WOW Reads: Episode 7: MSRAP Reads Distress Signal by Mary E. Lambert

Join the WOW Center Middle School Reading Ambassadors as we discuss Distress Signal by Mary E. Lambert.

This podcast was recorded in the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab (DIALL) in the UArizona College of Education with assistance from the UA COE Tech Team.

Co-Producer: Rebecca Ballenger, WOW Center Associate Director
Co-Producer: Sara Logan, WOW MSRAP Literature Discussant and COE Graduate Student
Audio Engineer: Liam Arias, WOW Student Employee and Radio, TV, Film Major
Coordinator: Vianey Torres, WOW Student Employee and Nursing Major

For more information on the WOW Middle School Reading Ambassadors (MSRAP), visit wowlit.org. 

We Can Promote Global Literature Together!

The Worlds of Words Reading Ambassador program is completely free for participants who receive a book for themselves and a book to share with their school librarian, ELA/English teacher, or other school entity. If you would like to support this program, please make a gift on-line through the University of Arizona Foundation.

Thank you for listening and keep reading!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Wow Reads, a podcast of the Worlds of Words Center of Global Literacies and Literatures, which is committed to creating an international network of people who share the vision of bringing books and children together, thereby opening windows on the world. We encourage thoughtful dialogue around global literature so that children can reflect on their own cultural experiences and connect to the experiences of children across the globe.

The Worlds of Words Center Reading Ambassador Initiative offers middle and high school students a college experience within the University of Arizona College of Education that focuses on books for teens and middle schoolers. Ambassadors learn about young adult literature under the direction of faculty and staff with expertise in children's literature, education, library science, and marketing.

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of. Indigenous peoples today. Arizona's home, the 22 federally recognized tribes with Tucson being home to the O'Odham and Yaqui committed to diversity and inclusion. The university strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign native nations and indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.

Today we discussed with the author of Distress Signal, Mary E. Lambert. Set in Chiricahua National Monument. Distress Signal is an exciting story of survival and friendship. After Lavender's best friend diverts her to hang out with sixth grade mean girl, Lavender dreads attending science camp. The fight between friends could turn deadly after a sudden flash flood separates the feuding trio and their classmate John from the rest of sixth grade, they will have to figure out a way to survive and work together in spite of the differences if they want to survive.

Let's start with introductions. My name is Rebecca. My name is Carmen. I'm Sara. I'm Nia. I'm Lily. I'm Quinn. I'm Minerva. And I'm Sophie. Thank you guys all for being here. And thanks to Bob Bingham Photography. You might be hearing some clicks in the background and if you do, that's okay. We're just getting our photos taken. So ambassadors, let me ask you this question. Let's just start off.

What was the most salient thing for you about the book Distress Signal? What stood out? What would you tell a friend? I thought the general experience that the main character Lavender goes through with her friends, Marisol, Rochelle growing up and transitioning. They, I thought that was real. That really stood out to me because I know if you are an eighth grader here, you didn't exactly have that fifth to sixth grade transition because of, um, remote learning.

But I did. I remember noticing after we went back in person that people seemed to break off into little groups and friendships had changed over that period of time. I agree. I found that part of the book really relatable as well, along with the themes of working together and friendship that Mary E. Lambert presents.

I really enjoyed how each, um, character kind of brought their own lesson and obviously their own personality to kind of help each other in a stressful situation, that they were in. And also just help them as people grow and understand each other. That was a really kind of important point for me. I liked not only the friendship that was in the book and we, we experienced the different friendships that Lavender experienced throughout the book, but I also liked there certain situations where she just had to deal with, um, her a mean girl and her ex-friend, and this a random classmate.

And it seems like it was really interesting to just to see them. In these situations where they had to cooperate, even though they weren't really great friends, and they just had to work together to try and make it out of a flash flood. The idea of a mean girl is interesting. If you're looking at this book from a point of view, that's not Lavender's, Lavender could be the mean girl.

I found it very interesting cause, um, all the characters, the way that Lavender perceived them, they had their, she like barely, strongly had opinions about them and it was very interesting that the way that she saw herself as this righteous hero who had to be right all the time. And then having throughout the book to adapt to her situations and realize that it's not always about her.And I liked that theme.

So when we get to the end of the book without really spoiling it, I felt like Mary Lambert did a pretty good job ratcheting up that tension while you didn't notice how much tension was there. And then each of the characters having the growth that you talked about, um, was true.

So that. Emotionally at the end of this book, I was a little different. Did any of you experience that? Minerva? You nodded. Yes. But you just meant yes, right. Yeah. I mean, listening, reading the book and seeing how Lavender changed from like the first chapter to the last chapter was really interesting 'cuz the first chapter, she was like attention seeking. And then the last chapter, she gave up her own attention to be surrounded by friends. And I thought that was, Interesting to just see the changes over this over the time. With all that happened in the book.

What do you, what do you guys think is gonna happen with this group of friends after the book? What do you think happens after the book?

They're probably gonna continue being friends. Like even they've all had struggles with each other, but it like being able to survive that. It's impossible not to be friends, 'cuz that's shared trauma and yeah. Yeah, I think that experience will really unite them in the years to come and help them deal with the stress of middle school and high school.

Mm-hmm. Because they were able to come together in a time where they really needed each other. They learned more about they, they learned more about each other, and I think that that's really gonna help them grow. And this is kind of a common theme in today's world where sometimes going through hardship is what brings people together.

Mm-hmm. Like it did for them.  Especially because they were also vulnerable during that time. They, they were kind of forced to put trust into each other? but I feel like that would really strongly impact the relationship later for the better.

