"Squeak" by D. A. Power; I deem it middle-grade "historical fantasy."

About a year ago, I was looking at books on the site formerly known as Twitter and ran across the nicest artwork for a middle grade novel that I have ever seen. I marked it, of course, and wished I had known about the illustrator when I had self-pubbed one of my middle grade novels some ten years before. Eventually, I got around to a buying spree of books I had marked to buy and bought Squeak, by D.A. Power.

Reader, the illustrations do it justice. I could picture the story playing out like an animated Saturday morning cartoon reminiscent of the 1980s. Speaking of 1980s, the book is set then. Reading it brought back a lot of childhood memories, such as going to birthday parties at the skating rink, complete with couple’s skate, as well as playing Oregon Trail, on the computer. A main part of the book revolves around kids playing on playgrounds at school. When I say playground, I don’t mean the toned-down ones of today that are safely sitting on rubber mulch to dull kids’ booboos after they fall off the monkey bars. Heck, they don’t even have monkey bars anymore. These playgrounds have HUGE metal slides. In any case, the kids in Squeak spend a lot of time playing together and solving their problems against a trio of bullies who torment everyone. The characters are likeable and all have their own distinct personalities.

So…why is it called Squeak? The main character finds the “Beastly Trio,” aka the group of bullies, kicking around a mouse one day, and she rescues it. To her surprise, it can speak. Their code word to let her know to hide to keep others from seeing her is “squeak.” And now, with no further delay, here’s the author in her own words!

Rebecca: How did you come up with the storyline for Squeak?

DA Power: When I was in fifth grade, I witnessed three boys kicking around a little mouse they'd found on the playground. It was exactly how I described it in the book. The only difference was that mouse died. I wasn't brave like Celeste. Now, I'm not a mouse lover, per se, but I'm not a fan of unnecessary animal cruetly such as that. I guess this is why I never forgot that. So I found this memory in a diary I kept back then. I found myself thinking, "What if this happened, but someone saved it? What would happen? What if it could talk? What if he and the kid became friends? What happens next?" At first, I thought perhaps the mouse was from another world and the rock wall where she lived was a portal from another place, and she was in the wrong place, wrong time. But I wasn't quite ready to do such extensive world-building yet, so instead, I just went with the girl saves mouse, she can understand her when she talks, and the story just unfolded from there. Somehow, all these characters, including the MC, started introducing themselves to me as if to say, "What took you so long? We've been here all this time."

Rebecca: Did you put a lot of your own experiences from the 1980s into the worldbuilding of Squeak? Do you think that this setting is unique to the storyline, aka helps it along?

DA Power: Yes, as I mentioned above, but I also used places I've lived and visited. Like, I really did live in Baxter Springs for a few years, and my school there really had a rock wall and creek that ran through the playground. That Hush-Button Game was a real game they made us play when I was in middle school. How Celeste lost her button, is exactly how I lost it, and her reaction is identical to mine. Yes, I think the setting is unique because I haven't seen those places mentioned much, other than Joplin, in other books. But also, the time period lends itself perfectly to my book and my others in the series, because I needed to have none of the technology we have now. It would make so many things that happen way too easy to solve for them.

Rebecca: What do you want readers to take away from the story after reading your novel?

DA Power: I had one reader tell me that she loved the friendships formed between the characters and that you can feel the love. No matter what happens to them, their friendship holds them together. But I think my favorite one was a reader who told me that since she didn't have a happy childhood, reading my book made her sad, but also nostalgic for that time period; that she was able to experience through my characters' eyes what it was like to have a healthy, loving family and friendships like I depicted. That blew me away! I never considered that.

Rebecca: One thing I liked was the nostalgic "kids playing together in groups" outside and taking things into their own hands. Do you plan to put this in any of your future novels?

DA Power: Pretty much, yes. There is very little to no adult help in these books for these kids. One thing I liked writing was showing the kids during the climax of Squeak banding together with their different strengths to rescue Briz. While my series does have magic, I wanted to show they can still conquer anything as long as they're working together. But yeah, I show a lot of moments where they're just being kids; laughing, pranking, bantering, and I think those are some of my favorite scenes to write. I like taking a moment for them(as well as the reader) to breathe in between all the action. While my series does have magic, I wanted to show that they don't need it to conquer anything; they have each other and their unique talents; they just need to work together.

Rebecca: Speaking of future novels, how many have you planned for The Asher Chronicles? (And will Tex Avery still have all his quirky lines and cowboy cliches...which I love, by the way!)

DA Power: This could change, but as of now, I have 7 or 8 planned. One of those will be a prequel to Squeak.. As for Tex, yes indeed! in fact, he is one of the main POV characters in Cowboys & Queens. The main plot revolves around him, and readers get to dive inside his head and get to know him better. He'll absolutely have some great cowboy moments in that, and wait till you see what I have in store for him in book 3!

Rebecca: I can’t wait for this! You can’t write these fast enough for me.

DA Power: I admit, I did worry a bit about whether I was making him too much of a cowboy cliche. But that's why I had him do things like playing Dungeons and Dragons with the group and being a huge fan of it. That seemed something unique to give him.

Rebecca: Now tell us about the illustrations! It was the cover that caught my eye and held it until I bought it. Where did you find the illustrator? Did you give her specific scenes to draw, or did she just go on her own instinct?

DA Power: The illustrator, Sydni Levi-Nasada, was a former band student of my husband's when he was a band director in Oklahoma. We met her when she was just in elementary school, but even back then, she was always drawing. We could see then she was talented, and very ambitious. She ended up going to university and getting a degree in graphic arts. It turned out to be a dream of hers to illustrate a children's book. So Squeak was her debut as well as mine. Yes, I gave her specific scenes to draw most of the time. I gave her detailed character sketches, but she also has willingly read both my books from cover to cover and learned the characters and scenes well. But I'm always open to any suggestions. There's one illustration in Cowboys & Queens that she actually suggested, and it was perfect. We always maintain a very honest and professional working relationship. I tell her exactly what I need, and she delivers. Sometimes, she has little suggestions to make the drawings pop!

Rebecca: If I ever write a follow-up to my 1960s middle-grade novel, I will definitely be contacting her for some illustrations!

There you have it, readers! Check out Squeak, the first novel in The Asher Chronicles for a well-written magical journey in the 1980s.