Now that the weather is getting warmer, I can almost imagine summer. And speaking of summer, I thought this would be the perfect time to interview author Eileen Moskowitz-Palma about her new book THE POPULARITY PACT: CAMP CLIQUE: BOOK ONE.
I got a chance to read this book (and blurb it!) before publication, and I absolutely adore it!
About the Book:
In the blink of a summer, Bea goes from having a best friend and a place she belongs to being dropped and invisible, eating lunch alone and only talking to teachers. The end of sixth grade and the start of Camp Amelia can't come soon enough.
But then the worst part of school, ex-best friend Maisy, shows up in Bea's safe place and ruins it all. Maisy lands in the same bunk as Bea and summer suddenly seems dire. Never having camped a day in her life, Maisy agrees: it's hopeless. She should be at home, spending time with her little sister and hanging out with her super popular crew of friends--not at this stupid adventure camp failing everything and being hated by everyone. In a desperate bid to belong, Maisy offers Bea a deal: if Bea helps her fit in at the camp, she will get Bea into the M & M's, their town's popular clique, when they enter seventh grade in the fall. The Popularity Pact is born.
But then the worst part of school, ex-best friend Maisy, shows up in Bea's safe place and ruins it all. Maisy lands in the same bunk as Bea and summer suddenly seems dire. Never having camped a day in her life, Maisy agrees: it's hopeless. She should be at home, spending time with her little sister and hanging out with her super popular crew of friends--not at this stupid adventure camp failing everything and being hated by everyone. In a desperate bid to belong, Maisy offers Bea a deal: if Bea helps her fit in at the camp, she will get Bea into the M & M's, their town's popular clique, when they enter seventh grade in the fall. The Popularity Pact is born.
The interview:
First of all, tell me what inspired The Popularity Pact: Camp Clique: Book One?
From my experience as a teacher and a mother, I noticed there are many kids who feel socially accepted in one part of their life, while struggling in another. Sometimes it’s the captain of the travel soccer team who has no one to sit with at lunch, other times it’s a kid with a tight friend group at school, who doesn’t know how to make new friends when they move to a new school. I wanted to explore what happens when a child’s confidence is shaken because they don’t fit into a part of their world.
Changing friendships is a common (and painful) theme in middle grade fiction. Why did you want to focus on it and did you experience anything similar to what Bea and Maisy experience in the story when you were growing up?
I remember middle school as the time when friendships matter more than anything else. Kids start to feel more independent from their parents and they haven’t started dating yet, so their best friend often becomes the most important person in their life. I didn’t experience what Bea and Maisy did, but my daughter was dropped from her friend group in eighth grade and it was the hardest season of parenting for me because there was nothing I could do to help her walk through that experience. I wanted to write a story to help kids who are experiencing the loss of a friendship, while also getting across the message that authentic friendship is more important than fitting in.
I love the cold-bloodedness of the two girls’ pact. They each believe that the pact is the only solution to what they’re each experiencing. How did you come up with the idea? It’s genius?
In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert describes ideas as life forms that come in search of a human to partner up with. I know this sounds a little out there, but that is exactly what happened to me. I was on a long car ride with my family, when all of a sudden this idea showed up quite insistently. I thought about what might happen if the queen bee of middle school (Maisy) ends up being the underdog at camp and she has to rely on the invisible girl at school (Bea) who is popular at camp to help her fit in. The idea of the pact came to me so suddenly and in such a powerful way that it felt very much like Elizabeth Gilbert describes.
Getting to experience someone else’s world is both daunting and eye-opening; Whose shoes would you love to walk in for a day?
Because I have chronic autoimmune issues, I have been homebound during this pandemic except for the occasional walk outside. For the past eight weeks, my husband has been working long hours as a veterinarian in Manhattan in the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. On his days off he has to shoulder the burden along with my daughter Molly of doing all of the grocery shopping and errands because I can’t leave the house. If I could trade places with anyone right now, it would be my husband, so that I could do all of the grocery shopping and errands and give him a reprieve.
There is a neat twist at the end of the story that I won’t give away, but was book two completely plotted and written before your agent pitched this to your publisher? Is it already written (I can’t wait!)
Originally, The Popularity Pact was a stand-alone book that only told what happened when Bea helped Maisy fit in at camp. When I queried my agent Lauren Galit, she pointed out that I only told half of the story. She asked me what happens when the girls go back to school? She said readers would want to see what happened when it’s Maisy’s turn to help Bea fit in at school. As soon as she said it, I realized she was right. So I revised the manuscript so that it was half of a two book series, and outlined book two. Lauren shopped it around to publishers with the first manuscript Camp Clique completed, and the outline for the second book School Squad, which is now written and will be published on October 6th.
You and I have both had new books released during the pandemic. How did you pivot your book launch to reach people?
Leading up to my publication date, I was really looking forward to school visits because I am a former elementary school teacher. I made it to one school visit in the Bronx the last week before schools closed in New York and left feeling inspired to connect with more kids over writing. Days later, when I realized that there would be no more school visits I was immediately caught up in my own disappointment. But then I saw my social media feed fill up with parents who were suddenly figuring out how to homeschool and work from home at the same time. At the time schools were still in the process of setting up online curriculum, which added another layer of stress for parents who wanted to keep the education momentum going for their kids, but didn’t yet have a solid game plan in place. I realized that I could help. I set up virtual creative writing camps for kids in grades two through eight. I worked with almost 100 kids from all over the country in the first three weeks of the program. There is no cost for the camp, I only ask that parents order both books.
How are you engaging with readers during this time of social distance?
I promised all of my writing camp kids that we could reunite after they read the book for book club discussions. I told the kids to jot down any questions they had about the book while they were reading it and to bring those questions to our meeting. It gave us the opportunity to have a discussion based on the things they really wanted to talk about. They asked such great questions that I am going to include them in the reading discussion guide at the end of the paperback edition of Camp Clique. This experience taught me that there are all different creative ways to connect with readers. I am looking forward to continuing the virtual writing camps and book clubs through the summer and will be partnering up with libraries, museums and other programs over the country.
1 comment:
Really interesting to hear how this story idea came to the author. Thanks for sharing - I'll need to check this one out!
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