Respecting Young Readers: An Author Chat
with Elissa Brent Weissman

By Khira Moore and Saniya Wilson-Powell; Supported by Shantika Bhat 

Three journalists from The CHARM Report sat down with YA fiction writer Elissa Brent Weissman to talk about her writing process, her move from Baltimore to New Zealand, the impact of publishing a book during COVID and her brand new book The Renegade Reporters, which came out this week. 

Elissa’s Journey as a Writer

Elissa Brent Weissman always knew she wanted to write kids books since she was a kid herself. From the age of nine, she was a lively reader, and actually wrote her first novel in 5th grade! (She even sent it off to ten New York City publishers, though sadly it was rejected).  

As an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University, Elissa studied creative writing, and went on to write her first published kids’ novel in the program. But the process wasn’t always easy. While all her classmates were writing novels for adults, Elissa was more interested in writing novels for kids. She says that her professor at the time was skeptical about her project. When he gave the manuscript to his young daughter, though, she loved it! This completely changed his mind towards children’s books, and now he’s one of Elissa’s biggest supporters. Fun fact: he introduced her to a literary agent who then introduced her to her publisher which started her career. 

Elissa’s newest book, The Renegade Reporters, follows Maya, Brielle, and Ash who are producing their own news show when they discover something fishy happening right under their noses. And get this--they're only in the sixth grade. 

We asked Elissa if she ever thought about being a journalist like the girls in her book. She said, “I never had much interest in writing journalism. I don’t think I’m brave enough to ask really hard questions or to situations where I’m not necessarily supposed to be…I’m so glad that there are people who are brave and willing to do that sort of work.” 

We asked what’s next in her journey, and Elissa told us that she is working on another novel as well as her first picture book, which has long been one of her goals as an author.

The Renegade Reporters 

We asked Elissa to describe her novel in five words or less and she chose five nouns: friendship, privacy, mystery, journalism, humor. She added a bonus sixth word: BALTIMORE!

If you’re searching for a book set in your own backyard then look no further and pick up Renegade Reporters! The book is set in Federal Hill and its surrounding neighborhoods including Harbor East. We were curious why she chose Baltimore as the setting for her city, especially after learning that Elissa herself had moved to New Zealand. 

Elissa said that Baltimore inspired her, and she wanted to be more specific with the setting than books that use “Anytown, USA” or major cities like New York or Los Angeles. She moved halfway around the world but kept it close to her heart. While most of the story is fiction, she did use some minor real life events from her time living in Baltimore’s Federal Hill neighborhood, like when Lucy had her bike stolen from Riverside Park and that event became their first story on their news show. Elissa recounted an event similar to Lucy’s. “My son's scooter was taken from Riverside Park…. and then a week later it was back!” 

Another tidbit from the story was the Dog Poop Bandit who wasn’t picking up after their pet in Ash’s neighborhood. Elissa recounted, “There really was for a few weeks in Federal Hill, dog poop everywhere!”

She mixed fiction and reality to produce a book that’s incredibly engaging and important in today’s digital world. This book delves into some heavy topics, respecting the maturity and intelligence of its intended young audience. (Purchase locally in Baltimore here, or nationally here).

Book Topics: Privacy Protection + More

Have you ever downloaded an app or signed up for a membership and two seconds into opening the page, you’re hit with terms and conditions? Have you ever scrunched up your face, scrolled to the bottom and hit accept without reading anything? They could’ve asked to steal pictures of your grandma or track your location and you would never know.

In The Renegade Reporters, kids at a local elementary school were having their information sold to advertising companies by a technology service that sponsors the school. It was up to Ash, Maya, and Brielle to uncover the truth and expose it, but these girls were only in sixth grade. They didn’t know about privacy protection or what they were accepting. 

Elissa introduces these topics in a way that readers would understand. She says, “It’s striking that balance between explaining things in a way people understand and keeping the story moving forward.”

She conveys at-times confusing information to her audience by having the characters learn along with the readers. Ash, Maya, and Brielle were conducting interviews and asking their families and friends what they knew, and that's how her readers would learn to understand.

Book Making Process and Challenges of COVID-19

Elissa says her process of writing a book can take between 1-2 years. When writing, she doesn’t have an outline. She starts with a general premise and goes from there. When she started to write this book, she knew that a company that was helping the school had to be doing something bad, but she didn’t know what. Elissa just continued to write because she thought the more she wrote, the more she could figure out what the company was doing.

We asked Elissa how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted her writing process. 

“My family has been extremely lucky in our timing to move across the world,” Elissa said. She explained that she and her family moved to New Zealand in April of 2019, less than a year before COVID hit. 

“We were here in New Zealand where things were handled really well.” 

She described a strict lockdown for 8 weeks, and said after that lockdown she and her family have been living in a COVID-free country. 

Elissa said it wasn’t easy during those weeks with her family in the house at the same time while working on revisions for The Renegade Reporters. She said that she was working from home, but she doesn’t work best from home because it’s difficult to focus. She prefers to work from a coffee shop. 

She said that in New Zealand during the lockdown there was good governing and good communication. Elissa went to explain that during their strict lockdown, the people of New Zealand knew for how long and why. They were also given a list of rules to follow. And everyone obeyed the rules. 

Elissa noted the importance of everyone banding together for the greater good. She was inspired by the feeling of togetherness, and attitude that everyone has to sacrifice some things to help the community.