Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog

 

Not long ago, the American Library Association compiled alist Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books: 2010-2019. 

As the ALA  explains:“The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) hasbeen documenting attempts to ban books in libraries and schools since 1990. OIFcompiled this list of the most banned and challenged books from 2010-2019 byreviewing both the public and confidential censorship reports it received.”

I’ve read 39 books on this list of 100. True, most of thebooks I’ve yet to read are recently (within the last five or so years)published.  I’m really looking forward toreading The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas.

Some of the classics, like George Orwell’s 1984, LoisLowry’s The Giver, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, and most certainly TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and To Kill a Mockingbird byHarper Lee, I’ve read more than once. In fact, I’ve read Twain and Lee severaltimes, I once considered Huck Finn and Scout my best friends. And I had a bitof a crush on Tom Sawyer.

How many have you read from the list?

“[Banned books] are stories that encourage kids to think forthemselves, to learn about themselves, to understand that there are peopledifferent from them in the world and that’s not only okay, it’s fascinating.[…]

Books create compassion; they create safe spaces whereempathy is developed, and every time you ban a book you are taking away thatlesson from a kid. We are not protecting children from salacious material — weare removing the tools that we give them to make sense of a world that is veryconfusing and difficult for a lot of kids.” – Jodi Picoult ( Books, Beaches andBeyond Podcast )

 

In a more recent compilation, ALA highlights the  Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024:  

As ALA explains, “The 2024 data reported to ALA’s Office forIntellectual Freedom (OIF) shows that the majority of book censorship attemptsare now originating from organized movements. Pressure groups andgovernment entities that include elected officials, board members andadministrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school andpublic libraries.”

Of this list, I’ve read four.  How many have you’ve read?

“I believe that censorship grows out of fear, and becausefear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfiestheir need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear is oftendisguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don’tread about it, their children won’t know about it. And if they don’t know aboutit, it won’t happen.” – JudyBlume

 

Tony Marx, the NYPL President, explains it much moreeloquently: 

“What so many misunderstand about banning a book is that therepercussions stretch way beyond the book itself. We're not being dramatic whenwe say that banning a book is the first step toward erasing not just someone'swork, but their humanity, and their surrounding culture. 

Put another way, if you don't think a person's perspectiveshould be allowed on a bookshelf, and if you're so afraid of what they have tosay and who they might be that you want to silence them and hide them from yourchildren, you are one move closer to treating them as if they don't exist orshouldn't. It's the first step on a journey toward ignorance, hate, andall-too-real violence."

 

Reading has always played an important role in my life. Infact, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading something.  In the early grades, I skipped the boringpicturebooks and went straight for the good stuff: Lassie, Black Beauty andGentle Ben.  I read The Yearling and OldYeller and Where the Red Fern Grows, drowning in my own tears with every read.I loved everything with pirates, and dreamt of finding treasure on an island. I wanted to be a part of Robin Hood's merry 'gang.' My favorite Musketeer was Athos, and I rooted for Moby Dick. I wanted to be one for all with the Baker Street Irregulars. I was the geekreading Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. By eighth grade, I was reading LOTR. Thesebooks kept me company at a time when I needed friends. These books made theworld make sense when everything was upside down. These books also let me knowthat dreams were possible.

 

 

By the way, in honor of Banned Books week, Lorin Oberwegerand Free Expressions is offering a list of titles you might want to checkout via her little bookstore on Bookshop.org. Use code: BBW25 to get 20% offand strike a small blow for freedom of expression! (Any proceeds go to fundingscholarships for Free Expressions webinars and workshops.) There are manyexcellent books here, for readers and writers! 

S o tell me, why do you read?

And by the way, thank you for reading!

-- Bobbi Miller

 

 Whenever I come across a book that has a little "something extra" in terms of plot, character, or setting, I want to share it with those who love middle grade. This recent book has all three.

