




It always amazes me when I can pick up a book and discover something I’ve not been introduced to before. Away by Megan E Freeman is a great example of that! Her story introduces readers to scenarios that get us pondering: what would we do in such a situation?
I had the esteemed pleasure of sitting down to interview Megan. Here’s the inside scoop on both the author and her book…
KATE: Our Mixed-Up-Files readers would love the inside scoop on Away – your companion novel to Alone. Can you tell us a bit about the premise?
MEGAN: When an imminent threat alert causes a midnight evacuation in Colorado, four kids relocated to the same shelter become unlikely friends. After they stumble onto evidence casting doubt on the legitimacy of the evacuation, they begin an investigation that causes them to question everything and everyone around them. Through a series of covert and courageous efforts, the friends uncover the facts behind the “imminent threat” and must decide how—and if—they can expose the truth.
KATE: This is a multiple POV book – with each of the 4 characters quite literally written differently. Harmony is written in prose, Grandin in verse, Teddy in screenwriter script, and Ashanti in italicized verse. This change in style is new to me and rather exciting to see. How did you come up with this? And how did you know who to bring to page when?
MEGAN: There was a lot of trial and error! I knew I wanted to give each character their own point of view, so I started by thinking about what each of them was passionate about, and I let those interests inform the formatting for their voices. Some days I worked exclusively on one character and then slotted the pages into the manuscript later. Other days I worked on multiple voices in sequence. One nice thing about writing in Scrivener is how easy it is to move and rearrange pages, and I did a lot of rearranging.
KATE: Let’s talk setting. Your characters meet at an evacuation center. I can’t help but think of Covid and being isolated from the world at that time. In Away, however, isolation is an understatement. Talk about some of the creative ways you took to build a somewhat normal life for your characters all the while shutting them off from the outside world.
MEGAN: I read a lot about the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II, and while I was drafting, my local museum had a timely exhibit of Ansel Adams’ photographs from Manzanar. It was extraordinary to see pictures of people holding concerts, playing baseball, and publishing newspapers. The human spirit is resilient, and even when faced with unimaginable injustices, people still find ways to carve out small comforts and little pieces of normalcy.
KATE: In the beginning, the 4 characters start off by documenting daily life at the center. As the book progresses, they uncover facts behind the cause of the evacuation and decide to expose the truth. I love how these kids tackle an adult situation. And in doing so, you keep the characters acting and thinking via “kid brain” aka how they interpret what adults have said. How did you nail that MG voice?
MEGAN: Oh gosh, I honestly have no idea. I invented characters, dropped them into a conundrum together, and then listened. I know that sounds kind of woo-woo and I wish I could explain it better than that, but it really is all about listening.
KATE: With multiple towns being evacuated, readers meet more than just 4 characters. When choosing who to add to your storyline, were any of them a surprise addition as you fleshed out the plot?
MEGAN: At first, I didn’t see Ashanti as such an immediate presence in the story. I knew she would be an Easter egg for ALONE readers, and in early drafts, she didn’t appear until the other kids arrived at the camp and Teddy’s grandma went to the medical clinic. But some young beta readers told me they wanted more from her, and I did, too. So I revised the early chapters to bring her into the story from the very beginning, and she really stepped into the spotlight.
KATE: It’s often fun to read about the baddies of a book and how they put the protagonist in a corner. But with multiple POVs, Away’s baddie had to be something larger than a singular antagonist. How fun or difficult was it for you to write about a system working against its citizens?
MEGAN: It was so hard! Because—and I know the book will get criticism for this—I had to try to create a massive conspiracy of unprecedented scale while still allowing readers to suspend their disbelief. Not everyone will be able to accept the premise, and I get that. But honestly, all the extraordinary things that happen in AWAY have parallels in historical and current events. And I’m totally sympathetic to readers who will find the conspiracy implausible. It’s hard to conceive of the inconceivable. Until it’s not.
KATE: I adore how Teddy references movies. As an example, he writes: “How do we expose the wizard? Where’s Toto when you need him?” Such a fun nod to the Wizard of Oz (for more reason than one when readers finish the book). I’m curious if the Wizard of Oz is your favorite book or movie and how other writers have shaped your journey to publication.
