An Inside Look with Danya Lorentz
*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)
Reenie was a tough character to crack! Rufus, my owl narrator, came to me right away, almost fully formed, hooting about everything. But Reenie was not ready to open up for several drafts. I had to revise her scenes over and over to get her voice right, to even find her voice in certain moments. But over time, I came to know her and figure out her feelings, hidden far beneath the surface, and bring them out on the page. I did a lot of journaling and mind-mapping of her scenes to help me find them. It took time and patience, which is true for her in the story as well.
What do you think is her most admirable quality?
Reenie’s most admirable quality is her strength and resilience. She has been through a lot of instability—in her home, in who’s taking care of her, in whether there’s food in the pantry—but still finds a way to stay positive and find a way forward. Unfortunately, this strength has also led her to close herself off to her feelings. She also finds it hard to trust kindness or accept help of any kind.
Is there anything you wish she would have changed or done differently in her story?
I wish she could have believed Aunt Bea’s, Jaxon’s, and Jamie’s offers of friendship when they were first made. It would have saved her from unnecessary loneliness. But that is part of her journey in this story—to discover that it is okay to open up to people, that the risk of being hurt is worth the chance of gaining a friend.
What do you think she can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what she went through?
I hope that readers who are experiencing instability in their own lives can see from Reenie’s experience that there is strength in being vulnerable and opening yourself to help. I hope readers who are experiencing anxiety or anger can see themselves in Reenie’s experiences of these feelings and know that they are not alone, and that there are tools out there to help them in those moments of big feelings.
How did you research Reenie and the circumstances she found himself in?
I have worked in the foster system and also in the family court system, so I came to that aspect of her story through those experiences. I visited animal rehabilitation centers and worked with raptor rehabbers to learn about how to help an owl heal. My favorite research project was taking a falconry lesson to learn what it would be like to fly a hawk from your fist. That first scene where Reenie flies Red was channeled directly from my experience of having a Harris hawk fly to me, swooping up onto my outstretched fist!
Do you and Reenie share any similarities?
Every one of my characters has some small piece of me in them. I try to find some authentic nugget of my own emotions to build on for each and every one of them. Though I have never experienced the kinds of personal upheaval that Reenie has, she is built on pieces of my own experiences with anxiety and anger, and that fear of opening yourself up to the possibility of a new friendship.
What was the hardest scene to write about her?
The hardest scenes to write for Reenie were any scenes where she has to work through her emotions:) Trying to balance writing in Reenie’s voice—the voice of a girl who does not want to open up for fear of being hurt again—with the scenes I knew the story needed was challenging. I would do multiple drafts of certain paragraphs, trying to overwrite the emotions I wanted on the page, and then edit them down to what I thought Reenie would be able to say about her feelings in that moment.
Who do you think was her biggest supporter and why?
I think the hardest thing for Reenie to realize was that every one of the major figures in her life was trying to support her in their own flawed way. Jaxon and Jamie, and Aunt Bea certainly had the biggest impact on her in this story, but her mom and her grandmother were also trying to support her as best that they could.
Why do you think humans and animals have such a special connection?
We are—humans and animals—smart beings trying to survive in a sometimes hostile world. I think it’s natural to look at even a rabbit in the garden and try to imagine the connections between our lives, or at least, it has felt natural to me:) I have always looked at animals and wondered about their animal lives and how different or similar they might be to mine. With my own pets—dogs and cats and fish and hamsters and guinea pigs!—it’s been an adventure of finding out how to live together in sometimes small spaces. With great horned owls, I found a connection with their fierce love of their owlets; I admired their ferocity in general—they are called the tigers of the sky!
What do you think Reenie is doing as the present time?
I think that Reenie is working hard toward her falconer’s permit so that she can continue working with raptors, and maybe join Aunt Bea over the summer at the falconry school. I think she’s learning every day how to be a better friend to Jaxon and Jamie and maybe even new friends. And I hope she’s finding a way to build a future with her mother where they can both be honest about their feelings and trust one another’s strengths.
