Author Interviews

Author Interview: Jamie Sumner on her new release, Schooled

By Laurie J. Edwards on August 27, 2025 / Author Interviews

by Bethany Rogers

We’re excited to have Jamie Sumner on here today to talk about her new release: Schooled. The title intrigues me so much, I can’t wait to find out more.

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

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

I absolutely loved to read. My brother is twelve years older than me, so I was basically an only child with a very active imagination. On top of that, my mom was my elementary school librarian! Every book fair, she would let me pick as many books as I wanted and stack them next to her desk. It was heaven. I loved The Boxcar Children and The Baby-sitters Club series.

What an ideal job for the mom of a book lover to have! That would have been heaven.

With so many books at your disposal, I’m sure you learned how powerful writing could be. What was an early experience where you learned that written language had power?

When I was in fourth grade, my teacher assigned our first short story. I don’t remember the requirements, but I remember that mine was ten pages and everyone else’s was around two! I found it a few years ago, and it was pretty dark for a nine year old – about an elephant that escaped a zoo in India. I don’t think I’d ever seen an elephant in real life, and I had definitely never been to India. But the power of this anecdote comes from what my teacher wrote at the top of my story. She wrote, “You are a writer” – not, you will be a writer if you do x,y,z, but that I was one already. I’m pretty sure her words changed my life.

That’s an amazing compliment, and it shows how much impact teachers can have. It’s such wonderful, positive encouragement. I’m sure she’d be pleased to know how many books you’ve written.

Those elementary years can also be filled with many other emotions, including fear and embarrassment. What was your biggest fear when you were young? Did you get over it?

Honestly, I think my biggest fear was that people wouldn’t like me. It seems silly, but I felt like if I really showed my true self, people would think I was weird or “too much.” It’s easier now that I’m in my forties, but it’s also harder with social media. It is so easy to compare to someone else’s home life or career. Luckily, I have a core of good people around me, and I am pretty good at reminding myself of my values, when I start to feel angsty about it all.

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

This is going to sound so small, but it felt SO BIG. One of my friends had a sleepover and almost every girl in the grade was invited. It was awesome. We roller skated and watched movies (that we rented from Blockbuster) and then we all slept in sleeping bags in her living room.

Well, the next morning, I woke up, and a few girls were laughing and whispering – you know that whisper you just feel is about you and not nice. Turns out, they said I snored and when I did my lip curled up, and because I had a short haircut, I looked like Elvis. For the rest of the school year, those few girls called me Elvis.

It felt so unfair that I got a mean nickname because of something I did in my sleep.

I can totally understand why it felt so big. It sounds very painful and sad. Unkind teasing like that really hurts. And for them to keep it up so long makes it even more mean. It’s good when you could put it behind you as you grew up. Luckily, your teacher’s encouragement spurred you to continue writing and you turned your talents into a wonderful career as an author.

Can you tell us your favorite or most challenging part of being a writer?

My absolute favorite writing is the first draft – it goes the fastest and everything feels brilliant and nothing feels so precious that you can’t cut it or change it later. I wake up in the middle of the night texting myself dialogue, and things that happen in my day sneak into the part of the story I’m working on. This is the part that feels like magic.

The hardest part for me is the big letter I get from my editor with the long list of big and small things that need fixing. It can be anything from major character or plot issues or small line-by-line fixes, and it feels so massive that if I let it sit for too long, it feels impossible. I have to jump in before the weight of it gets to me.

Edits can be tough and overwhelming to face. I’m glad you’ve found a way to get started on the revisions.

Have you had any careers besides writing?

Oh yes. This is my favorite thing to tells kids when I do author visits. You DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW what you want to be when you grow up! We are all always growing up! Your wants and skills will change. First, I worked for a publishing company in New York. Then I worked for a bakery. Then I went back to school and got my Masters in Education and taught high school English for over a decade. It was only after that when I became a full-time author.

It’s been fun getting to know about your journey as an author. Now we’d love to hear more about Schooled. Can you tell us about it?

