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?

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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.

Amazon / Goodreads / BookBub / Instagram / Facebook Twitter / LinkedIn / Blog

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

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

8 Ways to Get Kids to Read Your Book

I can't say I'm an expert on selling kids' books, but I do know kids. As a teacher and parent, I've spent a great deal of time with crazy daisies and funny bunnies! I know what they like and what they dislike (probably wouldn't like that I call them crazy daisies and funny bunnies!). No matter the fad of the week or the generation, kids are kids are kids. They love to crow and grow and go.

As an author of MG and YA, kids reading my books is what keeps me going. The feedback I get from my young readers is heartwarming and inspirational. The trouble is, how to get books into those little hands! So here's some advice that works...

How to Get Kids to Read Your Book:

1. Set up a School Visit - You have to go where kids are. Contact schools and offer a presentation or lesson. Schools are the number one promoters of reading. Go motivate those students! If they like you, they'll want your book.
2. Do a Library Visit or Reading - Many libraries are happy to host an author. Donate copies of your book. The more visibility you get, the more folks will want to spread the word to read your stuff!
3. Coordinate a Bookstore Signing with your visits! - Now that you have their interest, tie these visits together with a book signing. The hard part is hoping the kids will remember and persuade their parents to bring them to the signing.
4. Sign up for a Presentation at a Children’s Book Fair - Many book fairs have a special day or section set up just for kids' presentations and activities. I've done many of these and always sell books from them (suggestions for presentations will be another post coming soon!) 
5. Be part of a Family-Friendly Vending Event - And have some candy or fun giveaways to attract kids that go with your book, like these fun hand sanitizers:
   
6. Host a Signing Party - I try to have my release parties at fun places kids will be: like at an ice cream shop or a kids' boutique. I'm thinking of hosting my next party at a pizza parlor.
7. Write an MG SERIES - One book is good, but a series will give kids an easy go to for their next read! A series is a great way to keep your name in the front of readers' minds as they look forward to more from you.
8. Be Funny! - If you can make a kid laugh, you'll capture their heart. They'll see you in a new light. Laughter is a connection. When you make someone laugh, it shows you get them--you know what they like, how they think. And if you can do that, they'll want to laugh some more and read your books!

Bonus - Get to know Children’s Book Reviewers. Reviews are important parts of the publishing and marketing process. Lots of lists are out there, and though many of the book bloggers have extensive reading lists, keep trying!

If you’re lucky, you’ll get an awesome video review like this one from my SHOUT OUT OF THE WEEK:

TONJA DRECKER!

Tonja is AWESOME, isn't she? She's also brilliant! She spent some time in Europe not only devouring chocolate, cheese and wine, but also worked as a freelance translator and a summary writer for a German television station. How lucky am I that she was able to help me translate some German phrases in my latest Beast World novel, WINDY HOLLOW?? She's amazing!

Currently, Tonja resides somewhere in the back woods of the Ozarks and writes away while tending to chickens, cows and her family of six. Her stories have been published in several collections and magazines. A GLOWWORM was published by Black and White Publishing Company (2017). She's an avid book reader, professional children's book reviewer, outdoor addict and always in search of a new adventure (based in reality, the imagination, or otherwise).

But the best part - I happened to catch her right as she's about to be published! Her debut novel MUSIC BOXES is a slightly dark middle grade urban fantasy about a girl and her ballet dreams with hints toward Hansel and Gretel (just as dash) as well as Coraline. It's scheduled to be released on February 5th, 2019 with Dancing Lemur Press!

Congratulations, Tonja!


Summer's been a blast (of hot air!) Hope you all are ready for Fall. I sure am!