January 8, 2025 • 44 mins
“Life is a wheel and humanity has been through countless cycles of ups and downs. The things that seem so dire now won't be this dire forever. Eventually, there is an upswing. I always needed that reminder, and it made me think that my young readers need that reminder as well.” - Yamile Saied Mendez
With a storytelling style that radiates warmth and resilience, Yamile Saed Méndez’s work reflects the cycles of life’s challenges and triumphs. Born in Rosario, Argentina, in the midst and then long shadow of the Dictatorship years, she learned early on the power of hope and the enduring strength of the human spirit. From mastering a second language to embracing life in a new country, Yamile’s journey is one of transformation and connection to her roots.
Yamile is a bestselling author whose work spans children’s, young adult, and adult fiction. Her novel “Furia”–a 2021 Pura Belpré winner and a Reese’s YA Book Club selection–earned her widespread recognition for its powerful storytelling and cultural resonance. Her other books include “Shaking Up the House,” “On These Magic Shores,” “The Beautiful Game,” “Where Are You From?” and “What the Moon Saw.” With accolades such as the Cybils Award and the Américas Award, Yamile has established herself as a beloved voice in contemporary literature.
In this episode, Yamile reflects on the pivotal transitions that have shaped her life and work. She reflects on her experience as the eldest sister in a family facing constant scarcity of resources and on how her school life impacted her perspective on a young woman’s potential. Yamile shares how storytelling has grounded her through moments of turbulence and highlights how resilience has inspired the protagonists in her books.
***
Yamile’s reading challenge, Indomitable Characters, celebrates protagonists who embody resilience and remind us all of the inevitable upswing in life’s wheel.
Learn more and download Yamile’s recommended reading list at thereadingculturepod.com/yamile-saied-mendez
***
This episode's Beanstack Featured Librarian is, once again, Billy Allen, the Branch Manager of Whitney Library in Las Vegas's Clarke County Library District, aka 3KingVisions, on YouTube. And most recently, he is featured on season 9 of Queer Eye. Billy tells us about a unique incentive that motivated the kids at his library to crush their summer reading goals.
***
Connect with Jordan and The Reading Culture @thereadingculturepod and subscribe to our newsletter at thereadingculturepod.com/newsletter.
Show Chapters
Chapter 1 - Women of Argentina
Chapter 2 - Gibberish
Chapter 3 - The Angel’s Game
Chapter 4 - Full Stops
Chapter 5 - Indomitable Characters
Chapter 6 - Beanstack Featured Librarian
Links
- The Reading Culture
- The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup
- Yamile Mendez
- Yamile Mendez Instagram
- “The Angel’s Game” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- Monteiro Lobato
- Heidi
- María Elena Walsh
- Follow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)
- Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
- Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Producers: Mel Webb Wilkinson, Jackie Lamport, and Lower Street Media
Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Mel Webb Wilkinson, Jackie Lamport, Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Yamile Saied Mendez (00:04):
When I talk to fellow writers and creatives,
we always come to the conclusionthat those difficult times are
the ones in which we needstories the most because stories
connect us. When life feelsuncertain,
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:16):
we all search for something to help
guide us, a way to channel ourenergy and navigate the chaos.
Books can help us stay thecourse and help us remember that
there will be calm after thestorm.
Yamile Saied Mendez (00:29):
They help us, again process what is
happening, have a better outlookinto the world, and they remind
us that life is a wheel. Andhumanity has been through
countless cycles of, you know,ups and downs. The things that
seem so dire now won't be thisdire forever. Eventually, there
(00:49):
is an upswing. And so I alwaysneeded that reminder and it made
me think that my young readersneed that reminder as well.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:58):
Shamile Saeed Mendez is a best selling
author whose work spanschildren's, young adults, and
adult fiction. You may know herfrom her book, Furia, the 2021
Puerto Belpre winner and Arisa'sYou book club selection. Her
books have earned widespreadrecognition, including the
Cybill's award and the Americasaward. Born and raised in
(01:20):
Rosario, Argentina, yes, alsothe hometown of beloved soccer
player Lionel Messi, or should Isay football player, and now
living with her husband and 5children in Utah, Shamile's
journey as a writer has beenlargely shaped by her own
experiences at important momentsof transition. In this episode,
(01:42):
Shamile reflects on the role ofstorytelling during these
pivotal moments.
From her early years under abrutal dictatorship to the
learning curve of writing in asecond language, she shares how
her personal life transitions,both big and small, have
influenced her work andconnected her to readers
navigating their own moments ofchange. She also tells us about
(02:04):
how she cried as an adult whenher husband gave her the
Christmas gift she had given upas a child. My name is Jordan
Lloyd Bookey, and this is TheReading Culture, a show where we
speak with diverse authors aboutways to build a stronger culture
of reading in our communities.We dive deep into their personal
experiences and inspirations.Our show is made possible by
(02:25):
Beanstack, the leading solutionfor motivating students to read
more.
Learn more at beanstack.com. Andmake sure to check us out on
Instagram at the reading culturepod and subscribe to our
newsletter for bonus content atthe reading culture pod dot com
forward slash newsletter.Alright. Onto the show. Hey,
(02:51):
listeners.
Are Are you looking for a fun,easy way to track your reading
and earn cool rewards? Well,meet Beanstack, the ultimate
reading app used by a communityof over 15,000 schools,
libraries, and organizationsnationwide. Are you an avid
reader? Check with your locallibrary to see if they offer
Beanstack for free. A parent?
(03:13):
Ask your child's teacher if theschool library already uses
Beanstack. And if you are aneducator searching for a fresh
alternative to acceleratedreader, Beanstack is the perfect
tool to cultivate a thrivingreading culture. Ready to turn
the page? Visit beanstack.com tolearn more. Let's talk a little
(03:37):
bit about what life was like inthose in those early in your
some of your earliest memoriesthere and what your household
and and all that was like.
Yamile Saied Mendez (03:44):
Yes. So, I had a really happy childhood.
I'm the oldest of 4 siblings,but we're very close in age. And
so we were all really little,but I felt already so much older
than my siblings. And my liferevolved around books because
that was my obsession.
I was a very early reader. Ialways say that perhaps my mom
(04:07):
encouraged my reading because itkept me occupied, and then it
helped keep my little siblingsoccupied because I would read to
them all
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:15):
the time.
Yamile Saied Mendez (04:15):
Everything that I read, I would distill it
and then tell it to them or readmy books to them. And we spent a
lot of time at the soccer fieldsbecause my 2 brothers played
soccer for the local club. Soall of our weekends were spent
at the fields. Of course, mysister and I didn't play. Back
in those olden days, girlsdidn't play soccer in Argentina.
(04:38):
And so with the other sisters orthe younger siblings of my
brother's teammates, we wouldplay in the unoccupied fields
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:46):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (04:46):
Or makeup games. So I'm a child of the
nineties, so always outside.Yeah. My mom worked, and so my
siblings and I were alwaysoutside, although we grew up in
an apartment, but there werefields and a lot of empty space
around our neighborhood. And soit was a very idyllic, I will
(05:06):
say now looking backwards,because back in those days on
TV, we had only the 2 channels,and it was a very limited, you
know, variety of things towatch.
So one of my very favoritethings to watch on TV was the
cartoon of the book Heidi, whichHeidi had been the first book
that I read on my own. So itimmediately became my favorite.
(05:28):
And it's funny how it happensbecause even though it is the
first book that I read on myown, and I had other books that
I read that made, I would say, abigger impact in my life. When I
go back and look at the story,Severin, I can see a lot of
Heidi in different stories.Like, in The Beautiful Game, the
relationship with the grampygrandpa.
(05:49):
You know? And Yeah. And then Ialways have to have a pet. I
don't
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:53):
feel like I remember the story of Heidi.
It's like I can picture it. Ican picture the story, but I
don't so she lived with hergrandfather as well?
Yamile Saied Mendez (06:00):
So she was a girl from the Swiss Alps.
Nothing in common with me fromthe Argentine Pampas. I had
never seen the mountain until Imoved to Utah. She becomes an
orphan, and her aunt, who's incharge of her, takes her to live
with her grandpa in themountain. And everybody's super
scared of the old man in themountain, and then Heidi is just
(06:22):
outside all day with the goatand her friend, Peter.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (06:25):
Shamili's childhood had its fair share of
play and joy, but it was alsomarked by a heavy dose of
responsibility.
Yamile Saied Mendez (06:33):
My mom was a house keeper at somebody's
house and a nanny. I was the 2ndmom. My sister and I, she's 3
years younger than me. She's the3rd child of the family. And we
always joke that we were, youknow, housemakers at 11 years
old, because we cooked and wecleaned and we got ourselves to
school, but our mom I don't knowhow parents did it back in the
(06:55):
olden days, but we were soobedient because we never missed
school.
Although there was nobody thereto send us off and make sure
sure we were on time, and thatour uniforms were in order. So
but I was very much like asecond mom to my siblings. But
at the same time, I had abeautiful relationship with my
mom and a lot of respect becauseshe was working so that we could
(07:18):
go to school and have aneducation and a better life.
Yeah.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:22):
Did you have to pay to go to school in
Rosario? There was like, whatwas the was it public or private
kind of education?
Yamile Saied Mendez (07:28):
So public school in Argentina is wonderful
all the way up to college. Welived in a more humble
neighborhood, so our publicschool wasn't very safe. And so
my mom sent me to a privateschool. It was Catholic, all
girls school, and my brotherswent to the equivalent boys
school. It wasn't expensive,though.
(07:49):
Sometimes when people from theUS hear private school, they
imagine it's super exclusive.You know, it was very economical
for American standards. But, youknow, it provided me a better
education, and I always feellike that was the greatest gift
that my mom could give to mebecause being surrounded by
girls, I never got the messagethat girls weren't supposed to
(08:09):
be good at math or science, andI excelled in those subjects. I
loved math. I went to the MathOlympics to Oh, yeah.
