An Inside Look with Jasmine Warga
*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)
How did you come to know Cora?
Cora took a little while to tease out. I understood she was a brainy kid, a kid who was used to collecting information and knowing the answer, and that now she was faced with this horrible and tragic situation where there might not be an answer. Or if there is an answer, it is murky and complicated. So I spent a lot of time brainstorming around that aspect of her character as well as doing a deep-dive into her grief.
What do you think is her most admirable quality?
Her big heart.
Is there anything you wish Cora would have changed or done differently in her story?
I wish she would have extended herself and others more grace. She's impatient and does not do especially well in situations where she can't easily understand and explain things. That said, Cora was dealt an extremely difficult hand, and I think we all have to be gentle with ourselves when we are grieving as there is no one right way to grieve.
What do you think she can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what she went through?This is related to what I said above, but I hope she shows other kids that it's okay to be messy and to feel difficult things. And also the importance of hope and bold imagination to help change the world for the better. Sometimes it takes believing in the impossible to confront the impossible.
How did you research Cora and the circumstances she found herself in?
I read accounts of other survivors of school shootings and also drew upon my own personal experiences with grief.
Do you and she share any similarities?
We're both a bit know-it-all-y as a way of self-defense--like Cora, I often trick myself into thinking that if I arm myself with enough facts, nothing can hurt me. Which, of course, isn't true. Like Cora, I've had to learn how to be more comfortable with not-knowing or understanding things.
What was the hardest scene to write about Cora?
I think the hardest scene for me to write was when she realized her sister wasn't ever going to come back. That was gutting.
Who do you think was her biggest supporter and why?
Cora is lucky to have several champions. Her father deeply loves her and so does Grams. But honestly, I think her biggest supporter is Quinn, who is fiercely loyal to Cora and loves her in that special way that childhood friends love one another.
Why do think some young people are willing and able to put their grief aside, and work toward the greater good of family and/or other people?
Young people are amazingly resilient, and have the ability to see the potential the future holds in a way that often grown-ups can't. I always say that I want to write challenging books that feel empowering, but that idea is inspired by how often I've seen young people take a challenging situation and become empowered from it.
What do you think Cora is doing as the present time?
I think she's changing the world for the better.
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 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)
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