Amani Mehta

Age 9, 4th Grade, Linwood Howe Elementary

KidScoop Media Correspondent

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's book Just Ask! was being featured by Children's Book World at Santa Monica high school. With the help of Kid Scoop Media, we were able to cover this event and have a personal interview with Justice Sotomayor. Before our big interview, I met with Mica, my co- Kid Scoop Media correspondent on this assignment a few days before the big day. We wanted to discuss and practice our questions that we would like to ask the Justice. Both of us were scared and nervous.

Upon arriving at the event, we were escorted to the green room inside Barnum Hall at Santa Monica high school campus. We waited for a few minutes before Justice Sotomayor came in with her two bodyguards. She was wearing golden bracelets and red lipstick, like Wonder Woman. I liked her outfit.

Based on our previous research we knew that Justice Sotomayor was diabetic, so we asked her how her illness affected what she wanted to be when she grew up. Sotomayor said, "When I was a kid, I wanted to be just like Nancy Drew. But people told me that I couldn't be a detective because of my diabetes."

But then, she saw a TV show about a man named Perry Mason, who was a successful investigator and a lawyer. She was heavily inspired by him and decided to go into law despite what people had told her.

I also asked why did she choose a garden as the theme? She said, "There was no special garden in my life. But I chose a garden because people are just like gardens, we all grow differently, we all are different just like gardens."

I think the interview went very well. She was really nice and she loves kids. Since she loves kids so much our interview went long. Our interview was supposed to be 15 min. But it ended up being 30 minutes!

After the interview we felt so accomplished. We all went to get a treat at Starbucks before returning to see Justice Sotomayor being interviewed live in front of an audience by her incredible illustrator Rafael Lopez. What I thought was interesting was that she let all the kids there come up hug her and ask her questions. I will remember this day for the rest of my life!