WOW Reads: S3, E4 - TRAP Reads The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow

Join the Worlds of Words Center Teen Reading Ambassadors (TRAP) as we discuss The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow.

In this episode the Teen Reading Ambassadors talk about perceptions of love and life as idyllic, though the reality of most people's experiences aren't always so tidy. We also appreciate Kathleen's writing advice, which could also help with college applications, and found Kathleen's experiences traveling for book events in different countries interesting.

Books mentioned in this episode:
The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson
Dear Manny by Nic Stone
Guides for Dating Vampires (series) by D.N. Bryn
More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

Kathleen's special edition books:
The Glass Girl Target Exclusive Edition
Girl In Pieces Delux Edition

Song:
"Boys Will Be Bugs" by Cavetown

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

Producer/Host: Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Center Associate Director
Audio Engineers: Liam Arias, Student Employee and Radio, TV, Film Major, and Alexis Mendoza, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A First-year Student
Coordinator: Vianey Torres, Student Employee and Nursing Major

For more information on the WOW Teen Reading Ambassadors (TRAP), 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

Welcome to WOW Reads a World of Words podcast that centers youth voices around literature written for them. Worlds of words Center of Global Literacies and Literature 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 dialog around global literature so that children can reflect on their own cultural experiences and connect the experiences of children across the globe.

Worlds Of Words Reading Ambassadors engage in a university experience in children's literature within the University of Arizona College of Education. Reading ambassadors learn about literature for young people 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 is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’Odham and the 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'll be discussing Kathleen Glasgow, who is the number one New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces, How to Make Friends with the Dark, You'd be Home Now, and The Glass Girl, as well as The Agathas and its sequel, co-written with Liz Lawson. She lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona. Her new book, The Glass Girl, is a candid exploration of the forces pushing a girl toward a dangerous path of alcohol addiction and her gradual acceptance that she must face what she's been trying to erase before she can really get better.

Okay, great. Let's start with a round of introductions. My name is Rebecca and I am reading Dear Mani by Nick Stone.

my name is Avery and I am reading Sword Cross. I can't remember who it's by.

My name is Rebecca, and I'm reading Remarkably Bright Creatures. And I also don't remember the author.

My name is Quinn, and I'm finishing More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera.

My name's Minerva, and I'm reading The Poet X, and I also don't know for the author's name is.

So I, I asked the question because we just met Kathleen Glasgow, and that was one of the questions she had for us. We had a great event with her. Why don't you, spend some time talking about your experience at that meeting today?

I thought that Kathleen was a really wonderful person. She was very kind and elaborated a lot on every question we asked her. and she just brought up some very relatable points for teenagers, specifically.

She had a lot of really good writing advice that I'm definitely going to be using from now on. So that was really helpful.

Yeah, I definitely agree with what she had left, that she had a lot to say, and I thought that she had really interesting stories to like connect conversations and just go on tangents, which were really interesting and insightful.

So one of the things that connected with me personally, that she talked about and I've read most, if not all of her books, is that the theme throughout is that people don't always know what love looks like, and we have to figure that out. Oh, let's just jump in, Rebecca.

Yeah. I really loved when she said that because she said that when you're younger and you don't like what Rebecca just said, that you don't know what love looks like, so you'll just accept what you think it is and be happy with it. And when you're scared of losing it, you'll just hold on tighter, which can be really detrimental to your health and lead you into things such as addiction and self-harm, which is another theme of one of her books.

So I thought that was a really insightful conversation that we had surrounding love.

You know, when she was talking about that and made me think of this book I recently finished reading called The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and one of the one of the really popular quotes from it is that we accept the love that we think we deserve, and going back to like, what Kathleen was telling us about, I think a lot of those kids that are in relationships that aren't exactly healthy, but are only are taking it because they think that's all they can-- they're taking the love that love because that's all they've ever really experienced. They also don't have the highest views of themselves. Like Bella. She didn't hold herself to a very high standard, and she just kept taking it over and over again. And that kind of is what that that is what led into her alcohol addiction.

Sort of in the same note of like, going with that, you know, the large thing is that Bella doesn't think she has an addiction just because she doesn't look like, because she doesn't take drugs. And addiction is obviously just drugs, which it’s not. And she doesn't view herself the same as people who have addictions. She can function as she, or so she says. She isn't like living on the streets, or she still has family and friends and stuff. So she thinks to herself that obviously I can't have an addiction. I'm not like that.

And I think that also really relates back into what we were talking about, like the love thing, because, I think her not viewing herself as having an addiction makes it more likely that when she does latch onto someone she doesn't like, realizes she's latching onto someone like out of love, or like the desperate need to, like, be recognized.

