Q: What is your favorite thing to write? J:  Poetry and picture books are definitely my favorites. Not because they are short, (I have written long poems/linked poems and novels in verse) but because I have been a poet from childhood. I sometimes talk to my husband in rhyme, send things to school children that are …

Q: 2023 is a year where you had 14 books come out. How is that possible??   J: A lot of it has to do with how slow publishing can be and how fast I sometimes am. But also, editors are working on many manuscripts at the same time, or the right illustrator is booked up ahead …

Q:  You love to dig into your drawers of unsold manuscripts to revise and find new opportunities for them. What’s that process like?   J: Sometimes an old manuscript is a surprise. I will pull one out and read it to find I have grown enough in confidence and talent to make it shine where …

Q: You talk about the editorial process not being adversarial. What do you mean by that?   J: I mean both author and editor(s) listen and converse about the needed changes, but we are not fighting. No editor wants to make a manuscript worse. So it is incumbent upon both to be professional–not shout or-name call …

Q: You are rebooting a series of books illustrated by Tomie DePaola. Tell us about the evolution of the Giants in Giants Farm and Giants Go Camping and beyond.   J:  I began with one book, never considering it as series. It just grew and grew.  Tomie (alas, gone now and I write this on the day …

Q: You’ve just returned from Scotland where you live in the summers. How does your writing change when you are there?   J: It depends less on where I am, than what time I have. If we are traveling or eating out a lot or visiting old friends (some VERY old) then, less writing. And this …

Q: From Kaden (14 years old) A while ago I read the first book of the pit dragon trilogy. There are four books in that series so I know you ended up writing one more than you intended. Are you planning on writing a fifth book? I would love to know!   J: Thanks for …

Q: Why do you still write poetry every day? J:  3 Reasons 1.  It’s a Finger exercise first thing in the morning, that wakes up my sleeping brain, forcing me to think about words and writing. 2. I have many subscribers I do not want to disappoint, who have promised that in exchange, at month’s …

Q: What is the one thing you’ve never written about that, secretly, you want to write about? If nothing, does this means you have written about everything? Or just that there is more to discover and you haven’t found it yet? This is kind of a question about looking forward…   J: I cannot say …

Q: You have written 3 holocaust novels. Why, after one, did you dive back in to such a heavy subject? J: Honestly, each time I finished a Holocaust novel I said: “That’s it.”  Because both the research and writing took a great toll on  me. But each time, when a new place or time showed …