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Author Spotlight: Fernanda Frick H., author/illustrator of the graphic novel Raise the Bar

By Laurie J. Edwards on August 27, 2026 / Author Interviews / Leave a comment

©Carolina Burgos

We’re excited to have author/illustrator Fernanda Frick H. from Santiago, Chile, on here today to talk about her debut graphic novel, Raise the Bar. In their starred review, Publisher’s Weekly praised the emotion, humor, and action, calling it “an exceptional debut” & “a gold-medal performance.” A very fitting description for a story about a young girl striving to win a debut gold medal in weightlifting.

Hi, Fernanda, thank you so much for joining us here today. We’d like to learn more about you, and then we’ll talk about your graphic novel.

Can you tell us a little about your life growing up in Santiago, Chile?

I’ve lived in Santiago my whole life. It’s the capital city of Chile, so it’s a pretty big city. I grew up being the youngest in my family — my sisters were nine and ten years older than me, so I grew up between adults. I really didn’t like sports, I didn’t like playing outside. I spent a lot of my childhood watching cartoons and playing video games, and reading comic books and novels. That really set the stage for my career in animation and comics.

Your character Sam has a hobby that her friends and family don’t understand or support. Did you ever feel like Sam – that nobody understood you or your interest?

Of course. I felt really misunderstood growing up because, as I said, I grew up between adults. I loved Pokémon when it first came out, but most of my siblings and cousins were much older, so they didn’t really understand the cartoons I liked.

But also, I started animating when I was thirteen, and I became pretty obsessed with that. For me, animation was what for Sam is weightlifting. It really worried my parents that I was so obsessed with becoming an animator when I had trouble fitting in at school with kids my age. It was a tough couple of years, but I guess it ended up well, because I ended up being an animation director and author.

Weightlifting is not only Sam’s hobby, but her dream. A dream that seems too big to come true. Have you ever had a goal that feels as big as that? If so, how did you move toward it?

Yeah! I started animating when I was thirteen. From that moment, I would watch short films online made by animation schools in the US and France — CalArts and Gobelins, the best animation schools in the world — and I would dream of studying there. But they were super expensive, and my parents would never have let me go when I turned eighteen. So it did feel huge. That’s what gave me the drive to start very early.

I started learning animation with tutorials. I would stay up late making my own short animations. And I really got a sense that my dream was achievable when I was fourteen and I got a freelance job: an American music producer hired me to make an animated video clip. He didn’t know I was a fourteen-year-old girl from Chile. He said, okay, I’m going to pay you a hundred dollars, and if it does well, I’m going to pay you another five hundred. For me, that was like being a millionaire. And it worked out — they really paid me, and with that I bought a newer computer. That really gave me confidence that it was possible.

Did you love to read as a child? If so, can you tell us some favorite books?

I really loved to read. I had trouble falling asleep when I was a kid, so for a while I needed to read a lot to fall asleep. I read all of The Chronicles of Narnia. I really loved Roald Dahl’s books—The BFG, The Witches — I thought they were hilarious. And also Chilean comics, like Condorito, and Argentinian comics like cover of Mafalda comic book Mafalda.

When did you first become interested in art?

I really don’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing. But the moment I realized this was something people actually do was when I would watch those old Disney making-ofs that came on VHS — yes, I’m old. You would see the animators working on the films, and I was like, oh my god, people do that. Maybe I could do that.

What was your biggest fear when you were young? Did you get over it?

One of my biggest fears was spiders, and I haven’t really gotten over that one. Another was that I was really, really scared of the witch in Disney’s Snow White. I don’t know what it was, but it scared me for a lot of my childhood. And one day I had a dream where I hugged her — I hugged the witch in the dream — and when I woke up, I wasn’t afraid of her anymore.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

To enjoy what she enjoys. Not to be ashamed of your interests and the cartoons you like. I used to be really embarrassed to watch Pokémon and Digimon, because I felt like both my sisters would make fun of me a little. And as I got a little older, my classmates stopped watching cartoons. Also, back then Pokémon and Digimon were “boys’ cartoons,” so it was weird to be a girl who liked them. So my advice would be: just enjoy, without shame, the things that you enjoy.

Is your past woven into the story? If so, how?

Yes, a lot of me is in Sam. For me it wasn’t weightlifting, it was animation — but that drive, that stubbornness, that single-mindedness Sam has of being interested in only one thing for the great majority of the book, that was definitely me. I didn’t really care about making friends. Though I did make friends afterwards, thanks to animation — people at school started thinking it was cool that I made animations.

