I’ve spent most of my writing life writing for adults, but in 2008, when I had my first child, my life changed, and so did my reading habits. As most parents know, when you have kids, you end up reading a lot of kid lit. For me, this was a wonderful thing. I rediscovered the beauty and brilliance of writers I grew up reading (Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, Arnold Lobel, Tomie DePaola, Zilpha Keatley Snyder). I also discovered authors writing the books I wish I’d had as a kid (Sayantani Dasgupta, Mitali Perkins, Jacqueline Woodson, RJ Palacio, Jerry Craft, Rebecca Stead and so many others!)

In the fall of 2019, I found myself writing a new book, one for adults. The problem was, I was stuck. I’d somehow forgotten how to just sit down and write a story. The adult book I was working on was mired in heavy concept, layers of meaning, but no real story. I still love writing literary fiction, and will always return to it. But I needed to try something new. So, I put my adult novel away. 

I returned to my earliest love: children’s literature. I thought about the books I’d spent my childhood summer days with, sun-warmed and half-asleep in my house’s reading nook. I thought about the books that make my kids laugh and think and ask questions. There’s a clarity of purpose in children’s literature that sometimes goes missing in adult books: Kids want good stories. They want interesting characters. They want stuff to happen.

I decided, as an experiment, to return to the basics of storytelling and try writing a book for kids. I decided I’d give myself three months to try it out, see if I liked it. As it turns out, I LOVED IT. Slowly, on my days off from teaching, on weekends and late nights, my middle grade book started to grow.

As I wrote, I learned that writing a middle grade novel was anything but “basic”. What started as a simple story of a boy and his grandmother took on a life of its own. It grew larger and more adventurous than I ever could have predicted. After a year of writing and thinking and learning about butterflies and moths, The Samosa Rebellion was finished. Writing it was maybe the most fun I’ve ever had. It was so fun that a year later, I wrote Boomi's Boombox!

I can’t wait for you to read them.