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San Diego author Chris Baron will discuss his latest book, \u201cSpark,\u201d at Warwick\u2019s bookstore in La Jolla on Thursday. (Chris Baron)<\/p>\nLongtime San Diego author and college professor Chris Baron has often called on personal experiences and observations for the subjects of his novels for middle-grade and young adult readers.<\/p>\n
But for his latest book, \u201cSpark,\u201d he drew inspiration from one of his family\u2019s most harrowing experiences \u2014 being forced to evacuate their home as flames approached from the disastrous 2007 Witch Creek wildfire. But as challenging as that experience was, Baron said it offered important life lessons that he shares in \u201cSpark.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baron grew up in New York City and graduated from San Diego State University with a master\u2019s degree in poetry. He works as an English professor and the Writing Center director at San Diego City College. His novels for what he calls \u201cyoung and young at heart\u201d readers include the award-winning \u201cThe Magical Imperfect,\u201d \u201cThe Gray,\u201d \u201cAll of Me\u201d and \u201cThe Secret of the Dragon Gems,\u201d the last of which he co-wrote with Newbery Award-winning author Rajani LaRocca.<\/p>\n
Baron, who lives in San Diego with his wife, Ella, their three kids and eight chickens, will discuss \u201cSpark\u201d at Warwick\u2019s bookstore in La Jolla on Thursday. He recently answered several question about his book and its inspiration.<\/p>\n
San Diego author Chris Baron will discuss his latest book, \u201cSpark,\u201d at Warwick\u2019s bookstore in La Jolla on Thursday. (Chris Baron)<\/p>\n
Q:<\/strong> \u201cSpark\u201d is your fifth novel for young adult (YA) and middle-grade readers. What inspired you to write books for these reading age groups and why do you think it\u2019s important to write for young growing minds?<\/p>\n A:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve always loved stories, and spent so much time playing, writing and exploring stories of my own. Stories shape our world. Books give us time and space to explore and move through a story at a slower pace (even when we read fast). A good story stays with us forever.\u00a0 But when my kids were old enough, they wanted to hear every tale about my childhood, read every book, and tell stories of their own. It clicked for me then, maybe I could write some stories related to my own experiences that could reach all kinds of readers.<\/p>\n YA and middle-grade books are lighthouses for empathy, adventure and exploration. Middle grade and YA changed my life as a kid. They allowed me to escape from a challenging world of growing up\u00a0 into imagination, explore the world and find hope. Comic books, graphic novels and books like \u201cBridge to Terabithia\u201d and \u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d and everything by Judy Blume helped me to understand I wasn\u2019t alone and connect to the world around me.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> The young characters in your previous novels have faced personal, physical and emotional challenges. How do you develop the traits and personalities for the characters in your books?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> Even in the best parts of our lives, we all face different kinds of challenges \u2014 we are all outcasts one way or another. So much of what I write comes from my own experiences and the experiences of those around me: my Jewish heritage, the places where I grew up, and the friends I\u2019ve known. Some of the characters come from my own life, like the way Sasha struggles with anxiety in \u201cThe Gray,\u201d or Etan\u2019s selective mutism and Malia\u2019s eczema (like my wife struggles with) in \u201cThe Magical Imperfect,\u201d or issues of body image in \u201cAll of Me.\u201d But also from the lives of the students I\u2019ve known, and of course, the ever-changing world of my own family.<\/p>\n I just know that I want my characters to be, as Dr Rudine Sims Bishop said, \u201cwindows and mirrors, and sliding glass doors\u201d to help young readers see themselves in books and learn about the diverse and often atypical lives of the people around them.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> You said \u201cSpark\u201d was inspired by your own experience fleeing the Witch Creek Fire in 2007. Can you explain the emotional toll that took on you and your family and how it inspired \u201cSpark\u201d?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> Ella and I were living in Ocean Beach and when our second daughter was born, we hoped for a house where we could grow things and have a backyard. We found Mt. Helix, and an old \u201cfixer upper.\u201d We worked on it endlessly, and finally it was ready, right after our daughter was born. We moved into the house \u2014 but the skies were orange and filled with ash from the fallout from the Witch Creek Fire. Surely, we thought, it can\u2019t last much longer. We were wrong.