Sneak Peek: Cynthia Leitich Smith Podcast

Cynthia Leitich Smith: It's very important to me that my Native characters be three-dimensional, resonant people with a full range of humanity. Very often for Native kids, my books, because there still aren't enough of us, maybe the first time they see someone like themselves in that way on the page, I want them to ring true most of all in their humanity and for non-Native kids, it may also be the first time that they encounter an Indigenous person or are aware that they're encountering an Indigenous person, period. That person, in fact, should not be a perfect person, should be someone who can make mistakes like anyone else because that is part of humanity, but should certainly ring true as a human being. For so long, there was this idea of the savage Indian or the mystic Indian and not just a kid who's living their lives like any other kid, growing up, loving people, facing problems, needing to work on themselves sometimes, taking risks, having their heart broken, finding out what it means to heal. All of that needs to come first. I could talk to kids about the Trail of Tears, and it is a topic I touch on in my upcoming middle grade novel, but if they don't first understand that the Muscogee, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Seminole, if they don't first understand that we're people, then why would they care whatever happened to us?