This is the archive of exclusive interviews with authors I've conducted for the Bildungsroman blog and website, as well as interviews with other artists and actors I've written for other publications. The most recent interview is the first to be listed.

Kathy Kacer (To Look a Nazi in the Eye)
Joel ben Izzy (Dreidels on the Brain)
Suzanne Nelson (Serendipity's Footsteps)
Laurel Gale (Dead Boy)
Courtney Summers (All the Rage)
Una LaMarche (Like No Other)
Micol Ostow (Amity)
Julie Danielson and Betsy Bird (Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature)
Kelly Jensen (It Happens)
Jen Wang (In Real Life)
Shirley Vernick (The Black Butterfly)
Joy Preble (The A-Word)
Kirsten B. Feldman (No Alligators in Sight)
Varsha Bajaj (Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood)
Robyn Bavati (Dancing in the Dark)
Ilsa J. Bick (White Space)
Holly Schindler (The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky)
Alison Cherry (Red)
Chris and Kyle Bolton (Smash)
Alison Croggon (Black Spring)
Shirley Vernick (Remember Dippy)
Jessica Day George (Wednesdays in the Tower)
Shayne Leighton (Of Light and Darkness)
Hilary McKay (Lulu)
Leslie Stella (Permanent Record)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted (The Sisters 8)
Nataly Dawn (singer/songwriter, How I Knew Her)
Doreen Rappaport (Beyond Courage)
Kirsten Miller (How to Lead a Life of Crime)
Caroline B. Cooney (The Face on the Milk Carton)
Dallas Clayton (Make Magic! Do Good!)
Tara Altebrando (What Happens Here)
Kelly Thompson (The Girl Who Would Be King)
Leigh Dunlap (Halifax, A Cinderella Story)
Christopher Golden (Father Gaetano's Puppet Catechism)
Ashley Sandeman (The Thickening Water)
Ned Vizzini (The Other Normals)
Daniella Alonso (Revolution actress)
Megan Frazer Blakemore (Secrets of Truth and Beauty)
Elizabeth Zechel (Is There a Mouse in the Baby's Room)
Donna Freitas (Gold Medal Summer)
Peter H. Reynolds (Sky Color)
Iva-Marie Palmer (The End of the World as We Know It)
Lisa M. Stasse (The Forsaken)
Jennifer Miller (The Year of the Gadfly)
Dave Roman (Teen Boat!)
Tim Lebbon (The Sea Wolves)
Megan McDonald (Judy Moody)
Lisa Papademetriou (Confectionately Yours)
Mary Lowry (The Earthquake Machine)
Cecilia Galante (The Little Wings series)
Gaby Rodriguez (The Pregnancy Project)
Trina Robbins (Lily Renee, Escape Artist)
Susan Lee (Mastermind, Diary of a Mid-Life Crisis)
Beth Kanell (The Secret Room)
Loretta Ellsworth (Unforgettable)
Kristen Tracy (Sharks & Boys)
Anne Ursu (Breadcrumbs)
Erin McGuire (Breadcrumbs)
Tinsel Korey (The Twilight Saga actress)
Alexa Martin (Girl Wonder)
Elisabeth Rohm (Nerissa)
Mary E. Pearson (The Fox Inheritance)
Jane Mendelsohn (Innocence)
Maria Padian (Jersey Tomatoes Are the Best)
Emily Howse (Zitface)
Rachel Karns (Gray)
Shirley Vernick (The Blood Lie)
Janet Lee Carey (The Dragons of Noor)
Tim Lebbon & Christopher Golden (The Secret Journeys of Jack London)
Julia DeVillers & Jennifer Roy (Trading Faces)
Adele Griffin (The Julian Game)
Daisy Whitney (The Mockingbirds)
Maya Gold (Cinderella Cleaners)
Mary Jane Beaufrand (The River)
Loretta Chan (The Struggle to Be Strong)
Jamie Rich (12 Reasons Why I Love Her)
Lisa Shanahan (The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It)
Buzzy Jackson (Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist)
Kirsten Miller (Kiki Strike)
Jaclyn Moriarty (The Year of Secret Assignments)
Andrew Auseon (Freak Magnet)
Kristen Tracy (A Field Guide For Heartbreakers)
Sarah Mlynowski (Gimme a Call)
Holly Cupala (Tell Me a Secret)
J Torres and Jason Bone (Alison Dare)
Cecil Castellucci (Rose Sees Red)
Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown (Picture the Dead)
Melina Marchetta (Looking for Alibrandi)
Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory)
Donna Freitas (This Gorgeous Game)
Holly Schindler (A Blue So Dark)
Barbara Dee (This is Me From Now On)
Julie Bowe (My Best Frenemy)
Meg Cabot (Runaway)
Robin Benway (The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June)
Karen Cushman (Alchemy and Meggy Swann)
Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams (Goddess Girls)
Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)
Cherie Priest (Boneshaker)
Carrie Ryan (The Dead-Tossed Waves)
Margo Lanagan (Tender Morsels)
Shula Klinger (The Kingdom of Strange)
Rachel Hawkins (Hex Hall)
Jen Calonita (Reality Check)
Elissa Brent Weissman (Standing for Socks)
Kristin Walker (A Match Made in High School)
Carrie Jones and Alyxandra Harvey (Captivate; Hearts at Stake)
Robin Friedman (The Importance of Wings)
Loretta Ellsworth (In a Heartbeat)
Melissa de la Cruz (The Ashleys)
E. Lockhart (The Treasure Map of Boys)
Joan Holub (Shampoodle)
Thomas Randall (The Waking: Dreams of the Dead)
Jacqui Robbins (Two of a Kind)
Laurie Faria Stolarz (Blue is for Nightmares)
Courtney Sheinmel (Positively)
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Rain is Not My Indian Name)
Tom Sniegoski (Legacy)
Laura Resau (The Indigo Notebook)
Tim Raglin (The 13 Days of Halloween)
Barbara Jean Hicks, Sue Hendra, and Erin Clarke (Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli)
Matt Phelan (The Storm in the Barn)
Amber Kizer (Meridian)
Thomas Randall (The Waking: Dreams of the Dead)
Melissa Wyatt (Funny How Things Change)
Tanita S. Davis (Mare's War)
Autumn Cornwell (Carpe Diem)
Cheryl Renee Herbsman (Breathing)
Lara Zeises (The Sweet Life of Stella Madison)
Neesha Meminger (Shine, Coconut Moon)
Alyson Noël (Evermore)
Terri & Brittany MacLeod (113 Things to Do By 13)
Jim Rugg (The Plain Janes)
Jessica Burkhart (Canterwood Crest)
Katie Alender (Bad Girls Don't Die)
Nikki Goldstein (GirlForce)
Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon)
Sarah Darer Littman (Purge)
Rachel Renee Russell (Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life)
Cylin Busby (The Year We Disappeared)
Lauren Myracle (Peace, Love, & Baby Ducks)
Thalia Chaltas (Because I Am Furniture)
Rosemary Clement-Moore (Prom Dates from H&!!)
Carolyn Hennesy (Pandora Gets Jealous)
Amber Benson (Death's Daughter)
Sarah Mlynowski (Parties & Potions)
Linda Urban (A Crooked Kind of Perfect)
Meg Cabot (Forever Princess)
Judy Blume (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing)
Robin Benway (Audrey, Wait!)
Lisa Ann Sandell (Song of the Sparrow)
Emily Ecton (Boots and Pieces)
Sarah Darer Littman (Purge)
Luisa Plaja (Split by a Kiss)
Courtney Summers (Cracked Up to Be)
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (The Floating Circus)
Helen Hemphill (The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones)
Amy Belasen and Jacob Osborn (Jenny Green's Killer Year)
Claire Mysko (You're Amazing! A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self)
Julie Kraut (Hot Mess: Summer in the City)
Barbara Jean Hicks (The Secret Life of Walter Kitty)
Carol Plum-Ucci (What Happened to Lani Garver)
Jen Calonita (Secrets of My Hollywood Life)
Debbie Reed Fischer (Swimming with the Sharks)
Taylor Morris (Total Knockout: Tale of an Ex-Class President)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 13)
Kristin O'Donnell Tubb (Autumn Winifred Does Things Different)
Nancy Viau (Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 12)
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (In the Forests of the Night)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 11)
Paul Miller (Earthling Publications)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 10)
Courtney Sheinmel (My So-Called Family)
Suzanne Supplee (Artichoke's Heart)
Brooke Taylor (Undone)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 9)
Vivian French (The Robe of Skulls)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 8)
E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle (How to Be Bad)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 7)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 6)
Alison McGhee (Snap)
