Monday, June 29, 2020

What's a Boggart? and #Fantasy Creatures

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Sorry, HP fans, I'm not referring to the shape-shifting non-being that takes on the form of its observer's worst fear... 

Isn't it amazing how authors can characterize the same fantasy creatures in many different ways? Every enchanted world has it's own magical beasts, properties, and setting. Some creatures retain traits from one story to the next, but some are vastly different. Like the disgusting goblins from The Hobbit compared to the crafty, banker goblins in Harry Potter to my own nerdy goblins in Beast World. Authors have the prerogative to put their own unique spin on the creatures and settings in their worlds.

And today, for an IWSG treat, I'm hosting a special guest who's going to tell us about the boggarts in her new MG Fantasy series...

Elaine Kaye
Picture Book and Middle Grade Author

What is a Boggart?

Boggarts are the worst of fairies. They're squat, disfigured household fairies. Dirty and smelly, they wear wrinkled clothes that need to be washed. They have tempers, and enjoy playing nasty tricks on humans. Because of that, they are not welcomed into human homes. If they do get in to your house, they won’t leave willingly. They love to break things, rearrange furniture, and make the phone ring at odd hours in the night.

To get rid of a boggart that has caused you stress in your home, bang pots and sing loudly. Sort of like how you’re supposed to scare bears away from campsites with a lot of loud, obnoxious noise.

In BAD FAIRY, boggarts are a threat to the good fairies. They live just outside Pinecone Grove, in the forest. Thistle Greenbud and her family’s house is beneath a fern bush with blackberry vines around it to keep away critters and boggarts.

After a tornado devastates Pinecone Grove, the threat of boggarts increases as they come looking for things to break. But since the tornado already broke many things, the boggarts are even nastier than usual.

BAD FAIRY by Elaine Kaye
A Bad Fairy Adventure (Book One)
Age Range: 8-12

Thistle Greenbud is not a bad fairy. She simply doesn't like rules. It's just her luck that her homework is to create a new rule for the fairy handbook. But first, she has more important things to do. Like figure out how to get back at Dusty and Moss for playing tricks on her.
 
Before she can carry out her plan, though, disaster strikes and she finds herself working alongside the very fairies she wanted revenge on. Can they work together and trust each other, or will things go from bad to worse?



About the Author
Elaine Kaye is the author of A Gregory Green Adventure series. She first created Gregory Green after her son, who loved her homemade pea soup, thus inspiring the story Pea Soup Disaster. Bad Fairy is her middle grade debut and the first of A Bad Fairy Adventure series.
 
Kaye has worked as a library assistant and teacher’s assistant in elementary schools in the Sunshine State. She currently lives in Florida, but she has called Michigan; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Okinawa, Japan home. She is a grandmother of three boys.


PLUS THERE'S A GIVEAWAY!
1 lucky winner will receive 3 Signed Paperback Picture Books:
Pea Soup Disaster, Doctor Mom, The Missing Alphabet

Hurry! Giveaway Ends: June 30, 2020

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have a FANTASTIC week! And a safe & happy Fourth of July!


7 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Well, now I know what a Boggart is - and how to get rid of one.

M.J. Fifield said...

Congrats on your latest release, Elaine! So excited for you!!

Elaine Kaye said...

Thank you for hosting me on your blog so I can talk about boggarts, Tara!

It is interesting how creators can make up their own rules when it comes to creatures. I read a lot of fairy books and took the info I learned about boggarts from there. :)

Chrys Fey said...

Hi, Tara! Thank you for helping out with my mom's blog tour. We both appreciate it a lot.

Unknown said...

Great take on boggarts!

Tyrean Martinson said...

I sing nearly every day, so I think I might be safe from these pesky critters. :)
Congratulations, Elaine!

Fundy Blue said...

Happy IWSG Day, Tara! Bad Fairy sounds like such a cute, fun book. No Boggarts in my house, please. Good luck with your book, Elaine!

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