Kaui Hart Hemmings discusses ‘Juniors,’ her first foray into YA

"It’s Wednesday, another day in paradise. It shouldn’t be this hard," reflects Lea Lane, the 16-year-old narrator of Kaui Hart Hemmings’ new novel, "Juniors," sounding not unlike Matt King, the sardonic, middle-aged narrator of "The Descendants." Because her mother, a struggling actress, has landed a leading role in a new, Hawaii-based TV series, Lea has moved from San Francisco to Honolulu and entered Punahou School in the middle of her junior year.

"Juniors" explores the dynamic between mothers and daughters as well as the tribal struggles of high-school students — and their mothers — at Punahou, whose diverse student body reminds Lea of the many colors and flavors of shave ice.

In a telephone interview with the Star-Advertiser shortly before her book’s publication last week, Hemmings talked about "Juniors," her first young adult novel, and Punahou, where she went from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating in 1994.

Question: As the author of adult two novels and a collection of short stories, why a YA novel now?

Answer: It didn’t start as a YA book, I didn’t think about genre. I wanted to write it from a teenager’s point of view, with this idea of a girl and her parent moving into a guest cottage, from the movie "Sabrina," where her dad was the chauffeur for a family and they lived next door.

And the farther I got, the more it seemed like a YA, and I thought if I embraced that, I could fully enter Lea’s mind and write about her concerns and not worry about the adult world.

I don’t particularly like adult novels set in a young child’s point of view. The first draft of "The Descendants" was in Scottie’s point of view: She was a 10 year old and I thought, this sounds annoying.

Q: Why did you have the narrator come from the mainland in junior year, when you went to Punahou from K-12?

A: Why I had her be such a newcomer was to exaggerate that notion of feeling outside of something. If you had gone there from kindergarten, you wouldn’t note every behavior the way that Lea does. She needs to second-guess herself at times in order to figure out this alien terrain. I like that she’s willing to look, think, revise, just to get things right.

Q: Did you feel like an outsider at Punahou?

A: I always felt like an outsider. I was very comfortable in certain ways, but I felt like an outsider my whole life. I guess it’s my disposition: I could be very much in between things. I could be in the inside crowd, but I felt sort of like the narrator does, in between being haole and Hawaiian, comfortable financially and still way below those around you … There are some kids who are more observant than others, so when you don’t fit in it’s not a bad thing, it means you’re a note taker. That’s what I’ve been. And sometimes, when I don’t see my own child not fitting in, I think thank God!

Q: Was it alienating to be surrounded by children from families that, as Lea notices, have their names on the school buildings?

A: Not everyone who goes to Punahou is totally privileged. I felt it was pretty inclusive. There were, of course, the people who played sports. I loved what’s defined as cool at Punahou — such variety, such a range, you could be a nerd and down with the jocks, you didn’t have to be in one place.

If I was writing the true YA genre there’d be one sect and no one could move out of it. I didn’t find that to ring true at Punahou or with a lot of young people these days. I feel the ones I know to be very ambitious and thoughtful and kind.

Q: Do your children go to Punahou?

A: My daughter, Eleanor, will apply for 7th grade. Leo is still in preschool; he’s doing really well at Maunawili Elementary. I’ve always been private school all the way, but I’m so pleased with (Maunawili). I have so much more confidence in public schools (now). He’s Ethiopian, and in public schools there’s a little more diversity.

Q: What’s the time frame of "Juniors"? Did you do any research to make it up-to-date?

A: It’s current, it’s this year. I didn’t go into the field and interview kids, I feel there’d be something false in that. I rely on memory, my own ears and eyes and seeing kids, having conversations with them. I have friends that have kids that age, I didn’t go in and study them as if I was in the Sahara.

I think that things haven’t changed that much, even despite social media; the core is still there, the way we think, what we’re concerned about, what obsesses us.

Q: "Juniors" gives a window into lives of the rich and privileged. Did you choose Punahou as a microcosm of Hawaii socioeconomics?

A: I just do not think in terms like that. A novel is never a critique for me. I’m just writing a story. I never think too big. I like to think small, and usually begin with just a character that interests me.

Lea’s a person observing the world around her. There’s going to be socioeconomic and racial divides. Punahou’s just the one school I know. I hope that people in Texas, say, or New York, can relate to this coming into any environment and being new, observing the school pecking order, codes of conduct.

She’s not thinking about socioeconmics but what she’s going to do the next day, what she’s going to wear.

Q: But the adult world is closely observed: the way their hostess manipulates her children and her friendships, and Lea’s wonderful observation that the eyelash extensions worn by some moms make them look like camels. Are you anticipating adult readers?

A: I’ve come across so many kids that age who have this confidence to take a step back and say I don’t want to be (like the) adults. Which is a good reminder, that the kids are watching us.

I do hope adults read this, I hope they’re a good chunk of the readership … I hope moms and daughters read it together.

Q: In the acknowledgments, you thank many Punahou teachers by name. How, if at all, did they help you become a writer?

A: Miss Asha Appel, in high school, had us free write and just opened these great gates of literature. It wasn’t all 19th century poetry and starchy male books; she opened up some room for inclusion, like wow, I could be there, I could be a writer. I remember going home and just sort of writing poetry to give it to her to read and critique.

When I was in 8th grade, Dr. Brad Kerwin, "Dr. K," directed me as "Annie" in the school play. I loved performing, so I always thought I wanted to be an actor, it just made me so confident, and just built this love of the arts.

With Steve Wagenseller, in high school, I first started writing monologues in drama classes, just getting feedback and praise can make a huge difference.

I loved the teachers. They just did their jobs very well and yet I didn’t feel they were doing their jobs.

Q: In the forthcoming book, "Kapunahou," which the school is publishing, you are featured in a chapter about alumnae writers along with Susanna Moore and Allegra Goodman. Do you know their work?

A: Both of them I’ve always loved and admired for being able to write about the place where they grew up in a fictional way and then for leaving that place and writing about something else. That was inspirational to me in a way.

Q: Have you been invited to read or teach at Punahou?

A: Never.

Q: Would you like to be?

A: Yes, of course.