YAY! Interview with Katie Davis, author of THE CURSE OF ADDY MCMAHON

Boodle and Briar: Lollipops or gum?

Katie: Well, it depends on what day you ask me. Since you asked me today, however, I'd have to say lollipops. Because I'm a candy freak. But if you posed this question, say, last Thursday, a day upon which I was trying to quit candy and was therefore chomping on piece after piece of sugarless gum, I would've said…gum.

Boodle and Briar: There was a lot of talk about fairies in your book, and coincidentally, Toad Hill is thick with them. Have you ever seen fairies in real life, or anything that might be magic?

Katie: I know someone who saw the tooth fairy's blue sparkles as she left the room. I find that hard to believe though, because everyone knows the tooth fairy's boyfriend is the sandman, and he wouldn't let anyone stay awake if they're due for a tooth fairy visit.

Boodle and Briar: And as far as magic?

Katie: I think extreme acts of kindness are magical, as hokey as that sounds.

Boodle and Briar: Did you always want to be a writer? If not, what inspired you to become one?

Katie: I always loved to write. I kept journals and diaries (what is the difference, anyway?) from the age of 11 or so until I was in my twenties. Growing up there wasn't access to writers like there is now, thanks to the internet. I never knew writing for a living was even a job possibility. I knew I wanted to write for my work, and thought I'd be a journalist, or in advertising (both of which I tried, wasn't too good at and didn't like too much). It never occurred to me that I'd wind up writing books, even though I was writing and illustrating little book gifts for friends and families for years (some of them are on my website *– and they're really bad!)

Boodle and Briar: If a two foot, pink trouser clad elf hopped up to you a told you he could grant you the blessing of choosing one day in your life to relive, what would it be and why?

Katie: Actually, I'd rather experience every new day, and not go back. But If I could go back it'd be the day in fourth grade, when Harvey Neubart* started teasing me on a school trip to the local forest. I cried, and my reaction opened the door on a year of teasing that was brutal. If I could relive that day, I would stand up to Harvey, and that would change the course of the year.

On the other hand, being teased my entire fourth grade year made me a reader, and made me feel deeply for the characters I read about. If I'd been popular and happy, maybe I wouldn't have ended up being a writer.

Boodle and Briar: When you write, do you find yourself following the character's instinct instead of your own?

Katie: When I'm really deep into writing, I don't even have to try to follow the character's instinct. But upon re-reading my work, I'll usually find a word or phrase here and there that is not true to the character – that is why revision is so valuable!

Boodle and Briar: What do you think it would be like to be a character in a book?

Katie: Very flat.

Boodle and Briar: Aha! Now we come to the oh-so-popular, skillful hijacking of a 3 Evil Cousins question: the create-your-own–question question!

Katie: Can I give you $42,673,858,787?

Boodle and Briar: Frogs or toads?

Katie: No offense, but they both freak me out. However, I do have a picture book manuscript that begins:

If I were a bullfrog and you were a toad,
We could ribbit all day in amphibian code,
We could hop till we drop and hang out by the swamp
And stay on the lookout for insects to chomp.

Boodle and Briar: Here is a lovely writing prompt! Just continue the story if you wish! … A soothing feeling comes over you and you find yourself nodding. Yet, comfortable as you are, you start to regret asking the little red fairy with horns to sing to you. As you began to drift into a painless sleep, you wonder if you'll ever wake up again. A wave of panic washes over you until, suddenly…

Katie: …I remember that I made up the little red fairy with horns! So I make her disappear in a shower of candy, but not before I have her sing me to sleep with the voice of Aretha Franklin. But she's so good that I open my eyes, and there is Aretha, standing in my room! She says nothing, just keeps singing. And I am happy.

The End.

Boodledoo and Briar Kasvi want to thank our wonderful author, Katie Davis for answering our questions!

* To see Katie's childhood books, go to her site, click on "Info" then "Sketchbook" then "Childhood Books"

P.S. Did you know that besides THE CURSE OF ADDY MCMAHON Katie has written and illustrated several hilarious picture books including "WHO HOPS" and "KINDERGARTEN ROCKS"?

S.A. Bodeen Visits Toad Hill!

