Interview With Jennie K. Brown!

Today I'm delighted to have Middle Grade author Jennie L. Brown on the blog! Ms. Brown's debut book Poppy Mayberry, the Monday releases September 13th! :)

Here's the summary of the book:
What if your teacher could read your mind just because she was born on a Thursday? Or the kid next to you in class could turn back the clock just because he was a ‘Wednesday”? In the quirky town of Nova, all of this is normal, but one thing is not—Poppy Mayberry. As an almost-eleven-year-old Monday, she should be able to pass notes in class or brush her dog, Pickle, without lifting a finger. But her Monday telekinesis still has some kinks, and that plate of spaghetti she’s passing may just end up on someone’s head. And if that’s not hard enough, practically perfect Ellie Preston is out to get her, and Principal Wible wants to send her to remedial summer school to work on her powers! It’s enough to make a girl want to disappear…if only she were a Friday.

The bold writing is the questions I asked, the regular writing is her answers, and the bold iatlic writing is my comments on her answers!

1.  Poppy Mayberry, the Monday looks like a fun book! Would you please describe it in five words?
Thanks so much, Jess!
Magical powers based on birth-weekday. (Does that count?) haha

2. In the book, what power you have depends on what day of the week you were born. What power would you have based on that?

In Poppy’s world of Nova, if you’re born on a Monday, you move things with your mind. Tuesdays teleport. Wednesdays manipulate electricity. Thursdays read minds. And Fridays can become invisible. Saturdays and Sundays are powerless. That said, I was born on a Saturday which makes me a powerless weekend. L 

And is it the one you would most want? 

So obviously, being powerless is not what I would want; however, I didn’t actually research my own birth day until after I wrote the book! (By the way, you can find out your “week day power” on my website at jenniekbrown.com) I would like to have Tuesday’s teleporting power. I just think it’d be so awesome to simply close my eyes, and when I open them up again, I am sitting on a beach half-way across the world reading an amazing book.

Based on this, I would be able to manipulate electricity! And yeah, being able to teleport wherever I want, whenever I want would be awesome, too! :)

3. Random question time! Favorite Disney movie? :) 

This is so hard ... Cinderella or Bedknobs and Broomsticks -- a tie! 

Ahh, Cinderella! :)

4. If you're able to talk about it, what are you working on now? 

Right now I’m working on the revisions for POPPY book 2 and writing POPPY book 3. I am also working on a cooking inspired middle grade novel. I also write a column for a style magazine, so I’m usually working on those pieces as well.

5. What 2016 books (debut and non-debut) are you looking forward to? 

For debut books, ALL of the Sweet Sixteens books and Sixteen to Reads books. I’m also looking forward to Mary E. Pearson’s next book in her Remnant Chronicles series – The Beauty of Darkness. I just couldn’t put books 1 and 2 down!

Jennie K. Brown is an award-winning high school English teacher, freelance magazine writer, and author of children’s books. Her middle grade novel POPPY MAYBERRY, THE MONDAY will be published in September 2016 by Month9Books (Tantrum Books imprint), with a sequel to follow in April 2017. Book 3 in her Nova Kids Series is set to publish in September 2017. Jennie currently serves as president of the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English and Language Arts (PCTELA) and she is an active member of SCBWI, NCTE, and ALAN. She is a regular contributor to the SCBWI Eastern PA and PCTELA blogs.

When she’s not teaching or writing, Jennie can be found reading, hanging out with her awesome family, or plotting her next book!

Here Are a Few Links:

Her Website 

Her Twitter

Her Facebook