 

 

THE MIDWATCH INSTITUTE FOR WAYWARD GIRLS  by Judith Rossell

If you are a girl who asks questions. If you are a girl who thinks for herself. If you are a girl who doesn’t always behave the way the world wants her to. Watch out. You may get sent away to the Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls.
Maggie Fishbone expects a dreary and boring life when she is thrown out of her orphanage and sent to the Institute. She’s heard all the scary rumors about punishments and what happens to girls who disobey. Except.
The Institute isn’t dreadful at all. It’s a school of castoff girls who secretly train to solve mysteries and fight crime. With classes in ballroom dancing, escaping quicksand, tying knots, cracking codes, and picking locks, Maggie and her new friends enter a world of danger and surprises. Their first mission: find their missing teacher.
A delightful, imaginative, clever, and empowering illustrated tale of girl power, friendship, courage, and determination. This is a book that celebrates all the unique talents girls possess and gives them a place to shine. A must read for every girl who enjoys using her talents and brains to make a difference in the world. Plus, it’s a heck of a lot of fun!

 

Darlene Beck Jacobson loves books that celebrate girl power. She is an avid Nancy Drew Fan and is always looking for new stories with female heroines.  

 

Two pictures, taken seconds apart.from the same location.The difference is obvious. The difference is framing.There they are, sailboats at a distanceMove the camera to the right a bit, and that one boat, although off-center, is central to whatever story this picture tells. Call that the main character.The others, secondary, even tertiary.
It's like that with writing. We can take the same view and skew it to have our readers focus on whatever is vital to the story at that moment. I prefer to not remind people of this (and yet I'm posting it for the world to see) but with a bit of manipulation, we can work some sleight-of-hand and make you look at what we need you to see.
If the second picture, for example, were a story, your focus would be right there.on that framed sailboat.
But you never know. It could be a casual observer, and those other boats might be heading its way, en masse, for some nefarious purposes. And as a reader, I, for one, find it fun when I don't see it coming.It's all thanks to the framing.
Jody Feldman loves to play around with camera angles. One of her favorite occasions happened at the Louvre in Paris where, instead of shooting the Venus de Milo from the front like most do, she walked around and shot her from the back. Then others followed.

 Here's my latest novel! 

Cover by Michael Kress-Russick

When I started writing it ten years ago, I needed hope. 

Nature had always restored me. Only the reason I needed hope was because Nature itself was under siege. Floods, fires, loss of species, drought were all part of an environmental crisis. The situation seemed overwhelming. If I felt that way, I knew kids would too. But what could I do? What could a kid do? 

Then I realized that I wasn't powerless. I could tell a story.

The novelist Richard Powers said: "The best arguments in the world won't change a single person's point of view. The only thing that can do that is a good story."

Stories connect to our emotions. Abstract concepts are easy to dismiss. Characters aren't. Especially characters who care deeply about something. (It also helps if they're funny.)

So...meet Grace. As the novel begins, she's getting ready for a dance recital. Unfortunately, every time she tries to leap, she falls. When she crashes into her neighbor's wildflower garden, she crushes his milkweed. She rescues three monarch caterpillars from the plant. Caring for them inspires her to take more action to protect the world they'll be living in. She finds a way to speak for the monarchs. She builds a community. She persuades her dad to replace his poisoned yard with a pollinator garden. Butterflies fly. And we all learn that people really can change––just like the monarchs do. 

My story has inspired a family musical, co-written by Greg Alexander, Clifford Lee Johnson III, and myself. GRACE AND THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT will premier at B Street Theatre in Sacramento, California in the fall of 2026.  

You can purchase the novel now. 

More importantly, YOU can keep telling stories, inspiring people, and hoping. Small actions have big consequences. There really can be a butterfly effect.

JANE KELLEY is the author of many middle-grade novels and science books––and a great admirer of anything that can fly 3,000 miles to a place it has never been before. 

Now that it's getting a little colder outside (or maybe just a little less hot), it's time to check in on some new middle grade fiction for October, and I interviewed some authors on my blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, about their new novels...

