“Tell the truth. Always”. A Juneteenth Interview with Sandra Headen on Warrior On the Mound

Listen to your librarians. They’ll show you where the good stuff is.

Long before a publicist from Holiday House reached out to me about Sandra W. Headen’s multi-starred middle grade novel Warrior On the Mound, I already knew all about it, all thanks to the incredible reading of my fellow librarians. They’d told me that the book contained, “an undeniable power,” and used words like “compelling”, “engaging”, and “lean.” Little wonder that I’d want to know more about it.

Its publisher describes it this way:

“1935. Twelve-year-old Cato wants nothing more than to play baseball, perfect his pitch, and meet Mr. Satchel Paige––the best pitcher in Negro League baseball. But when he and his teammates “trespass” on their town’s whites-only baseball field for a practice, the resulting racial outrage burns like a brushfire through the entire community, threatening Cato, his family, and every one of his friends.

There’s only one way this can end without violence: It has to be settled on the mound, between the white team and the Black. Winner takes all.  

Written in first person with a rich, convincing voice, Warrior on the Mound is about the experience of segregation; about the tinderbox environment of the prewar South; about having a dream; about injustice, and, finally, about dialogue.”

Today, on Juneteenth itself, I am pleased to speak with author Sandra Headen about her work and this book specifically.

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Betsy Bird: Sandra! Thank you so much for talking to me about your latest. WARRIOR ON THE MOUND has been wracking up starred reviews from places like SLJ and Kirkus, with the other review journals raging as well. Let’s start at the very beginning, though. I do believe this is your first middle grade novel. I don’t often ask this, but can you tell us a bit about why you wanted to write for kids?

Sandra Headen: As a Social and Community Psychologist, I taught graduate students for most of my career and conducted research in academic institutions. At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, one of my projects was to consult with the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services on tobacco use prevention and cessation interventions. My colleagues and I developed a program called, The Ujima Youth Initiative, where we trained African American youth, ages ten to sixteen, to educate their peers against tobacco use and substance abuse. I loved working with the youth and their adult leaders and learned a lot from them. When it was time to write a book, these young people were the audience that I wanted to speak to.  

BB: Well then let’s get to the gist of your latest. Where did you get the idea for WARRIOR ON THE MOUND in the first place?

Sandra: I was inspired by my grandfather to write a story about how a strong and determined Black man could develop in the Jim Crow era. In shaping the fullness of the main character, I decided that he needed a pastime or a passion in his life. That when I discovered an amazing picture book, WE ARE THE SHIP, by the painter and author, Kadir Nelson and was blown away! It introduced me to Negro League baseball and all of the outstanding players who never got the chance to play major league baseball. Further research on African Americans and baseball introduced me to Octavius Valentine Catto, a high school principal, social activist, and amateur baseball player who lived in Philadelphia in the 1860’s. His team, the Pythians, challenged white teams to play against them in this era of segregated baseball. By then, my main character had come to life! He is Cato Octavius Jones, pitcher for the Pender County Rangers little league team and destined to pitch for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues when he grows up. I placed Cato in the coastal community similar to the one that my grandfather raised his children in, the one that I visited during my childhood.

BB: You could have selected a whole range of historical time periods to set this book, but you decided on 1939 in North Carolina specifically. What was it about that time and that place that struck you as key to the story you wanted to tell?

Sandra: The novel is set in North Carolina because my main character is growing up in the same environment that my inspiration for the book, my maternal grandfather could have lived in. A central theme in the book is also Negro League baseball. The late 1930’s,  was the highlight of the existence of the league. It was well organized and had events that were widely known and participated in, like the Negro World Series and the East-West All-Star Games.

BB: There’s also a place on your website that I particularly love where you list the middle grade novels that are your favorites. Were any in your mind at all as you wrote this book?