The national level.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:18):
Really?
Yamile Saied Mendez (08:19):
Yes. And my friends from all the way from
3rd grade to 12, they're stillsome of my best friends to this
day, and we talk at leastweekly. Wow. And so those were
relationships that reallychanged the course of my life.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:34):
I was wondering about strong girls,
strong young women. Is that'ssuch an important just recurring
theme. And from your shortstories to your middle grade now
to, you know, young adult, allthese books, and I just
wondered, like, if you alwayswere sort of questioning a
system or messages that came toyou. But it sort of sounds like
maybe, no, maybe you actuallyjust didn't maybe those messages
(08:56):
actually weren't communicatedbesides on the soccer pitch,
Yamile Saied Mendez (08:59):
I guess. Argentina has a very rich
heritage of women leading thecountry. Like, we've had 2 women
presidents and even Eva Peron,who is this cultural icon. She
wasn't the president. She wasthe first lady, but she had more
power than her husband, thepresident, back in the 19
sixties.
(09:19):
And all my teachers were women,and a lot of the authorities in
my life were women. My mom was avery strong presence in my life.
But at the same time, there wereenvironments in which that
wasn't the case, like, on thesoccer pitch even though it was
women administering the localclub where my brothers played.
(09:41):
And so there was that dichotomyright there, you know, that
there were some aspects of thegame that the girls were not
welcomed in. And although insome aspects, they were because
there were girls that playedsoccer, but there was a bad
association, you know, to them,like a bad image.
(10:01):
They were the tomboys or therebels of society.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:05):
Mhmm. Other names you don't wanna say?
You're right.
Yamile Saied Mendez (10:08):
Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:09):
Yes. We'll use our imaginations. I know. I
was a child in the eighties. Soyeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (10:13):
Right? And so, you know, it's not that my
mom didn't let me play becauseshe was this horrible,
oppressive person, but just, youknow, she knew that there was no
future for me in that. So sheencouraged my reading, my
writing, my education. I went toEnglish classes. Like, some kids
in the US would go to piano orsinging.
I went to English twice a weekwith my sister. And so she
(10:36):
encouraged more of that. Butthat image of the strong girl
and women was very present allmy life. And so that's why it
comes very naturally
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:47):
to me. So interesting and really, really
shows up in your work. You know?Okay. So speaking of learning
English at a young age, I wantedto know what the experience was
like for you and your sister.
I've heard that it was not allserious all the time.
Yamile Saied Mendez (11:00):
Yes. So my sister and I made up this big
Latin, and we pretend that itwas English. And my mom, you
know, it always crack up. Andfinally, she sent us to English
classes. My sister didn'tcontinue.
She got bored, but I lovedlearning English. And back in
those days, because Argentinahad just come out of a
dictatorship and a war withEngland, a lot of things were
(11:22):
censored, and a lot of mediathat was originally in English
was all translated into Spanish.Mhmm. And so I just had this
fascination with English, maybebecause it was so forbidden and
so different. I went to English,and the classes weren't moving
as fast as I wanted to.
You know? And so my dad broughtme once an English Spanish
(11:46):
dictionary, and I taught myselfa lot of English with the help
of the dictionary. And it had
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (11:52):
Wow.
Yamile Saied Mendez (11:53):
A phonetic guide on how to pronounce
things, but that was a doubleedged sword because I learned
how to pronounce things, youknow, like, how I English
doesn't make sense. Right. Therules change all the time. Yeah.
That's correct.
So it wasn't until I was incollege that my roommates taught
me that I wasn't really tired. Iwas tired. Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:16):
Were you a writer?
Yamile Saied Mendez (12:17):
Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:17):
Was that sort of something where you were
journaling or writing stories?Was that a part of your
childhood?
Yamile Saied Mendez (12:22):
I started writing my own stories when I
was about 7.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:25):
Oh, okay.
Yamile Saied Mendez (12:26):
And they were always sad and tragic. The
first one that I have, BenMaria, was, like, a princess
whose grandfather had died, andmy grandpa had just died. So,
you know, like, it kind ofexplains my pattern of filtering
life or processing life throughwriting. Right? That's something
that I've always done.
A lot of the things that I wrotegrowing up were just what we
(12:48):
would call fan fiction now. Youknow? Yeah. Like, more Heidi fan
fiction. Yeah.
There was a series by aBrazilian author that I loved.
It was the adventures of littlenose and and her cousin. And
although there is this rivalryin soccer because of, you know,
with Brazil, I learned to I wasobsessed with Brazil as a child
(13:10):
because of this series. Theauthor is Monteiro Lobato, who
wrote a lot of the classics, inthe children's classics in
Brazil. Yeah.
A lot of the other things thatI've read growing up were books
by Argentine authors. Argentinahas a very rich tradition of
literature, and people knowBorges, but he's not the only
one. Marie Elena Walsh, she'sthe one who wrote pretty much
(13:33):
all the nursery songs thatArgentine children sing to this
day. She won very prestigiousawards like the Astrid Lindgren
Award in the seventies.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (13:43):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (13:43):
As far as I know, she's never been
translated into English, butthat's everything that I've read
growing up. And so I from anearly age, I knew that stories
had that power to show you newworlds and teach you things that
you hadn't even imagined werepossible. And you can get an
appreciation and a love fordifferent cultures just, you
(14:03):
know, through stories.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (14:05):
Yeah. I love that. And it sounds like
all the books that you grew upreading, like Marjalena Walsh
and so on, really obviouslyshaped your love for
storytelling or, you know,reading stories. So I'm curious
how you shifted or if you alwaysknew that you wanted to tell
your own stories and, like, howyou turn to being a writer
yourself.
Yamile Saied Mendez (14:23):
That's usually what happens after I
read and read and read. I hadthis desire to tell my own
stories, but I didn't have acommunity of writers in Spanish.
I didn't have anybody that Icould exchange pages with or
talk about writing. But therewas a very robust community of
aspiring writers in Utah, whereI lived, where I had moved. And
(14:46):
so I started going to a writer'sgroup every week.
And at the time, I had an ideafor a girl who wants to become a
professional soccer player fromRosario, and that book ended up
becoming my book, Furia, thatwouldn't come out until 2020.
And this was 2,006 when Istarted writing. Wow. And so
(15:09):
sometimes when people ask me,why did you write it in English
originally? And I always saybecause I was learning how to
become a writer.
Mhmm. And I needed that supportnetwork of a community. And back
in those days, there wasn'tsocial media still in 2006 that
I could find a Spanish speakingcommunity. I do have that now.
(15:30):
Even in person in Utah, I ampart of this wonderful community
of authors who are writing inSpanish.
But more than the language, it'sa group of other people who
share the experience of beingimmigrants in a country, writing
in a language that is not ourmother tongue. And sharing our
experiences vary depending onwhere we're from and what
(15:52):
situation in life we're in rightnow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (15:55):
Did you process that transition through
writing? Do you see that in anyof the writing that you did at
that time?
Yamile Saied Mendez (16:02):
Yes. Perhaps not necessarily in
Furia, but there is a shortstory in an anthology called
Come On In. And my short story,Family Above Everything, perhaps
that is the mostautobiographical story that I've
ever written because it is abouta girl leaving her family to go
to college and and having the,you know, the excitement and
(16:23):
being happy to be able to dothat, but at the same time,
feeling torn for leaving herfamily behind and not knowing
when she will see them again.And that was all completely
taken out from my experience.And, you know, it's not
something that I process rightaway because I wrote that short
story, I will say, in 2019,perhaps.
(16:44):
But, those are feelings thatwere simmering inside me. And
until I put them down on thatstory, I didn't realize, you
know, that I had been keepingthem inside me for all that
time.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (16:56):
Although Shamile was inspired by many
incredible authors from a youngage, growing up in Argentina in
the 19 seventies eighties meantthere were limits on what books
were Yes. Sort of how youdescribed it because you're you
were sort of like coming intoprobably what you really
(17:17):
remember as it was coming to aclose. And like you said, it
probably took, I don't know,perhaps we're about to see in
this country.
Yamile Saied Mendez (17:24):
Well, and that's the thing. Yeah. It's
been almost 50 years since thebeginning of the dictatorship.
It started in in 1976, and stillthe country is struggling with a
lot of things that stem fromthat. Growing up, although I
started school already duringthe democracy, it took a long
time for democracy to trickledown to school.
(17:48):
And so during the dictatorship,so many authors were banned, and
a lot of authors had to theywere exiled
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (17:56):
Mhmm.
Yamile Saied Mendez (17:56):
From Argentina. Alma Maritano, Marie
Elena Walsh were 2 authors whohad to either stop writing or
move to another country.Madeline Laroche lived in France
and in Europe for many, manyyears just to be safe. And so
the books that we used to learnhow to read and write were these
primers that had abstracts orexcerpts of stories. And
(18:20):
sometimes I would get soimmersed in the story, and I
didn't I never even knew how itended or who had written it or
what the title was of thatpiece.
And then later on as an adult, Iwas able to put all this
information together. I knowthat a lot of the books that and
stories that I love belong toAlma Maritano or Laura Devetach,
(18:41):
who was the daughter of Russianimmigrants. And they wrote about
everyday things. But for thegovernment, there were dangerous
topics because they talked aboutfreedom and the right to read
and write, and those were allthings that were threatening for
the government.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (18:58):
So they would take small parts of their,
like, excerpts of their work sothat you didn't get the full
message, but you loved theselittle pieces of them.
