In-depth Written Interview

Monica Brown, interviewed in her Flagstaff, Arizona home on July 7, 2014.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You are a professor of English who has taught and written extensively about US Latino and multicultural literature, and you are also the author of many award-winning children's books that focus on Latino culture. How did early experiences in your life serve to shape the work you do now?

MONICA BROWN: My childhood was somewhat unusual, and then, maybe not so unusual at all. I was the daughter of an immigrant. My mom came to the US from Peru when she was about seventeen, and my father was a third-generation immigrant: Italian, Jewish, and Scottish. I was raised in northern California in a really diverse community, and in a very multicultural family. We were Peruvian, Jewish, European, Nicaraguan, and Mexican. My family came from all four corners of the globe. Also, my mom was one of nine children, so I had lots of cousins who lived close by. I grew up speaking English and Spanish.

When I was young, my mother told me that I was a citizen of the world, and I think that as a child, I thought of borders differently because I had so many relatives who came north or went south from Peru. We had many family members live in our house at different points in my childhood. I think I had the sense that borders were somewhat artificial, that we were all family regardless of where we were born.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk more about your community growing up.

MONICA BROWN: I grew up in the Silicon Valley, and for the first 11 years of my life we were in this lovely middle-class neighborhood where there was a large, diverse population. When we moved to a more affluent neighborhood, that wasn't the case anymore. It was normal for my non-Latino friends to tease me when my mom called me in yelling, "Moniquita, Moniquita!" Sometimes they would mistake her for the maid, because there were almost no Latinos in the new neighborhood. My mother had a very thick accent, so just being with her, we certainly experienced moments when people were racist or made racist assumptions, and that was painful. We also realized that in California people have strong feelings about immigration.

I didn't grow up feeling caught between cultures, but I did identify strongly with my mother. She was this beautiful, creative Latino woman for whom Spanish was her first language, and she and my cousins were my connection to Peru.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Were you creative as a child?

MONICA BROWN: I was always interested in theater growing up, and in putting on plays, going to carnivals and festivals. I was surrounded by paintings because my mom was an artist. I liked to read and write. Books were incredibly important to me from a very young age, and I suppose they became even more important as I got older because I had somewhat challenging teen years. Books were my absolute escape.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What were some of the things you liked to read and write about when you were young?

MONICA BROWN: I really loved Dr. Seuss—everything about his work, from the absurdity of the plots to the humor of the language to the illustrations. I also loved a particular series of National Geographic books that focused on things like the forest or the moon, and on different worlds, too.

As a child I rarely saw families like my own depicted in books. We were a global family, so what might have been normal for picture books was not normal for me. My cousins and I were every shade of the rainbow. In fact, one story that really stood out to me when I was little was the story of Esther from the Bible, because she was this beautiful, olive-skinned, dark-haired character.

I liked making up my own stories. One of the things I discovered writing is that creativity is great, but sometimes your imagination can be scary, too. So that's something I sometimes address in my own children's books nowadays. Actually, my next Marisol McDonald book is called Marisol McDonald and the Monster, and it's about things that go bump in the night, metaphorically and literally.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You entered college knowing you'd major in English. How did you arrive at that decision so early?

MONICA BROWN: I wasn't a great scholar as a kid, but I knew I had an aptitude. I went to Catholic schools, and in sixth grade I was put into a special honors English program based on my test scores. Then I got kicked out because one of my teachers said I couldn't work independently or focus. I was probably just a little too wild and fidgety.

That experience didn't deter me from books, though. When I was a senior in high school, I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and it changed my life. It was the first time a writer had ever captured in words what I thought about family and culture and magic and language. That book was probably the reason I went into college having already declared my English major.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk about your graduate studies.

MONICA BROWN: I read all sorts of literature in college. During my senior year, I took a Chicano literature class. The professor of that class said to me, "You know, Monica, you're a really good writer. Have you thought about grad school?" I hadn't thought about it even once, but all it took was that one professor to put the idea in my head, and it wouldn't leave.

I was pretty politically active in college, and I decided I wanted to study the literature of resistance, written mostly by Latinos and African Americans and other people struggling for civil rights. That reading fueled my interest in multicultural literature. I got my master's degree, and then my Ph.D., in US Latino literature. My dissertation was on the Chicano, Chicana and Puerto Rican urban narrative, or gang narrative. A lot of my dissertation was influenced by the time I spent teaching at-risk youth in inner city Boston while I was a grad student.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Today you are a full-time professor as well as a writer.

