F. A. Q.: “What’s your favorite book you’ve written?”
I get a lot of letters and emails from readers, which is totally awesome, because I love getting letters! (Honestly. It is one of the very best things about being an author. You can write to me any time!)
At the moment, though, I’m taking a loooong time to get back to most of these awesome letters. There are a lot of reasons for that, this being among them. (Yep, I am still dealing with this. Sigh. Covid is no joke, guys! If you can, please get vaccinated!) I always feel awful when I take a million years to write back to folks, so I thought that, as an in-between measure, I would start a series on my blog here answering some of the most common questions I get asked. It’s not exactly the same as getting a real-live email or letter response from an author, I understand, but maybe it’s better than nothing?
To launch this series, today’s question is:
Which of the books you’ve written
is your absolute favorite?
Kids always want to know this! And it can be a hard one to answer. I honestly love all of my books, in very different ways. Whether it’s because of the memories I have from when I was writing it, or the effect the story has had on people in the real world, or a connection I have to the characters, or even that the book itself changed my life in some way… each of my books holds a very special place in my heart. (And I happen to think they’re all pretty darn good too!)
But there’s one book that, above all the others, is just a little extra dear to me. And that book is (drumroll, please!)…
Actually, it’s not just a book that feels special to me. Umbrella Summer was originally published over a decade ago, and I still get letters and emails about it! It’s still in print, being read in classrooms, published overseas, and has landed on ten different state lists (not to brag or anything).
So what’s so great about it? I think it’s the characters, honestly. A good character-driven novel is tough to beat in terms of last-ability, if you ask me. And while it’s a sad book (the main character, Annie, is dealing with the sudden death of her older brother the winter before), there are plenty of guffaw-worthy moments in there too.
There’s probably another reason people connect with the story so strongly—it was inspired by real-life events.
The story even stuck with me so much that years later I wrote a companion novel to it, which I definitely never expected to do!
How beautiful is this new edition of the Taiwanese Umbrella Summer?
A classroom shares their favorite parts of the book.
So, yep, that’s it. Umbrella Summer. An oldie but a goodie. That’s the one I’d pick as my favorite. (Don’t tell any of my other books, though, ‘kay? I don’t want them to feel jealous!)
If you’ve enjoyed this installment of “Frequently Asked Questions,” let me know in the comments! And if you have a question you’d like to see me answer here, go ahead and ask away.
If you’ve already written me a letter or email, please know that I will get back to you as soon as I am able—and keep those letters coming, please! I’m slow at responding but I do love them ever so much. :)
Happy reading, everyone!
♥ Lisa
