Hi, everyone! Today I'm happy to present an interview with Eileen Moskowitz-Palma, the author of The Popularity Pact: Camp Clique, and the sequel, The Popularity Pact: School Squad, which releases later this year.
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 The Popularity Pact: Camp Clique?
In the blink of a summer, Bea goes from having a best friend and a place she belongs to being dropped and invisible, eating lunch alone and only talking to teachers. The end of sixth grade and the start of Camp Amelia can't come soon enough.
But then the worst part of school, ex-best friend Maisy, shows up in Bea's safe place and ruins it all. Maisy lands in the same bunk as Bea and summer suddenly seems dire. Never having camped a day in her life, Maisy agrees: it's hopeless. She should be at home, spending time with her little sister and hanging out with her super popular crew of friends--not at this stupid adventure camp failing everything and being hated by everyone. In a desperate bid to belong, Maisy offers Bea a deal: if Bea helps her fit in at camp, she will get Bea into the M & M's, their town's popular clique, when they enter seventh grade in the fall. The Popularity Pact is born.
I’ve heard there’s a sequel coming out later this year! Can you tell us anything about it?
Picking up where The Popularity Pact: Camp Clique left off, the second book finds former best friends Bea and Maisy preparing for the new school year. Bea kept up her end of the bargain, getting Maisy "in" with the girls at camp. Now it's Maisy's turn to fulfill her promise to ingratiate Bea with the popular girls. When Bea is accepted into this new inner circle, she begins to lose sight of what true friendship is all about. As Bea seems prepared to sacrifice anything to be "cool," Maisy realizes there's more to life than hanging out with a bunch of mean girls. Can she convince Bea that the popularity pact was a mistake? Can these former friends find their way back to each other?
Random Question! What type of drink and/or snack do you always have with you when you're writing?
I need ALL the caffeine while I write. My current obsession is Apple Pear Caffeine Kick Hint Water. I don’t usually eat while I work because I like to take a real lunch break away from my computer. Watching a Netflix show while eating a giant salad helps clear my mind for an afternoon of work. However, pre-COVID-19, my writing bestie Lea and I used to meet up once a week to write at the local coffee shop. My fave coffee drink is coffee cake flavored iced coffee with almond milk, while Lea sticks to plain coffee. When we’re sufficiently caffeinated and hungry, we move next door to the sushi restaurant to write together over sushi for her and fully cooked salmon teriyaki for me. We miss our routine, so we’ve been FaceTiming over lunch once a week during this time.
I think salmon teriyaki sounds delicious right now! :)
If you're able to talk about it, what are you currently working on?
I just completed the final round of copy edits for School Squad. I haven’t been working a new manuscript because launching a book during this pandemic has looked completely different than I anticipated. As a former elementary school teacher, I had been looking forward to school visits. I was devastated when the schools closed and all of my book launch events and school visits were canceled. But then, I realized that I could help all of these families who were struggling to balance homeschooling and working from home. I started running free virtual writing camps and book clubs for kids in grades two through eight. It has kept me very busy in the most positive way. Serving all of these kids during this crisis has kept me focused on how I can support others, which has in turn helped me stay positive during this time of sheltering in place. I have also had the opportunity to connect with kids on a much deeper level than I would have otherwise. I am actually using the questions kids asked during our Camp Clique book club meetings in the Q & A section of the paperback edition.
What are some of your favorite MG books you've read? And what are some that you're looking forward to reading?
I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter series. I’ve read the series through twice and watched all of the movies more times than I can count. When the last book in the series came out, I was first on line in the bookstore to get it and I read it in one day so that I wouldn’t hear any spoilers. When I was a kid, I read all of Judy Blume’s books and I loved the way she wrote about issues that most grownups didn’t talk about. The experience of reading her books inspired me to do the same with my own writing. I love Raina Telgemeier books, and I am looking forward to reading her latest book Guts next. I am always blown away by her gift at drawing just the right illustrations to go along with her storyline. Her words feed her artwork, and her illustrations feed her words. I recently devoured The Copycat by Wendy McLeod MacKnight. I love the complex characters in that story, the cozy magical realism vibe and the twists of the plot. It has been my favorite quarantine read yet!
I love Raina Telgemeier and Wendy McLeod MacKnight's books! Guts was excellent, and The Copycat is on my TBR list! :)
Thank you to Eileen Moskowitz-Palma for participating in this event! :)
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It makes me smile! : )