This Brave Balance

Rusalka Reh: Yes, parkour started in Paris and did grow internationally--in Russia, for example, young people practice it even in deep snow. I didn't do parkour myself, though the boys in the group I joined for a couple of weeks tried to convince me. (I told them I couldn't risk breaking my bones, because then I wouldn't be able to write my book.) I discovered this group in a park near my home. I was totally impressed by their skills and infected by this way of movement and the philosophy that goes with it. I knew immediately that it would be a perfect milieu for telling a modern story for young readers.

The traceurs let me join them whenever they met to practice. That's where I got a deeper insight into parkour--and insight into young people's ways of dealing with life nowadays. I also watched parkour videos on YouTube and read threads posted in a parkour community for weeks to stay close to the subject as well as to the language. So when Dipper finally started to "tell his story," I didn't have to strain to stay in that language.

Q: How did you assign bird names to the characters? Did you go through a book of names, like the Urban Planetbirds did?

RR: I bought The Observer's Book of Birds in an antiques shop in Wales a year before starting my research. At that time, I didn't know it would become important one day. I love birds, and the book is beautifully illustrated. But it really smells of basements!

Q: The teenagers in This Brave Balance could live anywhere, but you gave them a home outside a major German city. Is it based on a specific place?

RR: There are real places in Leipzig in the book, but they are deliberately not named. I always find it helpful to have authentic places in mind while I write. Yet I try to leave places vague to keep the whole book unlocked for any reader, so they can identify more easily.

Q: You've worked with children and teens through art therapy. How much of this plot was inspired by real situations you've encountered?

RR: Details of the characters and plot may be a conglomerate of children and situations I knew, observations on the street, TV and radio documentaries about teens, and so on. I focused on those subjects very much when researching and writing This Brave Balance, but they've always interested me. I worked with children of all ages and social circumstances--I looked after the daughter of a millionaire, as well as a boy who regularly burned rats near his home--and have always been interested in children who have to deal with harder conditions.

Q: You draw parallels between origami and parkour, seemingly very different arts but both very disciplined. How important was it to you to include this outlet?

RR: I read an article about origami by coincidence. I thought it was the perfect hobby for Kite, who studies math. In dealing with origami, I found parallels to parkour in the way that both go straight to the goal without "cuts." Both are artistic, both are special, and both offer a meditative aspect when you go deeper.