Sherri L. Smith's new book is called Candace, the Universe, and Everything. When I asked her about the inspiration for the novel, she said, "Initially, I was interested in the idea of a girl findinga notebook from a previous student that helps her navigate her friendships. But I quickly realized the notebook would not just be a 'left behind' item, but something more unusual, which lead to the idea of thewormhole in her locker, and the link to earlier generations." She added, "From there, I leaned into different elements, like a bird Isaw fly overhead one day that seemed to have translucent wings, and the 'visualsnow' I see when I stare into a blue sky. It looks like a boiling pot, so whynot a portal?"

 

J. Anderson Coats's new novel, The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls, was inspired by the life of her grandmother. "After she died, I learned that she’d graduated from highschool when she was in her mid-teens, but her family didn’t support her goingto college and her father refused to let her get a job outside the home," Coats said in our interview. "Instead, she had to help her mother with household chores and child care. So when she was in her 20s, she eloped with my grandfather and barely spoke toher parents ever again. What struck me was how stifling and unfair it must havefelt to her, to be really good at school but refused any opportunities to havea career with those skills. That’s where I started with Unexpected Lives – that feelingof wanting something for yourself when your parents demanded somethingcompletely different from that."

 

Are you craving something with a little spookiness to get into the Halloween spirit? Try Charis Cotter's new novel, The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, which is set at a summer camp. "Camp was thehighlight of my childhood. I loved it so much—I spent 11 months longing for the12th month to arrive so I could go back to camp. It felt very adventurous to leavemy family behind in the city and go to live in a tent under the stars," Cotter told me. "I loved therituals of campfire and chapel and early morning swims, and I loved being withmy peers, sleeping in a sleeping bag, and the sense of order that came with thedaily schedule. Most of all, I just loved being out in nature. For a long time, Iwanted to write a book about camp so I could relive that experience through mywriting."

 

Enjoy, and keep reading!

 

--Deborah Kalb 

 

Welcometo Smack Dab, Megan! Please tell us about The Spirit of Loughmoe Abbey.

Inspired by the most hated girl in EnidBlyton’s Malory Towers Series, Gwen fails at boarding school until shebefriends a ghost. 

Youmention having ADHD in your biography. How did your own experiences influenceGwen's feelings of being different and struggling in traditional academicsettings?

Myown feelings and experiences of having undiagnosed ADHD were a huge influenceon how I wrote Gwen’s experiences of school. I found secondary school muddling,scary and boring. I was anxious much of the time because of how huge I perceivedthe work load to be. I remember not being able to sleep because I was soworried about having to complete a project. All my classmates boasted about howmany pages they’d written and I worried that I couldn’t do it.

Ididn’t know I had ADHD when I was twelve years old (I only found out two yearsago at the age of 53!), and it was a huge help for me to receive the diagnosis.I finally understood why I find certain everyday things more challenging thanother seem to. It was very interesting for me to write about Gwen’s difficultiesat school as it helped me to understand my own ADHD. I was able to separate outthe ADHD traits from own personality. For example being late for class, losingthings, getting lost, needing space to be alone quiet, having trouble sleeping,finding comfort in animals. All of these aspects of myself (and Gwen) are dueto having ADHD.

Gweninitially feels "useless" at everything until she discovers herunique gift. How important was it to show that everyone has different types ofintelligence and abilities?

Ithink this is very important, especially for those of us who areneurodivergent. I received a lot criticism as a child due to my inability toorganise and prioritise tasks, my untidiness and lack of focus. However withADHD comes great pluses: I am creative, sensitive, good at art, can come upwith many ideas and see the big picture. The world is full of all sorts ofpeople. If we were all good at the same things there would be no variety. Ilove how some of us are good at doing things and others are better at coming upwith ideas or sensing things. It has taken a long time for me to appreciate mygifts, and I think it’s terrible important that we all do, even if (orespecially if) our gifts are different to the majority of people’s gifts. 

Theschool exists somewhat outside normal time and space. What drew you to create amagical educational setting rather than a purely realistic one?

Iam extremely interested in magical realism. It is far more interesting for meto write about a magical world alongside our real one. Ever since I was a childI was fascinated by fairy tales. To me they existed alongside the actual worldthat I lived in. I was terribly disappointed when I found out that fairy talesweren’t real. I had thought they were historical fact. The world became grey tome after that but when I began writing fiction I realised that I could createmagical worlds, just as others had created fairytales. For that reason Gwendoesn’t go to an ordinary boarding school. She needed to be somewhere special withan otherworldly element to it.  

