The One Question Interview Blog Tour with Author Lauren Baratz Logsted

Hello, hello!

Welcome one and all to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers!

Glad you could make it today as we have a really fun post (well, in my opinion at least...you can let me know what you think of it after you've read it).  Author Lauren Baratz Logsted is currently making her rounds in the blogosphere!  Why?  Well...first, to support a recent release of a book in her exciting children's series....second, to shed some light on her upcoming Young Adult release...and third, to answer ONE and only one question from readers like you and me!  Curious what I asked?  You should be, it's a doozy, but first...let's take a look at these fabulous books making their debut.  Shall we?

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The Sisters Eight, Book 5:  Marcia's Madness

Release Date:  05/03/10

Amazon description:

Questions! Questions! Questions! The Sisters Eight have so many questions and so few answers! Luckily, one more month means they’ll get a few answers.

Marcia’s month is about to begin. You remember Marcia, right? The sensible one? The one who would never do anything . . . crazy?

Doesn't that sound interesting?  Even that little tidbit makes you curious to see exactly what happens.  The publisher, Houghton Mifflin, has even created a site just for the series!  It has a meet and greet with each of the sisters, paper dolls to print, a quiz to see which sister you are (by the way, I'm apparently mostly Jackie...description fits pretty well)...and much more. 

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The Education of Bet

Release Date:  07/12/10

Amazon description:

When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they’ve both enjoyed a privileged upbringing thus far. But not all is well in their household. Because she’s a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home, her education limited to the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing. Will’s world is much larger. He is allowed—forced, in his case—to go to school. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

Now that would be an interesting situation indeed!  Reminds me in passing of an old Barbra Streisand movie called Yentl.  I'm very curious to see have this is storyline is pulled off in a literary work.  Marking my calendar for July....

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Some great books to add to your future reading adventures.  Now for what you've all been waiting for....my one question and the author's answer!  Here goes....

All authors have a story behind their books...where the idea came from, the character influences, settings, etc. These are all important elements, don't get me wrong....but this is a unique blog tour and we only get one question! So, in the spirit of unique-ness and all, I thought, why not ask a unique question as well?

As a writer, you get to craft stories to boggle the mind and engage the imagination. HOWEVER, before you were a writer, you started life as a reader (whether it was famous novels or the back of a cereal box, you still were reading things). My question is this...

If you were given free reign to alter the ending of one of your favorite books of old, which one would you tackle, how would you change it, and why? (Okay, so it has three parts, but it's still one question, right?)

Well, since you've managed to ask such a prescient question and further managed to squeeze three parts into what looks like one question, I'll cheat too and select two things that should be changed in my book of choice. The book is Little Women and the two things that are wrong with it are: 1) Beth dies; and 2) Laurie winding up with the wrong March sister. Everyone in the world knows Beth dies and everyone cries when she does, including Joey on Friends. And everyone also knows that Laurie should never wind up with Amy. As my 10-year-old said last night when I raised this very question to her, "That's just so wrong!" As to how I would personally change the story, well, you'll just have to wait until The Middle March is published next year, a YA novel of mine that takes on this very theme.

Well how do you like that....I had no idea she was writing a new book with this theme!

*ponders possible psychic abilities....naw* 

Don't forget to check out her next stop on this fun tour, over at Melissa Walker's Blog tomorrow...where she'll be asking a rather intriguing question about cover art!

Special thanks to author Lauren Baratz Logsted for the opportunity to participate in this unique tour and also for playing along with my 3-n-1 question!  For more information on these titles (and her many others), be sure to check out her site and follow along on Twitter! 

Until next time....happy reading!