Schooled actually pulled a lot from my former career as a teacher. In the story eleven-year-old Lenny and his father have just uprooted their lives to move to a college campus where his dad will be a professor. Lenny and a bunch of other professors’ kids become part of an experimental middle school. The catch is, Lenny is in deep, deep grief over the loss of his mom and he’s not sure he’s up for this new life.

This novel is an exploration of what school could and should be and also what it looks like for different people to grieve and how we heal. Lenny makes some incredible friends, and it was pure joy for me to set a group of preteens loose at college.

Are any characters based on anyone you know?

There is an old professor in Schooled named VW and he is absolutely modeled after my favorite professor in college whom we affectionately called VB. VW loves talking literature and challenging norms and holding office hours in the divinity school cafeteria because “they serve the best food on campus.”

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

There is a part in this book where Lenny and his friends take a test called the Four Tendencies. It’s a real thing by Gretchen Rubin, and I would encourage any teacher to let their students take it. It tells you a great deal about how you approach life and educational tasks. I’d also tell any aspiring writers to have their characters take the test! It will show them what their character’s motivations are so they can have them make authentic decisions.

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

I hope readers will remember that grief is not linear, and we all approach it in our own way at our own pace and that the best thing you can do is to talk it through with people you trust.

Can you tell us about some of your other books?

I have my first picture book coming out in the spring of 2026! A Fish Like Me takes place entirely under water as we follow one boy as he pretends to be all different sea creatures. It is only later that we discover he uses a wheelchair and is in swim therapy. It is a beautiful celebration of all the different ways that bodies can move.

What a wonderful way to explore swim therapy from a child’s point of view. I’ll look forward to that coming out. Are you working on any other books now?

I am finishing up page proofs on my third novel in verse Glory Be which will also be out in the spring of 2026. It follows Glory as she searched for her lost dog Roux all over the city of New Orleans. The entire thing takes place over five days and it is so fun and fast-paced and full of the vibrant culture of NOLA.

Good luck with finishing Glory Be. Novels in verse are so challenging to write, but so lovely to read. And New Orleans is a fun setting, so we’ll look forward to its release.

And thank you so much for agreeing to this interview, Jamie. I know our young readers, as well as teachers and librarians will enjoy learning more about you and your books. And I’m sure they’ll be excited to get a copy of Schooled.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Eleven-year-old Lenny Syms is about to start college—sort of. As part of a brand-new experimental school, Lenny and four other students are starting sixth grade on a university campus, where they’ll be taught by the most brilliant professors and given every resource imaginable. This new school is pretty weird, though. Instead of hunkering down behind a desk to study math, science, and history, Lenny finds himself meditating, participating in discussions where you don’t even have to raise your hand, and spying on the campus population in the name of anthropology.
But Lenny just lost his mom, and his Latin professor dad is better with dead languages than actual human beings. Lenny doesn’t want to be part of some learning experiment. He just wants to be left alone. Yet if Lenny is going to make it as a middle schooler on a college campus, he’s going to need help. Is a group of misfit sixth graders and one particularly quirky professor enough to pull him out of his sadness and back into the world?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamie Sumner is the author of Roll with It, Time to Roll, Rolling On, Tune It Out, One Kid’s Trash, The Summer of June, Maid for It, Deep Water, Please Pay Attention, and Schooled. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications. She loves stories that celebrate the grit and beauty in all kids. She is also the mother of a son with cerebral palsy and has written extensively about parenting a child with special needs. She and her family live in Nashville, Tennessee. Visit her at Jamie-Sumner.com.

Interview with Author Melissa Dassori

By Melissa Roske on August 18, 2025 / Author Interviews

The first time I met middle-grade author Melissa Dassori—for coffee at La Bomboniera, an Italian café in New York City—I was 12 minutes late. For those of you who know me, I am never late. And I do mean never. Although I can’t repay Melissa for the time she spent waiting for me (I offered ☺), I’m hoping this interview will get me back into her good graces. So… without further ado, please join me in welcoming Melissa Dassori to the Mixed-Up Files!

