The Missouri Reader Vol. 38, Issue 1 | Page 7

J. B.: Not as early as most writers! I like to tell my audiences during school visits that I did not want to be a writer when I was growing up. I wanted to be a stage actress, or have something to do with the theater (I'd sew costumes! I'd design sets! Anything!). But I got married instead, and theater dreams went by the wayside. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I decided to try my hand at writing a novel, and when that was finally done, I started another, and another, and another. Somewhere along that process I realized that fiction-writing was like staging a play in my own head. And I get to act all the parts!

Julie: What books have you published?

J. B.: My first published book was called Wordsmith: A Creative Writing Course for Young People. It's a workbook drawn from my own experiences of learning to write by trial and error (i.e., all those unpublished fiction manuscripts). I self-published Wordsmith in 1991, but within a year Common Sense Press in Florida offered to publish and distribute it. That led to two more workbooks aimed at different writing levels: Wordsmith Apprentice and Wordsmith Craftsman.

Though I had written four novels for adults, none of them found a publisher. It wasn't until I started writing fiction for kids that I hit the sweet spot. The Playmaker

was published in 2000,

followed by The True Prince

in 2002. Both are historical

fiction set in the time of

Shakespeare. My Friend the

Enemy, set in World War II, appeared in 2005, and The Middle of Somewhere, a contemporary story, in 2007.

Julie: What age range of students do you typically target?

J. B.: My first two novels were written for young teenagers, 13-15. Since then my target age has gone progressively lower, however slightly: 11-14 for My Friend the Enemy and

10-13 for The Middle of Somewhere. Even though, as your readers know, a good children's book can be enjoyed by just about everybody! My latest project bumps that target age up again, to the upper-middle-school range.

Julie: So, please tell us, what IS your latest project?

J. B.: Glad you asked! This September will see the publication of Somebody on This Bus Is Going to Be Famous, another contemporary novel.

Julie: What is it all about?

Up Close and Personal with J. B. Cheaney

Where can you get them?

Just click on the book to see!

Turn the page for a sneak

peek at the new book cover!

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