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Interview with Middle Grade Author Jamie Sumner

Karen Reeder: Thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us a little bit about Wish You Well?

Jamie Sumner: Absolutely. I’m Jamie Sumner, and I write middle grade novels. Some are in verse, some are in prose, and I have a graphic novel adaptation of my first book coming out in about a year, which I’m really excited about. That’s been a lot like working on a script—hard and amazing.
Wish You Well is written in prose, but the premise is anything but traditional. Three kids meet at a hospital picnic. If you’ve been lucky enough not to spend much time in hospitals, you may not know about these picnics, but hospitals sometimes hold annual events for families and kids dealing with chronic illnesses, or for children who spent a long time in the NICU. Nurses and families come together, check in on one another, and celebrate how everyone is doing. The main character, Violet, is thirteen, and she absolutely does not want to go. She’s slowly going blind because of macular degeneration, and she doesn’t want to be reminded of it. She just wants to be a normal kid, so the picnic feels like this huge red flag highlighting her illness that she doesn’t want to talk about. So the day of the picnic, she’s in a bad mood. While she’s there, she witnesses a kid choking on a hot dog. Luckily, he’s surrounded by nurses who perform the Heimlich and save him. That’s how she meets Wyatt, who’s had a heart transplant, and Noor, whose mother is the nurse who rescued him.
Wyatt becomes the instigator of their friendship—or really, their scheme. Violet complains about how the wish foundation keeps trying to get her to apply for a wish, but she says that’s for babies. I don’t want to do that. Wyatt and Noor tell her they get those wish foundation things too.
Wyatt points out that they would each get three wishes, so he comes up with this grand idea: they pool their wishes and have one epic year filled with three huge adventures. The catch is that they have to pretend to be best friends, even though they just met. Violet and Noor aren’t exactly warm-and-fuzzy personalities, so Wyatt is the one who tries to bring everyone together. It’s a little like The Breakfast Club: three very different kids are stuck in this scenario and they team up and have to pull it off.

KR: I love the unlikely friendship, the attitude, and the grumpiness. Your voice pulled me in immediately. I kept thinking, I need more books like this. Do you have an unlikely friendship in your own life?

JS: Actually, I had… no one has asked me that question yet, that’s interesting. And it comes full circle. So, one of my best friends now, who I never would have guessed we would become close friends, was actually my son’s nurse in the NICU. So, my son Charlie has cerebral palsy, and he is 14 now. And, he was in the NICU for about 10 to 12 weeks when he was first born, and he ended up coming home with a trach, he had oxygen, he later got a G-tube, many surgeries, lots of stuff going on when he was a baby. And it’s really important, if you know, you know, like, to request someone who you think is good to be their primary nurse, the nurse that is… if they’re on call, they’re gonna be asigned to your baby. So, I ended up requesting Mary and she just seemed very cool under pressure, she and Charlie, like, meshed. Even though he was, you know, 3 weeks, 4 weeks old. This means every day when I’m there, she’s there.

So, we became friends, and then her husband who is also a nurse who works at the Veteran Hospital and he and my husband and Mary… we all became friends. They would come over and Mary would babysit Charlie when I went back to work as a teacher. You can’t do better than the primary NICU nurse taking care of your kid when your go back to work. I threw her a baby shower when she had her first baby, so… it’s so funny how that happens, and it’s kind of like friendships born out of…necessity? Really more, situation or circumstance. Mary and I, we actually texted last night, so we’re still best friends.

KR: That is so great. I love it. You’ve talked briefly about this, can you tell us more about how the setting for Wish You Well is something personal for you?

JS: It’s very personal, but I also think it’s universal. If you’re the parent of a child who’s spent time in the hospital—or if you’re part of the sandwich generation and have a parent who’s frequently in the hospital—you’ll understand it. After Charlie came home from the NICU, he continued seeing lots of specialists. He had surgeries, seizures, tests, sleep studies, and more ambulance rides than I ever wanted to experience.
We live in Nashville, so Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital became this place we knew intimately. I know the smell. I know where the good snacks are. I even know when the cafeteria locks the cold-drink doors because they won’t sell them between these two hours. We spent so much time there, and they were so good to us. I really wanted to tell a story set in that world because it’s something you can’t imagine if you haven’t been in it. When you’ve been through it, you recognize all these little details and think, Oh, yeah. I know that. I wanted readers who have lived through it to feel seen, but I also wanted people who haven’t experienced it to understand that world better and develop more empathy for children—and really anyone—who has had to spend a lot of time in hospitals dealing with chronic illness.

