What Would Nina Do

The other day, I was working at the library.

I have a particular favorite table there; it’s just past the puzzles and is usually bathed in sunlight. Plus, the outlet works.

This table faces the children’s section—if you look forward, you can see a row of graphic novels. It was there, standing in front of the graphic novels, that I heard two girls discussing their selections. Maybe age 11, maybe age 12. One has very cute glasses on.

“Have you ever read Redwall?” one of them asked.

“I think it’s for boys,” the other responded.

“Nina likes Redwall,” the first mused.

“But you know Nina,” said the second.

The first sighed dramatically in agreement.

“Nina,” she affirmed, “is sus.”

Already, my mind is racing. Who is Nina? Why is she sus? Does liking Redwall make her sus, or was she sus to begin with? Is Redwall in graphic novel format, or why are they talking about it while looking at the graphic novels? What makes it a boy book? The mice? The swords?

The first grabbed one of the Babysitters Club books. “These are good, but only the first few,” she cautioned her friend. I almost leapt up to correct her. Excuse me, ma’am, but the Babysitters Club is superb all the way through, particularly when the Stacy drama gets real.

“Nina would haaaaate these,” the second girl says, and they cackle. Clearly, they are on the same page. Grabbing an armful of BSC, they meander off.

And that was it. How on earth was I supposed to get work done now? Now that I had witnessed the entirety of teenage girlhood take place fifteen feet away from me? The complexities of the social hierarchy?! The entirety of nostalgia and all of its trappings and trimmings?!?! The symbolism of literature affirming and breaking down gender roles?!?!? All I could do was craft an elaborate backstory to why Nina, She Who Reads Redwall, was so disdained by these girls. And then give her her imaginary vengeance. Somewhere in my mind, Imaginary Nina is twirling her villainous mustache. She is the victor.

One of my favorite books, Where’d You Go Bernadette1, is an epistolary book where a woman named Bernadette is grappling with how her life ended up the way it did. She writes a long, rambling, ten-page letter to an old colleague, who responds with about two lines. He tells her that she must create. “If people like you don’t create,” he cautions her, “they become a menace to society.”

And this, my friends, as illustrated by my afternoon in the library, is why I have the job I have.

Otherwise, I fear I will become a menace to society.

Here are five random facts about Each and Every Spark, inspired by , who often gives some quick fun facts about her books just before their launch. Each and Every Spark releases 2/17.

• One of Penny’s brothers is obsessed with soccer, and his favorite player is Kylian Mbappé of the French team. This happens to be my 9-year-old son’s favorite player as well.

• I read so, so, so many books about the German occupation of France for research. I was literally dreaming about the French resistance, where I’d be running in the woods and there would be gunshots behind me. Doing the research for this book was one of the joys of my career so far, but my father-in-law did at one point nod towards my massive stack of books about Nazis and say “…you need a new hobby”. I took a nice year-long break after I submitted it where I read absolutely nothing about World War 2.

• I wrote this book out of order, completely writing Marie’s POV and then completely writing Penny’s. Take it From the Top was the first book I ever wrote out of order, and the system worked well for this one as well. It reminded me that every single book is different and is going to require its own process. I just couldn’t keep jumping back and forth between 1944 and 2026; it was messing with the flow and the voice of the characters.

• Last year, 50 French Catholics that were killed by the Nazis were formally beatified. Marie’s family is Catholic and it was fascinating to do research about the history of how the Catholic Church was involved in the French resistance. Many priest and religious sisters would work to hide Jews or other persecuted French people. Marie’s Jewish friend, Sarah, is persecuted by the Nazis, but I knew I wanted to write from a Catholic perspective and highlight that piece of history as well. It is not a Catholic book, but it has themes of truth, beauty, and goodness.

• I originally sold the concept for this book in 2022, but it was part of a multi-book deal and also ended up getting delayed (once on my end, once on my publisher’s). That mean Marie and Penny have been bouncing around in my head for years. I can’t believe you’re finally going to get to read it. ❤️

  It’s not too late to preorder Each and Every Spark! Preorders are incredibly helpful for authors like me; they’re genuinely the number one thing you can do to help ensure great books get out into the world. They help let publishers (and most importantly, bookstores) know which books people are excited to read. These purchasing decisions can create a type of snowball effect—the more preordered books, the more books similar to those will be made. So if you’d like to see more middle grade realistic historical fiction, you know where to click.

  Preorder EAES

2/17: We’ll be celebrating the launch of my newest middle grade, Each and Every Spark, at Books and Company in Oconomowoc, WI at 6:00 PM with special guest Laura Anne Bird. The event is free and kids are more than welcome—see you there! (Please don’t make me relive my Barnes and Noble trauma.)

2/18: I’ll be in conversation with Lorelai Savaryn about Each and Every Spark at Blue House Books in Kenosha, WI at 6:30 PM. The event is free but registration is appreciated!

7/16 - 7/18: I’ll be a guest writer and help with manuscript critiques at the Winona Christian Writers Conference in Winona, IN. I attended this last year and found it such a respite in the chaotic world of publishing! Registration is open now.

And lastly, a book (or two, or three) I’ve loved lately for…

Picture book fans: I am slightly allergic to kids’ reading challenges at the library but the girls begged me to sign them up for the “Iditaread”, mostly because they got to decorate a paper dog. But there was a fantastic display of Iditarod books and on a whim, I grabbed Togo by Robert J. Blake. We loved it and want to watch the Disney+ movie ASAP! Balto is a scam!!!! (Kidding. Kind of.)

Middle graders: I really enjoyed Alex Thayer’s Bad Cheerleader, about a girl who joins the cheerleading squad to try and figure out why her older sister is suddenly acting strangely. Moving; plus, I’m a sucker for sister stories.

My kids recommend: Benjamin (9) has discovered Calvin and Hobbes. I thought this would be a sweet way to show him something I loved as a child; it has instead turned into him coming downstairs at 9:30 PM to inform me about the latest joke he just read. C’est la vie; I love that tiger. Tess (7) picked up one of Benjamin’s Mac B: Kid Spy books by and has become obsessed. She’d like you all to know that the fifth one, The Sound of Danger, has been her favorite. Bridget (4) is going strong on her Jan Brett love with frequent demands for The Mitten. All of us are doing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as a nightly read-aloud—the oldest two are obsessed. Bridget has literally no idea what’s going on but quite likes Hedwig.

Adults: I’m back in my Alice Hoffman era, a place I have not been since high school. I’m so happy to be here. I just reread The Story Sisters, the tale of three sisters coming-of-age in an upstate New York town, and am now devouring The Museum of Extraordinary Things, about a girl working as a mermaid at her dad’s early 1900s Coney Island museum.

Thanks for reading along!