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Hello and good morning Alli. How
are you doing today, Hi, I'm

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good. Thank you so much for
speaking with me today. Oh my god,

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I'm excited to talk with you because
I think you're that author that we

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all want to be. We all
want to talk about a subject that other

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people call taboo, but you had
the courage and the confidence to step forward

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and say, hey, look,
hey, look, I've got a story

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here that all people can relate with. Thank you. Yeah. The reason

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I wanted to do a story like
this is because it's one that I wish

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I had when I was little.
I wish that we were talking about periods

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openly for my entire life. So
if I can contribute to that, and

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you know, writing a book and
speaking about it and make it a little

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easier for other people to talk about
periods and the role they plays in their

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lives, I hope I can add
that. You know what's really interesting about

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this is that when I picked up
this book, I was instantly shot back

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to Ponderosa Elementary School in Billings,
Montana when we went into the library and

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there it was that book and you
know which one I'm talking about, And

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it changed every guy. That's what
I think this book is going to do

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too, because we're not talking about
it, but every guy is going to

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learn from this and hopefully find some
respect for this. Yeah, And I

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really think that's important because menstruation doesn't
just affect the people that are having periods.

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It affects our entire community. If
anyone is missing class, we're all

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harmed. If anyone's shrinking into themselves
because they're feeling shame, we're all harmed.

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And we all need to be involved
in the fight for period equity.

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And you know what's really interesting is
that this stretches up into adulthood too,

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because my essential job is working with
every age group and when word gets around

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only because we want to share compassion. I think that compassion started when we

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first learned of what you're talking about, the period. Yes, So that's

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why I wanted to start this story
in middle school, because I think that

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we need the stories from the first
time or even hopefully before somebody has their

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first period, and that if we
learn about this stuff in middle school,

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we're going to be advocating for our
own healthcare throughout our entire lives. Now,

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let me ask you a question,
because I remember when my sister,

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you know, started growing into womanhood. She was really upset that this started

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to happen. And I've heard that
story from so many people. How do

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you embrace that where little girls now
becoming women go, God, come on,

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I didn't want this to happen.
Now. Yeah, I think a

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really important point to remember is that
at any age that you get your period,

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which we know can be as early
as eight years old, it's definitely

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an elementary school issue and middle school
issue. It's not something that we can

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wait to talk about until high school. But you are still the child that

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you were the day before you got
your period, and you're still going to

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be dealing with these issues with your
friends as you get older and go through

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puberty. And so I really wanted
to write this story because it was friends

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that got me through these tough issues
in middle school, and it was laughing

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and really helping each other that got
me through it. So I wanted to

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write a story where kids do not
feel alone, whether it's in talking about

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periods at all, or whether it's
in advocating for the care that they need

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at school, because just like there's
toilet paper and filp in the bathrooms,

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they need the pads. And if
we see pads in bathrooms. It's going

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to become less of a stigmatized or
shameful issue. It's just part of our

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normal lives that we need to deal
with. You know, one of the

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invisible superstars in this story is the
relationship between Helen and Gracie, and also

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the voice they create so many times, so many young adults, especially in

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middle school, don't feel like they've
got a voice. Yes they do,

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and you really kind of invite them
to do that. Yeah. So there's

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two parts of that. So the
first is that when you read this book,

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you'll see these girls are not born
jogiters. They are absolute chaoff month.

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What I want to do is write
a book where you know the people

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creating change. They're not the kids
with the perfect grades. They're not the

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kids who are on the student council. I want to remind students that everybody

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has a voice, everybody matters,
and you don't need to wait until you're

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grown up to use that voice.
The other issue is that because menstruation affects

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everybody, we want everyone working together
and through these kids. They are not

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only just like constructing arguments or like
looking at a budget. They kind of

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use their chaos. They use making
maxipad cupcakes and crocheting uteruses and making T

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shirts. They use all that to
make people feel comfortable and have fun and

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draw them into the process as opposed
to it being just a facts and figures

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arguments. You know, as a
writer, you made it a path.

