Summary5 min read

NPR’s Book of the Day — “In Meg Medina’s New Young Adult Novel, a 13-Year-Old Girl Becomes a Sea Ghost”

Date: September 11, 2025
Host: Andrew Limbong
Guests: Meg Medina (author), Scott Simon (interviewer)

Overview:

This episode centers on Meg Medina’s new young adult novel, Graciela in the Abyss. Written over fifteen years and deeply influenced by Medina’s personal experience of losing her mother, the book explores themes of death, afterlife, and how young people understand and move through grief. Medina discusses the challenges and purpose of addressing heavy topics for children and why stories about mistakes, forgiveness, and friendship are so vital for young readers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Genesis of Graciela in the Abyss

Long creative process:
- The manuscript lingered for years as Medina struggled to find the story, only unlocking it after her own mother’s death.
- “There’s something hopeful about a creative project that needs to take its time to figure itself out.” — Andrew Limbong [00:10]
Book’s premise:
- 13-year-old Graciela Lima dies falling off a cliff and awakens 100 years later as a sea ghost, surrounded by other spirits who all have roles beneath the water.

2. Approaching Death in Children’s Literature

Avoiding clichés:
- Medina intentionally avoids “mermaid tropes,” envisioning instead a world of underwater spirits who assume meaningful roles after death:
  - “I really wanted this to be a collection of spirits, all kinds of people who end up in the watery depths to begin the next phase of existing.” — Meg Medina [01:53]
  - Spirits sleep for 100 years and, upon waking, take on jobs that keep the balance of the sea.
Graciela’s unique role:
- She works as a “glazier,” transforming ocean trash into beautiful sea glass for others to discover.
- “She turns broken, forgotten things, trash, into beautiful pieces of sea glass for kids to find and others to find on the seashore.” — Meg Medina [02:19]
Balancing gravity with hope:
- Medina acknowledges the solemnity of beginning a children’s novel with death:
  - “I always do when I’m going to write hard things for children that involve death or suffering or intense evil…” — Meg Medina [02:47]
  - Focus is on what living means after loss, and the inevitability of death: “I try not to tiptoe around those things. With kids, I like to tell them the truth.” — Meg Medina [03:26]

3. The Writing Journey

Book’s evolution and gestation:
- Medina revisits how her inability to finish the book earlier wasn’t failure, but a matter of timing and readiness:
  - “I think a book happens in its time… Sometimes it’s really just a matter of putting it away for a long while and letting the back of your mind sort of puzzle with it.” — Meg Medina [04:25]
The author’s ‘Graveyard’ file:
- Medina shares she keeps a document for ideas that haven’t found life yet:
  - “Yes, it’s called the Graveyard. And I go back to it. I pick through it like a bone digger.” — Meg Medina [04:46]

4. Friendship, Mistakes, and Redemption

Characters: Graciela & Jorge
- Both struggle with regret and difficult family histories (Jorge’s lineage involves a dangerous harpoon threatening the world’s balance).
Emphasizing growth through error:
- Medina loves portraying kids making mistakes and learning from them:
  - “It’s not that you make mistakes, it’s how you fix them, how you move on from them.” — Meg Medina [06:08]
Collaboration and common good:
- Graciela and Jorge learn how to work together, underscoring the importance of friendship in overcoming adversity.

5. Kids, Reading, and Screen Distraction

Concern over reading for joy:
- Medina worries that reading has become “just a subject at school” instead of a source of enjoyment:
  - “We’ve gotten away from the joy of giving kids choice about what they’re reading… reading as enjoyment, as escape, as a way to figure yourself out and other people.” — Meg Medina [06:38]
Advocating choice and freedom:
- Allowing kids “great books and a lot of freedom in choosing what it is they want to read” is essential. [07:00]

6. Personal Reflection: What Kind of Sea Ghost?

Scott Simon asks Medina what kind of sea ghost she would be:
- “I think I would want to be the kind of sea ghost that dances to move the currents. I’ve always secretly wanted to be a dancer… I would love to be one of the ghosts that moves the currents and does it gently and just keeps everything moving along.” — Meg Medina [07:19]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On confronting death in children’s books:
- “Death is the one constant. Right? It’s true for all of us. And so I try not to tiptoe around those things. With kids, I like to tell them the truth.” — Meg Medina [03:26]
On friendship and mistakes:
- “They make loads of mistakes. And there’s a way back. It’s not that you make mistakes, it’s how you fix them, how you move on from them.” — Meg Medina [06:08]
On the lingering creative process:
- “I think a book happens in its time… Sometimes it’s really just a matter of putting it away for a long while and letting the back of your mind sort of puzzle with it.” — Meg Medina [04:25]
On what kind of sea ghost she’d like to be:
- “I would love to be one of the ghosts that moves the currents and does it gently and just keeps everything moving along.” — Meg Medina [07:22]

Important Segment Timestamps

[00:10] — Introduction to the book’s background and Meg Medina’s process
[01:22] — Book premise: Graciela’s afterlife in the sea
[02:19] — The glazier’s role: beauty from trash
[03:26] — Telling children the truth about death
[04:25] — On timing and creative process
[04:46] — Describing Medina’s ‘Graveyard’ of ideas
[05:22] — Jorge’s character and the balancing harpoon
[06:08] — Making and fixing mistakes as a kid
[06:38] — Medina on why reading for joy is crucial
[07:19] — Medina on what sea ghost she’d be

Closing

Meg Medina’s Graciela in the Abyss is a profound, imaginative exploration of death and what comes after, grounded in empathy for young readers’ experiences of grief, regret, and friendship. Emphasizing honesty, resilience, and the redemptive power of stories, Medina’s insights—delivered in her gentle, candid manner—will resonate with both children and adults.