I’malways fascinated by the different ways in which authors world build. The BellTower serves as a portal between worlds. How did you go about creating thisthin veil? 

Igrew up spending my childhood summers in Glendalough, a glacial valley inCounty Wicklow where monks lived hundreds of years ago. The ruins of theirmonastic site remain there today; there is a tall round tower, a rooflesschurch and small stone buildings.  It wasamongst the ruins, that I imagined monks praying over and over and causing theveil between this world and the next to fade. There is something very specialabout that place. I feel that their prayers changed the atmosphere, bringing uscloser to God and whoever is on the other side. I am drawn to such places andoften visit old monastic sites and graveyards. I imagine the lives of the monksand their devotion to a spiritual life.

The ending suggests Gwen will help other students communicate with spirits. Are youplanning to continue this series, or is this more about giving her a happyending? (Sometimes, the happiest endings are the ones in which we can see ourmuch-loved main character continuing on happily.)

Yes,I am planning to continue writing a series about Gwen. In fact I have begunwriting book two already. Gwen is haunted by the grandmother of her leastfavourite classmate, Delphine. She travels to France with Delphine to sort outa family mystery. I have planned three more books in the series in which Gwencommunicates with spirits connected to her classmates. Gwen is an interestingcharacter. She has lots more to learn and I don’t want to let go of her yet.

How did you approach writing the fire sequence and its aftermath? The way realityseems to shift and heal is quite complex.

Ididn’t plan the fire sequence or its aftermath. As I neared the end of thebook, the writing began flowing from me like a river rushing down amountainside. At the time I was on an artist’s retreat at the Tyrone GuthrieCentre in the midlands of Ireland. https://www.tyroneguthrie.ie/The retreat centre is an Anglo-Irish House that sits on a hill surrounded bytrees overlooking a lake. I have visited this centre many times and it was theinspiration for Gwen’s boarding school, Loughmoe Abbey.

I’dbeen staying at the retreat for about a week when the words began pouring ontothe page. I had no idea what was happening but I trusted the words would bringthe story in the right direction. It felt wonderful to feel the story gushingout of me and I am very pleased with how the book ended. The same happened whenI wrote the end of my previous novel for children, The House on HawthornRoad. I didn’t plan the ending, it came to me in a rush of inspiration as Iwas writing. The end of story revealed itself to me in an unexpected andmagical way. That is the most exciting thing to me about writing.

What’snext?

BookTwo in the series is coming next. In this novel Gwen is haunted by thegrandmother of her least favourite classmate, Delphine. The grandmother’sspirit won’t leave Gwen alone until Gwen helps Delphine to save their familychateaux in France.

Wherecan we find you?

Youcan find me at my website www.meganwynne.com

Instagram@meganwynnewrite

Facebook@meganwynnewrite

 Snag a copy of 

The Spirit of Loughmoe Abbey

 

 by Charlotte Bennardo

It's hard to narrow down this month's theme, "textures" to a single image. Our world is made up of uncountable textures. Here are a few of my favorites that can be felt: 

the rasp of gritty wet sand while beach walkingthe glide of creamy pumpkin ice cream on my tonguethe mink quality of my cat's furthe velvety softness of a baby's skinBut one of my favorites is:

Yep, fuzzy socks. Who DOESN'T love toasty, cloud-soft, cotton-squishy socks on a cold day that soothes the sole, cuddles the toes, and caresses the ankles? 

And yes, I admit to sometimes giving my characters a love of fuzzy socks (size 10 if you want to send me a pair). Not only does this quirk appeal to the readers' senses (they're imagining wearing that bliss while drinking hot chocolate and snuggling in on a raw, damp day), but it also gives me as a writer a chance to paint that scene and draw people in. Sensory details enrich our writing and textures are a boon to sight and touch. Feeling something with texture, like smooth icicles or rutted tree bark goes deeper; three-dimensional detail is richer than simply sight.

