book, Carmine: A Little More Red. As I began writing Some Writer! I realized I had six or seven copies between my home and studio.

White's chapter, "An Approach to Style," gives pithy and pertinent advice with his classic wit. And it's short enough to reread often.

Q: Who do you see as the perfect audience or age group for this book?

A: Anyone who is reading or has enjoyed Charlotte's Web is a perfect reader for this book, any reader about seven years old and up. This book is a graphic biography, the kind of book I would have loved to read growing up as a visual kid.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: My next book is a picture book by Kwame Alexander. Stay tuned....

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I'd like to close with E. B. White's advice from his Basic Chicken Guide, four words to live by: "Be tidy. Be brave."

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Oct. 4

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 4, 1884: Damon Runyon born.

Q&A with Marissa Moss

Marissa Moss is the author of the new young adult novel Caravaggio: Painter on the Run. She has written more than 40 children's books, including Amelia's Notebook, Nurse, Soldier, Spy, and A Soldier's Secret. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Q: You describe Caravaggio as "in some senses the first modern artist." Why do you think this is the case, and why did you decide to write a novel for young adults about him?

A: Caravaggio is the first major artist (by that I mean he was highly in demand and one of the richest paid painters in Rome) to work basically by himself.

He didn't have a big studio full of apprentices -- like he himself trained in. Partly because of his personality, partly because each part of the painting was important to him. There weren't parts he would relegate to lesser students.

He made an enormous amount of money, but there are no records of him owning anything -- no big house, no estate, no horses, even. He lived in cheap rented rooms and gave money freely to his friends.

I think Caravaggio's personality and story will resonate with young people because he was so rebellious, both in his artistic vision and his behavior.

He envisioned a completely new kind of painting, one based on real people, revealed in otherworldly light. He fought against church dogma and strictures with his brush and against authority figures, like the vicious Roman police, with his attitude and sass.

Q: What kind of research did you do to recreate his era, and was there anything that particularly surprised you?

A: I did an enormous amount of research, reading widely and spending a lot of time in Caravaggio's Roman neighborhood (he moved a lot, but always in the same area) and following his footsteps to Naples and Sicily.

I wanted to get to Malta, but that part I had to rely on books for information.

Q: When you're writing fiction about historical figures, what do you see as the right blend between the historical and the fictional?

A: You can't have anything that's anachronistic, but you need to be careful not to weigh the story down with too much historical detail. It's a fine balance, but the story has to be clear throughout, while staying true to the history.

Q: You've written for different age groups. Do you see any differences in your writing process depending on your audience?

A: Interestingly enough, no. I do the same amount of thorough research for a picture book as for a novel.

Nurse, Soldier, Spy is an example, the story of Sara Emma Edmonds, who dressed as a man and fought in the Civil War.

I did the research and wrote the picture book first, focusing on how Sara became a spy and her first mission, but her life was so fascinating, I went on to write a YA about her, A Soldier's Secret, about her entire experience in the Union Army, starting with her enlistment, ending with her being mustered into the Civil War veteran's group, the only woman to be so honored.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I'm actually doing something completely different: an adult graphic memoir called Last Things that will come out with Conari next May. It's more illustration than I've done in a very long time, which is a challenge.

But the bigger challenge is taking this intensely personal story about my husband's death from ALS (or Lou Gehrig's disease) and framing it as a visual narrative readers will find compelling. I hope it all works!

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Oct. 2

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 2, 1879: Wallace Stevens born.

Q&A with G. Neri

G. Neri is the author of the new children's middle grade novel Tru & Nelle, based on the lives of the writers Truman Capote and Harper Lee. His other books include Hello, I'm Johnny Cash and Ghetto Cowboy. He has worked as a filmmaker and animator, and he lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Q: Why did you decide to write a book for kids based on the lives of Truman Capote and Harper Lee, and why did you include a Sherlock Holmes element in the plot?

A: When I found out that they grew up as next door neighbors in the middle of nowhere in the Jim Crow deep south of Alabama, I was intrigued. What was it about that place that produced two of our greatest writers?

Then when I found out they were both outsiders who bonded over a mutual love of detective stories and went around as Sherlock and Watson solving small town mysteries, I was hooked.

When I realized nobody had ever explored this aspect for kids, I wanted to read that book so bad, I wrote it.

Q: What did you see as the right blend between the real people and your fictional creations?

A: The real people involved always felt like fictional characters to me. They were bigger than life, extremely colorful and deeply human. I couldn’t have improved on them or the town if I tried.

Q: How did you research the book, and what surprised you most in the course of your research?

A: The biggest assets in research were the personal recollections of Jennings Faulk Carter (aka Big Boy) about his memories growing up with those two. He gave me the voice and humor of their adventures together.

Truman’s aunt Tiny provided many of the more outrageous elements. Then the official bios of each filled in the details. Going to Monroeville later was a big thrill.

Q: How much knowledge of those authors' work did you assume your readers would have, and what impact did that have on how you wrote your book?

A: I assumed kids would read my story before they got to To Kill a Mockingbird. I intended it to be an intro to that book and Truman’s holiday stories.

Many kids these days seem to have trouble getting into Harper Lee’s book, but if they read mine, they’ll have a deeper context for those characters and will already know the world and people of the story.

The bonus is for readers who have read TKAM who get to see where that story came from.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: A follow-up to Tru & Nelle, which will be a Christmas tale set a couple years later, when Truman runs away from a military academy and returns to Monroeville trying to relive the past.

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Oct. 1

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 1, 1946: Tim O'Brien born.