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Author Spotlight: Alexandra Diaz

By on July 23, 2026   /   Articles, Author Interviews, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers   /   Leave a comment

In today’s Author Spotlight, Jo Hackl chats with Alexandra Diaz, the award winning author of multiple books, including The Only Road (Pura Belpré Honor and Américas Award), The Crossroads (New Mexico’s Great Read at the National Book Festival), Santiago’s Road Home (ALA Notable Children’s Books), and Farewell Cuba, mi isla (recipient of two starred reviews), all of which she translated into Spanish with her mother. Her current book, Camp Big Top, was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard. An overactive imagination had her making up stories at an early age and led to getting an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University. The daughter of Cuban refugees, she is a native Spanish speaker who currently lives in Santa Fe, NM.

 

All about the book:

Book Cover

Four kids overcome challenges and form a strong friendship while trying to save their circus camp from closing in this new coming-of-age story.

Mario has been banished, to circus camp of all places, after stealing his parents’ credit card.

Luna is an aerial artist, but her body seems to have grown curvier overnight, making it harder to perform on the silks.

Ricky is destined to be a stilt-walking star, but his attention span keeps him from safely learning the basics.

Betina has a natural talent for clowning comedy, so long as no one is watching her.

When the landlord threatens to close down Camp Big Top forever, these four kids must join forces to save it. But first, they will have to build trust in each other… and in themselves.

 

The Background of Camp Big Top

JH: You are not only a writer, but also a certified aerial instructor and circus coach. Can you tell us what drew you to this field?

Alexandra Diaz teaching stilts

AD: Coming from a life-long desire to fly, I have always been fascinated by circus arts, thinking that the people who performed them were the epitome of “cool.” Yet for the longest time, I didn’t think I could ever be that “cool.” I was too big, and too tall, and too heavy. People said so. There was a local circus where I live. I drove two different kids I was babysitting to their classes and I still thought it was inaccessible to me. I didn’t have the time or the money. Still, I watched from the wings, secretly wishing I could do these things too until I decided that was enough. I was always going to be too big and too poor so I might as well do it anyway. Without the pressure of seeking stardom and fame (which never interested me), I learned to do “cool” things for myself with my “too” whatever body. I have come as close as I will probably get to flying and it’s great up here.

JH: How did your experience in circus training inspire Camp Big Top?

AD: A few years after joining the circus world, I was asked to teach some classes and that led to teaching regularly. Years of teaching circus camp and school programs and seeing the dynamics that take place in the circus world led to great inspiration. The circus world quickly became my home. A place where I belonged and more importantly, could be myself. This is the book I would have loved to have read as a youth and I’m so pleased I was able to write it as an adult. How could I not write about this world I know and love? The best part is that everything my characters do are things real kids can learn to do for themselves.

 

The Characters

JH: Camp Big Top features a diverse cast of characters who must come together to save the camp. How did you go about creating the characters?

AD: The characters were already there when I started writing this version. The initial idea was for a picture book. After a bazillion drafts and rewrites that never got sent out, I thought it would make a great chapter book series where each kid had to overcome a personal challenge (like smelly feet insecurity) and a circus challenge (performing acrobatics barefooted). I had a pretty good idea of who my characters were and what each book would be about. When my editor asked me what middle grade I was working on next, I easily adapted the chapter book series idea into a middle grade. I had been thinking about these characters so much already, that aging them to middle school age just meant maturing their desires and insecurities.

 

JH: To which character do you most relate?

AD: There is a part of me in each of my characters and things that each has experienced that have happened to me. In general, I would say that I relate most to Luna and Ricky. Luna’s body positivity journey is definitely something that strikes a chord though, I admit, she’s much more accepting of her curves than I am of mine. Ricky is the love-child of my neuro-divergent brain. So many of his thought-tangents are thoughts I’ve had. He’s just a lot more optimistic than I am. With all of them, it’s nice to know that my characters handle their inherited traits better than me.

 

JH: Did any character surprise you at any point while you were writing the book?

AD: Mario surprised me and himself all the time. He has this indifferent air to hide his insecurities but he does care and just wants to be accepted. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t mind when the dogs slobber on him: the pups love him regardless and he needed that.

