Imagine, during an ordinary day spent playing with your sibling, you fall into the ocean and are plunged into a 100-year sleep. When the titular character of Meg Medina’s new middle grade novel, Graciela in the Abyss, awakes from her century-long slumber, she finds that she is now a “sea ghost” who lives in a new world at the bottom of the ocean, and finds herself on an unexpected journey of exploration, mystery, and reinvention. We had the chance to sit down with Meg and discuss her new book, the resilience of women in STEM, and the fascinating mysteries of the ocean.
About Meg Medina
Meg Medina is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and the author of the Newbery Medal-winning book Merci Suárez Changes Gears, which was also a Kirkus Prize finalist, and its sequels, Merci Suárez Can’t Dance and Merci Suárez Plays It Cool, as well as several award-winning young adult novels and picture books. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Meg Medina lives in Richmond, Virginia.
Thank you so much for joining us, Meg! Let’s dive in.
Can you briefly explain to our readers what a “sea ghost” is and how Graciela found herself in this new plane of existence at the beginning of her story?
Those who die and are buried at sea descend to the sea floor and begin their hundred-year sleep. When they awaken, their bodies have disintegrated into a jelly-like, nearly transparent form, and they have begun their spirit lives. Over time, spirits continue to disintegrate until they become one with the seas. At the start of their journey, each sea spirit assumes a job. For example, some will manage waves and currents. Others create fogs or move bottled messages to distant places. Working together, they keep the oceans in balance.
Graciela, our main character, is a glazier, which means she’s responsible for making and delivering beautiful pieces of sea glass that living people find on shore. Graciela was exactly thirteen the day she died while picnicking on cliffs with her older sister. The wind snatched her off the cliffs and plunged her into the ominously black water below. When the novel opens, Graciela is awakening from her sleep, coming to terms with her new body, and meeting her spirit guide, Amina, who will be her friend and confidant in the deep.
How does Graciela’s story intersect with Jorge Leon, the other protagonist of Graciela in the Abyss?
Jorge is a living boy, the descendant of a skilled and reviled blacksmith who, with the help of a greedy and ruthless fisherman, helped fashion a magical harpoon able to kill a sea spirit for good. That fisherman — Fernando — is now awakening as a spirit and wants revenge on the world of sea spirits for having denied him the glory and the riches he envisioned. It was sea spirits who stopped him long ago.
Now, over a century has passed. Jorge has found this harpoon and is piecing together the terrible tale of his family’s involvement, an involvement his greedy parents would like to rekindle. His world intersects with Graciela’s when he tries to be rid of the harpoon by casting it into the sea forever. Unfortunately, the harpoon falls into the wrong hands: Fernando’s.
Graciela and Jorge find themselves unlikely allies in their search to get it back from Fernando and destroy it forever. Each one of them is keeping secrets. Neither completely trusts the other. Time is running out. But if they don’t work together, all is lost. As a writer, the most challenging part of having them work together was figuring out how to have a living boy and a sea spirit be able to occupy the same space. I’ll leave it to the readers to tell me if I got it right.
You’ve said that your research for this book involved studying the work of many oceanographers, “especially women.” Why was looking into the feminine perspective of studying this unique ecosystem important to you?
Most of my work has explored the lives of young women, so my interests naturally go there. In this case, I was fascinated by female oceanographers because of all they have historically been up against, beyond even the inhospitable abyss. I’m thinking about restrictions against women being on boats, suspicions against or outright denials of their discoveries, and stereotypes about what women could withstand during exploration. To be female in a male-dominated field can be a test of wills and grit, a little abyss of its own. That’s exactly what Graciela faces.
One of the major themes of Graciela in the Abyss is rebuilding oneself — and the world around us — after tragedy. What inspired you to incorporate these elements into the book?
I suppose it has to do with resilience, which is ultimately what we all need to weather the hard things that life throws our way as we grow up. Challenges can be anything from family challenges to rebuilding after a pandemic. They can include regrets over choices made, some of which have no remedy. But those hard experiences don’t have to break up. They can strengthen us.
I worked on this book for many years, but it came together for me as we were getting past the worst of the COVID epidemic, and after the deaths of some vital people in my life. I was feeling despair, and was able to tap into those true feelings and create the story.
You are an extremely prolific writer of titles for all ages, from picture books to adult genres. Is there a particular age group or genre that you are especially drawn to, and why?
Oh, that changes with every story I want to tell! Every age has its beauty. The secret, really, is to match the heart of your story to the heart of the right age group. Sometimes you have a story that captures the essence of someone who is eight. Other times, you find yourself with a tale that speaks best to someone who is 17. But if I had to choose one, I’d say that recently I’ve been enjoying getting into the minds of middle grade readers.
We were fascinated to read about the graveyard you keep in your own backyard (well, computer desktop). Tell us a little about “The Graveyard” and how you utilize it while creating.
If student writers really understood how often professional writers abandon work, they’d feel much more confident about writing! The road to a finished book is littered with false starts and terrible writing. My graveyard file is where I keep all my so-called failed attempts. These are the drafts that my editor didn’t like, or characters that went nowhere, or scenes that were removed for one reason or another.
I keep it because nothing is ever a complete failure. Your early thoughts are just that: your first attempts. There is almost always a seed of something valuable. So, every once in a while, I go back into the graveyard to see what I can salvage. Sometimes I find a character’s name. Other times, it’s a setting I like. Sometimes, even a single sentence can help me spark an entirely new work. Sometimes I come back empty-handed…
The graveyard allows me the chance not to grieve the time I’ve spent on something that didn’t pan out immediately. It gives me a place where I can see the evolution of my thinking. In the case of Graciela, I have drafts dating back to 2010.
We always love to ask children’s authors what their favorite books were when they were young readers themselves. Is there a book or series that you enjoyed as a child that stays with you to this day?
Charlotte’s Web is my all-time favorite book. I have fond memories of reading it. It has all the things I love to think about: growing up, difficult decisions, friendship, family. I was also a huge fan of the Nancy Drew series. Something about a young woman being taken seriously as a detective was so appealing… and that red coupe of hers! Wow!
Lastly, in honor of Graciela in the Abyss, what is the most fascinating fact about the deep ocean you discovered in your research?
Bioluminescence is fascinating to me, especially when you learn all the ways that it is used. One of my favorite uses is in a “fear scream.” When faced with a predator, a fish in the abyss will give off an enormous blast of light as a last resort to save itself. The light — or fear scream — will potentially alert an even larger predator to the scene, one that might chase away the immediate danger. There’s something in that mix of cleverness and desperation that is utterly fascinating.
A massive thank you to Meg for taking the time to share her work and thoughts with us! Be sure to find her online at MegMedina.com and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest. And, of course, don’t forget to preorder Graciela in the Abyss and add it to your family’s reading list!
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