Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy (22 page)

Interview of Susan Vaught, Author (who really did want to be a detective and an astronaut and a dancer and a painter, but turned into a psychologist and a writer instead)

Location: In her living room, in her cabin in the woods, on the telephone next to her parrot's cage (hello, noisy parrot!)

Editor: Let's start with a hard one. Why'd you write this book?

S. V.: Because walruses are creepy.

Okay, okay. I wrote this book for the same reason I write all my books—characters start talking in my head, and I really want to give them a story. Footer didn't just talk in my head, she drew, so that made this extra-special fun as I worked on it. The sketch of the doodlebug started it all, and Footer's opinion that whoever named her town after lice was not right in the head.

Editor: Is any of this story based on real life?

S. V.: When I was eight years old, in Corinth, Mississippi, my mother actually did shoot a snake off our back pond using my stepfather's elephant gun. It sounded like enemy aircraft had dropped a bomb in the yard. The windows shook, leaves fell—and Mom knocked herself backward up several steps and badly bruised her shoulder. None of us could hear right for a week. Neighbors came to check to see what on earth had happened, and everybody got a huge laugh out of it. The snake was dead. Really, really dead. Have to give her that much!

Editor: Footer's mom has bipolar disorder, and Footer worries that she might also have it. First of all, what is bipolar disorder? And second, is her fear justified?

S. V.: To answer your first question, the National Institute of Mental Health defines it as “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They are different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through from time to time. Bipolar disorder symptoms can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. But bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives.” Translation: big ups and downs in mood that can cause a lot of trouble for people experiencing them, and their friends and family. And to answer your second question, 5.5 to 6 million people in the United States are diagnosed with this disorder, which comes to 2.5 to 3 percent of the adult population. It does often run in families. If a parent has bipolar disorder, there is a higher risk that the children will have it—about one out of every ten children with a parent who has bipolar disorder will also have it (around 10 percent). If both parents have it, then the odds jump to 30 percent. So sure, Footer is within bounds to worry. She has a 10 percent chance of getting the disorder—but she has a 90 percent chance that she won't. The odds are in her favor.

Editor: When will Footer know if she's going to have bipolar disorder?

S. V.: That's a harder question to answer. Most people develop symptoms that doctors recognize around age twenty-five. Some people do get symptoms earlier, even in childhood. Others get symptoms later. It's an uncertainty Footer's going to have to live with for a while.

Editor: If Footer gets bipolar disorder, is everything going to be horrible for her?

S. V.: No, but having bipolar disorder isn't easy. She would face more challenges, but with education and medication, bipolar disorder can be managed just like other medical illness, like diabetes or hypertension.

Unfortunately, many societies, including our own, are still not accepting or understanding of brain disorders. In the United States we have tended to think like Footer's teacher Ms. Perry and literally lock away groups of people who are different from
other people. Until the 1980s, if somebody was born with intellectual impairment or brain impairment, they were placed in institutions, never given any choices or options in their own lives, and never allowed to be out in society for people to begin to learn about their challenges or strengths and to see how much they can contribute to our world.

Editor: Is this changing?

S. V.: Yes! The United States is beginning to join with other countries in adopting the Recovery Model, which is more about building supports to make sure that anyone with a brain disorder can get the treatment he or she needs, help people understand and cope with these disorders, and help people make choices and become productive in their own lives. It is also about getting rid of all the unnecessary challenges people face due to society's attitudes, lack of knowledge, and fears and prejudice.

Editor: How do you know all this stuff?

S. V.: I have two jobs! Being a writer is one of those. Most days, though, I work at my other job as a clinical neuropsychologist. I have a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and intellectual disability research, and I specialize in helping people who have severe brain disorders due to genetics, injury, or severe mental illness. So I keep up with all the latest research and information. You don't have to go to school to be a doctor to learn a lot of what I know, though. You can look at the links I put together, right after this note.

Editor: Okay, okay, but now the REALLY important questions. Does Footer have bipolar disorder? Does her mom keep getting better? Does she marry Peavine and get to be a journalist?

S. V.: Well . . . if Footer
does
have bipolar disorder, she'll still have an amazing life because it's manageable and she's an amazing person. If Footer's mom can keep working with her doctors and find treatment that works for her and that she can adhere to, she'll be able to be the mom Footer believes she needs. As for Footer and Peavine, well, I'm definitely rooting for them.

Nonfiction

Covey, Stephen R.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
New York: Free Press, 1989.

Grass, Gayle.
He Shoots! He Scores!
Perth, ON: Iris the Dragon, 2010.

SANE Australia.
You're Not Alone: A SANE Guide to Mental Illness for Children.
Australia: SANE Australia, 2003.

Fiction

Gantos, Jack.
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.
New York: Macmillan, 1998.

Sones, Sonya.
Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy.
New York: HarperTeen, 1999.

Trueman, Terry.
Inside Out.
New York: HarperTeen, 2004.

Vaught, Susan.
Freaks Like Us.
New York: Bloomsbury, 2012.

Websites

CAMH

www.camh.ca/

Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health offers a guide just for kids who have parents with bipolar disorder, answering a lot of common questions.

Iris the Dragon

www.iristhedragon.com

Iris the Dragon offers a number of free e-books on mental health issues, designed for younger people.

Mental Health Reporting

depts.washington.edu/mhreport/facts_violence.php

The University of Washington's social work department has a wonderful mental health reporting website, to help people who are learning about mental health and disorders sort out fact from myths. They do it “by the numbers,” summarizing actual research results.

NIMH

www.nimh.nih.gov

The mission of the National Institute of Mental Health, “Envisions a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured.” This site has a lot of free information booklets about disorders and also discusses all the research being done to cure them in the United States and worldwide. Parts of the website are pretty technical and heavily science oriented.

SAMHSA

http://www.samhsa.gov

In their own words, “The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA's mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities.” The website is packed full of information about recovery and resources, and they have a great newsletter.

SANE

www.sane.org/sane-media

SANE Australia has a lot of good guides about mental illness, written for people of all ages. You can read about mental illness overall, or about each specific disorder. You can read guides for people who have family members or friends experiencing problems, or guides for you, if you have a brain disorder.

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2015 by Susan Vaught

Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Jennifer Black Reinhardt

Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by John Hendrix

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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The text for this book is set in Minister Std.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Vaught, Susan, 1955–

Footer Davis probably is crazy / Susan Vaught.

pages cm

“A Paula Wiseman Book.”

Summary: Eleven-year-old Footer and her friends investigate when a nearby farm is burned, the farmer murdered, and his children disappear, but as they follow the clues, Footer starts having flashbacks and wonders if she is going crazy like her mother, who is back in a mental institution near their Mississippi home.

ISBN 978-1-4814-2276-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4814-2278-9 (eBook)

[1. Mental illness—Fiction. 2. Arson—Fiction. 3. Missing children—Fiction. 4. Family life—Mississippi—Fiction. 5. Friendship—Fiction. 6. Mississippi—Fiction. 7. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.