Cherry Cheva (She's So Money)
Denise Vega (Fact of Life #31)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 5)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 4)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 3)
E.M. Crane (Skin Deep)
Jennifer Bradbury (Shift)
Tera Lynn Childs (Oh. My. Gods.)
Susane Colasanti (Take Me There)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 2)
Suzanne Harper (The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney)
Ingrid Law (Savvy)
Christina Meldrum (Madapple)
Gaby Triana (The Temptress Four)
Christopher Golden (Serial Interview, Part 1)
Shannon Hale (Book of a Thousand Days)
Liz Tigelaar (PrettyTOUGH)
April Lurie (The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine)
Sara Hantz (The Second Virginity of Suzy Green)
Jody Gehrman (Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty)
Laura Preble (Queen Geeks Social Club)
Robin Wasserman (Seven Deadly Sins, Skinned)
Josie Bloss (Band Geek Love)
Cheryl Klam (The Pretty One)
Teri Brown (Read My Lips)
Kim Flores (Gamma Glamma)
D. Anne Love (Defying the Diva)
Cecilia Galante (The Patron Saint of Butterflies, Hershey Herself)
Jennifer E. Smith (The Comeback Season)
Lisa McMann (Wake)
Dorian Cirrone (Prom Kings and Drama Queens)
Carmen Rodrigues (Not Anything)
Mary E. Pearson (The Adoration of Jenna Fox)
Maryrose Wood (My Life: The Musical)
Jennifer Ziegler (How NOT to Be Popular)
Jamie Ponti (Prama)
Siobhan Vivian (A Little Friendly Advice)
Sherri L. Smith (Hot, Salty, Sour, Sweet)
Robin Palmer (Cindy Ella)
Daphne Grab (Alive and Well in Prague, New York)
Lesley M.M. Blume (Tennyson)
Sara Lewis Holmes (Letters From Rapunzel)
Gabrielle Zevin (Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac)
Beth Kephart (Undercover, House of Dance)
Melissa Walker (Violet on the Runway)
Amy Goldman Koss (The Girls)
Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries)
Liz Gallagher (The Opposite of Invisible)
Justina Chen Headley (Girl Overboard)
Aimee Ferris (Girl Overboard)
Jo Knowles (Lessons from a Dead Girl)
Kirsten Miller (Kiki Strike)
Michele Jaffe (Bad Kitty)
Sara Shepard (Pretty Little Liars)
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List)
Micol Ostow (Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa)
Maureen Johnson (Girl at Sea)
Tom Sniegoski (Owlboy: The Girl with the Destructo Touch)
Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Punk Farm)
Erik Brooks (Lucy's Pups)
Eric Luper (Big Slick)
Paula Brehm-Heeger (2007-2008 YALSA President)
Justina Chen Headley, Lorie Ann Grover, and Janet Lee Carey (Readergirlz: 31 Flavorites)
Melissa Lion (Swollen, Upstream)
Christopher Golden (Body of Evidence)
Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Ironside)
Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)
Kelly Bingham (Shark Girl)
Simmone Howell (Notes from the Teenage Underground)
Deborah Davis (Not Like You)
Tom Sniegoski (Billy Hooten, Owlboy)
Sara Ryan (The Rules for Hearts)
Simone Elkeles (How to Ruin a Summer Vacation)
Julie Halpern (Get Well Soon)
Caroline Hickey (Cassie Was Here)
Gretchen Olson (Call Me Hope)
Stephanie Hale (Revenge of the Homecoming Queen)
C. Leigh Purtill (Love, Meg)
Dana Reinhardt (A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life)
Ysabeau Wilce (Flora Segunda)
Christopher Golden (The Menagerie: Crashing Paradise)
Jordan Sonnenblick (Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie)
Sameera "Sparrow" Righton via Mitali Perkins (First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover)
Sarah Beth Durst (Into the Wild)
Kristen Tracy (Lost It)
Alex Richards (Back Talk)
Janet Lee Carey (Dragon's Keep)
Sonya Sones (What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know)
Cecil Castellucci (Beige)
Joni Sensel (Reality Leak)
Dia Calhoun (The Phoenix Dance)
Nina Malkin (Orange is the New Pink)
Karen Day (Tall Tales)
Julie Bowe (My Last Best Friend)
Sarah Miller (Miss Spitfire)
Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak, Twisted)
Elizabeth Scott (Bloom)
Alex Flinn (Beastly, Diva)
Wendy Toliver (The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren)
Laura Bowers (Beauty Shop for Rent ...fully equipped, inquire within)
Jessica Day George (Dragon Slippers)
E. Lockhart (Dramarama)
Mary Wilcox (The Hollywood Sisters)
Debra Garfinkle (The Band)
Kristen Buckley (Tramps Like Us)
Crissa-Jean Chappell (Total Constant Order)
Liane Bonin (Fame Unlimited)
Heather Brewer (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod)
Shannon Greenland (The Specialists)
Carrie Jones (Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend)
S.T. Underdahl (The Other Sister)
Kerry Madden (The Maggie Valley Trilogy)
Margo Rabb (Cures for Heartbreak)
Jenny Han (Shug, interview two)
Jennifer L. Holm (Penny From Heaven)
Justina Chen Headley, Lorie Ann Grover, Dia Calhoun, and Janet Lee Carey (Readergirlz)
Robin Friedman (The Girlfriend Project)
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (Reaching for Sun)
Terie Garrison (The DragonSpawn Cycle)
Lisa Graff (The Thing about Georgie)
Alison Bell (Zibby Payne and the Terrible, Wonderful Tomboy Experiment)
Jeannine Garsee (Before, After, and Somebody In Between)
Deb Caletti (The Nature of Jade)
Wendy Mass (Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life)
Paula Chase (So Not the Drama)
Melissa Schorr (Goy Crazy)
Nina Wright (Homefree)
Helen Hemphill (Runaround)
Sara Zarr (Story of a Girl)
Christopher Golden (The Veil)
Garret Freymann-Weyr (Stay With Me)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Angel's Choice)
Kirby Larson (Hattie Big Sky)
Lesley M.M. Blume (Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters)
Bonnie Dobkin (Dream Spinner)
Pamela Lowell (Returnable Girl)
Lisa Yee (Millicent Min, Girl Genius)
Raina Telgemeier (BSC Graphix)
Marcy Dermansky (Twins)
Christine MacLean (How It's Done)
Alex McAulay (Bad Girls)
Kelly Parra (Graffiti Girl)
Janette Rallison (It's a Mall World After All)
Amy Saidens (Simon Pulse book cover artist)
Micol Ostow (30 Guys in 30 Days)
Erin Downing (Dancing Queen)
Aimee Friedman (A Novel Idea)
Kelly McClymer (Getting to Third Date)
Jennifer Echols (Major Crush)
Niki Burnham (Do-Over)
Sarah Bushweller and Emily S. Morris aka Libby Street (Accidental It Girl)
Gena Showalter (Oh My Goth)
Justina Chen Headley (Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies))
Bev Katz Rosenbaum (I Was a Teenage Popsicle)
Christopher Golden (Straight on 'til Morning)
Laura Wiess (Such a Pretty Girl)
Cara Lockwood (Bard Academy: Wuthering High)
Caridad Ferrer (Adios to My Old Life, interview two)
Beth Killian (The 310: Life as a Poser)
Jenny O'Connell (Plan B)
Tara Altebrando (The Pursuit of Happiness, interview two)
Susan Taylor Brown (Hugging the Rock)
Jenny Han (Shug)
Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld (Magic or Madness, Uglies)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Golden)
Tom Sniegoski (Serial Interview, Part 4)
A. Lee Martinez (Gil's All Fright Diner)
Tom Sniegoski (Serial Interview, Part 3)
Jordan Roter (Girl in Development)
Tom Sniegoski (Serial Interview, Part 2)
Lorie Ann Grover (On Pointe, Hold Me Tight)
Caridad Ferrer (Adios to My Old Life)
Chris Abouzeid (Anatopsis)
Tom Sniegoski (Serial Interview, Part 1)
Ally Carter (I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You)
Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist)
Tanya Lee Stone (A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl)
Serena Robar (braced2bite)
Mari Mancusi (Boys That Bite)
Cynthia Lord (Rules)
Sarah Dessen (Just Listen)
Tara Altebrando (The Pursuit of Happiness)
Polly Shulman (Enthusiasm)
Jeanne Birdsall (The Penderwicks)
Amber Benson and Christopher Golden (Ghosts of Albion: Accursed)
Christopher Golden (Last Breath)
Christopher Golden (The Monster Book)
Christopher Golden (Strangewood)
Christopher Golden (Body of Evidence)