 

Themes and Scenes

Alexandra Diaz Photo Credit: Owen Benson

JH: Your book masterfully balances humor and serious subjects such as family relationships, economic pressures, body positivity, neurodivergence, and the sense of feeling invisible. How did you go about finding the balance between seriousness and humor?

AD: No idea! I don’t try to be funny and I certainly didn’t edit thinking that I had to add more humor. My best guess is that it’s part of how my brain works and how it popcorns and goes in random directions. I have been known to laugh out loud at something I thought of (much to the puzzlement of surrounding people). It’s nice to know that not only can I entertain myself, my humor comes across on the page as well.

 

JH: If you could drop yourself into one scene from the book, which would you choose—and why?

 AD: I love the dress rehearsal and the show. I think it brings back those feelings of being an outsider who has finally been allowed to be one of the “cool” kids. Being backstage and privy to all the offstage drama and happenings the audience doesn’t know or see is just as much fun as the show itself. I think it’s part of being a writer—that desire to explore and observe things from all angles.

 

Writing for Middle Grade Readers

JH: What draws you to writing for middle-grade readers?

 AD: I never stopped reading middle grade and young adult, and writing for children and teens has always been my desired genre. I feel it’s a world I know and understand (and remember from my childhood so therefore can relate to it better). Most books written for adults bore me so I see it unlikely that I would want to write for that audience. I like the fast pace of children’s books and the common themes—friendship, acceptance, and empowerment—are topics I’ll never grow out of.

 

JH: Were there any books you loved growing up that influenced your storytelling?

 AD: My early writing was definitely influenced by Babysitters’ Club, Sweet Valley, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, though I wished it was more like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. But even then, there were aspects to all those writing styles and formats that never resonated with me and I knew I wouldn’t write that way. In order to grow as a writer, I had to make my writing my own.

 

Writing Craft

JH: Did this book begin with a character, a plot idea, or your irresistible title?

 AD: For this book, it was definitely plot, quickly followed by characters. The title was all my agent’s idea!

 

JH: Were there any scenes that were especially fun—or especially difficult—to write?

 AD: I love Ricky’s introduction to the circus world and his enthusiasm for everything circus related. I likewise really felt sorry for him when things didn’t work out as he planned. Luna’s issues with her parent weren’t particularly difficult to write per se, but they did bring up feelings of resentment and judgment that were surprisingly real despite not having gone through the same arguments.

 

JH: How long did it take from the first spark of the idea to the finished manuscript?

AD: Hard to say. It was a multi-incarnation picture book for several years. Then it was an idea with notes for a chapter book series. Even when it became a middle grade novel, the publication date was moved back several months. During that time it felt like it was taking ages. As a middle grade book, I think it took about two and a half years

 

JH: What was the biggest revision you made to the story during the editing process?

AD: Probably making the circus terms and moves less circus-nerdy and more universal for a non-circus reader to understand. The reader didn’t need to know the exact position of a hand or foot to get the general gist of what was happening.

 

JH: What advice would you give to writers trying to write for middle-grade readers?

AD: Try to remember what it was like at that age and put yourself into the shoes of your characters. What were you feelings? How did you act? What deductions/assumptions did you falsely make? That said, it’s also important to remember that unless you’re writing a memoir, your characters aren’t you so they have to make their own mistakes and have their own character arcs.

 

What’s Next

JH: What projects are you currently working on?

AD: I always have several things on the go with ideas for many more. I’m excited to see what comes to play next!

 

————

Lightning Round: 

JH: No interview is complete without a lightning round, so here we go:

 

Favorite place to write:
On my sofa, in my pajamas.

 

Plotter or pantser?
Neither and both. There isn’t a label that describes my style.

 

 If you were not a writer, what might you do for a living?
Teach circus arts (oh, wait. That’s what I already do)!

 

Favorite musical group or artist:

It depends on my mood. Joan Jett, ABBA, Beatles, Def Leppard, Beauty and the Beast (animated version) soundtrack

 

Favorite fictional hero:

Cassie Logan or Charlotte Doyle

 

Favorite fictional villain:

Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 

Favorite childhood TV show:

Full House

 

What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

If you want to read the story, write it.

 

What advice would you give to other writers?