KR: Yes. It’s so important to build empathy.
I have to tell you, I was completely hooked by this story. I cried while reading and could hardly keep going, but had to find out the ending. That seems to be a theme in your writing. I’ve read several of your books, and they all carry these really big emotional themes. What draws you to writing that way?

JS: You mentioned voice, and I think voice is the thing that comes to me first in a story. I start with the character’s attitude, their vibe, who they are. I don’t really plot everything out in advance. I spend a lot of time getting to know my characters, and then I figure out the major plot points. Sometimes I abandon those, too. I let the characters lead me. Because my books are middle grade and because of the situations I put my characters in, they’re certainly adventure stories, but the emotional journey is always the bigger journey for me. That’s the part that makes you care, that makes you tear up, and that makes you not want to put the book down. Those are also the books I love to read. Sometimes you want a book that’s mostly plot, and that’s great. But other times you want to be pulled in and actually feel something. Those are the kinds of books I tend to write because my characters feel very real to me. I hear them. I get to know them. And I’m a pretty emotional person, so that probably plays a part in it, too.

KR: I’ve thought a lot about voice while reading this book, especially with Violet. Then Noor has such a distinct personality and Wyatt has that lovable quality that brings everyone together. When you’re first developing a character, how do you find their voice?

JS: Usually it starts with a line of dialogue. I’ll hear something in my head, and it’s very clearly something that this character would say. That becomes the thread I follow. Voice can also come through music. Sometimes I make a playlist for a character. That song or playlist captures the character’s vibe, and if I ever lose the voice while I’m writing—especially if I’ve gotten too caught up in the plot—I can listen to the music and find my way back.
For Violet, the voice was very early-Alanis-Morissette. She’s angry, but she doesn’t always know why, so when people get too close to her, she takes it out on them. But underneath all of that, she’s kind and she really needs love. That’s where Violet came from.

KR: I love that.
What would you wish for?

JS: Oh, gosh. That’s such a great question. I can’t believe I’ve never asked myself that while writing this book. I’d combine two things, because apparently that’s what you’re allowed to do with a wish. I’ve never been able to go on a writing retreat because of Charlie’s situation. I don’t like to be away from him for more than a night or two. And I also have twins in seventh grade. But I’d love to go abroad—specifically to Italy—and do a writing retreat that also includes a cooking class. I love the idea of writing while also cooking, getting to use your hands, eating great food, and being immersed in the Italian countryside. Wouldn’t that be incredible?

KR: Absolutely. You’re immersing yourself in all the senses and emotions, which would probably create an amazing story, too.

JS: Exactly. And the wish would have to include knowing that Charlie was okay. Otherwise I’d just be worrying the whole time, and I couldn’t really let myself relax and write.

KR: Let’s do a lightning round.
Favorite writing snack?

JS: Trail mix—specifically the California kind with dried banana chips.

KR: What do you do right before you sit down to write?

JS: Go for a run. It clears my head, and that’s usually when I figure out what’s coming next in the chapter.

KR: Your book is divided into summer, fall, winter, and spring. Best thing about summer?

JS: The kids are out of school and we have no schedule. It’s incredible.

KR: Best thing about fall?

JS: Everything pumpkin. I know it’s a cliché, but I can’t help it, I love it. I love baking with pumpkin. And its… fresh starts.

KR: Best thing about winter?

JS: Is there anything? Okay, fun snow days. Where you get to wing it. Those are fun. I usually bake bread on snow days, because I’m at home with them, and I can check in on my rise, see how its going.

KR: Nice. And spring?

JS: When you first hear the birds again in the morning. Those early spring sounds make it a little easier to get out of bed.

KR: Favorite vacation spot?

JS: Colorado. I love it, I love the mountains.

KR: Best reading spot?

JS: My bed. Oh, no! What am I even saying? We built a screen in porch, and there is a couch that is my… I write on it, I live on it, I nap on it, it’s the best.

KR: Favorite holiday?

JS: Christmas has almost too much pressure to make it perfect. So I told my husband this past year I really liked the 4th of July, because it was chill, and it was outside, and it was grilling, and…Fireworks. So that may be my current new favorite.

KR: Hobby when not writing.

JS: Baking, yes, that’s my favorite.

KR: Alright, well, I love it! Thank you for joining us today. Before we go, can you tell us… you alluded to the graphic novel, but what is next for author Jamie Sumner?

JS: Next! Oh my goodness, it’s called Space Race, it’s coming out in the spring, and it’s a novel in verse.