We’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with Alex Gino, author of the magnificent Stonewall Award winning middle-grade novel GEORGE and asked them all about their anticipated new release RICK, their favorite books, and their bookish plans for the future!
Hi, Alex! Thanks so much for chatting with us! Do you mind telling us a bit about yourself?
Hi! Thanks for having me. I’m a children’s book writer and a storyteller from before I could write and would dictate stories to my parents. I’m 42 now, and Rick is my third published book. I’m originally from Staten Island, NY, but I live in Oakland, CA now, with my roommate and two black cats, Thunder and Lightning. Like a classic introvert, I love puzzles, quiet walks in nature, and witty conversations with small groups of friends.
If you had to describe your new novel RICK in five words, what would they be?
Funny, endearing, inter-generational, lively, and queer-as-heck.
I confess, RICK has become my favorite middle-grade novel of all time. How did his story come to be? Did you always know you wanted to write a companion novel to GEORGE?
Thanks for the compliment! People have been asking for a sequel to Melissa’s Story (a.k.a. GEORGE), since it came out, and while that’s a sign that they enjoyed the story, it would require a new plot for Melissa, which means more conflict, and I want the next few years of her life to be too smooth and, frankly, boring to make for a good book. But the character of Rick has intrigued me for a while. How does a basically okay guy like Rick become a bully’s best friend? And how does he get back out again? That story has intrigued me for years.
This is your third middle-grade release! What draws you to this genre in particular?
When I was around eight to twelve years old is when reading meant more to me than anything, and as I grew up, I still found myself re-reading THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH or SUPERFUDGE when I wanted to feel comforted. There’s part of me that’s very at-home in that age range, and it’s how I write naturally. I’ve tried a few picture books, and it’s gone badly, and I can’t imagine writing an adult novel – I barely enjoy reading most of them. YA? Maybe someday – I’ve got some angst to share. But for now? Middle grade has my heart.
Lightning round: What was the last book you read, song you heard, movie you watched?
I just finished American Street by Ibi Zoboi. Currently re-reading Birthday by Meredith Russo. Spotify says the last song I heard was Motor City Steel by the Dandy Warhols. And I don’t watch a lot of movies, but lately I’ve been watching the amazing and hilarious British show Taskmaster, available on YouTube.
You tackle quite a lot of important topics in RICK – adolescents’ exposure to bullies, the expectations parents have for their children (and vice versa) in terms of romantic engagement, and finding the right people you can be yourself around. Can you tell us more about your writing (and drafting) process?
I’m a “block of marble” writer, so I write a bunch of words to start from (the block) and then cut and sculpt until the story takes shape. Melissa’s Story took over 10 years and well over 100K words to write. (The final product is under 30K.) I’ve gotten better at planning, which has cut that down, but I definitely write in layers. My first draft is usually a rough idea and some basic character work. Then I make big structural changes as I make sense of what I want each part of the story to do. After that, it’s on to detail-tweaking.
My writing, like the writing of most marginalized people, is a dance between story arc and representation. Beyond the issue of whether our plots tell a good tale, we also need to look at what our stories say about our characters. Often, I’m so caught up in my story that it can be hard to see the representation. This is where I rely on my editor and other queer and trans early readers to critique my drafts and question when my writing choices seem to be a result of internalized cis/heteronormativity.
For example, an earlier version of Mr. Sydney, the new faculty advisor for the Rainbow Spectrum, bumbles through a conversation about the singular-they, complaining about being an English teacher. But when my editor, David Levithan, pointed out the importance of showing that adults can grow and pick up on these things, I knew that was what I wanted to model, and it made for one of my favorite moments in the book – where a teacher apologizes to a group of kids – something kids (and teachers) deserve to know is possible, but rarely see.
One of the focal points in RICK is that Rick has a friend (a certain someone readers may recognize if they’ve read GEORGE!) who is narrow-minded and limits Rick’s chances of figuring out who he is. Can you tell us a bit about Jeff and how it felt different to write about him in terms of how it affected Rick in comparison to Melissa?