<\/p>\n One of the first mornings we were there, we woke up, and from across the valley we saw a snake of fire writhing down Mt. Miguel just a few miles away.\u00a0 We had to go. We fled back to Ocean Beach, prayed and waited even as the ash floated all the way to the ocean and covered the beach.\u00a0 It felt like the whole world was on fire. Months later, we eventually moved in, and we love where we live, but there is always that sense that anything can happen. So many people since, like the residents in Plumas County (Where the book is based) and beyond, know this fate. I also recognize that this kind of trauma of evacuation goes beyond just fire.<\/p>\n These experiences, along with a deep love of the natural world, are a direct inspiration for writing \u201cSpark.\u201d Like so many San Diego residents, I understand the fear that comes with Santa Ana winds. We have empathy for L.A. and so many parts of the world that are experiencing the devastating effects of wildfire. But I know there\u2019s hope for the future, I\u2019ve seen and been part of, first-hand, the hope and heart of community.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> Please describe the two friends at the heart of \u201cSpark,\u201d Finn and Rabbit, who are separated after a wildfire arrives in their community, and how the fire affects their lives and families?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> Finn, the great-grandson of Jewish immigrants who came to the United States to plant new and safe roots, lives with his mom and dad. His best friend, Rabbit, is from a giant family \u2014 her dad is from Texas and mom is from the Philippines. Luckily, their families found the beautiful small town in the mountains, Redwood Hollows.<\/p>\n They\u00a0 have been best friends since they were little, both of them care deeply about nature and love to spend their days in the forest near the home, setting up trail cameras like windows into the natural world searching for any rumor of the wolves that may have returned to their forest.\u00a0 Rabbit, full of passion, independence, and wildness,\u00a0 likes to say she\u2019s the \u201cheart\u201d and Finn, intellectually curious, scientific, overly focused, is \u201cthe mind. But together, along with Rabbit\u2019s dog, Thorn, make a great team.<\/p>\n When the emergency alert sounds, and the fire actually strikes their town, they are separated and rush to escape, unaware of what happened to the other for quite some time \u2014 and like so many people from their community, they must live evacuated, uprooted, far from everything they know trying to piece together some semblance of normal life until it\u2019s safe to return.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> Southern California\u2019s growing problem of wildfires, including the recent fires in Los Angeles, are the unfortunate result of global warming. Do you address the issue of climate change in \u201cSpark\u201d?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> At the heart of \u201cSpark,\u201d just like the heart of our world, is the changing climate. Finn and Rabbit discover first hand, with Rabbit\u2019s scientist uncle Charlie, the devastating impact of drought, uneven weather, the wildland urban interface, and species adaptation. I spent over a year researching and interviewing wildland ecologists, forest service workers and scientists, wildland firefighters, Indigenous tribal liaisons, wildlife experts and others, to truly bring as much about the issue of changing climate to \u201cSpark\u201d as possible while integrating the hope and voice of the community.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> Although fire can be devastating for people and wildlife, nature eventually recovers. Can you talk about the importance of hope and community in \u201cSpark\u201d?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> Yes! Given time and space, the resilience and recovery of our natural world is miraculous and full of wonder! I think so many young readers want to know what they can do against something so big and chaotic as a wildfire or climate change in general. But I\u2019ve found that the real hope is in them. Young people are unafraid, ready for change, courageous and curious.\u00a0 In \u201cSpark,\u201d the kids discover the resilience of nature, learn about regrowth and the strength of the land. They find a way to kick-start their own activism to help save the forest for now and generations to come \u2014 and it begins with the simplest thing \u2014 an acorn.<\/p>\n Q:<\/strong> Is there anything I haven\u2019t asked about \u201cSpark\u201d that you\u2019d like to add?<\/p>\n A:<\/strong> My deep wish is that \u201cSpark\u201d becomes a resource for empathy and understanding\u00a0 for readers \u2014 a book that can be read as a family, in classrooms and book clubs, and talked about in community, and I will do all I can to visit those places and be available to talk to readers!<\/p>\n \u201cSpark\u201d by Chris Baron (Feiwel & Friends, 2025; 320 pages)<\/p>\n Warwick\u2019s Presents Chris Baron<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/sut-l-booksbaron1.jpg\")
The book cover for \u201cSpark\u201d by Chris Baron. (Feiwel & Friends)<\/p>\n