That’s a wrap: Author and Illustrator Interviews of 2009

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: January 7, 2010

What a great year! Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the authors we met in person and via e-mail during 2009 …

• Emily Gravett, who I actually met back in 2008 during her promotion of Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, was the first interview that we published in 2009. Actually, it was our first ever podcast!

• I traded e-mails with Ingrid Law to produce an interview about her debut novel, Savvy, which won a  Newbery Honor Award. She’s a fabulous author with a great personality—we even learned about her own savvy and her favorite stain-remover.
• Our next visitor was Bonny Becker, author of the acclaimed A Visitor for Bear. We chatted about her book and what we could expect from Bear in the future, as well as a little tip on love, “All the clichés are true—as in, when you least expect it… .”
• Luisa had the opportunity to hang-out with Eric Wight (via e-mail) as they discussed his “rip-roaring-good-read” Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom.

• Douglas E. Richards conversed with Luisa about his science-fiction/mystery series, The Prometheus Project. What an interesting guy!

• Awestruck, I sent questions to one of my all-time favorite author/illustrators, Loren Long. We talked about many things, including his middle grade series Sluggers.

• Dessert First was the fantastic debut novel from Hallie Durand. I enjoyed it so much, I just had to know more.

• Amanda corresponded with Lynn E. Hazen about her books which capture a wide array of audiences (Shifty, Cinder Rabbit, and more).

• Keeping busy, Amanda also connected with Micheal Spradlin. Amanda is an Historical Fiction enthusiast and just loves his series The Youngest Templar.

• One of the big highlights of 2009 was when Susan Patron e-mailed us to say thank you for our thoughtful reviews of her Lucky Trilogy (it’s nice to feel appreciated). I couldn’t resist asking for an interview. Now it’s my turn: thank you, Susan!

• Luisa quizzed the intriguing Mark Karlins on poetry, parenting and children’s books.

• Jon Scieszka joked with us about who would be the next National Ambassador for Young Poeple’s Literature.

• And last-but-not-least, I chitchatted with Carin Berger (in person) about ALL of her books— including her soon-to-be-released treasure, Forever Friends. Carin, you are so lovely!

The following authors were also very generous with their time, pausing from their busy schedules to write interesting and entertaining articles just for TCBR:

• Toni Buzzeo: Toni Buzzeo explores historical fiction.
• Kristina Springer: How the heck did you come up with that?
• Steven Hornby: Secrets of a Christmas Box
• Lauren McLaughlin: Who am I? The power of self-invention during the teen years.
• Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin: Even if you don’t become famous …