Today I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Patrick Hodges, author of Joshua’s Island. 

How did you get the idea for your book?

In January 2014, I started to get nostalgic about my middle school years.  There were a lot of great memories, but some bad ones too.  I began to fantasize about what it might have been like to relive those times, but turn them into something better. It started with standing up to the bullies, and doing so in a way that also earned me the respect of my peers.  And of course, there had to be a girl involved.  So I started writing chapters in my head, and then, nearly a year later, the entire story is out there for the world to see!

How long have you known you wanted to write?

I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I never harbored a single thought about writing fiction until the idea for Joshua’s Island came into my head.  Now, the sky’s the limit!

Do you have any children?

No, just a cat and a dog that THINK they’re children.

What is your favorite childhood memory?

Winning the school spelling bee in the fifth grade.  A moment of pure exhilaration.

Were you bullied as a child?

Yes, but it was mostly mental and emotional, not physical.  Joshua gets it so much worse than I ever did, poor kid.

Do you have any literary influences?

I really haven’t read all that much in my lifetime, mostly novelizations of my favorite sci-fi franchises like Dr. Who, Star Trek and Star Wars.  But if I had to name my favorite authors based on their literary styles, I’d say Douglas Adams, Timothy Zahn and Terrance Dicks.  Always entertaining and easy to read.

Are any of your characters based on people you know?

Most of them are, in fact. Joshua is, of course, based on me, and all of his school friends were based on classmates of mine. The only completely made-up characters in the book are Eve (and her family) and Kelsey.  I even kept the names the same.  My friends Rick and David, for example… I am still friends them with to this day.  Thank God for Facebook!

What would you like to tell other aspiring authors?

Be yourself, and don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have the right to tell your own story.  But always remember that readers have certain expectations when it comes to basic things like spelling, grammar and punctuation, and its up to you to meet those expectations.  To that end, a competent editor can be worth their weight in gold.

Is there a way that anyone who loves your book to keep up to date with your writing?

I’m working on getting an author website set up, but until that happens, they can always send me a message on Facebook or drop me a line at [email protected]. I can also be found on Twitter at @Shrykespeare.

What is your favorite spot for writing?

Anywhere in my house that’s distraction-free.  Which includes the “kids.”

Do you listen to music while writing?

No, but I do love to listen to it in between spurts of creativity.  It helps relax the brain!

Do you have a favorite snack that you eat while writing?

Anything with peanut butter.

Do you write longhand or do you just write on your computer?

Oh, on the computer.  My handwriting sucks, and I would never force anyone to read it!

Do you have a website?

Not yet, but hopefully very soon.  I’m so bad at things like that, and I have a friend helping me create one. He’s a pro at it, but he’s also got a very busy schedule.

Patrick is also competing in the Young Adult category in the Book Bzz Writing Competition. Click here to vote for him.

Thank you so much, Patrick, for being my first author interview and good luck on your future writing ventures. You can find my review of Joshua’s Island here.

As an author of a children’s book about bullying, I am always looking for other like-minded authors and their books to get their takes on the subject of bullying. Yesterday I purchased a copy of Joshua’s Island on Smash Words.  I started reading it and i was up most of the night because I had a hard time putting it down.

Joshua’s Island is written in first person, alternating between Joshua and Eve, two 13 year old students in middle school. Joshua is a boy who has been bullied by the same four boys for three years, with the degree of bullying increasing as the years went by. Small in stature, Joshua is the shortest boy in his class and often a victim of ridicule, rumors, and physical violence. He has no friends and he feels very isolated from everyone in the school.

Eve is dealing with her own growing pains. Having been taken under the wing of the most popular girl in the school over the summer, she finds out the true price of popularity as she loses just about everything that she held dear, including almost losing herself.

Joshua and Eve were thrown together by their science teacher to be lab partners,starting out butting heads but find that they have much more in common than they could have ever imagined.  This poignant and beautiful story shows that friendship can be found in the most unlikely of places.

Joshua’s Island has a strong anti-bullying message but it also has a very strong message about the meaning of friendship and how everyone, no matter how big, small, young, or old can either stand up against bullying or contribute to the problem by complacency or ignorance.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5. It’s an excellent book for middle and high school students. It’s a book that should be in every library and should be a required reading. It truly shows how bad bullying can get before anyone does anything about it.

Joshua’s Island can also be purchased on Amazon.

This book, written by Barthe DeClements, was a favorite of mine when I was young. It originally came out in 1986, almost 30 years ago, but the values are the same today as back then.

The story is told in first person from the point of view of Jennifer, a girl who is 5th grade. We meet Jennifer and her classmates on one day early in the school year when Elsie comes to their class. Elsie is a girl who is extremely overweight, a problem which garners her many stares and much teasing from her classmates. I don’t want to give the plot away, but as the school year goes on some revelations are made about Elsie which helps her classmates to understand why she is the way she is.

This book has all of the components of a great story and is wonderful for ages 8 to 12. It really hits home that you should not bully someone if they are overweight, since you never know when there might be an underlying problem that is causing it.

Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade is available on Kindle, Hardback, Paperback, and on Audible.

Today I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Patrick Hodges, author of Joshua’s Island. 

How did you get the idea for your book?

