BookWorthy Chats with Becca Wierwille

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Valerie -Welcome to Bookworthy. Today we're talking with author Becca Wierwille. And I had the privilege of talking with her back in season two about her middle-grade debut Road Trip Rescue. But today we're talking about the third book in this trilogy, Road Trip Redemption, hitting shelves in April. So, Road Trip Rescue followed Kimmy's story,, and Road Trip Return, the second book, follows a character named Daniel, who we met in book one.

 And now in the final book, we meet up with Jada, the one who rejected Kimmy before the start of book one. And I can't wait to find out more about this character and her story. Welcome back to Book Relief Backup.

Becca -Thank you so much, Valerie. I'm thrilled to be back on Bookworthy.

Valerie -We're so glad to have you here. Now, our random question of the week makes us think a little bit ahead of schedule from when we're recording this. I think right now it is in the 20s outside if not quite the 20s up there in Pennsylvania, but we're going to think about summer. What is your favorite thing about summer?

Becca -Yes, I am so excited you're asking this question because I am not sure we're even in the double digits right now in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure we were not this morning. So my first thought when you said, what's my favorite thing about summer is warmth, sunshine, anything along those lines. But more specifically, I absolutely love hiking during the summer, and going camping if we can. And then since this is a book-focused podcast, I love writing.

Outside.. And so we have a picnic table on our back porch and I love to go out there in the mornings when the sun is rising early, before the heat of the day has set in and I'll go out there and right before anyone else is awake. Hopefully, my daughter has been waking up very early lately, but ideally before anyone's awake. And I, I just feel so inspired by being out in nature, by hearing the birds, by being out while the sun is rising. So I'm looking forward to that about the summer.

Valerie-Most definitely. I have an early riser in my home too. And so there's not much I can get done before 6 a.m. Most days.

Becca -Yeah, we're lucky if we make it to 6 a.m. right now, but...

Valerie -Yes, we're lucky if we make it to 6am, yes. And he's in, he turned, he's 11. So, I'm sorry.

Becca -No, don't tell me that. My daughter is not quite, well, she will be too when this podcast airs, goodness. So we might have a long ways ahead before she starts enjoying sleeping in.

Valerie -What is it? Yeah, yes. It probably, my 16-year-old is just now starting to sleep in. So we got a bunch of early risers in our home. So morning people beware.

Becca -Yeah. Yeah, well, I can't blame her. I am a mourning person, so I guess she gets it honestly.

Valerie -You'll just have her writing beside you eventually, right? Well, tell us a little bit about this third book in your trilogy, Road Trip Redemption.

Becca -Exactly, that would be fun. Yeah, Road Trip Redemption really brings the whole Road Trip Rescue series full circle because like you mentioned, it's the story of Jada. And Jada is a character who, if you've read book one, you probably don't like very much. She betrayed Kimmy. She hurt her and said some really unkind words to her, and that destroyed their friendship. And so now we get Jada's side of the story. Years have passed since that incident with Kimmy, and she regrets it.

She tries not to think about it a lot, but it's always been in the back of her mind haunting her. And at the opening of the story, Jada has bullied herself. The instance of bullying reminds Jada of how she hurt Kimmy and brings it into her mind in a whole new way. And then right at the end of that first chapter, she and her sister are driving home from school and they hit a dog.

The dog is okay. I know that sounds very ominous, but they just graze the dog. He's okay. But this dog reminds her of Kimmy. And I suppose you if you haven't read book one, I don't want this to be a spoiler, but something about this dog tells Jada that maybe this is the dog that Kimmy lost several years ago. And so Jada becomes determined to reunite Kimmy with this dog, convinced that if she can do it and if it is Kimmy's dog, maybe Kimmy will be her friend again. So it's Jada's redemption story. It's Jada's exploration of what it means to be forgiven and find forgiveness with Kimmy, but also with herself and even with God. She's convinced that she's a terrible person. And so there are lots of pretty deep themes of forgiveness and redemption that go through this story, as the title would imply.