MONICA BROWN: I'm a professor in English at Northern Arizona University where I teach US multiethnic literature. My specialties are US Latino literature and African-American literature. I teach courses in Mexican American literature and Latino woman writers. I teach a survey of African American literature and multiethnic literature. So I'm an Americanist, a multiculturalist, and my scholarly book is on Puerto Rican and Chicana literature.

Almost a decade ago, my writing life started to shift and evolve. Now, I no longer do traditional scholarship. I now put 99 percent of that energy into creative writing and into talking about literacy and bilingualism and race in children's literature. I guess that's critical work and scholarly work, but it's from a different perspective and not confined to the academy. I want to reach actual children, and I want to reach their teachers because they're the ones who put books into children's and principals' hands. These are the people who make and create curriculums.

My professional writing life has completely shifted. I still teach Latino literature, but I create it too.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk about the importance of multicultural literature. Who are multicultural books for?

MONICA BROWN: I think multicultural books -- books depicting diversity -- are incredibly important, and I think they are for everyone, whether you're reading from within a culture or outside of it. That's because there is so much ignorance in the world. Ignorance, in my opinion, leads to racism, and that can be very harmful.

I also think that multicultural children's books can act as a bridge for teachers and students. Our younger ethnic minority population is exploding, but I would venture to guess that those students aren't always exposed to teachers from within their ethnic group. So I think that when a teacher can share a story written by someone from that culture that addresses themes that are relevant to Latino or African American or other minority kids in the classroom, it allows for a moment of cultural pride and exchange. And I want to note that this doesn't have to happen only during a designated period of time, like Spanish Heritage Month.

It's important for us all to remember that there are many kinds of knowledge, and one type is experiential knowledge. I think that should be honored in the classroom, because our ethnic minority children are multiply literate. They often have to navigate different communities, different languages. I'd like to see elementary teachers and librarians affirm that multiple literacy and bilingualism by making more multicultural and bilingual books available. The language of instruction, of course, is English, but just having these other books present acknowledges other linguistic and cultural traditions, and I think that helps students feel more valued.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You write both fiction and nonfiction multicultural books for children. How do you approach these genres?

MONICA BROWN: As a children's writer I think have two bodies of work, and in some ways they represent different ideas or ideals for me. On the one hand, I have my children's biographies, which are a deep pleasure to write. I think they offer models for young readers of individuals whose lives were well lived, or somehow transformative. These models include people like Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Pablo Neruda, who achieved great things through language, or people like Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez who achieved great things through political activism.

Many of the people I write about came from very humble beginnings, and I think that's what's so remarkable about their stories. For example, Gabriela Mistral was the daughter of a single mother in Chile, but she went on to help shape education in Mexico.

My children's biographies are also a way for me to augment the historical record, to fill in the holes with stories that aren't necessarily [included] in the history books or taught in social studies. Consider the stories of the United Farm Workers movement. I want children to understand the story behind the food and the vegetables they eat because I think we should honor our laborers, honor the people who put food on the table.

So the nonfiction part of my writing is one that I've really enjoyed. And then the other part, my fictional stories and characters, are a delight to write because they're so freeing. I've gotten a great deal of pleasure from creating Marisol McDonald as a child who is a nonconformist. Her stories explore what it means to be a little different, to see the world a little differently, to maybe experience teasing because of that difference, but then also find the resolution and the self-love to move forward and be okay with it.

TEACHINGBOOKS: In Side by Side: Lado a lado, La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez, you write about Cesar Chavez as well as Delores Huerta, who is someone readers may not be familiar with.

MONICA BROWN: I'm very proud of Side by Side. At the time that I published that book, there were several books about Cesar Chavez, and there should be, because he's a hero. But there was not a single picture book about Dolores Huerta, and she was his partner, his cofounder of the United Farm Workers movement.

I wanted to place her alongside him in history, and that's part of the inspiration for the title, Side by Side. Doing so was incredibly important to me because in Delores Huerta, kids can see a woman who is a leader, a political leader, an organizer. I also think it's important that kids understand that this is a real story of hope. In Side by Side, I had to write about difficult things as sensitively as I could. I had to portray the realities of farmworker life—the poisons, the chemicals that affected their health, the tools that hurt their backs, and the reasons why it was necessary to collectively organize and make working conditions better. But I also had to incorporate their hope.

TEACHINGBOOKS: In My Name Is Gabito / Me llamo Gabito you write about the life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose work had a profound effect on you as a teenager.