About the Author

Melissa Dassori is the author of J.R. Silver Writes Her World (Christy Ottaviano/Little, Brown BYR, 2022), which was praised by Publishers Weekly for “Balancing realistic relationship drama with magical undertones… with (deft) references to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.” The book was also an Owlcrate Jr. Book Club Selection, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and a Washington Post Kids Summer Book Club recommendation.

Melissa’s latest novel, Greta Ever After is a Junior Literary Guild Gold Standard selection and releases tomorrow from Christy Ottaviano/Little, Brown BYR. Melissa lives in New York City with her husband and three daughters, with whom she likes to share books, spend time outside, eat ice cream, and travel. Learn more about Melissa on her website and follow her on Instagram.

Q&A with Melissa Dassori

MR: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Melissa. I’m so happy to have you here. And again… my apologies for being late for our coffee date! ☺

MD: I’m excited to be here! I enjoyed our coffee so much, I didn’t even remember that you were late. It’s always a pleasure to meet another middle-grade author named Melissa, especially a fellow New Yorker!

About the Book

MR: Before we dive in, can you tell Mixed-Up Files readers a bit about Greta Ever After?

MD: Of course! Greta Ever After is about a seventh grader named Greta Starr who wants to make a name for herself as a student journalist but struggles to find scoops. She’s feeling pretty down when the biggest story she can imagine arrives at her doorstep—a cuckoo clock with an enchanted wooden figurine named Lulu inside. Lulu is not, of course, something Greta can report on, so she secretly sets in motion a series of events to write about, but her not-quite-honest stories get her in trouble with her friends. When Lulu offers her a tempting solution—to escape into the clock and enjoy a perpetual childhood—Greta has to choose between Lulu’s magical offer and embracing the challenges of growing up.

Character Study

MR: What inspired you to write Greta? How is the main character like you? How is she different?

MD: On the magical front, my husband’s distant-but-beloved German relative gave us a cuckoo clock from the Bavarian Forest for our wedding. It’s very charming, although we don’t always wind it because it’s also very loud! That clock, though, led me to Lulu.

And on the “real” part of the story, I think kids around Greta’s age, especially girls, can start to feel pressure to do things exceptionally well all the time. That sense of obligation can get in the way of taking appropriate risks, whether trying a new activity or raising a hand in class. But experimenting and making mistakes are so important to exploring oneself and the world, and to developing resilience, which we all need in life. I remember feeling afraid to fail as a kid—and more recently when starting to write!—and I wanted to explore that fear in this story.

Magic’s in the Air

MR: Like your debut novel, J.R. Silver Writes Her World, Greta Ever After includes magical undertones. What draws you to magical stories? Were you interested in magic as a child?

MD: Funny enough, I’ve always gravitated toward realistic fiction, both as a kid and an adult. That said, I’ve grown to love a hint of magic in middle-grade books and recently wrote a piece about ten of my favorites. I think a little magic adds fun to a story and can also offer a softer or more hopeful way to approach hard subjects.

As a writer, I’ve learned a lot about how to integrate magic into a novel effectively, like making sure the magical system is consistent and that the magical elements are truly integral to the story. Honing that storytelling ability has been a good professional challenge.

MR: As a follow-up, what about fairy tales? Grimms’ Fairy Tales gets a lot of airtime in this novel. Are you a fairy-tale fan? If so, do you have a favorite?

MD: I really enjoyed reading The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm while drafting Greta. I also thought about how much I loved the Disney versions as a kid, and how their heroines have evolved in good ways since. As Greta Ever After unfolded, I tried to drop little Easter eggs for fairy-tale fans. Some are pretty obvious and others are very subtle—maybe too subtle! Hopefully readers will spot and enjoy the allusions.

Truth or Consequences

MR: An important theme in the book is striving for the truth. This comes into play when Greta fabricates stories for the school newspaper and the line between fact and fiction becomes blurry. Can you tell us more about this?

MD: My publishing team at Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown came up with a great last line for the back cover about Greta learning that the key to being a good friend and journalist is “striving for truth, not perfection.” I think that sums up a lot of themes in the book nicely. Aiming for truth or honesty—in journalism, friendship, or even sense of self—might not be all roses, but it’s likely the better course.