It was also a constant battle with my parents, because my first couple of animations were very scary for them. I was a really depressed kid, and my first animations were like a Tim Burton–style character who takes a knife and pulls his heart out and then eats it, with metal music in the background. Of course they freaked out, and they sent me to a psychiatrist. And of course I was fine — but now I understand how worried they were.

Around that time, because of one of these more gory animations I made, my family told me that some members of my family had been persecuted during the Chilean dictatorship. I was around Sam’s age in the book. Of course, they didn’t explain how that connected to them being scared of me not having friends and being obsessed with this weird hobby. But now I’ve made the connection, and it makes sense. A lot of Chilean people are still afraid of seeming different, because the scars of the dictatorship are still there.

So a lot of those family dinner table conversations in the book are how it actually felt to be that age — being in conflict with my parents about what I wanted to do with my life.

Would you be willing to share an embarrassing grade school moment?

I wasn’t athletic until high school — I’ve never really been athletic, but I started exercising in high school. Before that, I was a real couch potato, and I was kind of known for it. My favorite cartoon when I was young was Garfield, so my gym teacher would sometimes narrate as if I were Garfield. If we were playing volleyball, every time I had the ball it was, “Garfield gets the ball, Garfield throws the ball.” That was embarrassing. But I loved Garfield. I still do.

It’s interesting that you didn’t really enjoy sports, but you ended up writing about a weightlifter. How did you get interested in weightlifting? Did you ever try it later on in life?

At first I started doing CrossFit. For some reason, I really like intense sports, even if I’m really bad at them — I’m not in great shape, I never have been. But back in 2016 or 2017, I started doing CrossFit, and CrossFit includes the Olympic weightlifting movements, the snatch and the clean and jerk. At that gym, there were also weightlifting classes aside from the CrossFit ones.

I really loved how weightlifting made me feel. It made me feel strong. And I thought it was a really bizarre idea to make a story about weightlifting, because it’s a weird sport and it would be such a big challenge to make it interesting for people. For some reason, I wanted to take that challenge. And I think I kind of succeeded — I think Raise the Bar gets pretty fun even if you don’t know anything about weightlifting. Even if you don’t follow exactly what’s happening, the emotions of the competitions are there, and anyone can understand them.

What gave you the idea for this story?

In 2016 I was watching the Rio Olympics, and I thought: why has no one made a sports anime about the Olympics? Sports anime are usually about one sport — swimmers, or volleyball, or football, or judo. And I thought it would be really cool if there was one character from each sport, and they all went to a high-performance center together. That’s where it started.

Are the characters in the story based on anyone you know?

Not exactly, but there’s a bit of the people in my life — or people who were in my life — in each one of the characters. Some of them come from elsewhere: Eva dos Santos is based a little more on another anime character, All Might from My Hero Academia. That mentor who comes in and promises he’ll help you. She was kind of a fantasy of the kind of mentor I wanted to have.

And Chichi is kind of based on one of my cats, who passed away a couple of years ago.

And of course Sam’s family is very similar to my family in some ways — though I don’t have a brother, I just have two sisters.

Does Sam resemble you in any way?

In a lot of ways, starting with the fact that I think we’re physically similar. Young Sam has exactly the hair I had at that age — and even now, I think we have the same haircut. It wasn’t like that when I started writing and designing the story; I had a short pixie cut then. But now that I’ve grown my hair out again, we’re really similar.

But also, I’m autistic and have ADHD, and I got diagnosed at thirty — so I had already created the character of Sam. Since she was like me, and I have always been autistic, she’s pretty autistic too. After the diagnosis I really tried to dial that up, even if it’s never mentioned in the story. She has a lot of autistic traits: having trouble socializing, and having really, really strong special interests.

Did you have to fight for anything the way Sam did?

I would say up until this point I’ve always felt like I had a chip on my shoulder about having to fight for my career and my passions, as an artist from Latin America.

At the time I started writing Raise the Bar I was really frustrated, because I had just finished my first animated short film and I was experiencing firsthand how difficult it is to get noticed by the rest of the world when you’re from Latin America. This was pre-pandemic — I think it’s a little easier now, people are more used to working with people all over the world and online. But back then I really had to fight for my short film to get noticed. I would travel to festivals financed by the Chilean government; I had to apply for grants because it was so expensive to go anywhere there were animation markets and festivals. I sent so many emails, to so many specialized websites, trying to get my work noticed. And for a while it really seemed like no one cared.