Valerie -I was really excited to hear that you were going to be bringing Jada into book three. I think even back when we talked about book one, I was like, I need Jada's story. I need to hear it. And I'm glad what made you choose to write her story.

Becca -It's funny you say that because I didn't get people telling me that necessarily that people wanted Jada's story. I had people telling me they wanted Daniel's story. That's why book two happened. The reason Jada's story happened, I just felt like God put it on my heart. I felt like there was a third book in this series. I felt like there was something that needed to close the whole series out. There are themes of forgiveness that run through the whole series.

And we have this unresolved conflict with Jada, even though Kimmy has moved on in book one.

 We never see Jada's side of things. And so I felt like God had put it on my heart that we needed Jada's story. And honestly, I was a little resistant at first because I thought no one was going to want to read Jada's story. No one's going to like her. No one likes to read books about someone they don't like. But the more I felt like God was tugging me in that direction, the more I was like, OK, I need to give this a chance. And so I wrote the first chapter and I rewrote it and I

rewrote it with the help of my critique group who is like, she's not

quite there yet. We still don't like her yet. And so after lots of rewrites and lots of help, Jada's story started to take shape. By the time it was finished, I had several readers tell me that it was their favorite of all three books and that they connected more with Jada than they did with either Kimmy or Daniel, which was a really exciting surprise. I had someone say that it gave them little women vibes, which is a high compliment. So it was a really fun story to write. It was fun because in some ways it's very different from books one and two. After all, the characters are different. We don't see Jada really in the first two books and her sisters go on the road trip with her and we've never met them before. So it was a new cast of characters for most of the story. But then also it was like book one in reverse kind of and you'd have to read the series to understand what I'm saying. But because of that, it felt like the perfect conclusion to the trilogy.

Valerie -It does sound like it's gonna wrap everything up and bring everything full circle to where we, we as the readers have this full release of, okay, we understand it all because that's the greatest thing about taking a character that you normally wouldn't like or don't, know, kind of we don't like her come in book one because she rejected the main character, but to see her side of the story, see how.  Her life is changed by the rejection she gave because we do impact people. We impact people positively and negatively. And just to hear that side of the story, to hear that process. I think we've all been there. We've all been on the wrong side of a conflict. And to be like, okay, I have to both forgive myself as well as the people involved. And sometimes forgetting ourselves is the hardest part.

Becca -Yes, yeah, absolutely. And not only concluding the series and bringing those themes forward, like the themes of forgiveness, and the themes of friendship that run through all three stories but being able to see the way that Kimmy and Daniel have transformed too. They don't come in this story till the end, and I don't want to spoil anything, but just to be able to see the way the characters have grown was fun for me too. Although it is going to be sad now to be done with the series and to leave the characters behind because they all feel like my friends, so that feels sad.

Valerie -Well, that's one of those about writing stories with characters. You spend so much time with them and you get to know them so well. There are probably things about Kimmy, Daniel, and Jada that you don't put in the book that you've had to think through. And it's like, you know them so intimately, and then you're like, I guess we have to walk away from this story a little bit. And that's always a hard place to get to as a writer, I'm sure.

Becca -Yeah, it's bittersweet.

Valerie -Indeed. Now, what do you hope to communicate to kiddos who read this book?

Becca -I hope that kids who read this story see that they are not beyond redemption. God invites them to be redeemed. He invites them to be forgiven. And that even if they've really messed up in the past, they're not beyond his forgiveness and they're not beyond his love.

And I mean, not everyone who reads the story is going to resonate specifically with Jada's challenge and that she betrayed her best friend, but All of us have hurt someone, whether or not we've meant to. All of us have made mistakes. All of us have messed up. It's part of being sinful people who live in a broken world. And so to be able to remember that God is with us and he invites us to forgiveness and that we matter because we are children of God, those are the messages that I hope kids get through reading Jada's story.

Valerie -What is it? You know, another reason why I'm excited about Jada's story is because, in my parenting with my kids they've been, you know, faced bullying at school. It's been, God placed it on my heart to think about the people who are doing the bullying and to pray for them. And it was kind of this turning point with me and my son is like, we don't know what their home life is like. We don't know anything about their story. And we don't know what's influencing them or any of that. So let's take a step in praying for them that they know their worth, that they know their value. And it was really sweet to see my son's heart change a little bit to not be so mad and angry at these kids, which he had every right to be mad at, but to see a softer heart and be like, I don't know their story. And there's always lots of things behind the scenes that we don't see with people. That's what made me excited about Jada.

 READING SUGGESTION: How to Parent the Kid Who Is Bullied

Becca -Yeah, that's beautiful that you and your son were able to pray together for the kids who have been bullying him. And it is hard sometimes when someone has done something really cruel to us, especially when we know it was intentional. It can be hard to step back and

Remember, okay, they are also created in the image of God. They are a child of God. They are loved. It can be really hard to have that perspective and to remember that everyone has a story. And like you said, things are going on behind the scenes. There is pain. There's probably a reason that they're acting out of some sort of hurt in their own life. And that's a really hard thing to step back and see, but it's really beautiful that your son was able to do that and that you could see the way that was transforming his heart.

Valerie -It's one of those, we always say walk, you know, walk a mile on somebody else's shoes, but when we're hurting, it's hard. We just want to feel justified in our anger and our heart, which, you know, we can be given whatever the situation is, but to step on the other side and to see where I need forgiveness just as much as Jada does. Need, you know, to change my ways just as much as anyone else. And so it's, I love how books can do that for our kids that no matter what situation they've stepped into, whether they were the bully or the bullied and to kind of be like, okay, how could I look at this differently? Cause you know, like you said, Jada wasn't your first pick to be in book number three, but to be like, okay, let's look at this a little differently. And I think that there's something really sweet to take, like you said, bringing it full circle from Kimmy and Jada, and just I'm excited about the book for sure.

Becca -Yeah, part of all of my stories, I love to write books that remind kids that they're wonderfully created. That's in my bio, I think. Wonderfully created for the unique adventures in their lives. So Kimmy was born with one hand like I was. And that was something unique about her where, like you're saying, readers could step into her shoes. And even if they don't

Have a limb difference, they could see what it might be like for someone with a limb difference. And then Daniel is neurodivergent. And so kids could step into his shoes and kind of see that he sees life a little bit differently.  And now Jada, she's different too because she's on the other side. She was the one who was the bully. so a lot of kids might not have put themselves in the perspective of the bully like that. And so this is another way to be reminded like, okay, we are all wonderfully created by God. And so I like that about Jada's story too.

Valerie -Too fun. Now, when did your writing journey begin, Becca?

Becca -Well, I've always loved writing. I'll try not to be redundant the first time we chatted. I'm not sure how much of that story I shared there, but even before I could write, I was creating stories. Remember, and this is not an example to be followed, but I remember sitting in church and opening the hymnal. And when I should have been listening to the sermon, I would be looking at the hymnal and pretending it was a book and inventing the story in my mind. So that was before I could even write. After that, I was always creating stories, but it wasn't until after my husband and I got married that I started diving into the publishing industry and

Learning about what books are out there and what would I want to write because I was always all over the place and writing all sorts of different genres. But it was at that point where I was like, okay, maybe I actually could try this publishing thing. And that hadn't been something that I'd really considered before as a real possibility. It was, it's been, I guess, it's been about eight years since I've started really researching and diving into the publishing industry. And then Road Trip Rescue was published in 2023. So it took a while, but, and it does take a while. That's publishing.

Valerie - Yep, what good things are worth waiting for, Now you did choose to do a self-publishing route. What made you choose that path rather than a traditional publishing route?

Becca -Well, for many years I was on the publishing route because when I first started doing that research, that's really what I found it seemed. And I put this in quotes. You can't see it if you're listening, but I'm putting it in quotes because I don't believe it, but I thought it was the right way to do things. And so that was the path I took. I had an agent work with her for about a year before she ended up retiring from agenting. She had put, sent a couple of my manuscripts out to editors, but just didn't get any real interest. I ended up working with another agent. I can't remember how long we worked together, but the same kind of story where she just wasn't getting a lot of interest in my stories. Road Trip Rescue was one of the books that she had put out on submission to editors. I had gotten a couple of offers from smaller publishers for... Was it for Road Trip Rescue? It was either Road Trip Rescue or another manuscript. I can't quite remember now. And I got a couple of offers and that wasn't even.

ThroughAnything my agent. That was more through going to writing conferences. But I just didn't feel peace about accepting them. And I was also working as a freelance editor. So I started to form a lot of connections with people in the industry, like editors and cover designers. And then I had some really, really good writing friends who were doing independent publishing and who were forming their teams around them and who were loving the creative control and the control over their timeline and things like that. So I went back to the research drawing board and I was like, okay, why do I want to traditionally publish? Does that actually fit with my goals? I made a spreadsheet.

 A research person, so I have this big spreadsheet that shows the pros and cons of both in all these different categories. And through that, through a lot of prayers, through a lot of discernment, through a conversation with my agent, who was just wonderful and supportive and kind through the whole process, I ended up parting ways with my agent and deciding to independently publish Road Trip Rescue. Just, I wanted to be able to publish a book that had Christian themes in it. But was also accessible to kids who weren't from a faith background that they could pick up the books and they could see like, okay, who is this God and what does it mean that he's with me? What does it mean that he loves me? And so it was this balance of a story that I don't know that tons of publishers are looking for And I loved being able to have the control over that and also just getting the book out there I loved being able to be like, let's do this. Let's make it happen I got to be involved in the cover design process and I got to get the book out while like my nieces are still young enough to enjoy them and

Becca -So I'm very thankful for this publishing path. I know that there are pros and cons to both, but it's been really joyful.

Valerie -It's always interesting to hear people's stories of how they choose or the journey that they go on in publishing because it is so diverse and so intricate and all the things too. Now, usually I ask what's your favorite book, but I have a little trick question for you. Since your daughter will be two soon, what is her favorite book or your favorite book to read to her?

Becca -Okay. Well, she loves books, which I am just thrilled about. Reading books is her favorite thing today. She emptied her entire bookshelf into her laundry basket, which I mean,

anything with books is great. So that's fine. I like the llama llama books. Those are fun to read aloud and she likes those. So she'll go for llama llama books. And I really like Ellie Holcomb's board books. So we have three, and I don't know if she has more than that, but we don't forget to remember who sang the first song and Sounding Joy, which was her Christmas board book. Well, that's exciting. We will have to get it because those are just delightful. And she has songs that go with them too. And so now we've listened to the songs enough that when I read them to her, I'll just sing them. I'm not a good singer, but she's so sweet. She's like, mommy sings,

Mommy sings. Yeah. Yeah.

Valerie -I think she has one more coming out here soon.

Becca -But those books are just, they have such a great rhythm and the pictures are so sweet. The Sounding Joy one was my favorite Christmas book to read to her because she would sing at the end, she'd go, Joy, Joy, Joy, which was sweet. So those are some of our favorites. So the list goes on and on and she's at the point now where we'll read books like a dozen times in a row and she knows a lot of the words so I can pause and she'll fill in the missing words. It's very, it's a very sweet, yeah.

Valerie -That's sweet. Now quick question. Have you noticed a trend that usually the last sentence of children's books has the word again in it?

Becca -I haven't, but now I'll have to look out for that.

Valerie -You might have to look at it's funny because I noticed this when I was reading to my boys when they were really little. was like within the last two sentences was always the word again. And so as soon as you stopped reading, my, my boys would say again, and I'm like, Oh, know you that's how they get you every time. It was like again and again and again. Like, Ooh, I don't know. It was a fun pattern to discover or at least the word somehow.

Becca -Yeah, I mean, that's her word after the book is done. Is again. So yeah, I'll have to look out for that. That's funny.

Valerie -Again. It was funny because when I would like to skip that word, they wouldn't say it again. So I was like, huh, huh, I see I'm seeing a trend. Well, Becca, what's one of your favorite children's books other than your own?

