The Language of Flowers—Vanessa Diffenbaugh
RSSAngela Carstensen
In her first novel, Vanessa Diffenbaugh tackles three topics close to her heart: foster care, the vulnerability of young people who are transitioning out of that system, and the Victorian language of flowers. You may need to help teens look beyond the novel's rather bland book cover to the emotion-filled, urban story of redemption within. But once they get a taste of the story, word-of-mouth will soon take over. When did you become interested in foster kids? My husband and I have been involved with foster youth since our early twenties. Right out of college, we spent weekends mentoring a family of young girls in East Palo Alto, CA. We knew their mother had a drug problem—but being young and inexperienced, we didn't understand the extent of her addiction nor did we catch the signs of an escalating situation. Then, one Sunday afternoon when we went to bring the girls home, their mother had disappeared. The girls' belongings had been packed and set out on the porch in plastic bags. "Keep them or turn them in," their grandmother told us tearfully. "I can't handle them by myself." Turn them in where? we wondered. At 23—both of us born and raised in small rural towns, leaving only to attend the safe bubble of Stanford University—we had no idea what to do with four girls under the age of nine who had been abandoned by their family. After a few frantic days trying to figure out if we could keep them ourselves, we realized that legally and practically we had no choice but to turn them over to child-protective services. This experience changed our lives forever. My husband and I vowed that after we married and settled down we would become foster parents—a vow we kept and one that has enriched our lives greatly. Our son Tre'von came to us his freshman year in high school and stayed with us until we dropped him off at NYU last fall. Donavan never lived with us, but became part of our family when he turned 18 and found himself suddenly with nowhere to go. He now comes home to stay with us when he is on vacation from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where he is training to be a weight lifter. What inspired you to write about kids in foster care? I was inspired to write a novel about my experience as a foster parent because I feel that it is not a story that is told often or well. The same sensationalized stories appear in the media over and over again: violent kids, greedy foster parents, the occasional horrific child death or romanticized adoption. But the true story of life inside the system is one that is much more complex and emotional—and it is a story that is rarely told. Foster children and foster parents, like children and adults everywhere, are trying to love and be loved, and to do the best they can with the emotional and physical resources they have. Victoria is a character that people can connect with on an emotional level—at her best and at her worst—which I hope gives readers a deeper understanding of the realities of foster care. How did you make Victoria sympathetic, despite her best attempts to push everyone away? This was the hardest part of writing this novel. Victoria is tough, and for good reason. And while I was committed to staying true to her character, I knew that if it was too uncomfortable inside her head, few readers would finish the book! It took me three complete drafts to find this balance, which I managed through emphasizing her relationship with flowers. In the first few chapters, when Victoria is most difficult to take, I took time to draw out the scenes in which she cares for her plants, cradling the root balls, smoothing leaves and petals, and watering with loving attention. I wanted to show that she had another, softer side to her, even if she was not yet capable of expressing it with people. Where did you first learn about the language of flowers? I've always loved the language of flowers. I discovered Kate Greenaway's Language of Flowers in a used bookstore when I was 16, and couldn't believe it was such a well-kept secret. How could something so beautiful and romantic be virtually unknown? For Valentine's Day, my senior year in high school, I wrote a poem by tying flowers together on a piece of twine with words interspersed among the flowers. I gave it to my high school boyfriend and made him use Kate Greenaway's book to translate! I especially enjoyed the prominence of the natural world in what's essentially an urban novel. Was this a purposeful or symbolic juxtaposition, or simply a product of the setting and plot? It began as simply a product of the setting and plot, but quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the novel. I felt it created a helpful balance—a book about an abandoned, homeless young woman could have become overly dark and gritty, but the emphasis on flowers, grapes, and all things growing kept it from being hopelessly bleak. Conversely, a book about the language of flowers could have been sappy and romantic, but the toughness of the character and subject matter kept me from veering in that direction. What did you read as a teen? I am only 33, but still, it has been quite a while since I was in high school, devouring novels and poetry. Here are a few of the books I remember loving: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path. I also read quite a bit of poetry and memorized pages and pages of poems: "On Stripping Bark from Myself, for Jane, Who Says Trees Die From It," from Alice Walker's collection Goodnight Willie Lee, I'll See You In the Morning and "I remember" by Anne Sexton were two of my favorites. You and a friend started the Camellia Network to activate networks of citizens in every community to provide the critical support young people need to transition from foster care to adulthood. How is that progressing ? Do you offer ways for teens to become involved in helping others? Wonderfully! We continue to be amazed by the outpouring of support. It has reaffirmed our belief that citizens want to help young people aging out of the foster care system-they just need to be told who and how. Now that my book tour is over, we are settling down to write our five-year strategic plan, which will include ways for young people to get involved. For now, I would encourage teens to go to our website, join our network, and send us any ideas they have about how young people can contribute. We are looking forward to hearing from you! Check out the review of The Language of Flowers at the Adult Books for Teens blog! This article originally appeared in School Library Journal's enewsletter SLJTeen. 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The protagonist of The Language of Flowers, Victoria, spent her adolescence in foster care, being moved constantly from home to home. At 18 she ages out, and is left to fend for herself on the streets of San Francisco. Fortunately, she lucks into part-time work with a florist that gives her a chance to use her love and knowledge of flowers. She also encounters an equally flower-obsessed young man working in the flower markets, a man connected to her past, to a time when she lost her chance at being part of a loving family. As the story alternates between Victoria's present and past, the suspense begins to grab hold. Is it too late for Victoria? Has she been hurt too badly to change now? And what happened when she was nine and living with a foster mother, Elizabeth, who obviously loved her unconditionally? How did she end up back in foster care?
