Please Note: I received a digital review copy of How To Tell A True Story and was monetarily compensated in exchange for composing and hosting an interview with the author. This compensation in no way affected my opinions.
Title How To Tell A True Story
Author Tricia Springstubb
Intended Target Audience Upper Middle Grade
Genre Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Margaret Ferguson Books
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon ● Chapters ● Blackwell’s ● Barnes & Noble ● IndieBound
After seventh grader Amber’s secretive older brother rescues her from a devastating house fire, the community’s response proves that kindness is as complicated as family in this novel for younger YA readers.
There’s nothing very special about Amber Price. She’s not a star student, athlete or artist, and definitely not one of the popular kids. Her crush hardly knows she exists. At least, that’s her life before. Before a fire destroys her home, before her older teenage brother Gage saves her life, before her classmates rally to stage a fundraiser, The Price of Kindness, for her family. Suddenly, Gage who was hurt in the fire is a famous hero and Amber is the center of attention at school. Everyone wants to help, everyone wants to be kind, everyone wants to tell her story.
As Amber enjoys her new popularity, she keeps her worries to herself. Her parents are arguing more than ever, and her father has moved into an apartment while the rest of them stay with Amber’s aunt. And why, after he risked his life for her, is Gage keeping secrets from her? Then just days before her family will be honored in a special Price of Kindness presentation at school, she discovers how the fire started and faces huge moral question: Is it wrong to tell lies to save yourself and those you love?
The Most Perfect Thing In The Universe author Tricia Springstubb poignantly explores the way disasters impact family and community, painting a tender portrait of resilience and empathy in this young YA novel.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Tricia Springstubb
Tricia is the author of many books for children, including the award winning middle grade novels What Happened on Fox Street, Moonpenny Island and Every Single Second. She’s also written four books in the Cody chapter book series, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, as well as the picture book Phoebe and Digger, illustrated by Jeff Newman. Her newest picture book, Khalil and Mr. Hagerty and the Backyard Treasures, illustrated by Elaheh Taherian, is an ALA Notable Book and was chosen by Readers Digest as one of the best 100 children’s books ever published. Kirkus called her 2021 middle grade The Most Perfect Thing In The Universe, a “perfect thing in the universe of juvenile literature. Her most recent novel, Looking For True, a Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the year, was hailed as “Because of Winn-Dixie for a new generation”. Tricia has worked as a Head Start teacher and a children’s library associate. Besides writing and, of course, reading, she loves doing school and library visits. Mother of three grown daughters and four perfect grandbabies, she lives with her husband, garden and cats in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
1. You’re a prolific author of beloved middle grade books including Moonpenny Island, Every Single Second, The Most Perfect Thing In The Universe and Looking For True. What do you like most about writing for this age group? Are there any particular challenges you face when writing for a middle grade audience? While all of your books are incredibly different, do you find there are any themes or commonalities that connect the stories you write?
I love writing for all ages, but middle grade is my sweet spot for sure! I think of these years as the Golden Age of Reading, when everyone reads (or listens to) at least one book they’ll remember all their lives. What a tender time of life it is! Kids bloom into independent, critical thinkers, yet still crave the safe, secure snuggle of home. I want to write stories that empower them, stories that both challenge and reassure. If my books have a common theme, it’s that different as we are (thank goodness!) we are all connected. Also: this world is a place of wonder!
2. Throughout How To Tell A True Story is an ongoing discussion about not allowing other people’s opinions and perceptions to define you. Amber’s brother, Gage, tells her “The biggest mistake you can make is letting other people tell you who you are. You’re the only one who can decide that.” I love this idea of having a strong sense of self and empowering young readers to discover and embrace who they are, especially during a period in their lives when they may feel more vulnerable and susceptible to outside judgement. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you define who you are?
This is such a good question! One of the presentations I give in schools is called Why I’m Still Surprised to Be a Writer. Much as I’ve always loved to read, it wasn’t till relatively late in life that I began to write. I grew up in a pragmatic family, where too much imagination was viewed with suspicion. When I did something my father disapproved of, he’d ask me, “Just who do you think you are?” It took me many years to hear those words as an invitation rather than an accusation! It’s funny because I still don’t think of myself as a risk-taker, yet sharing our deepest thoughts and feelings, which is what we writers do, is a crazy-daring thing.
3. “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” is a phrase repeated often throughout the book. What does this quote mean to you and how do you feel it relates to Amber and Gage’s stories?
I’ve always puzzled over this quote, and so I gave it to Amber to puzzle over with me. In the novel, the truth about the fire is not at all beautiful — in fact, it’s pretty ugly. If it comes out, it threatens everything Amber cherishes. Or does it? Maybe facing the truth, owning it, especially when that’s hard to do — maybe that’s the beautiful thing.
4. Speaking of truth, there are a number of secrets kept throughout the novel, both big and small. What would you say to a young reader who has a secret of their own and is struggling to know if, or how, they should reveal it? Is honesty always the best policy?
We all keep some secrets! In How To Tell A True Story, Gage’s secret is a big one, and when he confides in Amber, it becomes hers, too. As I wrote, I thought a lot about how loyalty can be a wonderful, positive trait, but how it can sometimes drive us to do things we know are wrong. I thought about how secrets can edge over into becoming lies, and how dangerous that can be. Any child who’s struggling with something that makes them afraid needs to confide in a trusted grownup. None of us should ever feel too ashamed or frightened to ask for help.