Themed interviews with multiple authors:
Tell Me a Secret
What Makes You Smile
Art Saves
Family Ties
Definitions of Hope
Their Favorite Books
Looking Forward

This archive is mirrored at the Bildungsroman website.

I've been reading the works of Courtney Summers since her first novel, Cracked Up to Be, was released. Today marks the release of her latest book, Sadie, a story that offers both a first-person narrative and podcast transcripts as alternating chapters follow Sadie's search for the person she believes is responsible for the death of her little sister and the search for Sadie, who told no one where she was going nor who she suspected.

I read the majority of this book in one sitting (it would have been all in one sitting if I hadn't been interrupted!) and loyally listened to the podcast every week. Now, as part of her blog tour, I got to ask Courtney a few things about Sadie and her story.

Tell us the story behind Sadie's name. Her middle name, Lera, has importance, and I'd love to know if her first and last name do as well!

When I have to settle on a character’s name, I go through a list of them (usually on Nymbler), until I see one and feel a "click." I came across the name "Sadie" and I just knew in my gut it belonged to her. Her last name, Hunter, is a little bit of a nod to what she’s set out to do, and . . . a bit of a nod to Sam and Dean Winchester. :)

Throughout the book, Sadie visits many towns. Do any of them resemble your own hometown?

I think all of the towns in the novel start with aspects from places that are familiar to me, personally, in my life, but through the course of writing the novel those fictitious places are built upon and evolve until they become something that is wholly their own, and maybe - hopefully - a little familiar to everyone.

The following questions and answers are part of the general blog tour.

Did you experience more difficulty writing one or the other, or did you like writing in one form more?

I enjoyed both of them. Writing Sadie’s perspective was very familiar to me because all of my books feature an intensely close first person, female point-of-view. Writing West’s perspective, the podcast format, proved a little more challenging. Not so much because of the way it was written (scripts) but because each episode had to propel Sadie’s narrative forward and give us a different way of looking at the things she went through.

How much of the novel did you write in chronological order, and how much did you jump around?

So far, I’ve only ever been able to write in chronological order!

Was this how you always envisioned the book or did it change as you wrote it?

Regina Spektor said something really interesting about writing songs that I’ve always loved and related to as an author. She said, “[A]s soon as you try and take a song from your mind into piano and voice and into the real world, something gets lost and it’s like a moment where, in that moment you forget how it was and it’s this new way. And then when you make a record, even those ideas that you had, then those get all turned and changed. So in the end, I think, it just becomes its own thing and really I think a song could be recorded a million different ways and so what my records are, it just happened like that, but it’s not like, this is how I planned it from the very beginning because I have no idea, I can’t remember.”

I feel something similar when writing - the heart of my idea remains intact, but the way it takes its ultimate form is always a little different (or even a lot different) than I might have been expecting, which makes it difficult to recall the starting point. But that’s okay as long as the heart is still there and you’re satisfied with and believe in what you’ve created.

What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your characters? Which of your characters do you most identify with, and why?

