Mitali Perkins, one of the foremost kidlit authors to talk about race and representation, as well as the queen of techno-connections, has featured Nice and Mean on her blog, Mitali’s Fire Escape!  I am deeply, deeply honored.

Here’s the link, and a preview:

“I’ve been challenging my author friends—and myself—to take risks in crossing borders of class and race in fiction, but to do it wisely and carefully, respecting the inherent power of storytelling. It’s lovely to find an example or two to showcase, like NICE AND MEAN, one of my favorite middle-school reads of 2010.

[okay, I can’t resist quoting the second paragraph, too]:

“Sparkling with creativity and humor, this tween novel features two protagonists, Marina (“Mean”) and Sachi (“Nice”), who is Indian-American. A pet peeve of mine is the insertion of a nonwhite character into a story whose sole purpose is to serve as a sinless foil for a main white character.  Sachi, in contrast, is a flawed but sympathetic middle-schooler. Author Jessica Leader gives her a first-person voice that’s funny and true, and pays attention to cultural details as she invites us into Sachi’s home.”

As you’ll see from the interview, Mitali was rather hilariously psychic about the process of my writing the novel.  She was right once again to assume that it felt like a risk to cross the border of race to write from the point of view of an Indian-American character in Nice and Mean.  I did as much research as I could and tried to make Sachi’s storyline real, compelling, and non-stereotyped, but I felt nervous–and continue to feel nervous–that it would feel false or easy to readers, especially Indian-American ones.  I know I should develop my own internal barometers and not be too swayed by other peoples’ opinions of my work, good or bad, but to be totally honest, the fact that an author so attuned to the representation of culture, especially one who’s Bengali-American and knows so much about East Asian culture, is a tremendous validation.

All right, enough serious stuff.  Just read the dang interview!  And hang out on the Fire Escape, too.  There’s a lot to learn there.