Is Shaylas innocence lost?
LAW: I don’t think that Shayla’s innocence is completely lost. Through her experience with Kambia she has had to make some very mature decisions, and has been forced to learn something about sex that she didn’t want to know. She already knew from her seeing the boy and girl in the box car that some girls like sex, and from the arguments between Mama and Tia that it can get you pregnant. Now she knows that sometimes it can hurt people, and when it does there are other names for it, like rape, and molestation, but I don’t think that Shayla really fully knows or wants to understand what those words mean. The only thing that Shayla wants is to keep Kambia safe. I think that by the end of the book a part of Shayla still remains innocent either by choice or necessity. She’s not yet ready for the reality of Kambia’s world. BP: Was it important to include Mr. Anderson Fox? Why? LAW: I think that it was important to include Mr. Anderson Fox for two reasons. First, Mr. Anderson Fox gives Shayla