What’s the Scoop?

MR: Speaking of the school newspaper, were you involved in journalism at Greta’s age? If so, what drew you to it? What were your most memorable scoops?

MD: I wrote a few articles for my school newspapers but wasn’t involved in a meaningful way. That said, I’ve worked with a lot of journalists later in life and really admire what they do.

When I was trying to figure out what type of misdeeds Greta would commit to get herself in trouble, I decided to have her violate ethical reporting standards for a few reasons. First, a lot of kids do write for their school papers and may relate to Greta’s extracurricular interest. Second, whether a reader is involved directly with a newspaper or not, there are interesting discussions to be had about journalism ethics, media literacy, and the role of the Fourth Estate that I hope might emerge from this story.

And finally, as I mentioned earlier, I wanted Greta to mess up badly, and I wanted her to recover from her mistakes. So I was looking for something that would be consequential but not, for purposes of this book, too hurtful for any one character to endure. Greta’s ethical breaches get her in trouble, but the harm is something that, hopefully, she can work her way back from to regain the trust of her friends and of my readers!

Into the Woods

MR: In addition to writing for the school newspaper, Greta is involved in a school production of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine iconic 1986 musical, Into the Woods. What is the significance of the musical in terms of Greta’s journey? Also, what is its significance to you on a personal level?

MD: Into the Woods actually took on a bigger role as the book evolved. When I started writing, my first thought was to include a musical so Greta could try two new things, acting as well as reporting. But after reading the first draft, my editor encouraged me to lean into the fairy tale elements more, including through the show.

So as part of my research, I read and watched interviews in which Sondheim and Lapine talked about the show’s messages around growing up and understanding ways that we’re connected to other people. I tried to bring out those threads through Greta’s choice between a somewhat self-centered, never-ending childhood and the more complicated path of maturing, which comes with the challenges and rewards of community. I also appreciate how the show’s heroines take control of their destinies, like Cinderella leaving her initially-perfect prince and Rapunzel rebelling against the witch’s overprotective tower. Similarly, Greta must decide if she wants to retreat into the safety of Lulu’s clock or forge ahead through the scary woods of middle school!

MR: Your book features gorgeous illustrations by artist/graphic designer Dana SanMar. Did you have any say in the art-selection process? The illustrations couldn’t be more perfect for your book

MD: I love them as well! I think the illustrations add such a special touch to the book.

The art selection is mostly done by the editorial team, along with an in-house art director who works with Dana. Much of the vision is left to the illustrator, and I think of my job as similar to fact-checking. That could be something mundane, like catching that a character’s hair is a different length in the illustration than elsewhere in the text. Or occasionally I’ve offered comments that are a bit more abstract.

For example, in my first book, J.R. Silver Writes Her World, one of my favorite illustrations features a new teacher on her first day of school. She looked friendly in the initial sketch—as one might hope a teacher would look!—but we tweaked it so her facial expression became more neutral in a slightly-mysterious way to better fit her role in the story.

Perseverance vs. Perfectionism

MR: Rumor has it you enjoy doing author visits. One of the topics you cover is “Perseverance vs. Perfectionism: Getting from Plot to Page.” Can you tell MUF readers more about this? Also, what has your path to publication been like? Smooth sailing or bumpy seas?

MD: Sure! In the presentation you mention, I tease out some of the themes we’ve been talking about—trying new things and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. It’s fun to hear all the ways kids are putting themselves out there, like picking up a new sport or trying out summer camp. One thing I did for the first time recently is get a dog, and they love telling me about their pets! We celebrate these adventures during my visits.

But I also emphasize that experimentation and disappointment happen even when you’ve got experience under your belt. So while I share some of the many reasons editors turned down my work before I got published, I also tell them about books I’ve drafted after debuting that will never see the light of day, which also goes to your question about my path to publication. I’d say it was somewhere in the middle. I got an agent pretty quickly, but it took a while to sell my first book. That said, it was worth the wait and I ended up with a fabulous editor who’s made my stories and storytelling so much better.

