Interview with Elisa Stone Leahy, Author of Tethered to Other Stars

 

Thanks for stopping by Smack Dab in the Middle, Elisa! Tell us a bit about Tethered to Other Stars:

Thank you! It’s great to be here! Tethered to Other Stars is about an astronomy-loving girl named Wendy whose Salvadoran-Guatemalan-American family moves to a new neighborhood to get away from raids in their midwestern immigrant community. The plan is to keep their heads down and fit in as much as possible. But the same day they move in, a woman seeks sanctuary in the church next door to avoid a deportation order, bringing attention from ICE agents and the media. Although Wendy is sure her family has their documents, her parents seem very afraid, especially when her older brother gets caught up with the activists fighting for the woman in sanctuary. Wendy, who only wants to adjust to her new school and build a telescope for the science fair, finds herself grappling with deeper questions about right and wrong in a world of unjust laws.

 

Previously, you’ve been a documentary filmmaker. What made you make the shift to fiction? Why MG specifically?

Documentary film is a powerful storytelling format but there are so many vulnerable people I know who cannot share their stories in that way. I cannot put people on camera to share what they’ve been through when the perpetrators are still out there, searching for them. I have friends who ran from gangs in El Salvador, who left abusive relationships in Mexico, or who have been mistreated by ICE agents here in the US. Those stories are not safe for my friends to share in a documentary film, but I can write it into fiction. As far as writing middle grade, it was the genre I felt I knew best, as a mom and a children’s librarian. But it also felt right. Middle grade has an immense capacity to take distant experiences and draw them closer. Many in this country, adults and kids alike, have a very distant concept of what the immigrant experience is like. I hope that by telling some of these stories through fiction for middle grade, readers may draw a bit closer to comprehending that reality.

I love the imagery in the opening pages–the description of the house, but also the July 4 imagery combined with details of Peruvian anticuchos and tamales. It immediately feels as though the intention is to place this story squarely as an American story. Was that on your mind as you drafted?

That was a part of it, but also the tension of what “American” means, in particular for those who have a complex identity. I grew up straddling two cultures and I will never stop digging deeper into expressions of patriotism and the meanings buried underneath. I wanted to show that Wendy’s family came from a vibrant, diverse community of immigrants who all celebrated and embraced the country they lived in, even when that country betrayed them so often. The mention of the raids in that same chapter is no accident. Immigration raids breed a climate of fear that is in direct opposition to the communal, welcoming celebration of that July 4th scene. Which is more “American,” the melting pot of joyous cultural life or the shuttered windows and empty streets brought on by fear? I think the answer depends on your own experiences. But the power of story lies is that it connects us to the experiences of others.

 

A big part of documentary film making seems to be a willingness to follow a story where it wants to go. Fiction puts you in the driver's seat. Did you like the control? Or did it feel like you did have control? Were you still, in a sense, following the story where it wanted to take you?

You have really gotten to the root of things! Yes, I love being in control. I enjoy writing because I can take the story in whatever direction I want. But that doesn’t mean that it is the right direction! Whether in fiction or documentary, there is a kernel of truth deep inside the events being told. Finding that truth is at the heart of storytelling, and sometimes that means changing directions in the middle of things. If I plan something but my characters are trying to do something else, I need to ask myself why. In that sense it’s similar to documentary storytelling. I need to be constantly picking apart the motivations and actions of my characters to get to that kernel of truth.

 

Our own personal stories as authors always wind up shaping our fictional worlds. How did your own story influence or shape this book?

There are many aspects of who I am in this story. However I have dual citizenship, so I have never had to grapple with the realities of immigration for myself. But this book is shaped by the experiences of many, many friends who I have had the privilege of walking alongside. I fought alongside Edith Espinal who lived in sanctuary for over 3 years in a church to avoid a deportation order. She took her fight to the news, to the presidential candidates and to the front page of the New York Times. I traveled with her team to DC to lobby for her and others in sanctuary. We led letter-writing campaigns and petition signings. Edith became the face of the sanctuary movement. One day she wondered out loud why the immigrant community didn’t show greater support for her case. This book began as an attempt to answer that question.

 

ICE factors prominently. Even as an adult reader, I can feel what it must be like to deal with constant fear. Can you speak a bit about including this particular thread?

As I mentioned, I have American citizenship, as does my entire family. I haven’t had to grow up with this fear, but I’ve watched others who have. I have listened to an ICE officer mock and belittle my friend for misunderstanding the English instructions he was given at his check-in. I have called a friend from the ICE office to tell her that her husband was just taken into custody by an ICE officer who referred to distraught immigrants being deported as “crybabies.” I’ve had parents ask me to help them find paperwork to sign custody of their 5-year-old over to relatives in the event that both of them were deported. ICE has done a remarkable job of creating a culture of fear that terrifies families. For kids growing up with that reality, there is often no room to acknowledge that fear and its damaging effects. I wanted to give those kids a place to see themselves and I wanted other kids to get a sense of that suffocating fear. As a child, I vividly remember reading books about WWII and what it was like for the Jewish people living in that environment. Those stories made me a more empathetic person and shaped my view of justice and systems of power. Our kids need to hear these stories.

 

I love the gravity symbolism throughout, and especially how it's pulled together at the end. How does gravity factor into Wendy’s view of the world?

Gravity is the pull between objects with mass. For Wendy, who sees the universe in a logical, orderly way, gravity is something predictable and inevitable. She likes knowing what to expect. But in her personal life, there are forces that pull her in directions she doesn’t always understand. Her own journey lies in figuring out who she is and what she believes. When her sense of self is strong enough, Wendy becomes her own force, making choices she believes in and affecting everyone around her.

 

The Toledo family house is different at the end than beginning. You seem to be saying the bones of their home are more secure. But it’s not only the physical house, is it?

I’m thrilled that you picked up on that symbolism! This book is about sanctuary. In the opening scene the house is unstable and dangerous and the Toledos are frightened and secretive. But throughout the story we see the house growing into something familiar and warm and the characters’ relationships evolving. By the end, Wendy’s family has changed as much as the house, opening up with each other about their own secrets and finding their safe place. Wendy’s center of gravity is her family and their sanctuary is the home they have together.

~

Pre-Order Special Deal:

Readers who pre-order Tethered to Other Stars (official release date Oct 3) through Cover to Cover (Elisa's local bookstore) can request signed or personalized copies.