As Meaningful As Possible with Erin Entrada Kelly

Erin Entrada Kelly, author of At Last She Stood (Greenwillow Books) and The Last Resort (Scholastic Press), joins Matthew to talk about crafting stories as meaningful as possible to the reader.

Listen along:

About the book: At Last She Stood by Erin Entrada Kelly. Published by Greenwillow Books.

"A courageous, uplifting biography of a woman almost lost to history.” –ALA Booklist 

World War II spy, Filipino guerrilla fighter, war hero, Medal of Freedom recipient, leprosy survivor, teacher, peacemaker . . . The legendary and inspiring life and work of Josefina “Joey” Guerrero is introduced to readers by two-time Newbery Medal winner, National Book Award finalist, and bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly. For fans of Steve Sheinkin and Candace Fleming.

Joey Guerrero, a native of the Philippines, was diagnosed with leprosy (Hansen’s disease) as World War II unfolded in Europe and Asia. Soon after the Japanese occupied the Philippines, Joey—believing she would die soon—joined the guerrilla movement to complete covert missions in support of the Allies. Because of her condition, she was rarely searched by Japanese soldiers, which allowed her to courier secret messages, including an invaluable minefield map that she taped to her back. She was eventually awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and admitted to the National

Leprosarium in Carville, Louisiana, where she lived for nine years. When she was cured and released, she found it difficult to find work because of racial discrimination and her health history and was forced to pawn her Presidential Medal to make ends meet. Eventually, she shed her previous identity. When she died in 1996, her obituary identified her as a secretary from Manila. But Joey Guerrero was much more than that—she was a hero who changed the course of history.

Erin Entrada Kelly’s engaging nonfiction debut combines themes of the Philippines, World War II, the Asia-Pacific War, spy stories, Louisiana, immigration, disease and medicine, racism, perseverance, religious devotion, and hope. Illustrated with photographs, maps, and other illustrative material and featuring sidebars that clearly illuminate key moments in history, At Last She Stood is for readers and educators who love Candace Fleming, Deborah Heiligman, Christina Soontornvat, and Steve Sheinkin. Includes an author’s note, source notes, index, and other back matter.

About the book: The Last Resort by Erin Entrada Kelly. Pubished by Scholastic Press.

The next evolution in storytelling from New York Times bestselling, Newbery Medal Winning author Erin Entrada Kelly!

Twelve-year-old Lila has two goals for the summer:

1. Win back the friends who ditched her for being "too dramatic"

2. Stop being so dramatic

But then Lila's estranged Grandpa Clem dies, throwing a wrench in her plans. Now she'll have to spend the summer in Ohio while her parents decide what to do with Grandpa Clem's creepy Victorian Inn. It's supremely unfair. How can she show off the "new and improved" Lila from so far away?

Even worse, strange things keep happening. En route to Ohio, the family gets into a scary car accident. No one's hurt, but the remainder of the trip is... odd. At every rest stop, Lila sees people in weird old-fashioned clothes. People no one else can see or hear...

Lila convinces herself it's just her overactive imagination until the day of the funeral when she spots an old man sitting in her grandfather's favorite chair. She does a double take -- it's him, Grandpa Clem. He tells Lila that he didn't die of a heart attack: he was murdered. Possibly by someone who wants to control the inn. Because it's not a normal bed & breakfast: it's a portal between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. A hotel for ghosts passing onto the afterlife.

With the help of her skeptical brother, Caleb, and their new ghost-obsessed neighbor, Teddy, Lila -- the girl who's vowed to be less dramatic -- must uncover her grandfather's killer AND stop the evil spirits desperate to make their way back into the human world.

Enter the world of The Last Resort! Ghosts from the story will emerge from the pages of the book, allowing readers to talk to spirits from the past and help solve the mystery!

More:

Visit Erin Entrada Kelly online at erinentradakelly.com

Other helpful links:

• Erin Entrada Kelly at the Highlights Foundation

• Erin Entrada Kelly Scholarship - Established by Erin Entrada Kelly, this scholarship celebrates diverse representation in middle grade novels.