But in the end it kind of did work — Raise the Bar was picked up by an American streamer to become an animated series, even if it didn’t work out in the end.

So Sam’s story started out as a movie idea, but ended up as a graphic novel. Please tell us about creating the book version.

It started as an animated series idea. In the beginning, it was going to be twelve episodes, going from Sam training alone in Santiago without any support all the way to the Olympics — the actual Tokyo Olympics. This was a long time before those Olympics. The midpoint of the series was going to be them going to the Pan American Games.

Since the book was much shorter, at first I thought maybe I’d do three books. But my agent said no, no, no — let’s sell one first, finish one first, and then if you want you can maybe do more. And I thought, I don’t think I’m going to do more if I don’t sell it as a series, so I’m just going to tell this story in one book. So I had to shorten Sam’s journey to end at the Pan Americans and not the actual Olympics.

At first there was a little bit of grief, because I really wanted to see Sam get to the Olympics. But in the end it was for the better, because the message of the book is about the journey, not the destination. The way it ends now is perfect for what I wanted to convey.

A lot of other things changed too. In animation it had to be aged down a little — the notes I would get, they didn’t want much emotional depth. Books allow a lot of emotional depth. And I had so much more time to write it. I rewrote everything; there’s very little in the book that was in the animated series. The story that ended up in the book is the story I really wanted to tell.

Can you explain the different processes involved in creating the art for a graphic novel and tell us who did which part?

The stages are thumbnails, sketch, inks, and then color.

I start with the script, so I write everything out. Then I thumbnails, which I did on paper in little sketchbooks. My thumbnails can’t be read by anyone except me — they’re for me to figure out how to break the dialogue and the action into panels. Then I draw the sketches for the whole book digitally.

Usually I do everything myself, but this was so much work that I hired support from my friends. I inked chapters one, two and five, and my friend Ale Carrasco inked chapters three and four. My friend Kat drew almost all the backgrounds in the book. My friend Gaby did more than half of the lettering — she decided where to put the word balloons, which was a really difficult task because there wasn’t much space. She did a great job. And coloring was a double effort between Perry Wheeler and me. This is my first book in color, and it was such a big task.

What is your favorite or most challenging part of being a writer and illustrator?

I think it’s the same thing: being able to tell stories. Getting things out of my head where I can be in control of both the storytelling and how it’s visually depicted. I’ve usually worked as an illustrator, illustrating other people’s stories, but I don’t think I would ever write other people’s stories, because I do it to communicate personal stuff, stories inside me. So I really love being able to tell stories.

Have you had any careers besides writing and illustrating?

Only recently — because, as I said, I started really young. My first freelance job as an animator was at fourteen, so it’s been a lifetime of working as an illustrator, animator and director.

But two years ago, I became really interested in psychology. I started working on myself, on this self-development journey, and that made me want to help other people directly. So I applied for a job to become a mental health coach, and I got certified with the Healthy Gamer Institute. For the past two years I’ve been working part-time, a couple of hours a week, with clients all over the world, helping them accomplish their goals. It’s been very, very fulfilling.

Do you have any tips for children who want to create graphic novels?

Just start. Create what’s interesting to you — what you find funny, or fun to draw. If there’s a story you want to tell, something you want to express, or characters you want to exist, just do it. It’s very fulfilling, and it’s something anyone can do, in the sense that you don’t need expensive software or tools. You can start making comics with a pen and paper.

Do you have any message or advice for the teachers and parents who will be sharing your book with their students and families?

I would love for this book to be read by adults and kids together. Even if most of the story is Sam’s and happens with the other teenagers, there are also adults — there’s her relationship with Eva, her mentor and teacher, and her relationship with her family. In the end there’s a lot in there about the bridge between kids and their parents. There’s a lot of understanding to be made on both sides.

I think this story really gives space for adults and kids to understand each other. Sam gets to understand what made Eva who she is. Eva learns how to support Sam in the best way. Sam gets to understand why her parents were so opposed to her doing weightlifting, and her parents get the chance to understand why it was so important for her.