I think she's just like, oh, this is this is normal. This is like what people do in my at my age. But, I think that's mainly what, like those two things are connected, you know, like she's needing someone else because she can't really cope with her just herself right now.

Yeah. She, Kathleen said that she thinks that teenagers and I agree with this, that they think that a lot of things would be better if you have someone that loves you or, quote unquote, loves you and cares about you and, yeah, that being a teenager is kind of learning how to do that all by yourself.

And sometimes you have to go through traumatic things to get to that point. But in the end, it's not always a happy ending, but you're learning how to cope with it by yourself.

Yes, she said, that change happens when we take steps towards understanding ourselves and the world around us. And so her character says, don't maybe get better, but they move towards being better. And, I wonder, do you have experience with that? Do you, can you predict your future in that way of growth?

No, so the answer is no, but are you okay with the characters not getting to the end of the book and just being having everything perfect?

I think it's better that they didn't, because I think that just take away all the realism from the book, because you don't just magically get better, like it's this thing happened and it's sort of going to stay with you and it might still even be happening, but you're learning to deal with that happening. And it's not like you can just “magic it” from existence.

So another theme, is not just about the way we see love. and we touched on this already, but, some other things that you might experience, such as exposure to alcohol. And she specifically talked about how divorce could impact, somebody who is young and who doesn't maybe have one place that they call home, but they're moving between places.

I haven't gone through this. I don't have divorced parents, but my three sisters all only have one parent. They're all my half sisters, and they didn't have to go back and forth. But I think it is difficult to have to to have one parent and have the other one either not there or not on good terms with the one that you're always with.

And and also having to accept a new person into your family when your parent remarries. And I've talked to my sisters about it before, and I'm sure that leads to some, difficulties and things that you have to figure out so that you don't turn to other things to cope with.

Yeah. yeah, I haven't, my parents, they're together, but this, this question is to kind of in the divorce thing. I mean, we think about Ricky, who is the younger sister in the book and how she's dealing with it, because I know, I know Bo is the main character, but then you have this little girl who doesn't realize everything that's wrong with her sister.

sorry, that doesn't realize everything that her sister Bella is going through, but is also going to deal with the repercussions of not knowing everything that was going on and not fully understanding that as she gets older and I'm, I'm kind of curious to see how that's going to affect her.

I also wonder because, Ricky is so young going through this, that will she fully be impacted how Bella was or will this just be how she views life? And that's just normal.

I think to her, viewing it as normal could actually be an impact, because that's not a good thing to view as normal. And if you feel that's normal, I think that is far more of a problem than it is just a thing that's happening.

We also talk to Kathleen about her writing process, and it sounds like a lot of her writing process is based on her personal experience, and a lot of her writing process is based on research. She does. She does both. Would anybody like to speak to, what we learned from Kathleen about her process?

Well.

One of the questions I asked her, how long did it take you to write this book? She ended up not she ended up not answering that question automatically, but when to talking about her writing process, because she did have a lot to say. She said that if you if you almost train yourself by writing ten minutes a day and then increasing it by five minutes the next day, and then just adding to that, suddenly your brain just gets into this state where you want to write more and more and more.

And so she said that she kind of she she uses that, but also she know she takes a lot of time to think about what she wants to--- to think about what she wants to write based off of experiences that she's had. And she mentioned a song like listening to waiting for That moment to where she can actually sit down and write.

She usually hears a song that inspires her to get the book going.
So for this song, it was, for this book, it was a K-Town song.
Cave town--Cape Town, it was boys can be bugs.
Boys will.
Good Boys Will Be Bugs. Right.

But then she did answer the question. She said two years and then it went to copy edit.

I'm not personally a writer, but, what she said helped a lot or would have helped when I was writing the essay questions for my college applications, where she said that you just have to sit down and write. And also, I related a lot to her saying that she waited for the perfect song because I think I do that.

I wait for the perfect moment, but it never really comes. So you just have to force yourself to sit down and then and keep writing.

I think she also mentioned, like, what did she call it? It was, the people who start writing immediately, and then the people who like the planners and

Pantser.

Plotters and the Pantsers.

And answers, and I don't know how to be like she mentioned both of them. And like, I kind of relate to some of both of the different things that both plotters and Panthers do, or pantser is just like, start writing and plotters plot everything that they're going to write. so I just thought it was interesting to see that there's like these different ways that writers start their books.

And then she also just mentioned that it's okay to just like, do whatever you kind of want. And it's just no one cares because I thought that was really nice and also know these different ways to start writing, even though I don't really write. But that would just help me in school and stuff.

Avery, you asked her specifically a question. you specifically asked her a question about research and what to do when you get mired in research.

I have a tendency to, spend more time researching than I do writing and then never actually end up using most of that research. But, she said that it's good to research, but not to use it as a way to distract yourself from writing. And instead, just like put a note where you'd put the results from that research in the writing, just put a note saying to research it later and move on.

