Kelly Murashige, the author of The Lost Souls of Benzaiten (Soho Teen, July 23, 2024), was born and raised in Hawai'i. She primarily writes contemporary fiction rooted in Japanese mythology and culture that includes fantastical twists. At this very moment, she is likely writing, reading, playing games, or inadvertently putting her foot in her mouth.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
A girl who stops speaking after a friendship breakup wishes to become a robot vacuum cleaner and accidentally summons a quirky Japanese deity.
On your nightstand now:
I just finished Funny Story by Emily Henry and have a whole list of books I'm about to start.
Favorite book when you were a child:
When I was really little, I loved Marcus Pfister's The Rainbow Fish and essentially anything from Kevin Henkes, especially Wemberly Worried (I worried all the time--and still do to this day). From there, it was Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking books and Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones series. Come middle school, it was Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and Suzanne Collins's the Hunger Games.
Your top five authors:
Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins, Sarah Dessen, Sylvia Plath, and Zack Smedley. I would list at least five more if I could. I discovered Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins, and Sarah Dessen in elementary and middle school, and they all helped shape me into the reader I am today. I started reading Sylvia Plath in college and fell in love with her honesty. And Zack Smedley crafts these stories that just stick with you. I want to reread his work all the time.
Book you've faked reading:
This is embarrassing, but in elementary school, I pretended I knew the Harry Potter series like the back of my hand. I never actually read any of them. I'm so sorry for lying all these years.
Book you're an evangelist for:
I begged my mom to read Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Considering she's now trying to get her friends to read it, I think it's safe to say I converted her.
Book you've bought for the cover:
Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Middle school me was intrigued. The cover is stunning enough at first glance, with that bright red, definitely-hurts-your-feet heel, but when I saw the strange, robotic anatomy in the leg, I had to know more.
Book you hid from your parents:
Probably a Riley Sager thriller. My mom isn't a big thriller fan, especially when it's gory or scary, but thrillers always get me out of reading slumps. Sometimes, either when I have a lot going on or after I finish a great book, I basically forget how to read. Thrillers have a way of pulling me back in. I usually end up staying up past midnight to finish reading, even though that's just about the worst time to read books like that.
Book that changed your life:
Honestly, what book hasn't changed my life? I think I have to give this one to either Sarah Dessen's Just Listen or The Truth About Forever, which served as my introductions to YA fiction. My older cousins gave me their copies--along with a lot of their clothes, which is the only reason I had any sense of style whatsoever--and though I think I was a little younger than the target audience, I immediately fell in love with Dessen's writing style, characterization, and quiet yet beautiful metaphors. From then on, I started scanning shelves for books like hers.
Favorite line from a book:
"We accept the love we think we deserve." --from Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
I have come back to this quote over and over. Its meaning has evolved for me over time, but I have never forgotten it. A lot of us had that phase in life where we told ourselves something was love when everyone around us could tell it wasn't. More than that, though, I think we've all been that person trying to tell the people we love that they deserve so much better.
Five books you'll never part with:
Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun; Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar; my original copy of Suzanne Collins's Mockingjay; my gifted copy of Jojo Moyes's Me Before You; and my incredibly old hand-me-down copy of The Truth About Forever.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Lisabeth Posthuma's Baby & Solo. At the same time, though, I think I read it right when I needed to. There's one part near the end that made me put my head down and weep. So read it. Just maybe not in public.