Same but Different...
The Grief Keeper - paperback version - no Harry Potter
Not every book gets a paperback version. It has a lot to do with sales and publishing schedules and a thousand other things that I suspect but that I can’t prove. Basically, shenanigans.
In the case of my debut, The Grief Keeper, it also had to contend with the pandemic and my editor moving to another imprint and again *THINGS*. There was a time I thought it might never happen. And that sucks because paperbacks are better for schools—they can buy more copies for more kids—and better for people who can’t splash out nearly twenty bucks for a hardcover.
When I found out the paperback was finally coming out I was more relieved than excited. I love my first book. I love its beauty and its flaws and I love how it’s a snapshot of the writer I was when I was first published.
But there was one thing that I hate about the original book, that’s stuck in my craw these last few years- the Harry Potter references.
I wrote The Grief Keeper in 2016. The year before, I’d gone with my family to Universal in Florida, specifically to visit the Wizarding World. It was the year that this country finally achieved marriage equality (I cried, poolside) and it was the year my oldest, eleven, got her wand. I experienced the illusion of magic, and the very real magic of a kid believing in themselves.
With The Grief Keeper, I wrote HP into Gabi’s world, too. I imagined it was a book that could encourage her to believe in better things - and help her learn to read in English.
I remember being at a conference of book sellers right after GK came out and being asked, How do you think your book will be perceived in the future?
I said, I hoped that the future would be very different, that people in the future would have a tough time believing in a world where people would use immigrant children as weapons, as tools, as pawns.
While the world has changed dramatically in the six years since The Grief Keeper was published, it hasn’t changed for the better. And the author of HP has evolved into a transphobic person who uses her wealth and status to attack trans people.*
Which is why I used my author’s prerogative and asked my publisher if I could take out any references to HP for the paperback. They immediately agreed. I revised the parts with mentions of HP to be other books, other references. A new reader would never know; a re-reader would probably not notice. But for me, it was important that I not actively give any oxygen to a person who is actively trying to destroy part of my community.
So that’s it. The Grief Keeper is the same - sadly still topical, still resonant to how we treat migrants and marginalized folks; still hopeful and full of love; still about sisters, about queer love, about finding yourself.
Two other changes in the paperback - which I’m VERY excited about:
The first chapter of Fireblooms is included in the back of the book - I’m thrilled that folks get to meet Sebas y Lu before Fireblooms publishes on September 30th.
And The Grief Keeper paperback has the shiny Lambda Literary seal on the cover - an award I am so proud of, so grateful for. If you are looking for ways to support queer, especially trans, writers and stories, why not donate to Lambda Literary? It would piss off a transphobe, and I call that a win.
*For people who say she has a right to her opinion, that it doesn’t actually harm anyone, I direct them to the recent chaos, uncertainty and fear she’s helped unleash in the UK.
WHAT I’M READING:
Nova Ren Suma’s Wake the Wild Creatures is *completely* captivating!
WHERE TO FIND ME:
I’ll be at the ALA Annual Conference in Philadelphia from June 26-June 30th. Come find me at the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival at kiosk 819.
Tickets are on sale for the Latinx Storytellers Conference on September 12th & 13th in NYC. Early Bird pricing is available until May 30th!