Crystal Chan discusses her startling debut Bird, and the complications and inspiration of being mixed race.
Bird is a startling debut. A poetic mediation on grief, it will have you reeling from the very first line. The fact that the novel is targeted at middle-grade should not deter older readers – this is no doubt one of the most lyrically beautiful books you will read this year.
The audiobook is read by Amandla Stenberg, who is best known for her portrayal of Rue in The Hunger Games.
Interview: Crystal Chan
Hypable: My first reaction when I finished ‘Bird’ was that I had somehow intruded on someone’s grief. Were there elements of this story that were based on personal experiences of yours?
Crystal Chan: There sure were – there’s a lot of myself in Bird. First of all, I’m mixed race: I’m Chinese and White, and growing up in a small town in Wisconsin, my family really stuck out. There was no one like me, no one who could really understand what being mixed was like. And of course, I got that question: What are you? …just like Jewel gets it, too.
Also, there is a silent and mysterious grandfather in Bird who plays a large role in the story. My own grandparents – all four of them – are also silent and mysterious. On my Chinese side, they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Chinese, and on my White side, my grandfather died when I was a child and my grandmother, while she lived well into my twenties, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when I was about ten.
So I grew up with this woman who couldn’t remember my name or who she was, but I kept hearing stories of this strong, courageous woman who danced on the table tops in bars and got into fights with men. And I remember listening to those stories and then looking at my grandmother and wondering how she could have possibly done those things, how she could have possibly been that person.
So having inaccessible grandparents is something that hits home for me – and it was one of my joys having Jewel, the protagonist, develop a relationship with her silent and mysterious grandpa.
Your characters talk about being linked in close binary systems with each other, but many of them also seem to be linked with a particular place. Can you tell us about how and why you decided to incorporate these elements in your story?
Sacred spaces are everywhere in Bird – those spaces that seem to hold you, listen to you, give advice, calm you down. People move around a lot these days and in that moving it’s hard to be connected to a place, to feel the heartbeat of a boulder.
I love the spaces in my life – I live across the street from Lake Michigan and sit out there a lot. I find great solace and wisdom in my own sacred spaces, and I did as a kid, too. I didn’t really decide to incorporate these spaces into the story; the characters themselves told me where they go, and the only thing I could do was follow them there.
The connection with place is also shown through the incorporation of different cultures. What was it about these different beliefs that sparked your interest?
I just knew that Jewel was mixed race, and that she was Jamaican, Mexican, and White. I didn’t make any decision or have any rationale – I mean, what rationale do I give for being half Chinese, half White? It just is. And once I found out what her cultural makeup was, then I did the research into Jamaica, into Mexico, and the story evolved from there.
The first line of ‘Bird’ gives readers a heartbreaking introduction to your world. Which do you find easiest to write – the first or the last line of a book?
A cool question! The last line to write was easier, as it shows Jewel finding a pathway out of her grief. The first line reveals the pathway into it.
‘Bird’ is about so many things: Grief, isolation, superstition, faith, and forgiveness, to name only a few. If readers are to take one thing away from this book, what do you hope it is?
I can only hope that readers come away with the transformative power of love and forgiveness – that no matter how deeply people are entrenched in their pain and isolation, healing can come and connections can be deeply made.
Finally, can you give us a recommendation of a book that you are loving at the moment?
I’m loving Far Far Away by Tom McNeal. He’s written an amazing book with an amazing voice and unforgettable characters, and I’m savoring every word of it.
Bird by Crystal Chan is available now through Atheneum Books for Young Readers in the United States and Text Publishing in Australia, with additional international releases coming soon.