Interview: Kidlit Author Rajani LaRocca Discusses Four Eagerly Awaited Books

It’s my great pleasure to welcome Rajani LaRocca back to Writers’ Rumpus to discuss her upcoming books in 2023- three picture books (fiction and non-fiction alike) and an epistolary middle grade novel co-authored with Chris Baron. Ever since meeting Rajani at the book launch for her debut MG novel, MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM, and interviewing her following the launch of her debut picture book, SEVEN GOLDEN RINGS, I’ve been cheering her continued and incredibly well-deserved success. If you visit Rajani’s website (www.rajanilarocca.com), you’ll be wowed by all the awards and accolades her many books have earned, as well as learn exciting details about her upcoming books. Luckily, fans like me, you, and countless children don’t have long to wait until these four amazing books are widely available. Here are the eagerly-awaited titles with brief summaries borrowed from Rajani’s website.

Laura: Rajani, welcome back! I continue to be awed by your success, and how you manage to be such a prolific author and writing mentor while also being a primary care physician and traveling to and fro with your beautiful family. With 13 books published thus far, how has your submitting and publishing experience changed from your debut works? How and when did you sign with your agent, Brent Taylor of TriadaUS Literary Agency?

Rajani: I signed with Brent Taylor in late November 2017 after participating in Pitch Wars. In 2018, we sold my debut novel and four picture books, and we haven’t stopped!

The good news about publishing many books with different publishers is that I’ve developed lots of relationships. So sometimes we send a book exclusively to a particular editor because we believe it’s the right fit for them. Sometimes, though, we also send books out more widely.

One of the other things that can happen after being published is to sell a novel without having to write the entire thing—you can sell it on proposal, with a synopsis plus a few finished chapters. The huge advantage to this is that you know the book you are writing will be published; but the challenge is that you need to finish that book on a deadline!

I feel incredibly fortunate that I’ve been able to publish this many books on a variety of topics, and I’m even more grateful that I’ve got many more in the pipeline.

Laura: You are equally gifted with picture books and MG novels, non-fiction and fiction, and with a myriad of writing styles including prose, novels-in-verse, poetry, and the epistolary form. How did you learn to write in all these forms? Or does this amazing variety come naturally to you?

Rajani: You are too kind! There’s no magic to writing in different styles—you just need to study them and try them.

In general, I choose a style that makes sense for the type of story I’m trying to tell. An emotional, interior-oriented story may lend itself to verse; a more action-packed story or a story with fantasy elements might be better in prose. My nonfiction science picture books are often in poetry, because in my mind, science and poetry share a similar beauty. And sometimes I hear a line of a lyrical picture book in my head, and I know that’s how I have to write it.

Laura: Children today are so lucky to have authors like you that celebrate the poetic beauty of science! As I mentioned in our previous interview about SEVEN GOLDEN RINGS, you do an incredible job explaining complicated STEM concepts so that everyone, kids and adults alike, can comprehend. With A VACCINE IS LIKE MEMORY, I can honestly attest that this non-fiction, highly informative, and truly engaging picture book should be required reading in every home, school, library, and doctor’s office worldwide. How did this book come about? And can you share the meaning of the intriguing title?

Rajani: I was inspired to write this book in the days after getting my first COVID-19 vaccine. After spending a devastating year contending with the virus and seeing it affect my community, my patients, and my own family, the vaccines provided a much-needed ray of light in a difficult time. As a doctor, I’ve always been a proponent of vaccines, but I was grateful in particular for these vaccines that had been developed so quickly to fulfill an urgent need. It got me researching the history of vaccines, which was fascinating! I quickly came up with the analogy of “a vaccine is like a memory of a disease you never had” and that was my theme as I drafted the book. Vaccines give our immune systems “memories” to protect us; and we as a society should not forget what the world was like before vaccines existed.

Laura: Ditto with YOUR ONE AND ONLY HEART. What I especially loved about this non-fiction picture book is how you honor our most important and faithful organ with such poetic, memorable, and easy-to-understand language. After reading this, I can honestly say I have a newfound appreciation for my heart, and know that readers of any age will feel the same way. How did this book come about, and what was your inspiration for writing it in such a lyrical way? If you can, please share a passage!

Rajani: Ever since I learned about the heart and how it works in medical school, I’ve been fascinated by this most vital organ. I wrote a first draft of this book way back in 2013 (!), and it was called “The Hardest Working Muscle.” It was written in prose and was over 800 words long. But it didn’t have a unifying theme or hook.

I worked on this book on and off (mainly off) for years, but I couldn’t figure out how to write it. Then one day in 2018, I had a breakthrough: I should write about contrasting characteristics of the heart! That was the theme I wanted to carry through—that the heart was singular and cooperative; electric and muscular; constant and variable, and so on. Then I decided to write about these contrasting characteristics in poetry because to me, the beauty of poetry reflects the beauty of the human body.

Debut illustrator Lauren Paige Conrad did an incredible job with her cut paper collage illustrations—the art does a wonderful job clarifying the science, and the kids she created are absolutely adorable!

