Winning the Newbury Medal is a gift in many ways, but the most important gift it gives you is the freedom to tell the story that you’re called on to tell. No matter how non-commercial it might seem, no matter how sort of daring it might seem to you.
So, when I sat down to write Milo, I understood and I was very aware of the fact that, if I was a new author, I might not get to tell this story. But you need to take advantage of the fact that after winning the Newbury a publisher might allow you to take bigger risks.
So, that’s why I decided that I could try to tell Milo’s story. But not only tell Milo’s story. But do it in a way that was pointing young kids into a direction of something that was not often spoken about to young kids, such as the danger of stereotypes. And also the way that some kids are growing up with parents in the system and how not only the parent is getting that sentence, but the child is, too.