MONICA BROWN: Yes, it was Marquez's book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, which influenced me to become an English major. Much later, I realized there were no children's books about this man who was a Nobel prize-winning author and who helped shape a whole genre of literature called magical realism. I wanted to introduce him to young readers.

Part of my preparation for writing My Name Is Gambito was reading his memoir, and it turned out that, for me, his memoir was not as pleasurable of a read as his fiction. He had a complicated life, and in the end, it was his work in magical realism that inspired me most. Writing about [his writing] was a journey of discovery for me because I wasn't sure how I was going to introduce this complex literary concept to children. There are so many ways to articulate it and debate its origins—the surrealists and lo real maravillos, the marvelous real. But then I had the happy realization that explaining it to children is the easiest thing in the world, because children can hold the real and the magical in the palm of their hands together, and [those two things] are not necessarily in conflict.

I decided the best approach would be to make this a book about the imagination. I wanted to engage children and say, "Can you imagine a man with enormous wings falling from the sky? Can you imagine a magic carpet ride? Can you imagine a trail of yellow butterflies singing songs of love?" In this way, I was able to pull from One Hundred Years of Solitude, and allude to it in the children's book, yet really make [my book] about words and having an imagination that is big and great and wild. And I got to work with illustrator Raul Colon, which was amazing.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Please talk about My Name Is Celia. What challenges did you encounter writing this biography of Celia Cruz?

MONICA BROWN: Celia Cruz was incredible, and I loved writing this book about her. In some ways, it wrote itself in that her personality, her nature to perform was so infectious. She brought people a lot of joy with her music. Her beginnings were incredibly humble, and as an Afro Cuban, she had to deal with racism and overcome a lot of prejudice. But she sang with joy, and she helped shape salsa music in the United States. She was a leading female vocalist.

My challenge in writing her biography was to find words and language that honored her musicality. I wanted to translate that music into language. I wanted her biography to be infused with the joy, the movement, the lyricism of her life. And I think I was ultimately able to do that because kids really love the boom, boom, booms and the clap, clap, claps and the shake, shake, shakes!

TEACHINGBOOKS: Your fictional picture book series about Marisol McDonald focuses on a girl whose idiosyncrasies are an important part of who she is, but they don't always make sense to everyone else.

MONICA BROWN: Of all the characters I've created, Marisol is the closest character to my own biography, and she is my delight. She grew out of a joke, actually, that arose from a discussion I was having with my cousins about some comments that were made to us at one time that were a bit racist and ignorant. Marisol was partly inspired by experiences like that, but there's more to her than that.

Whenever I try to talk about the creative process it can start to sound metaphysical, and I don't want to sound that way. But I do think there's some magic in it. For me, Marisol is a magical character because she's funny and different and exuberant and sensitive. And very luckily, she has a family and teachers and other people in her life that support those parts of her personality. Not all children have support like that during difficult times, so I wanted them to have at least a fictional model for it.

I've written a couple articles in school library journals about how there are very few depictions of children who come from multiethnic families, and I think the lack of literary representations like these almost renders these kinds of families and kids invisible. So it was personally important to me, too, that I create Marisol, to acknowledge my own children and family's experiences.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Your picture books have been illustrated by a wide array of artists with very different perspectives and backgrounds.

MONICA BROWN: My texts have been paired with some of the best illustrators working today, who come from many different places. I've also had the pleasure and honor of working with illustrators on their debut children's books. Rafael Lopez was already an established editorial illustrator and an amazing muralist, but his first picture book was ours together. The same went for with John Parra. It was so special to work with new Latino artists who have gone on to become incredible forces in the field of children's literature and art.

TEACHINGBOOKS: How would you describe your body of work for children and what you're trying to do with it?

MONICA BROWN: I want all children to have safe, happy, affirming childhoods. But I know that's not always possible, so I would like my books to provide a feeling or an experience of joy or safety or happiness when children open them. That would be my goal. When I was younger, books carried me through tough times and gave me an outlet for pleasure, creativity, and imagination. So if my writing can make a child happy, or make a child feel respected or affirmed or emboldened for however long they spend with one of my books, then I will feel satisfied and fulfilled.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You have a new chapter book series coming out that focuses on a character named Lola Levine.

MONICA BROWN: I'm really excited about it. The title character is Jewish and Peruvian, and she's a soccer fanatic and a writer, too. She likes to write notes. She leaves them in strange places, and she has a diary as well. I guess she's what people would call a tomboy. The series is her story and the story of her family.