Yamile Saied Mendez (19:05):
Yes. And so a lot of the things that I wrote
at that age were kind of likefinishing the story that I got a
glimpse of.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (19:15):
That's so fascinating. I've never, I've
never heard a story like that,you know, on the show. I think
it's so interesting because, youknow, from an American
perspective, a US perspective, Ithink of Argentina is really
looming large and our collectiveimagination of what, you know,
what life was like during thosedictatorships. I'm thinking of,
(19:35):
like, the, you know, madres ofthe Plaza de Mayo and so on.
And, you know, it just occurs tome that during your own
childhood and your own coming ofage, and when you're kind of
beginning to conceive ofyourself maybe as a writer, you
know, it was actually adangerous time to be a writer in
Argentina.
You know? I mean, authors werephysically exiled or
Yamile Saied Mendez (19:57):
The unlucky ones were disappeared. Right.
There's an author who wrote thisincredible science fiction
novel, El Edermauta, the Ed orNot. And I I bring it up because
Netflix is doing a series that'scoming out next year.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:10):
Oh,
Yamile Saied Mendez (20:10):
cool. And he was disappeared along with 4
daughters, 2 sons in law, 2grandchildren, and there are
some of the 30,000 people thatwere disappeared that, to this
day, we know nothing of.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:25):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (20:26):
And so that is part of the cultural trauma
that has affected me in my life,even though nobody in my family
was a victim directly. But inour society, it's such a big
wound that, of course, itaffected how I think about
story, how I think about writersand teachers and librarians who
(20:47):
were so brave to still sharethese stories even if they had
to photocopy them or tell themorally until they became part of
the myth Yeah. Of our country.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (21:01):
You must have a very like, a broader lens
in a way for what's happeningright now around book bans in
this country.
Yamile Saied Mendez (21:08):
Yeah.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (21:09):
Because it's like I think you are
descended from people who havereally lived and experienced,
and you have, like you said,this sort of, like, inherited
trauma that you have seen arethe real extreme of the extreme.
I think it's the extreme of whatit could be. Right? Yes.
Yamile Saied Mendez (21:24):
But I feel like sometimes we feel like
those stories are so foreign tous. Okay. It happens in another
country. Yeah. It happened halfa century ago.
But democracy is so fragile, andwe do have to protect it in
every generation because it's soeasy to forget that those rights
were very difficult to attain.Mhmm. And so, yes, I am very
(21:48):
involved with Authors AgainstBook Bans, which is a national
organization that createsawareness of the book banning
that is happening in the countryright now in the US. And in
Argentina, there's also bookbanning starting Yeah. Again
Yeah.
Which seemed like something thatwe had agreed on, that would
never happen again. We saidnuncamas. Yeah. And it is
(22:09):
happening.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:10):
Yeah. Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (22:15):
A writer never forgets the first time he
accepted a few coins or a wordof praise in exchange for a
story. He will never forget thesweet poison of vanity in his
blood and the belief that if hesucceeds in not letting anyone
discover his lack of talent, thedream of literature will provide
(22:36):
him with a roof over his head, ahot meal at the end of the day,
and what he covets the most, hisname printed on a miserable
piece of paper that surely willoutlive him. A writer is
condemned to remember thatmoment because from then on, he
is doomed and his soul has aprize.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:59):
That passage, which is a little
darker than many on this show,comes from The Angel's Game by
Carlos Ruiz Saffon, firstpublished in Spanish in 2008 and
later translated into English.It captures the moment a writer
crosses a threshold from writingfor passion to writing for
publication and how thatexchange marks them forever.
(23:23):
Whether it's for a few coins ora few words of praise, that
moment holds weight. Shmilaknows this feeling, and she's
had moments like that of herown.
Yamile Saied Mendez (23:33):
I loved it so much because this story is
about a writer
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:37):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (23:37):
And how he struggles to get his name on the
cover of a book. And it reallyresonated with me because I had
started writing. I had receiveda few words of praise that, yes,
your writing voice is verystrong and and powerful. And so
I had my incentive to keeppursuing this dream that seemed
(23:58):
so unreachable and and far away,but eventually became a reality.
We writers, we all put a priceto our soul.
Because it is a little bit ofour soul that we're sharing.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (24:11):
You have had a couple of, like, these big
partnerships. It was Reese'sBook Club, right? Do you feel
like it changed your approach towriting? Or oftentimes, people
talk about they win the Newbery.It's like, oh, god.
I hope you have the next onelined up because it can be
stressful or whatever. Like, soI just wonder with that it was,
like, probably a pretty bigtransition point in your writing
(24:32):
career.
Yamile Saied Mendez (24:33):
Absolutely. Especially because that book,
Furia, that was part of theReese Book Club and then won the
Pura Belpre award, and it's beentranslated into a lot of
languages, gave me theopportunity to reach an audience
that I, that, to me, seemedunreachable. That book came out
in 2020 again. During the worstof the pandemic, my book tour
(24:54):
was canceled, and I was feeling,oh my gosh, this book's gonna go
nowhere. And then this happened,which was incredible, but it
does put this pressure on aperson's shoulders when you have
to write.
Because when you're activelydrafting, you cannot be thinking
about your editor or the publicor for this new book to achieve
(25:17):
the same Notoriety or whatever.Thresholds. It has to be its own
theme, but it is very difficultto leave all those things
on-site and just write thestory. But I am grateful because
being part of the ReeseWitherspoon Book Club also gave
me, again, for me, community isvery important. It gave me this
sisterhood of the otherWitherspoon writers.
(25:40):
And we have a group together. Weplan retreats or we exchange
advice, and we cheer each otheron, or boost our covers when
they're revealed, or we go toeach other's tour stops. So it
gave me also this wonderfulcommunity and this incredible
support network. And so, it'sbeen fantastic.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (26:03):
I was thinking about how, Furia did
come out. It came out during thepandemic. And that was just like
this, you know, national momentof great uncertainty for us as,
like, a global community. Youknow? And then in so many ways,
there was just, like, a lot ofuncertainty.
And I think it's, in a way,it's, like, on brand, I guess,
(26:25):
for you because a lot of yourwriting really a lot of your
stories, I should say, reallycenter around these moments,
these moments of uncertainties,moments of change in a you know,
especially in a young woman'slife. What are your thoughts
about, you know, sort of writingthrough those moments and that
the, like, importance of those,like, hinge moments, I guess, in
(26:47):
your writing?
Yamile Saied Mendez (26:48):
I think about that a lot too because
also, you know, usually, yes, wego through these difficult
moments, like, for the pandemic,specifically as a community
worldwide. But, personally,individually, everybody was
going through such difficulttimes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (27:03):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (27:04):
And in like, in my family, we lost 2
grandparents in the space of 5months, and so many other people
went through similar situations.And and just the isolation, and
for me not being able to go backand visit my my siblings for a
long time, that really took atoll on me. And the things that
I turned to to make sense of theworld or or what was happening
(27:28):
or to entertain myself, to takemy mind away from that were
stories that other people hadwritten and also the stories
that came to my mind duringthose during those times. And so
I won't lie and say that throughthose difficult times, sometimes
I wondered, what what am Idoing? Like, is this even
important?
I'm just writing my littlestories in my room, and the
(27:50):
world is falling apart. But whenI talk to fellow writers and
creatives, we always come to theconclusion that those difficult
times are the ones in which weneed stories the most because
stories connect us. They helpus, again, process what is
happening, have a better outlookinto the world. And they remind
us that life is the wheel, andhumanity has been through
(28:13):
countless cycles of, you know,ups and downs. The things that
seem so dire now won't be thisdire forever.
Eventually, there is an upswing.And so I always needed that
reminder, and it made me thinkthat my young readers need that
reminder as well.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:31):
They do. I think that's harder for young
people to
Yamile Saied Mendez (28:35):
Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:35):
It's hard for all of us, to be honest, to
see that, like, long arc thatyou're or, you know, cycle. Yes.
It's hard for anybody reallywhen you're in it. But I think
especially for like teens andtweens, it's, it is very hard to
see that to pull back, you know?
Yamile Saied Mendez (28:50):
Yes. And during those difficult times,
there is that natural feeling ofloneliness. It feels like we're
the only people going through aspecific situation. But when we
read or when we share a story,we realize that we're not alone,
that other people have gonethrough it even if just getting
your period while wearing whitepants. You know?
Other people went through it,and they survived. And you're
(29:13):
gonna survive too, and you'regonna be okay. And if you
haven't gone through thatsituation, it can give you more
empathy and compassion forpeople who do. So, again, it
opens your eyes and your heartfor other perspectives that are
different from your own. And inthe end, that is why stories are
so powerful to connect us toeach other Yeah.
(29:34):
Because they help us see theworld from a different point of
view.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (29:38):
You know, I agree with that. And I'm sure
you've, like, personally had alot of readers connect with your
books. I was just wanting tohear if you have any stories of
how you've really seen theimpact on a reader or readers
that you can share.
Yamile Saied Mendez (29:51):
Yes. I was just at the Austin Book Festival
last weekend, and it's always afantastic event. I love it. And
I was presenting at this paneltalking about Power for Girls
and how the festival wasorganized. There were kids from
6th 7th grade who wereintroducing the authors and our
(30:11):
stories.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:12):
Oh, I love it.
Yamile Saied Mendez (30:13):
And the the child that introduced my my book
was a girl, and she introducesmy character, Valedi, and says,
and she plays in an all boy teamand gets her period during this
super important game. And thenshe paused and said and looks at
the audience and says, and Iknow what that feels like
because I've been the only girlin an all voice team for a long
(30:34):
time. And it was just a simplestatement, but good friend of
mine was in the audience. So shewas in tears, and later she told
me, do you understand the impactthat that story had on that one
child, that she could see hersituation reflected in a book?