And I thought that was good advice, that there's a 5050 chance I will be using. I like researching too much. It's a problem.

Well, so one of the things that was really cool was we got to see her exclusive target edition with the sprayed edges and, the embossed cover, which was really cool. And we talked to her a little bit about, umm, touring and other experiences, that she had after the book was written. Somebody speak to that.

She mentioned, her tour, like she went to the UK and she was talking. It was crazy. She was talking about the cultural difference, like between touring a book in the U.S and then to get out of the country. So she said that in the U.S, people usually just go get their book signed, like on a Tuesday night or so, and then they go back and they don't really have much to say.

But in, in the, in the UK, she would she said that people stayed, they would take a train and they'd actually come and they'd want to talk to her. And in Singapore they'd actually bow and bring her gifts. So they just seemed to have more admiration almost, or for for what she was doing.

I think they just had like different ways of showing the admiration because she said that she's like, everyone loves the book, but it, they show that differently, like in Singapore with the gift. And I also think like in the UK, it's much easier to get around with public transportation and stuff. And here you have to ask your parents to bring you somewhere and it's kind of more of a hassle, but I think she appreciates it all. No matter what.

Yeah, she talked about how she hated making like book signings or something in the US, like on a Tuesday night because she knew she knows that it's really hard for like the age demographic that she's talking to. Not like the age of just like kids trying to get to a bookstore or whatever on a Tuesday night. And she's like, weekends are so much better because then bunch more people can come and it's great.

But she was like, I'm fine with whoever comes. I think that everyone is amazing to come. And I thought that was cool.

Do we have any final reflections?

So when she showed us the special edition of The Glass Girl, she also showed us one for Girl in Pieces and she put some journal prompts in the back, and the specific one that she shared was so relevant to me right now. Like I called my sister about this yesterday, and I think that that would be a cool book to get, especially knowing her and knowing how she wanted that question answered and knowing how genuine she is made it more meaningful. So might look into that.

I thought it was really cool getting to talk to her, and I'm definitely going to check out her other books because I really did. I really liked this one, and I could relate to so to some of the bits, because one of the things she does in her book who think she did in this book is tried to make it relatable to multiple like to more groups of people that have been through different, like different situations, so, yeah.

I, I'm probably going to read The Agathas book because it sounded interesting from the way she was describing it.
It is good. We read it before with a previous reading Ambassador group. And, that one is a fun book to read.
Yeah. Can confirm.

I also thought it was super interesting how she mentioned different age demographics or like the younger generation, which usually writes about and she just talks like about how she can see their viewpoint and that she doesn't think that a lot of things have changed or just not like, I mean, stuff things have changed, but not. But like the just how you are viewed as a teenager and how going through life as someone in this age demographic is just so hard.

And then it like changes. And she talked briefly about how her, like her teenage years and her like early 20s, were just crazy and hectic. And I thought that was interesting that she's taking that. And then just like focusing on writing about it and then like making it so that other people can read it and like realize they know these things too, because they are living in them or they have lived in them, you know.

Way back in the day, I took a genre fiction class when I was in college. And, one of the things I learned in that in that class was that, a lot of people like to sort of, denigrate romance, and then they would uphold other genres like mystery. So, one was a low genre and one is a high genre, but that, that mystery or that Western or that whatever still had romance in it.

And Kathleen said she was talking about how she writes contemporary realistic fiction, but you could also have a fantasy novel that had similar elements, and.

That sort of reminded me. So one of my favorite series is it's technically a vampire romance, but it covers a lot of other stuff, too. And I was just going to absolutely dogged on by all my friends and my creative writing teacher, because I really like this series, and I'm just like, just because the main couple is a vampire and a human does not mean that's all the book is about.

It's a take on. It's a take on how the government treats people and the society treats people with disabilities and how they're like sort of ostracized from everyone else. But everyone else just sort of saw the vampire romance part was like, that's all this book is about. There's nothing valuable in this book. And it really annoyed me.

Does anybody else read cross-genre and want to weigh in?
I mean, personally, I have read some sort of romance books before because.
They're in it's in a lot of, it's in a lot of genres, like realistic folk fiction. This book, although it wasn't very romantic.
It was it was not very romantic.

Yeah. But I think people are just kind of some people just get overly uncomfortable with the topic, so they decide, oh, well, we're not going to talk about this. We're going to talk about all these other genres. So yeah.

Okay. Well, I'd like to thank Kathleen Glasgow for visiting with us on this Saturday. And I'd like to thank Liam Arias and Alexis Mendoza, our sound engineers. I'd like to thank Vianey Torres for keeping us all together. We are recording in the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab in the University of Arizona College of Education.