• Middle Grade Writers: A Generative Retreat - Immerse yourself in the generative writing process and try new, hands-on techniques to spark creativity, connect, unwind, and generate new pages (or revive old ones).

Transcript:

Matthew: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Children's Book Podcast, where we celebrate the power of storytelling to reflect our world, expand our perspectives, and foster connections between readers of all ages, brought to you in partnership with the highlights foundation, positively impacting kids by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves.

I'm your host, Matthew Winner. Teacher, librarian, writer, and a fan of kids. A quick reminder before we begin. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, you can enjoy ad free and early access to episodes by subscribing to TCBP plus for just 99 cents USD per month. Just tap the banner anytime today on the podcast.

We are joined by one of the most celebrated voices in children's literature. Erin Entrada [00:01:00] Kelly Erin is the Newberry medal winning author of Hello Universe, a Newberry Honor recipient for we Dream of Space, and a recipient of the Asian Pacific American Award for literature. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and has reached readers all over the world.

This year. Erin brings us, not one, but two extraordinary new books. At last. She stood in the last resort. At last she stood is a courageous, uplifting biography of World War ii, spy Filipino gorilla Fighter, war hero, medal of Freedom, recipient leprosy, survivor teacher peacemaker. The legendary and inspiring life and work of Josephina Joey Guerrero.

And in the last resort, Lily, Teddy, and Caleb encounter a place that is not a normal bed and breakfast. It's a portal between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. A hotel for ghosts passing onto [00:02:00] the afterlife. Erin Andrada Kelly is a versatile writer, as you can tell, and she's a writer whose books invite us to look more closely at ourselves, our histories, and the stories we tell.

Speaking to Erin was a dream come true. She is an exceptional author and writes for all kids. She talks in this conversation about the hardest book she's ever written and also reflects on those moments when the universe is smiling upon us. I think this one's gonna resonate with you in a really special way.

Please welcome Erin Entrada Kelly to the podcast.

Erin: Hi, my name is Erin Entrada Kelly. I'm the author of several books for young readers, best known for the 2018 Newberry Metal winner. Hello Universe. And. [00:03:00] 2025 Newberry medal winning book, the first state of being. Um, and I also write and illustrate books for newly independent readers. 

Matthew: I like the way you're saying that.

Newly independent, I know those Marisol books. My, we, my students know them very well and it's a fun thing to be. In that library position of I see pre-K through fifth grade, and to be able to look at books that they start with, with an author. And then, well, as you get older, um, if you feel like you need something a little bit more, uh, challenging or a little bit more written for your age, we've got even more of these, uh, books from this author.

It's great to be able to write for those different ages. You get to grow with your readers. 

Erin: Absolutely. And that's my goal. I wanna be, you know, an author that a kid grows up with from elementary all the way through high school. That's kind of a dream of mine to be that the author that is with [00:04:00] them the whole way.

Matthew: I love that. Erin. I don't know if I've ever had somebody tell me that, that they just wanna be with these kids for their life, for their, their adolescent reading life. Yes. That's terrific. 

Erin: Thank you. 

Matthew: I, um. I know you also have a fair number of adult readers because we don't just write for a kid, we write for everyone.

Right. But I, I will say to you briefly as a backstory, as soon as I could read independently, I stopped reading. I didn't have models at home to, to, to show me reading novels. I had models at home to show me reading the newspaper, but I, I wasn't interested in that at third grade or fourth grade or whatever.

Um, and so. The path somehow brought me into teaching though. Um, I think probably because I've always loved story and so I was getting my story from video games and now I get my story, uh, being in the library. But it means that a lot of your work and a lot of the work of maybe [00:05:00] classic authors as well, I've gotten to read for the first time in my twenties, thirties and forties.

