Third in this series of interviews with authors of young adult books is C.T. Markee. His novel for middle grade and young teens, Maria’s Beads, tells the gripping story of Maria, whose best friend Hannah is deathly ill. Maria must find her own inner strength, passed down to her through her ancestral Huichol culture, in order to save Hannah when no one else will.

The story in Maria’s Beads is similar to one that happened to your wife when she was a child. Does your wife also have Huichol roots? How did you learn about the culture?

The idea for the book came from my wife’s experience at age 11 when her best friend, who lived next door, contracted kidney disease. My wife is neither Huichol nor Hispanic. However, the Cortez family in the story is modeled after her family that worked in the fields around Salinas during the Great…