And perhaps Valeria and thisgirl have very different
(30:56):
backgrounds and challenges andand families, but they have that
in common.
So this girl saw herself in thestory at this certain point, and
that makes it all worth it.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (31:07):
So special. I love that. And I just like the
idea of being there. And I thinkit's, like, there's so much of
these moments, like, thesepivotal changes in young
people's lives. You know,there's, like, so much
complexity of emotion.
And I think your books reallylike, they capture that
complexity. What do you draw on,you know, to show that? What are
(31:29):
you drawing from to reallyrepresent that emotional
complexity? From observation. SoI've been lucky that
Yamile Saied Mendez (31:36):
I get to watch my children go through
these spirits in life, whichreminds me of my experience
going through these difficulttimes in life and and having all
these emotions. So I rememberwhat it's like to be 11 years
old, and I go back to thatplace. And I and I feel like
that's why I love writing formiddle grade because I feel a
little bit of my soul got stuckin those in that time period.
(31:59):
Perhaps because I was such anavid reader, I was a thoughtful
child, and I remember thethoughts and the feelings that I
had going through puberty orwatching how my experience was
different from that of myclassmates or or even my sister.
My sister was very, very youngwhen she got her first period.
It was such a differentexperience. And and I remember
(32:23):
everything, all the emotions.And I feel like as it is for a
lot of older sisters. Right? Ifelt so mature for my age.
And now looking I was 11. I wasa little kid.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:35):
And Right.
Yamile Saied Mendez (32:36):
Right? And then it's that moment that I was
I still wanted to play, youknow, jump rope with my friends
or run or go swimming, but thenthere is this all these other
things to take into theconsideration when you're and
also, like, my family was poor.You're growing up and your mom
can't keep up with buying, youknow, clothes. I will fit you.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:57):
Oh my god.
Yamile Saied Mendez (32:58):
Yeah. You know? That was and there's
nothing you can do to stopyourself from growing. You want
to grow up. And so there were alot of bittersweet moments, and
and I remember them like theyhappened yesterday.
So I feel like that's why I'mable to tap back into them and
then give them to my characters.Bless their hearts.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (33:19):
You know, one of the, the bittersweet
moments that I I think I readabout was, like, the story about
your younger brother, whoeveryone loved, and a a story
from Christmas time, like a agift that you bought him. Would
you would you mind telling usthat story?
Yamile Saied Mendez (33:36):
When he was about 7, the country was going
through a really difficult timeand, my parents always had
precarious jobs. My dad was ataxi driver. My mom was, you
know, a nanny and a housekeeperfor a rich family, and a lot of
the money that they earned wentfor for our education, you know,
and our daily living expenses.But it was Christmas time and we
(33:58):
older children knew that therewould be no money for presents.
But my little brother wanted abike.
And it was the only thing he'sever really wanted other than a
soccer ball. Because all hislife, he always received soccer
balls or soccer jerseys orsoccer cleats, you know? He
wanted a bike. And so we told mymom, I I don't even remember
(34:21):
that conversation but it wasvery clear that we would be okay
if he was the one that got thebike. So on Christmas night,
because in Argentina Noel orSanta Claus comes at night.
On 24th, right at midnight,people usually go outside to
watch the fireworks and then youcome back inside and there are
presents under the tree. And sothere were little letters for
(34:43):
for all of us, but there was abike for my brother and we were
all so happy. We were alldelighted and the next day, in
front of my of our buildingthere was this huge parking,
place and I remember his littlefriends taking turns to push
him, to teach him how to ride abike because he was 7, he didn't
(35:05):
know how to ride 1. And and mystudents and I, like, even to
this day, we're all in ourforties. There's no resentment.
That's one of our happiestmemories because he was happy.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (35:15):
No. That's a story. I just love it. And it
says so much about your life andvalues and no bike, but a
beautiful story.
Yamile Saied Mendez (35:23):
And I did get a bike as an adult. My
husband gave me a bike when Ithink the year that I turned 30,
he He surprised me with onebecause he knew the story. And I
was so emotional. And I I was ifhe was 7, I was 12. That little
12 year old, you know, I ofcourse, I wanted a bike too, you
know, but I knew better than toask because I knew my mom
(35:44):
couldn't buy one for each one ofus.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (35:48):
You've gotta be kidding me. That's,
like, the best story. I had noidea that he did that. Oh, how
beautiful. And so interestingyou bring up your mom because
the other the other question, Iwanted to ask you about is so
there's this quote from that Iwrote down here, and it just it
really it stopped me in mytracks the first time I read it,
and it did again when I read itthis time, and it reads as
(36:10):
follows.
I smiled and ran to the field tosing the wordless song of the
captive women who roared in myblood. My ancestresses had been
waiting to sing for generations.I was their medium. And I
wonder, like, thinking to yourmom and these stories and, you
(36:33):
know, who do you view yourselfas a medium for? Like, do you
view yourself in the way thatCamila did?
And if you could speak to that alittle.
Yamile Saied Mendez (36:43):
I always say that it's my name on the
cover of the book or the books,but it's also I got here through
the sacrifice and the work andthe effort and the hope of my
mom, who only had a 10th gradeeducation. But she loved books
and stories. And she wrote allher life, and I was able to go
(37:04):
through her journals andbeautiful writing and be
inspired by her beautifulwriting. But she, for her name,
has never been on the cover of abook. And my grandmothers, whom
were very young moms and alsoseemingly didn't have a voice,
but I come from them.
And as well as my greatgrandmothers, recently, I was
going through some ancestryrecords, and I found the records
(37:28):
of my great great grandma whocame from Yugoslavia. And her
name was Elena, and she died atage 43 in childbirth for her
11th child in 9 years. And I wastelling my children, we know her
name. When she was born, where,when she died, where, and I can
(37:49):
only imagine the struggles thatshe went through in her life.
And I I also want to imagine thelove and happiness that she
experienced, but I don't knowthat.
I she didn't leave anythingwritten. Right? Yeah. So I can't
know from her. But I hope I hopethat what I'm doing is giving
voice to all these women thatcame before me that didn't have
(38:10):
the chance to have an educationor write books because they were
busy moms or there were otherthings that they were doing.
But without them, I wouldn't behere today.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (38:26):
Much like she has navigated many of life's
challenges with unwaveringspirit, Shamile's reading
challenge celebratesprotagonists who exemplify
similar resilience.
Yamile Saied Mendez (38:36):
Okay. Indomitable characters. That's
how I titled my challenge.Because what all these books
have in common that I havechosen, they're mostly middle
grade. They have unforgettablecharacters that go through
difficult challenges toaccomplish the things that they
set out to do at the beginningof the book.
My book that I would include andI was that I kept in mind that I
(38:58):
would go along with thischallenge is The Beautiful Game.
Lupe Won Won't Dance, itfeatures a girl who plays
baseball, but that is such asmall aspect of the book. I feel
like Donna Barbayera does such awonderful job at writing this
spunky girl characters that areso endearing and funny, but so
full of heart as well. Grow Up,Luci Zapata is by another
(39:22):
Latina, Alexandra Alexandre. AndLuci Zapata goes to Colombia,
and then when she comes back sheher friendship fell apart, her
friendship with a teammate.
Isabelle in Bloom, my myRespicio, features a character
who goes to the Philippines andgets in touch with her extended
family and the culture of herfamily. And there is one book
(39:45):
that is a little bit differentfrom the rest, which is Ultra
Violet because the maincharacter is a boy. It's by Aida
Salazar, who also wrote The MoonWithin, which is on the list.
And Aida does an amazing job atportraying these characters
going through puberty.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (40:04):
You can find Shamile's reading challenge
and all past reading challengesat the reading culture pod.com.
And this episode's Beanstackfeatured librarian is once again
Billy Allen, branch manager ofWhitney Library in Las Vegas
Clark County Library District.He is also 3 King Visions on
(40:26):
YouTube, and more recently, hewas featured on season 9 of
Queer Eye. Congratulationsagain, Billy. Mister Billy, this
time, tells us about a uniqueincentive that got the kids at
his library to crush theirsummer reading goals.
Billy Allen (40:42):
So I'll tell you something cool. So we did it 2
years in a row. So for thesummer reading challenge, of
course, courtesy of Beanstack.So I this is so funny. This is
so funny.
So I'm like, look. We need tofigure out a creative way to get
more kids before they leaveschool and during the summer to
register a beanstalk to completethe summer reading challenge. So
one of my staff members said,Billy, I got an idea. I said,
(41:05):
what is that? We're gonna getyou slimed.
I said, oh, really? I said,let's do this. So we started
brainstorming. I said, we'regonna do a slime challenge. So
last summer, we set a goal of300 completions at my library of
completing the summer readingchallenge, and we had my
assistant branch manager and oneof my librarians.
(41:27):
So at 75 completions, it had aface oh, I'm gonna send you a
picture of this in the email ofthe the meter. So we had a
meters throughout the wholelibrary. So throughout the whole
summer, when kids and adults arecompleting their summer reading
channels, logging in the beanstack, the meter goes up. So you
see my librarian's face, myassistant branch manager, and my
face on the meter. So people arelike, the kids are coming in
(41:50):
like, I'm gonna get you slide.
And last summer, they surpassedthe goals. We had over 575
completions. So I got slide
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (42:01):
At your library?
Billy Allen (42:03):
At my library.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (42:04):
Wow.
Billy Allen (42:04):
I got slide Nickelodeon style on my stage,
the real slide. My team made it.And what happened this year, I'm
all about just sharing thesetype of ideas with my
colleagues. So I had 5 otherlibraries in my library
district. We made it a districtwide slime challenge where we
were doing Instagram reels andchallenges like, hey Robbie,
what you have with your summerreading, page?
