As a longtime committee member of the Gaithersburg Book Festival, this time of year is such a special time for me – so many wonderful authors and illustrators descend on Bohrer Park and I get to meet them in person, listen to their presentations, and learn about their creative process.  Such fun for this book-loving librarian! 

I will be introducing both Nicole Melleby and John Schu, who will be featured authors presenting together at 10:15 am in the Ogden Nash Pavilion. After reading Melleby´s Winnie Nash is Not Your Sunshine, I reached out to her for an interview. Booklist describes this middle grade novel as “a tearjerker with heart—a triumphant exploration of lesbianism, extended family, and miscarriage from the eyes of a young, would-be sibling,” – and I would add, exploring depression and the basic need to feel safe and loved.

Can you share your journey to becoming a children’s author?
When I was eight, I saw the Nickelodeon movie Harriet the Spy. I was obsessed, I loved everything about it, but I especially loved the main character, Harriet, and the way she always carried around a notebook to write things in. I used to beg my parents to buy me marble composition notebooks just like the one Harriet had every time they went to a store that carried them, and I would fill those notebooks up with everything. I started off by taking notes about the people around me much like Harriet did while spying, and from there I started writing stories instead. I’ve been writing stories ever since.

The movie also gave me this quote, which I’ve kept in mind ever since, and speaks to why I keep writing: “You know what? You’re an individual, and that makes people nervous. And it’s going to keep making people nervous for the rest of your life.”

Many of your books deal with LGBTQ+ kids discovering their sexuality and understanding their identities. Winnie Nash is Not Your Sunshine has received many wonderful reviews. Kirkus Reviews described it as, “A powerful, emotional look at queerness, pride, and what it truly means to feel held.”  How does this make you feel?

It makes me feel good, of course it does, especially when we’re in an atmosphere right now where LGBTQ+ books like mine are being more and more challenged and banned by school boards all over the place. Getting good reviews is always nice, but now it almost feels like extra validation when someone tries to say that an LGBTQ+ middle grade book “has no literary merit” (a true quote from a school board challenging books of mine) or has no place on a child’s shelves. But I think Kirkus got it right, it got right to the point of what I wanted to do with this book: give a child reader the chance to feel held right alongside Winnie.

Were Winnie’s experiences and feelings reflective of your own growing up? 

Unlike Winnie, I didn’t know I was queer at a young age, but like Winnie, I grew up on the Jersey Shore, looking across the bay at New York City, wondering what it would be like to get there someday. And while I was a lot younger than Winnie and it didn’t affect my life as much as it affects hers, my mom also struggled with miscarriages before my younger brother was born. Winnie, overall, is a sad, confused, angry kid, and I think that I let her feel all of the things I felt at various times; I didn’t want to hold anything back with her. I read an essay in which Kate DiCamillo says, “Let kids be sad” and it’s something I took to heart. I was a sad kid sometimes—I think there are a lot of sad kids out there—I wanted to let Winnie be one, too.

What do you hear from your readers (kids, parents, educators)  after they have finished reading your books?
For all of the book bannings and challenges and, frankly, mean emails I get, I receive about a dozen more from kids and parents and teachers who have found something in my books that they needed. It’s definitely what keeps me positive throughout all of the contention when it comes to queer books for kids. The kids who email me and say how much Winnie or Pluto or Fig mean to them always means more to me than what I can even put into words.

Why do you think it is important to write for the middle grade audience?
Because kids deserve to get lost in the pages of a book just as much as anyone else does, they deserve to see themselves, or kids just like them or their friends or their family, thriving and surviving and going on adventures and being sad and growing and learning and exploring, and falling in love or falling in crush or finding friends or learning how to handle losing friends, too. They deserve to win against the monsters or to learn how to cope when you lose. I think writing for kids is special, because it was as a middle grade reader that I first fell in love with reading and being able to lose myself in a book has always been so important to me.

What message do you have for librarians (and all educators)?
I talk a lot about book challenges and bannings, and I am trying to do what I can from my end, but I know how hard it is for the librarians on the ground level right now doing their best to keep getting these books into their readers’ hands. I respect your work and I see how hard you are all doing what you do—and I really hope you keep pushing and keep fighting for these kids the best you can. It used to be easier to ask that of librarians, and now it’s getting harder, because I know there’s more and more risks these days for them, too. But at the end of the day, I think about the kids first, the ones who need to see us fighting for them to have books with characters they relate to on the shelves. So, basically, my message is: Thank you for all that you are doing. I’m here fighting with you.

What message do you have for your readers?
To the kids (and adults) who pick up my books: I see you, and you are not alone. 

Additional titles by Nicole Melleby:

Middle Grade:

• Hurricane Season 
• In the Role of Brie Hutchens 
• How to Become a Planet
• The Science of Being Angry
• Winnie Nash is Not Your Sunshine| 
• Dressing Up a Jersey Girl

The House on Sunrise Lagoon Series:

• Sam Makes a Splashe
• Marina in the Middle
• Halfway to Harbor