Welcome to the Q&A and giveaway for the June edition of my Bartography Express newsletter (which you can sign up for here).

My Q&A this month is with teacher and author Torrey Maldonado, whom you can learn more about at his website and follow on Twitter at @TorreyMaldonado.

Torrey’s tense, brisk middle grade novel Tight (available here!) was published last year by Nancy Paulsen Books. In the book, comics-loving seventh-grader Bryan grapples with conflicting feelings when his interactions with new classmate Mike turn increasingly toxic.

School Library Journal gave Tight a starred review, saying, “The complex emotional lives of young boys of color are portrayed through a nascent friendship,” adding that the author “excels at depicting realistic and authentic interactions between middle school boys. An excellent addition to libraries.”

I’m giving away a copy of Tight to a Bartography Express subscriber with a US mailing address. If you want that winner to be you, just let me know (in the comments below or by emailing me) before midnight on June 30, and I’ll enter you in the drawing.

In the meantime, please enjoy my two-question Q&A with Torrey Maldonado.

Chris: As a teacher, as a parent, and as someone who used to be a kid, you may have had the chance to see relationships like the one between Bryan and Mike from multiple perspectives. What’s something about that sort of dynamic that you only really came to understand by writing Tight — something you maybe wish you’d realized earlier?

Torrey: Have I seen and experienced Bryan’s and Mike’s dynamic? My whole life, everywhere. We all have. THAT is what I know after writing Tight. In states I author-visit, people of all ages and positions tell me about their Mikes. A fifth grade girl said, “I broke up with my friend since she’s Mike.” A school principal who also is a parent said, “I made my family read Tight. We all have Mikes.”

Mike may be in your life, too — a friend, relative, or person who sometimes doesn’t act so friendly? Someone who may be a frenemy? Just now I Googled ambiguous ambivalent friend. There are 6 million of us with Mikes! I hope Tight helps us put Mike on a bully spectrum so we better handle our Mikes.

Chris: Well, let’s talk about those author visits to other states. You’re a lifelong Brooklynite, I believe, and that’s where Tight is set. (My maternal grandmother was from there, by the way, but you could probably tell that from my accent.) Even if Tight didn’t have the A train and C train on the cover, that sense of place would still be strong as can be.

As you’ve visited readers in other states, have they responded to — or connected with — the Brooklyn setting and your Brooklyn background in any ways that have surprised you?

Torrey: I’m Brooklyn, born and raised, with so much Brooklyn-love that I yell with Miles Morales “BROOKLYN!!!!” as he takes his leap of faith in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Thanks for saying even without the trains on the cover that Brooklyn in Tight is as strong as it can be. I’m always wowed at how book buyers stage-dive at that cover. The cover is a nice hint at the train-surfing scenes. I’m shocked by how readers in all states ask, “Did you train surf like Bryan?” Readers reread those scenes, a lot.

It’s cool that so many ask, “How does Bryan sound?” They’re glad to learn that his voice is in the audiobook of Tight. Guess who narrated it? Woohoo! [Note from Chris: It’s true! You can listen to a bit of Torrey’s narration here.] It’s my first audiobook narration, so I’m still impressed that Tight was named an ALA Notable Children’s Recording.

How my Brooklyn background amplifies the Brooklyn flavors of Tight surprises me so much that I sometimes reread the award announcement. Here, I’ll read it now: “Maldonado’s dynamic Brooklyn accent perfectly suits his story of Bryan, as he struggles with finding the right friends, set against the backdrop of the city streets.” Whoah.