A lot of special things can happen when we try to hear each other. And I know it’s difficult — it took me a long time to put myself in my parents’ shoes and understand why they were so scared for me when I was a teen and started animating.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope they get a feeling of hope. That there’s hope to do what you want to do, hope to find your place in the world and to find people like you, and to take steps toward your dream even if you don’t end up where you hoped. There’s real joy and fulfillment in just striving to be really great at something you love.

Can you tell us about some of your other books?

I’ve published two other books in Chile. They’re available digitally in English from my shop.

One is Trazos — Brushstrokes — about an artist who suffers a really big failure, decides to never create again, and goes to work at a bar. It’s the story of how she regains her passion to create again. And everyone in it is a cat.

The other is Here’s the Plan, a picture book adaptation of my animated short film of the same name, which can be watched on YouTube. It’s about a married baker couple, a cat and a dog, who make cupcakes. Their oven explodes and they have to take normal jobs, and that starts to drift them away from their dream and from themselves.

So it seems there’s a common theme of ambition and dreams in all of my work so far.

What are you working on now?

I want to write more books. I’ve started writing another picture book, and I want to write another middle grade story after that — I don’t know yet if it will be an actual novel or a graphic novel, but I really want to do it. I’m also working on the development of a new animated series project. It’s not my idea, it’s an adaptation, and I don’t know if it will work out or not. But for now it feels great to go back to animation.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Good luck with your career.

ABOUT RAISE THE BAR

A debut graphic novel about one girl’s weightlifting dreams and how far she’ll go for them, from a popular Chilean animator.

Sam Sanchez might not have a coach or proper equipment, but she’s going to become Chile’s first weightlifting gold medalist. She just knows it.

When there’s an opportunity to train at the high-performance center with her weightlifting hero and Olympic gold medalist Eva Dos Santos . . . well, Sam can’t let that opportunity pass. Even if it means going behind her parents’ back.

As she makes friends (and a rival) during training and tries to qualify for the Pan American Games, she’ll find out how far hard work and perseverance can take her and just how much weight she’s able to hold.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fernanda Frick H. is an animation director, storyboarder, illustrator and comic artist. “Here’s the Plan”, her 4th short-film, was selected in various festivals around the world including Nashville International Film Festival, SANFIC, Chilemonos, Anima Mundi, CICFF and the Premios Quirino. It won the Jury Prize at SIGGRAPH ASIA. It was also long-listed for the 2017 Academy Awards. In 2019, she published “Trazos”, her first graphic novel with Editorial Planeta and had a series project in development with Netflix. Currently, she manages her independent animation studio FFrick Studio.

Interview with Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Author of SISTERS ALONE

By Melissa Roske on August 26, 2026 / Articles / Leave a comment

Interviewing a middle-grade author is always a pleasure, but it’s even more exciting when the author happens to be fellow Mixed-Up Files member Shifa Saltagi Safadi! Shifa, who won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2024 for her debut novel, Kareem Between, is here to tell us about her latest novel, Sisters Alone, a novel-in-verse about two sisters who survive a dramatic blizzard and live to tell the tale. The book releases from Penguin Young Readers on September 8^th.

And now, without further ado, please join me in welcoming Shifa to the blog!

MR: So happy to have you here, Shifa. I read Sisters Alone in two sittings, and cried at the end. It was incredibly moving, and so beautifully written. Congratulations on this wonderful book!

SSS: Thank you so much, dear Melissa! It is my honor to be here and I am SO GRATEFUL you enjoyed the read. Thank you for loving Sisters Alone.

Sisters Alone

MR: Could you tell readers more about Sisters Alone? What was the inspiration behind it?

SSS: Sisters Alone is a story of two sisters who are grieving the sudden passing of their mother when they are somehow, due to a missed field-trip form, left home alone without their father during a blizzard. And when the blizzard gets intense, they have to figure out how to heal their fractured relationship to survive and find hope together again.

MR: On the surface, the two sisters in the book, Rama and Leena, couldn’t be more different. Rama, the eldest, is gifted academically and is perceived by her little sister as “perfect.” Leena, on the other hand, is forgetful and impulsive. What is it about the nature of sibling relationships that intrigues you? What inspired you to explore them?

SSS: I had a very complicated relationship with my younger sister growing up. As the eldest, I was often frustrated with her, and she viewed me as bossy and irritating. I am happy to report that we are in fact the best of friends now, but we do still bicker occasionally! I loved writing and infusing the complexities of sisterhood into this book, because it is fascinating to me, even in watching my own three daughters, how complicated love can be. And showing young readers that relationships, sisterhoods, and family bonds can be complicated, and yet also so special, is a beautiful symbol for hope in the world—that even in differences, there can be love and closeness.

