Q&A with Sarvenaz Tash

 

Photo by Kimberly M. Wang

 

 

Sarvenaz Tash is the author of the new middle grade novel The Queen of Ocean Parkway. Her other books include the young adult novel A Whole Song and Dance. She lives in Brooklyn.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Queen of Ocean Parkway, and how did you create your character Roya?

 

A: I was inspired by my neighborhood, which I share with Roya! I also thought a lot about Harriet the Spy when I was writing this book, particularly about how that book made me feel as a kid.

 

As a shy suburban kid myself, Harriet, with her curiosity and unapologetic personality, living in a NYC apartment building and having so much access to secret parts of the building and its tenants was one of the mostly wildly thrilling concepts I had ever read.

 

I really wanted to try to capture that feeling of adventure and agency too, with Roya being the super’s kid in her Brooklyn apartment building—and making a secret podcast about the tenants to boot.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: Not only did I have no idea how the book would end, I had no idea what the solution to the mystery was at all when I first started writing this book. All I knew was that my main character was going to be the super’s kid and that she was going to investigate the disappearance of one of her building’s tenants.

 

In a way, the mystery unfolded for me just like it did for Roya, and I felt like we solved it together (through many drafts of course!).

 

Q: The writer Claire Legrand said of the book, “A charming, warm-hearted tale that reads like a classic. This book is for the kids who curl up in corners of the library, reading for hours at a time and daydreaming of mystery and adventure.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I mean, I could not be more moved by those words, particularly from such an incredible and deeply poetic writer like Claire. I was that kid who curled up in the corner of the library, daydreaming about adventure, and I definitely wrote this book for that kid, so the fact that comes across is the most thrilling thing that could happen to an author.

 

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

 

A: I hope kids are excited by the adventure and mystery. I hope they also feel a little more empowered to talk about how sometimes life can simultaneously present you with the best and worst parts of itself.

 

Q: What are you working on now? 

 

A: I’m actually working on the sequel to The Queen of Ocean Parkway, currently titled The Treasure of Ocean Parkway, in which Roya takes on another big mystery: a decades-old scavenger hunt that another tenant’s grandfather left for her.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m just very excited to return to middle grade, 12 years (and six books) after my middle-grade debut! It’s been really wonderful to come back to this genre I love so much, particularly as a parent now who reads a lot of middle grade with my kids. I definitely felt like I approached it a little differently with my kids in mind.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb