Between the Pages: An Award-winning Cherokee Author Visits Hillsdale

On the first Friday in October, the morning began with a sputtering of rain, providing the ideal setting for curling up with a good book — or hearing from a multi-award-winning young adult author.

Andrea L. Rogers, this year’s Between the Pages author, spent the day with students across the Hillsdale Campus, sharing stories about her upbringing, her published works, and all of the hard work that happens in between.

Speaking to Middle and Upper School students, Rogers reflected on meeting her best friend, Cynthia, during college and their shared love of writing. When Cynthia was diagnosed with cancer, Rogers’ world shifted. She realized that if she wanted to be a writer, she needed to walk the walk — which meant more than staying up late writing stories she never shared with anyone.

“I had already decided I wanted to do a lot of writing for kids. Because I knew, when I was growing up, there weren’t books out there with people who looked like my family, who had the history that my family did, who had the cultural traditions — or even cultural values — that my family did,” Rogers said.

Rogers is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and writes both fiction and nonfiction for young adults and adults. Her collection of horror stories, “Man Made Monsters,” received six starred reviews and won the Walter Dean Myers Award for Young Adult fiction. It follows one extended Cherokee family across the centuries, from the tribe’s homelands in Georgia in the 1830s to World War I, the Vietnam War, our own present, and well into the future, with stories of werewolves, vampires, and even zombies.

Rogers spoke about the power of storytelling to introduce readers to histories and cultures they may not otherwise encounter.

“I truly believe that popular culture is how you change minds because not everyone wants to pick up a history book. Not everyone wants to sit down and read or study … So, for someone who wants to read a vampire story, they can also learn a little bit of accurate Cherokee history they wouldn’t have known,” Rogers said.

During Rogers’ visit, she also spent time with fifth graders from Doherty and Lotspeich, as well as pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. She read her picture book, “Chooch Helped,” which follows a Cherokee girl as she introduces her younger brother, Chooch, to their family’s traditions and learns how to make space for a new little one in the family.

Fifth graders also had the opportunity to talk with Rogers about her short story in “Ancestor Approved,” which students read in preparation for her visit. The collection brings together intersecting stories set at a powwow, weaving together themes of hope, joy, resilience, community, and Native pride.

Throughout the day, Rogers was met by students eager to learn, ask questions, and engage with her stories.

Lori Suffield, Lotspeich librarian, remarked, “It was such a joy for Early and Lower School students to be able to participate in Between the Pages this year.”

Middle and Upper School librarian Megan Whitt reflected on the importance of an event like Between the Pages — and why this year’s visit felt especially meaningful:

“Between the Pages is about giving our students the opportunity to meet authors whose stories open up new ways of seeing the world. What made Andrea’s visit especially meaningful was that she could do that for such a wide range of students — from our youngest learners to our Upper School students. It was amazing to welcome an author whose work focuses on the Indigenous experience, and I loved seeing students connect with Andrea’s stories, ask thoughtful questions, and recognize how much there is to learn from a perspective that may be very different from their own,” Whitt said.