Narrative Interview Example
Pat Mora
Interview Transcript
The author was interviewed by Scholastic students.
When you were growing up, did you know you
wanted to be a writer?
I always liked reading, and I always liked writing, but
I don't think I thought of being a writer. I say that to
students all the time because I never saw a writer like
me — who was bilingual. So it's important for kids to
realize that writers come in all different shapes and
sizes. Some are noisy, and some are quiet. Some
speak English, and some speak Spanish.
When you are writing a poem, do your ideas come
to you in Spanish or in English, or both?
Because I have spent more of my life speaking
English than Spanish, most of my ideas come to me
in English. I always spoke English and Spanish at
home when I was growing up. But because in school
all my classes were in English, I think in English
more of the time. Unless I'm visiting a Spanishspeaking country, or if I'm with friends and we're
speaking Spanish.
We read "Los Petalos" in our literature book. The
poem was translated into Spanish for our book by
Nicolas Kanellos. Does this mean that you wrote it
first in English?
I did write it first in English, and Dr. Kanellos edited
that book. And so the book company must've asked
him to translate it into Spanish for them. Sometimes
I'm asked to translate my own work, but sometimes I
don't even know that the poem has been translated
into Spanish! With that poem, I didn't even know it
had been translated until I saw it in the book!
What was the inspiration for Pablo's Tree?
I got the idea when I was in Oregon and someone
was driving me to the airport. Along the way I saw a
tree that was covered with pink balloons and that
picture stuck in my mind. That image stayed with me.
Around the same time, I was also interested in
writing a book about adoption, because I have a
young friend who was adopted. Sometimes books
comes from two different ideas or two strands of yarn
that we knit together. When I saw the tree, I thought,
"I'll write a book about adoption in which every year
the grandfather decorates a tree for the boy's
birthday." And I did!
What book that you've written are you most
proud of?
I'm proud of each of the books for different reasons.
I'm proud of A Birthday Basket for Tia because it was
my first children's book and because it was about an
aunt who was very special to me. I'm proud of This
Big Sky because I love the desert and the creatures
that live in it. Also, in that book, I got to play with
words in order to share what it is that I enjoy about
the desert and its creatures.
Do you ever write about things that happen in
your own life?
Well, I mentioned A Birthday Basket for Tia — my
aunt did celebrate a 90th birthday, and we did have a
surprise party. And she did put down her cane and
dance with the gentlemen at the party. And I liked
seeing that so much that I decided to write a
children's book about it.
Sometimes I use events from my own life in my
work, but not always. Sometimes I just come up with
an idea because of something I've read or because of
a story I've heard. For example, once I read a story in
a magazine about a little boy in Mexico who wanted
to give a present at Christmas. And he didn't have a
lot of money, so he was very sad. And all he could
find to give was this little plant. The plant grew by
the side of the road. And because he was sad, he was
crying. And his tear, when it hit the leaf of the plant,
turned the plant red. So I read that idea, and I thought
it might be fun to write a book about it. And that
book is The Gift of the Poinsettia.
What is the hardest part of being a writer?
The hardest thing is always finding enough time and
quiet. All of us have noisy lives — the phone rings,
and we have many errands to do. And so it's hard for
a writer to make sure that she has enough quiet time
to keep writing her books. So that means that I don't
see my friends as much as I would like to see them.
What is your favorite part?
My favorite part of being a writer is thinking that
someone is going to enjoy my book the way I enjoy
other books. I think one of the reasons we become
writers is because we enjoy books so much that we
want to be part of that writing world. We want to
give someone else that joy.
Is there anyone in your life who inspired you to
write?
Well, the aunt in A Birthday Basket for Tia is one
inspiration in my life. She was a wonderful
storyteller. And when I was little, I always liked to
read, but I also liked to listen to her tell stories.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I have so many books that I loved. I remember
Narrative Interview Example
finding the Laura Ingalls Wilder books in the library
— this was before the TV series — and I loved the
first book so much I read the whole series. I also
loved biographies, and in the third grade I read a lot
of biographies of people like Betsy Ross and Davy
Crockett.
Did you read a lot of poetry as a child?
I had many wonderful teachers who had us memorize
poetry. Although, at the time, I probably grumbled
and griped about it — it was helpful to me. Some of
those poems I still remember — "The Highway
Men," for example. In eighth grade we had to
memorize a poem every week and recite it on Friday.
But I always liked poetry and I had lots of books in
my house so I would just open them up and read all
sorts of poetry.
Who is your favorite writer now?
A poet whose work I love very much is Pablo
Neruda. He was from Chile and wrote in Spanish. He
became so famous that you can buy his books all
over the world, in many different languages. In fact, I
have his books that are printed bilingually — English
on one side of the page, Spanish on the other.
