Young adult readers of Cynthia Leitich Smith's first novel, Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001), who are eager for more will be delighted to learn that more are on the way. The author's love of story has brought her from a career as a journalist, through a career in law, to a career as a writer for young readers. In her writing career, hers is a voice for Native Americans in a contemporary setting. She says, "All children deserve to read at least some books that reflect the communities they portray in the deepest, most profound, and accurate way possible. I'm trying to add one voice to that circle and gently draw them in"

Smith's writing career began with a picture book--Jingle Dancer (Morrow, 2000); her second book, Rain Is Not My Indian Name, is a powerful novel for young adults. Her third and most recent title, Indian Shoes (HarperCollins, 2002), is a collection of related short stories for chapter book readers. Each short story in Indian Shoes revolves around a Cherokee-Seminole boy and his grandfather living in Chicago. The stories take place over the course of a year. Smith says, "They are (hopefully) humorous and touching. It's my favorite project so far, though the most recent one always is"

As a child growing up in the Midwest, Smith did not go out of her way to tell people that part of her heritage included being a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. "My grandfathers were Native, and my grandmas were non-Indian. At first I thought of my identity as simply as extension of theirs. It took a while for the idea of biracial as a legitimate self-image to sink in" By the time Smith was in high school, she says, "I found that there were boys who wouldn't date an Indian girl or wouldn't want their parents to know if they did. Once when riding a bus to a football game in nearby Lawrence, Kansas, I was heartbroken as the kids I'd grown up with began making "war whoops" and racist comments as we passed what was then Haskell Indian Junior College (now Haskell Indian Nations University)."

Smith's early childhood was spent in Missouri, where she was born on December 31, 1967. She attended school in Kansas, but her summers were often spent in Oklahoma, her mom's home state. Her grandparents played an important role in her life as an only child. All of them told Cynthia stories about themselves and the rest of her ancestors, her extended family and friends.

It was Smith's love of story that first interested her in a career in journalism. After graduating from high school in 1986, where many of her activities involved news-gathering and -writing as a reporter, Cynthia earned a degree in journalism and worked for the next few years as a reporter. She interviewed an African-American civil rights lawyer, a city alderman who told about his decision to run for state representative, and a Tony Award-winning actress. During this time she wrote poems and short stories but did not really consider being any other type of writer than a journalist. However, in the early 1990s she decided that she would become a legal reporter and then teach media law at a journalism school. Her studies took her to Paris, where she studied the French legal system. By now she had started to write fiction for adults. On September 4, 1994, she married Greg Leitich, whom she calls her "very cute husband"

Cynthia and Greg moved first to Chicago; then to Austin, Texas; back to Chicago; and finally, in 1999, settled back in Austin. During these moves Cynthia began to think about the stories she loved and about writing for adults. She tutored migrant students and reviewed books. Her mother encouraged her to write for children. At first, the young writer wanted to turn away from anything related to childhood, but then she began to read children's books and soon decided that she could not think of anything better to write. "After a few heartfelt conversations with my husband and [with] some ducks swimming in Lake Michigan," she says, "I did what everyone tells you not to do: I quit my day job."

One of her first manuscripts went off to Rosemary Brosnan at Lodestar/Penguin, who was interested in the manuscript but requested some revisions. Cynthia was happy to oblige. Along with an acknowledgment of the revision request, Cynthia sent the editor a draft manuscript for Jingle Dancer. Brosnan turned down the original manuscript but bought Jingle Dancer. After surviving a publisher buyout, a released contract, the move of her editor, and a second publisher buyout, Jingle Dancer was eventually published by HarperCollins in 1999.

Jingle Dancer employs a resourceful protagonist--female and Native American--as well as a contemporary setting and a compelling tale. The same elements exist in Smith's second title, Rain Is Not My Indian Name, which was heralded as a powerful novel of two friends, one of whom is left to deal with the residual effects of a night of impulsive behavior. The seed for this book had been growing since Cynthia had been 15 years old. During her early high school days, she says, "I attended a cross-country meet where a boy finished the race, fell to the ground, and died. It was my first brush with the death of a peer, and it happened right in front of me," The memory of holding the boy's mother as the paramedics worked to save him has long haunted the author. Rain is Not My Indian Name, she says, is "about healing in a variety of contexts: cross-culturally, in romance, between parent and child, between friends. I integrated a lot of humor, which for me is especially important in books with sensitive themes?'

