Just another teen reading books: Yay For Middle Grade Books! Interview With Jen Calonita!

Hi, everyone! We are at the second day of Yay For Middle Grade Books! Today I'm pleased to present an interview with Jen Calonita, the author of multiple YA and Middle Grade books, most recently Cursed, which is the final book in the Fairy Tale Reform series, and the upcoming MG book, The Retake, which releases in December.

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

Would you please tell us a little about Cursed, the final book in the Fairy Tale Reform School series?

It's all been building up to this moment! Rumplestilktskin and the wicked fairy Alva are attempting to cast a curse that will rewrite the history of Enchantasia and put the villains in charge of the kingdom. It's up to Gilly and her friends to stop him and figure out what to do about her younger sister who works for Stiltskin now. Plus, there is the normal stuff to worry about when trying to stop the end of the fairy tale world--homework!

You have another book coming out in December! Would you please tell us a little about The Retake?

The Retake is different from any MG I've ever written and I'm so excited to share it with readers! When a strange app shows up on Zoe's phone with all her pictures loaded onto it, she realizes she can time travel back to moments in her social media feed to try to fix things with her best friend. But, of course, time travel never goes the way we expect it to, does it?

Random Question! Do you listen to music while you write?

I love to have music playing while I work. Background noise actually helps me concentrate, believe it or not. I usually pick a station on Sirius XM depending on my mood.

If you're able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?

I'm actually working on the first book in a new MG series with Disney and the first book is Flynn Rider from Tangled's origin story, which takes place when he's twelve. It's called The Tales of Flynnigan Rider and I'm having so much fun writing about Eugene Fitzherbert! I'm also working on the next Royal Academy Rebels book about reluctant Princess Devin and her friends.

Oh my goodness, as soon as I read this answer I got so happy! Tangled is one of my all-time favorite movies, I can't wait to read it! :)

What are some of your favorite MG books you've read? And what are some that you're looking forward to reading?

We just ordered a bunch of MG books that everyone on their house wants to get their hands on! The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate is one we're really excited about and I preordered the final book in Soman Chainini's The School for Good and Evil series, One True King. I'm such a huge fan of this fairy tale series and can't wait to get my hands on that last book!

I haven't read that series, but I've heard such good things about it! :)

Thank you to Jen Calonita for participating in this event! :)