For the next two years writer Meg Medina will travel the country as the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature, a two-year appointment made by the Library of Congress. The author of award-winning middle-grade, YA, and picture books, Medina also wrote the young reader biography “She Persisted: Sonia Sotomayor.’’ Her newest book is “Merci Suárez Plays It Cool,’’ the third installment in her Newbery Award-winning trilogy about a Cuban immigrant family. Medina, who was a teacher before becoming a writer, lives in Richmond, Va., with her family.
BOOKS: What do you want to accomplish as ambassador?
MEDINA: I want to tell kids about the new authors I’ve found, and I want to hear about what they are reading. I also want to encourage people to use the public library. It’s not easy for everyone to plunk down money for books, but we want houses and homes filled with them. That’s where the library comes in.
BOOKS: Do you use the library?
MEDINA: Oh my God, yes. I’d be penniless if I didn’t. I can’t support my book habit on retail alone. When I want a book, I check the library first. That sounds cheap, and it is, but it’s important to keep books in circulation, especially books by new and diverse authors. When those books sit on the shelf they get culled from the collection.
BOOKS: What are some recent books or authors you’ve discovered at the library?
MEDINA: Jill Heinerth, who wrote this marvelous book “Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver.’’ I’m so afraid of close, dark spaces, I read it sweating bullets. Still, I couldn’t stop reading it.
BOOKS: How do you pick what you read?
MEDINA: I’m not a browser. I turn to Book Riot, Kirkus, a friend, or another author. The one section I will peruse is children’s picture books. It’s the alchemy of the words and the images that will make me pick something up. I have two on my desk now. One is Melissa Stewart’s “Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem.’’ Stewart describes in simple words and in beautiful images the death and life at the bottom of the sea where a whale carcass can feed other animals. The other book is “The Great Stink’’ by Colleen Paeff, about when the Thames was filled with poop in Victorian London and how that problem was solved. This author figured out how to write about that for little kids.
BOOKS: Is there a picture book you reread a lot?
MEDINA: There are so many. One is “Whimsy’s Heavy Things’’ by the Canadian author Julie Kraulis. It’s about a little girl who is weighed down by these gigantic boulders and can’t figure out what to do with them. It’s a beautiful way of talking to kids about problems, about how we deal with sadness or anything that feels insurmountable.
BOOKS: What kind of books take up most of your reading time?
MEDINA: These days I’m reading a lot of middle-grade books. I’m interested in any story that is honest about what it is like to grow up. I like stories that tell the truth. I read a lot of Latino authors, such as Jasminne Mendez — a poet, playwright, and translator — who wrote her first middle-grade book, “Aniana Del Mar Jumps In.’’
BOOKS: What have you been reading for adult fiction?
MEDINA: I just read “The Henna Artist’’ by Alka Joshi, which was lovely. It was not a heavy lift, but was transporting. I like Ingrid Rojas Contreras, who wrote the memoir “The Man Who Could Move Clouds.’’ She’s magical. Her first novel, “Fruit of the Drunken Tree,’’ is incredible.
BOOKS: How do you get kids to read?
MEDINA: The most important thing is letting kids read what they want. If they want to read horror, or graphic novels, or an adult novel, let them. Don’t become an obstacle to them reading. I also feel that making books available in the home is important.
BOOKS: What are you reading next?
MEDINA: Jacqueline Woodson’s new middle-grade book, “Remember Us.’’ I always have to know what two or three books I might read next. Always have a plan. Kids should have this too.
BOOKS: Does a teetering stack of books on a nightstand count?
MEDINA: I’ll allow that.