The Seattle Times – Cecilia R. Aragon
“When I was 10 years old, I read “The Lord of the Rings” and fell in love with Tolkien’s world. But there weren’t enough female characters. So I rewrote it, fixing that problem and adding some scenes I thought were missing, like the part where a female hobbit devised a clever plan to foil the Balrog and save Gandalf. I was a shy, nerdy girl — and, as the daughter of immigrants from Chile and the Philippines, a complete oddity in the Indiana town where I grew up. In writing these stories, I was creating a place where someone like me could feel at home. But I never showed my spiral notebook to anyone, partly because I didn’t know any kids my age who’d even read “The Lord of the Rings.” Sharing my writing was too scary and embarrassing.” (more)