Q&A with Joanne Levy

  

Photo by Deke Snow

 

 

Joanne Levy is the author of the new middle grade novel How to Walk a Dog. Her other books include Let It Glow. She lives in Ontario.

 

Q: You write in How to Walk a Dog’s Author’s Note that your character Asher was inspired by your husband. Can you say more about that?

 

A: Absolutely! My husband is an amazingly creative, inventive, resourceful guy who also sometimes struggles with things like finishing tasks, being on time, and paying attention.

 

Even though the signs were there, ADHD was never on our radar as the reason behind these things that make him, well, him. Then he was finally diagnosed with ADHD—in his 50s—and everything suddenly made so much sense.

 

He’d been masking—hiding his symptoms or just making do—his entire life and had been misunderstood for just as long. That includes by me. Looking back, there were so many times I could have showed grace and understanding, if only I’d known what was going on in his head.

 

He might have had more success in his life if he’d known and had, with that knowledge, been able to find resources to help him thrive or even understand his neurodivergence rather than assume it was a failing.

 

If only ADHD didn’t have a stigma attached to it or if it was more normalized and talked about. If only, if only…

 

While I hold a lot of guilt over that, I decided to take that unconstructive emotion and turn it into something productive: a book for kids about a boy named Asher who is a whole lot like my husband.

 

I wanted kids like Asher to see themselves in the pages of this book to recognize that there are truly wonderful things about them and that the challenges they may face are not a failing. I also wanted to give kids without this neurodivergence a peek into the mind of a really great kid who has a sometimes very busy mind.

 

My husband was my first reader and fact-checker to make sure I did right by him. He’s also the person I dedicated this book to; it truly does exist because of, and for, him.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Asher and Gilly?

 

A: Asher and Gilly are true, true very best friends. They had a fight that turns into a few months of distance between them that absolutely eats at Asher.

 

He never truly understood the fight that tore them apart but one of the things about his ADHD is his sensitivity over rejection (perceived or imagined) that makes him assume it was his fault. Gilly said as much, but she was going through a difficult family situation and didn’t have the ability and language to explain it to Asher effectively.

 

But at the heart of their friendship is pure acceptance and love for the other. Gilly accepts Asher just as he is (and loves him for what makes him him) and Asher does the same, proving to be Gilly’s biggest ally even when he thinks she hates him.

 

Q: School Library Journal called the book a “winning story that will resonate with middle grade readers navigating their own changing bodies, friendships, and family lives.” What do you think of that description, and why did you decide to focus on periods in the novel?

 

A: I love the description from School Library Journal (and the star they bestowed upon the book helps, too!). Being a tween is hard and there’s a lot going on so it’s gratifying to hear that they think I got it right.

 

As for why I focused on periods and ending the stigma around menstruation, I wanted to go at this subject from a different perspective: that of a boy.

 

There are lots of books about periods to normalize them, end period poverty, and so on, and while I love that we’re talking about periods more, I’d never seen one from the perspective of a boy or that meaningfully includes boys in the conversation.

 

Until we include the other half of the population in conversations about periods, we will never end the stigma. When we only whisper amongst ourselves about periods and hide it from boys and men, we perpetuation the secrecy and that we need to hide what is a natural, normal and healthy part of life for half of the world.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I hope that readers get out of the book what they need from it. I know that sounds like a copout answer but I really mean it. When I write a book, that’s only half of the work (all right, maybe three quarters – writing is hard!); the rest is done by the reader, taking what they need from it.

 

Be it building empathy, or the validation of being seen, or maybe learning something new, or even just spending an afternoon laughing at the antics of a boy and a goofy dog. Whatever makes a kid want to hug a book after they finish it, write a book report on it, or even turn back to page one and start again is fine with me. That means I did my job.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Thank you for asking! How to Walk a Dog just came out but I’m already pivoting toward the February release of Here We Glow Again, which is the sequel to Let It Glow, books I cowrote with Marissa Meyer.

 

The first book was about twins separated at birth who discover each other at a holiday pageant and then decide to swap homes for the Hanukkah and Christmas holidays. Here We Glow Again is set a few months later when the girls celebrate Passover and Easter with their newly blended families and travel to New York City for a whirlwind spring break.

 

It also just got a star in SLJ, saying: “This enjoyable and accessible book about culture, friendship, and newfound sisterhood is recommended as a first purchase for all middle grade fiction collections.”

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: As we’re heading into the holiday season, I’d like to share a bit of a PSA, if I may. It’s the season of giving and I see a lot of toy drives out there, which is amazing.

 

But I’d like to make a case for donating books instead of toys or gift cards for many reasons: Share the love of reading with a kid who may not own even one book. Encourage screen-free play. Support authors, illustrators, publishers, and local bookstores – books create jobs!

 

Also, for environmental reasons: So many toys are made of plastic, wrapped in plastic – do we need more plastic in the world? I could go on and on, but please buy and gift more books!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Joanne Levy.