MEGAN: My first book, ALONE, was inspired by Scott O’Dell’s book Island of the Blue Dolphins, and throughout that book I enjoyed making allusions to Karana, his main character. For AWAY, I wanted to find another literary classic to weave into the story. Since my characters’ entire goal is to get home again, The Wizard of Oz was perfect. It’s a wonderful book, and the fact that it exists in different formats (book, film, stage play) was helpful in making connections to my different characters. Not to mention that the four characters in The Wizard of Oz become proxies for each of the kids in AWAY, right down to the dog.
KATE: What type of research did you have to do when creating the story world and cast of characters? I was super intrigued by Ashanti’s knowledge of mythology and science, mostly because these are not my areas of expertise. Are these aspects of your own interests which you’ve woven into the story?
MEGAN: I spent a lot of time researching, and I definitely wove my own interests into the story, along with the interests of friends and family. My husband grew up on a ranch and informed a lot of Grandin’s scenes, and my brother is a huge film buff who was very helpful with Teddy’s sections. I’ve always loved Greek mythology and I used to teach Ovid, but I had to research many of the goddesses Ashanti references. I watched videos on medical procedures (including how to use a cast saw), and a journalist friend consulted on Harmony’s pages. Another friend who is a former Army officer taught me a lot about military camps and jargon, and I went down the rabbit hole researching state and federal emergency response systems. I learned a lot!
KATE: Away is such an amazing companion novel to Alone. Without revealing spoilers, can you describe your writing process: in organizing your books, did you have the ending for book two in mind when you set out to write book one? And, can you give us an example of something you cut, changed, or reworked from draft to publication?
MEGAN: When I wrote ALONE, it never occurred to me that there would be another book. As far as I was concerned, it was a stand-alone story. But at every school visit, readers wanted to know more about the evacuation and the “imminent threat” that caused everyone to leave. After many of these conversations, I knew I needed to write a companion novel, and that’s where the idea for AWAY came from. Originally, I imagined the conspiracy on an even larger scale, involving the federal government and multiple states. But in talking with my editor, we realized it worked better to keep it contained to Colorado, limited to state and local governments. It was also helpful to fictionalize all the locations so that I had the artistic freedom to manipulate the setting. I did the same thing in ALONE, and it made logistics easier to puzzle out.
KATE: Thank you for taking the time to share the inside scoop on Away. Is there to be another evacuation you can hint at? Perhaps a new project in the works?
MEGAN: I just sold my first YA novel and it has yet to be officially announced, but I’m really excited about it. It’s completely different from the AWAY and ALONE books, and it’s set both in California and Norway, where I lived as a teen. It’s coming in 2026, and I’ll have more news about that soon. And I’m playing with ideas for a third book in the ALONE/AWAY universe. In ALONE there are three girls, Maddie, Ashanti, and Emma, who are supposed to attend the ill-fated sleepover. Now that Maddie and Ashanti each have their own books, it seems like there may need to be one more for Emma…we’ll see!
KATE: Where can readers best find you if they want to reach out?
MEGAN: I’m on lots of socials, and readers can also contact me directly through my website: www.MeganEFreeman.com.
And….no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…
Favorite place to write? my home office in Northern Colorado
Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? dark
Superpower? teaching
Rollerblades or bike? bike
Dream job when you were a kid? author 🙂
House pet? a goofy yellow labrador named Cowboy
Favorite piece of advice for writers? Find a trusted reader who loves everything you write and makes you want to write more!
I grew up as the youngest of five very ordinary children. Well, we each had our individual personalities, preferences, and idiosyncrasies, but we were mainstream in the obvious ways — like being right-handed.
So, when my niece’s son turned out to be left-handed, it was a source of great curiosity and excitement in the family. This trait was viewed as unique. Cool. Special. And then his sister turned out to be left-handed as well. Then two of my three grandchildren turned out to be lefties. The excitement was almost too much to handle!