How is writing poetry different from writing
stories? Which do you like best?
The main difference is that when you write poetry,
every word matters more. You have to listen very,
very carefully to how words sound next to each other.
Sometimes you also have rhyme in poetry and much
of the time you also have rhythm in poetry. I
probably like writing poems the best. For me, writing
poems is more like play — like I'm putting together a
jigsaw puzzle. I pick up words and see if they fit
together.
What do you think makes a poem good? Do you
have any advice for aspiring poets?
The main advice I have is to read poetry. I do this
when I'm going to sit down to work on a new poem
— I always take the time to read some poetry first.
Because we don't usually speak in poetry or write in
poetry, and it helps to let poetry into ourselves, to get
us back into the mood and to remind us how careful
poetry is about every word.
How do you choose the subjects you want to write
about? Why do you like to write about animals
and nature so much?
Many writers say that we don't choose our subjects,
the subjects choose us. What that means is that
writers don't always control what it is that interests
them or excites them. It isn't so much that I plan to
write about nature, but when I'm in it, I'm surrounded
by it and filled with examples of it. For example,
when I was writing This Big Sky, I was living in New
Mexico. I could look up and see the big sky or hear a
snake and think, "Oh, I want to write about that!" I
would get excited about it. That's where poetry comes
from — from our very strong feelings. Whether it's
sadness or happiness — that is the place from which
poetry will leap forth.
How long does it take you to write a book?
You can write the first draft of a poem in one sitting.
It could be 5 or 15 minutes. But that poem is usually
not finished. I tell elementary students that for them,
rewriting isn't that important. When you're first
writing you need a lot of practice — you need to
write many, many poems. But when you get to the
point that you're trying to improve the poems, that's
when rewriting becomes important. I may rewrite a
poem 25 times! Changing words, listening to the
rhythm of words. Because you could have a
wonderful word — like zigzag which has a lot of
movement in it — but it's only going to be right in
certain places. It's that very careful listening that
helps you improve a poem. I always read my poems
out loud when I'm revising them.
Do you travel for work? If so, where do you go?
I travel a LOT! Often, I'm visiting schools and
speaking at conferences. Since I write both for
children and for adults, sometimes I'm also visiting
college campuses. I might speak to college students
in the morning and second or third graders in the
afternoon and visit a middle school the next day.
There's a lot of variety.
My husband is an archaeologist, so I have lot of
opportunity to travel with him too. I have been to
Greece and Bali, and of course I'm always looking
for ideas. As I always say, writers are like insects —
our antennas are always up. We're always looking for
a good story or a good line.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to read, and I like to talk to my family. I don't
live near any of my family, so I talk to them a lot on
the phone and by e-mail. I like to walk and to travel.
And I like to enjoy my friends.
Do you have children?
I have three children, and they are all now taller than
I am! Bill is a textbook editor. Libby is a lawyer. And
the youngest one is Cissy, and she's a student at vet
school. They all live in Texas right now.
Narrative Interview Example
Did your children influence any of your books?
My youngest daughter's name is Cecilia (Cissy), and
the little girl in A Birthday Basket for Tia is named
Cecilia. And my daughter loves cats, so I put a cat in
that book for her. When I was writing the counting
book Uno Dos Tres, One, Two, Three I was thinking
about my two daughters and what they might enjoy
counting in the Mexican market. When they were
little, we lived in El Paso, which is where I was born.
And we always liked to shop at the Mexican market.
What is your favorite part of Mexican culture?
One of the things that I like most about Mexican
culture is that families spend time enjoying one
another. So I like the mood and the music, but I think
what I like best is that in Mexican culture families are
important.
Do you still visit Mexico?
Yes, I'm always very excited when I have an
opportunity to visit Mexico. When I was a little girl,
because I lived in El Paso, which is on the border, I
went across to Mexico all the time. Now that I don't
live close to the border, it makes me sad that I don't
get to go more often.
As a child, did you ever feel different from other
kids because of your Hispanic heritage?
There were times when I wished that my Mexican
heritage were a part of my school day. I wished that
we had had books that had Spanish in them. And I
wished that I had seen things about Mexican culture
on the bulletin boards and in the library. One of the
reasons that I write children's books is because I want
Mexican culture and Mexican-American culture to be
a part of our schools and libraries.
What suggestions do you have for students
interested in learning more about their ethnic
heritage?
One suggestion is to interview the oldest person in
your family. I wish I had spent more time listening to
my aunt's and my grandmother's stories. I wish I had
written them down. Another suggestion is to visit
your library and ask your friendly librarian for help in
finding some good books about your heritage. I
always say that librarians are very special people!
