Interview with Sydney Dunlap, Author of Raing the Clouds

Welcome back toSmack Dab, Sydney! You’ve visited with us previously, about your book ItHappened on Saturday. Tell us more about Racing the Clouds.

Thank you so much forhaving me, Holly! It’s great to be back.

The story begins after13-year-old Sage hears from her grandparents—her mom’s parents, who she’s nevermet—for the first time in her life. They invite her to visit, and she wants tofix what’s gone wrong in her family, so she flies to Ohio by herself as soon asschool gets out for the summer. She feels an almost immediate connection withher grandfather, but her grandmother is so strict and formal that it doesn’tseem they’ll ever see eye-to-eye. Sage learns that family relationships—andpeople—can be much more complex than they appear on the surface. She alsobegins to understand more about the power of forgiveness and how to find herway forward during a difficult time.

I admire how youtackle such tough topics for young readers. Last time, it was childtrafficking. This time around, you’re tackling addiction and familyestrangement. What brought you to these topics?

I’ve always lovedreading books about real things that happen to real kids—books that tacklesubjects that are a part of many people’s lives but can be hard to talk about.My two favorite authors while growing up were Katherine Paterson and Judy Blumebecause they both showed so much respect for their readers in writing aboutlife as it really is. As an author myself, I’ve found that the stories I mostwant to share with the world are about the hard stuff too. Books can be suchgreat conversation-starters, providing glimpses into life experiences verydifferent from one’s own, or offering a chance for self-reflection on morefamiliar events/circumstances.

Of course I have toask about how you approach these tough topics. But I’m also curious about whatyou learned from the first book–through reception to the book, interactionswith young readers. What did all that teach you before you drafted this book? 

I try to approach toughtopics in a way that leaves readers feeling hope as they see my charactersfinding their own resilience. I also like to include relatable situations—withfamily, friends, school, etc—along with the more difficult subject matter, sothe readers will find familiarity within the pages. My books include lightmoments as well as animals such as dogs, cats, and horses, so there are plentyof warm and fuzzy parts too.

As far as the nextpart, I’ve learned that for me, the most important part of this whole processis to find and keep my joy in it. The publishing world is so full of ups anddowns, and it can become easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you alwaysneed to be doing something more, checking one more item off your to-do list,then adding another—that you’re never doing enough. I think it’s important toremember to take a step back and just appreciate how amazing it is to have astory that is dear to your heart being read by people all around the world. Andinteracting with young readers is a wonderful part of it—my favorite type ofevent is a school visit where all the students have read the book—it’s reallyfun to hear their questions and comments since they know the characters sowell!

I’m an animal person, and I’malways intrigued by the depiction of animals in literature. You use Nicky as acatalyst for connection between characters. What brought you to this?

 

I love dogs more thanjust about anything. As I write this, my dog is sitting on a couch a few feetaway from me. Usually he’s underneath my desk when I write, but always close athand. My own extended family includes people with very different outlooks andlife experiences, but the one thing everyone has in common is a love for dogs.At a large gathering, the people sitting around the table may have differentopinions on current events or other potential conversation topics, but everyoneagrees about how great dogs are. I’ve been fortunate to have dogs in my homefor most of my life, and their soulful eyes, tail wags, and the overallpositivity they bring to any situation has always amazed me.

The theme of forgiveness is powerfully handledthroughout. It’s depicted as an ongoing process here. You even tackle the ideaof self-forgiveness (the hardest of all, it always seems), as Sage has toattempt to forgive herself for her mother’s accident. Did this thread comenaturally? What made you want to address forgiveness specifically?

While writing Sage’sstory, I was thinking about how we all make mistakes, and we all have things wewish we could have done differently. We can rehash them over and over, losingthe peace of the moment we’re in, or we can pick ourselves up, dust ourselvesoff, and look forward, trying to take the lessons we’ve learned from the pastwith us to whatever’s next. Since doing that involves a degree of forgivenessof both self and others, it just came out of my heart as something I wanted toaddress in hopes that it could touch my readers as well.

I loved themulti-generational aspect of the story. How did you go about developing theparallel between Grandmother Marion's brother and Mom's addiction? How did yougo about crafting Pawpaw as a bridge between the generations?

I knew that there hadto be a reason that Grandmother Marion was so worried about Sage’s dad being arock musician that went deeper than just not liking the music. Although she’sstrict and formal by nature, Grandmother Marion isn’t a tyrant intent on ruiningeveryone’s fun, as she first seems to Sage. I think it’s important to take notethat people’s actions usually have motivations that go a lot deeper than what’sapparent on the surface, and Grandmother Marion’s attempts to control so manythings stem from anxiety and loss. I think it helps us all to think about thereasons behind other people’s actions to gain a better understanding of them.While writing the story, Pawpaw just came to me as this sweet grandfather whomeans well and really cares, but also has to work at finding the right thing todo. Sometimes trying to be the peacemaker isn’t easy either.

Music is woventhroughout the story, from Dad's past as a musician to the concert Sageattends. What role did you want music to play in the narrative?

Music can really bringpeople together, or in some cases, tear them apart. Sage and her parents sharea love of music and find attending concerts a great thing to do together. Inspite of her love of and talent for the drums, Sage stops playing due to herguilt, but I think there’s a hint that she might resume in the future. My hopefor her dad would be that he can gradually begin teaching music lessons andeventually spend more and more time sharing his skills and focusing on whathe’s passionate about.

Throughout Racing the Clouds, we see different economicrealities: the trailer park where Sage and her dad live, to her grandparents'large house with its Cadillac and fancy maple syrup. How did you approachwriting about these class differences without making them the focus of thestory, while still acknowledging their impact on Sage's perspective?

I tried to keep them inthe background while still having them present throughout the book. I rememberhearing the amazing Marcus Zusak speak once at a library event, and he talkedabout the importance of the little details in making a story feel real. That’swhy small details—like how hard it is to get the water temperature the way Sagewants it at the beginning of the story, or the kind of glass the maple syrupcomes in—matter a lot. In this story, they serve to show a contrast for Sagebetween the experiences she’s had and the way her mom grew up, and they alsohelp her to realize that she wouldn’t have traded her life with her parents foranything.

What do you hopeyoung readers take from Sage’s story?

I hope they can gainsome perspective on the importance of taking a moment to sit in other people’sshoes and see things from their point of view, and to think about the power offorgiveness and the importance of having the hard conversations. I also hopethey learn some things about what drugs can do to a person’s life and how tostay safe.

What’s next?

 

I have a lot of book-related travel and many author eventsplanned for 2025. As a teacher for 18 years, I love doing school visits andtalking with students, and I also love any and all events that bring togetherteachers, librarians, and authors.

 

 

Where can we find you?

 

I’m on Instagram at@sydneydunlapwrites,  Bluesky at @sydneydunlap@bsky.social, Facebook atSydney Dunlap, and my website is www.sydneydunlap.com.