It kind of, It kind of came back in a negative way when they didn't trust each other. Right. So, um, somebody was talking about John. Was that you, Sara? Mm-hmm. Somebody was talking about John and the branches. Oh yeah. That was, mm-hmm. Will you elaborate on that?

There was a part of the book, um, Where they needed to find some firewood and um, our main character, Lavender, was definitely like a go-getter and wanted to take charge. And so she immediately said: We need to go start break..I think it was breaking branches off of trees. And John just kind of advised her, no, you don't necessarily wanna do that cuz you need a branch that's been dry for a long time so it can burn better. So something that's on the ground, and for me, And Lavender listened to him and he did it in a really graceful manner that I think some adults may even kind of struggle with kind of talking about, maybe teamwork and things like that.

And I just thought it was a beautiful way to communicate. Um, and so I think it impacts their relationship with one another, one another, but I also think. It kind of gives them perspective to think outside the box with other people as well. Like we don't always know, we don't know best all the time, so, um, we have to kind of rely on other people.

Okay, so we met Mary E. Lambert today. That was quite enjoyable, and she stayed for for our ceremony. Um, does anybody wanna talk about what it was like meeting Mary Lambert? Um, I found it was, uh, really nice because she was nice and, um, she shared a lot of writing tips, like editing and, how much of the profit you get with books and stuff and it was nice being able to talk to someone about that.

She did, she talked about process a lot. She was super polite the entire time and really in depth to all the questions we asked her. So that was really delightful and it really did help to get to know the process of just, just, sorry, Distress Signal and the character is a lot better.

She also mentioned that she grew up in the Arizona desert, so having that experience helped her writing the book, which takes place in the Arizona desert. She also talked about how she's a teacher and how her students listen to her books and give her advice, especially for this one 'cuz it was set in like kind of the middle school, uh, genre of how they would say and like she was like, Is this how you would actually say these things and they would respond and I thought that was really interesting to just how she included her students and talked about it to us even and was like, this is my draft and I did it. And I thought that was really interesting to just hear her process of having everyone edit it.

It seems pretty brave to give your manuscript that hasn't gone through editing, it hasn't been published. It's just a raw manuscript to anyone, much less your own students. What do you think that was like for her?

I thought it was pretty horrifying 'cuz when you write, you put a lot of yourself and a lot of work and hours and stress and you put a lot of thought into it and she had to be very brave and very vulnerable for that. So I respect her so much for it. Yeah, she must have trusted her students a lot. And felt comfortable enough to share that with them.

Probably modeling for them too that when they write something, um, it doesn't just have to be their teacher or their parents that see it. They can, you know, people your age can be writing and sharing their writing and, um, there's probably a mean girl in that class too, uh, or a boy. I don't think that we need to be gendered in that way. I mean you're either mean or you're not. Um, who could say very negative things and, and we didn't really explore that with her, but how do you think you guys would get over something like that?

Oh gosh. That would, that would be hard. I think, I like what Lily said about trusting your students. Um, but definitely there may be some more critical feedback from a teacher perspective that would be, that would be challenging.

Um, but maybe. Listening and hopefully it's critic–Hopefully it's good feedback and not necessarily just purely mean, but I dunno. I know that it's something, it's really hard to get over 'cuz again, there's a lot that goes into this sort of work and I actually write a little bit myself, my brother, he's always pressuring me to talk about my writing to him. And so I tell him, and he has a lot of responses that I wouldn't particularly care for, but I am. In a way grateful for despite how upset I get over them because they are great feedback and you can kind of see, uh, you can explore more of what people will think when they read it than just how you want to express it.

So, switching gears a little bit real quick. Mary talked about how her family is a ham radio family, and we met her niece, who I believe is in fifth grade, who has her ham radio license from the FCC. Did this book make any of you guys curious about that process and or consider taking up other kinds of hobbies?

It interested me because I, I never really heard of the whole ham, of being like trained to use a ham radio and getting a certificate or license for it. And so the fact that someone as young as Lavender was able, is able to do something that not many people know about, but was really prevalent, um, many years ago. I thought that was really interesting.

I'm definitely interested in exploring, getting my ham radio certification. I have a fear not, I'm not a Arizona native, so washes were new for me. Um, and just during monsoon season, the idea that water can come so fast and so furious is a bit scary.

I know this book led me to look for other similar books in this survival sort of genre. Across The Desert, Sort of has some like, and Across the Desert we have a cartologist. That was the book we started with a cartologist. We have an aviator of a, of a lightweight plane. So we sort of started with this Arizona based book that had very independent young people who were capable and had this sort of retro technology. And now we have this one. Did you guys make any of those connections?

I did. I, I really like reading the books about, you know, that take place in Arizona cuz we live here. Um, and I kind of appreciated like how much they talked about. Like the environment and how it affected people. Cuz even though I live in a house and I don't have to worry about trying to survive out in the middle of the desert, I can still kind of understand like the heat and the scariness of it.

But I also really, I loved that it kind of just explored more of young people's like mindsets and that it's not always, you have to be older in order to be interested in things such as ham radios or maps or flying airplanes and. I thought it was cool that the authors used those, used young people to express those sort of things.

Any final reflections? Well, I was just gonna go off what Carmen said. You also don't have to be an adult to solve problems because these four kids came together to solve a pretty big problem to help them survive.

All right. Well thank you guys. Thank you everyone. Thank you to Mary Lambert for meeting with us today. Thank you to Liam Arias, our sound engineer, to Sara Logan, our lit discussant. I had not often mentioned, but definitely a pivotal person in this process has been Vianey Torres, who is our student worker who keeps us on track. I also want to thank the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab where we record this podcast in the University of Arizona College of Education.

If you have any questions for our group or for next year, please email us at wow@arizona.edu.