Word Spelunking: The Sister Solution Blog Tour {interview and giveaway}

I'm so excited to have The Sister Solution Blog Tour stopping by today! Check out my interview with author Trudi Trueit and enter to win a copy the book...

The Sister Solution

by Trudi Trueit

September 29, 2015

Aladdin

What's worse than your little sister being smarter than you? Her being more popular, too. But sibling rivalry might just become sibling camaraderie when cliques get out of control in this fresh and fun M!X novel.

Sammi Tremayne's life isn't perfect, but she's got it on an even keel. She isn't ultra-popular, but she isn't at the bottom of the middle school social ladder, either. However, when it's decided that her brilliant little sister, Jorgianna, should skip not one, but two grades and join Sammi in eighth grade, Sammi's world is turned upside down. For someone who has always felt in the shadow of her little sister, this is Sammi's ultimate nightmare.

To make matters even worse, Jorgianna is taken in by the most popular clique in school almost the minute she arrives; a clique that Sammi has been trying desperately to join. Everything, it seems, is going right for Jorgianna and wrong for Sammi.

But there's more to each sister's story than the other realizes. And when the popular girls start to show their true colors to Jorgianna, can these siblings finally put aside their differences and show the queen bees who's boss?

goodreads / amazon / b&n

Praise for The Sister Solution

"Trueit explores the challenges of the middle school social scene, keenly capturing the girls' uncertainties. Delving into the both girls' perspectives, with each sister contributing to the
narrativein alternating chapters ... An insightful, engaging tale
that celebrates the relationship that sisters share. "
- Kirkus Reviews

What three words best describe The Sister Solution?

Loyalty, Understanding, Forgiveness

Can you give us your best one sentence pitch to convince readers, especially reluctant readers, to give The Sister Solution a try?

If you’ve ever had a sister, a parent, or a friend that didn’t understand your heart – your passions, your beliefs, your struggles, your insecurities – then this book is for you.

Grab a copy of The Sister Solution and answer the following:

favorite chapter? Chapter 17, titled The Genius Learns a Thing or Two. Younger sister, Jorgianna, is über intelligent, which is why she’s skipped a couple of grades to land in her sister Sammi’s class. However, while Jorgianna is book-smart, she is a bit naive about the whole social scene. She’s never before had a best friend. This is the chapter where she begins to figure out that all of the things her sister had tried to teach her, all of the warnings and advice, didn’t come from a place of jealousy, but a place of love.

favorite page? Same chapter, pg 214. The book is told in alternating points of view, so this is from Jorgianna’s POV: “I put my arms around her and let her cry into my shoulder. Sammi has to bend way down and I have to go up tiptoe, but she does and I do, and neither of us thinks a thing about it, because sisters do whatever they have to do hold onto each other. Sammi taught me that.”

favorite setting? A little white gazebo outside the public library where Sammi gets her first kiss.

flip to a random page and give us a 1-2 sentences teaser:

I landed on page 61, where Sammi is telling her grandmother (Banana) that she just found out her baby sister will be joining her in middle school: “It’s not a beauty pageant, Banana. It’s the eighth grade. It’s like prison, only with teachers. And band.”

What inspired The Sister Solution? How did the story come to be?

I had been thinking about this story for a couple of years before I started writing it. As a younger sister myself, I know what it feels like to seek your sister’s approval, even as you try to stake a claim to your own individuality. Second sisters rarely get to break new ground. Wearing make-up, having a boyfriend, driving – the eldest sister gets all of those things first. And I thought, it might be interesting to tell a story that shakes up the ‘sisterly order of the universe.’ What would happen if a younger sister got everything her older sister always wanted? And she got it first? How would that change their relationship? And could the pair not only survive it but come out the other side better people, and sisters?

Can you tell us a bit about your two sister characters, Sammi and Jorgianna? What makes them special and what do you love about them?

Sammi and Jorgianna both touch my heart in different ways. Sammi is a soft-spoken, thoughtful girl. Even though she longs to be part of the popular group, she’s not pretentious or cold. She is a faithful, caring friend to Eden, her bestie. Jorgianna is a fun, free spirit, who isn’t afraid to express herself by wearing a neon-orange Robin Hood hat with a trio of blackbirds to school. She’s bright, artistic, and willing to take risks. Sammi and Jorgianna are as different as two sisters could be and what I love about them is their love for each other. Each won’t always admit how much the other one means to her, but the undercurrent is there. They have an everlasting bond.

What do you hope young readers will walk away with after reading The Sister Solution?

It’s easy take the people you love for granted and our time on this planet is pretty short together, so I hope it gets them thinking about their own relationships, sibling or otherwise. I hope it gives them a new perspective on what it’s like for an older sister if they are younger, or a younger sister if they are older; maybe forgiveness for things said or done in anger and tolerance for things that will be said or done in anger.

Fill in the blanks:

I’m really awesome at making pies

I’m really embarrassed to admit my cat, Pippin, has a tons more Facebook followers than I do (www.facebook.com/pjshenanigans).

The last great book I read was The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough.

If you were to create and bake a cupcake inspired by The Sister Solution, what would it look and taste like, and what would you call it?

Ooo! Tough question, because I take cupcakes very seriously. In the book, Sammi and Jorgianna’s Dad points out that opposites aren’t so bad, and in fact can bring out the best in each other. For instance, pink and green are found opposite one another on the color wheel used in art. They are known as complimentary colors, because they go so well together. So I would bake a keylime and white chocolate swirl cupcake with raspberry frosting. In honor of Jorgianna’s over-the-top fashion sense, we’d have to thrown on a ton of confetti sprinkles, light a sparkler in the middle, and call it The Sister Sizzle.

I fell in love with storytelling in the second grade, but it wasn't until a few years later, when I wrote my first play, that I knew I'd found my life's calling (the play got decent reviews). In my career, I've been a newspaper journalist, TV news reporter and weather forecaster, freelance writer, and now, children's author. I write both fiction and nonfiction - nearly 100 titles, so far. In the nonfiction realm, I've covered everything from storm chasing to video gaming. In fiction, I'm the author of two series,' JULEP O'TOOLE (Penguin) and SECRETS OF A LAB RAT (Aladdin) and a stand-alone title, STEALING POPULAR (Aladdin M!X). THE SISTER SOLUTION will be my second release from Aladdin M!X.

I was born and raised in Seattle, WA and still live in the Pacific Northwest with my college sweetheart/best friend/husband, Bill. I love the three c's: cats, chocolate, and cupcakes! Visit my website at http://www.truditrueit.com/

Win a brand new copy of

The Sister Solution!

The wonderful folks at SimonKIDS have generously offered up one new copy for one winner.

DETAILS

-US only

-ends 10/9

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