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Monday, May 17, 2021

Yay For Middle Grade Books! Interview With Stephanie Kate Strohm!

 


Hi, everyone! Today I'm happy to present an interview with Stephanie Kate Strohm, whose first MG novel, Once Upon a Tide: A Mermaid's Tale, releases in September! She is also the author of multiple YA novels, including her most recent, Restless Hearts (Katy Keene). Her debut Graphic Novel series,  Arden High, written with Molly Horton Booth and Jamie Green, launces next 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 Out of Water?

Once Upon a Tide is about a fourteen year old mermaid princess named Lana. She lives under the sea with her dad, but once a year she spends a week on land with her mom at the Royal Festival. Lana is dreading her weekly visit - until she's named the youngest ambassador in her kingdom's history! Of course, once she's on land, things don't quite go as planned...especially when Lana develops some unexpected magical powers...

Ooh, this sounds so good! :)

Mermaids are awesome! Who are some of your favorite mermaids in books and movies?

Ariel is of course iconic - I saw the movie in theatres in 1989, and it started a lifelong love of mermaids, and The Little Mermaid in particular. (Do I know every word to every song? You know I do.) I also loved the movie Splash, and I had a book as a kid called "Mermaid Tales from Around the World" that I read so many times it started to fall apart!

When I think of mermaids, Ariel is the first one that I think of! *hums part of your world* :)

Random Question! Would you rather be able to fly or turn invisible?

Fly! Seems like it would be very handy for avoiding the freeway! (I just moved to LA, and I'm definitely still adjusting to the traffic, haha.)

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

I'm currently working on the Arden High graphic novels series with Molly Horton Booth and Jamie Green! They're YA adaptations of Shakespeare plays set in a modern, magical high school. Our first book, Twelfth Grade Night, will be out in Fall of 2022, and King Cheer the year after that! This is my first graphic novel and I've absolutely loved the process. I hope I get to write many more!

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

I'm eagerly awaiting my copy of The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz - I love musical theatre! The Gilded Girl by Alyssa Colman is also at the top of my TBR pile. Recently, I've loved Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim and The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert. And Jen Calonita's Fairy Tale Reform school series is a perennial favorite of mine!

Fantastic picks! :)

Thank you to Stephanie Kate Strohm for participating in this event! :)

Author Bio: Stephanie Kate Strohm is the author of Love a la Mode; Prince in Disguise; It's Not Me, It's You; That's Not What I Heard; The Date to Save; and Katy Keene: Restless Hearts. She grew up in Connecticut and attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where she was voted Winter Carnival Queen. Currently she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son. Her middle-grade debut, Once Upon a Tide: A Mermaid's Tale, will be released in September.

Here are a few links:

Her Website

Her Twitter

Her Instagram

Her Facebook

2 comments:

Thank you for taking the time to comment!
It makes me smile! : )