Eileen Moskowitz-Palma is the author of Camp Clique, a new middle grade novel for kids. It's the first in her Popularity Pact series. A former elementary school teacher, she teaches at Sarah Lawrence College's The Writing Institute. She lives in Westchester, New York.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Camp Clique, and
for your characters, Bea and Maisy?
A: Over the years as a teacher and mom, I noticed that many
children are socially accepted in one part of their life but struggle in
another.
There’s the travel soccer player who is well liked by their
teammates but has no one to sit with in the school cafeteria, the fifth grade
class president who can’t figure out how to make friends at sleepaway camp, and
the kid who gets along with all the adults at the dinner party but has trouble
interacting with anyone their own age.
An idea came to me about the school queen bee who ends up
the most hated girl at sleepaway camp, with her fate landing in the hands of
the camp queen bee who is invisible at school.
Once I came up with the concept, I decided to amp up the
tension even more by making the girls ex-best friends.
Bea has just spent all of sixth grade invisible after Maisy
dropped her for the popular clique, the M & Ms. She can’t wait to go away
to camp where she feels safe and accepted, until she finds out Maisy will be
there
Meanwhile, the last place unathletic and unadventurous Maisy
wants to be is at adventure camp for the summer with Bea. I had a lot of fun
thinking about how different I could make both girls, while showing the love
they still have for each other buried underneath all of the tension.
Q: Why did you choose a summer camp as the book's setting?
A: Summer camp is the exact opposite of school, which made
it the perfect setting to explore the reversal of fortunes both characters
have. That setting was an organic way to illustrate to the reader how many kids
feel accepted and comfortable in one environment while struggling in another.
Sleepaway camp was the vehicle to pluck both girls out of
the environment where their friendship ended. This allowed them to build that
friendship back up because they were away from the things that pulled them
apart in the first place.
Summer camp also lends itself to a summer read, while the
school setting of book two works out well for a back-to school fall read.
Q: What do you think the novel says about friendship,
especially among middle school girls?
A: The through line of the series is the message that
authentic friendship is more important than fitting in. Maisy learns that
lesson in Camp Clique, and Bea learns it in the sequel, School Squad.
I was also hoping to get across that sometimes we think we
have a person or situation all figured out, but that when you look beneath the
surface you will find more layers.
It’s important for kids to see that sometimes we need to
give another person grace and other times we need to give ourselves grace for
the way we treated someone or handled a situation.
The reason I wrote these books, in both Bea and Maisy’s
viewpoints, was so that the reader could see that most things in life are
complicated, and no one is perfect.
Q: This is the first in a series--did you originally plan
out an entire series, or did you start out picturing it as a stand-alone novel?
A: I originally wrote this as a stand-alone book called The
Popularity Pact. The entire story took place at camp and ended with Maisy and
Bea learning that authentic friendship is more important than fitting in.
But my agent Lauren was the one who saw this as a series.
She pointed out that the first book is about Bea helping Maisy fit in at camp,
and the second book should be about what happens when it’s Maisy’s turn to hold
up her end of the bargain and help Bea fit in at school.
As soon as she said it, I knew she was right. I had written
one half of a whole, not a stand-alone book. After writing two books with Maisy
and Bea, I have become so attached to them that I wonder if there are more
books to this series...
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m revising the last set of page proof copy edits for School
Squad, which will be published on October 6, 2020.
The second book follows what happens after Bea kept up her
end of the bargain, getting Maisy "in" with the girls at camp. Now
it's Maisy's turn to fulfill her promise to ingratiate Bea with the
popular girls.
When Bea is accepted into this new inner circle, she begins
to lose sight of what true friendship is all about.
As Bea seems prepared to sacrifice anything to be
"cool," Maisy realizes there's more to life than hanging out with a
bunch of mean girls. Can she convince Bea that the popularity pact was a
mistake? Can these former friends find their way back to each other?
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: As a former elementary school teacher, I couldn’t wait to
connect with middle grade readers during school visits for my book tour. When
all of my events were cancelled due to COVID-19, I was devastated.
But then my social media feed filled up with overwhelmed
parents who were suddenly thrust into working from home and homeschooling. I
realized I could help. I set up a free online virtual writing camp and in the
first three weeks I worked with almost 100 kids from all over the country.
I am continuing to offer writing camps for children in
grades two through eight through the rest of the 2019-2020 school year and into
the summer. I am also offering online book clubs, online school visits and
printable writing resources. Visit eileenmoskowitzpalma.com for more info. Also see Facebook and Instagram.
Camp Clique purchasing links: To support local bookstores, purchase Camp Clique at
Bookshop. It's also available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Target.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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