And I say that to say our first encounter, um, was shortly after. You were recognized for Hello Universe, and that's one heck of an inEntradaduction to Erin Andrada. Kelly, lemme just tell ya. Let me tell ya. That's an inEntradaduction. 

Erin: Thank you. I appreciate that 

Matthew: You, um. You've got two books that have come out recently that I'd love to hear more about, and then I cannot wait to pick your writer brain.

Would you first mind though, sharing a brief book talk of at last she stood For any of us that haven't yet encountered it yet? 

Erin: Absolutely. At last, she stood as my first work of a narrative nonfiction. It is the story of Josefina Guerrero, who went by Joey. And Joey was a spy during World War II for the Allies.

She was a [00:06:00] Filipino woman, and at the age of around 19, she was diagnosed with leprosy. Uh, now known as Hansen's Disease, and at that time. It was right when, um, Imperial Japan invaded the Philippines. It was right at the beginning of World War ii, and she decided that she wanted to make her life as meaningful as possible, and Joan of Ark was her hero and her role model, and so she decided to emulate her and start working for the Allies.

So she worked as a spy. Um, for several years at the end of the war, she fought to come to the United States to get better care for her leprosy because the care in the Philippines was, was very bleak and dire. And so she arrived here because in Carville, uh, Louisiana, near where I grew up, was the. [00:07:00] World's most renowned Leprosarium.

And so she was there for several, several years and then once she tested negative for the disease, she left. She changed her name, she cut her hair. She moved to um, Washington, DC where she later died, and she pretty much. You know, she changed her name, she cut her hair. She, she didn't want to revisit that time of her life.

So when she died, no one was aware that she had done all these incredible things as a spy. So that is the story of Joey Guerrero. And at last she stood. 

Matthew: So what drew you to telling Joey's story? Were you aware because of living near that, that, um, facility or this was just a name you had come across? Or maybe someone that you.

You, you just know about? I don't know. 

Erin: Well, it was kind of serendipitous because I was very [00:08:00] interested in learning more about the Cargill Epicerum. 'cause I thought it was fascinating. Yeah. That it was, that it was there. And, 

Matthew: um, and the world renowned, you said 

Erin: I know. Yes, it was. And I, I have an interest in.

Infectious diseases, like reading about them. I'm a, I'm a big voracious nonfiction reader, so I picked up this book called, um, Carville's Cure by Pam Fessler, and it's the story of Carville. And as I'm reading that story, this is around the time that my editor and I had been discussing my transition to, well, not transition, in addition to writing fiction.

I was interested in writing nonfiction because I read a lot of nonfiction. 

Matthew: Hmm. 

Erin: So we were in talks about, you know, maybe I could step into the nonfiction space. So I was reading this book in bed and I got to this paragraph about 70% into the book. About Joey. It was just a brief paragraph. It was talking about different patients who were there, and I shot up in [00:09:00] bed, immediately emailed my editor and said, you know, I, I think this should be my nonfiction book.

And it was, it was from there. That's where it went. So it was, it was, it was weirdly serendipitous. 

Matthew: It sounds like it. And how fascinating too for, for a life to jump off the page. Yes. And just as you said, a paragraph or so and, and, and have your curiosity or the empathy you feel toward that person or, or whatever that is in there, the combination of things, um, drive you to tell their story, to learn more yourself and to be a, a, a, a witness of their life.

Erin: Yes, exactly. She's an incredible woman. 

Matthew: That's pretty cool and congratulations for your nonfiction debut. Those little different things feel like celebrations to me when it's, oh, you made a graphic novel. You made a novel in verse. You did. I like that.[00:10:00] 

I think it, it. It feels maybe not unlike celebrating my students where it's you picked up a new skill. That's great. Writing is writing, but it's also not, it is different from format to format. And, um, interesting to hear, uh, you approaching writing [00:11:00] nonfiction and writing narrative nonfiction. Did you find that it was.

For, for you as, as, as one writer. Erin, did you find that it was so different from writing novels? Maybe you're about to tell me that each novel you write feels different in and of itself. 