What do you think about current efforts to
eliminate bilingual education in public schools?
I think it's really sad. And very ignorant. Every
language is a complex way of describing our world.
And all languages are equally good and important
and beautiful. Of course we want to encourage people
to speak English well because so much of our life in
the U.S. takes place in English. But I always want to
encourage those who are lucky enough to hear
another language at home to learn it well, too. I feel
very lucky to be bilingual, and I just wish that I were
trilingual!
Do you think there is still discrimination today
against Mexican Americans?
The sad but honest answer is yes. Unfortunately,
some people still haven't learned that we're all equal.
And that in every group, there are people who are
intelligent or lazy or talented. Some people still think
that we can judge people by the way they look or by
the way they sound or by the kind of car they drive.
Did you ever want to have another career besides
being a writer?
Oh, yes. I wanted to be a nun for a long time — until
I was in high school. And then I wanted to be a
doctor. And then I became a teacher, and then a
university administrator. And while I was a
university administrator, I also became a museum
director. But then I started to do some writing when I
was in my 30s. And I decided that if I kept working
at these other jobs, it was going to be very hard for
me to keep improving as a writer. I needed more time
to work at my writing. So now I do writing and
speaking full-time. Sometimes there are parts of the
other jobs that I miss — I liked students very much.
But now I spend time writing, and then I go to visit a
school or attend a conference, and I'm around people.
And then I come home and do more writing. So it's a
balance.
What were you like as a teacher?
I was very strict! I expected to teach English — that's
what my degree is in. But when I started out, they
needed a Spanish teacher. So I taught Spanish, and
then I taught high school English. And then I taught
English at the university level for a while. I was
always strict at the beginning of the year, but as the
students and I became friends, and once they knew
that when I said something I meant it, we had a good
time together.
Why did you want to be a writer?
I wanted to be an author because I like reading books
so much. Books are just like friends to me. And I
know how happy books make me. And I wanted to
try to do that for other people. To make them happy.
Do you have any advice for children who are
interested in writing?
Number 1: Be a reader. Often I meet students, even at
colleges and universities, who want to be writers —
Narrative Interview Example
but they don't read! Writers are not only people who
talk about writing, writers are people who read and
write.
Number 2: Enjoy rewriting. When I was younger, I
did not like rewriting. I wanted my teacher to put an
A+ at the top of the page — always. And now my
favorite part of writing is revising. I enjoy trying to
make each draft better than the last.
What do you do when you get writer's block?
Up to this point, I've always had more ideas than
time. But I think that if I did have writer's block, I
would tell myself that I needed to just start writing
and not worry about whether what I'm writing is good
enough. Sometimes we just have to start writing, and
then read what we've written and find one thing we
like. And then start working from there. Everyone
has good ideas inside, and everyone has stories they
could tell or make up. But sometimes we spend too
much time worrying about whether our story or our
paper is good enough. It's important to remember that
no one can tell the story that you can tell in your own
way.
Do you want any of your books to be made into
movies?
Anyone who works in picture books is curious to see
what the illustrator will do with the words we wrote.
Just as I am always curious to see what the illustrator
would do, I would be curious to see what a
moviemaker would do with any of my books. But I
like thinking that the books are like movies in the
imagination of the children who read them.
How do you pick an illustrator for your books?
I wish that I got to decide the illustrators for my
books! But editors select the illustrator. When I'm
lucky, an editor shows me the work of an illustrator
to ask me if I think it is a good match for the book.
For example, I have a book coming out in May about
my mother when she was a little girl. It was very
important to me to feel that the illustrator was going
to draw my mother and her family in a way that I
thought was suitable. The illustrator and author
usually do not meet or ever speak. And that's often a
surprise, even to teachers and librarians. I have never
met or spoken to the illustrator of This Big Sky, Steve
Jenkins. I think that he did a wonderful job of
illustrating the desert that I love, but I've never
spoken to him.
What awards have you won that are important to
you?
Tomás and the Library Lady won an award called the
Tombs Rivera Mexican American Children's Book
Award. It was very exciting for me because the
award is named for the same Tomas as in the book!
Also it's exciting because I was finally able to meet
the illustrator, Raul Colon.
How do you know when to end a book?
That's a very good question! Sometimes you have to
experiment to end a book at a certain point. And then
you go back in a week or two to reread what you
wrote. Or maybe you read it to some family or
friends. It's not easy to decide what the best ending is
for a book.
Pat, do you have any final words for the audience?
I hope that students will read many, many wonderful
books this year. And I hope that all students will want
to be bilingual, since language is so special.