5. I can’t begin to imagine the devastation of losing everything you have ever known and loved in a disaster like a house fire. Your book often had me reflecting on what I cherish most in my own home and life. Inspired by both the novel’s subject matter, as well as a question Amber and her friends often ask one another, if your house was on fire and you could only save one thing, what would you pick?
My cat! Except, knowing Billy, AKA Mr. 99 Lives, he’d already have saved himself, so it would be my photo albums (now you know how very old I am!). Seriously, writing the fire was very difficult. When I was small, I often had nightmares about our house catching fire. I wrote those pages where Amber is trapped on their third floor in one great swoop and as I revised, I’d re-read them really fast, because they made me so anxious. A common bit of writer advice is, “Write what you fear”, but I don’t want to try that again any time soon.
6. In the wake of the fire, Amber and her friend Mariah have a deeply moving and relatable conversation about being afraid of the dangers of the world – pandemics, earthquakes, wars, school shootings, cancer, etc. – as the fire has reminded them of the fragility of life and the uncertainty of the future. This moment felt particularly prescient and powerful in the wake of a global pandemic and the terrifying political upheaval we’re living through in the present moment. What would you say to young readers who are experiencing similar anxiety in their own lives?
Besides all the things you mention, our kids live with the threats of climate change and, on a more personal level, the increased social anxieties of online life. It’s A LOT! My own grandchildren are still too young to worry about most of these things, and I hate knowing the time will come when they’ll lose their innocent trust in the world. Yet that’s part of growing up, isn’t it? My books never minimize the difficult issues kids face, but I try to show that they’re not alone in their worries and fears. Near the end of the novel, Amber has a conversation with a classmate she’s always disliked. She’s begun to understand how troubled his life is. Having come through hard times herself, she tries for the first time to reach out to him. Bad things, she used to think, only happened to other people. Now she knows she was wrong. She promises, “I’m not going to forget. If I forget, then all this terrible stuff happened for no reason.” Resilience, joy, hope — all are rooted in our connections to others.
7. The community rallies around Amber and her family following the fire with generous offers of charitable giving, but Amber’s dad is resistant and often uses the refrain “Prices don’t accept charity.” Amber and Gage also struggle to accept help, bristling against the idea of being pitied by those around them. The book asks the question “Is kindness different from charity?” Can you speak a little about this aspect of the novel?
We talk so much about kindness, but what does it really mean? Amber fears that, once the secret she and Gage are keeping comes out, people will regret helping them. She wonders if her family will still deserve the community’s kindness. Is kindness a simple gift or something more? To me, this is the difference between charity, something we can dispense without much thought, and kindness, which asks us to do the hard work of walking in other shoes. Charity can be a one-off, but kindness is a way of being.
Still, no act of giving can ever be wrong! Amber’s father is a very proud man, and by the end of the book he begins to see how his pride has isolated him and hurt his family. I leave open the question of whether he’ll accept the community’s fund-raiser charity, but I really hope he does!
8. Speaking of charity and community, there’s a club at Amber’s school called the Confetti Club, whose motto is “spread kindness like confetti”. They state that “our club believes that even if you can’t help everyone, everyone can help someone”. I love this! How can young readers have a positive impact in their own communities and how can the adults in their lives empower and help them to do so?
Another reason I love to write for kids! Their hearts are huge, with ever more room to grow. Every child I’ve ever met wants to do good and to make the world a better, more equitable place. Many schools I’ve visited have clubs like the Confetti Club. I’ve met kids who are working for change on a large scale, supporting issues and candidates they believe in, and kids who make a personal difference in their own classrooms. We all have the power to do good. I think we adults sometimes forget this, especially now, when everything feels rife with anger and discord, and an act of kindness can seem like a stone that sinks without a trace. But kindness always ripples out. Modeling compassion may be the most crucial thing we grownups can ever do.
9. Stories play a prominent role in the novel as the reader is asked to reflect on both the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell other people, and how these stories can change or distort over time. At one point, Amber learns about fables in her literature class and we often see her try to understand the moral or lesson to be found in the stories around her. What themes or messages do you hope readers will take from Amber’s story?
Thanks for bringing up the role of stories in my story! You’re reminding me to mention one more theme: social media, a space where kids can feel especially vulnerable to others’ judgement. Amber goes to a party with the popular crowd, and afterwards, as she looks at posts about it, she thinks that the party itself feels like a blur, and yet, The photos — it’s like they’re becoming the party…like, it’s all turning into a story people are telling.” Peer pressure — crafting stories others will “like” — is a big thing for kids. Self-esteem and identity can suffer, and a lot of anxiety and even depression can result. I hope readers will think about how they can use their apps without letting their apps use them!
In the end, what I truly (truly!) hope readers take from How To Tell A True Story is a lot of questions. What makes a hero? What do words like courage and kindness really mean? Can there be more than one truth? As we grow and change, what parts of us stay the same?
Nothing makes me happier than a note from a reader! I hope readers will share their thoughts on these questions or anything else. Reach me through the contact link on my website or any of my social platforms.
