Yay For Middle Grade Books! Interview With Jen Malone

Today on the blog I'm happy to present an interview with Jen Malone! Ms. Malone is the author of multiple MG books, including the upcoming books Best. Night. Ever. (Written with six other authors!), which releases August 15th, and The Art of the Swap (Written with Kristine Carlson Asselin!), which releases in February 2018. She is also the author of multiple YA books, including the upcoming Changes in Latitudes, which releases July 25th.

Here we go!

The bold writing is the questions I asked, the regular writing is her responses, and the bold italic writing are my comments about her answers.

1. Would you please describe The Art of the Swap (Written with Kristine Carlson Asselin!) in seven words? 

Freaky Friday meets Downton Abbey-ish art heist.

2. Best. Night. Ever. (Written with six other authors!) releases in August! It looks so good, and seems like a unique way to write a MG book! Can you tell us all a little about it?

It was definitely unique—and also tons of fun. It’s probably closer to the way TV shows get written, with a group of writers in one room (even though our “room” was a Google Hangout, since we all live in different states from one another). Okay, a little about it: Best. Night. Ever. tells the story of one crazy night, from the perspectives of seven different kids. They each have their own storylines, but their characters interact and the storylines overlap a bunch since they’re all centered around the same middle school dance.

This sounds so fun! :)

3. Random question! What is your favorite movie? 

Ooh. This changes on a daily basis, but I think today I’d have to say Bridget Jones Diary. Mark Darcy is so… perfect.

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

I can’t talk about it too much, because it hasn’t been announced yet, so I’ll have to be annoyingly vague. But it’s a YA novel and it’s actually kind of a departure for me- it’s a much more serious subject matter than I normally write about. I’m loving the challenge that presents!

5. What have been some of your recent favorite MG books? 

I love Alison Cherry’s Willows and Wolverines and Ronni Arno’s Dear Poppy and I was lucky enough to get an early read of Dee Romito’s There’s No Place Like Home. Can’t miss with any of these!

Those all look really good! :)

Thank you so much to Ms. Malone for participating in this event! :)

Author bio: Jen Malone writes flirty young adult travel romances with HarperCollins and fun and humorous "girl power” middle grade adventures with Simon & Schuster. Her latest novel, Follow Your Art, is a collaboration with Dreamworks Animation and Penguin Random House on a companion story to the animated film Trolls, starring Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. Jen’s other published titles include The Sleepover, the You’re Invited series (with Gail Nall), At Your Service, Map to the Stars, and Wanderlost. She once spent a year traveling the world solo, met her husband on the highway (literally), and went into labor with her identical twins while on a rock star's tour bus. These days she saves the drama for her books. You can learn more about Jen and her books at www.jenmalonewrites.com. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @jenmalonewrites.

Here are a few links:

Her Website

Her Twitter