Interview and Book Giveaway-Hélène Boudreau

Hélène Boudreau is is here today! Here is a little bit about her from her website:

Hélène Boudreau grew up on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean but now writes fiction and non-fiction for kids from her land-locked home in Ontario, Canada.

She has never time-travelled or saved an endangered bird, nor has she ever spotted a mermaid in the wild, but she believes mermaids are just as plausible as sea horses, flying fish, or electric eels.

Her debut middle grade novel, Acadian Star, was nominated for the 2009-2010 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award.

You can learn more at Hélène Boudreau. Check out her blog, too.

The book I'm giving away is her latest, REAL MERMAIDS DON'T WEAR TOE RINGS.

From Good Reads:

Freak of nature takes on a whole new meaning...

If she hadn't been so clueless, she might have seen it coming. But really, who expects to get into a relaxing bathtub after a stressful day of shopping for tankinis and come out with scales and a tail?

Most. Embarrassing. Moment. Ever.

Jade soon discovers she inherited her mermaid tendencies from her mom. But if Mom was a mermaid, how did she drown?

Jade is determined to find out. So how does a plus-size, aqua-phobic mer-girl go about doing that exactly? And how will Jade ever be able to explain her secret to her best friend, Cori, and to her crush, Luke?

This summer is about to get a lot more interesting...

The Book Trailer

AND---there is going to be a SEA-quel, something that has my book club kids excited-as it is making it around the group, Book One is getting 5 out of 5 Donuts (their fave book club snack-donuts, hence the rating)

And now, on to the interview!

You write in a variety of genres, middle grade, chapter books, non-fiction. Do you switch up your work day with these or do you work on one at a time?



My work as an author is very similar to lots of other jobs. I work on different projects at the same time and have deadlines when things need to get done. This week, for instance, I finished a revision of a picture book (out in 2013) because the final text needs to be sent to the illustrator to begin illustrations. Then, I went over copy-edits for an upcoming chapter book (out in April) to get the final version ready for printing so it can be on track to be published this spring.

Meanwhile, I started researching an 18th century poem, which I’m adapting for a young reader book. I worked on that through the weekend while preparing for an author presentation, which I’m doing today. I manage my time depending on when I have deadlines but I also try to sneak parts of other projects, or smaller projects, in between to keep things going. Once I get back home from my author presentation, I’ll try to finish my ‘poem project’ outline by Friday so I can get started on my next novel, which is due by the end of the summer.

People with regular office jobs do the same thing; juggling projects depending on when they need to get things done, or doing projects in stages to break them down into manageable portions.

I just get to do it in my PJs. (I know on the PJs! It’s great. Sounds like some great, great projects you’re working on-and what a wonderful job you have.)



Do you have any advice for a first time author going in to do a school or library visit?

I’m actually writing this during a break at an elementary school visit. One of the best questions I was asked this morning was:

“What is the mark of a great novel?”

This question stumped me at first because taste can be so subjective, but my answer was that whenever I start a new project, I try to imagine who my reader will be. How old is s/he? What kind of book would they like to read? What is their reading level? How can I tell my story in the best possible way to hook that particular reader and keep them engaged? So, to me, a good novel respects its reader in this way. A book cannot be all things to all people but if my story can engage and entertain its target audience in a way that the reader can get lost in its pages and feel like they are part of the story, then I’ve done my job.

I try to keep the same thing in mind when doing school visits. Today, I’m presenting to kindergartners up to Grade 5 at different times throughout the day. My presentation to kindergartners will be shorter and fast paced with lots of visual elements to keep them engaged. My presentation to the older kids will involve more of the ‘business’ side of writing and techniques which they can use in their own creative writing. Leaving lots of time for questions is important as well. Again, respecting your audience and delivering an entertaining, engaging show is what I hope to do. It’s not the “Hélène Show”; it’s all about them and their needs. (Oh my, yes on your last sentence. Great advice, thanks Helene!)



Besides being keen readers, my book club kids are keen writers. They range in age from 8 to 13. When did you start writing and do you have any advice for them?

I’ve always written stories from the time I was really young and did a lot of cartooning in elementary school. The first (unpublished) book I ever wrote and illustrated was when I was about ten.

My advice for aspiring authors is this—anything is possible! This is true in a book and in real life. In writing, don’t be afraid to take risks! Make your characters squirm, put them in impossible situations, go down the road less travelled. The same goes for your writing life. Take risks, be brave and don’t be afraid to fail. You can always go back and revise.

Conceive it, believe it and achieve it. (Thank you! Can’t wait to share this with them.)

Speaking of my book club kids. Anything you'd like to recommend they read or we get for our library? Something that is a recent read, or a book you loved when you were a kid?

For readers who would like something similar to REAL MERMAIDS DON’T WEAR TOE RINGS, I’d suggest DONUT DAYS by Lara Zielen or MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne. I also really enjoyed GODDESS BOOTCAMP by Tera Lynn Childs (first book OH. MY. GODS.) and PLAIN KATE by Erin Bow.

Meg Cabot has lots of great books from ALLIE FINKLE to PRINCESS DIARIES. I love her because you can grow from one book to another and she even has adult titles. I’ve also fallen in love with the HUNGER GAMES trilogy by Suzanne Collins but I wouldn’t recommend them to readers who don’t like violence because there’s a lot of that in those books.

There are just SO many great books out there; it’s hard to choose my favourites! (Oh boy, I hear you on this one! Thanks so much for all these great recommendations—and how cool on, DONUT DAYS, given it’s my book club kids favorite snack, lol.)

And finally...

What is your favourite part of living where you do? Do you have another part of Canada that you love to visit or that you've always wanted to, but haven't yet?

I live just north of Toronto, Ontario and I love being only 30 minutes from the city, which is weird since I’m from a really rural area. I grew up on an island off of Nova Scotia, which is my favourite place to visit now as an adult. Since I can write from anywhere, I’m really lucky to be able to spend up to 6 weeks every year there with my daughters. We get to do a lot of biking and hiking and I’ve even tried surfing a couple of times but three years later, I STILL haven’t been able to stand up on the board! (6 weeks in Nova Scotia sounds wonderful—lol on the surf board, I think I’d be afraid to stand up!)



Thanks so much for doing this, Hélène and thanks to those who've stopped by! To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is comment (feel free to add to the book recommends for "my kids", if you'd like!). If you have a moment, check out OH (MG & YA) Canada, for more great Canadian Authors to read. Giveaway is open Internationally, ends March 7, 2011). One final note, there is still time (ends February 16, midnight, MST) to enter the give away Eileen Cook's book, The Education of Hailey Kendrick.