Briar Kasvi had the toad-aly awesome job this week of interviewing author S.A. Bodeen for Toad Hill. Besides earning 5+ toads on our review, THE COMPOUND has been nominated for ALA's 2009 Best Books for Young Adults and 2009 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers lists.

T.H.Reviews -- Thank you for agreeing to talk to us! You're our very first author interview! To start off, we have a somewhat sticky issue we've been debating on Toad Hill, perhaps you can give us your vote -- Twizzlers or red vines?

S.A.Bodeen -- Red vines, because they come in gallon buckets at Costco.

T.H.Reviews -- Thank you very much for your vote. Now to the serious stuff. So, on Toad Hill, there's always the either the sound of flies whizzing merrily about, or jolly looking toads croaking their songs while we're reading. What kind of sounds are in the background when you read?

S.A.Bodeen -- My cat Ficus purring.

T.H.Reviews -- A lot of authors seem to have cats. How did you get Ficus?

S.A. Bodeen -- Some kid brought kittens to my daughter's soccer game in a shoe box and I couldn't resist. But I think she got taken away from her mom too soon, because she always nurses on this one blanket we have. ( And she's three!)

T.H.Reviews -- Did you always want to be a writer?

S.A.Bodeen -- Yes, always. Well, since 3rd grade anyway. That's when I starting practicing my signature.

T.H.Reviews -- If you were told you had forty minutes left to live, what would you do? (for example, gorge yourself on donuts, run for a secret underground compound)

S.A.Bodeen -- Probably have the biggest bacon cheeseburger I could find and not even think about how bad it is for my arteries...

T.H.Reviews -- If your mind was hijacked by evil Thompers, tiny, indestructible figures, and they stole every single memory in your head, except for one, which memory would you want the last one to be?

S.A.Bodeen -- Dancing gooney birds on Midway Island. When my daughters were 7 and 9, we moved out to Midway Island, home of over half a million albatross. And they have a dance they do which is just incredible to watch. And deafening, some people slept with earplugs because the gooney birds were so loud.

T.H.Reviews -- Okay so . . . Eleven tiny little figures, sleek and steel and miniscule are rushing towards you, robotic limbs moving in crisp, sharp motions, coming closer and closer by the very second, armed with evil aapaepa MUSH CAPS, little Thomper eyes flashing red and purple, red and purple . . . there isn't much time . . .

S.A.Bodeen -- . . . You know what will happen if they catch you. Deep down you know, because you've been warned your entire life, but you try not to think about that as you start to run. Screams catch in your throat as you feel something brush your naked calf . . .

T.H.Reviews -- And now, the ever-so-artful theft of a 3 Evil Cousins question: the famous create-your-own-question question!

S.A.Bodeen -- Other than being an author, what is your dream job?
S.A.Bodeen -- dream job to me would be to get paid to read books. Now that would be heaven.

T.H.Reviews -- What is your favorite book now, and how has it changed since you were a tween?

S.A.Bodeen -- My favorite right now is Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The main character is a true book lover, so maybe my choices haven't changed that much, because I was always drawn to books whose characters loved books. Or maybe I'm imagining that, because all the childhood favorites I'm thinking of don't really have books in them at all. Hmmm. Let's just say I still love to read as much as I ever did, maybe more.

T.H.Reviews -- Do you remember any of the specific books you loved as a tween?

S.A.Bodeen -- I was a big fan of Judy Blume, the Narnia books, the Zanballer series by R.R. Knudson, and then I started reading Stephen King and it was all over....

T.H.Reviews -- You have written several picture books. I notice you're the mother to teens now -- did they inspire you to write The Compound, your first book for YA?

S.A.Bodeen -- Yes. I mean, they weren't inspiration for the psychopath, but I definitely wanted to write something for their age group, like I had done when they were younger. And it was pretty cool to have my oldest daughter be one of my first readers.

T.H.Reviews -- What three pieces of advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

S.A.Bodeen -- 1. Read as much as you can. 2. Write as much as you can. 3. Never ever give up.

T.H.Reviews -- Thank you so much for your time. And for our last question, we just have to know . . . Frogs or toads?

S.A.Bodeen -- Ah, toads of course. Warts and all . . .