(42:27):
And what happens is we got thecommunity excited. The news
picked it up. Everybody like,wow. I wanna see you get slimed.
So the beanstalk stats are goingthrough the roof.
So this year in August for ourback to school fair, we gave out
over 500 backpacks. We gave outover 43 haircuts in my library.
(42:47):
We had different vendors andpartners provide resources for
the community. And at the end,they saw my executive director.
We got Kelvin Watson slimed.
We got a Kelvin slimed, mylibrary operations director,
myself, and several othermembers of my staff. That's
engagement of the community, andwe're gonna present that in ALA
(43:07):
next year.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (43:12):
This has been The Reading Culture, and
you've been listening to myconversation with Shamile Saeed
Mendez. Again, I'm your host,Jordan Lloyd Bookie. And
currently, I'm reading The Womenby Kristen Hannah and Will's
Race for Home by Jewell ParkerRhodes. If you've enjoyed
today's episode, please showsome love and give us a 5 star
review. It only takes a fewseconds, and it actually helps
(43:36):
the show, so please do it.
This episode was produced byJackie Lamport, Mel Webb
Wilkinson, and Lower StreetMedia, and script edited by
Josiah Lumberto Egan. To learnmore about how you can help grow
your community's readingculture, please check out all of
our resources at beanstack.com.And remember to sign up for our
(43:56):
newsletter at the readingculture
pod.comforward/newsletter forspecial offers and bonus
content. Thanks for listeningand keep reading.
When I talk to fellow writers and creatives,
we always come to the conclusionthat those difficult times are
the ones in which we needstories the most because stories
connect us. When life feelsuncertain,
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:16):
we all search for something to help
guide us, a way to channel ourenergy and navigate the chaos.
Books can help us stay thecourse and help us remember that
there will be calm after thestorm.
Yamile Saied Mendez (00:29):
They help us, again process what is
happening, have a better outlookinto the world, and they remind
us that life is a wheel. Andhumanity has been through
countless cycles of, you know,ups and downs. The things that
seem so dire now won't be thisdire forever. Eventually, there
(00:49):
is an upswing. And so I alwaysneeded that reminder and it made
me think that my young readersneed that reminder as well.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:58):
Shamile Saeed Mendez is a best selling
author whose work spanschildren's, young adults, and
adult fiction. You may know herfrom her book, Furia, the 2021
Puerto Belpre winner and Arisa'sYou book club selection. Her
books have earned widespreadrecognition, including the
Cybill's award and the Americasaward. Born and raised in
(01:20):
Rosario, Argentina, yes, alsothe hometown of beloved soccer
player Lionel Messi, or should Isay football player, and now
living with her husband and 5children in Utah, Shamile's
journey as a writer has beenlargely shaped by her own
experiences at important momentsof transition. In this episode,
(01:42):
Shamile reflects on the role ofstorytelling during these
pivotal moments.
From her early years under abrutal dictatorship to the
learning curve of writing in asecond language, she shares how
her personal life transitions,both big and small, have
influenced her work andconnected her to readers
navigating their own moments ofchange. She also tells us about
(02:04):
how she cried as an adult whenher husband gave her the
Christmas gift she had given upas a child. My name is Jordan
Lloyd Bookey, and this is TheReading Culture, a show where we
speak with diverse authors aboutways to build a stronger culture
of reading in our communities.We dive deep into their personal
experiences and inspirations.Our show is made possible by
(02:25):
Beanstack, the leading solutionfor motivating students to read
more.
Learn more at beanstack.com. Andmake sure to check us out on
Instagram at the reading culturepod and subscribe to our
newsletter for bonus content atthe reading culture pod dot com
forward slash newsletter.Alright. Onto the show. Hey,
(02:51):
listeners.
Are Are you looking for a fun,easy way to track your reading
and earn cool rewards? Well,meet Beanstack, the ultimate
reading app used by a communityof over 15,000 schools,
libraries, and organizationsnationwide. Are you an avid
reader? Check with your locallibrary to see if they offer
Beanstack for free. A parent?
(03:13):
Ask your child's teacher if theschool library already uses
Beanstack. And if you are aneducator searching for a fresh
alternative to acceleratedreader, Beanstack is the perfect
tool to cultivate a thrivingreading culture. Ready to turn
the page? Visit beanstack.com tolearn more. Let's talk a little
(03:37):
bit about what life was like inthose in those early in your
some of your earliest memoriesthere and what your household
and and all that was like.
Yamile Saied Mendez (03:44):
Yes. So, I had a really happy childhood.
I'm the oldest of 4 siblings,but we're very close in age. And
so we were all really little,but I felt already so much older
than my siblings. And my liferevolved around books because
that was my obsession.
I was a very early reader. Ialways say that perhaps my mom
(04:07):
encouraged my reading because itkept me occupied, and then it
helped keep my little siblingsoccupied because I would read to
them all
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:15):
the time.
Yamile Saied Mendez (04:15):
Everything that I read, I would distill it
and then tell it to them or readmy books to them. And we spent a
lot of time at the soccer fieldsbecause my 2 brothers played
soccer for the local club. Soall of our weekends were spent
at the fields. Of course, mysister and I didn't play. Back
in those olden days, girlsdidn't play soccer in Argentina.
(04:38):
And so with the other sisters orthe younger siblings of my
brother's teammates, we wouldplay in the unoccupied fields
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:46):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (04:46):
Or makeup games. So I'm a child of the
nineties, so always outside.Yeah. My mom worked, and so my
siblings and I were alwaysoutside, although we grew up in
an apartment, but there werefields and a lot of empty space
around our neighborhood. And soit was a very idyllic, I will
(05:06):
say now looking backwards,because back in those days on
TV, we had only the 2 channels,and it was a very limited, you
know, variety of things towatch.
So one of my very favoritethings to watch on TV was the
cartoon of the book Heidi, whichHeidi had been the first book
that I read on my own. So itimmediately became my favorite.
(05:28):
And it's funny how it happensbecause even though it is the
first book that I read on myown, and I had other books that
I read that made, I would say, abigger impact in my life. When I
go back and look at the story,Severin, I can see a lot of
Heidi in different stories.Like, in The Beautiful Game, the
relationship with the grampygrandpa.
(05:49):
You know? And Yeah. And then Ialways have to have a pet. I
don't
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:53):
feel like I remember the story of Heidi.
It's like I can picture it. Ican picture the story, but I
don't so she lived with hergrandfather as well?
Yamile Saied Mendez (06:00):
So she was a girl from the Swiss Alps.
Nothing in common with me fromthe Argentine Pampas. I had
never seen the mountain until Imoved to Utah. She becomes an
orphan, and her aunt, who's incharge of her, takes her to live
with her grandpa in themountain. And everybody's super
scared of the old man in themountain, and then Heidi is just
(06:22):
outside all day with the goatand her friend, Peter.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (06:25):
Shamili's childhood had its fair share of
play and joy, but it was alsomarked by a heavy dose of
responsibility.
Yamile Saied Mendez (06:33):
My mom was a house keeper at somebody's
house and a nanny. I was the 2ndmom. My sister and I, she's 3
years younger than me. She's the3rd child of the family. And we
always joke that we were, youknow, housemakers at 11 years
old, because we cooked and wecleaned and we got ourselves to
school, but our mom I don't knowhow parents did it back in the
(06:55):
olden days, but we were soobedient because we never missed
school.
Although there was nobody thereto send us off and make sure
sure we were on time, and thatour uniforms were in order. So
but I was very much like asecond mom to my siblings. But
at the same time, I had abeautiful relationship with my
mom and a lot of respect becauseshe was working so that we could
(07:18):
go to school and have aneducation and a better life.
Yeah.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:22):
Did you have to pay to go to school in
Rosario? There was like, whatwas the was it public or private
kind of education?
Yamile Saied Mendez (07:28):
So public school in Argentina is wonderful
all the way up to college. Welived in a more humble
neighborhood, so our publicschool wasn't very safe. And so
my mom sent me to a privateschool. It was Catholic, all
girls school, and my brotherswent to the equivalent boys
school. It wasn't expensive,though.
(07:49):
Sometimes when people from theUS hear private school, they
imagine it's super exclusive.You know, it was very economical
for American standards. But, youknow, it provided me a better
education, and I always feellike that was the greatest gift
that my mom could give to mebecause being surrounded by
girls, I never got the messagethat girls weren't supposed to
(08:09):
be good at math or science, andI excelled in those subjects. I
loved math. I went to the MathOlympics to Oh, yeah.
The national level.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:18):
Really?
Yamile Saied Mendez (08:19):
Yes. And my friends from all the way from
3rd grade to 12, they're stillsome of my best friends to this
day, and we talk at leastweekly. Wow. And so those were
relationships that reallychanged the course of my life.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:34):
I was wondering about strong girls,
strong young women. Is that'ssuch an important just recurring
theme. And from your shortstories to your middle grade now
to, you know, young adult, allthese books, and I just
wondered, like, if you alwayswere sort of questioning a
system or messages that came toyou. But it sort of sounds like
maybe, no, maybe you actuallyjust didn't maybe those messages
(08:56):
actually weren't communicatedbesides on the soccer pitch,
Yamile Saied Mendez (08:59):
I guess. Argentina has a very rich
heritage of women leading thecountry. Like, we've had 2 women
presidents and even Eva Peron,who is this cultural icon. She
wasn't the president. She wasthe first lady, but she had more
power than her husband, thepresident, back in the 19
sixties.
(09:19):
And all my teachers were women,and a lot of the authorities in
my life were women. My mom was avery strong presence in my life.
But at the same time, there wereenvironments in which that
wasn't the case, like, on thesoccer pitch even though it was
women administering the localclub where my brothers played.