Like most writers, Smith puts bits and pieces of her life in her books. She says, "None of my manuscripts are retellings of [my family members] or their lives, but I'm honored if anyone can hear an echo of their voices in mine" Smith points out that she shares a background in law with Cousin Elizabeth in Jingle Dancer and, like Flash in Rain Is Not My Indian Name, was a journalism student at the University of Kansas and worked as a summer reporting intern in a small Midwestern town. Both the author and Natalie from Rain Is Not My Indian Name were raised in Johnson County, Kansas. Her paternal grandparents, like Grandpa Berghoff, enjoyed Las Vegas vacations. The author says, "I share Marie's affection for Pez and Dmitri's affection for Superman, [and] like Fynn, I spend way too much time playing on the Internet" In many ways Smith feels that her favorite character, Aunt Georgia, is a "blending of her grandmothers and great aunties."

In referring to Native Americans in her books, Smith uses both "Indian" and "Native American" Asked which she prefers, she explained, "Like most Native people I know, I tend to alternate between terms. I was raised saying 'Indian' and it's a habit for me, though I appreciate that many people prefer 'Native American? I don't think that's too surprising, really--the difference of opinion. After all, we're talking about folks from hundreds of distinct nations and cultures. As an author, I tend to let my characters use the word that best reflects their own backgrounds and perspectives. The young attorney who says 'Native American' might well have a grandma who says 'Indian'.... In writing, it's about story, characters, perspectives, not my own preferences or the political forces of the moment"

Cynthia Leitich Smith devotes "every spare waking moment" to some type of writing activity. She spends about 20 hours a week working on her children's literature resource Web site, an extensive multi-paged resource for everything connected with books for young readers. The site includes 50 pages of information intended to intensify the experience of reading Rain Is Not My Indian Name. Readers can learn more about the characters and how the story was put together, participate in many extension activities, and visit dozens of related Web sites.

Another 10 or so hours of her time each week is spent on the business end of writing. This is time when she responds to her editor's queries and requests for clarifications or revisions, answers fan letters, and other such activities.

The rest of her time during the week is spent on the writing itself. However, "If it weren't for my cats' management skills, I'd never actually produce a manuscript. I do all of my first drafts between one and four a.m. It's only then that I'm caught up on my e-mail, that the phone stops ringing, that I've already gone to the gym and played in the city with my husband. In those quietest of the dark hours, I write to the whistle of the Union Pacific train and the flash of the neon signs on South Congress Avenue with one feline or another purring on my lap."

Currently, Smith is writing three short stories for collections to be published by HarperCollins. One collection is about girls starting their periods for the first time, another is a collection of stories about grandmothers by children's authors, and the third is a collection for young adults by Native American authors. "And" the author says, "I have numerous other book manuscripts in progress. Everyone cross fingers that I can figure out what my characters are trying to tell me."

Cynthia Leitich Smith's Web site at <www.cynthialeitichsmith.com> was named "One of the Top 10 Writers' Sites" by Writer's Digest (October 2001). It is a virtual resource gold mine. Smith also publishes an electronic newsletter that is sent by e-mail and posted on her Web site. The free newsletter is published four times a year and contains information about new titles, authors, and news from the world of children's literature. Visitors to the author's Web site may sign up electronically from the site or by e-mailing her at c-smith@texas.net.

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By Sharron L. McElmeel

Sharron L. McElmeel writes frequently about authors and illustrators of books for young readers. Among her most recent titles are 100 Most Popular Children's Authors (Libraries Unlimited) and 100 Most Popular Picture Book Authors and Illustrators (Libraries Unlimited). Visit her Web site at <www.mcelmeel.com>.

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