Interview with Alysson Foti Bourque

• Where do you get inspiration for your stories? I have two young children who inspire me with their daily stories and situations. My writing is a collective reflection of their experiences and my childhood memories with an imaginary twist.

• What do you want children to learn/take from your books? I want young children to use each book as a tool to help them creatively solve their own problems and learn how to cope with tough situations. By incorporating imagination, kindness, and creativity into their daily lives, they will have the skills to conquer the world!

• What is your favorite genre to read? Right now, Children’s Fiction and YA.  

• Why a week-based series?  I taught school one year before I headed off to law school and I searched for a series that was based on the days of the week. There wasn’t any out there! So when the Alycat series began, I remembered what I wanted as a teacher and applied that to my series.

• One of your books are on Novel Effect. What is that? Novel Effect is an app that adds theme music and sound effects as you read a kids book aloud using real time voice recognition. Alycat and the Monday Blues was accepted as a book on the app and features the original song from the book. I hope to have Alycat and the Friendship Friday on the app soon.