An Inside Look with Margaret Finnegan
*Season #SIX (Summer 2019)
How did you come to know Susie B.?
Hmmmm. I always get to know my characters through writing the story, and they surprise me all the time! For example, I had no idea that Susie B. Loved tap dancing until I was writing down that she did. But as soon as I wrote it, I was like, “Yes! Of course, Susie B. likes tap dance. There is no possible world where she doesn’t. That’s just who she is.
What do you think is her most admirable quality?
I just love Susie B.’s gumption. She is a girl who wants to a better world and is determined to make one. At the same time, she has her own insecurities that sometimes interfere with her best intentions and that sometimes warp them into resentment. Resentment is NOT Susie’ B.’s best quality, but I love a main character that isn’t perfect—one that we can see our whole complicates selves in. I think Susie B. is like that.
Is there anything you wish she would have changed or done differently in her story?
Oh, I wish Susie B. did a lot of things differently, which is exactly what I told you when you interviewed me about Hank and Maisie in WE COULD BE HEROES. I wish she could let the Usual Genius thing go and not hold on to grudges. I wish she could communicate her frustrations with her teacher to him directly. I wish she didn’t get so anxious about things, because that is just sad. But, as I mention above, Susie B. is not perfect, and I love that her mistakes help her grow and figure herself out.
What do you think Susie B. can offer to other children that are experiencing similar situations to what she went through?
At one point, we all look at someone and think: “Hey, why does that person seem to get all the good stuff in life and not me?" It’s normal to feel that way, and it is hard. It can spark envy and resentment, and those are difficult feelings to manage. But it’s also true that we can’t see what other people are going through. What looks like a perfect life from one angle, can look like it's full of challenges from another. So I hope readers will get to know Susie B. and think, “Oh, I’ve felt that way before,” and then, later, realize that we all struggle; we all have hard times; and we also all have gifts, and that we need to focus on the gifts we have.
How did you research Susie B. and the circumstances she found herself in?
Well, I am actually a trained historian. Long before I started writing children’s books, I wrote and published a book on the US woman suffrage movement. So I know a lot about it, and Susan B. Anthony, and I just have known for a long time that I wanted to take that knowledge and repurpose it for young readers. I especially wanted to explore how we approach, and what we do, when we realize our heroes are as imperfect and flawed as the rest of us. So I reread my own book, and then I read a ton of other books and online sources about Susan B. Anthony.
Do you and Susie B. share any similarities?
Sadly, like Susie. B., I am always itching for someone to hand me the big microphone. We both crave approval from others, and that has not served either of us well. I’m working on it! Also, while I never learned to tap dance, I’ve always wanted to know how.
What was the hardest scene to write about her?
I don’t think any particular scene was harder than another, but my editor pushed me to go deeper on all the scenes where Susie B. is reflecting on, and dealing with, her faltering relationship with Joselyn. I moved so much when I was a kid. I never had an experience where I was ditched by my best friend, simply because I never lived anywhere long enough for that to happen. So I needed her help in thinking about and imagining how hard that would be. I’m very grateful to her for that.
Who do you think was her biggest supporter and why?
Susie has so many people in her corner! She has Lock, Carson, Soozee, her mom and dad. She really is blessed in ways that she has a hard time seeing. But I think her biggest supporter is her brother, Lock, because that is who she admires and turns to the most for help. And since he has a “butterfly brain” too, he also can offer her guidance and perspective.
Why do you think some young people have the desire and need to help others and fight for the better good of people, while others just sit back and not worry about?
I think Susan B. Anthony might say that children learn from what is modeled for them. She came from a family of reformers, and so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that she became a reformer. I think we see a hint of that in Susie B. too, but I don’t think that is the whole answer because I’ve known lots of people who are born fighting the good fight, and their families are as surprised as anyone. I’d love to hear what your students think.
What do you think she is doing as the present time?
As we speak, Susie B. is trying to find some way to get herself something sweet to eat. She is also passionately telling someone what she thinks about everything in the world. God help that poor soul.
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 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)
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