Erin: No, you know, um, my writing process is pretty similar from novel to novel. They all feel different. Of course. 'cause they are different.

Yeah. But, but the process of writing them doesn't change much from novel to novel for the nonfiction. It was, um, the hardest book I've ever written. Now, the tools of course, are similar. You need a story. You need characters who are interesting. You need conflict, you need all these things. The problem is that there are huge chunks of Joey's life, but I just have no knowledge about and we're impossible to find and don't exist as far as I can tell.

So they just don't. Yeah, the biggest. Hurdle or the biggest difference is obviously with [00:12:00] nonfiction you can't make it up. So it's, you know, I like to say it was like putting together a puzzle except half of the pieces are missing and you just hope that the puzzle that you put together with those missing pieces still makes sense to the reader and the reader can look at it and say, oh, okay, that's a forest, or whatever it is.

Uh, so that was the biggest. Difference. And it, it, for obvious, obvious reasons, really affected the writing process. 'cause then I have to think, okay, how am I going to work around this or work with this? Or how am I gonna phrase this so it makes sense and feel streamlined? So those were skill sets that I don't necessarily bring into my fiction writing life that were different 

Matthew: because we.

We can make educated guesses about those gaps that are missing in, in a, in a, a [00:13:00] nonfiction book, in a real life. But it's a bit of a different responsibility to the reader if you, the author are, are attempting to fill in some of those gaps. We really have to walk with a lot more caution than I'm writing this fiction book and I can ask myself what feels true of the character and have the character tell me where are we going with this.

But, uh, yeah, you're right. I think that, um, I think about Candace Fleming all the time filling in those gaps, going whenever I read her work or when we've spoken before. That feels like a responsible way to approach it and maybe one that's a good model for any of us, just to acknowledge there's things I don't know, and I'm not gonna try to fill it in for you.

I could say maybe it's these things when I've thought about it a lot, which I've probably thought about it more than you have. 'cause I'm the author, I've come to maybe these three options, but we don't know. 

Erin: Yes, exactly. And Candace Fleming is absolutely incredible. I mean, definitely one of my favorite authors.

And you know, I, I very much look up to her. [00:14:00] So it's tricky and, and you know, different writers, I think there's kind of like a spectrum, right? Like some, some, some nonfiction writers are comfortable with conjecture and just saying she probably felt this and she may have felt that, but I prefer if it's too much of that, then as a reader, I don't particularly like that.

So, and Atla, she stood. If it's in quotations, that means it was documented that it was said that way. And you know, the educated guesses are very educated guesses, right? Very educated. 

Matthew: I like that line. These are very educated guesses. 

Erin: These are not 20% educated guesses. These are like 85% brain power educated guesses.

Matthew: That's great. Well, I'm so glad that, that you and other biographers, um, commit yourselves to helping make sure that, [00:15:00] that we don't lose accomplishments to history and lose these important voices and faces. And it's so cool that it's your backyard too. I have a, a, a new thing to be thinking about that in, in, in the whole world.

This place was right in your backyard in Joey's backyard. What a great. Opportunity or access to care, how, how fortuitous that it would be that way. 

Erin: Yes. Yes. And you bring up a good point about, you know, upholding stories that in, in Joey's case and other people like her can be forgotten. You know, marginalized people, women, people of color, their contributions.

Um, when we think about. The Pacific Theater during World War ii. You know, we think about, you know, America and you know, the allies coming in and saving the Philippines. And if we think about the Pacific side at [00:16:00] all, um, 'cause most people kind of forget that part of the war, but there are so many, obviously there were so many native Filipinos whose homeland it was who contributed.

Significantly to, um, all the successful, you know, things that happened there. So obviously they deserve recognition too, being that it's their own country. 

Matthew: Sure. That step by step working to repair. I feel it as a teacher. I see it in authors that we can, we can patch up the things we've left out of history so that moving forward.

