2024 Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: Not So Shy
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🕮 The Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour is taking place February 5-9, 2024. Today, one of the blog tour stops is here at The Book of Life! My guest is Noa Nimrodi, author of Not So Shy, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Middle Grade Category. Click here for a list of all books honored in 2024.
Publisher Kar-Ben says "Twelve-year-old Shai hates having to move to America. She's determined to find a way to get back home to Israel—until she starts opening up to new experiences and friendships."
INTERVIEW
HEIDI: Noa, welcome to The Book of Life! I understand that the character of Shai is based on a real person. Which parts of the story are based on reality and which parts did you invent?
NOA: The book is a mix of truth and fiction. Shai’s character is loosely based on my middle daughter, Shai, who was 12 when we moved from Israel to San Diego, so the premise of the book is very much rooted in reality. The fictional Shai embodies all my three children’s personalities and experiences, but she’s also me in many ways. I too have moved from Israel to the US as a child (twice!… back in Israel by the age of 12). The book is packed with emotional truths, which all come from my own real-life experiences, both as a child and as a mom.More specifically:
- The antisemitic incident described in the book happened to my daughter in real life, but the way the event is dealt with in the book is made up. In reality, Shai did not talk about the incident until much later.
- My dad is a scientist, and my husband, who works in the biotech industry, was involved in a company that developed non-browning apples. In the book, Shai’s dad is a scientist developing non-browning avocados.
- The unfortunate occurrence that Shai’s grandparents face in Israel (I’m being vague here, not to spoil for those who haven’t yet read the book) is completely made up and, fortunately, not something my real family has ever faced, but it does reflect a truth other families in Israel have had to deal with.
HEIDI: You're welcome! ;^) What was the easiest part of the story to write, and what was the hardest part?
NOA: The easiest part for me in the writing process was nailing Shai’s voice. Once I realized she was not just the real Shai but also me, it was easy to give her a personality of her own, and she became a fully fleshed fictional character.
The hardest for me was cutting out a character in the revision process (here comes another bit to answer your first question of fiction vs. reality). In earlier drafts, Shai had an older brother, like she has in real life, but as a character in the book, the brother was not serving the story. Giving the angst and anger he was displaying to Shai herself made for a stronger plot line. Cutting out the brother was tough as a mom, but it was the right decision from a storytelling perspective.
HEIDI: There's a lot of diverse representation in the book: Jewish-American, Jewish-Israeli, Mizrahi, Muslim-American, Korean-American, and more. Talk about why you included this diverse cast of characters, and how you created authentic characters who are different from yourself.
NOA: I believe that exposing children to a wide range of ethnic backgrounds instills empathy, inclusiveness, and an understanding that diversity is what makes the beautiful tapestry of mankind.
Both Israel and the United States are a mosaic of cultures, so including a diverse cast of characters felt both natural and essential in telling a story about a girl from Israel moving to the US. Through storytelling, readers get a better understanding of how we are pretty much the same in the basic universal sense, despite our differences.
To create an authentic portrayal of the different characters, I turned to research, beta-readers, and, most importantly, friends of the different backgrounds represented in the book. In some cases, like that of Mizrahi Jews, I did not have to look too far. My in-laws were both born in Iraq and immigrated to Israel at a young age (the character of Safta Aviva in the book is inspired by my late mother-in-law).
HEIDI: There are some antisemitic and Islamophobic events in the story. Please explain what happens, and tell us why you felt it was important to include these portrayals of hate?
NOA: Pat and Matt are a couple of bullies who harass Shai with antisemitic remarks that escalate to the incident I mentioned earlier. These same two boys bully Hakim, a Muslim boy, and when Shai stands up for Hakim, they become fast friends. As the bullying continues, Hakim ends up being expelled for fighting back, and that is when Shai, who did not want to talk about the bullying, decides to speak up.
It was important to me to include the portrayal of race-based hate in the story, so it will prompt discussions about these issues and hopefully inspire kids who have been through similar experiences to speak up.
Now more than ever, when antisemitism is on the rise [as well as Islamophobia], we need stories with characters who are proud of their heritage and are not afraid to recognize and report acts of hate when facing them.
HEIDI: Shai's father works with GMO foods, and Shai learns about misinformation through that lens. Talk about the theme of misinformation in the book.
NOA: Today’s children can easily learn everything about anything with a click of a finger. While information (and misinformation!) is easily accessible, distinguishing between truth and lies is very hard. It is impossible to learn about complex and nuanced issues through content that is condensed into infographics on social media. This is a problem that troubles me deeply, and as such, it has made its way into my writing. GMOs are one such example of a topic that can’t be easily labeled as good or bad but has gotten a bad rep due to misinformation and misconceptions. With the father in my story being a scientist, the GMO issue lends itself well to my theme of misinformation, as I developed a plot line discussing the misinformation around my beloved homeland of Israel.
Current events—horrors which I could not have imagined when writing the book—have brought on a whole new wave of misinformation and antisemitism, making these issues all the more relevant.
HEIDI: Is there any read-alike for Not So Shy that you'd like to recommend?
NOA: A clever reviewer (yes, it was you, Heidi…) has compared Not So Shy to Lisa Yee’s Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, which I took as a great compliment. Indeed, both books touch on issues of relocation, prejudice, connection to heritage, and reflection on the meaning of home.
Another great book worth mentioning is A Place at the Table by Laura Shovan and Saadia Faruqi. Much like Not So Shy, it explores themes of culture, family, friendship, food, and what it means to belong. [Listen to the 2020 podcast interview with Shovan and Faruqi about A Place at the Table]
HEIDI: LOL, I'm glad you liked the comparison! Noa, thank you so much for joining me on The Book of Life and mazel tov on your Sydney Taylor Honor Award!
NOA: Thank you for the thoughtful questions!
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