In January 2014, I started to get nostalgic about my middle school years.  There were a lot of great memories, but some bad ones too.  I began to fantasize about what it might have been like to relive those times, but turn them into something better. It started with standing up to the bullies, and doing so in a way that also earned me the respect of my peers.  And of course, there had to be a girl involved.  So I started writing chapters in my head, and then, nearly a year later, the entire story is out there for the world to see!

How long have you known you wanted to write?

I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I never harbored a single thought about writing fiction until the idea for Joshua’s Island came into my head.  Now, the sky’s the limit!

Do you have any children?

No, just a cat and a dog that THINK they’re children.

What is your favorite childhood memory?

Winning the school spelling bee in the fifth grade.  A moment of pure exhilaration.

Were you bullied as a child?

Yes, but it was mostly mental and emotional, not physical.  Joshua gets it so much worse than I ever did, poor kid.

Do you have any literary influences?

I really haven’t read all that much in my lifetime, mostly novelizations of my favorite sci-fi franchises like Dr. Who, Star Trek and Star Wars.  But if I had to name my favorite authors based on their literary styles, I’d say Douglas Adams, Timothy Zahn and Terrance Dicks.  Always entertaining and easy to read.

Are any of your characters based on people you know?

Most of them are, in fact. Joshua is, of course, based on me, and all of his school friends were based on classmates of mine. The only completely made-up characters in the book are Eve (and her family) and Kelsey.  I even kept the names the same.  My friends Rick and David, for example… I am still friends them with to this day.  Thank God for Facebook!

What would you like to tell other aspiring authors?

Be yourself, and don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t have the right to tell your own story.  But always remember that readers have certain expectations when it comes to basic things like spelling, grammar and punctuation, and its up to you to meet those expectations.  To that end, a competent editor can be worth their weight in gold.

Is there a way that anyone who loves your book to keep up to date with your writing?

I’m working on getting an author website set up, but until that happens, they can always send me a message on Facebook or drop me a line at [email protected]. I can also be found on Twitter at @Shrykespeare.

What is your favorite spot for writing?

Anywhere in my house that’s distraction-free.  Which includes the “kids.”

Do you listen to music while writing?

No, but I do love to listen to it in between spurts of creativity.  It helps relax the brain!

Do you have a favorite snack that you eat while writing?

Anything with peanut butter.

Do you write longhand or do you just write on your computer?

Oh, on the computer.  My handwriting sucks, and I would never force anyone to read it!

Do you have a website?

Not yet, but hopefully very soon.  I’m so bad at things like that, and I have a friend helping me create one. He’s a pro at it, but he’s also got a very busy schedule.

Patrick is also competing in the Young Adult category in the Book Bzz Writing Competition. Click here to vote for him.

Thank you so much, Patrick, for being my first author interview and good luck on your future writing ventures. You can find my review of Joshua’s Island here.

This book, written by Barthe DeClements, was a favorite of mine when I was young. It originally came out in 1986, almost 30 years ago, but the values are the same today as back then.

The story is told in first person from the point of view of Jennifer, a girl who is 5th grade. We meet Jennifer and her classmates on one day early in the school year when Elsie comes to their class. Elsie is a girl who is extremely overweight, a problem which garners her many stares and much teasing from her classmates. I don’t want to give the plot away, but as the school year goes on some revelations are made about Elsie which helps her classmates to understand why she is the way she is.

This book has all of the components of a great story and is wonderful for ages 8 to 12. It really hits home that you should not bully someone if they are overweight, since you never know when there might be an underlying problem that is causing it.

Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade is available on Kindle, Hardback, Paperback, and on Audible.

As an author of a children’s book about bullying, I am always looking for other like-minded authors and their books to get their takes on the subject of bullying. Yesterday I purchased a copy of Joshua’s Island on Smash Words.  I started reading it and i was up most of the night because I had a hard time putting it down.

Joshua’s Island is written in first person, alternating between Joshua and Eve, two 13 year old students in middle school. Joshua is a boy who has been bullied by the same four boys for three years, with the degree of bullying increasing as the years went by. Small in stature, Joshua is the shortest boy in his class and often a victim of ridicule, rumors, and physical violence. He has no friends and he feels very isolated from everyone in the school.

Eve is dealing with her own growing pains. Having been taken under the wing of the most popular girl in the school over the summer, she finds out the true price of popularity as she loses just about everything that she held dear, including almost losing herself.

Joshua and Eve were thrown together by their science teacher to be lab partners,starting out butting heads but find that they have much more in common than they could have ever imagined.  This poignant and beautiful story shows that friendship can be found in the most unlikely of places.

Joshua’s Island has a strong anti-bullying message but it also has a very strong message about the meaning of friendship and how everyone, no matter how big, small, young, or old can either stand up against bullying or contribute to the problem by complacency or ignorance.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5. It’s an excellent book for middle and high school students. It’s a book that should be in every library and should be a required reading. It truly shows how bad bullying can get before anyone does anything about it.

Joshua’s Island can also be purchased on Amazon.

My name is Sharon and I recently wrote and had a book published about bullying.  So I wanted to create a blog upon which I will write reviews of different bullying books and I will interview different authors of bullying books.  I want to provide my readers with a plethora of different genres and choices when it comes to reading about the subject of bullying.