Coping with Grief

MR: Grief is an overarching theme in the book as Leena blames herself for her mother’s death. She copes by making a scrapbook to preserves her mom’s memory, while Rama, who is struggling internally, tamps her feelings. Can you tell us more about the sisters’ respective coping mechanisms?

SSS: As you said, both girls find different ways to cope, with Rama being more focused on the future and moving on from her feelings, while Leena feels stuck in the past and unable to let go of the pain. Both girls represent different ways of grief because people have different ways of processing loss. For Leena and Rama, their coping mechanisms represent their characters, as Rama is someone who is very focused on control and achievement, while Leena is someone who likes creativity and daydreaming.

Through their emotional arcs, I hoped to show that each of them had to take a step toward each other to find that balance, whether Rama letting go of control a bit or Leena stepping up her helpfulness. In this middle ground of love, they are able to lean on each other and process their grief in a better way.

Understanding Anxiety

MR: Another important theme in the book is mental health, as Rama struggles with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I know this is a deeply personal issue for you, and you’ve addressed it in the author’s note. Can you elaborate on this?

SSS: Intrusive thoughts and anxiety are important issues I wanted to highlight, because growing up, and especially in my teen years, I couldn’t understand the sad feelings I felt and the way my thoughts seemed to always be negative. It was only by realizing what this was and putting a name to it, as well as accepting myself as I am, that was I able to not feel alone or shamed by this experience. I hope young readers who experience anxiety feel seen and loved in this story too.

Syrian Roots and Muslim faith

MR: In addition to the themes mentioned above, the sisters take great pride and comfort in their Syrian roots and Muslim faith. Is this something that resonates deeply for you as well?

SSS: Absolutely. As a Syrian and Muslim American, I grew up never seeing my identity on the bookshelf, and so now, I really like to provide that rep for my young kids and others like them. There are so many harmful stereotypes that are Islamophobic that permeate the media, and so I hope my books offer a view into what the lives of Muslims and Arabs are really like, and how we are all so similar in humanity— all of us just wanting lives with love and peace in them.

Shifa’s Writing Process

MR: Switching gears, what does your writing process look like? Do you have a specific routine or rituals?

SSS: I usually like to write in the early mornings, right after coffee, as that is when my energy is most high and my mind is sharpest. However, that does not mean I write every day. Some days I am unable to focus too long on the screen, and so I give it a rest and just read (or

I usually do like to write in the early mornings right after coffee, as that is when my energy is most high and my mind is sharpest. However, that does not mean I write every day. Some days I am unable to focus too long on the screen, and so I give it a rest and just read (or honestly doom scroll!). Sometimes, all I can do is plot or outline a new story. Other times, I feel like my mind is in a revision mood, or in an essay mood. So I try to follow my instincts into what I want to do, and that usually leads me to the best creative productivity of that moment. I try not to push myself too hard if I am not ready to draft or revise, because that can lead to burnout, and burnout is the hardest creative rut to recover from!

The Magic of Novels in Verse

MR: Like Kareem Between, your latest novel is written in verse. What is it about this form that appeals to you? Also, what advice would you give to writers who might want to attempt a verse novel?

SSS: I absolutely adore verse! One of the reasons is the tightness of the storyline. Most verse novels come in at around 20,000 words, and I feel like today’s readers are clamoring for shorter books and tighter plots. But also, I just love poetry. Something about the magic of language, and how it can transform an image mentally to something with meaning and feeling, makes my heart happy. I love sitting with a poem and tinkering and tinkering with it until it feels like it has that “clicking” moment!

My advice for new verse novelists is to READ! Read ALL the verse novels you can get your hands on, because the best way to train your mind to write poetry is to read a lot of it.

Also, Cordelia Jensen gives a fantastic novel in verse course at Boyds Mills, so make sure to check that out if you like to take courses!

Up Next

MR: What are you working on now, Shifa? Can you give Mixed-Up Files readers a sneak peek?

SSS: I am happily looking forward to the publication of two more Amina Banana books coming out in 2027 and 2028, and a picture book titled The Kaabah Cat in 2027, as well as another picture book titled Summers in Syria, scheduled for 2028!

