Teaching YAL- Interview with a Young Adult

Interview with a Young Adult about Young Adult Literature

By Krista Becker

Jalen’s eyes seem to dance.
We’re having a real conversation.
No cellphones, well not really…
Mine’s recording our words.
We’re talking books, speaking language,
We’re having a moment of truth.
I can see into her brain a little bit deeper,
Touch the edges of her soul through conversation.
Her laughter and mine in unison…
Every time that we misfire, with each new mistake.
She is my beautiful niece…
Crimson hair curling off of chestnut roots.
She is young, vibrant…

Has a wrinkle free smile with a dimple in the corner.
She rants…
“If only I could get Veronica Roth to change the ending…
Ahh Allegiant… WHY?”
She raves…
“I completely spazzed out…

Meeting Lorie Halse Anderson?
I’ve read everything she’s written.”

She stumbles on words elegantly,
Even her slip ups are cleverly covered.
She was born in 2000,
Old as the year after May 10…
Fourteen going on 30.
She is wise…
She knows that the world needs to communicate through art,
Understands that there are problems to be solved.
She is literate,
To her, books equal the essence of awesome,
Second only to real life relationships.
She is a poet,
Formed by her love of reading, shaped in part by me.
Now I realize,
I am her ultimate fan,
And I am speaking to my favorite young adult author.

*Note: Maybe some of you will have read Jalen Flaherty's work through the Johnny Green at Weedsport. I am blessed to have had her share some of her more personal pieces with me and she has touched my soul, not just as my niece, but as a young adult author. She was fourteen at the time that I wrote this piece, but is now sixteen and will be off to college soon. I found this piece and thought it would be a great thing to share with you all.

Probably my favorite piece that she's published to the Johnny Green: http://whsjohnnygreen.org/arts-and-entertainment/2016/03/09/its-been-awhile-an-original-poem/