Now let me go take these delights off because it's almost 80 degrees and my feet are sweating.

Charlotte writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, paranormal and romance genres. Her latest YA fantasy novel, The Excalibur Vow, just released. She is the author of the award-winning middle grade Evolution Revolution trilogy, Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She co-authored the YA novels Blonde OPS, Sirenz, and Sirenz Back in Fashion. She has several short stories in various anthologies. Having finished her MFA, she's applying what she learned and is working on several children's and adult novels, and other short stories. She lives in NJ with her family and floofy cat Mink, a squirrel who insists on digging up her geraniums, and a visiting pet rabbit, Bad Bunny. She's NOT talking to the deer who decimated her meditation garden.

 I've been studying abstract art lately, and one of the words that keeps popping up is texture. 

Often, texture finds its way onto a painting through multiple layers. 

Often, texture finds its way into our writing (and especially our characters) in the same way. 

I don't necessarily mean multiple drafts (though, to be sure, multiple drafts help). I mean our characters need multiple aspects to their personalities. 

For example: Is your character funny? What happens when they go just a teeny step too far and wind up hurting a friend's feelings? How do they react? Do they shrug it off? Make fun of that person's hurt feelings? Apologize? Feel bad? 

Suddenly, with one single misstep, we begin to see all sort of different angles to that character. That character doesn't seem single-note (or single color). There are different shades, different shapes. 

Want the reader to get a full view of your main character? Have them make a mistake. Then show their response to that mistake. You'll be amazed at the results it can produce. 

~

Holly Schindler is the author of The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky

 

Welcome toSmack Dab, Karen! Please tell us about TheEtiquette of Voles.

 

In Victorian England, a talking vole named Chains solvesmysteries to figure out why he can speak. His latest case, involving a missingshipment fish, offers some hints from his past. But someone he thought he couldtrust doesn’t want him to learn the truth, and Chains will have to decide ifknowing his origins is worth the danger it puts him in. 

 

I was so intrigued by your decision to create Chains as atalking vole. What drew you to that animal? 

 

Actually, it was Chains who insisted he was a vole. He cameto me fully formed, demanding to be written down. I knew right away that hisname was Chains because of Charles Darwin’s misinterpreted “missing link”theory and that he wanted to solve mysteries in order to eke out his ownorigins. The development of the plot was centered mainly on that. 

 

I’m a lifelong animal lover, and I’m a total sucker for therelationships between animals and people. So of course I found the relationshipbetween Chains and Petunia deeply moving. How did you approach writing theconnection between a talking animal and a traumatized child?

 

I have always loved animals too and have found comfortthrough them for most of my life. When Petunia found her way into the story, Iknew that she and Chains would have a special connection with their sharedtrauma. My goal was to capture that feeling when you encounter someone whoreally understands what you’ve been through because they’ve walked a similarpath. I wanted Chains to find comfort with Petunia, but want to protect her aswell. Petunia really came to life during my research into The Foundling Hospitalin London (a real place). There is beauty and pain in her scars, but I alsowanted to emphasize that while they are a part of her, they don’t outrightdefine her. 

 

Historical fiction can be so tricky, because you can godown that research rabbit hole and never emerge. What kind of research did youdo into 1890s London? How did you decide which details to include and what toleave out? Any tidbit you had to cut and want to share here? 

 

As a librarian, research is one of my love languages. I hada wonderful time looking at old London maps, photographs, and newspapers. Iactually stumbled upon a physical newspaper at an antique store once! I collectall my research in a folder on my computer that acts as a sub-folder to thebook content itself. I have often gone back and referred to primary sourcedocuments and other research artifacts in the process of both drafting andrevising.

 

It was hard to know what to put in and what to leave out,because all of it was so interesting! Ultimately, I had to go with what servedthe overall story and leave out the details that were too far away from themain narrative. I think one of my favorite tidbits was learning that VictorianEngland had an issue with cloth piracy!

 

How did you come up with the Off-Railers organization? Didit spring from real Victorian concerns about animal experimentation?