As for what I am writing, I do have more verse novels in the works, and the next one is a mystery! I am thrilled to get it out into the world, although the details are still a bit secret.

Lightning Round!

MR: And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Snickers!

Plotter or pantser? Plotter ALL the way!

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? I would probably die first lol

Superpower? My ability to function with no sleep!

Favorite place on earth? Mecca for sure!

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?

A cellphone so I can call for help! A book to pass the time. And maybe my glasses, so I can see clearly!

***For more about Shifa, check out THIS INTERVIEW from the Mixed-Up Files archives!***

SHIFA SALTAGI SAFADI is the author of Kareem Between and several picture books, including The Gift of Eid. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature, teaches ELA at a local middle school, and reviews Muslim books on her blog, Muslim Mommy Blog. Shifa was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents as a young girl. She lives near Chicago with her husband and four children. Learn more about Shifa on her website and follow her on Instagram.

MELISSA ROSKE is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest, and received certification as a life coach from NYU. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean (Charlesbridge), Melissa’s short story “Grandma Merle’s Last Wish” appears in the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories (Albert Whitman). Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

STEM Tuesday– Computers– Author Interview

By STEM Tuesday on August 25, 2026 / Computers, STEM Tuesday / Leave a comment

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today, we’re interviewing Martha Brockenbrough author of Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence and How It Will Change Everything (Feiwel & Friends, March 2024). This 23-chapter deep dive into the history, prevalence, and future of artificial intelligence is sprinkled with black-and-white photos and sidebars.

About the book:

Unlike the wheel, combustion engines, or electricity, AI does the thing that humans do best: think. While AI hasn’t reproduced the marvelously complex human brain, it has been able to accomplish astonishing things. AI has defeated our players at games like chess, Go, and Jeopardy!. It’s learned to recognize objects and speech. It can create art and music. It’s even allowed grieving people to feel as though they were talking with their dead loved ones.

On the flip side, it’s put innocent people in jail, manipulated the emotions of social media users, and tricked people into believing untrue things.

In this nonfiction book for teens, acclaimed author and teacher Martha Brockenbrough guides readers through the development of this world-changing technology, exploring how AI has touched every corner of our world, including education, healthcare, work, politics, war, international relations, and even romance. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how artificial intelligence got here, how to make the best use of it, and how we can expect it to transform our lives.

Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence and How It Will Change Everything

Linda: This is a timely subject that affects writers, publishers, and other creatives. What inspired you to take on this project?

Martha: I started research on this book after my biography of Donald Trump, UNPRESIDENTED, came out. During his first run for the presidency, bots attempted to influence opinions and divide Americans. This got me interested in the many ways artificial intelligence will affect our lives. So I started researching everything I could.

Linda: You covered a lot of ground in this book: the history of AI, the pros and cons, relationships with AI, the future, and more. What was your research process like, and how did you keep track of so much information?

Martha: I’m not gonna lie, Linda! It was an enormous challenge. I wanted there to be a lot of ways into the book for readers. Some people are really into tech. Some are more into the history of science. Some people like reading stories about people. I read books about the history of science. I read some books that got into the implications (I agreed with some and disagreed with others). I listened to tons of podcasts. Watched videos.

When I am first researching a subject, I’m trying to get a sense of the big picture. I didn’t know anything about A.I., really. To understand it fully, I wanted to understand the history. Also, the practical bits of how it works. And that’s what helped me write the later chapters, where I engaged in some predicting. Those chapters were very much guided by my questions. Honestly, the whole book was. That’s how I write, most of the time. Questions and my best shot at answers.

As I learn, I write about what I’m learning and where I learned it, and the deeper I get into things, the more I start to see the shape of the story. When you’re writing nonfiction, it is so important that you keep track of what you’re learning and where it came from, because you will need to demonstrate that for fact-checkers and to make footnotes, if you’re using them (I always use them in longer works). There are tools like Zotero that you can use to keep track of your research, but I am a big fan of spreadsheets and tabs. Also? I put the footnotes in as I write. It does slow the writing down, but the saddest writers in the world I’ve met are the ones who are “finished” with their books and suddenly realize they haven’t done their footnotes.

Linda: Do you have any fun facts that you learned about AI that you’d like to share?