Melissa’s Writing Routine

MR: What is your writing process like, Melissa? Do you have a specific routine or word-count goals? Any writing rituals? Also, are you a plotter or a pantser?

MD: In terms of process, I try different things for different projects, and for different phases of projects, so I’m kind of all over the place! I have a group of writer friends with whom I chat regularly and have check-ins while writing, which is great for camaraderie and accountability.

Despite my lack of consistent process, there are a couple things I’m committed to when editing. The first is to re-outline once I have a start-to-finish draft and before making big changes. I don’t include much detail, but I go chapter by chapter, and it helps me figure out what to move or where to make additions.

Similarly, a friend introduced me to a great chart by Kate Messner that I use as a model. I put each chapter across the top, and on the side I list characters, settings, activities (e.g., musical rehearsals or newspaper-related scenes for Greta), etc. As I’m working on the above-mentioned outline, I check off items in the chart for the chapters in which they appear. Then I can see, for example, that a character I introduced in Chapter 2 didn’t appear again until Chapter 22, or that a thread I wanted to emphasize popped up too sporadically to pack much punch. The visual representation really helps.

Second Time Around

MR: As above, Greta Ever After is your second middle-grade novel. How will your experience as a previously published author affect your approach to launching and marketing novel #2? What will you do differently this time? What will remain the same?

MD: That’s a good question. I would say that I was kind of shy, for lack of a better word, about becoming an author. I hadn’t met a lot of writers and didn’t tell a lot of people about my interest in writing. When J.R. Silver came out, I’d just started making connections in the industry, particularly with a group of early-career authors who’ve since become important to me personally and professionally. I’m also more confident pitching myself. So, for example, my very first podcast interview is coming up soon. It’s the result of reaching out to the host of a show that I enjoy, and that’s something I didn’t have the confidence to do the first time around.

MR: Finally, what’s next on your writing agenda? Any new projects you can tell us about?

MD: I’m currently working on an upper middle grade story. This one doesn’t have a magical element, but I’m having fun so we’ll see where it goes.

LIGHTNING ROUND!

MR: Oh! One last thing. No MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Black tea with milk and sugar.

Magic: Fact or fiction? Eternal question?

Coffee or tea? I think I gave away the answer already!

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? Fully nay.

Superpower? Maternal multi-tasking, which can also be a flaw.

Favorite place on earth? I’m going to go with New York City. {Nice choice! — MR}

You’re stranded on a desert island, with only three items in your possession. What are they? Oh gosh. I like the beach but hate the heat, so it would probably be something for shade, something to read, and something salty to snack on.

MR: Thank you for chatting with me, Melissa—and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of Greta Ever After. I thought it was fab, and I know MUF readers will agree!

MD:

Thank you, and thanks for having me!

Author Melissa Roske smiling and signing a book at a bookstore event. She is seated at a wooden table in front of bookshelves, wearing a sleeveless purple dress.

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 (just the funny ones), and received certification as a life coach. 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.

Getting Inventive with Authors Dylan Thuras & Jen Swanson

By Melissa Roske on July 31, 2025 / Articles, Author Interviews

Today, authors Dylan Thuras and Jen Swanson stop by to chat with Melissa Roske about their forthcoming collaboration, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World (Workman Publishing, August 12, 2025), the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid.

The book, illustrated by Ruby Fresson, is a STEM-oriented exploration of the planet’s 50 most interesting inventions and scientific discoveries, sending middle-grade readers on an unforgettable trip to 94 locations around the planet and across time.

About the Authors

Dylan Thuras is a New York Times bestselling author and cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, a travel database that gets over 8 million visits a month. Dylan’s Atlas Obscura podcast is the #1 travel podcast in the United States.

Jennifer Swanson is a long-time contributor to the Mixed-Up Files blog and an award-winning author of nonfiction STEM books for children. She’s also a science communicator, podcaster, and lifelong explorer.

Interview with Dylan Thuras and Jen Swanson

MR: Dylan and Jen: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dylan—and, of course, to host you on the blog, Jen.

