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Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Yay For Middle Grade Books! Interview With Alexandra Ott!



Hi, everyone! Today I'm pleased to present an interview with Alexandra Ott, the author of multiple MG novels, including her newest release, Seekers of the Wild Realm.

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 Seekers of the Wild Realm (The Wild Realm #1)?
Seekers of the Wild Realm takes place on a magical island, where all kinds of mythical creatures—including dragons, unicorns, phoenixes, and more—live peacefully within the Wild Realm. 12-year-old Bryn loves magical creatures and is determined to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a Seeker, one of the select people from her village who journey into the Realm to care for magical creatures and collect magical items. There’s just one problem: only boys have ever been chosen to become Seekers, and Bryn isn’t allowed to train with them. So, in order to win the Seeker competition, she has to find her own means of training—even if it means breaking all the rules, teaming up with her biggest rival, and caring for a baby dragon in secret!
 
It sounds really good! :)

What was the inspiration for the book?
I love animals, and magical creatures have always been one of my favorite parts of any fantasy story. I knew I wanted to write about classic magical creatures like dragons and unicorns, but I also wanted to invent my own creatures and imagine the abilities they might have. Finally, it occurred to me that I could create a fantasy realm for mythical beings and populate it with not only dragons and other famous creatures but also magical animals of my own invention. Once I had that setting in mind, the rest of the story developed from there!

Random Question! What’s your favorite chocolate dessert?
It’s so hard to choose; I have a big sweet tooth and love anything chocolate! But my favorite is probably chocolate cheesecake. The more layers of chocolate it has, the better!

Chocolate cheesecake is delicious! :)

If you're able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?
I’m currently writing the sequel to Seekers of the Wild Realm! I can’t share much without spoiling the first book, but let’s just say there are a lot of things in this world to explore, and Bryn’s adventures don’t end with book one!

What are some of your favorite MG books you've read? And what are some that you're looking forward to reading?
This is such a hard question! I love so many MG books, it would be impossible to narrow it down. A few of my most recent favorite reads were Wrong Way Summer by Heidi Lang, The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis, How to Disappear Completely by Ali Standish, Legends of the Lost Causes by Brad McClelland and Louis Sylvester, and Shadow Weaver by MarcyKate Connolly. Some upcoming titles I’m most looking forward to are Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter by Beth McMullen, Hello, Future Me by Kim Ventrella, and The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray.

Just added a couple more books to my TBR list... :)

Thank you to Alexandra Ott for participating in this event! :)



Author Bio: Alexandra Ott writes fiction for young readers, including her debut middle grade fantasy novel Rules for Thieves and its sequel The Shadow Thieves. Her next middle grade novel, Seekers of the Wild Realm, is forthcoming from Aladdin/Simon and Schuster in summer 2020.

Alex graduated from the University of Tulsa, where she studied English. She is currently a freelance editor. In her spare time, she plays the flute, eats a lot of chocolate, and reads just about everything. She lives in Oklahoma with her tiny canine overlord.

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