Today is time for another Creative Kid Thursday!

But before I get to the Creative Kid of today – I want to tell everyone to check out ANOTHER creative kid – my little sister Josie who entered a drawing in Susanna Leonard Hill’s –

The First Ever Pretty–Much–World–Famous Illustration Contest!!!

Meet kid author – Rena Marthaler! Woo!

Rena wrote a book during NaNoWriMo when she was just 9 years old! 

Here is the description of her book:

“Magic The Crest tells the tale of ten-year-old Rachel and her three best friends, who discover they have extraordinary powers to save their elementary school from a terrifying flying dragon. These strong girls use their powers to follow prophecies to rescue a lost child and to find a series of coveted jewels. They battle mythological monsters, shape-shifting animals, and forces of nature in their quest for the Crest.”

I read Magic the Crest and was impressed with the action in the story. Rena combine magic, friendship and some cool sci-fi themes her first middle-grade reader.

Magic The Crest

by Rena Marthaler

138 pages – ages 8+

Published by Create Space on December 20, 2013

Rena agreed to do an interview with me too!

You sure get the reader into the action right away! Your characters are battling dragons by page four! How important do you think it is to hook your reader right away?

I think it is very important to hook your reader! I tried to do that with the action and exciting chapter titles. The first chapter is called “I Have Powers and a Sword.” Another chapter is called, “Escape Except for One.” It’s an adventure story, so I wanted my readers to know that right away.

You thank NaNoWriMo in your acknowledgements and even make reference to it in your story (you have an eel saying “Na No Wri.” Do you think you would have written this book if it weren’t for NaNoWriMo? For those who do not know what NaNoWriMo is, could you tell us also about your experience with it?

The idea for my book came from a game I play with my friends at recess and I wanted to write the story before I found out about NaNoWriMo. But, NaNoWriMo motivates writers to finish the whole book so it can be published.

Writing with NaNoWriMo was exciting. I set my word count goal too high and I had to write a lot to finish by the end of the month. My mom let me skip some of my homework. But don’t take that as a reason to join NaNoWriMo. There are hundreds of other great reasons to be a writer in that contest.

I think I’ll have to try our NaNoWriMo this year. Okay, so where did Lily and Ashley get the pizza and soda from when they were way up on Mt. Hood in the middle of nowhere?

The weird thing is, I really have no idea where Lily and Ashley get the pizza and soda. It’s the twist in that scene. A lot of odd things happen in my book!

You left the reader with quite a cliffhanger in “Magic The Crest.” Are you writing another book in the series?

Yes. A lot of my classmates are telling me that I should write another one. So I’m 99.99 percent sure I will.

I sure hope you do write another! What do you like to do other than write?

–

I like to visit new places. I have sat on a crocodile in Thailand, climbed the Eiffel Tower, and learned how to snorkel. But at home, I like normal stuff like reading, spelling, basketball, video games, playing with friends and my dogs, and making French toast and lemon bars. I like a lot more than that, too, but I don’t want to bore you.

Hmm… maybe you could mail me some of those lemon bars… If you could sit down with one author (living or dead) and have a conversation, who would it be and why?

Oh, my! Rick Riordan. His books have cliffhangers at every moment, the characters are loyal and persistent, and they don’t give in to their enemies. His characters are smart alecks but in an endearing way.

GREAT answer Rena! 🙂 Thanks for doing this interview!

To learn more about Rena, visit  her Facebook page HERE and her website HERE.

Magic the Crest is available on AMAZON HERE.

Categories: Creative Kids

Tags: bibliophile, bookworm, childrens books, creative kids, Magic the Crest, Rena Marlthaler