Jess Hannigan joins Ian Eagleton in The Reading Realm today to talk about her new children’s book, THE COW IN THE DARK AT NIGHT…
Before we settle down in The Reading Realm for a chat, what’s your drink and snack of choice?
A can of Diet Coke and a pile of chips and guac!
Tell us about your book in three sentences and then three words!
The Cow in the Dark at Night is about a cow that wants to know what the night is like, so she plans to escape her farm and go out wandering. She meets a questionable variety of “night-people” of increasing mystery. Eventually she travels so far that she may never actually return to the farm again, but in the spirit of adventure, it doesn’t seem to bother her much.
She is loose!
If one of your characters could come to dinner, who would you invite and what would you cook them? What do you think you’d talk about?
I would of course have dinner with the little green alien from Mars, and would serve him local Earth delicacies such as peanut butter jelly sandwiches. I think we would discuss space travel tips and Martian weather patterns.
What’s the funniest word you know that always makes you laugh?
Spleen! You know why.
What’s the silliest or strangest thing you’ve ever researched for a story?
I unfortunately made the mistake of researching the average cows’ night vision. The bad news is they can actually see very well in the dark. Who knew!
I have also googled, “What are some animals that go eeee?”
Do your characters ever surprise you?
Not really, they are super predictable to me!
If your writing desk could speak, what would it say about you?
“Help! This woman keeps bringing tiny toys home and has nowhere to put them. Also, there are too many lamps.”
Did you like reading when you were a child? If so, what?
I read a lot as a kid, even though I think I just pretended to read for a few years early on. I remember loving “Deltora Quest” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events”.
What’s your favourite book that isn’t yours?
Hard question but probably “Fortunately” by Remy Charlip!
What book do you wish you could read for the first time again?
“Twilight”, but I’d also have to be 12 again in order to fully appreciate it.
What’s the funniest thing a child has said to you?
I don’t have a single solid memory of a specific thing, but they do say a lot of odd and funny things, so I should really start writing them down. They are especially good at coming up with names when I ask them to pick a name to go with a drawing that I’ve made.
If you weren’t an author, what would you be?
Maybe a tattoo artist!
What BAD advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?
Make sure you don’t have any fun and only write about things you think are super uninteresting.
SPEED ROUND:
Cake or biscuits? Biscuits
Dinosaurs or unicorns? Dinosaurs DEFINITELY
Pirates or astronauts? Pirates
Museums or theme parks? Museums
Cats or dogs? Cats
Summer or winter? Winter usually, but Summer is growing on me.
Aliens or robots? Aliens
THANK YOU Jess for joining us in The Reading Realm today!
