Discussion Questions 1. At the beginning of Tiny
6. Why do you think our society
9. Lola is the best friend that
Imperfections, Josie doesn’t believe
is so focused on going to
keeps Josie sane—Josie
she needs to date. Why? Do you
the “right” school? Do you
thinks “Every woman needs
think she’s lonely? Do you think
agree with the parents
a girlfriend who speaks the
Josie is happy with her life?
desperate to get their children
truth” (p. 44). How does
into Fairchild?
Lola help Josie throughout
2. Why doesn’t Josie want Etta to go to Juilliard? Why does Aunt
Tiny Imperfections? Do you
7. Discuss how Tiny Imperfections
have a best friend that keeps you in line?
Viv encourage Etta to go? Do you
portrays motherhood. What
agree with one woman more than
does Josie think of the
the other? What do you think Josie
overbearing parents that apply
is afraid of?
to Fairchild? How does Josie’s
Golden Boy tells Josie
job as admissions director
a secret that changes
influence her own parenting?
everything. Were you
not forty—yet. Why are women
Do you think it’s possible to
surprised by what he
afraid to turn forty? What does
stay realistic when you’re
tells her? Have you ever
forty represent for Josie?
surrounded by extreme wealth
misinterpreted someone’s
and privilege? Why or why not?
motives in your own life?
3. Josie jokes about the fact that she’s
4. How is race explored in the novel? Were you surprised to learn
10. At the end of the novel,
Or have you pretended
8. On p. 6, Josie thinks: “The
to be something you’re
that the novel was written by a
more Bay Area parents feign
not in order to achieve a
black-and-white author duo?
‘it’s all good, everything will
goal? Do you agree with
work out,’ my stats show what
his decisions?
5. Josie got her start at Fairchild Country Day School when she attended as a student, where she remembers being part of the “dog and pony show” to attract donors (p. 14). How does Josie feel about the private school world? How has it shaped her life?
a higher pain in the ass quotient they are.” Do you
11. Were you surprised by
think parents and parenting
how the novel ended?
differ across the country?
Why or why not?
A Conversation with
ALLI FRANK and ASHA YOUMANS
Co-authors of
Tiny Imperfections
You are both longtime educators and friends. Tiny Imperfections is your first book. What made you decide to write this book now? The answer to this question reminds us of contemplating all major life decisions. Is there ever an ideal time to leave a job to start a company, Photo © Jim Garner 2019 have your first child, get married, take on debt to buy a home, or in our case, attempt to write a book with zero experience? No, there is not. It wasn’t that the time was right in our lives, but the idea was right in our lives. Working together at a private elementary school, chuckling over a comical student or at parent shenanigans, we would often end our laughter session with, “If we ever write a book, that is definitely going in there!” At the time, we had no plans for writing a book, alone or together; we were busy balancing careers and families. But three years later, still with careers and kids, we began with a long bus ride to the Boise airport, a Costco size bag of popcorn, a laptop, a humorous idea, and a phone call. And that became the as-right-as-it-can-be time for us to write a book.
What differentiates your novel from others out there about the private school world and education? The marriage of private, elite education and the culture of privilege in and of itself is not a new or unique story. Adding the layer of race has been done too, but it has been done most often from the student perspective. We wanted to explore race and private school education from the adult perspective. Not the parents, but the employees. The ones who work hard keeping an institution running that primarily exists for the forward trajectory of the white upper middle class, have an interesting perspective to share. Creating a protagonist in charge of admitting those families, who is also a person of color, was even more intriguing to us. We knew it would be a captivating story. The other obvious differentiating factor is that our novel, focusing on race and privilege, was written not by a black author, not by a white author, but by both. We are one of the few, if not only, black/white coauthorships in existence, and rather than write from the perspective of “own” voice which is popular right now, we chose to write from “our” voices. We both have known and experienced, professionally and personally, the feelings, actions, and consequences of the Bordelon women and their complicated relationship with Fairchild Country Day School. We knew we equally had a stake in the story and a shared path forward on how to tell it.
