Not Like You - Interviews

Interviews

Author Interview by Cynthia Leitich Smith Blogspot

"I write contemporary, realistic fiction about teens who think seriously about themselves and the world, who take risks, make mistakes, figure out what they love, and learn to laugh at themselves..." (more)

Read Cynthia Leitich Smith's interview on Live Journal

Interview at www.embracingthechild.org

ETC: What inspired you to write Not Like You?

DAVIS: I began with an emotion-packed image-most of my books begin that way-of a teenage girl finding her mother drunk and sick and passed out on the floor of their New Mexico trailer... (more)

Interview by Little Willow

Little Willow: In NOT LIKE YOU, teenager Kayla may not know what she wants to do with her life, but she certainly doesn't want to end up an alcoholic like her mother, Marilyn. She finds comfort in an older boy named Remy, dogs, and music.

If teen readers are in a similar situation, where can they find comfort and support?

Deborah Davis: I think Al-Anon and Alateen, along with the other 12-Step programs, are terrific.... (more)

Articles

Leave the Kids (Writers) Alone: Despite the perception, writing for young readers is serious business By Erin Dionne, co-editor of Bread and Circus

...What is it with the perception that writing for children is less worthy of an endeavor than writing for adults?...Contemporary writers for children can recount a litany of slights. Deborah Davis, author of Not Like You (Clarion), My Brother Has AIDS (Atheneum), and The Secret of the Seal (Crown), sums most of these tales up:

I have been asked if I think I’ll ever write for adults, as if then my work might be given serious consideration...There’s an assumption that writing for young people takes less time, less blood, sweat, and tears, maybe even less intelligence than works for adults...
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