Leanne Lieberman is the author of the young adult novel Cleaning Up. Her other YA novels include Gravity. Also an educator, she lives in Kingston, Ontario.
Q: What inspired you to write Cleaning Up, and how did you create your character Jess?
A: I began Cleaning Up by imaging why one character would read the diary of another. As I started to think about the characters, I realized one girl, Jess, was cleaning the room of another girl, Quinn. From there the characters’ class backgrounds became evident and that became an important part of the book.
The character of Jess was initially based on some of the features I had seen in students I had taught over the years from at-risk backgrounds. For example, Jess always carries a backpack with her mother’s things from when she and her mom lived in a shelter. I had a student who did this too.
Then, as I started writing about Jess, she became her own character with her own personality, goals, and interests. I saw her love of plants and gardening, her obsession with The Secret Garden, and her plan to become a landscape designer as her way of changing her life.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: The working title for the novel was Who Is Quinn Gupta, which highlighted Jess’s obsession with Quinn, whose room she cleans. When I finished the book, this title didn’t feel fitting anymore. Jess did figure out the story behind Quinn Gupta and her room, but the book is really about Jess.
Cleaning Up refers to both Jess’s summer job cleaning houses, but also to the drug addictions that affect both Jess’s father and other characters in the book.
Q: In an interview with Open Book, you said, “I hadn’t set out to write a book about the growing wealth inequality in Canada, but issues of class difference and privilege, and how they affect our identity became an important part of the story.” Can you say more about that?
A: Class difference and wealth inequality are a big part of Cleaning Up. Jess’s family struggles to make ends meet and Jess works hard cleaning the houses of wealthier people to save money for an education she hopes will help her create a more financially secure future.
These financial and class issues were influenced by the widening income gap I’ve seen in Ontario schools over the last 20 years. In every school where I’ve taught –rural, suburban, and urban – I’ve seen students and families struggle with food and housing insecurity.
Often we only know about these struggles through foodbank numbers or other statistics. Cleaning Up hopefully personalizes the story and gives a more personal experience to a life some children and teens live.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I had a clear plan for writing this novel. I knew Jess was going to read Quinn’s diary and that she would be caught in some way and that there would be repercussions. However, I hadn’t planned Jess’s emotional development, and so that was something I created as I wrote.
I like to take this middle approach when I write a book. I know the arc of the story and where I need to end up, but how I get there is the exciting part. This gives me both structure and room for creativity.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am working on a YA book called The Luckiest Girl. It’s about a girl named Rafah who washes up on the shore of an imaginary island that has decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world. The book is about how Rafah navigates her new life on an island that isn’t sure it wants her as a citizen.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I was so lucky to work with editor Shelley Tanaka from Groundwood Books on Cleaning Up. Tanaka is the author of many children’s nonfiction titles and the editor of 13 Governor General’s Award winning books. She worked tirelessly on my book and Cleaning Up was greatly improved by her efforts and enthusiasm.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment