Paige Classey

Paige Classey is an author and school librarian who lives with her family on the Connecticut shoreline. Her middle grade debut, Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and earned a starred review from School Library Journal. Her articles on libraries and education have appeared in School Library Journal, TEACH Magazine, and Education Week.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer introduces our narrator and signifies something unusual is afoot. Summer is supposed to have an end date; kids away at summer camp know this all too well. This title prepares the reader for atypical times. The original title was Anna-Jane and the Last Summer, but my editor and I worried that that maybe implied it was her last summer, as opposed to a last normal summer for all.

What's in a name?

Anna-Jane is a name I must have heard somewhere that returned to me. It seemed fitting for her character, both quiet and strong. I try to ensure my characters all have distinctive names so as not to be confused on the page. I sometimes sneak in names of family members and friends if they feel right for the characters. I’ve also worked as an educator for the past fifteen years, so I’ve run across hundreds of names that I occasionally weave into my writing.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

My teenage self probably wouldn’t be shocked by the darkness of Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer. In high school, I gravitated towards dystopian books like A Clockwork Orange and profoundly sad stories like The Perks of Being a Wallflower (my senior year quote came from that one!). But my teenage self would have been unprepared for the shutdown element, as we had yet to face the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying uncertainty.

I think I would also be surprised by the fact that it’s in verse. I read Karen Hesse’s 1997 novel in verse Out of the Dust as a child, loved it, and then promptly forgot about novels in verse until I rediscovered them as a school librarian many years later, through the works of Kwame Alexander, Jason Reynolds, Elizabeth Acevedo, and others.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

I find the middle to be most challenging. I usually know where I want the characters to begin and where I’d like them to end up, but getting from point A to point B can be a bit murkier.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

Parts of my personality and my life definitely echo in my characters. Like Anna-Jane, I’ve always loved to read. Middle school was difficult for me, but I felt at home and free to be myself at summer camp. We both love Gilmore Girls and our moms’ French toast. She’s definitely better with a bow and arrow than I am, though. I also embed traits and skills that I wish belonged to me, like Jojo’s toughness and Morgan’s passion for science.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

I draw from everything in my life, from family and friends, music or podcasts I’m listening to, shows I’m watching, news I’m following. Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer grew from my own memories of summer camp and the pandemic years, as well as from my mounting concerns watching censorship efforts sweep the nation. It felt important to me that the story, at least in part, underscores how important the arts are to the human experience.

Visit Paige Classey's website.

--Marshal Zeringue