(09:41):
And so there was that dichotomyright there, you know, that
there were some aspects of thegame that the girls were not
welcomed in. And although insome aspects, they were because
there were girls that playedsoccer, but there was a bad
association, you know, to them,like a bad image.
(10:01):
They were the tomboys or therebels of society.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:05):
Mhmm. Other names you don't wanna say?
You're right.
Yamile Saied Mendez (10:08):
Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:09):
Yes. We'll use our imaginations. I know. I
was a child in the eighties. Soyeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (10:13):
Right? And so, you know, it's not that my
mom didn't let me play becauseshe was this horrible,
oppressive person, but just, youknow, she knew that there was no
future for me in that. So sheencouraged my reading, my
writing, my education. I went toEnglish classes. Like, some kids
in the US would go to piano orsinging.
I went to English twice a weekwith my sister. And so she
(10:36):
encouraged more of that. Butthat image of the strong girl
and women was very present allmy life. And so that's why it
comes very naturally
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:47):
to me. So interesting and really, really
shows up in your work. You know?Okay. So speaking of learning
English at a young age, I wantedto know what the experience was
like for you and your sister.
I've heard that it was not allserious all the time.
Yamile Saied Mendez (11:00):
Yes. So my sister and I made up this big
Latin, and we pretend that itwas English. And my mom, you
know, it always crack up. Andfinally, she sent us to English
classes. My sister didn'tcontinue.
She got bored, but I lovedlearning English. And back in
those days, because Argentinahad just come out of a
dictatorship and a war withEngland, a lot of things were
(11:22):
censored, and a lot of mediathat was originally in English
was all translated into Spanish.Mhmm. And so I just had this
fascination with English, maybebecause it was so forbidden and
so different. I went to English,and the classes weren't moving
as fast as I wanted to.
You know? And so my dad broughtme once an English Spanish
(11:46):
dictionary, and I taught myselfa lot of English with the help
of the dictionary. And it had
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (11:52):
Wow.
Yamile Saied Mendez (11:53):
A phonetic guide on how to pronounce
things, but that was a doubleedged sword because I learned
how to pronounce things, youknow, like, how I English
doesn't make sense. Right. Therules change all the time. Yeah.
That's correct.
So it wasn't until I was incollege that my roommates taught
me that I wasn't really tired. Iwas tired. Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:16):
Were you a writer?
Yamile Saied Mendez (12:17):
Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:17):
Was that sort of something where you were
journaling or writing stories?Was that a part of your
childhood?
Yamile Saied Mendez (12:22):
I started writing my own stories when I
was about 7.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:25):
Oh, okay.
Yamile Saied Mendez (12:26):
And they were always sad and tragic. The
first one that I have, BenMaria, was, like, a princess
whose grandfather had died, andmy grandpa had just died. So,
you know, like, it kind ofexplains my pattern of filtering
life or processing life throughwriting. Right? That's something
that I've always done.
A lot of the things that I wrotegrowing up were just what we
(12:48):
would call fan fiction now. Youknow? Yeah. Like, more Heidi fan
fiction. Yeah.
There was a series by aBrazilian author that I loved.
It was the adventures of littlenose and and her cousin. And
although there is this rivalryin soccer because of, you know,
with Brazil, I learned to I wasobsessed with Brazil as a child
(13:10):
because of this series. Theauthor is Monteiro Lobato, who
wrote a lot of the classics, inthe children's classics in
Brazil. Yeah.
A lot of the other things thatI've read growing up were books
by Argentine authors. Argentinahas a very rich tradition of
literature, and people knowBorges, but he's not the only
one. Marie Elena Walsh, she'sthe one who wrote pretty much
(13:33):
all the nursery songs thatArgentine children sing to this
day. She won very prestigiousawards like the Astrid Lindgren
Award in the seventies.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (13:43):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (13:43):
As far as I know, she's never been
translated into English, butthat's everything that I've read
growing up. And so I from anearly age, I knew that stories
had that power to show you newworlds and teach you things that
you hadn't even imagined werepossible. And you can get an
appreciation and a love fordifferent cultures just, you
(14:03):
know, through stories.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (14:05):
Yeah. I love that. And it sounds like
all the books that you grew upreading, like Marjalena Walsh
and so on, really obviouslyshaped your love for
storytelling or, you know,reading stories. So I'm curious
how you shifted or if you alwaysknew that you wanted to tell
your own stories and, like, howyou turn to being a writer
yourself.
Yamile Saied Mendez (14:23):
That's usually what happens after I
read and read and read. I hadthis desire to tell my own
stories, but I didn't have acommunity of writers in Spanish.
I didn't have anybody that Icould exchange pages with or
talk about writing. But therewas a very robust community of
aspiring writers in Utah, whereI lived, where I had moved. And
(14:46):
so I started going to a writer'sgroup every week.
And at the time, I had an ideafor a girl who wants to become a
professional soccer player fromRosario, and that book ended up
becoming my book, Furia, thatwouldn't come out until 2020.
And this was 2,006 when Istarted writing. Wow. And so
(15:09):
sometimes when people ask me,why did you write it in English
originally? And I always saybecause I was learning how to
become a writer.
Mhmm. And I needed that supportnetwork of a community. And back
in those days, there wasn'tsocial media still in 2006 that
I could find a Spanish speakingcommunity. I do have that now.
(15:30):
Even in person in Utah, I ampart of this wonderful community
of authors who are writing inSpanish.
But more than the language, it'sa group of other people who
share the experience of beingimmigrants in a country, writing
in a language that is not ourmother tongue. And sharing our
experiences vary depending onwhere we're from and what
(15:52):
situation in life we're in rightnow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (15:55):
Did you process that transition through
writing? Do you see that in anyof the writing that you did at
that time?
Yamile Saied Mendez (16:02):
Yes. Perhaps not necessarily in
Furia, but there is a shortstory in an anthology called
Come On In. And my short story,Family Above Everything, perhaps
that is the mostautobiographical story that I've
ever written because it is abouta girl leaving her family to go
to college and and having the,you know, the excitement and
(16:23):
being happy to be able to dothat, but at the same time,
feeling torn for leaving herfamily behind and not knowing
when she will see them again.And that was all completely
taken out from my experience.And, you know, it's not
something that I process rightaway because I wrote that short
story, I will say, in 2019,perhaps.
(16:44):
But, those are feelings thatwere simmering inside me. And
until I put them down on thatstory, I didn't realize, you
know, that I had been keepingthem inside me for all that
time.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (16:56):
Although Shamile was inspired by many
incredible authors from a youngage, growing up in Argentina in
the 19 seventies eighties meantthere were limits on what books
were Yes. Sort of how youdescribed it because you're you
were sort of like coming intoprobably what you really
(17:17):
remember as it was coming to aclose. And like you said, it
probably took, I don't know,perhaps we're about to see in
this country.
Yamile Saied Mendez (17:24):
Well, and that's the thing. Yeah. It's
been almost 50 years since thebeginning of the dictatorship.
It started in in 1976, and stillthe country is struggling with a
lot of things that stem fromthat. Growing up, although I
started school already duringthe democracy, it took a long
time for democracy to trickledown to school.
(17:48):
And so during the dictatorship,so many authors were banned, and
a lot of authors had to theywere exiled
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (17:56):
Mhmm.
Yamile Saied Mendez (17:56):
From Argentina. Alma Maritano, Marie
Elena Walsh were 2 authors whohad to either stop writing or
move to another country.Madeline Laroche lived in France
and in Europe for many, manyyears just to be safe. And so
the books that we used to learnhow to read and write were these
primers that had abstracts orexcerpts of stories. And
(18:20):
sometimes I would get soimmersed in the story, and I
didn't I never even knew how itended or who had written it or
what the title was of thatpiece.
And then later on as an adult, Iwas able to put all this
information together. I knowthat a lot of the books that and
stories that I love belong toAlma Maritano or Laura Devetach,
(18:41):
who was the daughter of Russianimmigrants. And they wrote about
everyday things. But for thegovernment, there were dangerous
topics because they talked aboutfreedom and the right to read
and write, and those were allthings that were threatening for
the government.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (18:58):
So they would take small parts of their,
like, excerpts of their work sothat you didn't get the full
message, but you loved theselittle pieces of them.
Yamile Saied Mendez (19:05):
Yes. And so a lot of the things that I wrote
at that age were kind of likefinishing the story that I got a
glimpse of.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (19:15):
That's so fascinating. I've never, I've
never heard a story like that,you know, on the show. I think
it's so interesting because, youknow, from an American
perspective, a US perspective, Ithink of Argentina is really
looming large and our collectiveimagination of what, you know,
what life was like during thosedictatorships. I'm thinking of,
(19:35):
like, the, you know, madres ofthe Plaza de Mayo and so on.
And, you know, it just occurs tome that during your own
childhood and your own coming ofage, and when you're kind of
beginning to conceive ofyourself maybe as a writer, you
know, it was actually adangerous time to be a writer in
Argentina.
You know? I mean, authors werephysically exiled or
Yamile Saied Mendez (19:57):
The unlucky ones were disappeared. Right.
There's an author who wrote thisincredible science fiction
novel, El Edermauta, the Ed orNot. And I I bring it up because
Netflix is doing a series that'scoming out next year.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:10):
Oh,
Yamile Saied Mendez (20:10):
cool. And he was disappeared along with 4
daughters, 2 sons in law, 2grandchildren, and there are
some of the 30,000 people thatwere disappeared that, to this
day, we know nothing of.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:25):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (20:26):
And so that is part of the cultural trauma
that has affected me in my life,even though nobody in my family
was a victim directly. But inour society, it's such a big
wound that, of course, itaffected how I think about
story, how I think about writersand teachers and librarians who
(20:47):
were so brave to still sharethese stories even if they had
to photocopy them or tell themorally until they became part of
the myth Yeah. Of our country.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (21:01):
You must have a very like, a broader lens
in a way for what's happeningright now around book bans in
this country.