Sandra: When I wrote this book, I probably had in mind every historical novel that I have ever read and loved, including the ones I listed on my website, but also the books that I listed in the Back Pages of the novel, such as Brooklyn Nine: A Novel in Nine Innings by Alan Gratz and King of the Mound: My Summer with Satchel Paige by Wes Tooke. There was often an element of character development, vividness of historical setting, or sheer breadth of knowledge that impressed me in these books that I wanted to reflect in my own work. When I read a good book in a genre that I love, it becomes a part of me, and I hope that its best qualities ooze through my fingers when I write. 

BB: I love that. Tell us a bit about your writing process. Do you plan everything out that’s going to happen in your book from the start, or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants and see where the writing takes you?

Sandra:  As I wrote it, Warrior on the Mound changed constantly. In my work, the characters evolve from somewhat two-dimensional beings at the start of the story to fully complex three-dimensional people able to make up their own minds when placed in a situation that I create for them. What has surprised me with Warrior on the Mound and with the book that I just completed is that the characters themselves seem to decide how the book will end. I drafted many possible endings, but often, I sensed that they did not fit with the story or what the character wanted. I would change the ending and wait for the character to speak. And they did! I always had an intuition that a particular ending was exactly the way it should be for the character in the book.

BB: A co-worker of mine wrote of this book, “Although this ends on a hopeful note, this unflinching book holds no punches when it comes to the horrible and violent racism the Black characters experience.” It’s such a tricky line, writing honestly about the racism and violence of the past while also trying to keep a book child appropriate at the same time. How do you know how far to go and when to hold back when writing tough material?

Sandra: Two things have influenced my decisions regarding “how far to go” in presenting difficult material. The first is advice from a fellow writer, Alan Gratz, who told me that I must tell the truth. Always. Our readers deserve that. But I also have a personal pact with myself to be generous and kind to my readers; to introduce difficult material in the most reasonable way possible. When they are older, my readers will learn more about the harshness of situations that I may refer to, but I do not have my characters experience the full extent of some events directly. This idea grows from the unfortunate way that I learned the truth about the holocaust as a young person. It was a school assignment and I was not prepared for what I learned. I was alone and the experience traumatized me. I have never forgotten it and will not assault my young readers in this way.

BB: I know authors hate this question, but I have to ask it: Is there any chance of a sequel? Or do you feel like this story has run its course and said everything it needs to say?

Sandra: I do not know whether Warrior on the Mound will have a sequel or not. However, I will say that in a story where the main character is only twelve years old, there may be many other stories to tell. I have thought about what might happen with the budding friendship between Cato and Trace Blackburn, the captain of the New Hanover Marlins. While writing the book, I also kept notes on possible chapters in the life of Cato’s sister, Hope.

BB: Finally, what else is in store for you? What do you have coming out next?

Sandra:

My second book is also a historical, middle grade novel. The setting and historical time period are also the same. That is because both of my parents grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, the setting of Warrior on the Mound. When I started doing research on the area, I was amazed to discover how rich the history of the area was and inspired to write another novel set in the same place.

The novel begins at the start of World War II; readers are introduced to Marvel, an Olympic hopeful, and her best friend, Roi, an aspiring journalist. Within their community, the North Carolina Shipyard is charged with an urgent mission: to build cargo ships for the war as fast as it can, while also constructing houses for the growing workforce. Marvel and Roi are the only ones who can save the girls running track and the community Victory Garden from destruction due to the Shipyard’s  construction. Marvel’s future as an Olympic athlete and the health of their neighbors during wartime scarcity are at stake. Marvel and Roi’s ingenious ideas save the day and they are helped by some famous and unlikely allies. 

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Ah! I love getting the deep dive like that into upcoming books.

Loads of thanks to Sandra from taking the time to answer my questions today. And thanks too to Anna Abell and the folks at Holiday House for putting this all together. Warrior on the Mound is definitely out right now so grab yourself a copy today!

Happy Juneteenth!!

Filed under: Interviews