BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS
Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade by KIMBERLY BEHRE KENNA
Welcome to Books By My Friends, Kimberly! You have a brand new children’s book to share with us today. That cover is adorable. Let’s go!
JH: What’s the blurb for your book?
KBK: Fiery twelve-year-old Artemis and a wily wood thrush team up with the ghosts of historic ecologists in a battle to save a salt marsh from certain death, but chaos ensues in her tourist town when she discovers that her mother’s boyfriend’s hotel is part of the problem.
JH: What inspired you to write Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade?
KBK: As a child I was very shy and often had trouble speaking and would go silent. Spending time outside, particularly on the CT shoreline, calmed me and brought me great joy. As an adult, in my work as a teacher, I witnessed nature's power to provide a safe space for kids to discover themselves as they explored the outdoors. My most reticent students blossomed into passionate scientists, writers, artists, and activists during our time spent in a local salt marsh, just as in my book, Artemis, a stutterer, does. The story is inspired by my days in fifth grade with my students as we wrote and acted out plays that resurrected dead ecologists and placed them in environments where they had to interact with present day humans, for better or worse!
JH: What one thing do you love most about writing?
KBK: I love using my imagination and brainstorming how to creatively tell a story inhabited by quirky characters who, you learn in the end, should not be ignored! Knowing that there's a chance my stories will connect with a child, empower them and give them hope, means the world to me.
JH: What’s next for you in the way of writing/publishing?
KBK: I have two other middle-grade novels that I'm querying right now, and I just started writing another. I continue to write poetry and short stories as a break from my longer works, and my flash fiction just won first place in a contest and will be published by San Fedele Press in their anthology.
JH: How can readers contact you?
KBK:
https://www.kimberlybehrekenna.com/
KBK: I love using my imagination and brainstorming how to creatively tell a story inhabited by quirky characters who, you learn in the end, should not be ignored!
BIO:
After years as an adolescent and family counselor, and then as a fifth grade teacher of ecology and language arts, Kimberly returned to school for her MA in creative writing from Wilkes University. Her middle-grade novel, Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade was a finalist and received Honorable Mention in the 2019 Tassy Walden New Voices in Children’s Literature Competition. It will be published by Regal House/Fitzroy Books 2/2/23. Another middle-grade novel, as yet unpublished, won second place in The Institute of Children’s Literature 2022 MG Mystery First Pages Contest. Her poems and short stories have been published or are forthcoming in American Writers Review, Mused, Plumtree Tavern, San Fedele Press, and Rubbertop Review. Her full-length play was given a staged reading at The Dramatists Guild in NYC. She’s a member of SCBWI and PEN America, and now devotes herself to writing full time. Connect with her at kimberlybehrekenna.com
JH: Thanks, Kim, for being a guest today on BBMF. Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade sounds like an amazing story and one that middle-grade readers will love. Please come back anytime and update us on your other projects.
Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comments below!
All good things,
Joy
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