Imagine being accused of stealing something. Now, imagine you’re a fifth-grader, and the adults have already made up their minds about what happened. Then comes an interesting question: What can one determined kid actually do about it?
This is the situation facing Andromeda (“Andy”) Diaz in Emily Galvin Almanza’s new mystery for middle-grade readers (ages 8-12), “Andromeda Diaz and the Reasonable Doubt,” when her classmate Benji Jones is suspended from school.
The book combines a quest for justice with questions about fairness, and what kids can do to help others and protect themselves when the system fails to do so. This is not surprising, given that Galvin Almanza is a former public defender in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties. She co-founded Partners for Justice, a nonprofit organization designed to empower public defenders nationwide. Her first book, “The Price of Mercy,” was published in February, and details the deep flaws within the American criminal court system, while also offering solutions for the issues. Now Galvin Almanza has taken her experience as a lawyer and a writer to begin writing for children.
Andromeda thinks something is off about Benji’s suspension. He’s a good student, and is known for being helpful and kind. She enlists her observant best friend, Danny Sullivan, to help her figure out what really happened. Andromeda’s parents are public defenders who have used her as a sounding board to test out theories about some of their investigations, and with this knowledge, Andromeda and Danny dive into a thrilling investigation to help their friend while offering readers a blueprint for solving mysteries the lawyer way.
The idea for the book sparked during a stay-at-home vacation on the Island, where Galvin Almanza and her family have lived since 2016. “I was sitting at home, and my daughter is a huge reader, so she was ignoring me and reading a book. The mom part of me was like, ‘Man, I want my kid to pay attention to me and like me. Maybe I should write a book that she’ll read.’ And the lawyer part of me thought, ‘When I was representing kids, I’d be representing teenagers who were 14 or 15, but so many of them had their first arrest, not when they were 13 or 14, but when they were 7 or 8 or 9.”
She added,“I wanted to write a story that helps kids protect themselves and their friends. And that would teach them about law, the courts, and all these chunks of civic education I know they don’t get in school. And also, that would be a compelling mystery that reminds us all to be open-minded toward our peers who are in trouble, and skeptical about accusation.”
Galvin Almanza shared why she chose the concept of “reasonable doubt” for Andromeda’s first mystery: “I wanted to open the conversation for kids to learn about these foundational concepts. Like, for example, the presumption of innocence,” she added; “the core concept that links it all together is the idea of a reasonable doubt.”
To solve the mystery of her classmate’s suspension, Andromeda gathers evidence, makes lists, and even designs a map to understand how to defend Benji against accusations. According to Galvin Almanza, this part of the book gives the reader a brief blueprint for solving complex challenges: “What I’m hoping to do with this book is give kids the tools they need to tackle really difficult problems.”
The investigative process Andromeda takes to build her position is based on first-year attorney training, and Galvin Almanza’s favorite law textbook, “Advocacy Excellence,” which appears in the book. She explained that lawyers receive extensive training in how to prove their points, and assert their position: “These are all skills that I was taught as a young lawyer, and I thought, ‘You don’t need to be a lawyer to understand these. You just need to be a smart, curious person with a notebook.’”
As inspiration for her characters, Galvin Almanza noted, she combined characteristics that she admires in the people around her in the Island community: “I borrowed characteristics that are lovable from people in our community right here on the Vineyard. So I am really positive that certain people may recognize themselves or their friends and neighbors.
“Andromeda is very much a mixture of kids in my life that I admire. Obviously, my own kid comes into my mind a lot. Also my memory of my fifth grade, which was my favorite year in school. I don’t think I’ve ever in my life felt more empowered or more adventurous, or more ready to cause trouble, hopefully good trouble.”
Throughout the book, subtle cultural themes are conveyed through Andromeda’s home life. Especially in the kitchen, where her family makes traditional Bolivian dishes, including cuñapé — for which a recipe, adapted to North American ingredients, is included in the book.
Galvin Almanza, whose husband is from Bolivia, was inspired to weave her daughter’s background into the book due to the lack of Bolivian representation in mainstream American media. “I also felt like we just don’t see Bolivian stories represented that much. I’m raising a daughter to whom I’m trying to give the cultural traditions of her family.” She added, “It’s a culture that deserves to be explored and celebrated, and I can’t give it what it fully deserves, but I can do a little part by giving Andromeda the culture that I want to share with my audience.”
Andromeda and Danny’s adventures and fight for justice don’t stop here. Galvin Almanza is already in the editing process of the next book of the series. “A second book is coming out next year, which is titled ‘Andromeda Diaz for the Defense.’ And we’re going to follow the Andromeda story into an even more high-stakes context, in which a little girl has been actually incarcerated in juvenile detention,” she said.
Emily Galvin Almanza will be speaking about “Andromeda Diaz” at the West Tisbury library on Sept. 9 at 3:30 pm. The book will be available on the Vineyard at Bunch of Grapes and Edgartown Books on Sept. 8.