If writing is what you’re passionate about, do it regardless of what everyone else tells you.

 

Jo: Thanks for chatting with us, Alexandra!

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STEM Tuesday– Light Pollution– Writing Tips and Resources

By on July 21, 2026   /   Light Pollution, STEM Tuesday   /   Leave a comment

In November of 2007, we had a terrible ice storm in my small town. Trees and power lines were decimated. We even lost our basketball goal in the driveway when a large oak limb dropped on top of it. We were without power for a week after our house was mistakenly skipped over by the out-of-town power crews on their first pass through our neighborhood, making the wait longer. My family did not appreciate the beanie weenie meal I cooked on the gas grill and ended up spending more time at a friend’s house because they had electricity while I held down the fort through the long, dark, and cold nights.

Although this was not a pleasant experience in any way, shape, or form, there was one sliver of a silver lining from the ice storm. It knocked out the streetlight at the intersection in front of our house and several up and down the street. It was dark. It was fantastic for stargazing. The night sky popped. Planets, stars, constellations, and the Milky Way jumped out in a way I had not experienced anywhere inside the city limits. I felt like a kid again from the back patio staring at the heavens hanging so bright and close that one could almost reach out and touch it. Glorious!

With the extent of the damage to higher priority areas in the city and county, it was a solid six months before the streetlights were repaired, so it was one “dark” period in my life I miss to this very day. After the streetlight came back online, the stargazing party was over, and it was back to stargazing through its light pollution. 🙁 

ThatOneEli, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

What does my 20-year-old ice storm experience have to do with a STEM Tuesday Writing Tips & Resources post on light pollution?

Well, maybe nothing at all and just a rambling of an old man. But, in writing, we can create so much light of a pollution-like story flow through a frenetic pace or constant action that it masks the reader’s experience. Keeping the reader in a steady Full Speed Ahead Mode makes it difficult for them to see the stars, planets, and galaxies of the story. In other words, they miss the full beauty of the reading experience because they are never offered the opportunity to step away from the bright light, allow what just happened to sink in, and prepare the brain space for what comes next.

The inverse is also possible. We can write a piece in Low Speed Mode with little addition of action or light, and the reader’s experience is masked in that constant lowkey vibe. The key is to mix and blend the levels of brightness to shine a light where needed and also reduce the light levels to allow the time and reflection necessary to keep the reader engaged.

We need to strive for those moments of awe after the streetlight goes dark and the night sky bursts in all its glory. The reader needs those times in the story when they lie on the cool grass, staring at the Big Dipper or Orion’s Belt, and feeling as if the Milky Way galaxy is just an arm’s length away. 

In my recent regular MUF post, The Book Called to Me Again, I wrote about the genius that is Gary D. Schmidt. Look, a lot happens in Gary D. Schmidt stories. Good things. Bad things. Things that make you laugh. Things that make you cry. His skill as a writer shows when he amplifies these inherently bright story light things by placing them in juxtaposition to periods of dim story light. With the bright levels temporarily dimmed, the reader can not only appreciate the good, the bad, the funny, or the emotional story point that just happened, but have the emotional and mental space to process it. 

Combatting the light pollution in my writing is something I’m constantly working on. I write from the part of my brain that is still controlled by the middle school Mike. This is a blessing and a curse. Middle-school-brained Mike offers a unique perspective for creating stories. My struggle, however, is fighting the young Mike in my head who wants to see more car chases, more explosions, and more jumping from the roof of one building to another. You know, the middle school boy stuff. 

Learn to control the light pollution in your creative work. Shine the light brightly when it needs to be shone and learn to dim, or shut it off when it’s not needed. Ebb and flow to give the reader the headspace they need to stay engaged without needing a pair of very dark sunglasses.

Happy summer writing! May you shine your creative light without creating light pollution.

Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal-opportunity sports enthusiast, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/life/training-related topics at www.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.com. Two of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101,  are included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming Bluesky under the guise of @mikehays64.bsky.social and @MikeHays64 on Instagram.

The O.O.L.F Files

This month on the Out Of Left Field (O.O.L.F.) Files, we

DarkSky

“Our DarkSky Approved program works with communities, manufacturers, retailers, designers, and others to evaluate and certify dark sky friendly outdoor lighting equipment, as well as dark sky friendly outdoor lighting projects.”

