On Friday, October 4th, we had a Skype visit with Jordan Sonnenblick, the author of Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie, which was this year’s required summer reading for middle school.
Jordan talked to us from his kitchen in Pennsylvania about the origins of Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie, and how he shaped a lot of the characters from people he knew in real life. He based Steven on himself and said Jeffrey was based on his son.
Many students asked Jordan some really great questions–about his writing process, how he deals with writer’s block (he said he would like “to jump off a cliff” sometimes), and how he manages to be a writer and a dad at the same time. He talked about being a musician and how that also inspires his writing. He had some great tips for all the writers in the audience (query letters, oh my!)
We enjoyed our Skype visit with Mr. Sonnenblick! His new book, Are You Experienced? was released on September 3rd–come on down to Matthew’s Library to check it out.