Episode 35: Are you rich? -with Jewell Parker Rhodes
Welcome! “Are you rich?” is a kid question answered by authors Grace Lin and Jewell Parker Rhodes.
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author, and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the picture book A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today. I am here with Jewell Parker Rhodes, the author of Ghost Boys and Black Brother, Black Brother. Hi Jewell.
Jewell P R: Hi Grace, how are you?
Grace Lin: So good. I'm so glad that you can join me today.
Jewell P R: It's my pleasure. It's just fantastic. And I miss you, and my daughter wants me to tell you that they love your recent picture book, her and her daughter Clara.
Grace Lin: Aw, thank you.
Jewell P R: The Mooncake book. Yes.
Grace Lin: Oh, that's so awesome. All right. Are you ready for today's question?
Jewell P R: Yes, I am.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a person named Joe and they ask, "Are you rich?" Are you rich?
Jewell P R: Ah, Joe, I believe that I am very, very rich. I always wanted to have a loving family, and a lot of that is due to the fact that when I was a little girl, my mother left the family. So I always felt as though there was a problem with me or that I was a bad person, and having a family now where we all talk and love one another is the most important thing ever. So I'm rich in that way. I'm also rich and that I'm able to have shelter for my family. I'm able to feed my family and just generally take care of them. And I think that's what every parent wants to do in terms of supporting their kids and supporting their grandkids.
Jewell P R: But I don't believe in wealth as in just being able to buy things. To me buying these has never fulfilled me. Particularly people will buy things and say, "Oh, this is a name brand from this store," or "This is a name brand from this designer." It just seems so crazy to me, because why do I want to have somebody else's name on my sunglasses or on my clothes? I mean, so clothes and just buying things is not significant. To me, it's love and giving my family what they need to grow that's most important. And in that sense, I am very, very, very rich.
Grace Lin: How do you think being an author makes you richer?
Jewell P R: Ah, Grace, I just love telling stories and I always wanted to tell stories and let my imagination flow, but I never thought I could do that because I didn't think black people wrote books. But when I got to college, I discovered that's not true. And I said, "Well, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to write books. And I think with every story that I write that my heart gets bigger, my mind learns things, my spirits soars. And so I feel as though I'm not just living one life, but I'm living all kinds of multiple lives, and I'm growing and compassion and I'm growing in empathy and I'm growing in knowledge. So for me, I would tell everyone, find a career that you love doing the work, where the work keeps you growing, keeps you vital, keeps you alive, and you will be rich beyond measure. If you just have dollars in a bank account and you hated what you were doing every single day, what good is that. So the richness of just following your own passion and dream and enjoying your work.
Grace Lin: I love that answer because I agree. I think that I am extremely rich too. I feel like every author I talk to, we are the richest people in this country because I feel like we have such beautiful creative lives. And that's what I hope for all of our listeners to have too, that really rich life where we can have all these stories and all of these experiences, if only in our imagination. And that's what I think makes a really rich life. What book of yours do you think gave you the richest experience?
Jewell P R: Well, let me go back to... I want to comment on what you said a second ago. When I see kids and they talk to me about the stories of video games or movies that they've watched, and sometimes the narrative that they pick up on, rap or hip hop or music, it really excites me. And then I always want to encourage them to make it. So you can make the movie, you can make the song, you can make the video game story. And I think there's a special pleasure, not just in consuming art, which is glorious and stirs your imagination. But I think being a writer or being a musician or being a sculptor or being a filmmaker, you get an extra added bonus in that you are creating, you are being active. So I want all the young people today to think about what they can create, what they can make, what they can shape. And I guarantee that taking what they love and then becoming a maker of it, a doer of it, will make them happier and give them a very satisfying life.
Grace Lin: I agree, but I would add just one more thing. I think they should be makers and doers and then share it.