When I first started Sadie, I was extremely skeptical of West - he had to prove himself to readers over the course of his narrative and given the nature of his job, I was curious to see where writing him would take me. I really loved the way his arc unfolded. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by it, but more gratified by it than I realized I would be.

I identify with little pieces of all of my characters, but I like to keep those to myself because I don’t want risk readers thinking about me while they read. I like my role as an author to be invisible.

What gave you the idea for the novel?

One of the things that inspired Sadie was the way we consume violence against women and girls as a form of entertainment. When we do that, we reduce its victims to objects, which suggests a level of disposability - that a girl’s pain is only valuable to us if we’re being entertained by it. But it’s not her responsibility to entertain us. What is our responsibility to us? I really wanted to explore that and the way we dismiss missing girls and what the cost of that ultimately is.

Do you have a favorite scene, quote, or moment from Sadie?

My favorite moment is a spoiler, but my favorite quote is this: “I wish this was a love story.”

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

I used to have an answer for this kind of question but the older I get, that’s changed. I wouldn’t tell her anything. Her experience as a writer unfolded the way it was supposed to and I like how it’s turning out.

A little more about the book:

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray - a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America - overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

Read an excerpt of Sadie by Courtney Summers.

Listen to THE GIRLS podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. The Girls podcast is a full cast audio drama that contains much of West McCray's part of the story. Sadie's chapters are not included in the podcast, so you should read the book to get the full story!

Related posts at Bildungsroman:
Interview: Courtney Summers (2015)
Interview: Courtney Summers (2008)
Book Review: All the Rage by Courtney Summers
Book Review: Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
Book Review: Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
Book Review: This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
What Makes Courtney Summers Smile
So You Want to Read YA? Booklist by Little Willow at Stacked

Kathy Kacer and Jordana Lebowitz earned the Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Teen Readers Category for To Look a Nazi in the Eye, their recounting of Jordana's true story: At age 19, Jordana, a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, attended the trial of Oskar Groening, known as the bookkeeper of Auschwitz, a man charged with being complicit in the death of more than 300,000 Jews. Jordana realized that by witnessing history she gained the knowledge and legitimacy to be able to stand in the footsteps of the survivors.

Today, I'm chatting with Kathy Kacer as part of the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Blog Tour.

Tell us how your family's history inspired your career.

I’m the child of Holocaust survivors and grew up listening to my parents talk about their survival experiences. I grew up not only in a family of survivors but also a community of survivors. And even as a child, I remember being fascinated by all of those stories. One of the stories that inspired me was the story of how my mother had hidden in a dresser that was in her mother’s dining room while Nazi soldiers were searching through the home looking for her. That story actually became my first book, The Secret of Gabi’s Dresser. I believe that my parents had some kind of innate sensitivity about how much information to tell me at each stage of my  development. And I grew up, not terrified of what was a terrifying time in history, but proud of this history and inspired by it, and determined to write these stories down.

How did you come to meet and work with Jordana Lebowitz?

Like many, I had been following the trial of Oscar Groening, one of the last Nazi war criminals to stand trial in Germany in 2015 for his role in Auschwitz. I wanted to write
about the trial but was struggling to find a way to tell this important story. And then I read an article in a local newspaper about a remarkable young woman who, at the  age of nineteen, had decided to travel to Germany so that she could be an observer at Groening’s trial. That young woman was, of course, Jordana. I thought that telling the story of this trial through Jordana’s experience of being there was the perfect way in which to approach it. I actually contacted Jordana through Facebook and asked her if we could meet so I could interview her about her time in Germany. She agreed and we began to meet and talk on a regular basis for the next year or so.

What led to your book deal at Second Story Press?

I have been working with Second Story Press for many years. In fact, of my twenty-five books, Second Story Press has published twelve of them. The publisher, Margie Wolfe, is committed to publishing books about the Holocaust for a young adult readership. This book was a natural fit with SSP and in fact, the contract for its publication was in place before I even began meeting with Jordana.

Does your previous work as a psychologist inform your writing or your research methods?

I worked as a psychologist for twenty years, and I’ve been writing books for about that long as well. It amazes me that I am at this point in my life when I have worked at  two careers, back to back, for about the same amount of time! There’s no question that the work I did as a psychologist, and the skills I developed in that career are a part of the work that I do as a writer. I don’t know how those skills seep into my writing; I just know that they do. They are probably there in the way I interview survivors, in the way I think about the “characters” that I develop in my books, in the way I approach the more graphic parts of writing about this history, and in the way I talk to students and adults across the country.

If your readers are moved to seek justice regarding the past or to chart a better path to the future, but they are not sure where to start, do you have any recommendations?

Jordana is such a remarkable model of someone who is on a path to becoming an activist - speaking up about past injustices, thinking about how to be a leader in her community, envisioning a place for herself in developing a more just future. But her path to activism didn’t start with her attendance at the trial of Oscar Groening. It began when she was in school and was on a committee to develop a Holocaust Ed Program at her school. And it began when she participated in the March of the Living. And it began when she did an internship at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. And so on, and so on. In other words, any small step that you can take in your school, or neighborhood, or community can lead to bigger and bigger steps down the road.

Find something you are passionate about. Join a group or committee that is focused on that passion. Read all you can about that subject. Learn from the people around you and from grown-ups who have come before you. You will slowly but surely find your voice within that group and will be able to find ways to express it outside of those groups.

How can teachers, librarians, and other interested parties contact you about speaking at their school or library?

I have spoken in thousands of schools, colleges, community groups, and libraries across North America and in parts of Europe, South America, and Australia. I love speaking to young people and to adults about my writing and the history that I am so passionate about. I would love to come and speak in your community. Please feel  free to contact me at my email address, info@kathykacer.com

Share ten of your favorite books.

It’s no surprise that I read a lot of historical fiction and a lot of stories that focus on the Second World War and the Holocaust. So here goes …

All the Light You Cannot See – Anthony Doer
Behind the Beautiful Forevers – Katherine Boo
The Invisible Bridge – Julie Orringer
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B – Teresa Toten
Arcadia – Lauren Groff
Not my Father’s Son – Alan Cumming
Between Gods – Alison Pick
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The Lion Seeker – Kenneth Bonert
The Street Sweeper – Elliot Perlman

Learn more about Kathy at her website, kathykacer.com

Follow the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Blog Tour.

Visit the Association of Jewish Libraries website, the AJL blog, and the official Sydney Taylor site.

Check out my archive of author interviews.