 

In my research, I happened across the Billingsgate FishMarket and I was fascinated to learn more about how railroads took over a lotof the inland trade. I also had a very clear vision of a smoke stack shapedlike a train whistle, and the Off-Railers name just kind of floated into myhead from there. And yes, a lot of my research did also spring from realVictorian concerns about animal experimentation. While people at the time wereunfortunately more concerned about the overreach of science rather than animalwelfare itself, the rise of a process known as vivisection drew a lot ofattention to the issue.

 

Can you tell us a bit about your path to publication? Inyour acknowledgments, you mention nearly giving up during "'close, but nocigar' purgatory." What kept you going?

 

I’d say my publication journey has been pretty typical. Istarted by writing book reviews for a couple library-centered publications, andthen I wrote a nonfiction book chapter, and a feature article in a magazine,all before I had my first short story published. I thought for years that I wasa Young Adult author, until, very late in the process, I figured out that myvoice was much more suited for the Middle Grade space. While I have a few otherMiddle Grade books drafted and revised, The Etiquette of Voles ismy first published novel. 

 

I got my first full manuscript from an agent in 2014 andkind of remained in that space for…a minute, all while drafting and revisingother projects. What kept me going was my writing community for sure. Therewere times I really did question whether I was good enough to do this, and theyalways reminded me that someday everything would make sense! 

 

Every experience you have in life shapes you as a writer.What impact did being a librarian have on crafting the book? 

 

Being a youth services selector for a public library systemreally taught me about pacing in middle grade stories, as well as what kinds ofstories kids were most interested in. It really helped me get into the rightheadspace so that my middle grade voice could be as relatable as possible.

 

Whatmessage do you hope young readers take away about finding their place in theworld?

 

That no one needs to feel like they’re invisible or thatthey don’t deserve to take up space. That fitting in and acceptance are twodifferent things. And even if you don’t “fit in” to any particular group, itdoesn’t mean you don’t deserve love and belonging. Most importantly, you have aright to be your true self, no matter what anyone else tells you. 

 

What’s next?

 

I am currently writing the sequel to Etiquette of Voles! It is a lot of fun. 

 

Where can we find you?

 

Website: https://karenbmccoy.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenmccoybooks

Instagram: @karenmccoybooks

Threads: @karemccoybooks

BlueSky: @karenbmccoy.bsky.social

 Snag a copy of The Etiquette of Voles

Welcome to Smack Dab, Abigail! Please tell us a bit about The Vale.

The Vale is my middle grade debut novel, which was my creative thesis at Vermont College of Fine Arts. It follows 13-year-old Bran Lee and his inventor family, who have created an AI generated virtual fantasy world. Bran’s grown up in this world, but at the start of the novel, his family has fallen on hard times and the Vale is glitching badly. Bran sets out to save both his family and the Vale by entering it in a $10M competition, but then a rogue Wizard appears, challenging him in the Vale with real world implications. 

The novel comes out September 16 from Third State Books, and we are also finishing a short film prequel titled The Vale — Origins, starring my girlhood hero Lea Salonga as Bran’s roboticist mom.

This book feels so of-the-moment. But you wrote this novel in 2015, well before AI became mainstream. What inspired you to explore artificial intelligence and virtual reality themes so early?

I am privileged to live and work in Silicon Valley, at the heart of the greatest innovations of our generation. As an attorney in venture capital, I got to see early technology being incubated, including AI and VR. As a storyteller, I was excited by VR’s potential to create immersive experiences. I was also drawn to the potential and power of AI, which I could see would soon be everywhere and change the world, and have been deeply interested in exploring the ethics of the technology.

I loved the metaphor of the Portal's ability to create worlds through imagination rather than just pattern-matching. How do you see the relationship between human creativity and AI?

AI is a tool just like any other tool for more people to express themselves. In the same way the phone camera has made portrait painters of us all, we can now capture what we see and share it with the world. So too will AI enable us to show the world what we see and feel. But the human artist — or even the human viewer of the art — is what gives the art soul and meaning. AI will never be able to do that for us.