Jewell P R: Oh, absolutely. Oh, Grace, you're so wonderful. Absolutely. Share it, because a book is incomplete until a reader reads it. So I write, but I need Joe and Mary and Sarah to read my book, to complete it, to complete that communication. So you're right that if we are also sharers, we are communicating and building community and connecting all of our humanity together.
Grace Lin: That's really beautiful. And that's what I think makes an extremely rich life for everyone.
Jewell P R: Absolutely. Absolutely. Now I like writing books and it just fulfills my soul, but every time I write a book and sometimes it gets so hard, especially at revisions, I'll say, "I'm never going to write another book again." And my husband teases me because after a little bit of time when I'm not working on a project, I have to start all over again. There's something about how I feel compelled to write and share stories. And my most favorite story that I wrote recently, in the last 10 years, was Ninth Ward, because I always wanted to be a children's author. I was writing books for adults and I loved it, but I kept waiting for the call to write a book for children.
Jewell P R: And actually when Hurricane Katrina hit in new Orleans, that was when I got the call. And I was in the city two weeks after the hurricane because I was there for a book tour on an adult book. And when I was there, I saw the devastation, I saw the loss, I saw the lines where the water had risen. And I just felt, I've got to tell the story of children and also the animals whom I adore, and how they survived the hurricane.
Jewell P R: And so writing Ninth Ward was my first toe-step into writing for youth. And that was such a privileged time for me. And I used to go off to Starbucks and I would write and write, write, write, write, write, write, and I didn't want to share with anybody because it was such a sacred moment. But finally, being able to write a story about a child that reflects the children that I meet today, who's strong, resilient and smart and figures out how to survive and build community. To me, that was the most glorious thing that had happened in my whole life next to having my family and my kids and my grand-baby.
Grace Lin: Aw, that's lovely. Well, thank you so much, Jewell, for answering that question. Thank you, Joe, for asking that question.
Jewell P R: Thank you, Joe. Thank you so much.
Grace Lin: Thanks, bye.
Jewell P R: Bye-bye.
Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Alison Morris! She’s reviewing the middle-grade novel, “Some Places More Than Others” by Renee Watson.
If you have ever wondered what your parents were like as kids or questioned the things that you sometimes feel like they aren't really telling you, then you will find you've got a few things in common with the main character of the book, Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson. This is a story of a girl who doesn't understand why her dad and her grandfather aren't talking until she finally convinces her dad to take her with him to the city he grew up in, which is New York City, where she meets her grandfather for the first time. Her grandfather takes her all over Harlem, he teaches her all about the African American community that she's come from, and the culture that she's grown up with, but he also helps her understand better who her family is and understand how complicated adults are too.
I love this book. It's thoughtful, it's meaningful, and it's a really great book about the fact that sometimes as a kid, you can feel like adults aren't telling you things that you might be ready to think about and talk about with them as well. The book is, Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Thank you Alison!
Alison Morris is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal. She previously served as Senior Editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, Children's Book Buyer for Wellesley Booksmith and The Dartmouth Bookstore, and was the founding blogger of the ShelfTalker children’s book blog for Publishers Weekly. She'll be joining us from her home near Washington, DC where she spends LOTS of time discussing books with her husband, illustrator and graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.
More about today’s author’s:
Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of six adult novels: Voodoo Dreams, Magic City, Douglass’ Women, Season, Moon, and Hurricane, as well as the memoir Porch Stories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness, and two writing guides, Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Non-Fiction. She is the author of Ghost Boys, Towers Falling, and the Louisiana Girls children’s book trilogy, which includes Ninth Ward, Sugar, and Bayou Magic. The books in this series have received the Parents’ Choice Foundation Award, the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, and the Jane Addam’s Children’s Book Award, among others. Jewell grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drama Criticism, a Master of Arts in English, and a Doctor of Arts in English (Creative Writing) from Carnegie Mellon University. Jewell is the Founding Artistic Director and Piper Endowed Chair at the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She currently lives in San Jose.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