As stated in the into, Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World is a follow-up to the wildly successful Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. What was the inspiration behind the original book, Dylan? I’m guessing you were a curious, STEM-loving kid?

Dylan: I was! Growing up I loved books like The Way Things Work by David Macaulay or the cutaway and exploded diagram series by Stephen Biesty. These books still hold up 30 years later! I still find them fascinating to look at, as do my kids. I also loved a BBC series called Connections, by James L. Burke that was a kind of mad trip through the history of science. This book is a nod to all of those influences, and for any kid (or adult) who wants to understand, how the modern world came to be.

In a similar vein, Jen: You have written and lectured widely on all things STEM. What sparked your interest in science, technology, engineering, and math? Also, what motivates you to share your passion for STEM with middle-grade readers?

Jen: I was a very curious kid! As many people have heard me say before, I’ve loved science my whole life. I started a science club in my garage when I was seven years old. I am interested in everything and want to understand how things work, interact, and fit together. I think pretty much all kinds of technology are just cool. I hope to get kids (of all ages) to understand that science and STEM are all around them, all the time.

Picking and Choosing

MR: Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World offers a thoughtfully curated collection of scientific inventions from the printing press and gun powder to video games and artificial intelligence. With so many exciting inventions to choose from, how did you narrow it down to just 50? What did the selection process look like?

Dylan: Honestly you could do this book a thousand times, ha. (Jen you up for some sequels?) There are so many fun and surprising connections, it was painful not to be able to include them all. (The first pressure cooker was a precursor to the steam engine! Without ceramics you can’t make spark plugs!) Some of the main concerns in laying out the outline of connections was that it not get too obscure or technical and that the inventions be broad enough that people were familiar with them. It was also important that there were opportunities to reset the clock, so when we get to satellites we can go to maps, which effectively lets us jump back a few thousand years. Otherwise we get to the end too quickly! With all that in mind, this was the path that made the most sense and didn’t have any dead ends.

Jen: Ha! A sequel, DEFINITELY. Dylan is so right. There are tons of inventions that didn’t make it into the book. The brilliance of this book is how it is structured to take you down the pathway of some inventions but then backtracks to a different invention“path.” The vast majority of the inventions came from Dylan’s brain. He has a fabulous way of understanding the connections these inventions make with each other.

Making Connections

MR: Of all the inventions featured in the book, which fascinated you the most and why? On the flip side, what in your opinion is the most overrated invention and/or modern convenience you’ve come across?

Dylan: One connection that Jen clued me into was the link between particle physics and neuroscience. PET scans, MRI’s all come out of the hard physics fields, very often out of universities with particle accelerator labs. Even today the radio tracers we use to help diagnose diseases are made in a particle accelerator. I loved learning about that.

Most overrated invention… well, I really want this not to be the case, but fusion has been around the corner for a very long time. I really want it to work out but it seems like one of those things that might elude us for much longer to come. It’s an awfully hard problem!

Jen: That’s a tough question. At the moment, I am totally blown away by particle physics and space telescopes, so for me the invention path that humans took to get to both of these inventions is just amazing.

Most overrated invention in the book? Maybe the Hellbrunn Mechanical Theatre. The Archbishop of Salzburg commissioned an amazing clockwork display and also set up pranks with water to inconvenience his guests and make himself laugh. While the technology created was used for a frivolous purpose, it did allow humans to understand more about how objects can be automated, which eventually contributed to the building of robots farther down the invention path.

That’s Using Your Brain!

MR: There are SO many fascinating tidbits in your book, including the weight of the Da Vinci robot (1200 pounds), the size of the sundial at Jantar Mantah (over 88 feet), and the speed of the space shuttle Endeavour (17,400 mph or five times the speed of a bullet). I was particularly interested to learn about the Cushing Brain Center, in New Haven, Connecticut, where 2,200 human brains were donated to Dr. Harvey Cushing for his research. Can a person just walk in and check out the brains?