With love for so many lefties, you can imagine my delight when I learned about the book Lefty: A Story That is Not All Right (Union Square Kids, 2024), with words by Mo Willems and pictures by Dan Santat. Oh, how I smiled. Well, the work of these two creators often makes me smile, but this was different. This book evoked images of some children who are very dear to me, so I smiled for a really long time. In fact, I’m still smiling.
The book opens with a question: “Did you know there was a time when you could get into trouble…really, really big trouble…for being left-handed?” The question is being asked by a left hand, held puppet-style, who happens to be speaking to a right hand.
The right hand is incredulous, as many young readers might be. But the book goes on to explain that left-handedness was once feared, maligned, and viewed as something sinister…because it was a variation from the norm.
While that might sound crazy to children who are free to use the hand that feels naturally dominant, it wasn’t that long ago when people were still forcing children into right-handedness. I remember this happening to a few friends from my childhood. The rationale was that life would be easier for them as a right-handed person.
To my horror, I later discovered that in some communities, left-handedness was interpreted to be a sign that the child had been “touched by the devil.” When I first started teaching, I actually had students who referred to a left-handed classmate as “evil-handed.”
According to a 2015 Time magazine article entitled “How Lefties First Gained Acceptance,” the association of evil with left-handedness goes back to the Middle Ages. (Believe me, I did NOT start teaching in the Middle Ages. These attitudes hung around for a LONG time.) The article goes on to identify some very famous and highly-regarded southpaws, including Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama.
A book like Lefty can be very powerful in helping us normalize a trait that, according to the National Institute of Health, has belonged to 10% of the population dating back to the time of Neanderthals. This made me wonder….Are there middle grade books that celebrate left-handedness? Yes, there are! Here’s a sample of some literary lefties middle grade readers can enjoy.
The Left-Handed Shortstop (Yearling, 1989) by Patricia Reilly Giff
When fourth-grader Walter Moles is assigned the role of shortstop in the big rivalry game, he’s overcome with the fear of failure. After all, there hasn’t been a left-handed shortstop since 1892! This book was published just a couple of years after one of my students was referred to as “evil-handed.” I hope that in its time, it found its way into the hands of some kids who needed it.
Choosing Up Sides (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2000) by John Ritter
Lefty Luke Bledsoe discovers that he has a talent for pitching. It’s the first time he’s felt good about being left-handed. That’s because Luke’s dad is a pastor who believes that the left hand is the side of Satan. This award-winning book evokes empathy for lefties as well as for those who struggle to balance family expectations with personal passions.
The Clue of the Left-Handed Envelope (Simon and Schuster, 2004) by George E. Stanley
Left-handedness is right there in the title. It’s a clue to solving the mystery of who sent Amber Lee Johnson an anonymous letter. This chapter book is the first in a mystery series that will delight young readers while building a bridge to longer texts.
Little Lefty (Bella Rosa, 2009) by Matt Christopher
Despite his small size, Bill Bailey can throw harder than anyone else on the team. He’s encouraged when he hears stories about “Little Lefty,” a small pitcher who made it into the big leagues. However, a freak accident puts Bill Bailey’s dream in jeopardy. Matt Christopher has pulled many reluctant readers into the world of books with his sports stories, and it’s great to know that this one features a left-handed protagonist.
The Left-Handed Fate (Henry Holt & Co., 2016) by Kate Milford
Lucy and Max try to end the war between their home country of England and Napoleon Bonaparte’s France. But then the plot thickens when their ship, The Left-Handed Fate, is taken by the Americans. Some exciting historical fiction with a twist of left-handedness makes for a highly engaging story. (And for some added trivia, Napoleon Bonaparte happened to be a lefty.)
How lovely to live in a time when lefties are liberated! And how wonderful to know that literature can build a sense of belonging by featuring characters and situations that help us become comfortable with our differences. In a world that finds solace in sameness and order in the ordinary, may we continually look to literature as a means of dispelling fear and building empathy.
Do you know of other middle grade books that feature left-handedness? Please share them in the comments! And remember to share all of these books with young readers who might identify with the characters, grow in empathy, or just simply enjoy a good book.