Yamile Saied Mendez (21:08):
Yeah.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (21:09):
Because it's like I think you are
descended from people who havereally lived and experienced,
and you have, like you said,this sort of, like, inherited
trauma that you have seen arethe real extreme of the extreme.
I think it's the extreme of whatit could be. Right? Yes.
Yamile Saied Mendez (21:24):
But I feel like sometimes we feel like
those stories are so foreign tous. Okay. It happens in another
country. Yeah. It happened halfa century ago.
But democracy is so fragile, andwe do have to protect it in
every generation because it's soeasy to forget that those rights
were very difficult to attain.Mhmm. And so, yes, I am very
(21:48):
involved with Authors AgainstBook Bans, which is a national
organization that createsawareness of the book banning
that is happening in the countryright now in the US. And in
Argentina, there's also bookbanning starting Yeah. Again
Yeah.
Which seemed like something thatwe had agreed on, that would
never happen again. We saidnuncamas. Yeah. And it is
(22:09):
happening.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:10):
Yeah. Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (22:15):
A writer never forgets the first time he
accepted a few coins or a wordof praise in exchange for a
story. He will never forget thesweet poison of vanity in his
blood and the belief that if hesucceeds in not letting anyone
discover his lack of talent, thedream of literature will provide
(22:36):
him with a roof over his head, ahot meal at the end of the day,
and what he covets the most, hisname printed on a miserable
piece of paper that surely willoutlive him. A writer is
condemned to remember thatmoment because from then on, he
is doomed and his soul has aprize.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (22:59):
That passage, which is a little
darker than many on this show,comes from The Angel's Game by
Carlos Ruiz Saffon, firstpublished in Spanish in 2008 and
later translated into English.It captures the moment a writer
crosses a threshold from writingfor passion to writing for
publication and how thatexchange marks them forever.
(23:23):
Whether it's for a few coins ora few words of praise, that
moment holds weight. Shmilaknows this feeling, and she's
had moments like that of herown.
Yamile Saied Mendez (23:33):
I loved it so much because this story is
about a writer
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:37):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (23:37):
And how he struggles to get his name on the
cover of a book. And it reallyresonated with me because I had
started writing. I had receiveda few words of praise that, yes,
your writing voice is verystrong and and powerful. And so
I had my incentive to keeppursuing this dream that seemed
(23:58):
so unreachable and and far away,but eventually became a reality.
We writers, we all put a priceto our soul.
Because it is a little bit ofour soul that we're sharing.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (24:11):
You have had a couple of, like, these big
partnerships. It was Reese'sBook Club, right? Do you feel
like it changed your approach towriting? Or oftentimes, people
talk about they win the Newbery.It's like, oh, god.
I hope you have the next onelined up because it can be
stressful or whatever. Like, soI just wonder with that it was,
like, probably a pretty bigtransition point in your writing
(24:32):
career.
Yamile Saied Mendez (24:33):
Absolutely. Especially because that book,
Furia, that was part of theReese Book Club and then won the
Pura Belpre award, and it's beentranslated into a lot of
languages, gave me theopportunity to reach an audience
that I, that, to me, seemedunreachable. That book came out
in 2020 again. During the worstof the pandemic, my book tour
(24:54):
was canceled, and I was feeling,oh my gosh, this book's gonna go
nowhere. And then this happened,which was incredible, but it
does put this pressure on aperson's shoulders when you have
to write.
Because when you're activelydrafting, you cannot be thinking
about your editor or the publicor for this new book to achieve
(25:17):
the same Notoriety or whatever.Thresholds. It has to be its own
theme, but it is very difficultto leave all those things
on-site and just write thestory. But I am grateful because
being part of the ReeseWitherspoon Book Club also gave
me, again, for me, community isvery important. It gave me this
sisterhood of the otherWitherspoon writers.
(25:40):
And we have a group together. Weplan retreats or we exchange
advice, and we cheer each otheron, or boost our covers when
they're revealed, or we go toeach other's tour stops. So it
gave me also this wonderfulcommunity and this incredible
support network. And so, it'sbeen fantastic.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (26:03):
I was thinking about how, Furia did
come out. It came out during thepandemic. And that was just like
this, you know, national momentof great uncertainty for us as,
like, a global community. Youknow? And then in so many ways,
there was just, like, a lot ofuncertainty.
And I think it's, in a way,it's, like, on brand, I guess,
(26:25):
for you because a lot of yourwriting really a lot of your
stories, I should say, reallycenter around these moments,
these moments of uncertainties,moments of change in a you know,
especially in a young woman'slife. What are your thoughts
about, you know, sort of writingthrough those moments and that
the, like, importance of those,like, hinge moments, I guess, in
(26:47):
your writing?
Yamile Saied Mendez (26:48):
I think about that a lot too because
also, you know, usually, yes, wego through these difficult
moments, like, for the pandemic,specifically as a community
worldwide. But, personally,individually, everybody was
going through such difficulttimes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (27:03):
Yeah.
Yamile Saied Mendez (27:04):
And in like, in my family, we lost 2
grandparents in the space of 5months, and so many other people
went through similar situations.And and just the isolation, and
for me not being able to go backand visit my my siblings for a
long time, that really took atoll on me. And the things that
I turned to to make sense of theworld or or what was happening
(27:28):
or to entertain myself, to takemy mind away from that were
stories that other people hadwritten and also the stories
that came to my mind duringthose during those times. And so
I won't lie and say that throughthose difficult times, sometimes
I wondered, what what am Idoing? Like, is this even
important?
I'm just writing my littlestories in my room, and the
(27:50):
world is falling apart. But whenI talk to fellow writers and
creatives, we always come to theconclusion that those difficult
times are the ones in which weneed stories the most because
stories connect us. They helpus, again, process what is
happening, have a better outlookinto the world. And they remind
us that life is the wheel, andhumanity has been through
(28:13):
countless cycles of, you know,ups and downs. The things that
seem so dire now won't be thisdire forever.
Eventually, there is an upswing.And so I always needed that
reminder, and it made me thinkthat my young readers need that
reminder as well.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:31):
They do. I think that's harder for young
people to
Yamile Saied Mendez (28:35):
Yes.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (28:35):
It's hard for all of us, to be honest, to
see that, like, long arc thatyou're or, you know, cycle. Yes.
It's hard for anybody reallywhen you're in it. But I think
especially for like teens andtweens, it's, it is very hard to
see that to pull back, you know?
Yamile Saied Mendez (28:50):
Yes. And during those difficult times,
there is that natural feeling ofloneliness. It feels like we're
the only people going through aspecific situation. But when we
read or when we share a story,we realize that we're not alone,
that other people have gonethrough it even if just getting
your period while wearing whitepants. You know?
Other people went through it,and they survived. And you're
(29:13):
gonna survive too, and you'regonna be okay. And if you
haven't gone through thatsituation, it can give you more
empathy and compassion forpeople who do. So, again, it
opens your eyes and your heartfor other perspectives that are
different from your own. And inthe end, that is why stories are
so powerful to connect us toeach other Yeah.
(29:34):
Because they help us see theworld from a different point of
view.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (29:38):
You know, I agree with that. And I'm sure
you've, like, personally had alot of readers connect with your
books. I was just wanting tohear if you have any stories of
how you've really seen theimpact on a reader or readers
that you can share.
Yamile Saied Mendez (29:51):
Yes. I was just at the Austin Book Festival
last weekend, and it's always afantastic event. I love it. And
I was presenting at this paneltalking about Power for Girls
and how the festival wasorganized. There were kids from
6th 7th grade who wereintroducing the authors and our
(30:11):
stories.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:12):
Oh, I love it.
Yamile Saied Mendez (30:13):
And the the child that introduced my my book
was a girl, and she introducesmy character, Valedi, and says,
and she plays in an all boy teamand gets her period during this
super important game. And thenshe paused and said and looks at
the audience and says, and Iknow what that feels like
because I've been the only girlin an all voice team for a long
(30:34):
time. And it was just a simplestatement, but good friend of
mine was in the audience. So shewas in tears, and later she told
me, do you understand the impactthat that story had on that one
child, that she could see hersituation reflected in a book?
And perhaps Valeria and thisgirl have very different
(30:56):
backgrounds and challenges andand families, but they have that
in common.
So this girl saw herself in thestory at this certain point, and
that makes it all worth it.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (31:07):
So special. I love that. And I just like the
idea of being there. And I thinkit's, like, there's so much of
these moments, like, thesepivotal changes in young
people's lives. You know,there's, like, so much
complexity of emotion.
And I think your books reallylike, they capture that
complexity. What do you draw on,you know, to show that? What are
(31:29):
you drawing from to reallyrepresent that emotional
complexity? From observation. SoI've been lucky that
Yamile Saied Mendez (31:36):
I get to watch my children go through
these spirits in life, whichreminds me of my experience
going through these difficulttimes in life and and having all
these emotions. So I rememberwhat it's like to be 11 years
old, and I go back to thatplace. And I and I feel like
that's why I love writing formiddle grade because I feel a
little bit of my soul got stuckin those in that time period.
(31:59):
Perhaps because I was such anavid reader, I was a thoughtful
child, and I remember thethoughts and the feelings that I
had going through puberty orwatching how my experience was
different from that of myclassmates or or even my sister.
My sister was very, very youngwhen she got her first period.
It was such a differentexperience. And and I remember
(32:23):
everything, all the emotions.And I feel like as it is for a
lot of older sisters. Right? Ifelt so mature for my age.
And now looking I was 11. I wasa little kid.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:35):
And Right.
