The holidays are a time to invite friends to your house, and that's true for this blog, too. I'm honored to have Sandra Neil Wallace with me this week. Sandra is a former ESPN sportscaster and author of Muckers (Knopf 2013), a YA novel for anyone who loves fútbol Americano and underdog stories. But more important to me, it's also a thoughtful look at anti-Latino racism in the 1950s and the difficult circumstances of Mexican-American families in Arizona at that time. Based on true events, the novel follows Red O'Sullivan, team quarterback, and his friend Cruz as they cobble together their high school's last football season. It offers us not only an inspiring look back, but also a way to ask questions about where we are now in sports and race. ________________________ How did you discover this story? I was living in Sedona, Arizona, working as an ESPN announcer and discovered the Muckers story in a box of letters written to the principal of Jerome High School. Most of the letters were from young Mexican-American men who had graduated and gone to war. The letters helped me uncover the incredible sports triumph of the 1950 football team. Despite being the smallest squad in the state, playing on a rock field, and facing ridicule for being an integrated team, they made a run for the state championship. The football season in Muckers is modeled after theirs, and I interviewed surviving players to create characters I’d imagine experiencing the hardships of that time period.…
October 8, 2012
Q & A with Christina Díaz Gonzalez
Christina Diaz Gonzalez It's a pleasure to introduce you to Christina Diaz Gonzalez as we head into the final week of Hispanic Heritage Month. You may remember her from her debut novel, The Red Umbrella. Her follow-up, A Thunderous Whisper, is also historical fiction, this time set in Europe during the Spanish Civil War. Told through the eyes of 13-year-old Ani, the novel shines a light on yet another corner of World War II. Before we jump into your new novel, I’d like to know a little bit about you. I understand that you were an attorney at one time. Now, you live in Florida and write lovely books that celebrate Hispanic history. How did you go from one career to the other? I was a practicing attorney when my kids learned to read. Watching their love for books grow rekindled my secret, childhood dream of being a writer. Soon there was no stopping me and I became passionate about writing. Guernica by Pablo Picasso One of the things I most admire about A Thunderous Whisper is that it brings world history to life for American kids. You take us to a very specific corner of history (specifically to the Spanish Civil War as it connected to Franco’s relationship with Hitler during WWII. You also introduce young American readers to the Basques. Why did this particular episode in history attract you? A series of seemingly unrelated events (spread out over the course of several months) led me to write A Thunderous Whisper. …
