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The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Susie Day (view source)
Revision as of 13:47, 7 July 2012
, 13:47, 7 July 2012no edit summary
|title=The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Susie Day
|reviewer=Robert James
|summary=One of our favourite novels for tweens and younger teens so far this year is the absolutely outstanding [[Pea’s Pea's Book of Best Friends by Susie Day]] – a definite modern classic! We were thrilled to interview Susie.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849415226</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1849415226</amazonus>
}}
One of our favourite novels for tweens and younger teens so far this year is the absolutely outstanding [[Pea’s Pea's Book of Best Friends by Susie Day]] – a definite modern classic! We were thrilled to interview Susie.
* '''Bookbag: When you close your eyes and imagine your readers, who do you see?'''
'''Along with [[:Category:Jo Cotterill|Jo Cotterill]] and [[:Category:Keris Stainton|Keris Stainton]] you're a co-founder of [http://girlsheartbooks.com/ Girls Heart Books], a wonderful website. What made you set the site up?'''
SD: I met Jo via some author friends (we also share a publisher, Random House), and when she had the idea to start an author-run daily blog from writers for girls I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. Lots of attention goes to prize-winning ‘literary’ kidlit - which is brilliant, of course; I love those books too. But popular, contemporary fiction for girls often gets ignored, even discouraged by well-meaning adults who think girls should read something ‘better’ - while accessible books that encourage reluctant boys to read are applauded. Our authors represent a variety of genres, for girls aged 8-14, and we want to celebrate enjoyable good books: the kind that create lifelong readers. I’m a big nerd, so I do all the techie stuff behind the scenes of the website. We’ve had fantastic support from all of the UK’s big children’s publishers, and I still feel giddy when I look at our archives: [[:Category:Cathy Cassidy|Cathy Cassidy]], [[:Category:Hilary McKay|Hilary McKay]], [[:Category:Julia Golding|Julia Golding]], [[:Category:Karen McCombie|Karen McCombie]]... I could be here all day! Most of all, I’m massively proud of how it’s taken off with young readers. Their comments always make me beam.
SD: I’m reading GEEKHOOD by Andy Robb, SOME GIRLS ARE by Courtney Summers, [[The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson|THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE]] by Jandy Nelson, and THE DESCENDANT by MG Harris. Oh, and DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE, because I went to the Edinburgh Writers’ Museum and realised that somehow I never had. Me being partway through all of these is a reflection on me, not on the books; when I’m distracted with lots of different work things I tend to flit about a bit with my reading....