an embarrassment of riches

What a week! I met some wonderful people at my talk on Monday evening at the Mid-Manhattan branch of the NYPL. Then on Wednesday I talked to wonderful 4th-grade writers at the Countee Cullen School in Harlem. Then yesterday the four bloggers over at Rich in Color posted their insightful discussion of A Wish After Midnight and The Door at the Crossroads, and today they’ve posted an interview where I get to answer a question I posed in the discussion guide for AWAM:

As a teacher and book club member, I appreciated the inclusion of the discussion topics, activities, and research at the end of the books. One of the questions was, “If you could change something in your life simply by making a wish, what would it be?” How would you answer that question?

Whoa–that’s a tough one! I met some teenage girls in DC last summer; they made an awesome video and their wishes were mostly for their families and communities. In this era of Black Lives Matter, it’s hard to put your own needs/desires ahead of others’. As an introvert I wish I had more daring. It’s hard for me to be open, and I’m very protective of my alone time/dream time. I crave security but that’s not the path I’ve chosen. Sometimes I wish I could embrace uncertainty instead of trying to anticipate and avoid problems before they even arise. They say, “Leap and the net will appear!” but that’s hard for me–especially as I get older. I turn 44 next month and find it harder to take risks. I sometimes joke that I’m all about artisanal pickles–I’m happy to bottle them by hand and sell at the local farmers market. Scaling up is hard…

And today I learned that artwork from Melena’s Jubilee is featured in the Children’s Book Council’s Diversity Newsletter! My niece is visiting from Nova Scotia so the next few days will be dedicated to showing her all that NYC has to offer. Tonight I’m working on two essays for Embrace Race; once those are done, I’ll get back to The Return…