I am so fortunate to be on this blog tour for an incredible author and book. Not only is there a book blurb, but there’s an author interview AND a giveaway.
This book should be in every classroom. We all need to learn about people different from ourselves: understanding what they go through, why they do what they do and need the things that help them function in the world.
All the way through it, I was in awe of the incredible scenes, language and feelings that struck me. It’s a memorable novel in verse and I love the characters. I know everyone can relate to something in this story. And it’s also helpful to know that what we experience and maybe feel is isolating, is probably more common than we think or know. From excellent teachers to annoying teachers, friends and bullies, family and neighbors, I think there is something that will resonate with everyone in the story. Really, is anyone normal? We’re all individuals and what’s normal to one is not to another.
Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt
From the publisher: Scholastic Press, April 2023
An extraordinary novel-in-verse about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference.
Selah knows her rules for being normal.
She always, always sticks to them. This means keeping her feelings locked tightly inside, despite the way they build up inside her as each school day goes on, so that she has to run to the bathroom and hide in the stall until she can calm down. So that she has to tear off her normal-person mask the second she gets home from school, and listen to her favorite pop song on repeat, trying to recharge. Selah feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it.
Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.
Selah's friends pull away from her, her school threatens expulsion, and her comfortable, familiar world starts to crumble.
But as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it’s too late?
AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
Angela Russell: Do you
work/teach full time? Do your students inspire you?
Meg Eden Kuyatt: At the moment, I have lots of little jobs—which I think is how I work best. I tend to burn out when I do any one thing too much or for too long, and especially for teaching, I really want to be present for my students and able to give them my best feedback. My students absolutely inspire me! I love how I can teach the same lesson or give the same prompt and they always see new things. I especially love giving prompts like asking them to write what’s inside them, and the things they discover are so incredible. I’m also blown away by my students’ humility and willingness to learn. Especially my students at the community college where I work—they never give any excuses. They have such incredible attitudes and often are juggling so many different things in life that I’m just blown away that they are taking the time to be in my class in the first place.
AR: What is your writing process and how do you make / find time to
write.
MEK: I find that
typically I work best every other day, or at least, only making myself write
every other day. If I try to force it every day I can stress myself out, and
stress is the enemy of creative writing. But really, I’m always playing and
thinking. I’m always scribbling down notes and ideas. We make time for the
things we love, even if it’s in little bits, and even if there are seasons
where we need to refill and step away. I’m learning that I have certain phases
with new projects, where I’m so uncertain and asking so many questions, and
that scares me, but I’m comforted knowing this will pass and with time, I’ll
become more confident!
AR: Do you have any heroes? Yes, though I don’t know where to even start!
MEK: I have lots
of heroes but the first that comes to mind is my old pastor, Pastor Ed.
Whenever he came up to preach, he made clear that he was actively not there to
call out specific people or shame; he was just this guy coming up to tell us
what God had been teaching him recently. He was always honest and real about
what he was struggling with and learning, so it never felt like this guy
talking down to you but with you—and as a kid especially, that was very
compelling.
I realize now
that as a writer, he has been my biggest influence. When I write stories, I
think about his approach to sermons. I ask myself: what am I struggling with
right now? What do I need to hear and learn? And that’s the engine for my
stories.
I was
recently speaking at a conference, and I had this moment where I was absolutely
chuffed inside because I heard Pastor Ed’s mannerisms in how I was talking.
When he preached, another great thing he did was he had a very clear structure
and order. His messages were easy to remember because he organized them in a
very logical, practical way. As a speaker, I always really try to emulate this
so my audience will remember the points I’m trying to make.
Pastor Ed is
a very humble dude, and I think this is part of what makes it easy for me to
listen to and respect him (I’m still learning the humility thing). I really
love that Pastor Ed always stressed that we should never just take his word for
something. We should never believe something’s true because he said it; we
should always examine the Bible for what it says is true. This instilled in me
a great value for critical, independent thinking (and I want to add here that
this included me wanting to decide for myself if the Bible is true and
trustworthy), and also makes me as a writer and instructor desire to instill
this in my students and readers. I rarely want to be didactic on the page, and
I never want to preach to my audience (because unlike Pastor Ed, I am not a
preacher!). I want to give my readers questions to think about and wrestle with
themselves. I want to give a sense of my stance, where I’m coming from and what
I believe, but all I can do is pose an argument. Kids are smart. They are going
to decide what they believe for themselves.
AR: There is a definite need in the market for this book and I think
it should be in the middle school curriculum. (not a question – just an
opinion 😊)
MEK: Thank you so
much! That makes me so happy to hear!
AR: What were your favorite books growing up and do you have any
now?
MEK: Anne of Green
Gables was a huge one. As I got older, Screwtape Letters was another—I love how
it plays with point of view and a story many of us have heard but seeing it
from the opposite side.
I have so many
favorite books now, but a few are Elle McNicoll’s A Kind of Spark, anything by
Corey Ann Haydu (though my favorite is probably Lawless Spaces or One Jar of
Magic) and John Perkin’s Let Justice Roll Down.
AR: Is much of this story based on your experiences? What that where
the idea for the book came from?
MEK: Yes and no.
Little bits are from my experience and perception, like being at a small
private school, or a girl braiding my hair in the recess line and how that came
as such a shock to me. Everything I write has some element of my
experience—little surface details but even more so, the emotions I’ve felt.
This book came from the emotion, from feeling overwhelmed in the middle of
COVID and feeling so small and like I had no control. There’s an emotional
truth to the story, which is what matters most to me, that even if Selah’s
story isn’t literally autobiographical, it captures my feelings of trying to
figure out how to navigate living in a neurotypical world.
AR: Did this come all as one story or did you piece things together?
MEK: This one had a
long “incubation period” and many false starts but once I figured out the right
starting point and started really drafting, it came together all at once. But
really, I’m not sure that’s fair to say. The first draft happened in a very
short period of time, but there were years of gathering experiences and ideas
that ended up in that final draft. So it’s really both.
AR: What did you learn/discover while writing it?
MEK: I think the
main thing is that I discovered I am actually autistic, and that I have so many
ways to fly—that autism has difficulties, but it also has beautiful strengths. I
think if it weren’t for this book, I might’ve never sought a formal diagnosis
for my autism, so for that I am so incredibly grateful.
AR: What are you working on next / future projects readers can look
forward to?
MEK: I am in the
middle of a few projects. I’m waiting for feedback on a possible middle grade project and am taking a little bit of a breather to play with new ideas until
I hear more. I’m also editing a YA manuscript that has taken me at least 20
drafts at this point, but I think (hope) we’re starting to go in the right
direction…
I’m really
interested in protagonists with all sorts of different autistic experiences,
generational neurodivergence or how people dealt (often maladaptively) with
being autistic in previous generations, and I’m really interested in the magic
in the everyday.
Here's a link to all of Meg's book tour events. CLICK HERE
Here is the rafflecopter link to enter to win an arc of Good Different!
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/df05f79b2/.
You can
find links to Meg’s books and social media info below:
Twitter:
@ConfusedNarwhal
Instagram:
@meden_author
Facebook:
Meg Eden Writes Poems
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/buwBXX
