SLJ Talks to Author Mitali Perkins about Her Book and Blog

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Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 11/20/2007 2:15:00 PM

In First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover (Dutton, 2007), 16-year-old Sameera “Sparrow” Righton blogs about her unhappy “makeover” and her true feelings as a young woman of color. That got the book’s author, Mitali Perkins, thinking: Why not launch an actual blog, written in Sameera’s voice, that deals with real-life concerns? The result is Sparrowblog, which looks at the lives of the children of presidential candidates. Speaking from her home near Boston, Perkins, 44, chatted with SLJ about the next generation of Clintons, Obamas, Giulianis, and McCains.

What inspired you to create a blog?

Since the main character [in my book] has a blog, I wanted to start a blog in her voice. I was talking it over with some people—they know I’m a political junkie—and there was a suggestion from a friend: “Why don’t you just track the real campaign?” And I thought, “What a great idea! This will be great, because it will feed my political addiction and give me a chance to educate [kids].”

So you’re a political junkie? What's your party affiliation?

Always having been a transplant, an immigrant [from Kolkata, India], I really love the political process in America. I love watching it; I sort of root for the process. The more fair, the more democratic it is, [the more] it sends a big statement to the rest of the world. I enjoy that privilege. I also tend to approach it issue by issue. But I’ve never been
strongly affiliated with a party.

Has your blog taken on a life of its own beyond the book?

Yes! I think that’s because people are so fascinated with the campaign; and the [candidates’] kids are starting to play a bigger role—with three groups of them [Meghan McCain, Cate Edwards, and the five Romney brothers] blogging, I’ve gotten a lot of hits that have nothing to do with the book. Two posts have even been newsworthy.

Tell me!

I noticed a lot of visitors coming to the blog, searching “Edwards’s daughter picks Clinton.” So I did a quick post [asking] why. I got a few responses that Cate Edwards had picked [Hillary] Clinton [as the probable winner] at a political event.

Three minutes later, I got a post saying, “No, it wasn’t actually Cate [age 25]; it was my younger daughter, Emma Claire [age 9], and she was joking.” It was signed “Elizabeth Edwards.” CNN or someone found the post and verified it through her campaign office. Once they verified it, people started coming [to my blog] in droves. The other [newsworthy post] was the attention Sameera got when Slate accused her of being a [Mitt] Romney freak.

Not true?

No, she’s very balanced.

In First Daughter, you address racism through the eyes of Sameera—the Pakistani-born, adopted daughter of a white American candidate. Are you hopeful about this generation?

I’m very hopeful about this generation, in terms of activism. I think they really do care about issues. My book Monsoon Summer (Bantam Doubleday, 2006) is about a girl who goes to India and confronts the poverty there. I get emails all the time from girls who say “thanks for writing a YA book about something I care about.” I think there are girls out there, and boys, too, who want to read about something besides designer bags and stiletto heels.

Will you continue to blog right up to the 2008 election?

Yes, the blog’s going up to the 2008 election. Today, I’m getting so many hits for “Bridget McCain” [the candidate’s Bangladeshi-born, adopted daughter], because the New York Times mentioned her situation—she Googled herself and found out she’d been the target of racism. [Sam] Brownback is going to pull out of the election. So we’ll say a farewell on the blog to his five kids. So, yeah, it’s going to be fun!

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