What is Light Pollution? via DarkSky

Light Pollution Map from the University of Colorado at Boulder

ArcGIS Online Global Artificial Sky 3D Interactive Map

https://www.arcgis.com/home/webscene/viewer.htm

John C. Wells Planetarium at James Madison University

Light Pollution: The Overuse & Misuse of Artificial Light at Night via the John C. Wells Planetarium

Astrophysicist Kelsey Johnson’s TED Talk

The problem of light pollution — and 5 ridiculously easy ways to fix it

And finally, a wink to my mother and father, who always yelled at their teenage sons for leaving “every light in the universe on when we weren’t using it” and listening to our loud, noise-polluting rock music at wall-shaking volumes.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for introducing us to the world of environmental activism at home.

“Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” by Australian rock band AC/DC from their classic 1980 album Back in Black. Note: This album may or may not have knocked a picture frame or two from the walls upstairs in our childhood home. For the record, I plead the Fifth.

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Sound Like a Kid: Digging into Dialogue

By on July 17, 2026   /   Writing  

A question I hear often from kid readers is “How can you write for us when you’re an adult?” There’s a lot of reasons why this question pops up, but one of the biggest is the fact that adults simply aren’t kids. In their minds, we don’t look like them, we aren’t interested in the same things, and—perhaps most importantly of all—we don’t sound like them. If we’re not careful, the dialogue we write for kid characters will only confirm we’re not the best people to be putting stories together for them. To avoid dialogue that’s stiff, unrealistic, or just plain boring, let’s look at two main concepts to keep in mind when you sit down and try to get into the sneakers of your kid protagonist.

Use Code SwitchingA speech bubble made up of yellow notes

A subtle but powerful marker of kid dialogue is code switching. This term refers to the way people change how they talk in different groups. Put simply, if you’re an eleven-year-old, you don’t sound the same talking with your parents as you do with your friends. Adults code switch, too, though it’s often less noticeable. Kids who fit into the MG age range are stepping beyond their families for the first time, and they have the chance to make connections with people of all ages. These relationships are great opportunities to show different dimensions of your character, especially if the dialogue can show us different sides of their personality.

If your dialogue is feeling stiff, ask yourself these questions:

  • How does my character’s dialogue change when they’re talking with someone their age? Someone older? Younger? Someone in their family? A stranger? Consider how much they might interrupt, not finish a sentence, enunciate, mumble, take charge, or ask more questions.
  • If their dialogue doesn’t change, what does that show readers about their personality?

Avoid Writing Tiny Grownups

One of the worst things that can happen in dialogue is giving your kid character a vocabulary and way of speaking that makes them sound like an adult when it isn’t intended to be a character trait. As adults, we’re steeped in specialized language and terms like “juxtaposition” and “voluminous.” We’re more adept at using language to communicate, comfortable with the differences between “angst,” “depression,” and “discouragement.” Kids, on the other hand, simply don’t have a lot of experience wrapping things in language, much less knowing there’s a word for what they’re trying to describe or convey. This includes kids who are passionate about very niche topics as well. While they might know everything about arthropods or camshafts, they likely won’t be as fluent in talking about how their best friend moving away feels.

If you’re not sure if you’re writing a tiny grownup, here are some questions for you:

  • How does my character talk about complicated topics like emotions? If what they say sounds like it could be said by a therapist, it’s likely not a good fit for your kid character.
  • Does my character use technical terms, jargon, big words, or specialized language? If so, where would they have learned it? Why do they use words like this?
  • If you’re still not sure, give a scene of dialogue to friend who’s not familiar with the story and ask them how old they think the characters are. If they guess incorrectly, ask them which words or phrases made them think the way they did.

Do Field Research If Needed

If you need real-world inspiration, take time to hang out in places where kids gather. Even better is to find places where there’s a mix of ages, such as libraries, schools, malls, and theaters. Listen closely and take notes on what you observe, especially when it comes to how people talk to each other, what words and tone they use, who talks more, and so on.  Reading is another great way to see how other authors have approximated the often messy, not grammatically correct way we have conversations.

It’s important to get dialogue right in middle grade. Play with the way your character talks and see what happens!

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