The Ink Splat is our monthly activity letter filled with inspiration sparking challenges and resources guaranteed to inspire your creativity. In this Ink Splat, the book and author spotlighted is Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling along with an author interview! Submit a response to a challenge and you may have a chance to be published online! What are you waiting for?
The Challenge:
If you could interview any famous person, past or present, who would it be and why?
Try using this word in your writing:
Berserk is an adjective meaning out of control, crazy.
When Lauren couldn’t find her lucky socks, she went berserk!
Last night, my dog saw a skunk in the backyard, and she went berserk!
Published Submissions:
” I would like to meet the man that made the Mona Lisa… because I want to learn how to make lots of beatiful art.” -Ines
“Queen Elizabeth III so I could get some money for my allowance.” -Sophia
“I would like to meet Amelia Earhart because I want to know how to fly an airplane.” -Lauren
“Mohandas Gandhi because he saved India from the British.” -Parth and Saahil
“Harry Houdini because he does magic tricks.” -Alexander
“I would like to meet Sacajawea because she helped Lewis and Clark.” -Allison
“I would like to meet Mr.Bean because of how berserk and funny he is. He always cracks me up whenever I see him on T.V.” – Arvind
Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling
Here is the remarkable story based on true events of Sylvia Mendez and Aki Munemitsu, two ordinary girls living in extraordinary times. When Sylvia and her brothers are not allowed to register at the same school Aki attended and are instead sent to a “Mexican” school, the stage is set for Sylvia’s father to challenge in court the separation of races in California’s schools. Ultimately, Mendez vs. Westminster School District led to the desegregation of California schools and helped build the case that would end school segregation nationally.
Through extensive interviews with Sylvia and Aki—still good friends to this day—Winifred Conkling brings to life two stories of persistent courage in the face of tremendous odds.
An interview with author, Winfred Conkling!
1. How did you come across the stories of Sylvia Mendez and Aki Munemitsu?
A few years ago, I heard a story on NPR while driving my kids on an afternoon field trip. The story was about the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit, which led to the desegregation of the public schools. One of the people interviewed was Sylvia Mendez.
Sylvia and her brothers had moved onto a farm in Orange County, California. When they went to enroll in school, she and her brothers were told that they had to go to the Hispanic school rather than the white school closer to their home. Sylvia’s father sued the school system; this was seven years before the Brown decision. Sylvia described how the superintendent of schools testified in court that she and the other Mexican-American children were dirty and intellectually inferior to the other children.
I was stunned. I actually pulled my car over on the side of the road and wrote down her name so I wouldn’t forget it. I could not imagine how she must have felt as a 9-year-old girl being told she wasn’t clean enough or smart enough to go to school. I wanted to learn more about the case.
In my research, I found out that another girl the same age, Aki Munemitsu, had lived in the same house. Aki was allowed to go to the white school, but she and her family suffered unthinkable discrimination when they were sent to Japanese internment camps during World War II. In Sylvia & Aki I wanted to tell the story of both girls, each dealing with discrimination in a different way.
2. Did you encounter any difficulties in gathering research and interviews for your novel?
The first thing I did was track down Sylvia and Aki, now women in the seventies. Fortunately, they were both still living in southern California, and they were very cooperative about being interviewed both on the phone and in person.
I also read through the court decisions and the trial transcript. The courtroom scene pulls much of the dialogue directly from the actual testimony. In the book I wanted to preserve the language used by the superintendent – the sting of those words were what drew me to the story in the first place.
3. If you could interview anyone (living or deceased) who would you interview and why?
I would love to have a chance to interview the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. I’m not saying that because I understand higher-level physics (or basic physics for that matter), but because his work involves the practical impact of science and how it can be used to change the world. Every time I read his popular work (written for non-physicist types, like me), I become excited about the possibilities of future technology. He imagines the future and how science can be used to transform all of our lives. For me, the fun of fiction is imagining “what if” and the fun of talking to Kaku would be imagining “what will be.”
4. What advice would you offer to young writers who wish to write a story based on true events?
To stories based on true events, the challenge is to respect the line between fact and fiction. For a story to be nonfiction, it has to be 100 percent true – no adding colorful details or making up quotes. In fact, you shouldn’t use quotes unless there is evidence that the person truly uttered the words you put inside the quotation marks.
Sylvia & Aki is historical fiction because I wanted to tell the story in scenes with dialogue, but, of course, there were no records of what various people said in their daily lives more than fifty years ago. The story was drawn from the information provided by Sylvia and Aki based on their recollections, but it’s not air-tight history. It’s a story based on history.
It’s important for every writer – young and old alike – to know whether their story should be told as fiction or nonfiction. There are strengths and weaknesses to both approaches. Sylvia & Aki could have been told either way, but ultimately the author and editor must decide which approach best serves the story.
Thank you, Winifred Conkling!
Visit the author’s website HERE.
Purchase Sylvia and Aki by Winifred Conkling HERE.
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