Each of us carrying the history with us has a couple more voices. Yes. That are joining that choir of that, that experience. That's great. Um, you have a middle grade horror that's also just come out. I'm very excited about this because it, I don't know how, I don't know your origin story for the last resort, [00:17:00] but when I saw it was on Scholastic, I was like, does Scholastic approach Aaron to write a book?

Because I just interviewed Tiffany Jackson, who also wrote a middle grade horror book. It's exceptional. And she was like a scholastic approached me. I'm like, Ooh, scholastic nose. We gotta beef up the horror section. I literally just did my book order. Erin. I have a wonderful, incredible author in my backyard here in Columbia.

Her name is Mary Downing. Han. Yo and my goodness do we love her ghost stories. And now they're adapting them into graphic novels and Ooh, ooh, ooh. So I've been ordering and ordering 'cause I'm at this school where the kids are like, Mr. Winner, we need even more horror books. And here you come along writing another, please tell me first what this book is about.

'cause I, I read the blurb and love it. And I would love to hear how, how you got into this particular story with Scholastic. 

Erin: Yes. First of all, Mary Downing. Ha, queen, queen, come on, forget it. Okay. So anyway. Um, my origin story, I'll try to [00:18:00] make this as brief as possible, but I love horror. I always have since I was a kid.

Um, I snuck into Nightmare on Elm Street at the movie theater. I watch. I forced my friends to watch horror movies at my house all the time. I, it's my favorite. Movie genre. 

Matthew: I saw on, on your about page all of your favorite things, and I was reading the movies Going Alien. Oh yes. This, oh, oh yeah. I I It's not hard to see that you're a, you're, you're drawn to it for sure.

Erin: Absolutely. And you know, of course back in the eighties there wasn't this plethora of middle grade horror. So, um, I kind of jumped from Judy Bloom to BC Andrews and Stephen King. Kinda leapt over because there wasn't a big, it's not like it is now with all these options. That's correct. So, um, I read horror almost exclusively [00:19:00] through like middle school, through high school.

I was obsessed with it. All the stories I wrote were horror. Now, when I was in middle in elementary school, the stories I wrote were. Judy Bloom and Sweet Valley High knockoffs. When I entered middle school and high school, it was all horror. So it was like Stephen King knockoffs. So I, I wrote him like a million fan letters and I, I was, I wanted to be a horror writer.

Matthew: Yeah. 

Erin: And things shifted, you know, as I grew up and I started reading more widely, et cetera and so forth. And then, you know, I'm, I'm. Started publishing short stories, realistic short stories, a few horror short stories for adults, and then came into the children's literature space. So all that to say that I drifted, um, a little bit away from, from my original love of horror.

Then, so I talked to my agent Sarah Crow, about this, and I'm like, Sarah, you know, I, I love my realistic books. Of [00:20:00] course, I love every book I've ever written. I've never put out a book that I didn't love. I said, but, oh man, I just really wanna write horror too, and I don't know how I'm gonna do this because.

It's kind of like a pivot, you know, it's kind of like a, what's going on here? Um, and it just never felt like quite the right time to be like, boom, here's my horror book. And I love ghost stories and haunted house stories. That's my favorite genre of horror. And lo and behold, um, Scholastic did reach out.

And I love it so much. It's, this is another thing where it's just like, what I mean with Tiffany Jackson, obviously it makes sense. She writes thriller and horror and so that Right. So they're gonna 

Matthew: ask her to write for a younger age, of course. And for you to sort of have kept those cards to your chest and then they not published a horror.

Yes. And they're like, what if Erin plus horror? And you were like, I was born for this. It 

Erin: was amazing. So, so [00:21:00] they came to us and, and I think the language was something like. We know this is a long shot, but would Aaron. Have any interest in writing horror for us. And I, when I tell you that, I was just like, what is the universe doing?

The universe smiling upon me. So I said, yes, I'm interested. And there we go. So the last resort is the story of a girl named Lila, who, um, she is. Very dramatic. She's a quote unquote drama queen. She's trying to tamp it down because her friends think she's too immature and she's trying to be cool, common, collected, as she says.

