It's a bonus edition of the Book Club for Kids.
Hi, I'm Kitty Felde.
Last week, we talked about the novel Lupe Wong Won't Dance.
This week, we continue the conversation with its writer, Donna Barba Higuera.
Donna, Lupe is a difficult character.
Why did you choose to write a protagonist that is not instantly likable?
I love this question.
And so many people, you know, will say, oh, she's not likable.
And, you know, I don't want to read this if it's not a likable character.
Part of writing a great character is trying to let them grow.
And Lupe has a lot of growing to do.
But I also wanted to write a character who was very vocal, unlike myself or my daughter, who we didn't speak up against things that we felt were unfair.
And so I wanted to write a character who wasn't afraid to speak up.
And that was Lupe.
And yes, Lupe is not always the most likable.
She doesn't always cherish her friendships the way that she should. or her family.
I mean, she's a work in progress.
And so for me, that was important.
Not all my characters are Lupe's.
I write characters who maybe are a little bit more likable and maybe just have a big challenge in their life.
But for this book it was important because I wanted to show that, even though a certain character might have some adversity or something, they struggle with, that those things help people grow.
And I think every person reading this book is not alike.
And there might be a character who's like Lupe and needs to see that there are things that can happen in our lives that help us become a better person and a better friend.
And yeah.
So yeah, it was important to write a character who was a little bit.
I know you said she's not unlikable, but there are parts about Lupe that you go gosh.
Why does she do that?
Why is she unlikable?
But it was for a reason.
And it was important for me to write Lupe the way she is.
And at the end of the book, she still has growing to do.
So if we ever visit Lupe again, she still has room for growth.
Well, what were the challenges you had to overcome for you to fall in love with Lupe?
When I initially started writing Lupe, it was just about the challenge that she was facing.
And the things that made me fall in love with Lupe were partially.
She's funny, but she doesn't know she's funny.
And the happenings in her life and the way that she thinks and interacts with people.
She does have these friendships where she doesn't judge others.
She doesn't... she doesn't expect people to be a certain thing on those outer or surface levels.
She doesn't care about having the fanciest clothes or having a lot of money or what have you.
And I think a lot of times kids see things on social media where they think those are the most important things, and Lupe does not.
And that actually makes me love her, because her friendships are about the people and the relationships.
And so I think that's part of.
One of the endearing qualities about Lupe is that she doesn't really care about.
She's that kid who can wear whatever and go out on the street and doesn't care if kids call her names, and And I like that about her, that she is confident in herself and her friendships and doesn't care who says what about her or her friends.
She'll stick up for them, but she's also not going to let it get her down.
There's a bit of a scarcity of difficult characters in middle grade novels.
Why do you think that is?
I think because writers are afraid to write a difficult character.
I think that it's like I said.
I don't.
That's a great question, because I don't know if I would have written Lupe this way if I had known this was going to be a published book.
I might have written a character who was more likable from the beginning, so that anybody reading this book will like her right away and think she's someone they want to be friends with.
And so when I was done writing the book and I realized she wasn't the most likable character sure, it's a little scary to think that people may not like the book.
But people really like Lupe, even though she's unlikable sometimes.
And I think that's a real life character.
In real life, we meet people like this and we're all flawed.
Lupe's flawed.
She makes big mistakes, but so do we.
We all do.
And Lupe learns to forgive herself.
And I think readers reading this go wow, I've made this mistake too and I can forgive myself and move on.
And I think that's part of what makes Lupe this character that people are drawn to.
I know you're a sci-fi fan.
Do you have a science fiction novel rolling around in the back of your brain?
I do.
I have a few.
I have one that, well, I have one book that's coming out in October.
It's called The Last Quintista.
And It is about a girl, Petra Peña, who's far more likable than Lupe.
Very different character.
And Petra wants to be a storyteller like her grandmother.
And her parents are both scientists.
And one's a botanist and one's a geologist.
And so when they're chosen, there's this earth-ending event.
Haley's Comet is nudged off course by a solar flare.
And Petra is chosen, with her family, to go on, one of the few ships that are leaving Earth to terraform another planet.
And on this hundreds of years journey, they are all going to be downloaded with information that's going to be valuable on this new planet.
But for Petra, that information isn't so valuable.
She wants to be a storyteller.
And so when that is threatened, it's that's how we begin our book.
But when she awakens 300 years later, she finds that society has changed and everybody's memories have been wiped.
The adults are missing and there are a few children left, and she is the only one with the remaining memories of earth and stories and what it means to be human and have empathy and for others.
And so, while the story is sci fi, it is also very character based in this girl's journey and and her love of stories.
And then, of course, I'm writing.
You know I've always got to work in progress.
I started another book about a boy in the future who who ends up becoming a drone.
And so just these bizarre ideas always pop into my mind and I never know what's coming next.
The ideas that I end up writing.
They show up and I have to write them, and I'll see you next time bookclubforkidsorg.
That's K-I-T-T-Y at bookclubforkids.org.
And don't forget the State of the Union.
Address happens on March 1st, but you can read all about it right now in the latest Fina Mendoza mystery called State of the Union.
Our 10-year-old detective takes us backstage at the annual address in the U.S.
Capitol and she solves the mystery of the bird that poops on the president's head in the middle of the speech.
She also teaches a bit of civics along the way.
That's State of the Union, published by Chesapeake Press.
I'm Kitty Felde.
Thanks so much for listening.
Thank you.
