website– http://jeanaliciaelster.com
Facebook author page–
https://www.facebook.com/Jean-Alicia-Elster-Books-160713827312932/
Twitter– @j_a_elster
1. When you were my age, did you like to read? As a youngster, I loved to read!
2. What was your favorite story? My favorite book was Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
3. How do you get your ideas? The ideas for my two most recently published books, Who’s Jim Hines? and The Colored Car, came from real events in my family’s history in the city of Detroit during the 1930s. As a young person growing up, I heard the core of many of these tales during family gatherings. Of course, for my books, I fictionalize, expand and embellish these core bits of family lore.
4. Is it hard to write/illustrate a book? Writing is a very complex and exacting activity: taking a thought in your mind and writing words that allow the reader to share that thought. So in that sense, writing a book is not an easy endeavor. However, I love the process of writing and I love the end result (creating a book!), so it is not hard for me to write my books.
5. Do you have a favorite among the books you have written/illustrated? I do not have a favorite among my many books–they are all very special to me.
6. What author do you really like right now? An author that I am enjoying right now is Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-American author.
7. What advice do you have for a kid who wants to be an author? My advice to any young person who wants to be an author is to read, read, READ as much as they can. They should read different genres of literature, and they should read authors of different nationalities. They should immerse their lives in words.