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You made a path that really kind
of says there are moments where I can

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laugh, and there are moments here
where I can show the compassion. I

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love the emotion that you put inside
your paragraphs, and it's like, how

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and when did you decide that.
It's like, I'm going to hit every

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single type of emotion in this book
and make it very real but at the

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same time very entertaining. Wow,
thank you so much. I think it's

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because at this age I probably felt
every single emotion. It felt like every

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single minute of every day. And
so I think if we embrace that part

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of our childhood as authors, we
can help kids through it today, like

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it's okay to feel like rage,
Like how could they not understand that this

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is affecting every part of my life
while also feeling like I don't want to

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have to talk about this with anyone. If we embrace all of that in

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a story. I think it can
make kids feel less alone when they're figuring

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out how they're going to speak up, whether it's with their parents, at

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their with their school, or with
their friends about what they need and what

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they're feeling. Was the principle of
your principle, because I mean I really

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felt like that I was looking into
the eyes of mister Eshler at Riverside Junior

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High School when you were when you
were speaking of the principal storyline. No,

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so I have to say that the
principle in this book, like you

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know, she really empathizes with the
kids. She realizes that they need the

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pad, but she also knows she's
fighting for everything at school, right,

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And so what I wanted to do
is have a principle that really is seeing

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that you know what they're going to
spend their political capital on. As principles,

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you know it's limited, and so
they have to decide what they're going

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to fight for. And so I
think sometimes it has to be the kid

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getting in their faces and saying,
this is what's important to us. It

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might be easier for you to get
funding for like yet another sports team,

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if that's what the parents are asking
for, but we're telling you that what

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we need is pads in the bathroom
so that we can take care of ourselves.

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God, you just you bring up
so many See, adults need to

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read this book too. This is
not just for why A readers, because

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you're gonna You're stirring up so many
memories of what we went through in our

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own schools. And I think this
is such a connection. I really hope

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that that that's the case too.
So I'm really lucky that Scholastic is not

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only publishing this book, but they've
sent me around the country to talk to

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thousands of people about this issue already
before the book even comes out tomorrow.

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And what I found is that so
many adults have told me that it has

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affected them, it's brought up these
issues for them, and that they had

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used it as an entry point to
talk to their own kids. What I

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found is that something sometimes it's easier
to talk about things when we're kind of

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doing it true character versus bringing on
those eye statements. And so I hope

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that parents can say, hey,
you know, at some point I might

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have felt like that Gracie in this
story, or I might have felt like

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Helen where I didn't want to talk
about my period at all. And if

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we're laughing about silly sweets like maxipad
cupcakes and silly krafts like crochet uteruses,

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sometimes things are easier to talk about
for parents and kids when it's yarn and

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sugar rather than you know, the
stark facts about mentuation. You know,

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you talk about everything that what you
just said, and that's what makes it

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more community and more opened to talk
about. But we are living in this

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woke world. Do you fear that
right now that someone someone in Florida is

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going to say, oh my god, Ali wrote this book? You know,

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I would really hope not. What
we've seen is that because this is

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a student led movement, students are
creeping up for their rights. In the

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last couple of years, we've gone
from a handful of seats that are providing

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pads in bathrooms to now half the
states in America are either providing funding for

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the pads or requiring that the pads
be in the bathroom. And that's because

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it is a student led movement.
Students speaking up for their rights. So

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if someone is going to come against
that, they're going to find themselves up

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against elementary, middle school and high
schoolers who's saying, we are not going

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to accept that shame that you're putting
on us. This is part of our

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daily lives. We need this care
to get our education, and we're not

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going to stand for anything less.
God, I love where your heart is.

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Let me ask you a question.
Right you talked about going around and

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talking to people about this, is
there a website because you know this is

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still a very private issue for many
young women and they need someone to talk

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to or to find information. Sure, so if you go to my author

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website, it's alichraace dot com that
has all kinds of resources, both about

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the book if you want to connect
with the activities that you signed in the

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book, and it can also connect
you with other groups that are working on

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this. I'm just going to mention
too, because if you care about this

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issue and you're a young student,
you are not alone. There is already

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someone in your unity working on it
and you can connect with them. So

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first is an organization called the Alliance
for Period Supplies. The second is another

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nonprofit called period dot like a period. If you look into those organizations,

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they'll be able to help you find
who is working on this issue on the

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ground where you live and then working
with your trusted adults, whether you're they're

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your parents or teachers, you can
figure out the best way for you to

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get involved. Wow, Allie,
you've got to come back to this show.

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Ten minutes was not enough time with
you. Thank you so much.

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Erro, I love talking with you
about this day and I want to thank

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you personally so much for being out
in front on periods and making it something

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that everybody can talk about. Absolutely, be brilliant today, Okay, Alie, thank you