Jacquelyn Stolos: Be Yourself on the Page
In this interview, author Jacquelyn Stolos discusses how being an imagination-driven child helped inspire her new middle-grade novel, Asterwood.
Jacquelyn Stolos grew up in Derry, New Hampshire. She loves tromping through the forest and reading good books. Asterwood is her first novel for children. She holds an MFA in fiction from NYU where she was a Writers in the Public Schools Fellow. Her short fiction has appeared in The Atticus Review. She lives in Los Angeles. Follow her on Instagram.
In this interview, Jacquelyn discusses how being an imagination-driven child helped inspire her new middle-grade novel, Asterwood, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Jacquelyn Stolosa
Literary agent: Bailey Tamayo
Book title: Asterwood
Publisher: Delacorte
Release date: December 30, 2025
Genre/category: Middle-grade fantasy
Previous titles: Edendale
Elevator pitch: Family secrets, friendship, and magic burst from the seams of this thrilling fantasy adventure that follows a 10-year-old girl as she discovers a new world behind her home in desperate need of her help and within it, her own troubling family legacy.
What prompted you to write this book?
Asterwood started with an image I couldn’t shake: a little girl lying alone in the woods, staring dreamily up at the underside of the canopy. I grew up in New Hampshire in a house that backed up to acres and acres of woods and spent a lot of my childhood doing just this, so I had plenty of personal experience I could draw on for this opening scene! In all my time daydreaming under trees, I’ve never been approached by a mysterious new friend and asked to join them on an adventure in another world, which is what happens to Madelyn, Asterwood’s protagonist. As kid who was constantly reenacting scenes from my favorite fantasy novels, this would have been the answer to years and years of daydreams!
I teach creative writing to kids Madelyn’s age. I thought a lot about them and their concerns about the health of our planet while writing Asterwood. So many of Asterwood’s scenes, conversations, and bigger thematic concerns were inspired by my brilliant, energetic students, who are fighting for their future with the same hope, grit, and creativity as The New Hopefuls, the band of rag-tag, tree-saving kids who Madelyn joins once she crosses into Asterwood.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Asterwood came in fits and starts. I started scribbling down initial notes that were more image and feeling than narrative as early as 2018. The first time I put together pages to show my writing group was in 2020, but I didn’t write the first full draft until 2022. I finished days before my daughter was born and then revised in the first months of her life, often with her sleeping on my lap or in her carrier against my chest. The fantastic Wendy Loggia bought the book for Delacorte in 2023. Wendy and I did two rounds of revisions. While the heart of the novel didn’t change, Wendy and her amazing assistant Makena Cioni helped streamline of a lot of the worldbuilding details and figure out a satisfying ending that surprises and uplifts. I’m so proud of the work we did together!
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Maybe this says more about how hard I am on myself while I’m alone at my desk, but I was constantly bowled over by the kindness, passion, and vision of everyone around me. How fantastic to work with experts who really get what I’m trying to do! How incredible to be propelled forward by the enthusiasm of brilliant people rooting for my work! Asterwood was deeply enriched by precise, thoughtful notes from Wendy Loggia and Makena Cioni at Delacorte and from Alexander Slater, who was my agent at the time. The design team at RHCB and the talented Izzy Burton, who drew Asterwood’s magical, mysterious cover, seemed to have clairvoyantly precise access to the colors and images that had been swirling around my mind for years. I’ve never felt so seen!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
The entire novel was a complete surprise! My first novel, Edendale, is literary ecohorror for adults. I had no idea that I wanted to write for children until Madelyn and her magical, woodsy friends popped into my imagination and held me tight. In retrospect, I should have known! I’ve always loved working with children: I’ve nannied, worked a teaching artist in elementary schools, and taught creative writing at a wonderful nonprofit called Writopia Lab. Now, I’m at work on my second middle-grade novel, this time a mystical ocean adventure, and a handful of picture books. It seems silly now that it took me so long to figure out!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Play! I was an imagination-driven kid for who spent quite a bit of time pretending I was in the worlds of favorite books, interacting with beloved characters. It would be the greatest honor of my life if my readers kept playing with Madelyn, her friends, and the forest of Asterwood after they’ve finished reading the book. I hope Asterwood inspires children to make up their own stories in their bodies, imaginations, or even on the page.
Second, I hope to make my readers seen, loved, understood, and cared for by Asterwood. There are some big questions and heavy themes in the book. What’s a kid to do and feel when the people in charge don’t take care of the world for them? How’s a kid supposed to feel safe after they come up against their grown-up’s capacity to be uncertain, make a mistake, or fail? I’ve worked with so many children asking themselves these questions. Asterwood is my way to reach a hand to out these kids and say I’m here for you.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Be yourself on the page! Write into what interests and fascinates you—readers can feel that energy on the other end. Your strangeness, your obsessions, the parts of you that might feel wrong are what makes your work stand out. Don’t hide your uniqueness!