Becca -Hmm. I love Anna Rose Johnson's middle-grade book. She writes historical middle

grade and she's a Christian author. Her books, I don't think are with a Christian publishing house, but you can tell the faith themes that go throughout them. The first book was The Star That Always Stays and her newer one is The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry. Have you read these books? They're very delightful. She's quickly become one of my favorite middle-grade authors. And I'm not always like a historical fiction fan, but these are just beautiful stories. They kind of like have a classic feel, very gentle and heartwarming, and the kind of books that I feel like I could read again and again and not get tired of them. So I like those.

Valerie -I have to check the last two sentences to see if there are the words again.

Becca -Yeah, I will. I have them on the bookshelf behind me, so I'll have to check that later.

Valerie -Becca, what can we expect next from you?

Becca -Well, I'm currently working on my next series. I haven't yet released details about it. However, by the time this airs, I may have. So if you want to hear more, you can follow along with me. Check my newsletter. My website might also have information about that now. But I can tell you that it's a mystery series about a girl and her dog who live at a Christian camp.

Valerie -Okay, so similar themes a little bit. Gotta have the dogs.

Becca -Yes, we got to have the dogs, got to have the outdoorsy themes. It's going to be shorter than Road Trip Rescue, so they might be closer to chapter book length. We'll see. Right now, I'm kind of dancing between chapter book and middle grade, and it might just be there. It might just be kind of like a bridge between chapter book and middle grade. So hoping to maybe have some illustrations in these. We'll see.

Valerie -That's exciting. We always need good books that'll bridge that gap from, you know, building that confidence of those early reader books to middle grade and just, you know, those books are so important. Well, where can people find out more about you and your books,

Becca - My website is just my name, beccawierwelle.com, but I know Wierwelle is really hard to spell. So if you go to belovedchronicles.com, that's my publishing name. That'll take you right to my website. And from that, there are links to wherever you can find my books. I also have, you can buy the books from me directly on my website. So if you want signed copies, you can get them there. And I do have a gift for email subscribers. I have a couple of gifts, but one is the Road Trip Rescue devotional and I think it's Road Trip Activities and Family Devotional, something like that. So it's a devotional that has road trip activities that go with each one. It's a free ebook and audio book so you can use whichever works best for your family. So that's free to newsletter subscribers. And I also wanted to mention that I have a

new podcast with my friend Amanda Trumphour, who is also a Christian chapter book and middle-grade author. It's called Ice Cream with Authors and we interview, like you Valerie, and Christian, children's book authors, specifically chapter books in middle grade. And it's kind of designed like mini author visits that your kids can enjoy right at home. It's been, it seems like maybe for homeschool families or even in classrooms, it could be a fun thing, especially if you have kids who might want to be an author one day and want to hear from lots of authors, which is something I wish I had when I was young, when I didn't think about how being an author is something that I could actually do if I wanted to. So we'd love for you to check out that podcast as well.

Valerie -That sounds like a lot of fun and definitely with all the different schools out there, a great resource for both teachers and homeschool parents to use as well. So I'm excited about that new adventure for you and Amanda.

Becca -Thank you. Yeah, we're excited too. It's been delightful to talk to so many other authors and it makes me understand Valerie why you do this because it is such a joy to get to just chat and consider that work.

Valerie -Yeah, it's fun to see people being creative and using God's gifts to do great things, whether it's to have a devotional that's specifically to Christian audiences or a book that does kind of go more towards general audiences but to know that there is just that beautiful gospel Christ-centered view behind it. It's just so much fun to see people working in their giftings for sure.

Becca -Yes, and you have such a great variety of authors on here too.

Valerie -It's a lot of fun. Well, Becca, thank you so much for joining us today.

Becca -Thank you again for having me, Valerie. This has been so much fun.

Valerie - And thank you for joining Becca and me on this episode of the Bookworthy podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed and let us know in the comments what is your favorite thing about summer. And be sure to check out Bookworthy's Summer Reading Challenge and like and subscribe so we can discover more great books together.

Happy reading!