Author Corner| Interview with Bridget Hodder

So I love getting to know the authors behind books I love or books I want to read. When I heard about  The Button Box it sounded like a book right up my alley. Seeing how it’s almost middle grade May, there isn’t a better way to start than with an interview from one of the authors of this book. Keep on reading to find out more about The Button Box and Bridget Hodder.

If a magical button and a mysterious cat could transport you to the past…would you save the future?
After Jewish fifth-grader Ava and her Muslim cousin Nadeem are called hateful names at school, Granny Buena rummages in her closet and pulls out a glittering crystal button box. It’s packed with buttons that generations of their Sephardic ancestors have cherished. With the help of Granny’s mysterious cat Sheba, Ava and Nadeem discover that a button from the Button Box will whisk them back in time. Suddenly, they find themselves in ancient Morocco, where Nadeem’s ancestor, Prince Abdur Rahman, is running for his life. Can Ava and Nadeem help the prince escape to Spain and fulfill his destiny, creating a legendary Golden Age for Muslims, Jews and Christians?

Author Interview

What inspired you to start writing? Were there any stories you read as a child that made you want to create your own stories?

Ohhh I love this question. I wrote my first “book” when I was four years old–  a knockoff of The Secret Garden called “The Lovely Someplace.”  I recall being frustrated that the illustrations I drew for the written parts turned out to look more like blobs and scribbles than human beings, birds and flowers. What fascinates me as I search my memory here is that fact that, while I could certainly read at age four, there was no way I could have read The Secret Garden at that point in my life. My mother must have read the book aloud to my older sister, and of course I would have listened, too.

I think most early impulses to write come from a special, unfiltered place in the human heart reserved for fanfic.

The inspiration for my new co-authored book, The Button Box, on the other hand, was a lifelong wish for own identity to be known and understood (I’m a Sephardic Jew)– and a desperate hope that the story might allow non-Jewish or non-Muslim kids to learn who Muslims and Jews really are, to help stem a rising tide of hate in our country.

How was writing with a co-author different than writing a book by yourself? Is it something you’d like to do again?

Since my co-author Fawzia Gilani Williams spends most of her time as an educator and librarian in the United Arab Emirates, and I’m in Boston, it wasn’t easy! We couldn’t hang out with tea and cookies, put our heads together, and write scenes by tossing ideas back and forth. Instead, we had Google Docs, emails and the occasional Zoom or phone call– with a huge time zone difference to contend with.

But neither of us would trade a minute of that time we spent working together. The Button Box was so worth it. And yes, we want to do it again and again. We’ve already sold a new picture book together, The Promise, which comes out next year.

And if The Button Box finds an eager audience, we may get the green light for a Button Box sequel!

If you were a character in The Button Box, what type of character would you be?

Ava, the Sephardic Jewish character who shares the limelight in the book with her male cousin, Nadeem, has a lot of “young me” in her. The wise old granny with the magical Button Box in the story is based on my own grandmother. Ava’s thoughts and behavior in the story represent how, when I was a girl her age, I couldn’t fully appreciate the amazing ancient wisdom my grandmother and my mother shared with me. I was even a little embarrassed by it sometimes.

I think most of us who are children of immigrants have this experience sometimes. It’s important to acknowledge that it’s natural to feel awkward about being different. But that’s also why we need to learn how to fully own our identities and love ourselves for exactly who we are.

What is your favorite quote from The Button Box?

It’s from Granny Buena to her two grandchildren…right before they discover the magical button that whisks them back in time. Her philosophy reflects the Jewish principle of tikkun olam.

Keridos, sewing is a lot like life. You are the needle that stands strong, while life flows through your like thread. You must guide your life, the way the needle guides the thread, to make strong, beautiful things. Like a needle, you have the power to mend what is torn. Watch for the opportunity to fix what has gone wrong in the world, my children. You never know when it might come up, and you must be ready for it.”

What do you hope readers take away from The Button Box?

We hope that first and foremost, readers thrill to the story of Ava and Nadeem’s time-travel adventure! And we also hope that while they have fun, they pick up facts about Muslim and Jewish history and learn understanding and empathy for their Jewish and Muslim peers in the here and now. For Muslim and Jewish kids, we want to provide them with a book where they can see their own experiences accurately and compassionately reflected.

What are some of your favorite middle grade books that you love to recommend?

There are too many to count, but I always recommend Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan’s A PLACE AT THE TABLE, which won a Sydney Taylor medal. It has gentle, fun Muslim and Jewish representation and it revolves around food as well as friendship. What’s not to love?

 

This was such an interesting interview and I loved the author’s answers. That quote chosen as a favorite definitely makes an impression. I’ll be reading The Button Box in the near future, so keep an eye out for my review.

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