Check out our interview with Kristine Rudolph, the author of "The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
My daughters are about the same distance apart in age as the characters of Cassaty and Katey in "THE TWIN STARS AND THE SOCCER SUPERSTAR." Both have played soccer since they were four and my oldest is actually on her way to college where she will continue to play. Watching them take the pitch over many years, seeing how the sport helped them become the people they are and witnessing some of the pressures student athletes face all served as inspiration for this book.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
I subscribe to the idea that fiction for children should be a mirror and/or a window for kids. When it’s a mirror, it can make a child feel less alone. When it’s a window, it can offer a glimpse into a world unlike the child's own. So when I think about “Reading with Pride,” I think about those mirrors and windows. Children who are LGBTQIA+ or who have been raised in queer families deserve to see their lives mirrored back to them in fiction. Similarly, for the children whose daily lives don’t allow for exposure to families different from their own, books can be a window that makes what might seem “different” become less so.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Aside from the mirrors and windows I mentioned before, I believe strongly that representation simply makes stories more interesting. In my book, my protagonist’s lesbian aunt comes to visit from South Korea. Adult readers will understand that Aunt Melodie was raised in a very small, very circumscribed town in the Texas Hill Country and they might imagine her “escape” from its confines. She’s an investigative reporter for a major newspaper now, married and living a big life. Cassaty, her niece, adores her. And it’s the juxtaposition of a successful, happy and unapologetic lesbian with traditional Texas themes like brisket, queso and high school sports fandom that offers texture to the story you wouldn’t otherwise have.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
Cassaty Greene is obsessed with the midfielder phenom for her high school women’s soccer team, the Barons Creek Battling Billies. It’s spring in the Texas Hill Country, so everyone expects that midfielder, Katey Korey, to carry the Billies to the state championship. But Katey goes missing days before a playoff match and Cassaty is intent on finding her.
The other thing about spring for Cassaty is that it’s the time of the year when her mom’s depression gets very bad. Cassaty was a twin, but her brother never left the NICU and springtime always reminds the family about Paul’s death. For Cassaty, finding Katey and having the Battling Billies win state might just lift her mom’s mood and it also might prove to everyone that the loss of Paul wasn’t her fault.
Maybe you noticed in that description that Cassaty takes on a lot of responsibility for a middle school student? And that’s why I wanted to write this book. “You know, it’s not your job to go around fixing everything that’s broken,” Aunt Melodie tells Cassaty on a walk home from her friend’s house. That’s a message I want kids to hear. Not in a didactic way, more in the loving way Aunt Melodie says it. I know so many children who feel overwhelmed by responsibility, from the climate crisis to their parents’ financial strain. They think they need to “fix,” the things around them that aren’t going well. I hope the Greene family shows them it’s okay to sit with the discomfort, together.
What can fans expect from your book?
They can expect an owl cam, a longhorn steer named Napoleon, soccer talk, a mystery, brisket and queso. Lots and lots of queso. If you’re not hungry by the time you finish reading then I haven’t done my job well.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I have two lovely manuscripts I am working to get out into the world.
One relates to the 1962 Orly crash of Air France Flight 007 that killed more than one hundred prominent Atlanta arts patrons. It’s a dual POV from the perspective of a child whose mother was on that plane and a girl with whom she connects who lives decades later. Like "THE TWIN STARS AND THE SOCCER SUPERSTAR, MYRA & BIRDIE" explores grief in the family context. That’s kind of the sweet spot where all of my stories end up, whether intentionally or not.
The other book is about a girl named Bess from Atlanta summering with her grandparents in Austin. She’s a runner and there’s a memorial plaque on her favorite trail where she always stops to talk about her deepest, darkest secret. It’s safe to talk to a child who died decades ago. It’s at this spot on the trail where she meets a nonbinary kid named Ash and, how she eventually becomes entangled in the aftermath of a fight Ash had with their best friend. "RUNNING TO PARTHENIA" is about communicating through pain and features scenes at the iconic Austin landmark, Barton Springs. It’s a cool story and I hope one day kids will be able to read it.
