The 401
LITERARY LOVE
BY KAITLYN MURRAY
Rebecca Bendheim speaks at Books on the Square in Providence during a stop on her book tour.
Being in that room took me back to my sixth-grade self and how worried I was about my future. My best friend had convinced me to have a crush on a guy in the advisory. I was so nervous about needing to have a crush on a guy and I just remember feeling so alone. It made me emotional thinking about all those kids now who don’ t have to feel like that— they get to feel celebrated from the start.
PHOTOGRAPH: BRUCE BENDHEIM.
Q & A: Rebecca Bendheim
The former Barrington resident returns to the Gordon School for the Day of( No) Silence and to talk about her new book, When You’ re Brave Enough.
T
HE GORDON SCHOOL in East Providence recently invited former student-turned-author Rebecca Bendheim to take part in its annual Day of( No) Silence.
During the national event, LGBTQ + students and their allies protest the harmful effects of bullying and discrimination of LGBTQ + people in schools. A former Barrington resident who now lives in Austin, Texas, Bendheim spoke to students about queer rights and her new middle-grade novel, When You’ re Brave Enough.
We caught up with Bendheim to learn more about her return to her alma mater, her new book, and the importance of representation in media.
Were there any standout moments from the Day of( No) Silence? There was one moment after they had a Pride parade when I went to the middle school basement where I had my first Gordon advisory in sixth grade. I’ ve been trying to be an author for a long time, and I started tearing up because I was thinking about how far I’ ve come, and how far the school has come. I’ ve been experiencing a lot of negativity around my book, and getting to spend an entire day in a place that celebrates queerness as a beautiful fact of life was so special to me.
Speaking of navigating young queerhood and crushes, tell me more about your new middle-grade book, When You’ re Brave Enough. It’ s set on the East Side of Providence. I feel like my middle school years were defined by walking around Wayland Square, so I wanted my main character to live there. The Crook Point Bridge is a big fixture in the book: I used to hang out there, so my main character spends a lot of time there. She feels like she’ s not being a teenager correctly; like she’ s behind her peers. She compares herself to the bridge, where the bridge next to it has cars zooming by and going toward something while she feels stuck. She doesn’ t know what she wants or who she is.
I’ d love to hear more about your advocacy work with Authors Against Book Bans. I live in Austin, Texas, so the Capitol building is right there, and I’ ve gotten to testify at some of the State Board of Education meetings. Right now, they’ re trying to make literary lists of required reading for every grade. But there are only six novels per year in the upper grades, which basically means that teachers can’ t teach books that they choose [ outside of the literary lists ]. I’ ve been advocating for teachers to have more choice because I think it’ s so important for teachers to be passionate about what they’ re teaching, and for kids to have the opportunity to read books that better fit with their identity. Especially here in Texas, we have a large Latino population, and those literary lists have very few books by Latino authors. I’ m very passionate about seeing yourself in a book and seeing other people’ s identities— using books and media in general to
44 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I JULY 2026