Building on the above, why is humor so important when dealing with serious topics like race and education? In this era of political correctness, it can often feel like as a country we have lost our sense of humor with each other. There will always be phenomenal writers, artists, intellectuals, and orators to speak to the hardship, pain, and tragedy rooted in social injustice. But darkness reflects only one side of the human experience, of human emotion. Our talent is speaking to the other side, the lighter side. The side that yes, still recognizes social injustices with open eyes and works for a more equitable future, but expresses that cultural hope through witty commentary and the healing community experience of laughter. We always wanted this book to be funny. Funny and honest. Kids are a natural source of material and entertainment. Their humor is unencumbered by social mores and fear of offense. Kids are simply observing the world and calling it like they experience it. This desire to explore, connect, and enjoy similarities and differences is a childhood language that is sadly lost in translation on the journey into adulthood. Writing this book was our opportunity to say the things we could never say in school, but trust us, we were thinking them. In our professional and personal lives, we both like to approach human interactions assuming best intentions. That if someone is trying to do right (even if they mess up) we are open to them. Humor is one of the few avenues of communication where people continue to be open and inviting even if the content is off color. Our hope is that with Tiny Imperfections our readers can relax a little bit and laugh about children, parenting, dating, religion, race, sexuality—it’s acceptable and it’s encouraged.
This book centers around the notion that regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, social status, or gender, we all want what’s best for our children and will do just about anything to set them up for success. Can you speak to this a bit? We all have different barometers for what we will do and how far we will go for our children: from insisting they do their own laundry by middle school, to welcoming dirty bags of clothes on weekend visits from college. The small variations in parenting are immeasurable and just as myriad. But when we talk about sending our children off into the world of adults and all that entails, the differentiation between parents and to what lengths they interfere at this age is what seems to fascinate us most at this time. The government considers our kids adults at eighteen, ready to vote, able to fight for our country, and capable of serving their own prison times. But as parents, for some reason, we are not quite ready to let them go. The barometer for judging parents at this stage comes with quite a bit of retribution, and we are also seeing scrutiny along with that. While most parents may answer that they would not cheat to increase their child’s chance of getting into college, the answers are no doubt quite different in practice. The honest answer might be, who can judge until we each get there?
Single motherhood is a central theme of this story. What is this book trying to say to single moms? We hope single moms raise a fist and say “Yeah!” because, unlike popular opinion and other media that have examined single motherhood, our book does not bemoan the status. Our heroine doesn’t express how difficult a job it is or wish she had a man to help her, because she has help in the form of her Aunt Viv and a community of friends she built. We both know some single moms that are killing the parenting game and sending compassionate, caring children into the world. If single moms are reading, we want you to know we see you.
Female friendship is also at the heart of this story. Did you draw from your own friendship to develop Josie’s relationship with her best friend? The importance of female friendship cannot be overstated for us. Women hang on to friends forever, and we both have women in our lives that have been our friends for much longer than the two of us have been. Developing such varied and rich life experiences before meeting meant we each had plenty of stories to tell. It’s more accurate to say we created the relationship between Josie and Lola from our friendships before we met, as well as our shared relationship since then, and merged them. The pair we created in Tiny Imperfections expresses the joy, love, and comfort we both receive from our bonds with our female friends. We think Josie and Lola are the kind of ladies anyone would love to grab a drink with!
What do you hope readers take away from the book? We hope readers take away a bunch of hearty belly laughs from reading our book. We grew up in progressive families that welcomed people of all shades and types where we learned to laugh with and at each other. Seeking variety in relationships is a way to learn, to grow, and develop empathy. What better way to initiate a connection than to flash a smile, share a laugh, or tell a joke as a way to cross those bridges we encounter? We also hope each reader reaches out to someone different from themselves and builds friendships on positive curiosity. We often tiptoe around each other, straining to learn about our differences but not knowing how to approach others for lessons we want or need. We encourage folks to be open to questions and respond to curiosity with kindness. What we want is for people to become and stay connected.
What’s next for you? We look forward to the near future with a parallel view of where our families are. Alli has school-aged daughters, and Asha’s sons are adults, so we continue to make room for each other to grow our families first and foremost. We will continue trying our best, with humor and grace, to be the best mothers, wives, daughters, and friends, we can be. Though we have laid the groundwork for a spin-off novel, the Bordelon women have much more to share, and we plan on giving them a voice and continuing their story. Aside from our writing careers, there has been great interest in Tiny Imperfections as a film/TV series, and we are hyped about diving into that aspect of our journey very soon. Aunt Viv would say “The good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.” We hope to write together and keep laughing together for a long time to come.
