Morris: Congratulations on finishing your latest book. What’s it about?
Toni: It’s about a girl whose parents abandoned her at birth and who ends up living on the streets. She experiences abuse and is put in juvie.
Morris: Wow, that sounds heavy. Wasn’t your last book about children whose parents served time in prison and who lived in fear of bullies in their neighborhood?
Toni: Yes, I wrote that after my first book, which was about a brother and sister who lived in an impoverished home traumatized by events beyond their control.
Morris: Do you ever write about happy childhoods?
Toni: I do write about happy childhoods. All of the children and teenagers in my books are very resilient. They are survivors.
Morris: I was thinking about children who have normal childhoods with two parents living in the suburbs.
Toni: You call that normal? You think they’d be happy? I bet there’s an underbelly of crime and misery in most seemingly perfect families.
Morris: I’ve no doubt that if that were true, you’d be the one to write about it
