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Quercus: Now that your Newbery Honor year is over, what do you think about the honor?

I went to a public school in a lower middle class neighborhood in Southern California. I loved my school library with its old books and its old book smell. I loved running my hands along the bindings of the books trying to figure out which book would be as special to me as Charlotte’s Web or Across Five Aprils, Island of the Blue Dolphins, or A Wrinkle in Time.

The one thing I learned somewhere along the line was the books that had the Newbery stickers were usually better than the others, and so I always checked out the books with the silver or gold seals. Every time I think about Al Capone Does My Shirts winning the Newbery Honor, I imagine some kid pulling that red cover off the shelf of his school library, running his hand across the silver seal and saying, “I’m going to check this one out.”

Quercus: Some authors get what is called “Newberyitis.” After producing a Newbery Medal or a Newbery Honor book, they have a great deal of trouble writing the next book. Did this happen to you?

I’m happy to report it did not. After my kids and my husband, writing is my biggest love. When the pressures of the world get too much for me, I hide out with my keyboard. Life is hard. Writing is always a blast.

Quercus: When can we expect to see your next novel?

My next novel, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, will be available in August 2007. If A Tree Falls at Lunch Period is a novel told in two alternating points of view. One protagonist is sweet, overweight Kirsten who suddenly finds her world is crumbling all around her. Here’s how she views herself. “I thought my jean skirt looked good at home, but now I see it makes me look like a semi—a mobile home made entirely of denim. All I need is a sign that says WIDE LOAD.”

The other main character is tall, good-looking Walker who is trying to survive as one of three African-Americans in the new private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he’s going to screw up like his cousin. Here’s Walker’s take on this. “Don’t have to worry, Momma, before I go bad I’ll let you know, send a Hallmark card ready made for the occasion . . . On the eve your son messes up.”

I believe If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period is my funniest novel so far, and yet it also addresses race and identity: topics about which I am deadly serious. It’s an exceptionally fast read, but I’m hoping that after you finish the last page, you will continue to think about this story for a very long time.

Quercus: Any other books in the works?

I have a new picture book out this summer called How to Make Friends With a Giant, illustrated by Amy Walrod. Next year I have two more picture books on the schedule: Louder, Lili, illustrated by S.D. Schindler and Putting the Monkeys to Bed, illustrated by Tom Pohrt.

Quercus: Do you do a lot of speaking?

Yes, I’ve done a lot of speaking at schools, libraries, and conferences. Speaking is a different part of the author equation. Some might say it is the opposite of writing, but I believe there are some important similarities. A good speaker needs to reach deep down inside herself for the courage to speak from her heart. A good speaker has to be extremely generous and tell her own truth. She has to both entertain her audience and leave each person with a tiny piece of herself. When I read an amazing book, I know that the author has given me a part of her soul. A really terrific speaker does the same thing but in a very different way.

Next time, a new picture book about knitting, giving, shyness, and bullies ... all from debut author/illustrator Julie Jersild Roth, whose GOOD scarf project will start your brain-gears turning.