Recipes from
Aunt Viv’s Kitchen
FRIED CHICKEN 1 whole cut-up fryer chicken rinsed in cold water
split breast cut in half to make 10 pieces total (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 breast pieces)
Enough vegetable oil to cover about 1 inch of a frying pan 2 cups flour Johnny’s Seasoning Salt Garlic salt Black pepper If you have time, try a brine before you fry your chicken. It comes out delicious either way, but the brine can help anyone who might not be confident in seasoning, and it helps ensure a juicy bird. In a large bowl, dissolve ¼ cup salt in 8–10 cups of cold water. Add the chicken and refrigerate for 4–6 hours before you are ready to start cooking. While your oil is coming to heat at a medium setting on the stove, lightly rinse the chicken pieces and shake off the excess water. Line them up on a clean surface, such as a cookie sheet, and season with spices, or use some of your own favorites. Remember to do both sides and lean towards less salt than more because, as my godmother, Mary Jane Williams, used to say, “You can always add some later, but you can’t take it away.” After your chicken is seasoned, lay out your flour on a dish and dredge each piece until well covered. Place the floured chicken on a clean surface. My grandmama used to say, “Ooowee! A chicken is a nasty bird. You gotta keep your hands clean when handling them, Lil’ Miss, or you’ll give the whole house the trots!” Wash your hands often when handling poultry of any kind, and don’t share surfaces between cooked and raw food. When your oil has reached 350 degrees, it should be ready to receive the “yard bird.” Use tongs to gently lower each piece into the oil, being careful not to splash or overcrowd the pan. If you got pieces sticking out, it’s too crowded! Chicken must be cooked to a temperature of 165 degrees before eating it, about 15–20 minutes. Take out a thick piece and try it to see if it’s done with no pink near the bone. Do not serve your guests raw chicken and tell them Aunt Viv showed you how to do it. While you check for doneness, taste it and be sure it is seasoned to your liking. Add a pinch of plain salt sprinkled over the whole batch if it needs it. Getting the meat seasoned just right takes practice. And don’t forget to put hot sauce on the table.
COLLARD GREENS Salt pork, diced 1 small onion, diced 2 bunches collard greens,
cut up without the stems and well washed
Spoonful chopped garlic Splash of vinegar Palm full of brown sugar A few dashes of hot sauce 2 cups chicken broth Salt and pepper  Add as much salt pork as you like (about 3–5 oz.) to a deep pan and brown it over medium heat. Add the onions to the pan and cook them until they shine. Throw in everything and the greens into the skillet. Stir it and cover the pan for a while cooking on low heat, stirring here and there. When they are tender and not bitter, and after about an hour of slow braising, the greens are ready to serve.
TIPSY TEA I like to sip this tea in the summertime, and with the way wild blackberries grow in August, I can pick the fruit needed on my walk to the corner store to get the lemony rum I like to spike it with. 4 cups strong brewed black tea Simple syrup to taste 1 cup plain or lemon-flavored rum Juice from a lemon Pint of blackberries muddled with 2 handfuls of mint Mix everything together in a pitcher and serve in mason jars filled to the rim with ice. Top with a mint sprig and a blackberry.
APPLE CRUMB COFFEE CAKE
Batter: 1 stick of butter, plus butter for greasing the baking dish
Crumble: ½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup flour
2 eggs
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups flour
4 tablespoons soft butter
1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups peeled and chopped apples
Glaze: ½ cup brown sugar ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoons water
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter up a 13"x9" baking dish. In a big bowl, cream one whole stick of soft butter with the brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one, followed by the vanilla extract. Take another bowl and add the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Sift or mix well. Add some of the dry ingredients to the creamed sugar then some of the sour cream, alternating until all the dry ingredients and sour cream are added. Fold in the chopped apples and spread the mix into your buttered baking dish. Make the crumble by adding all the crumble ingredients together and sprinkling the mixture over the cake batter. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Remove the dish and let it cool. It’s delicious now but don’t let folks pick at it until the glaze is added! Mix everything listed for the glaze and stir until smooth. Pour over the warm cake and let it harden a bit. If you like more glaze (like Ty does) double the recipe and add it to your liking.