So her plan for the summer is to be cool, common, collected, win back her friends, et cetera. But her grandfather dies, her paternal grandfather, who was estranged from the family. And then lo and behold, she finds out that. They have to go drive from Arizona to [00:22:00] Ohio to clean out his in, you know, tie up all his loose ends and stuff.

And you know, when they get there, strange things begin to happen. Woo. Um, in the house there is a secret fourth floor, and on that floor is a portal to the afterlife, but. The thing that's happening is all of a sudden, so there's ghosts that Lila can see on the way to Ohio, they, they get, they almost get in a car accident and after that, Lila is able to see ghosts.

And the strange thing that's happening in the town of Castle Hill is there's evil ghosts to should. Not be there, who were there and walking around and, uh, Lila's being haunted by them. So she [00:23:00] and her brother and her neighbor have to figure out what's going on, how to make it stop. And the cool thing is that there's a gaming element attached to the game, which I was really excited about.

So. Basically, you scan a QR code, and there's illustrations in the book. The illustrations are phenomenal. You scan the illustration and the ghost comes out of the pages and you have to figure out. How to help them cross over and it's just so cool. 

Matthew: It's cool. It's very much like what they did with and what Rick Rearden did with the 39 clues.

Yes. Series only, only ghosts. 

Erin: Yes. So cool. Exactly. Oh, no, exactly. 

Matthew: That's that's, that's so cool. Is it gonna be more than one book? Yes. Or this is just a standalone? Oh, it is gonna be more than one. Oh, very cool. 

Erin: It's gonna be more than one. And one of the really, really cool things is when Scholastic [00:24:00] approached me, they were like, you know, this is a long shot.

We know. And then they said to sweeten the deal, which don't tell them, but they didn't need to sweeten the deal. It didn't, I was gonna do it anyway. But anyway, um, they said, uh, Aaron can recommend. The authors for books two and three. 

Matthew: Oh, it is like a, just like 39 clues, different voices writing. Oh, exactly.

Erin: So, so they said and they gave you Yes. They said, send us names First suggestions. Correct. How cool. They said, send us a list of names, who you think would be good for two and three. So I did. So book two is being written by Jasmine Warga. 

Matthew: What? Yes, Jasmine. That's gonna be, oh, are they gonna come out?

Probably like once a year or something. Then 

Erin: I think Jasmine's book actually is coming out only a few months after the first book. So it's written. I like to 

Matthew: get some momentum. Yeah, 

Erin: yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. So it's all very exciting. 

Matthew: Yeah. Jasmine Morgan. Yeah. All scary talking ghosty things. This is so [00:25:00] fun.

I know. I'm excited. I'm so glad to hear that. You know, connecting to horror. Um. I've now with this, through this partnership, been interviewing lots and lots of wonderful faculty from the highlights foundation that are people that I haven't met before. This is the great thing about making friends who have other friends 'cause then we get to blend our friend groups together.

Um, but, but through getting to meet some people through the Highlights foundation, um. I, I got to meet Rob, um, who was part of this whole novel retreat that you also do. I don't know if you're part of every single one of them or if he's every, it, it doesn't matter for, for the sake of what we're talking about now.

I'm aware that you all did a whole novel retreat of spooky things of, of writing horn, of, of having that together. Erin, from what I can tell, you've been. Connected with the highlights foundation for, for some years, for some time. I'd love to hear more about [00:26:00] those connections and also, and also just your experience generally serving, serving other, uh, students through faculty or through through, um, faculty opportunities like what you do through these retreats.

Erin: Oh man. Uh, where to begin with the highlights Foundation. I know, know, I know it's absolutely one of my favorite places. I heard about it years ago. Um, so I got my MFA from Rosemont College in Philadelphia, and my Carla Spataro, uh, who's not a children's author, but she is a, she writes for adults. She mentions that you can go there and do personal retreats, so I did it.

