Bianca with Ellen Potter on Squirlish: The Girl in the Tree

Award-winning author Ellen Potter chats about her wonderful
chapter book, Squirlish: The Girl in the Tree.





Get ready to laugh out loud as the story unfolds on how a girl
raised by squirrels in Central Park attempts to make new human
friends. Inspired by a friend raising a baby squirrel and her own
life experiences, Ellen hopes readers will appreciate the value
of finding one's own strengths no matter the community they find
themselves in. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this fun-filled
episode.





Ellen Potter is the author of more than twenty award-winning
novels for children and young adults, including Olivia
Kidney, Slob, the Big Foot and Little Foot series, the Piper
Green and The Fairy Tree series, The Humming Room, Pish
Posh, and The Kneebone Boy. Several of her books have
been chosen by the New York Public Library for their Best 100
Books for Children list and have appeared on numerous state
reading lists. Her nonfiction writing book, Spilling Ink, A
Young Writer’s Handbook, coauthored with Anne Mazer, was also
chosen by the New York Public Library as a Best 100 Books for
Children. Ellen lives in upstate New York with her family.





Transcription:


You can read the transcription on ⁠The Children's Book Review.





Order a Copy:


Squirlish: The Girl in the Tree on Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


Hither and Nigh on Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.


The Golden Imaginarium on ⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.





Resources:


For more information about Ellen and her books, visit
EllenPotter.com.





Discussion Topics:


Ellen Potter talks about:


How she writes to delight kids and wants to transport them to
another world through her stories.

That writing for kids is more fun than writing for adults.

Doing school visits to ignite a love of writing in children.

How writing is challenging, but she has developed strategies
to get past those rough spots and move through the writing
process.

The importance of revision and how her best writing has
always come out in revision.

Methods for overcoming writer's block.

The inspiration behind Squirlish and how it came
from a friend raising a baby squirrel.

How her own life experiences, such as her son going off to
college, influenced the story.

Themes of fitting in and finding one's strengths in the first
book and how they continue in the second book, which also touches
on New York City history

Appreciating the value of finding one's own strengths.