I’m fascinated by long journeys to publication. This book sat on your back-burner for nearly a decade before publication. What was the "something off about the dual worlds" that you mentioned fixing, and what breakthrough moment helped you solve it?

To be honest, I can’t quite recall what was off now! I know I wasn’t sure how to begin the story — I have a version that starts with Bran getting bullied at a baseball game because he was so busy thinking about the Vale that he missed the flyball coming at him. I had another opening that began with Bran creating the Vale by splaying colors across the blank white canvas — some of that version is now in the short film prequel. I’m happy with where the new opening begins, which is a fusion of both his worlds from the start. 

Bran struggles with social connections in the real world but thrives in the Vale. How did you approach writing a neurodivergent protagonist, and what do you hope readers take from this journey?

Bran turned out neurodiverse as I was writing it. I remember my classmate Lianna McSwain talking through the storyline in our school dorms with me. As I was explaining, she asked if Bran was on the spectrum, and I teared up and said the whole family is. Neurodiversity is something I’ve lived with without knowing it, and is another way I have struggled to fit in — trying to embrace my mind that is exploding with ideas and colors in a way that takes you out of the world but also enables me to do the creative work I am blessed to do today — and I wanted to explore it. 

For a while, I thought Bran must be unhappy in his virtual bubble, but then I realized that was the parent in me. Truth is, Bran is very happy in his virtual world, because it’s easier in some ways. This is why he wants it to come to life. But in the end, he finds even more opportunities to grow in the real world, and that’s why he chooses to stay in it over returning to the Vale.

The relationship between Bran and Vale-Piper raises questions about the nature of reality and connection. How do you view the ethics of emotional relationships with AI?

When Bran falls for Vale-Piper, it may seem like a win for Bran, but it’s actually one of his lowest moments in the story. He’s been warned the Vale isn’t real. And yet, in that dark moment when he feels abandoned by his parents, his closest mentor and his new friend, he feels he has no one left but this virtual girl. It’s a problem. We can’t truly have a relationship with a virtual person, and learning to step into human relationships, along with the messy complexity of them, is a key part of Bran’s internal journey. 

The Vale draws heavily from classical fairy tales and folklore. What drew you to ground this futuristic story in traditional storytelling elements?

I love those stories myself, and in some ways, the Vale is like a writer or artist itself. We take in the world and it comes out of us synthesized in new ways. That’s how the Vale works — except that its output is in the form of a fantasy world growing.

The novel explores the idea that "ethical people make ethical technology." What role do you think individual creators and engineers play in shaping AI's future impact?

Individual creators are foundational to making ethical technology. Thousands of choices are made as an invention is discovered, refined and launched. Oftentimes, the engineers are the only ones who truly understand how the technology works. They can explain it to lay audiences, and ethics experts can ask good questions, but in the end, non-technical people are reliant on the makers. The choices they make may not even be conscious ones. The Lee family wanted to create clean AI that didn’t use copyrighted materials. That was an intentional choice, and though it took them longer, their resulting work is even more valuable for it.

The Vale is also trained on interacting with Bran, who is a big-hearted, loving kid full of imagination, and the resulting characters and the world is kind, too. This was an unconscious benefit that simply comes from who the Lees are. 

What's next?

I’m so excited — The Vale launches on September 16! We’ll be showing the short film prequel at film festivals and special private events, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter at www.abigailhingwen.com to find out when it’s coming to a city near you.

There are also some very cool surprises happening!

🧝‍♀️ If you pre-order the hardcover book between now and September 21, you’ll get a FREE set of Vale stickers! Just upload your receipt at this google form here: https://tinyurl.com/thevalepreorders.

🍦 And… come try Vale Elfberry Blue Ice Cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in New York City! If you show a pre-order receipt for The Vale from an indie bookstore or Barnes & Noble, you’ll get a free scoop. Yep, book lovers get ice cream!

I’m also excited to be deep in the production of an unannounced middle grade graphic novel with HarperAlley.

Where can we find you?

Sign up for direct updates and invitations via my newsletter: www.abigailhingwen.com.

Follow on social media — I’m most active on Instagram @abigailhingwen.