Friends!

We are just a little over one month away from the release of one of my most anticipated reads of the year! Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. comes out on August 26!

This anthology of interconnected stories about a mythical drive-in that appears whenever you need guidance centers Native joy and is perfect for both young adult and adult audiences alike!

I was lucky enough to be able to ask a few questions to some the contributors of the anthology ! Below you'll find responses from Andrea L. Rodgers, author of Man Made Monsters, The Art Thieves and Chooch Helped.

Naomi: Hi Andrea! I'm so excited that you have a story in Legendary Frybread Drive-in. I have loved your previous books! Why do you write for a young adult audience?

Andrea: I write for everyone, but I take seriously my ability to harm or empower my reader through the young adult gaze. Specifically, I center the Cherokee girl I was that didn’t see herself or her family or community in any work out there in the 1970s except in ways that were degrading without context.

Naomi: Why do you think representation is important, especially for youth? 

Andrea: Books that are well done allow a reader to live a broader literary life. We don’t all have the same experiences, histories, privileges or traumas. But we don’t know what we haven’t been exposed to. I think reading can build an empathy muscle—perhaps that’s our heart.  

Naomi: What are some of your favorite themes to write? Do you find yourself returning to the same themes in different projects?

Andrea: I write about siblings and chosen family. I try to write about love and grief in a way that honors those experiences. Maybe I read too many horror novels too young but I’m always half seeing spooky things in my periphery and I can’t help but tell myself that scary potential story. Sometimes I share. 

Naomi: How has your community responded to your work? 

Andrea: Native people, and Cherokee people and Indigenous teens have been super. People from my community appreciate all the Easter eggs in my stories and recognize places with which we’re familiar. It makes me really happy when people tell me they enjoy my stories.

Naomi: Your book The Art Thieves is one of my favorite reads this year. Can you talk about your inspiration for the book?

Andrea: Martin Puryear’s Ladder for Booker T. Washington is my favorite piece at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art. It has its own chamber. One day I went in to see it, made it all the way to back of the museum and it was gone. I was terrified it had been sold. Then I found out it was on loan to The National Gallery for a bit. But, like I said, in the last question, as soon as I saw it missing I started telling myself stories—about an art heist. 

Also, the destruction of the giant carved Buddhas by opposing religious forces when I was in college made a huge impression on me. The idea that art can be so threatening to a group of people that it must be destroyed supports the idea that Art is important. Creating, to me, is like praying. So, the destruction of creative work is an attack on a sacred expression of humanity. And, the celebration or preservation of those items—that’s ceremony.

Naomi: What do you hope readers take away from The Art Thieves?

Andrea: I hope readers leave The Art Thieves feeling empowered to build the world they want to live in, a world where they can help their friends and family feel loved and safe. Where they can feel safe and valued.

Naomi: What do you hope readers take away from your story, "You Had One Job" in Legendary Frybread Drive-in ?

Andrea: That story was inspired by my daughter and her very good friend who is Osage. We’re Cherokee. I was invited to the Osage dances by a long time friend and ran into my daughter’s friend there. They met in College and they both tried to always show up for each other. I admired that. So, that story is about wanting to honor your friends. It’s about intertribal friendships, but it’s also about the generations who tried to ensure cultural, physical, intellectual, and emotional survival. People like Ruth Muskrat Bronson who helped create the conditions that allowed two Indian kids, one Cherokee, one Osage, to meet in college and help each other get through.

Naomi: What challenges have you faced in publishing?

Andrea: Many of the early challenges were the result of being well read in works about Native people by non-Native writers. How do you unlearn that language? You grow up with the dominant culture telling you what an Indian looks like, sounds like, does. What of that isn’t your lived experience. You wonder if you are authentic enough to write about your own lived experience. Then, when you submit a story that doesn’t have powwows, ponies, or peyote, white editors don’t vibe with it. That’s not the Indian they see on tv. I wrote Maria Most Likely in 2001. It won an award soon after from the Dallas Public Library. But when I started submitting it, no one was interested. I kept writing. But I stopped submitting for a long time.

Naomi: Who are the Indigenous authors that influenced you? 

Andrea: Louise Erdrich, Terese Mailhot, Tommy Orange, & Stephen Graham Jones.

Naomi: What is one book by an Indigenous author you recommend to everyone?

Andrea: Take Me To Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor.

Naomi: Who are you reading now?

Andrea: I just finished Exposure by Ramona Emerson. So good.

Naomi: What are you working on next? Is there an adult horror novel in your future? (Will you be submitting it to me. Haha Jk. Unless...lol). 

Andrea: I’m under contract for a middle grade historical fiction which is the first novel I outlined in 1994. I’ve learned a lot, research wise that is changing it, but it’s more psychologically hard than fun. 

I love spooky stuff and that can be fun, so thinking a lot about what I want to do next.

Naomi: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! The Art Thieves has been one of my fave reads this year! 

Andrea: This really makes my day to hear this. I wanted the soundtrack to expose non native people to native musicians, I’m still so angry about how Nex Benedict was harmed, and I want us all to have better role models and maps for the next world—the future we’re building is now. No one is coming to save us. We have to save each other. I appreciate the efforts of Bindery. Burn it Down, Build it better.

Legendary Frybread Drive-in Intertribal Stories Synposis:

The road to Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June's serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again.

That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.

Legedary Frybread Drive-in Intertribal Stories features stories and poems by: Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young

Releases: August 26, 2025 and is Good Day To Read Indigenous Book Club reading selection for September!

Pre-order it now and check out a few of Andrea L. Rodgers other books by clicking the attached books below.