With just two young adult books under her belt, children’s author Kimberly K. Jones has proven herself equally adept at both realistic young adult fiction and fantasy books for middle grade audiences. Readers enjoy Jones’ novels, which typically show children mature due to fantastic or tragic events.
Suite 101 spoke to Jones via an April 2, 2009 phone interview and learned the stories behind Jones’ books. The following is an edited version of the interview.
Publishing Children's Books
Suite 101: Why did you want to write books for young adults?
Jones: I never started out to write young adult books – I think becoming a young adult writer was informed by having children and just having the powerful emotions as you watch kids deal with things and try to help them.
Suite 101: Do you base your characters on your own kids?
Jones: I wouldn’t say the characters are based on my children – but the experience you’re thrust into when you have children lets you see a range of behaviors and caused me to learn about my own behavior.
I believe all stories are based on your actual experiences – I’m not saying particular situations need to happen to a writer, but you have to have experienced that emotion for it to be emotionally true.
Writing Sand Dollar Summer
Suite 101: Your first published book Sand Dollar Summer is a young adult novel about Lise, a teenager who hates and fears the ocean she has to live by when her mother moves them to Maine for the summer. Did any of your experiences influence this book?
Jones: Sand Dollar Summer got hatched like an egg on a trip to Maine – I was out tooling around after dusk, and there was this shack on stilts in the tidal flats area with a little light in it. And it was so decrepit and ramshackled and forlorn I couldn’t imagine who would live in a place like that – and I ended up fabricating Ben, Lise’s Indian friend.
So that’s where the story started – even though the story is about Lise and her mom, brother, and dog. I was just trying to figure out who might live in that shack. And once he came into being, I thought, “He’d be an awfully good friend if a kid was having some trouble.”
Suite 101: Did you have the same fear toward the ocean Lise did?
Jones: No – but I didn’t see the ocean until I was in my teens. And for me it was an amazing thing to see such a totally infinite, always-in-motion entity out there that’s so powerful. And I could see how a kid who learned to swim in our civilized, chlorinated pool would be terrified by this loss of boundaries, which plays into the loss and disruption of boundaries Lise is feeling.
Writing The Genie Scheme
Suite 101: Your new novel The Genie Scheme is a middle grade fantasy book about a girl who befriends a genie and wishes for clothes, gadgets, and toys – only to find they don’t make her happy. Why did you shift gears from realistic fiction to fantasy?
Jones: Sometimes I think I don’t pick the stories -- they pick me. The Genie Scheme started with me wanting to express my dismay at the focus we have on acquiring things and how played I feel by the culture of waste we’ve created.
And I tried to think of ways I could express that dismay without being overly preachy or boring – and came up with Eugenie the Genie. And I just had so much fun with her – she was such a great vehicle for trying to express this concern for the idea that, “You need to have this thing, and if you get this you’ll be happy!” We know it doesn’t work that way, but kids take a while to figure that out.
Suite 101: Will we be seeing Eugenie again?
Jones: I’d like to. I’m not done with – well I guess I should say Eugenie isn’t done with us. I hope we see her again.
Learn more about Kimberly’s books by visiting The Official Website of Kimberly K. Jones.
Interested in becoming a writer? Read Kimberly’s thoughts on writing at Children’s Author Discusses Her Writing Process and picture book author/artist Chris Gall's writer's process at Children's Author Shares His Creative Strategies.
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