Dylan: You most certainly can! It’s not even the only brain collection in the U.S. Cornell has one, too! There really are brains in jars, but both collections and especially Dr. Cushing have been important to understanding the physical structures of the brain. We don’t get into this in the book, but that collection was mostly forgotten about and degrading in a hard to access part of the Yale basement. For years it was something the med students would dare each other to sneak into and look at. It’s much nicer now.

Jen: I wish! Learning about brains is soooo cool. I did a book about ten years ago called Brain Games by National Geographic Kids. That book is still around and going strong. Neurologists often give it to their adult patients to learn about how their brain works. I would love to visit the Cushing Brain Center one day.

MR: Also: As a person who’s afraid of heights, you couldn’t pay me enough to walk across the Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge, in Zhangjiajie, China (it’s 1400 feet long, suspended above a 1300-foot chasm). Have either of you crossed the bridge or want to?

Dylan: I haven’t been to that particular bridge but have crossed some other glass bridges. I dunno, I kind of like the thrill 🙂 I did get a chance to cross the Keshwa Chaca, or the last Incan bridge (and earliest suspension bridge we know of), which is a 100-foot-long bridge woven from grass that only lasts a year, at which point it is rewoven. That one is in the first book!

Jen: While I appreciate the amazing engineering and technology that it took to create this bridge, I, too, am afraid of heights, Melissa. There is NO way I would walk across it, or even put a toe on it. However, it might be fun to just see it in person. You know, safely, from one side.

Let’s Work Together

MR: Collaborating on a book of this magnitude must have been incredibly challenging, particularly with so many moving parts in play (see what I did there? ☺). Can you tell MUF readers how the two of you worked together to pull it off so beautifully? What was the research process like? Also, was travel involved?

Dylan: Not a ton of travel, sadly. I have been to some of the places, and Jen has been to a few, but mostly it was all done via email and Zoom. I had gotten the outline mostly together when Jen came on, and Jen was very game to try this very challenging exercise. It’s tough to explain internal combustion engines, much less quantum computing, in 150 words but we did our dang best. I am so grateful to have been able to make this book with Jen as my co-creator!

Jen: Oh, I wish there had been more travel! Now THAT would be an amazing task—to visit all of the places in the book. But as Dylan said, we did this mostly over Zoom. He had already created a fabulous outline and I helped with the research of filling in the spaces. We worked really well together and had a lot of fun. I’m honored to have been chosen to collaborate with Dylan on this. It’s a wonderful book and I hope one that will inspire many kids (again, of ALL ages).

Traveling the Globe

MR: Speaking of travel, Dylan, you are the personification of the word “globetrotter,” having traveled to more than 30 countries all over the world. When did you first get bitten by the travel bug? Also, of all the places you’ve visited, which ones stood out the most and why?

Dylan: Honestly, as a kid growing up in Minnesota it was all road trips around the Midwest. A trip up to Canada was very exotic! But those road trips made me fall in love with all the amazing and unusual roadside attractions. As I got older, I started saving my money and taking my own trips.

I did a big one all across Europe with a friend when I was 17 and then moved to Budapest when I was in my mid-twenties to teach English. Each trip made me realize how much more there was to see! It’s impossible to choose one favorite place, but I will say that on one of those road trips as a kid, we stopped by the House on the Rock, in Spring Green, Wisconsin. I was about 12 years old, and was the weirdest, most amazing place I had ever seen. 🙂

AI: Help or Hindrance?

MR: Changing gears, in the introduction to the book, you state that technology is “capable of harm.” Can you speak more to this? Similarly, what about A1? Should people be worried?

Dylan: Without question, technology is capable of harm. This has always been the case. Often technology is dual use, which is to say a spear can get you dinner or kill your neighbor. It has also been the primary driving force bringing people into better living standards, driving down childhood mortality, reducing disease, spreading information, and making room for creative pursuit. I do think if you look at the industrial revolution you see both the start of rising prosperity and a lot of environmental and human degradation as well. People have to fight and demand change to mitigate the ill effects.

