Q&A with Selina Alko

  

Photo by Good Job Photos

 

Selina Alko is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book Otherwise Known as Judy the Great: A Poetic Ode to Judy Blume. Her many other books include I Is for Immigrants. She lives in Brooklyn.

 

Q: What inspired you to create a picture book biography of author Judy Blume?

 

A: I love digging deep into the lives of extraordinary, creative women. In a way, working on biographies gives me clues to understanding my own creative journey– it humanizes my heroes and allows me to imagine myself (or any given child) soaring to great heights one day, too.

 

I was totally obsessed with Judy Blume books growing up. Who was this incredible woman who wrote all of my favorite childhood books? I needed to know more. 

 

Q: Of her various books, do you have a special favorite or two?

 

A: Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is one I returned to again and again. I identified with Sally’s imagination as she dreamt of becoming a movie star post-World War II in Florida. As a Jewish child about Sally’s age, I felt what it might have been like living in America right after the war.

 

Judy Blume wrote about the Holocaust without really writing about the Holocaust––It was a brilliant way to introduce the fraught subject to North American kids (I grew up in Canada).

 

The hot Miami Beach sun and salty warm air conveyed in Blume’s pages put me right alongside Sally as she navigated making new friends, family dynamics and processed the trauma of the war.

 

It turns out this book is Judy Blume’s most autobiographical. I think there is a reason why Sally J. Freedman stuck in my mind all these years.

 

Q: How did you research Judy Blume’s life, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I began by reading everything I could find about her (biographies, think pieces, etc.), then I reread some of her books and watched the documentary Judy Blume Forever on Amazon Prime.

 

But the real research began once I started corresponding with Judy herself. Initially I sent her a dummy (black and white sketches and poems about her life in booklet form) before soliciting feedback.

 

I didn’t know if she would respond and I probably would have gone ahead with the project anyway since she is a public figure. Fortunately, she did respond and was remarkably warm and forthcoming. She shared some key details about her life that helped shift the narrative.

 

For example, I had assumed she had a very difficult relationship with her mother based on everything I had read, but when Judy saw the dummy she felt I was much too hard on her mother. She let me know some of the good things in their relationship, like the times her mother took her shopping in Manhattan and to Broadway shows.

 

Also, I assumed her grandmother was the head of her close-knit family, but she said it was most definitely her father.

 

She clued me into her parents’ nicknames (“Rudy” and “Essie” from Rudolf and Esther) and told me stories about her brother’s mischief-making antics, like when he played an April Fools’ Day prank by spilling fake-ink on their brand new wall-to-wall carpeting––making their mother cry.

 

Q: Why do you think Judy Blume’s books are banned so frequently?

 

A: Because she wrote so openly and honestly about the kinds of things that adults previously kept from kids. These “secrets” or “taboo topics” were exposed in her books– like questions about religion, puberty, periods, families not getting along, divorce, sibling rivalry, and more.

 

She was way ahead of her time in terms of giving children permission to speak about their feelings. Her books were like the internet of my day, chock full of information and answers. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I just finished the illustrations for a picture book biography called Words of Welcome: How Emma Lazarus Gave Lady Liberty a Voice by Elisa Boxer (Abrams, spring 2027).

 

Lazarus is another extraordinary, creative woman who spoke her truth by way of poetry two centuries before Blume. For those who might not know, Emma Lazarus famously wrote "The New Colossus," the welcoming poem on The Statue of Liberty.

 

Also, I just began sketches for another book written by Elisa Boxer called Saving The Star: A Kristallnacht Story (Rocky Pond, fall 2027).

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: New Yorkers: I’m having a book launch party for Otherwise Known as Judy the Great on publication day, February 17 at 7 p.m. at Lofty Pigeon Books in Brooklyn. Join me in conversation with Rachelle Bergstein (The Genius of Judy). We will talk ALL THINGS JUDY BLUME.

 

I am also looking forward to doing a book launch with Judy Blume herself at her bookstore Books & Books in Key West, Florida on March 1 at 2 p.m. There will be cake!

 

In the meantime, check out my cool new website: selinaalko.com. And you can always find me on Instagram: @selinaalko for book updates and more!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Selina Alko.