Eileen Cook is one of our favourite authors here at Greenwoods’. Everything from her Middle Reader series, Fourth Grade Fairy, to her most recent Young Adult novel, Unraveling Isobel, has made it onto our Staff Choice shelves. Unraveling Isobel came out this month and is just the right book for readers who like creepy, isolated mansions and witty, sarcastic dialogue. We loved it!
Eileen Cook spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else. For more information about her, check out http://www.eileencook.com/
1. What was the last book you read?
I just finished reading Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It’s a really quirky book with these bizarre black and white photographs. It’s a story that has monsters, time travel, adventure and some very unique characters. Up next I want to re-read Populazzi, it’s written by a friend of mine Elise Allan.
2. What were your favourite books growing up?
I was a HUGE reader growing up. I loved everything from scary stories, to choose your own adventure books, to Nancy Drew. Some of my favourite books as a kid included The Phantom Tollbooth, The Outsiders, A Separate Peace, The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and anything Judy Blume ever wrote. I wanted to be Judy Blume when I grew up. She sent me an email after my first YA book came out, What Would Emma Do, and I still have it next to my desk.
3. If you could have tea with any children’s book character, who would it be and why?
Oooh hard question! Can’t it be a party where we invite a whole bunch of people? Alice in Wonderland could host the party with the Mad Hatter. I’d invite Harry Potter for sure, Nancy Drew, Katniss from The Hunger Games. I’m just getting started, we might need a big room for this tea party.
4. What do you like best about the city/town where you live?
I love the ocean and the beach in Vancouver. I do some of my best book brainstorming when walking on the beach with my dogs. They like to rub in stinky dead things that have washed up on the shore, so we all find it to be a good way to spend the afternoon.
5. What are your favourite pizza toppings?
I love Italian Sausage and extra cheese, but in the end it’s pizza. I like it with pretty much any topping except olives. I’m not a big olive fan.
6. Honour us by writing a haiku about your latest book.
Oh, I was sooo bad at this in high school English. I’m not sure what it says about me when I think it is easier to write a whole book than one three line haiku.
Unraveling Isobel
ghosts, love, fear, hope, tied together-
to know yourself
