Florence Migga is the author of the new middle grade novel The Summer Scrapbook. She lives in Florida.
Q: What inspired you to write The Summer Scrapbook, and how did you create your characters Ava, Becca, and Cat?
A: The novel I had written prior to The Summer Scrapbook was a lot of fun to write, but it was also the type of story that took a lot of research. After all the work and editing, I wanted to write something that was purely fun and felt easy and light.
The story started with Ava: her summer situation is based on something my family did when I was about her age. But I’ve always loved the idea of friendship stories, and I knew that since Ava is having such FOMO she needed some amazing friends and what she thought would be the best summer that she was having to leave behind. From there, Becca and Cat came on board, and the story took off.
Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “The group’s alternating viewpoints—enhanced by multimedia ephemera, such as the trio’s letters to one another, personal notes, and ticket stubs—offer an intimate look at growing independence and an affirming portrait of friendship in transition.” What do you think of that description?
A: I love it! That one sentence succinctly describes the heart of this story. I especially love the words “intimate” to capture the girls closeness; “growing independence” to explain what happens to the girls as they find themselves in separate places for the first time; “friendship in transition” because that implies that friendships (like all relationships) are dynamic and not a static thing, because humans are not static; and “affirming” because I love the idea that it might empower girls to explore different and new to them facets of themselves.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic among the three friends?
A: There’s a line from an old song that I love, which goes “Take every chance you dare, I’ll still be there when you come back down.” One of my good friends drew me a pretty picture with all the lyrics for that song when I was going off to college, and it and the idea of it has always stuck with me.
I see Becca’s, Cat’s, and Ava’s friendship like that — a place to be unconditionally yourself where you are unconditionally loved and accepted, even as you grow and life inevitably changes you.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: A lot of changes along the way! I knew the general plot line and character arc for each girl, but all the details came in as I was writing. Especially their friendship and how it stretched, expanded, and evolved over the course of the summer.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am currently writing another middle grade story that starts with a group of besties at a sleepover — but the similarities between it and The Summer Scrapbook end there, and that’s all I will say about it for now!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I also have my debut picture book, The Fortune of Immy Nakatudde, coming out in 2027. It’s been a totally different experience from writing a novel, but just as wonderful a journey!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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