Interview with Bestselling Middle-Grade Author Jamie Sumner

Jamie Sumner has quickly become a well-loved author in the middle grade reader’s space with her highly acclaimed debut novel Roll with It that was published in 2019.  Since then, Jamie has published six titles in this genre with one more tentatively scheduled to hit the shelves in Spring 2024. In tandem with this success, she’s also written two adult non-fiction books that offer support and advocacy for parents of children with special needs as well as published articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Roll with It won the hearts of readers initially with the introduction of the indomitable Ellie, a young girl with cerebral palsy who is forced to start all over in a new town when she and her mom move to help take care of her granddad. Readers had to wait patiently until the spring of 2023 for the sequel, Time To Roll, to find out what was next for Ellie.

We asked Jamie what inspired her to bring Ellie back as a beauty pageant contestant? She shared that, “Ellie and her family are so dear to me that I did not want to do them an injustice by creating a subpar story. I knew if I was going to do it, it had to be stellar. This idea came to me almost fully formed on an early morning run. It was dark and I was listening to music. That’s when I do my best thinking. It began as an image more than anything: a newspaper clipping of the pageant with Ellie front and center. What would the article say? It would probably focus on her wheelchair and tell a super-saccharine inspirational story of a little girl with cerebral palsy competing in a pageant “against all odds.” Ellie would hate that. She’d have a feisty and resounding comeback, demanding to be seen for who she is instead of how she moves through the world. Once that image was in place, I knew I had to write the story.”

Considering that many of Jamie’s characters, like Ellie, have experiences outside of her own personal experience, she is conscious to use sensitivity readers before her books are released to the public. Jamie told us that this is important because, “The greatest disservice a book can do is to misrepresent someone’s lived experience. It invalidates what they know to be true and, especially in children’s books, it can have a long-lasting effect on how readers view themselves.”

She expanded this thought in relation to her unique perspective with her first book. “My son Charlie has cerebral palsy, which is where the inspiration for Roll with It first began. I wanted to see more books with kids like him on the cover so he would feel less alone and so that other kids could identify with his experience. But I also knew that as I had not had that experience myself, I would need to use all the resources at my disposal to create an authentic representation. My sensitivity readers for that first novel included one child with cerebral palsy as well as one adult. I also recruited a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, and a school counselor. In all my subsequent novels, I have relied on my sensitivity readers to provide insight in any area I do not personally identify with and if I don’t know someone, I ask my publisher, who is wonderful about providing a reader that is a good fit and can give honest feedback. For me this is not only a good step, but a necessary one in the writing process.”

While her greatest successes lie in middle grade writing, we couldn’t help but wonder whether she’d consider writing in other spaces like picture books or YA. Jamie admits that “In all areas of my life, I am such a creature of habit, but when it comes to my writing, I love to experiment.” To that point, she has her first picture book coming out in 2026. She revealed that, “It was a wonderful experiment, writing with the visual in my mind and then finding the perfect illustrator to make the story the best it can be.”   She also has ideas for YA and adult fiction that are saved in her creatively marked “BOOK IDEAS” folder on her computer. She conjectures that, “Most will turn into nothing, but I’m always hoping for a hidden gem. I have also written nonfiction books for adults and essays for The New York Times and the Washington Post. I think as long as I am writing something, I am happy.”

Wondering what to expect from Jamie next? She excitedly admitted there are “so many in the works!” Most immediately, she says, “My first novel in verse, Deep Water, comes out in the spring of 2024. It’s about a girl whose goal is to swim across Lake Tahoe to become the youngest open water marathoner. The entire novel takes place on the lake over the course of six hours! It’s a whirlwind.” We certainly know, we can’t wait to get swept up in it!

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