I spent a year not wanting to write until I remembered her.
Lilo, Velma, Miss Frizzle, and the rest of the Wierd Girl Squad.
Remembering Who You Write For
When I do school visits, there’s usually a particular student sitting on the front row—in front of the front row, really. They bounce up and down. They laugh the loudest at my jokes. They raise their hand at every single question, regardless of what the question is, to tell me that they wanted a golden retriever but their dad is allergic so they got a hedgehog instead and the hedgehogs name is Pickle and he really likes iceburg lettuce and french fries.
Needless to say, this student is my favorite. Other than Pickle the hedgehog.
Occasionally at book signings or after school assemblies, a student stops me and talks for a genuine and solid five minutes about Star Wars, or, especially lately, the Minecraft movie. (Blessings on your head, Jack Black!) My only job in that situation is to listen enthusiastically, and its my favorite job in the whole world.
Sometimes the parent tries to pull the kid along, assuming I’m bothered and have something better to do with my time, which I’m not and which I don’t.
I always wish I could express to the parents and teachers of these front-front row sitting, fan-theory-spieling kids how much they’ve made my day.
There are a few characters that stand out to me that lead us down the Weird Girl Pipeline. Girls who I imagine as the front-front row type student, or else the one listening intently and writing obsessive notes in their notebook.
On the young end we’ve got our weird girl Bluey, who I think has revolutionized preschool animation and characters for very good reason. Age her up a couple years and we get to our girl Lilo, who has earned her place as a neurodivergent icon. A few more years and we get Eliza Thornberry. I would have given VERY MUCH to be Eliza Thornberry when I was young. Early teen years we get to Tina Belcher and that so relatable early-teen weird girl feeling of having your emotions take over so bigly sometimes that all you can do is aaaaaaaahhhh. Older teen we get to the whip-smart Velma Dinkley, and if we’re very, very lucky, these weird girls get to grow up and be Miss Frizzles.
(There’s absolutely a Weird Boy Pipeline too, starting with our boy Russell from Up, or Jimmy Neutron, and if, again, we’re very, very lucky, they get to grow up and be Bob Ross or Steve Irwin.)
Now, humans are of course not cartoon characters, and not as neatly categorizable as I’m making it to be here. As the saying goes, we all contain multitudes. And we need all different kinds of people.
But sometimes there are little girls whose exuberance and curiosity seems to be too big for their body. Often they’re not particularly feminine or particularly athletic. Their enthusiasm has to effervesce outward somehow, into the world around them. Into wildly creative games, obsessions with zombies or sunburnt tourists, and extra long conversations with visiting authors about why goliath spiders are their favorite animals.1
Of course, it’s shocking to nobody that with this Weird Girl Squad is where I feel most at home.
My point here is not so much that I relate to these weirdos (which I do), but that one of the things I want most in the world is for these weird girls (and boys) to see how crucial and valuable their weirdness really is.
This is why adolescence scares me—because its the age when so many feel they have to tamp down their weirdness, and I want to scream nooooo!!!! We need you!!
And this is why I believe middle grade books are some of the most crucial a person will ever read. They’re often someone’s best chance of being told to value their Lewis Carol style Muchness before they forget it.
Everyone is welcome on The Weird Squad. The only qualification is enthusiasm, which can emerge and express itself in an infinite variety of ways, so long as you don’t let yourself get in your own way.
C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” I remember having one of the most mind-blown moments of my life when I read that. I thought, that’s what this feeling is. The Muchness that feels too big for my body because it is.
And that’s why I think we need about three thousand percent more of these type of characters—because there’s something about seeing a weirdo be weird, an enthusiastic nerd get to enthuse, that is one of the most freeing experiences possible. It’s permission for the rest of us to be…whatever.
I spent quite a lot of 2024 with my kidlit motivation dialed pretty low. I had done several middle grade books on tight deadline, which is a wonderful and lucky blessing, but I was tired.
Then I remembered that girl on the front front row.
This week I started a brand new middle grade book.
It’s for you.
Who are your favorite Weird Girls and Boys?
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9 Side Dishes Worth Sharing
This list of Questions From First Graders via
is one of the best list of questions I’ve ever seen. So beautifully Weird.The ever wise
has an excellent post on the current State of Book Publicity. Very much worth checking out.Speaking of weirdos, this evolution of Bugs Bunny is really fun and interesting.
We have learned something new and good about Shakespeare! A newly discovered letter reveals that his relationship with his wife might have been better and more loving than we thought it was. (Pretty sure I found this via
)There’s a new family horror movie coming out from Angel Studios that looks promising for giving us more weird girls. A kid’s monstrous sketches coming to life? Tony Hale? Yas please. Via
.I had never heard of Bande Dessinée and The Ninth Art but now thanks to
I do and my life has been VERY BLESSED. I mean, look at this gorgeousness:
This calligram website lets you paint with words and I spent way too much time distracting myself with it.
If you’re feeling like the online world is so much worse than it once was and feeling heavy with Internet Fatigue, you are not alone. This video essay made me feel quite a bit better about things, tbh.
Authors almost always feel so so uncomfortable and squidgy about trying to promote their books and build a platform. The good news is,
says self-promotion doesn’t work anyway, and has some great ideas on what you can do instead.
Share your own favorite sides in the comments!
Teacher’s Table
Some goodies especially for the teachers:
From NPR: Five years since COVID, Louisiana's readers are thriving. This is their secret.
Everything needed to get your young writers started is here in Tools Not Rules: A Writing Guide for Young Creatives.
Various and free activity sheets up on my Teachers Pay Teachers store! More added all the time, so check back regularly.
I would love to do a virtual author visit with your class! Reach out to me via my website and let’s schedule something.
You guys are rock stars!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for coming along everyone! 1) Subscribe, 2) get a copy of the book bebes, and 3) keep glowing, you shining star you.
-Sarah
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Shout out to the kids in the particularly neurodivergent church class I helped sub for on Sunday, multiple of whom told me spiders were there first or second favorite animal. They had lists. Obviously.
Love this, Sarah. You nail it. The neurospicy kids often make themselves known at school visits, and they are my favorite. I always loved Anne of Green Gables, and Lilo definitely becomes more and more relatable the more I watch that movie. A new fave is Frieren the elf :)
Harriet the Spy is a weird girl I didn't meet until I was a (weird) adult, but I wanted -- want -- to let myself be weirder in specifically Harriet-like ways.