SEASON #SIX (Summer 2019)
Interview #122 with Tamara Bundy (Author of Pixie Pushes On)
Interview #123 with Lindsay Lackey (Author of All the Impossible Things)
Interview #124 with Tae Keller (Author of When You Trap a Tiger)
Interview #125 with Jamie Sumner (Author of Roll With It)
Interview #126 with Hena Khan (Author of More to the Story)
Interview #127 with Phil Bildner (Author of A High-Five for Glenn Burke)
Interview #128 with Leslie Connor (Author of A Home for Goddesses and Dogs)
Interview#129 with Gillian McDunn (Author of Queen Bee and Me)
Interview #130 with Jody J. Little (Author of Worse Than Weird)
Interview #131 with Jenn Bishop (Author of Things You Can't Say)
Interview #132 with Kaela Noel (Author of Coo)
Interview #133 with Rebecca Stead (Author of The List of Things That Will Not Change)
Interview #134 with Gae Polisner (Author of Jack Kerouac is Dead to Me)
Interview #135 with Emily Blejwas (Author of Like Nothing Amazing Ever Happened)
Interview #136 with Joy McCullough (Author of A Field Guide to Getting Lost)
Interview #137 with Kim Baker (Author of the Water Bears)
Interview #138 with Erin Entrada Kelly (Author of We Dream of Space)
Interview #139 with Jess Redman (Author of Quintessence)
Interview #140 with Melanie Conklin (Author of Every Missing Piece)
Interview #141 with Lindsey Stoddard (Author of Brave Like That)
Interview #158 with Rebecca Ansari (Author of The In-Between)
Interview #159 with John David Anderson (Author of One Last Shot)
Interview #160 with Tracy Holczer (Author of Brave in the Woods)
Interview #161 with James Bird (Author of The Brave)
Interview #162 with Marcella Pixley (Author of Trowbridge Road)
Interview #163 with Barbara O'Connor (Author of Halfway to Harmony)
Interview #164 with Alan Gratz (Author of Ground Zero)
Interview #165 with Lisa Fipps (Author of Starfish)
Interview #166 with Ann Braden (Author of Flight of the Puffin)
Interview #167 with Kimberly Willis Holt (Author of The Ambassador of NoWhere Texas)
Interview #168 with Elana K. Arnold (Author of The House That Wasn't There)
Interview #169 with Erin Soderberg (Author of The Great Peach Experiment)
Interview #170 with Donna Gephart (Author of Abby, Tried, and True)
Interview #171 with M. Evan Wolkenstein (Author of Turtle Boy)
Interview #172 with Lindsey Stoddard (Author of Bea is for Blended)
Interview #173 with Jess Redman (Author of The Adventure is Now)
Interview #174 with David Levithan (Author of The Mysterious Disappearance of Aiden)
Interview #175 with Chris Grabenstein (Author of The Smartest Kid in the Universe)
Interview #176 with Ali Standish (Author of The Mending Summer)
Interview #177 with Holly Goldberg Sloan (Author of The Elephant in the Room)
Interview #178 with Jeff Zentner (Author of In the Wild Light)
SEASON #ELEVEN (Fall/Winter 2021)
Interview #179 with Katherine Applegate (Author of Willow)
Interview #180 with Padma Venkatraman (Author of Born Behind Bars)
Interview #181 with R.J. Palacio (Author of Pony)
Interview #182 with Kyle Lukoff (Author of Too Bright to See)
Interview #183 with Barbara Dee (Author of Violets are Blue)
Interview #184 with Anne Ursu (Author of The Troubled Girls of Dragonmir Academy)
Interview #185 with Margaret Finnegan (Author of We Could Be Heroes)
Interview #186 with Jasmine Warga (Author of Shape of Thunder)
Interview #187 with Joseph Bruchac (Author of Rez Dogs)
Interview #188 with Kathryn Erskine (Author of Lily's Promise)
Interview #189 with Elly Swartz (Author of Dear Student)
Interview #190 with Heather Clark (Author of Lemon Drop Falls)
Interview #191 with Veera Hiranandani (Author of How to Find What You're Not Looking For)
Interview #192 with Elizabeth Eulberg (Author of The Best Worst Summer)
Interview #193 with Cathy Carr (Author of 365 Days to Alaska)
Interview #194 with Carol Cujec and Peyton Goddard (Authors of REAL)
Interview #195 with Gillian McDunn (Author of These Lucky Stars)
Interview #196 with Alyssa Colman (Author of The Gilded Girl)
Interview #197 with E.L. Chen (Author of The Comeback)
Interview #198 with J.M.M. Nuanez (Author of Birdie and Me)
SEASON #TWELVE (Winter/Spring 2022)
Interview #199 with Jamie Sumner (Author of One Kid's Trash)
Interview #200 with Chad Lucas (Author of Thanks a Lot, Universe)
Interview #201 with Jenn Bishop (Author of Where We Used to Roam)
Interview #202 with Rebecca Caprara (Author of Worst-Case Collin)
Interview #203 with Leslie Connor (Author of Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?)
Interview #204 with Caroline Gertler (Author of Many Points of Me)
Interview #205 with Margaret Finnegan (Author of Susie B. Won't Back Down)
Interview #206 with Shawn Peters (Author of The Unforgettable Logan Foster)
Interview #207 with Aisha Saeed (Author of Omar Rising)
Interview #208 with Adrianna Cuevas (Author of Cuba in my Pocket)
Interview #209 with Jennifer Swender (Author of Stuck)
Interview #210 with Brenda Woods (Author of When Winter Robeson Came)
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