Check out our interview with Julie A. Swanson, who wrote "North of Tomboy."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
As Toni Morrison put it, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” Even as a middle grade reader, I knew I had to do it. I wrote "North of Tomboy" for my younger self and for kids who struggle with what I did.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
To me, it means being happy about how far we’ve come in making books with LGBTQ characters available for kids. And enjoying them! Growing up, I couldn’t find a book with anyone in it who was like I was in terms of my level of discomfort with my gender, and there was no one I knew in real life like that either. I felt like I was the only one in the world, so unhappy to be a girl. Sure, there were a few books with tomboys in them — Caddie Woodlawn, Little Women, Zanbanger and Zanballer — but they weren’t as an extreme a tomboy as I was, and it always disappointed me when those stories ended with the main character becoming more civilized or ladylike or falling in love with a boy. As a kid, I did not want to read about a tomboy giving in to being civilized and ladylike and being fine with that, or having a boy be the thing that made her happy to be a girl in the end. But now there are all sorts of books with characters representing every letter in the LGBTQIA+ acronym. So many more kids are able to see themselves reflected in stories and know that they’re not alone in how they feel. And that is something to be celebrated!
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
I think we read books to connect, to vicariously experience what others have, fictional or otherwise, hoping to find something we can relate to, to say “Yes!” to, to discover that we’re not the only one who’s ever had that weird feeling or thought. Of course many read looking to escape, looking for something totally new and different, to be entertained, but even then we all like to find something universal in a story, to know somebody out there gets us, to feel a sense of communion/unity/love. So it’s important to have books out there written by all sorts of people from different backgrounds — different religions, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, demographics…
Another personal example, my maiden name, Polakowski; I never saw anything like it in books growing up, not one main character with a Polish last name. People were always mispronouncing our name and making fun of it, telling “dumb Polack” jokes (Polish jokes were a common thing back then, at least in the Midwest in the 70s/80s). I wasn’t upset by them — I knew the people telling them were (mostly) teasing and some of them were funny even to me — and yet looking back, I can see that the jokes did have an effect on me because when people would ask if I was Polish (duh!), my reply was, “Well, my dad’s dad was Polish, but we’re mostly German and French. I’m only a quarter Polish.” And I would want to add, “And my mom went to college.” That shows I was trying to distance myself from being Polish, say that I wasn’t very much Polish, and that I wanted people to know we weren’t from totally dumb stock if my mom went to college! So I must’ve wondered if people didn’t really think Polish people were dumb. As an adult, I have read two middle grade books with Polish main characters, but still, I like to give my characters -ski last names (my main character’s last name in North of Tomboy is Jezowski). All kids need to have books they can see themselves; it just gives you more of a sense of belonging in this world, being welcome.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
The story is about a shy but determined fourth-grader who feels she was meant to be a boy, that she’s partly, even mostly, boy. Jess hates anything “girly." She’s a little misogynist, sees women and girls as weak, trivial, overly sensitive… (all the things her culture has taught her). So she wants to look like the boy she feels she mostly is so people will see her as a boy and thus treat her as one. She wants to get to do the things boys can do and be respected as they are. But she’s Catholic and takes what she learns in catechism very seriously. Jess’s religious beliefs make it extremely hard for her to assert herself and “disobey” her super feminine mom by refusing to be/do/wear what expected of a “good girl.”
The inciting incident is when Jess gets yet another baby doll for Christmas (she always gets dolls!); she thinks it should be quite clear by now that she does not like girly dolls, so she decides to make a statement with this one. She cuts its hair and names him Mickey (and sews boy clothes for him) and makes him talk — a lot, and loudly and colorfully. I won’t go into any more detail here than to say that Mickey proves to be Jess’s little Frankenstein, and she realizes he’s not the solution, that she’s going to have to do something else to try to solve her problem. The story is semi-autobiographical, and as I said, I always knew I wanted to write this book. I would often think about it as a kid, promising myself I’d write it someday. I felt I had to. As soon as I got married and felt I was no longer a kid and could no longer “be” Mickey (my Mickey lasted a little longer than Jess’s), I started working on it!
What can fans expect from your book?
People can expect a story set in 1972-73 but told in first-person present tense. I wanted readers to get as close to being inside of Jess’s head as they could, to understand her from a child’s point of view. Because it’s got a psychological side to it that’s rather complex, with this little alter-ego type character Jess creates for herself as a way to cope with what she’s going through, to express herself and deal with her family. Mickey’s everything she isn’t but wants to be — funny, brave, never has to grow up… Jess finds comfort and refuge in nature, too, so readers will find her outdoors a lot, delighting in and exploring her rural lake-land home, appreciating its beauty and peace, its unconditional acceptance of her exactly as she is. The story’s illustrated with black-and-white endpaper maps, spot illustrations, and vignettes scattered throughout.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
"North of Tomboy" is the first in a series. I started writing it first, but actually completed a couple other books in the series before it ("North of Tomboy" has been the hardest one to write). So I have the second book in the series done, and I’d like to publish that next. It’s a middle grade story with Jess a couple of years older and in 6th-7th grade, a girls basketball story.