Learn more about the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Award gold and silver medalists during their blog tour February 4th through February 8th! I'll be posting my interview with Kathy Kacer, author of To Look a Nazi in the Eye, on Sunday, February 4th. Here's the full schedule:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4th, 2018

Tammar Stein, author of The Six-Day Hero
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers Category
At Shoshanah Flax

Kathy Kacer, author of To Look a Nazi in the Eye
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Teen Readers Category
At Bildungsroman

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5th, 2018

Richard Michelson and Karla Gudeon, author and illustrator of The Language of Angels
Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner in the Younger Readers Category
At Jewish Books for Kids

Alan Gratz, author of Refugee
Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner in the Older Readers Category
At Out of the Box at The Horn Book

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 2018

Fawzia Gilani-Williams and Chiara Fedele, author and illustrator of Yaffa and Fatima, Shalom, Salaam
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
At Ima On (and Off) the Bima

Susan Krawitz, author of Viva, Rose!
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers Category
At The Prosen People at The Jewish Book Council

Antonio Iturbe, author of The Librarian of Auschwitz
Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner in the Teen Readers Category
At The Book of Life

Katherine Locke, author of The Girl with the Red Balloon
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Teen Readers Category
At Book Q&A's with Deborah Kalb

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2018

Jacqueline Jules and Yevgenia Nayberg, author and illustrator of Drop by Drop
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
At Jennifer Tzivia Macleod

Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang, co-authors of This Is Just A Test
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers Category
At The Scroll at Tablet Magazine

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8th, 2018

Blog Tour Wrap-Up at The Whole Megillah

Today's stop on the 2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour is right here at Bildungsroman, with Joel ben Izzy, author of Dreidels on the Brain, recipient of the Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers category. Our interview started even BEFORE page one...

At the start of Dreidels on the Brain, on the publication info page (yes, I always read that!), you say this book is "a work of fiction - and friction - that filled [your] childhood." What prompted you to fictionalize your own experience?

It's so cool that you even read the publication page! I suppose that, as a storyteller, most of my life walks the tightrope between fiction and non-fiction. When I first started traveling around the world telling stories, way back in the early 1980's, I only told folktales. Soon, though, I found that I was introducing the stories by telling about things that had happened on the way to or from my performances, and eventually those introductions grew into stories themselves. After years of that, most everything I did for kids - and adults - had some autobiographical element to it.

Dreidels on the Brain is mostly a memoir, with some parts fictionalized. But I think that the hard and fast distinction between "fiction" and "non-fiction" is overrated. I think of my writing as something between the two - "faction."

Do you approach writing short stories differently from writing full-length novels?

To be honest, I haven't written short stories for a long time, since college. Back then the approach was this:

1) Think about an idea for a short story for a long, long time
2) Discard idea because it's not brilliant enough
3) Come up with another idea
4) Repeat, ad nauseum, never actually writing anything
5) Walk around like a frustrated writer
6) Drop out of college and go to Paris.

That said, yes, the approach is very different, but probably has more to do with my age - and maybe some maturity that's crept in - than the form itself.

Does your process differ depending on the age of your intended audience?

My first book, The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness was geared for adults, though it's read in a lot of high schools now. I suppose that was the book that got me into actually writing - the hard way. I had been traveling around the world telling stories for about 15 years when my own story took a sharp twist - I found I had thyroid cancer. It's considered a "good cancer" (which is a bizarre term, like "jumbo shrimp"). That's because you can operate on it, remove the thyroid gland, and go on living. In my case, though, there was a rare complication: When I awoke from surgery I discovered I could no longer speak. At first doctors said the loss was temporary, but later they decided it was permanent. So it was that I fell into a story as strange as any I had ever told - and that's the story I tell in The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness. Even though it's published for adults, it's good for older kids - and a lot of high schools read it.

Like I said, in that case, I came back to writing the hard way. Dreidels on the Brain is something of a prequel to that book, set when I was a 12 year old magician, the nerdiest of nerds, stuck in the suburbs of the suburbs of Los Angeles. Though I could do magic, what I really wanted was a genuine miracle - and I wanted it to happen during the eight nights of Hanukkah. So, I made a bet with God, over a game of dreidel - and the story takes off from there.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I am a stunningly disciplined writer, beginning as the clock strikes 7:00 a.m. each morning, and producing exactly 300 words each and every day, and if I reach that number before I am finished I will stop right in the very middle of a -

Just kidding.

I do like to write in the morning, and if there are a bunch of dirty dishes in the sink and I can wash them, I find that's the best time for thinking. I also find that if I can get right to the writing, it's good - but if I get stuck making even one call to some insurance company or dealing with anything else bureaucratic, that creative-semi-dream state goes right out the window.

There's a particular café nearby (I live in Berkeley, close to UC Berkeley) which is good for writing in, and the walking there always helps generate ideas. The other thing that's really helpful - especially in the afternoon - is riding my bike up into the hills of the East Bay. There's something about peddling around that really helps me work through thoughts, come up with dialog, plot twists and so on.

Did any of your family members read the book prior to its publication and act as "beta readers"?

My wife and kids are far beta readers than me. In Dreidels on the Brain, they all got really involved.

I thought it was finished, then gave it to my son, Elijah, who was 23, who read it, liked it a lot, then said, "That's pretty good. But I think your main character is too nice. Twelve year olds aren't that nice, in case you've forgotten. I sure wasn't. Make him a little more of a jerk."

And my daughter, Izzy, who was 20, had big contributions. Again, she liked it, but said, "Your female lead character (Amy O'Shea, my magician's assistant) is something of a MPDG." I had to go look that up, and learned all about Manic Pixie Dream Girls. With that comment - and a lot of work - Amy's character changed entirely, so she had a life and storyline of her own.

But the biggest input was from my wife, Taly. I gave it to her when I thought I was almost finished, and she said "It's good, but… it could be a lot better." So she began to work with me, side by side, for months. Really, it was beyond editing, and that became a true collaboration. I tell the story in the acknowledgments. She really worked on this, and made Dreidels on the Brain a much, much better book.

Which of your books was the most difficult to write? The easiest?

I just have these two at this point, and they were both really difficult to write. I guess I'm kind of an ambitious writer, trying to tell a story that makes sense out life, death, God, magic, miracles, grief, illness and everything else.

It always amazes me when I go into a bookstore and see how many books there are, and how some writers have written a bunch. I guess writing for some writers comes easily, but not for me.

What's important to me, though, is not how hard or easy my books are to write, but rather how hard or easy they are to read. I like to write stories that someone will sit down with and want to finish the whole thing. I think it's almost an inverse relationship - the harder I work to write them, the more readable they become. At least I hope so.

You have been a live storyteller in addition to your work as a writer. What's your favorite part of performing live and recounting stories in front of an audience?

When I tell stories, I get to watch their faces. I don't just watch them - I read them. The response is instantaneous and gratifying. You can play with the timing, stretch the pauses, improvise, and really craft the story fresh, right there. It's magic. Not like the magic tricks I did in Dreidels on the Brain - telling a story live is real magic. And, if you can get the writing right, a book can be too.

What's your favorite part of hearing from young readers?

