Here’s a bit about the Sparkle Spa series:
Making friends one sparkly nail at a time – a new series!
Sisters Aly and Brooke love spending time at their mom’s popular and successful nail salon—it’s their “home away from home.” At the end of another incredibly busy day, Mom complains she is completely overwhelmed at work, even more so by all the kids who come to have manis and pedis.
That’s when the sisters have a brilliant idea: Why don’t they open up a mini nail salon just for kids within Mom’s store?
My favorite part of the series is how distinct Aly and Brooke are from each other but also how fiercely they’re both devoted to each other and the nail salon. Were Aly and Brooke’s characters clear in your head from the beginning or did they change at all? When you were a kid, were you more like one sister?
Aly and Brooke were both very much themselves from the start—I knew I wanted
one sister who was super responsible and organized and practical and another who
was extra creative and artistic and chaotic. But as the books progressed, I added
to their characters, giving them favorite colors and likes and dislikes and physical
attributes. I also, knew, though, that even though their personalities were pretty
different, they would love each other—and the salon—fiercely, and that hasn’t
changed at all.
As a kid I was probably a little more like Aly. I was thoughtful and a pretty good
rule-follower.
How much research did you do for this book? Did you come across new nail polishes you had never heard of before? Did you see any real dogs get their nails done?
The main research I did was attempting to polish my parents’ dog’s nails with
special puppy nail polish. Sadie the dog was not too happy about it, and I ended up
doing only two toenails before my sister convinced me to give up.
The nail polish names in the book are all made up, but they’re based on the sort of
polish names on the bottles in the nail salons near my apartment. I feel like new ones
have arrived every time I stop by!
What was fun about writing these books? What was hard?
I had the most fun coming up with the nail polish names and the special manicures
the girls do in the salon. And I think the hardest part was trying to get everything I
wanted to write to fit into such a short book!
I like how the message in the series is that you can be a girl who is both “sparkly
and strong.” As a mother of a sparkly and active sort of girl, I so appreciate this sentiment. I am assuming this was a very important piece for you to work into the story without wanting to seem heavy-handed?
Yes, it absolutely was. I feel like there’s a false dichotomy set up in society that
says that either a girl can like princesses and sparkles (etc) or she can like sports
and tree-climbing (etc). And part of why I wanted to write this book is to show that
it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. I was a kid who climbed trees wearing
sparkly party shoes and played soccer with ribbons in my hair. I want girls to know
that they don’t have to choose—that they can embrace all sides of themselves.
Tell us a little about your other books and upcoming projects.
Well the next Sparkle Spa book is coming out in June. It’s called Makeover Magic
and it’s about what happens when a new salon opens up across the street and Aly
and Brooke have to fight to keep their customers for Auden Elementary’s Fall Ball.
And then I’m also working on a series for teens called Follow Your Heart, in which
each book has thirteen different endings to choose from and each reader can pick
the one that’s right for her—or him. The first book, Summer Love, just came out
a couple of weeks ago. And then there will be more Sparkle Spa and Follow Your
Heart books to come in 2014 and 2015.
Is there anything else you would like us to know about the Sparkle Spa series or
about you as an author?
I’m really happy to be coming to the Big Blue Marble Bookstore!
We are very excited to have you--here's a picture of my daughter Lily and her friends with one of the Rainbow Sparkle pedicures featured in the first book of the Sparkle Spa series:
And, lastly, our “3 for 3” book-related questions:
1. What were 3 of your favorite books when you were a child/teen?
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
2. What are 3 books you’ve read recently that surprised you? We Were Liars by
E. Lockhart, I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson, Creativity Inc. by Ed
Catmull
3. What are 3 books that influence/d your writing? Kristy’s Big Idea by Ann M.
Martin, Sunset Island by Cherie Bennett, Here’s To You Rachel Robinson by
Judy Blume
Thanks! If you live in the Philly area come see Jill at the bookstore on Saturday, May 17th! She'll be part of a roundtable discussion with Shawn Stout, also interviewed here recently, and Kathleen Van Cleve, author of Drizzle.
If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order books from the Sparkle Spa, Follow Your Heart, or the Alex Flint series. You can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Finally, join us in June for Cordelia's interview with Lisa Graff, author of many books including A Tangle of Knots and the new Absolutely Almost, both edited by the multi-talented Jill Santopolo!
Finally, join us in June for Cordelia's interview with Lisa Graff, author of many books including A Tangle of Knots and the new Absolutely Almost, both edited by the multi-talented Jill Santopolo!
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