Martha: I don’t know that this is fun, but it’s useful. Human beings have a propensity to form emotional bonds with bots. When I was working on my book, this was not something people were talking about. Now, it is. But I really wanted readers to understand this tendency and how vulnerable it makes us. So, put up some guardrails. Don’t personify any AI tools you use. Don’t disclose information to them that you wouldn’t tell a stranger. Understand that bots are primarily designed not to serve you, but to make a profit or influence you in some way. Now, we can get some utility out of certain kinds of AI, even generative AI. But there is always a cost to it.

OK, now this is more fun. AI is being used for all sorts of cool purposes, including understanding what animals are saying. Maybe someday, my dream will come true, and I’ll be able to talk with animals.

Linda: Now, that would certainly be entertaining. Martha, what do you hope readers take away from this book?

Martha: I hope they’ll have a deep understanding of why humans make tools, why AI represents a change in the type of tool we make, and that the “is it good/is it bad” question is an oversimplification. Like any tool, it can make life better. It can also cause harm—both intended and unintended. We are at a turning point in technological history, as well as a turning point in political history, where the very wealthy—many of whom are profiting from this technology—have a great deal of political power. I want readers to understand this technology and become engaged citizens so we can ensure AI serves humanity and the planet. Unless we ensure AI is optimized to serve humanity instead of simply being profitable, it represents an existential threat. We cannot prepare for things we don’t understand, and I wanted to prepare the next generation as well as I could.

Linda: The book has a wealth of information about AI that could benefit students, and the chapter about AI in the world today was enlightening. Technology teachers might find it useful in their classrooms. How do you envision the book being used by students, teachers, and librarians?

Martha: I hope people get from it what interests them. There’s history, there’s some computer science, there’s futurism and a splash of biography—follow your interests. That’s what we should ideally be doing as readers. I hope that the information is such that readers recognize AI where they’re seeing it in the world, and that they have gained enough understanding of how it works to ensure their safety and prosperity.

Linda: Ironically, technology is changing technology jobs. I programmed computers for fifteen years. I’ve always embraced technological advancements; however, if my job had become obsolete because of AI, I don’t think I would have welcomed it. How do you feel about AI?

Martha: Generative AI that is based on intellectual property theft is an outrage. The people who designed these tools protect their IP vigorously and absolutely knew better. That said, these same tools, trained responsibly, could save a lot of labor. Let’s say you’re a coder and AI does a first draft for you, and then you fine-tune. I can see where that would be useful. But I think we need to be measured in our glee about this. Lots of tech has saved certain kinds of labor, and we aren’t working shorter days or work weeks. In the end, the only people who benefit from the saved labor are the people at the top, who are highly paid and have company ownership and other benefits.

With AI, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. The solution to this is to have a universal basic income and adequate housing, health care, and the rest. Otherwise, we are going to see a lot of suffering.

Certain jobs, I don’t think, should be replaced by AI. For example, writing stories or making art. No problem is being solved when you have generative AI gush this stuff out. These are human pleasures and human challenges, and AI-produced art is grotesque. The purpose of art is to make us feel something, and if it’s a machine that cannot feel doing that, well, it’s being emotionally manipulated by a machine. Does anyone actually want that? Is that what we want to subject our children to?

On the flip side, there is great potential with AI to solve complex problems based on pattern recognition and production. Say, for example, taking novel viruses and rapidly developing vaccines to prevent infection. That’s cool. I love it when technology is a solution to a problem and not just an engine of profit. That’s when humanity and our tools are at our best.

Linda: I totally agree. When AI helps us find cures and solutions, it’s a hero. When it’s being fed pirated work, it’s a thief. Martha, you certainly opened my eyes to the many places where we encounter artificial intelligence and how it is transforming our world. Thank you so much for joining us!

Martha Brockenbrough (rhymes with “broken toe”) is the author of 29 books, including YA fiction and nonfiction, picture books, middle-grade novels, and a chapter book series.

She is the Program Director for the MFA in Writing for Young Readers at the University of San Francisco. She founded National Grammar Day, wrote game questions for Cranium and Trivial Pursuit, was the editor of MSN.com, and has interviewed lots of celebrities, including the Jonas Brothers, Jason Bateman, Mike Myers, and Slash. She also wrote an educational humor column for Encarta for nine years.

She lives in Seattle with her family. Besides reading and writing, she likes dogs, cats, cooking, working out, and laughing.

Linda Zajac is the author of Robo-Motion: Robots That Move Like Animals and eight Minecraft books for kids. She is an award-winning science writer and a former computer programmer and systems analyst. Find her at www.lindarosezajac.com

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