I love to know what resonates with them. It's different with a book, because of the lag time - which can be years. But it's great to hear that something I've written has stuck with them.

That's something I'm seeing more and more these days, having been a storyteller for over 30 years now. Adults come up to me, there's a look on their faces, and they say, "Hey, you told me stories when I was a kid! I remember them! In fact, you told me one about a guy who had a bird, hidden in his hand…" And they'll tell me the whole story. It's so cool that they remember.

Now that you have children, which holiday and/or family traditions have you passed down to them? What have you created that's new, or what have you continued from your own childhood?

Well, there's a lot there to talk about, but I'd just focus on one from Hanukkah, as that's what Dreidels on the Brain is about. I write about watching the candles burn down - and hoping that the shammes (the helper candle, which lights all the rest) will be the last to burn out. I love it when I can do that with my kids.

What books or authors did you love when you were 12?

In Dreidels on the Brain, I write about the influence of one of my favorite books, Zlateh the Goat, by Isaac Bashevis Singer. That's where I first read stories about Chelm, the mythical Jewish town of fools, which weaves in and out of Dreidels on the Brain.

I think that somewhere around that age I read the whole Wizard of Oz series, and the Hardy Boys mysteries as well. Mostly, though, I would go to the library and find anything they had about magic – and Houdini – and read those books again and again.

List ten of your favorite books. Any genre, any style.

I re-read Huckleberry Finn every few years, as well as The Odyssey. I'm pretty fond of Catcher in the Rye (the working title for this book was Kvetcher in the Rye). And I'm pretty fond of kids books by authors like Richard Peck, Sharon Creech, and Roald Dahl - as they tell really great stories. I loved listening to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and The Secret Life of Bees - I'm a total sucker for audio books, which would make sense, as a storyteller. I love Sholom Aleichem's stories (Tevye the Dairyman, which became the basis for Fiddler on the Roof, which also plays a part in Dreidels on the Brain). I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude - especially the first line: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

And, no matter how hard they were to write, I'm pretty fond of my own two books - though I'm probably not supposed to say that.

Want to learn more about Joel and his stories? Visit storypage.com

The 2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour continues through February 10th. Here's the full schedule:

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 2017

Adam Gidwitz and Hatem Aly, author and illustrator of The Inquisitor's Tale
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers category
At The Prosen People

Gavriel Savit, author of Anna and the Swallow Man
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers category
At Book Q&A's with Deborah Kalb

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2017

Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley, author and illustrator of I Dissent
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers category
At Ima On and Off the Bima

Joel ben Izzy, author of Dreidels on the Brain
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers category
At Bildungsroman

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8th, 2017

Andrea Davis Pinkney (author), Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher (illustrators) of A Poem for Peter
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers category
At The Book of Life

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9th, 2017

Michelle Edwards and G. Brian Karas, author and illustrator of A Hat for Mrs. Goldman
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers category
At Jewish Books for Kids with Barbara Bietz

Richard Michelson and Edel Rodriguez, author and illustrator of Fascinating
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers category
At The Horn Book Blog

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th, 2017

Blog tour wrap-up at The Whole Megillah

Learn more about the 2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award gold and silver medalists during their blog tour February 6th through February 10th! I'll be posting my interview with Joel ben Izzy, author of Dreidels on the Brain, on Tuesday, February 7th. Here's the full schedule:

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 2017

Adam Gidwitz and Hatem Aly, author and illustrator of The Inquisitor's Tale
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers category
At The Prosen People

Gavriel Savit, author of Anna and the Swallow Man
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers category
At Book Q&A's with Deborah Kalb

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2017

Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley, author and illustrator of I Dissent
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers category
At Ima On and Off the Bima

Joel ben Izzy, author of Dreidels on the Brain
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers category
At Bildungsroman

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8th, 2017

Andrea Davis Pinkney (author), Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher (illustrators) of A Poem for Peter
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers category
At The Book of Life

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9th, 2017

Michelle Edwards and G. Brian Karas, author and illustrator of A Hat for Mrs. Goldman
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers category
At Jewish Books for Kids with Barbara Bietz

Richard Michelson and Edel Rodriguez, author and illustrator of Fascinating
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers category
At The Horn Book Blog

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th, 2017

Blog tour wrap-up at The Whole Megillah

In the days leading up to Halloween, during conversations about costumes, candy, and celebrations for the coming spooky holiday, I asked authors, friends, and teen readers alike:

What was your favorite scary book as a kid?

Here are some of their responses.

"Well, I was always a fan of Where the Wild Things Are...that was one of my favorites year round. As I got older, I sorta skipped kids' books and went right into the old Doc Savage pulp reprints. After my pulp phase, I discovered Richard Matheson's I Am Legend and there was no going back. I found my love in horror and there was no looking back. That book scared the crap out of me. From there I discovered Stephen King, devouring Carrie and Salem's Lot, but it was The Shining that again reduced me to a quivering mass...but I loved every second!" - Tom Sniegoski

"I LOVED Baby-sitters Beware, The Baby-Sitters Club Super Mystery #2 by Ann M. Martin. The girls were stalked by a creepy dude. So unsettling for a BSC book!!!" - Courtney Summers

"As a kid: Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. As a teen, I read memoirs about tragedy, which scared me plenty!" - Courtney Sheinmel

"Ghost Cat by Beverly Butler changed how I felt about ghosts, cats, and Wisconsin farms. Spooky and a little quirky, which is my favorite flavor of spooky. Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn was suggested to me by my bookish friend in grade school. What I remember most about this book are the fires, the liars, and the skeletons. I'm sure I'm making it sound less chilling than it was for me at the time. It scared me. Also, Carrie was scary. I was the first Stephen King book I ever read. I was in high school and I think it's the only frightening novel I read at that age. I metabolize horror very slowly and read it sparingly. My husband is the scary writer. I'm the funny one." - Kristen Tracy

"Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. It gave me nightmares." - 15-year-old reader

"There was this book about a kid who was visited by monsters every night and the monsters broke his toys. Every night. Until one night when he asked them not to do it anymore, and then they fixed his toys. I can't remember the title." - another 15-year-old reader (If anyone is familiar with this book and knows the title/author, please share the info in the comments below!)

"By far, the scariest book I remember as a young reader was James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. After all, what could be more horrifying than rolling around the countryside embedded deep in the dark, cloying, moist tunnels of an enormous piece of fruit while surrounded by huge insects? If you don't suffocate in there, you run the risk of a tunnel collapse or that the enormous spider might decide to sting you and wrap you in its web. And even if all else goes well, what if the peach stops rolling with the opening facing down? Buried alive. I still shudder at the thought of that book... I was also frightened by Shel Silverstein's foot." - Eric Luper

Please welcome to the blog author Suzanne Nelson, winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor Award in the Teen Readers Category for her novel Serendipity's Footsteps.