The development of this series was really interesting for me. I was talking with my agent and telling her that I wanted to write a chapter-book series, and as we were talking I was thinking to myself that I already had Marisol McDonald, so I really couldn't do another book with a biracial character. And then I realized how ridiculous that was. I was limiting myself. How silly of me to think I could create only one—what a token mentality. So I decided to create Lola, who has lots of energy and lots of passion, and she's really, really funny. I guess humor is pretty important to me, and I think it compels young readers.

The first book in the series is going to be called Lola Levine Is Not Mean, and the second is Lola Levine, Drama Queen. They'll come out in 2016.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Your books have won a diverse array of awards, including the Américas Award, the Christopher Award, the Pura Belpré Honor, and the Tejas Star Book Award.

MONICA BROWN: Being recognized in the form of awards is incredible. I think awards like the Américas Award and the Pura Belpré Award have done more for Latino writers and illustrators, in some ways, than any other award. The librarians on the committee are Latino and they are literacy activists. They shine light on work that doesn't always attention, and I am so honored that some of my books have received those awards and that their illustrators have received Pura Belpré honors.

[The awards] are also special because sometimes, like in the case of the Américas Award, the committee also includes teachers, the people who are in the trenches. So to be recognized by them was very meaningful. And of course, the Tejas Star Book Award is one of the most special I've ever received because the children of Texas voted on it.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What do you do when you get stuck?

MONICA BROWN: That's an interesting question because when I was a little bit younger, I used to think writer's block was for people who had too much time on their hands. Isn't that arrogant and awful? But after my mom died I realized, wow, it is possible to be empty, to not have anything in you that inspires creativity. I came to learn that for me, the best thing to do when I'm stuck is to read the work of someone amazing. I might go and read other writing in the genre I'm working in, or read something else entirely. I also get a lot of peace and renewal from being in nature, so I go for walks in the forest. Beaches, too, are places that really renew me, creatively.

Finally, I try to have fun, because I think when you write for children you really have to have access to joyfulness. So I try to surround myself with people who have that capacity for joy and creativity that children have.

TEACHINGBOOKS: What is a typical workday like for you?

MONICA BROWN: I'm a teacher, so I do a lot of writing work in the summer and on the weekends, and over winter break. I usually can't write on a day that I teach, but luckily I'm a professor so I only teach a couple days a week. So I try to save Friday for writing and not schedule classes, and then my writing can spill over into the weekend.

Generally my tendency is to wake up and write. My mind is really active in the mornings, and less full of worries or anxieties. Mentally, I can get to a fun or funny place more easily at that time of day.

TEACHINGBOOKS: You speak to a lot of educators. What do you like to tell them?

MONICA BROWN: I like to share with them my belief that children's books can enhance and even transform the curriculum. To me, their ability to do that is as important as any textbook ever written. I think the very best of literature, with its beautiful, inspiring, and powerful texts, can electrify students and engage them in ways that exercises and test preparation cannot. And at the same time, I think reading children's books still supports those important skills like critical thinking and reading and interpreting.

TEACHINGBOOKS: When you speak to students, what do you like to tell them?

MONICA BROWN: I love talking to students. Children are so uncensored and fabulous. I talk to them about everything. I get a full range of questions and a full range of answers when we talk. I usually start our conversation with a question like, "Do any of you think you might want to be a writer when you grow up?" There are always some, but not that many who say they do. Then I ask them what they think a writer does, or what kinds of jobs they think a writer could have. Then we start talking about everything from song lyricists and playwrights, to screenwriters and newspaper journalists and biographers. We spend a lot of time on this, chatting about the different types of work a person could do with this one skill of using and writing down words. And then I ask again how many of them think they might want to be writers, and I always get a full house.

I also love to arrive at my signings dressed up really crazily, so they see that I'm okay with being a little different, just like my characters. And isn't that awesome, to be a little different? That gives me a great deal of pleasure.

TEACHINGBOOKS: Is there anything else you'd like to say about your work or multicultural literature in general?

MONICA BROWN: When I think about why people should care about multicultural literature, I think in terms of change. Change comes through education. And I think the arts, whether we're talking about literature or music or fine art, are among the most powerful ways to move people to learn and to change. I believe that diverse children's literature is one of the ways we can model justice-oriented citizenship for children.

I also think we should care because there are some absolutely amazing authors and illustrators of color out there who may not have the easiest access to publication. But they're out there, and we need to work to open those avenues and encourage them. When we do, we end up with new and brilliant voices to learn from.

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