Yamile Saied Mendez (32:36):
Right? And then it's that moment that I was
I still wanted to play, youknow, jump rope with my friends
or run or go swimming, but thenthere is this all these other
things to take into theconsideration when you're and
also, like, my family was poor.You're growing up and your mom
can't keep up with buying, youknow, clothes. I will fit you.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:57):
Oh my god.
Yamile Saied Mendez (32:58):
Yeah. You know? That was and there's
nothing you can do to stopyourself from growing. You want
to grow up. And so there were alot of bittersweet moments, and
and I remember them like theyhappened yesterday.
So I feel like that's why I'mable to tap back into them and
then give them to my characters.Bless their hearts.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (33:19):
You know, one of the, the bittersweet
moments that I I think I readabout was, like, the story about
your younger brother, whoeveryone loved, and a a story
from Christmas time, like a agift that you bought him. Would
you would you mind telling usthat story?
Yamile Saied Mendez (33:36):
When he was about 7, the country was going
through a really difficult timeand, my parents always had
precarious jobs. My dad was ataxi driver. My mom was, you
know, a nanny and a housekeeperfor a rich family, and a lot of
the money that they earned wentfor for our education, you know,
and our daily living expenses.But it was Christmas time and we
(33:58):
older children knew that therewould be no money for presents.
But my little brother wanted abike.
And it was the only thing he'sever really wanted other than a
soccer ball. Because all hislife, he always received soccer
balls or soccer jerseys orsoccer cleats, you know? He
wanted a bike. And so we told mymom, I I don't even remember
(34:21):
that conversation but it wasvery clear that we would be okay
if he was the one that got thebike. So on Christmas night,
because in Argentina Noel orSanta Claus comes at night.
On 24th, right at midnight,people usually go outside to
watch the fireworks and then youcome back inside and there are
presents under the tree. And sothere were little letters for
(34:43):
for all of us, but there was abike for my brother and we were
all so happy. We were alldelighted and the next day, in
front of my of our buildingthere was this huge parking,
place and I remember his littlefriends taking turns to push
him, to teach him how to ride abike because he was 7, he didn't
(35:05):
know how to ride 1. And and mystudents and I, like, even to
this day, we're all in ourforties. There's no resentment.
That's one of our happiestmemories because he was happy.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (35:15):
No. That's a story. I just love it. And it
says so much about your life andvalues and no bike, but a
beautiful story.
Yamile Saied Mendez (35:23):
And I did get a bike as an adult. My
husband gave me a bike when Ithink the year that I turned 30,
he He surprised me with onebecause he knew the story. And I
was so emotional. And I I was ifhe was 7, I was 12. That little
12 year old, you know, I ofcourse, I wanted a bike too, you
know, but I knew better than toask because I knew my mom
(35:44):
couldn't buy one for each one ofus.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (35:48):
You've gotta be kidding me. That's,
like, the best story. I had noidea that he did that. Oh, how
beautiful. And so interestingyou bring up your mom because
the other the other question, Iwanted to ask you about is so
there's this quote from that Iwrote down here, and it just it
really it stopped me in mytracks the first time I read it,
and it did again when I read itthis time, and it reads as
(36:10):
follows.
I smiled and ran to the field tosing the wordless song of the
captive women who roared in myblood. My ancestresses had been
waiting to sing for generations.I was their medium. And I
wonder, like, thinking to yourmom and these stories and, you
(36:33):
know, who do you view yourselfas a medium for? Like, do you
view yourself in the way thatCamila did?
And if you could speak to that alittle.
Yamile Saied Mendez (36:43):
I always say that it's my name on the
cover of the book or the books,but it's also I got here through
the sacrifice and the work andthe effort and the hope of my
mom, who only had a 10th gradeeducation. But she loved books
and stories. And she wrote allher life, and I was able to go
(37:04):
through her journals andbeautiful writing and be
inspired by her beautifulwriting. But she, for her name,
has never been on the cover of abook. And my grandmothers, whom
were very young moms and alsoseemingly didn't have a voice,
but I come from them.
And as well as my greatgrandmothers, recently, I was
going through some ancestryrecords, and I found the records
(37:28):
of my great great grandma whocame from Yugoslavia. And her
name was Elena, and she died atage 43 in childbirth for her
11th child in 9 years. And I wastelling my children, we know her
name. When she was born, where,when she died, where, and I can
(37:49):
only imagine the struggles thatshe went through in her life.
And I I also want to imagine thelove and happiness that she
experienced, but I don't knowthat.
I she didn't leave anythingwritten. Right? Yeah. So I can't
know from her. But I hope I hopethat what I'm doing is giving
voice to all these women thatcame before me that didn't have
(38:10):
the chance to have an educationor write books because they were
busy moms or there were otherthings that they were doing.
But without them, I wouldn't behere today.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (38:26):
Much like she has navigated many of life's
challenges with unwaveringspirit, Shamile's reading
challenge celebratesprotagonists who exemplify
similar resilience.
Yamile Saied Mendez (38:36):
Okay. Indomitable characters. That's
how I titled my challenge.Because what all these books
have in common that I havechosen, they're mostly middle
grade. They have unforgettablecharacters that go through
difficult challenges toaccomplish the things that they
set out to do at the beginningof the book.
My book that I would include andI was that I kept in mind that I
(38:58):
would go along with thischallenge is The Beautiful Game.
Lupe Won Won't Dance, itfeatures a girl who plays
baseball, but that is such asmall aspect of the book. I feel
like Donna Barbayera does such awonderful job at writing this
spunky girl characters that areso endearing and funny, but so
full of heart as well. Grow Up,Luci Zapata is by another
(39:22):
Latina, Alexandra Alexandre. AndLuci Zapata goes to Colombia,
and then when she comes back sheher friendship fell apart, her
friendship with a teammate.
Isabelle in Bloom, my myRespicio, features a character
who goes to the Philippines andgets in touch with her extended
family and the culture of herfamily. And there is one book
(39:45):
that is a little bit differentfrom the rest, which is Ultra
Violet because the maincharacter is a boy. It's by Aida
Salazar, who also wrote The MoonWithin, which is on the list.
And Aida does an amazing job atportraying these characters
going through puberty.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (40:04):
You can find Shamile's reading challenge
and all past reading challengesat the reading culture pod.com.
And this episode's Beanstackfeatured librarian is once again
Billy Allen, branch manager ofWhitney Library in Las Vegas
Clark County Library District.He is also 3 King Visions on
(40:26):
YouTube, and more recently, hewas featured on season 9 of
Queer Eye. Congratulationsagain, Billy. Mister Billy, this
time, tells us about a uniqueincentive that got the kids at
his library to crush theirsummer reading goals.
Billy Allen (40:42):
So I'll tell you something cool. So we did it 2
years in a row. So for thesummer reading challenge, of
course, courtesy of Beanstack.So I this is so funny. This is
so funny.
So I'm like, look. We need tofigure out a creative way to get
more kids before they leaveschool and during the summer to
register a beanstalk to completethe summer reading challenge. So
one of my staff members said,Billy, I got an idea. I said,
(41:05):
what is that? We're gonna getyou slimed.
I said, oh, really? I said,let's do this. So we started
brainstorming. I said, we'regonna do a slime challenge. So
last summer, we set a goal of300 completions at my library of
completing the summer readingchallenge, and we had my
assistant branch manager and oneof my librarians.
(41:27):
So at 75 completions, it had aface oh, I'm gonna send you a
picture of this in the email ofthe the meter. So we had a
meters throughout the wholelibrary. So throughout the whole
summer, when kids and adults arecompleting their summer reading
channels, logging in the beanstack, the meter goes up. So you
see my librarian's face, myassistant branch manager, and my
face on the meter. So people arelike, the kids are coming in
(41:50):
like, I'm gonna get you slide.
And last summer, they surpassedthe goals. We had over 575
completions. So I got slide
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (42:01):
At your library?
Billy Allen (42:03):
At my library.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (42:04):
Wow.
Billy Allen (42:04):
I got slide Nickelodeon style on my stage,
the real slide. My team made it.And what happened this year, I'm
all about just sharing thesetype of ideas with my
colleagues. So I had 5 otherlibraries in my library
district. We made it a districtwide slime challenge where we
were doing Instagram reels andchallenges like, hey Robbie,
what you have with your summerreading, page?
(42:27):
And what happens is we got thecommunity excited. The news
picked it up. Everybody like,wow. I wanna see you get slimed.
So the beanstalk stats are goingthrough the roof.
So this year in August for ourback to school fair, we gave out
over 500 backpacks. We gave outover 43 haircuts in my library.
(42:47):
We had different vendors andpartners provide resources for
the community. And at the end,they saw my executive director.
We got Kelvin Watson slimed.
We got a Kelvin slimed, mylibrary operations director,
myself, and several othermembers of my staff. That's
engagement of the community, andwe're gonna present that in ALA
(43:07):
next year.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (43:12):
This has been The Reading Culture, and
you've been listening to myconversation with Shamile Saeed
Mendez. Again, I'm your host,Jordan Lloyd Bookie. And
currently, I'm reading The Womenby Kristen Hannah and Will's
Race for Home by Jewell ParkerRhodes. If you've enjoyed
today's episode, please showsome love and give us a 5 star
review. It only takes a fewseconds, and it actually helps
(43:36):
the show, so please do it.
This episode was produced byJackie Lamport, Mel Webb
Wilkinson, and Lower StreetMedia, and script edited by
Josiah Lumberto Egan. To learnmore about how you can help grow
your community's readingculture, please check out all of
our resources at beanstack.com.And remember to sign up for our
(43:56):
newsletter at the readingculture
pod.comforward/newsletter forspecial offers and bonus
content. Thanks for listeningand keep reading.
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