Meet the Author Susanna L Hill

Meet children's author, Susanna L Hill. She is the author of 10 books! They include: Punxsutawney Phyllis, Taxi!, No Sword Fighting In The House, Not Yet, Rose, Airplane Flight!, Freight Train Trip!, Can't Sleep Without Sheep, April Fools, Phyllis! and The House That Mack Built. Don't forget to visit her blog too!

What is your favorite book?

Really, this is an impossible question.  I have been a voracious reader ever since I learned how (which was a bit late at 6 1/2 :))  I have favorites from my childhood and favorites as a grown-up.  I have favorite picture books, middle-grades, YAs, and adult books.  But for right this very second, I will choose Bedtime For Frances by Russell Hoban, Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken, Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff, and anything by Sarah Dessen :)

What is your favorite color?

I love most colors, so I'd like to pick rainbow, but that would be cheating :)  My favorite color is blue, with yellow and pink close behind.  If you want specifics, let me just pull out my Crayolas.... for blue, cornflower or robin's egg, for yellow, goldenrod or dandelion, and for pink, carnation, cotton candy, and magenta.  I really like the name of jazzberry jam though :)

What is your favorite writing spot?  

When I go on school visits, I always tell this story.  I started writing when I was about four, lying on the kitchen floor with scrap paper and a green crayon, asking my mom how to spell things while she cooked dinner.  Now that I'm grown up and have a house, I have an office of my own.  It has a desk, a printer, writing books and resources of all kinds, but where do you think I work?  Not in my office!  I still work in the kitchen.  I don't lie on the floor anymore, but I sit in the sunny spot at the kitchen table :)

Which of your book characters is your favorite?  

Another tough question!  I love all my book characters.  But I think if I had to pick one I'd pick Phyllis.  She is spunky and fun and has an unshakeable belief in herself which I admire.  (I confess, though, that I am currently writing a character I love as well - whether or not she'll ever see the light of day beyond my computer files remains to be seen :))

What is your favorite childhood memory?  

I am very lucky.  I had a wonderful childhood with so many great memories that I have lots to pick from.  But if I have to choose just one right now, I will say it was when I was about 5.  I had a bad dream that a GIANT bumblebee was coming to sting me.  He was huge - 3 times the size of my head! - and I could see his needle-like stinger coming closer and closer...  I woke up screaming in the dark of night, and it wasn't my mom who came to comfort me as usual.  My dad came in and sat on the edge of my bed.  He asked about the dream and I told him.  Then he rubbed my back and asked me what I wanted for my birthday (which was months away!)  "A pony!" I said straight off, and then went on to list other things, quickly becoming absorbed in what delights I could possibly want.  I fell asleep again, completely happy, comforted by his presence, with my mind full of birthday presents.  I have never forgotten that.  And I used the same method on my own children many, many times :)