Every year I eagerly await the announcement of the Sydney Taylor Awards for outstanding children’s literature portraying the Jewish Experience. I have been honored to participate in the blog tour for the winners for the past four years. This year I was assigned a book we already reviewed and loved – Abby White’s D.J. Rosenblum Becomes the G.O.A.T. Below is our conversation.
BookishlyJewish: Let’s first address the elephant in the room – how does it feel to win??
Abby White: Surreal in the best way. D.J. is my debut novel, and I’ve struggled with some disappointments about its early reception. So, this recognition is a huge validation and relief. Now, it’s easier to feel like my books could actually find the audience I seek one day. Plus, joining the pantheon of some of my all-time favorite authors is a never-ending pinch-me moment.
BookishlyJewish: Where did the idea for DJ come from and what was the journey from there to here like?
Abby White: D.J. came from a few of my life experiences, but more than anything, it was born from grief. In January 2020, a dear friend of mine died by suicide. I had lost loved ones before, but the particularities of suicide loss were unlike anything I had ever experienced. It took months of therapy and support from family and friends to begin to deal with it in a healthy way. I reached a turning point in July 2020, sitting in my parents’ backyard outside Cleveland, and had a sudden vision: of a girl giving a d’var torah at her Bat Mitzvah about the same difficult lessons I was learning.
That girl was D.J.Rosenblum. I thought about her, and her story, for the next year and a half. On the very last day of 2021, I started writing. I didn’t feel like I had a choice: The story demanded to be written. After that, frankly, I reached the point of publication much faster than I had ever expected.
BookishlyJewish: I particularly enjoy reading about Jews from places that people often don’t realize we live in. Are people surprised with DJ׳s setting?
Abby White: Some people are surprised that D.J. has a Jewish community in northeast Ohio, which baffles me! I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, which have every kind of Jew you can imagine. Yet when I went to college in New York City, several of my classmates from the coasts asked me: “Did you grow up with any other Jews? Have you ever had Jewish classmates before?” I found it upsetting that their views of American Jewish life were so narrow. Jews live in every state! The Midwest, in particular, has a bunch of big Jewish communities with rich, vibrant histories.
Ever since then, I’ve been passionate about showing people how widespread and diverse American Jews are. If even one reader walks away from D.J. thinking, “Wow, Jews can build fulfilling lives and safe communities in more places than I thought,” I’ll be very happy.
BookishlyJewish: One thing we mentioned in our review was how DJ tackles serious themes while still being appropriate for the younger YA reader. In fact, it feels geared specially for them. Was that a harder sell in the age of the ‘cross over’?
Abby White: Yes. My editor, Irene Vàzquez, immediately understood my vision for D.J.: It is a younger YA novel geared toward 12- to 16-year-olds. They’ve championed D.J. from day zero, and my publisher Levine Querido has been equally supportive. But some people default to thinking stories with eighth-grade protagonists are middle grade. (To be fair, they usually are!) That created some mismatched expectations for what D.J. is trying to convey, how, and to whom.
I’ve been really grateful for the Young Teen Lit movement and its efforts to create more of a market for upper middle grade and lower young adult stories. And I’ve been incredibly gratified by the love D.J. has received from teachers, booksellers, librarians, and readers. Lots of 13- and 14-year-olds deal with similar issues as D.J. Even if they don’t, they deserve great books written for them! To be honest, my greatest hope is that something you wrote in your review proves true:
“Some older teens might find they’ve moved beyond this and into the adult section. Some younger ones will probably shed tears of relief that finally there is a book designed specifically for them. Which is maybe the solution to the whole debate—stop forcing all kids’ books into the mold of what one guru thinks is the way to ‘get kids reading again.’ Instead, offer up a variety of lengths, maturity levels in content, and experiences, by having authors write what is true to them. Then, when a teen browses or approaches their friendly local librarian, there will be something different and wonderful to offer each of them.”
BookishlyJewish: The dvar Torah at the bat mitzvah is a highlight. How did you come up with it? Lots of research and struggle, or did you just “know” right away what DJ was going to say?
Abby White: Oh, I definitely discovered the d’var Torah as I wrote. I knew what its general topics would be—grief, atonement, the particular difficulties associated with suicide loss—but its specific lessons were things I was desperately trying to parse for my own self. The final text of the d’var Torah that you can read in the book came together relatively late in the writing process.
The most helpful part was finding D.J.’s Torah portion, which I did in early 2021 with the help of Rabbi Nora Feinstein. At that point, she worked at Sixth & I in Washington, DC, where I attend services. We met a few times, and I told her the issues I wanted D.J. to explore, as well as the time of year I wanted her bat mitzvah to happen. She came back to me with a few portions, and Acharei Mot immediately stood out. Analyzing it over and over again as I wrote the book helped me craft D.J.’s journey and d’var Torah, but it also helped me carve a path through my own grief.