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Transcript22 lines

[00:03]
A
Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. I love hearing about the manuscript in the drawer, the book that's been worked on off and on again for decades. There's something hopeful about a creative project that needs to take its time to figure itself out. Meg Medina's novel for young people, Graciela in the Abyss, is one of those works. It's a book about death and the afterlife. She's been working on it since 2010, and it wasn't until her own mother died that she figured out the feelings that needed to work their way into the novel. She talks to NPR's Scott Simon about writing about such a heavy subject specifically for children. After the break.
[00:42]
B
Meg Medina's new novel begins with a splash and a shock. A gust of wind tears 13 year old Graciela Lima off a cliff. She crashes into the water and is sucked down to the very bottom of the sea.
[00:56]
C
When she finally awakened 100 years later, Graciela sat up, shocked at the dark water all around her and at her own now translucent skin. Hagfish writhing like eels sucked away the last morsels of meat from what was left of her bones. There wasn't even time to scream before she heard a voice in the darkness. Don't be afraid, it said. I'm Amina.
[01:23]
B
And that's when Graciela's afterlife, or is it Another life, begins. Graciella in the Abyss is the new novel for young readers from Meg Medina, winner of the Newbery Medal and a former national ambassador for young people's literature. She joins us from Richmond, Virginia. Meg, thanks so much for being with us.
[01:42]
C
Oh, a pleasure to be here.
[01:45]
B
Graciela awakens as a kind of sea ghost. Is that like a mermaid in A Pirate of the Caribbean?
[01:54]
C
Not really. It was interesting. I was trying not to do the mermaid trope, so to speak, with sea stories. I really wanted this to be a collection of spirits, all kinds of people who end up in the watery depths to begin the next phase of existing. When you die in this book, in the world of Graciela in the Abyss, you sleep for 100 years and then you awaken and assume a job, a role in the sea that helps keep the world in balance. And in Graciela's case, she is a glazier. She turns broken, forgotten things, trash, into beautiful pieces of sea glass for kids to find and others to find on the seashore.
[02:38]
B
Meg, did you and I apologize in advance for the term? Did you hesitate over such a grave beginning for young readers?
[02:47]
C
I always do. I always do when I'm going to write hard things for children that involve death or suffering or intense evil. Although the characters are ghosts, for the most part, it's really a book about living and what kinds of people we choose to be as we move through community and friendship. So when I started this novel, you know, she does fall off the cliff. She dies. But I wanted to focus on how she chose to live afterward. The other thing that's really ironic is that death is the one constant. Right? It's true for all of us. And so I try not to tiptoe around those things. With kids, I like to tell them the truth.
[03:35]
B
I have read that this novel has been a part of your life and work since 2010.
[03:43]
C
Yes. I meant it to be my sophomore novel, and I tried so hard to write it, but I kept writing the first 50 pages over and over again. I couldn't really find the story, but, you know, I think a book happens in its time. In 2013, my mom passed, and it was a really difficult passing. And suddenly the notion of regrets and death and all of those things came bubbling forward. And then I found my way into the novel. I found the story that I really wanted to tell. This book, I think, taught me the most about being a writer in that sense, because we think sometimes we write something, it doesn't work, that we failed. Sometimes it's really just a matter of putting it away for a long while and letting the back of your mind sort of puzzle with it.
[04:41]
B
Speaking of afterlife, I gather you have a name on your file of ideas.
[04:46]
C
Yes, it's called the Graveyard. And I go back to it. I pick through it like a bone digger. And sometimes it's for the smallest things. It might be the name of a character or a street or that one sentence that my editor said, oh, it's too flowery. But I really loved it and couldn't bear to press delete on. I just keep all kinds of things there. And then I go back and I see if I could give it another life. Just like Graciela.
[05:15]
B
She becomes very useful in the life of a youngster who's, I'll put it this way, still a landlubber, if you please.
[05:22]
C
Mm. Jorge. They're both working against lots of regrets and difficulties in their own existence. Jorge, with these utterly terrible parents and a legacy. He comes from a family of blacksmiths, and they have fashioned a most terrible harpoon that has now fallen into the wrong hands. A harpoon that threatens the balance of the world. And he finds that he and Graciela have to work together. I loved the friendship between them and the fact that both of them make so many mistakes, which is one of the things I love about kids in general. They make loads of mistakes. And there's a way back. It's not that you make mistakes, it's how you fix them, how you move on from them. And so it was fun to watch these two figure out literally how to be in the same space together and also how to work for a common good.
[06:19]
B
Meg, I have to ask you a question. In your capacity as the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, do you worry about young people reading and seeing so much stuff just flash by on screens?
[06:34]
C
I do. I think one mistake we've made is that we allowed reading to become, quote, unquote, just a subject at school. And we've gotten away from the joy of giving kids choice about what they're reading, giving them time during the day to read, focusing them on the notion of like, reading as enjoyment, as escape, as a way to figure yourself out and other people. And that really comes by giving kids a lot of great books and a lot of freedom in choosing what it is they want to read.
[07:12]
B
Last question. I hope you don't mind. If you were to be a sea ghost, what kind do you think you'd be?
[07:19]
C
I think I would want to be the kind of sea ghost that dances to move the currents. I've always secretly wanted to be a dancer. My genetics didn't work that way. But I would love to be one of the ghosts that moves the currents and does it gently and just keeps everything moving along.
[07:42]
B
Meg Medina, her new book, Graciella in the Abyss. Thank you so much for being with us.
[07:48]
C
Oh, it was a delight. Thanks so much. Happy reading.
[08:02]
D
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