I was blown away. I am just like, what is this place? You know? Yeah. 

Matthew: It's magical. 

Erin: Um, it's magical. And of course I connected it to the magazine, so already I had this nostalgia, even though they're two different, obviously entities, but they're still connected. Um, so I vowed to go back and I've been back so many, I mean, countless number of times.

Um, so I [00:27:00] teach with the whole novel retreat. Usually I teach both sessions and it is. Probably I do a lot of teaching throughout the year, and I would have to say that that that retreat is probably my favorite. Um, I also teach a middle grade generative writer's retreat with Laurel Snyder. Oh, which we just had recently.

Another Baltimore native. Yes, yes. Laurel 

Matthew: Snyder. Love her. Yes. 

Erin: Oh, me too. She's one of my, uh, close, close friends. I love her. Oh, so we do, Laurel and I do a retreat and we, we, we kind of brainstorm this together where we were like, you know, once you start wanting to get an agent and wanting to get published, sometimes your relationship with writing changes and Oh, okay.

You kind of lose the, the fun that you had when you were young and like just. Writing for fun and play. And so we wanted to inEntradaduce kind of like a summer camp for middle grade writers. So what we do is it's very informal. Obviously we talk about [00:28:00] craft, we have writing time, but we also do fun things like we make maps with colors and markers, and we make friendship bracelets, and we play board games, and we play writing games.

And it's all in the spirit of remembering what it's. What it's like to be young and, um, doing things just because you want to, not because you're trying to get some end goal. So I also love that retreat and highlights is just magical for so, so many reasons. Just its seclusion by itself kind of makes it feel like its own cocoon.

The beauty of the place. 

Matthew: Yeah. 

Erin: Um, and just the, the shared community, there's, there's something really, really special about. Writing in community, even if you're not speaking, if you're just in a room together writing, it's, there's something about the collective energy. 

Matthew: Do you get to write while you're there too, Erin?

Erin: I do sometimes. Sometimes, [00:29:00] depending on how busy I am with whole novel, I usually do and Okay. Usually Sarah Aronson brings everyone in the big lodge and we all sit at tables and we just write together. 

Matthew: Okay. 

Erin: There's also something special about being around people who speak the same language that you do.

The language of writing, the language of writing for children. And, you know, not a lot of people understand the craft of it. Um, so there's something special about, about that too. So, yes, uh, highlights is very inspiring. You know, I started a scholarship there because I wanted to continue supporting highlights in as many ways as I could.

Matthew: Do you find that? Sounds like you teach a lot. Do you find that teaching is also helping to feed your writing as well? Or maybe, maybe you compartmentalize them? 

Erin: No, they're absolutely related. Yeah. I mean, part of it is writing is very solitary and teaching. Opens it up and brings other people in, and I can also be like, oh, [00:30:00] wait a minute.

I tell my students not to do this all the time, and now I'm doing it in my own work. 

Matthew: Uh, yes. Amen to that. Oh, I'm doing the thing that I tell you not to do. It's great. Yes. Well, um, Erin, on behalf of my library full of children, thank you for what you do. Thank you for writing stories for the kids that come in asking.

For a good story for a a person that sees them. You do that exceptionally well and I'm so glad to always cheer you on and to know that there's more books coming. That's terrific. I'm gonna close this way, Erin. I'll see a library full of children tomorrow morning. Is there a message that I can bring to them from you?

Erin: My message is always the same, which is You are not alone. And what better way to discover that than through books.[00:31:00] 

Matthew: Thank you to Erin Entrada Kelly for joining me on the Children's Book podcast. You could pick up your own copy of At Last She Stood, and The Last Resort, wherever Books are Found. Consider supporting independent bookstores by shopping through bookshop.org. Our podcast logo was created by Duke Stephens.

Our music is by Paddington Bear Podcast, hosting by Lipson. You could support the show and buy me a coffee@matthewcwinner.com or by clicking the link in the show notes. And on that note, be well and read on.