One of the hardest parts of this book was writing Jeff as an enjoyable, if imperfect character. I tapped into my experiences with charismatic people and how it can be deceptively appealing to fall into what they say and do. I also focused on how people can be different one-on-one versus in a group. Jeff and Rick have genuine fun together, and when other kids aren’t around, it’s easy to forget the rest. It takes some time for Rick to realize that it matters that Jeff is a jerk, even if he isn’t a jerk to Rick.
Writing queer middle-grade stories has been a controversial topic (for our readers: GEORGE was the most banned and challenged book of 2018 because it features a transgender protagonist) but more and more authors like Kacen Callender, Nicole Melleby, and Ashley Herring Blake and of course you are paving the way for other writers and readers to feel more comfortable in their exploration of gender and sexual identity. What has your experience in the publishing industry been so far?
In some ways, the timing couldn’t have been better for me. When I started writing Melissa’s Story in 2003, I couldn’t have imagined it would be traditionally published. And it probably wouldn’t have been. But that gave me time to hone my craft and the story so that in 2014, when mainstream children’s literature was starting to see the gap, Melissa’s story was nearly in publishable state. My agent, Jenn Laughran, sent it out and we got an offer almost immediately. “A ten year overnight success,” as she says.
There are certainly people out in the world trying to keep queer books from kids, but within publishing, my experience has been quite positive. And I’m excited to see that more and more LGBTQIAP+ characters are being written by LGBTQIAP+ writers. Only a few years ago, the majority of trans middle grade characters were being written by cisgender women, but more people are now aware of the value of stories from within community. Which isn’t to say that cisgender people shouldn’t write trans characters, but that stories focused on experiences of being trans from cisgender perspectives tend to lack something.
In GEORGE, the protagonist is very secure in their feelings about their identity and who they are. In RICK, the protagonist questions their sexual identity and explores the asexuality spectrum. I know that I would have profited a lot from reading RICK when I was younger and confused about my sexuality. What you hope young readers will take away from your novels?
I hope readers will come away from my books feeling like it’s okay to be who they are, whether they have an exact understanding of a consistent, nameable identity like Melissa (rare) or whether they really don’t know and are in flux and may try on some identities temporarily, but with no obligation to keep them forever (a lot more common, especially for queer people.) I also hope unquestioningly cisgender, heterosexual readers will be open to letting other people name their identities, whether or not they are “expected”, and to allow them to change and develop along with the people using them.
With RICK releasing soon, what’s next for you?
Other than promoting RICK, I’ve been working on a few different projects. All middle grade, and two with themes of queer people in history. It’s important for young people to know both that we’ve always been here, and that while we’re in scary times in some ways, we have visibility and access that folks in the US didn’t have a hundred, fifty, or even twenty years ago. One involves Alice Austen, a real photographer from Staten Island who I learned in college was a lesbian. She even had a long-time partner named Gertrude. No, really. There’s a Staten Island Ferry named after her, and I wonder how many people who ride it know her queer photography.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers? Any books to look out for?
SHOW ME A SIGN by Ann Clare LeZotte may be my favorite middle grade book of the year, about a Deaf girl from the early 19th century thrust into the hearing world outside of her real-life signing-friendly community. REDWOOD AND PONYTAIL by K.A. Holt is a beautifully-executed dual-voice novel-in-verse about girl love between a cheerleader and a jock. THE OTHER (F) WORD, edited by Angie Manfredi is a powerful YA anthology of fat liberation. STARGAZING by Jen Wang is my latest favorite graphic novel, about friendship and wanting to be older but also wanting thing to stay safe. And perhaps my all-time favorite graphic novel, BINGO LOVE by Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, and Joy San, is about a pair of women who fall in love in the 60s and find each other again late in life. Also watch for BOYS IN THE BACK ROW by Mike Jung, out in October, for an adorably sweet tale of boy friendship.
You can find Alex on their website and Twitter.