What inspired you to write Serendipity's Footsteps? Did you plan from the onset to tie various plotlines together through a pair of shoes, or did the characters' individual stories come to you first?

There were so many inspirations for Serendipity's Footsteps. Versions of Ray and Pinny had been in my mind for over a decade, and I'd even tried once, years ago, writing a vastly different rendition of their story where they were biological sisters. Sixty or so pages into that story, though, I realized it wasn't working and shelved it. Then, a few years ago, I saw a single red slingback sitting atop a boulder in my town. It spurred a conversation with my sister about lost shoes. We tried to unravel the mystery of all the shoes we spotted hanging in trees or laying abandoned on roadsides. What were their stories? Who'd left them behind? It was my sister who asked me to write a novel about lost shoes. She's always loved shoes and told me, "Just write it for me." Because she's my best and most loved and trusted friend, I began writing for her. Then, as I wrote, without me even being fully aware of how pieces were falling into place, Dalya and her story were born. Once Dalya came to me, Ray and Pinny appeared beside her. Maybe they'd been waiting for her the whole time. Needless to say, I knew that these three heroines needed to come together. They each needed families and love, and the story's pale pink shoes became the key to their unbreakable bond. Really, writing the book was as much about serendipity for me as it was for my three heroines. I love Dalya, Ray, and Pinny and consider them kindred sisters and family. They exist for me, real as any other people, and so do the shoes they love.

Dayla, Ray, and Pinny have distinct personalities and voices. Is there a little piece of you in each of them? My Knopf editor and dear friend Michelle Frey tells me that she sees some of me in each of my three heroines, so it's probably true. I can't say with confidence that I could ever possess Dalya's resilience, because I've never experienced anything like her tragedies. Still, I admire her strength of spirit, her loyalty to her faith, culture, and family, and her deep capacity for love. I'd like to believe I carry some of those traits within me, too. I'm as passionate about writing as Ray is about her music. As a teenager, I sometimes wished to escape my life like Ray does. But who doesn't dream of running away at some point or other? The idea of reinventing yourself in a new place and starting fresh without obligations to anyone or anything can be appealing, until you start thinking about how lonely it would be. I have some of Ray's selfishness and outspokenness, too, although maybe I've learned to temper those shortcomings through the years (only my family can tell you how successful I've been in my efforts.). As for Pinny and her quest for the "More of Life," the joy she finds in so much of the world around her--I strive to find "More" joy and love in my life each and every day. I'm not as much of an optimist as she is, but I believe in magical thinking and sucking the marrow out of every moment life has to offer.

Did you model any of the characters after people you know or admire?

None of the characters are based directly on people I know personally. However, the emotions Dalya experiences in the wake of her losses, and the decisions she makes in her personal life to preserve and honor her family and her Jewish heritage and identity, were informed by some close friends who shared their family's Holocaust survival stories with me. I have such great admiration for these friends who continually work to protect their family's histories and faith and I hoped to convey some of this with Dalya's character. Pinny's character and story, as well, were influenced indirectly by an experience I had as a teen. My senior year of high school, I tutored a three-year-old boy who had Down Syndrome. The afternoons I spent with Troy were some of the most memorable and rewarding of my adolescence, and I've stayed in touch with the Drake family through the years. Troy and his parents opened my eyes to the challenges so many people with special needs face in finding meaningful employment and independence. It was so important to him and to his family that he work in a field he truly loved. Troy is in his twenties now and has his own Etsy business, Doodle Duck Design. Talking with the Drakes about their journey to find ways for Troy to live his "More of Life" helped me develop Pinny's story. I hope Pinny's search to find fulfillment in her life and work reflects that.

What are the biggest challenges - and rewards - when writing and researching historical fiction?

Research is one of the most fascinating parts of writing historical fiction. I love it so much that for me, the biggest challenge of researching is knowing when to stop! Then there's the problem of having to choose which pieces of research to include in my story, and trying to glean what facts will hold the most interest for readers. It's a time-consuming process, but one that I truly enjoy.

What resources did you use while writing and revising Serendipity's Footsteps?

With Serendipity's Footsteps, I read letters, diary entries, and first-hand accounts from Jewish children and teen refugees who came to the United States prior to and during World War II. From the mid 1930s to the early 1940s, one thousand Jewish children were brought to our country from Europe as part of an American kindertransport. All of those one thousand children left their parents behind in Europe and many never saw them again. They were placed with foster families around the country. Many of the children didn't know English when they arrived, were placed in school classes with younger students, and struggled with loneliness and coping with the grief of the terrible losses of the families they left behind. Learning about the obstacles they overcame and the strength and courage they had in such tragic circumstances helped me portray the difficulties Dalya faced in her transition to America.

Although my visit to Dachau Concentration Camp took place years ago, that visit has always haunted me. I drew on my memories of it when writing the novel. I also contacted two lovely professors, Dr. Buser and Dr. Ley, in Germany who were experts in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and its history, and they answered my numerous questions about that specific camp. Dr. Joselit, Professor of Judaic Studies and History at George Washington University, also gave me wonderful insight into Jewish life and culture in 1930s and 40s New York City. In the end, I was fortunate to have a number of knowledgeable people, here and overseas, guide my research and am so grateful to all of them for their help.

Your modern day romantic comedies include Cake Pop Crush, Hot Cocoa Hearts, Bacon Me Crazy, and Macarons at Midnight. Did you always plan for these stories to be a connected series?

This series started out as a single book, Cake Pop Crush. My Scholastic editor and I were so thrilled to see how popular that book became, and the other companion books followed as a result. Even though the books all have some fun baking theme, they each have different characters and a distinct plot, so they don't have to be read in any specific order. There will be a fifth foodie romance book coming in 2017, titled Donut Go Breaking My Heart. The style of writing for this series is very different from the style of Serendipity's Footsteps. The baking series is lighter and geared towards a younger, middle grade audience. It's fun writing the baking books because it gives me a break from the more serious topics and themes I'm drawn to in my other novels for older readers.

Do you like baking? If so, what are your specialties?

I am giggling at this question, because the honest truth is that I am not as much of a baker as my Cake Pop series might lead readers to believe. When I was experimenting with cake pop recipes for Cake Pop Crush, I actually set a bowl of candy melts on fire in my microwave. I had to run out onto my back porch with the flaming Tupperware to extinguish it under the pouring rain! My family thought it was hilarious.

Cake pop mishaps aside, I do enjoy baking with my three kids. I have a particular weakness for gooey brownies and white chocolate chip cookies and gobble them warm straight out of the oven. My five-year-old daughter is especially passionate about baking, and her love for it rubs off on me. We made some cupcakes a few weeks ago that had mountains of fluorescent icing so high they could've rivaled Mount Everest.