Laura: I truly love collage art, and wholeHEARTedly agree that Lauren Paige Conrad’s ilustrations are exceptional. For this question, I’m going to jump to your third upcoming picture book, MASALA CHAI, FAST AND SLOW, which is so different from the others. The heartwarming relationship between grandfather and grandson transcends cultures, but I truly loved learning about the Indian tradition of making masala chai. I know parents and children alike will enjoy trying out the recipe you included in the back! Was this story modeled after your childhood experience of growing up in Bangalore, India? And do you continue the tradition of making masala chai with your family in Massachusetts?

Rajani: Although I was born in Bangalore, I grew up in the US—but the tradition of having hot beverages, especially tea, was one my parents brought with them from India when they immigrated. My dad has always been an excellent chai maker, so that was what inspired me to write a story about a grandfather and grandson. My dad and other members of the older generation often say, “slowly, slowly” to their children and grandchildren, reminding us to be careful and not get hurt, but remembering this phrase made me think about the contrast of a grandson who like to go fast and a grandfather who likes to take things slow, and how fun that would be in a story that’s about learning to slow down and savor the little moments with those we love.

I have now taken over the masala chai making in my family, and I try to share it with my parents and husband (and children, if they’re home!) at least a few times a week.

Laura: Now it’s time to discuss your wildly inventive MG novel! The kids in THE SECRET OF THE DRAGON GEMS, Tripti and Sam, are uniquely and authentically drawn. I’m impressed with how they bond over their love of the fictitious Dragon Gems series and finding mysterious rocks at Camp Dilloway, but share their disparate interests, worries, friend dramas, family lives, and cultures with each other. Which came first? The plot and the decision to write in the epistolary (letters, emails, social media, etc.) form or the writing partnership with talented author Chris Baron? Once you agreed to write together, what was your process?

Rajani: Chris and I were part of the same debut group, the Novel 19s. In 2018, a group of the MG members of the group got together at Highlights and we became fast friends. With the exception of 2020, that same group of friends has met every year at Highlights since then. In the hours we spent together, we discovered a common love of many nerdy things, including fantasy and sci fi from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings to The Chronicles of Narnia and more.

Chris’s first novel, All of Me, released the same day as my first novel, Midsummer’s Mayhem. In the summer of 2019, we went on a West coast “mini-tour” together with our families, traveling to bookstores in Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. We spent even more time talking about the kinds of stories we loved.

I think it was during a Highlights retreat that Chris and I talked about writing an epistolary novel that involved two kids meeting at summer camp and finding some interesting rocks that reminded them of their favorite fantasy series. Then during the summer of 2020, when we were all stuck at home, Chris said, “we should write this now.” And I said, “sure.” And he said, “no, I really mean that we should write this NOW.”

So we talked on the phone and came up with an overall plan for the story, then fleshed it out a bit. We sent the idea to our agents, who loved it. Chris’s agent, Rena Rossner, is also an author, and her agent is . . . my agent Brent! So our agents were already connected and had a wonderful relationship.

Then we started writing chapters back and forth, emailing it to the other person, and saying “tag.” Once we had finished the whole thing, we revised it and sent it to our agents, who gave us some excellent feedback, which we hastened to incorporate. We revised via Google docs, and it was truly joyful to see my friend’s words appear like magic on the screen.

THE SECRET OF THE DRAGON GEMS is epistolary—Tripti and Sam write letter, emails, messages, and do video chats. But there are also MeTube videos, video calls between Sam and his Bubbe, journal entries from the antagonist, Mr. Dilloway, and excerpts from the kids’ favorite fantasy series, The Dragon Gems. It’s a book about navigating middle school friendships but also staying true to yourself as a person and making the leap to let yourself believe in the impossible despite what the world is trying to tell you. I love the way the book turned out, and I can’t wait to share it with the world!

Laura: I’m incredibly impressed that despite how busy you are, you continually carve out time to support and mentor authors (published and pre-published) of KidLit. Please tell us about your STEM Women in KidLit Podcast, current and future workshop offerings, and what you dream of offering in the future! Importantly, how we can sign up for these?

Rajani: My friend Artemis Roehrig and I started the STEM Women in KidLit podcast a few years ago because we both work in STEM fields (she’s in entomology; I’m in medicine) and write books for young people, and we knew a lot of other women who had similar backgrounds. It’s been such a thrill to interview so many incredible women from a variety of STEM fields who now write and illustrate books for kids. People can check out the interviews wherever they listen to podcasts, or our website.

I’m doing a mini-class on Writing the MG Verse Novel with Storyteller Academy. People can sign up now and watch at their leisure starting on August 1; they can also submit work to potentially have it mentioned in the live review on September 16.

Folks can learn more about what I’m up to and where I’ll be by signing up for my newsletter.

Laura: You are truly a bright light, in the kidlit world and far, far beyond. What’s next for you in your prolific creative life, and what advice do you have for writers?

Rajani: Thanks for the wonderful interview, Laura!

There a few other projects coming in 2024 that I can’t talk about yet! 😊

My advice for writers: read a lot, write a lot, and live your life. Let your writing be that joyful place you go to. Write what you love. Write that story that won’t leave you alone.

Laura: Many thanks, Rajani! An MG novel packed with magic, music, and animals set in an Indian-inspired fantasy world? I absolutely can’t wait to read it!