Matylda, Bright and Tender by Holly M. McGhee
Hi, Holly McGhee! Welcome to Watch. Connect. Read.!
I cannot believe this is the first time you’ve dropped by to celebrate books.
Better late than never, eh?
Holly M. McGhee: Thank you so much for inviting me over, and
yes / so much better late than never. Thank you for going first too, Mr. Schu!
Hooray! Thank you for finishing my sentences. Let's get started!
Hooray! Thank you for finishing my sentences. Let's get started!
I wrote Matylda, Bright and
Tender because it was time . . . I’d started the book in the summer
of 2012, and about 25 pages in, I couldn’t continue, because I knew that one of
my characters would have to go on without the other. I was completely taken
with Sussy and Guy, these two charming nine year olds, and I felt a little bit
tricked by my own unconscious . . . I didn’t want to face Guy’s death, because
in so doing, I knew I would also have to unravel the memory and emotions around
a fatal collision I was in when I first got my own license.
I wasn’t ready to do that, and I didn’t write
at all for an entire year; I guess I needed the time to prepare myself to go
back to an event I had pushed down for decades.
When I was finally able to tackle those
memories, this story poured out of me—taking the worst thing that ever happened
to me and turning it into something beautiful was transformative. It’s my hope
that my readers know that when they’re ready, they can let their imaginations
take them where they need to go / they can dig deep and find beauty in the very
thing that made them sad / that they can fold their grief into who they are and
go forward. I hope that Matylda, Bright & Tender helps my
readers understand this more quickly than I did.
Visit Holly's website. |
Sussy and Guy are ultimate friends.
They are in fourth grade, and they are usually found together. Sussy’s dad
calls them spaghetti & meatballs. They see each other fully, both the dark
and light, they roll from laughter to depth to anger to joy . . . and they
accept each other completely. Theirs is the kind of friendship we all long for
I think, one in which we’re loved for everything we are (good and bad).
Guy’s mother is the kind of mom I wish
I had when I had my own car accident. Here she is, a woman who has lost her only
son, and she folds Sussy in, she holds her, and by so doing, Sussy is able to
think outside of herself—toward the end of the summer, when Sussy finally goes
to Guy’s house, she is able to see Mrs. Hose fully, in her sorrow and her
warmth and her love—and in that moment, Sussy realizes that they’ve both lost
Guy. It’s a big step for Sussy.
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Sometimes Holly uses the name Hallie Durand. |
Matylda helps Sussy walk through her
grief and into a world that’s full of hope again. Matylda is a mythical warrior
lizard, whose only wish is to have her broken heart mended by love, and in the
end Sussy does just that. From his coffin, Guy extracts a promise from Sussy—to
love the lizard enough for them both, and Sussy tries valiantly to do that,
feeding Matylda, worrying about her health, fixating on her at all times, until
eventually the situation implodes. It’s not until Sussy learns to love Matylda
on her own terms (not Guy’s) that she also begins to learn to love and forgive
herself.
Reading is where we can learn about
the world between the safe covers of a book. What better way to understand
ourselves, our emotions, humanity? What better place to prepare our children
for life?
School libraries are among my favorite
places in the world. As an introvert, I was never very good at things like the
PTA. But I always volunteered in the school library; it’s a safe and cozy place
for children and parents too! I’ll never forget my years checking out books for
kids; I love seeing what they read . . . there was one little girl who every
single week checked out a party planning book that looked like it was printed
in the 1950s. It pleased me to no end for some reason. I never asked her why
she kept renewing it . . . I just loved that she did! I still bring books to
the librarians . . .
Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about
Speedy! In those first 25 pages that I put down for a
year, there was no gecko at all. But during that time my son got a leopard
gecko for his birthday, and I fell madly in love with Speedy. He lives in my
room now, in a large vivarium. My daughter painted a back drop for the vivarium
that is green and purple and pink; it’s beautiful! Speedy really likes the
moist hide I made him with wet paper towels and a Tupperware container. He
likes to go in there to shed. And he spent most of this winter on his little
heating mat; he’s happy that spring is here finally.
Borrow Matylda, Bright and Tender from your school or public library. Whenever possible, please support independent bookshops.
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