I think we are somewhere similar in our own computing and information revolution. I think we like aspects of it and very rightly hate other aspects. I think AI, like the spear, is very much dual use. Possibly incredibly useful, especially in materials and biology research, and also potentially dangerous. But I am also a believer that these things are bit overhyped and diffuse a bit slower than people expect. It will change the world, but I don’t think things are going to change overnight. We are still undergoing the transition from a primary combustion world to a primary electrical world, and that will still be happening for our entire lifetimes. I also think the more you are worried about technology, the more having a deep understating of it helps you articulate what a positive vision of the future might look like!

Jen: Excellent answer, Dylan. I look at it in a similar but slightly different way. To me, technology is all about perspective. If you are the first to, say, create a satellite that can move anywhere in space, on the one hand that’s awesome! But the question is, how will you use that technology? Will it be for good in that you can move dead satellites to a “graveyard“ to get rid of the debris? That is a positive. Or will you move your satellite next to another country’s satellite so that you can push that one out of its orbit or destroy it. That perspective is not as positive. Technology is a dual-edged sword and to me, it’s the way it’s used that makes the difference. But as Dylan said, we could debate this for a long time.

MR: What are you guys working on now? Do you have another Atlas Obscura project on the horizon?

Dylan: Atlas Obscura has an adult book coming out in summer of 2026 called America Obscura, which is a journey through the places, people, and incredible road trips that make this country both beautiful, strange, and at times heartbreaking. Depending on how Inventing the World does, I am sure Jen and I would love to make a sequel, and Jen always has tons of exciting stuff in the works!

Jen: I’m totally game for a sequel, Dylan! My next book, Three Weeks in the Rainforest: A Rapid Inventory in the Amazon comes out this October. It follows the women-led team of scientists from the Field Museum in Chicago who work with Indigenous Peoples, local scientists, and non- governmental organizations to conduct a physical and social survey of certain areas of the Amazon rainforest. Readers get a firsthand account of real-life fieldwork in action and follow the scientists on their goal is to protect the Amazon rainforest from destruction.

Getting Inventive

MR: One last question: If you were to invent something in the future, what would it be?

Dylan: There are so many things we know how to do but fail to make happen for disappointing political- and resource-allocation reasons. So, I would invent better ways to get people the vitamins they are deficient in! A huge number of people remain deficient in iodine, for instance, so getting iodine into salt worldwide has been a huge effort. Getting people malaria nets! Stopping the advance of the screwworm fly! Vaccine access! All solved problems, except in actual application. It’s one thing to discover something and another to apply the good effects on the widest scale possible.

Jen: Great suggestions, Dylan; I agree with them all. This is a tough one because as I see it, we will keep inventing new and amazing things because we are innovative and curious to solve problems. But what we really need is perspective to make sure inventions are used in the best and most helpful ways. So, I would ask that we just keep creating more STEM-focused people that are curious, inventive, and also are great critical thinkers and problem solvers so that they can really think about how their invention can help people positively.

Lightning Round!

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

Preferred writing snack?

Dylan: Tortilla chips!

Jen: A cup of tea and an oatmeal raisin cookie

Coffee or tea?

Dylan: COFFEEEEEE

Jen: TEA!!!

Best invention of all time?

Dylan: Electricity generation. Insane.

Jen: Fire. Without it, we wouldn’t have survived to this point.

Robot takeover: Yea or nay?

Dylan: Robots everywhere, yea. Take over as in terminator? Nay.

Jen: Robots are COOL! But no takeover.

Superpower?

Dylan: General enthusiasm?

Jen: Flying! (which is funny, because I don’t like heights)

Favorite place on earth?

Dylan: In the heat of summer its my local swimming hole!

Jen: Edinburgh, Scotland. The view from the castle is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

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

Dylan: A sailboat, a satellite phone, and a year’s supply of MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) haha. Be off that island in no time!

Jen: MRE’s? Ugh. I’ve had them. I’ll pass. But yes, a way to get off: a boat, a satellite phone, and a telescope. Seeing the night sky from an island would be incredible!

MR: Thank you for chatting with me today, Dylan and Jen. And congrats again on the forthcoming publication of Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World!

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