Author Interview: Meg Medina

photo by Gabrielle Pedraja

Don't forget that April is National Poetry Month! And today we are happy to share with you another interview of a poet and author. As you learned in yesterday's post, Meg Medina has written her first picture book for children. (Don't forget to enter to win a copy of Tía Isa Wants a Car!) And the poetic style of the book is especially attractive to young children.

We are very grateful to Ms. Medina for taking the time to share with us a bit of her own story and the motivation behind her latest book...


Would you tell us about the inspiration behind Tía Isa Wants a Car?

The inspiration for the book was my aunt – Ysaira Metauten, who bought our first family car. My family came from Cuba in the early 1960s. Like many immigrant families, we relied on the public transportation system for years, for everything from visiting family to buying groceries. I remember so clearly when the real tía Isa bought that old Buick Wildcat home to us. It was old and dented, and it had an awful habit of stalling at the worst times. To be honest, she was a terrible driver, too. But what did it matter? What I remember most is how exciting it was to be able to go wherever we wanted, without thinking about bus schedules and transfer slips. It was such an important step in our moving forward in this country. A car is hope, discovery, and independence. That’s what this book celebrates.


Tía Isa Wants a Car is your first picture book. Why did you decide to write a story for this age group?

Interestingly, it wasn’t a conscious decision. I am not an artist, so I had always operated under the misconception that only artists wrote and illustrated picture books. That’s not true, of course. In fact, it’s usually the publishing house that puts together an author and an illustrator on a project. In any case, I had just finished writing the manuscript for my second novel and I was exhausted. I desperately needed a rest, and so I turned to poetry. For me, picture books are a form of poetry. They tell a big story within a strict economy of words. I began to play with sounds and images, just thinking about strong girls and how they get that way. (That’s one of my favorite themes.) Suddenly, Tía Isa came to mind and the first line appeared: Tía Isa wants a car.


When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer and what was your first published story?

In some ways, I always knew I was meant to write – even as early as elementary school. However, it took a long while to have the courage to try to pursue it as a career, which is a shame. My first published story was in the mid 1990s in a literary journal. It was for adults, but still about children. First Kiss in Green Hair was based on my real first kiss, which happened one day while I was playing with my friend. I was wearing a pair of green girls’ stockings on my head, pretending it was long hair.

You have also written a highly praised book for young adults entitled, Milagros: Girl From Away. For our readers with older children, can you share what this story is about?

Milagros: Girl From Away is a coming of age story about a 12-year-old girl who loses everything -- her country, her parents, her friends – and has to find her way in the world alone. It’s written in magical realism, so it features a mythical Caribbean setting, pirates, magical stingrays, and healers who know the mysteries of herbs, the human heart, and the sea. It was such a rewarding novel to write because it captures what I most want to tell girls – maybe even what I want to tell all bi-cultural kids -- which is that they have to see themselves with their own eyes in this world. They have to take pieces of all the wonderful things in their families’ past and present and make something new and unique for themselves.


In your opinion, what books are must-reads for Latino families?

There is so much incredible literature out there for children of Latino heritage. A good place to start a search is the Pura Bulpré award, which is the ALSC’s award that recognizes an outstanding piece of chldren’s literature that affirms and celebrates the Latino experience. You can find the list very easily, and it represents a treasure chest of wonderful stories from all over Latin America.

But, since we all have favorites, here are some of mine. For middle school and high school, I recommend Julia Alvarez’s Before We Were Free and Margarita Engle, The Surrender Tree. I have always adored Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, too. For elementary school readers, I am partial, of course, to the work of Pam Muñoz. For early readers, I’d try Carmen Agra Deedy’s, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, based on an old Cuban folktale, and Los Gatos Black by Yuyi Morales. And of course, I recommend Tía Isa Wants a Car!


Do you have any new books coming out soon that we can look forward to reading?

Well, Tía Isa Wants a Car will be published in a Spanish language edition in 2012, which is absolutely thrilling for me. That means my mother will be able to read my work in her own language. The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind is my upcoming young adult novel that will be out in Spring 2012. That’s for older readers, but it uses magical realism – this time to explore the very real issue of migration in our community. I am also working on Finding Yaqui Delgado, which will be published by Candlewick Press in 2013; it will take a look at girls, identity, and bullying. And you know, I’m always tinkering with picture book ideas, so you never know when one will gel.