BookishlyJewish: Speaking of, I didn’t chant at my bat mitzvah and love reading about girls from other branches of Judaism and their celebrations. What was yours like? (Not to assume that you had one, but if you did it would be super fun for our readers to hear about it if you want to share).
Abby White: I loved my bat mitzvah! At the time, sure, it was stressful. But I always understood that my bat mitzvah was a meaningful opportunity: My mother wasn’t allowed to have one when she was young because she was a girl, and when I was in the third grade, she went through the work to become a bat mitzvah as an adult. It meant the world to her, so when the time came, I took my own bat mitzvah seriously, too. Plus, we held my party in an arcade, so the kids could wear casual clothes. Highly recommend.
BookishlyJewish: Mental health and social media usage are strong topics here. Particularly not assuming what you see online is real. That you never really know what anyone else is going through. How has the reader response been from the young adults?
Abby White: So far, young adults have seemed to resonate with the book, including its depictions of mental health and social media usage. (Thank goodness.) D.J. deals with some dark topics, but young adults are unfortunately quite familiar with them: They also struggle with their mental health. They lose loved ones in awful, confusing ways. Heck, they can see war crimes on TikTok. I always hoped that D.J. would feel respectful and true to those experiences, and I’ve been gratified that young readers seem to think it succeeds.
BookishlyJewish: Can I just say I loved the way the older kids were not high school stereotypes and actually looked after DJ? It was so refreshing!
Abby White: Thank you!!! I adore the high school characters. Evan is a golden retriever, Lily and Trent will have an exhibit at MoMA, Angela will become the president of the United States, and Jonah is my baby boy. On a more serious note, I wanted to show how unreliable our perspectives of other people can be. (Especially as kids.) The high schoolers seem impossibly cool and older to D.J.—of course she projects feelings onto them! But they’re kids, too, with their own struggles, trying their best. I’m really glad she learns that by the end.
BookishlyJewish: Do you have a favorite character? Mine is DJ’s mom but I always love the moms.
Abby White: We love moms!!! It’s a cop-out to say all the characters are my favorite, even though it’s kind of true. So, I’ll choose a different cliché and admit I just love D.J. She’s not me, but we have a lot of core traits in common—she’s probably the closest character to myself I’ll ever write. But I admire her most for the traits I don’t always share: her bravery, her self-possession, her true belief that she alone can make a difference. She’s taught me a lot about who, and how, I want to be. I’m grateful every single day for her.
BookishlyJewish: This book is beautifully queer in a way that just sort of slides right into the plot without requiring an explanation. Was it important to you for that representation to feel organic?
Abby White: Thanks for saying that, and absolutely. More and more young people are discovering their own queerness and building community with LGBTQ+ people. In D.J., I wanted to portray this community and self-discovery as normal—the way they truly feel to me. I’m also conscious of writing as a straight-passing queer person in an era of rising prejudice and discrimination against queer folks, especially the trans community. The very least I can do is make sure my books are an explicitly safe space for queer kids who read them. I feel particularly passionate about the rights and safety of trans youth, who face staggering risks of suicide. Every single book I write will have a trans character because I want these young people to see how wonderful they and their lives can be.
BookishlyJewish: Was there something you wanted to me to ask about that I didn’t?
Abby White: Similar to my depiction of queerness, I made a conscious effort to incorporate Jews of color into D.J.’s story. The American Jewish community is much more diverse than many people realize, and it’s only becoming more so—which brings me massive joy. I hope the diversity of D.J.’s Jewish community makes this book accessible to young Jewish readers of all races and ethnicities for years to come.
BookishlyJewish: I love realistic curly hair representation. I see you and DJ share the curly hair of myself and numerous of our readers. You have any tips?
Abby White: Oh, this is the highest compliment. I do far less curly hair care than I should. But I love a microfiber towel for hair drying. It’s the only way I can reduce my frizz.
BookishlyJewish: You win on your debut (OMG, but also yikes the pressure). What’s next for you?
Abby White: Well, when you put it like that…! Just kidding. Honestly, I put so much pressure on myself, I’m almost entirely basking in the joy of this win. I’m currently working on my second book—a very different standalone project, still YA—and have ideas for the books I’ll write after that. So, I’ve just got to buckle down with my laptop and mugs of tea.
BookishlyJewish: I always end by asking if you have a favorite Jewish book to share with our readers (does not have to be the same genre as yours
Abby White: So many. Like everybody else, I’m obsessed with Kyle Lukoff’s A World Worth Saving and Sacha Lamb’s When the Angels Left the Old Country. I also adored Emi Watanabe Cohen’s The Lost Ryū, which feels like a Jewish Studio Ghibli movie. Everyone should read it.
Find D.J. Rosenblum Becomes the G.O.A.T.: Amazon | Bookshop | BookishlyJewish review
Great interview! And I loved the book!