ASK THE EXPERT SERIES INTERVIEW WITH AN UPCOMING 6TH GRADER

Today I'm excited to interview Malorie, an upcoming 6th grader. She's Dustin Hansen's daughter, one of our followers. And even more awesome, IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Malorie. I hope you have a fun birthday and thanks for joining us.

1.Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you like to read.

My name is Malorie Hansen and I love to read. I’m almost in the 6th grade and my hobbies are skating, reading, playing with pets (chickens, dog, cat, turkeys, ducks, goats) and acting in plays. As you can tell, I’m a farm girl.
My favorite thing to read is adventure and fantasy books like Percy Jackson, Farworld, Goose Girl and The Frog Princess. I love The Healing Wars by Janice Hardy –the girls in the books remind me of me and my sister. I also love Shel Silverstein.

2. We share a lot of the same tastes in books. I loved the Percy Jackson series, Goose Girl, and The Healing Wars too. How do you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

Mostly from my friends and family. They usually say stuff like, “Hey Malorie, have you read this book?” and then if it looks good I read it.

3. What are you reading now? What books are you waiting to be released?

Frog Princess and a book by my 5th grade teacher, Mr. Jones called Buffalo Days. It’s pretty funny and he is a great reader so it makes it more fun.
I can’t wait for Farworld 3 and book 3 of The Healing Wars – Darkfall.

4. I can't wait for Darkfall either. FYI I'm interviewing Janice Hardy and giving away an ARC of DARKFALL on October 10th so have your dad enter my contest for you. Do you buy most of your book or get them at the library? How often do you go to a bookstore?

Both – evenly. We live far away from a bookstore now – GOSH DARNIT! But my parents let me buy them on my dad’s iPad. I love reading on the iPad but I can’t take it to school.
Also, I love looking through books on Amazon and downloading sample pages. Once I got a book that looked good but there were swear words in the sample so we didn’t buy it. I like that.

5. I'm jealous. I don't have an iPad. Do you read any teen book blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why?

I don’t read any blogs. I really don’t even know what they are, but I do LIKE some books and authors I like on Facebook. Shannon Hale, Janice Hardy, J. Scott Savage and Shel Silverstein. It’s cool to see what the authors have to say, but J. Scott Savage won’t tell me when his book is coming out. It’s driving me crazy!

6. That's awesome that you follow authors on Facebook. Has your teacher recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you?

Nope.

7. Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

Sneak peeks about their books or deleted chapters like the deleted scenes on DVD’s. I’ve been to a couple of writer websites, but they are mostly for other writers. None of them are for kids like me so I usually just check out Amazon on the iPad for writers.

8. Those are great tips.Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

Yes. Brandon Mull came and he was hilarious. He read from his book and then answered a lot of questions. He was funny and he really liked us. That makes a big difference. It would be great if the authors could do a drawing or something so that kids could get a chance to win a signed copy of the book.

Thanks so much Malorie for giving us all your great advice. Have a great birthday. I hope everyone will wish Malorie a happy birthday in the comments. What do you think of her suggestions for author websites? They sound like great ideas to me.

Don't forget to enter my contest here for one copy of NIGHTSHADE. To enter the contest, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on July 23^rd. I’ll announce the winner on July 25^th.

Next week I’ll be interviewing Amy Holder and giving away a copy of THE LIPSTICK LAWS. She has an amazing story about her road to publication that you won’t want to miss.

And on August 1st I'll be interviewing Stephanie Burgis and giving away a copy of KAT INCORRIGIBLE.

And I just found out that WriteOnCon has an awesome contest where you could win $1000.00 and get a chance to have your work represented by Catherine Drayton. Check out the details here.

See you next Monday!