You have also worked as a book editor. How did your work as an editor inform your writing, and vice versa?

I don't think I ever would have become a published author without having been an editor first. Learning the ins and outs of the publishing process and working with other authors on their manuscripts was the best education I received as a writer. Because I was able to see what needed to be revised or reworked in other people's manuscripts, I learned how to view my own writing with a more critical eye. I also learned that you have to write what you're passionate about but also what fills a need in the current book market. Being a writer as well as an editor also gave me great empathy for other struggling writers, and when I had to reject a submission I tried to do it as nicely and encouragingly as I could.

Describe your current favorite go-to pair of shoes for daily wear.

Right now we're in the depths of winter here in Connecticut, and I have this enormous pair of brown fuzzy boots that I wear to wade through the snow and ice. They're so comfortable and warm. For the most part though, because most days I work from home, I keep my feet toasty in some snug slippers. Boring? Maybe, but absolutely essential for my creativity and productivity!

How about your most fun pair of shoes?

I have a pair of glam handmade shoes that are decorated with peacock feathers and another pair of glossy, cherry red peep-toe heels that make me feel beautiful inside and out every time I slip them on. Walking in them feels akin to teetering on a tightrope, but they're absolutely worth it!

List ten of your favorite books. Any genre, any style.

Disclaimer: This is an eclectic mix of classical, contemporary, adult and children's literature. I could easily add another hundred titles to this list (there are so many incredible books in the world!), but these ten are stories I turn to again and again.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by K.G. Campbell (And really anything written by Kate DiCamillo!)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Holes by Louis Sachar
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson


Congratulations to all of the recipients of The Sydney Taylor Book Award! Follow the blog tour featuring the 2016 gold and silver medalists all this week, February 8th-February 12th, hosted at a variety of blogs. Click here for the full blog tour schedule.

Learn more about the Sydney Taylor Book Award.
Visit the People of the Books Blog.
Visit Suzanne Nelson's website.

It's time for another reader survey! I interviewed one of my teen customers for GuysLitWire. Here's what he had to say:

Name: Calvin

Age: 15

Grade: 10th

Books recently read for fun: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett - It took me a while, but it was a fantastic read and ultimately awesome! - and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell - heart-wrenching, and you really want the main characters to get together.

Books recently read for class: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Books you want to read: Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity, the second and third books in the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett.

Books you read as a kid: Harry Potter! Book of choice; just great. My sister read the 7th book 13 times.

Why you like to read: I can't stop reading; it's a passion, and it takes my mind off school.

Favorite book genres/topics: Sci-fi/historical fantasy. Fantasy books transport me into new worlds (so) it's hard to stop reading.

Favorite authors: Ken Follett

Favorite playwrights and plays: West Side Story

Favorite movies: Airplane! My favorite movie by far. I love comedy movies.

Favorite musicians/music genres: Jazz

Anything else you want to say: Reading is awesome!

Happy Monday! Today, I'm interviewing Laurel Gale, whose debut novel Dead Boy was recently released. "I wondered what it would be like for a 'live' dead boy to try to make friends," she said. "I had no idea what would happen next, so I kept writing to find out."

Congratulations on the release of Dead Boy! Where did your main character, Crow Darlingson, get his name?

Thanks! While writing Dead Boy, I sometimes worried that the main character’s name was a little too on the nose, but I loved it too much to change it. His first name is Crow because crows are often associated with death, and he is dead. Of course, he wasn’t dead when he was named, so from his point of view, it’s a rather lucky (unlucky?) coincidence. I also happen to like birds, and I think Crow is a very cool name for a boy. His last name is a variation on the surname Darlington. Crow is his parents’ darling son.

The story of Dead Boy takes place around Halloween. Do you like dressing up and/or passing out candy on Halloween?

Halloween is the best! I always dress up. This year, I actually had three different costumes, one for Halloween itself and two other events. I was a pirate, a ferret, and a steampunk skeleton.

When I was a kid, my friends and I once went trick-or-treating in the middle of the summer. We were bored, so we dressed up. Then we decided that we should do something with our costumes, so we started going door to door. The neighbors laughed and searched their cupboards for candy for us. I don’t think we could have gotten away with it a second time, though.

What inspires you to write for young readers?

Children’s literature can get pretty dark and serious at times, but it’s always exciting and optimistic, and this makes it a lot of fun to read and to write. I enjoy books for young readers, so it’s natural for me to write them. But I think these books are important, too. Children are developing their lifelong reading habits, but they’re also developing so much more than that: their identities, their morals, their goals. The right book can have a huge influence, and I’d like to be a positive part of that.

Was Dead Boy your first completed manuscript?

I have several earlier manuscripts stored on flash drives sitting in drawers, where most of them will remain forever. I should probably just delete them, but I don’t think I could actually bring myself to do that.

I don’t think new writers should expect the first thing they write to be publishable. Writing is a skill that takes time to develop, so most people will need to complete a practice novel or two (or ten) before producing anything that others will enjoy reading. My advice to aspiring writers is to commit to the long haul and not expect instant success.

Can you divulge anything about your next project?

I’m working on another middle grade fantasy. I’ll put more details up on my website when I can.

Do you often find yourself working on multiple projects at once, or do you prefer to focus on one story at a time?

I prefer to focus on one story at a time, but reality sometimes interferes. Manuscripts go through multiple rounds of editing before being published. The process takes months, and between edits, I want to keep writing. As a result, I find myself bouncing between projects. I still like to focus on and immerse myself in a project as much as possible, though.

What kind of music, art, and films inspire you? Have you read/seen/heard anything good lately?

Books inspire me, of course, but so do a lot of movies and television shows. I devour Doctor Who, Supernatural, and anything by Joss Whedon. My musical tastes are pretty varied, but right now I’m really into Of Monsters and Men, especially the songs Dirty Paws and Little Talks.

Tell me ten of your all-time favorite books.

I’m so glad I get to pick ten instead of one! In no particular order, some of my favorite books are Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Among Others by Jo Walton, Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, and the Harry Potter box set by J. K. Rowling. A box set counts as a single choice, right?

Lightning round!
Cocoa or egg nog? Egg nog.
Sunrise or sunset? Sunset.
Hardcover or paperback? Hardcover.
Homecooked meal or takeout? Homecooked.

And now for the most important question of this interview... Who is your favorite doctor on Doctor Who, and why? (Mine is the Tenth Doctor, brilliantly portrayed by David Tennant!)

David Tennant’s doctor is brilliant, but my favorite doctor is the eleventh doctor, played by Matt Smith.

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Like Crow, Gale resides in the Nevada desert. She lives with her husband and a band of furry monsters that might actually be ferrets, her favorite animal (even though they don't make an appearance in Dead Boy). Learn more about Laurel and her books at her website: http://www.laurelgale.com