Middle Reader Fantasy
Publisher: MuseItYA a division of MuseItUp Publishing.
Alice’s parents refuse to let her have a dog, so when Alice sees a paint stain on the sidewalk that looks like a dog, she decides that she will make him a virtual pet. She calls him Splotch and downloads a picture of him to her computer. To her surprise, he escapes from the computer and begins to act as Alice’s self-appointed protector. Unfortunately, he sees most people as potential enemies of Alice, including her teacher and the school principal, and he is not shy about giving those various enemies a bite. When Splotch starts to attack Alice’s best friend, Alice knows there is a big problem. But how will she get Splotch to stop being a guard dog and go back into the computer?
Interview
with Anne Rothman-Hicks and Kenneth Hicks
Can you tell us a little bit about the
characters in Splotch?
The main
character is Alice. She is the narrator, and this is her third book. She is
impulsive, funny, athletic, brave and loyal. She would never snitch on anyone,
no matter what. Her best friend, is Sarah who first appeared in the second book
of the Alice and Friends Series called Brownstone Faces. Sarah is
cautious, not an athletic type, and prefers quiet, imaginative games. They
become friends after Alice protects Sarah from a few bullies at school, and
they have some adventures together and save a building from demolition. They
bring out the best in each other, as good friend always do. In Splotch,
Alice takes a picture of a paint splotch on the sidewalk that looks like a dog,
and when she uploads it to her computer, the image comes alive and protects
Alice by biting anyone that seems a threat, including, Alice’s teacher and the
principal. When Splotch starts to bite Sarah, Alice knows something has to be
done, but how do you get an imaginary dog to go back into your computer?
Can you tell us a little bit about your next
books or what you have planned for the future?
Alice and
Sarah will be heading to Central Park where they see tree faces, which, as it
turns out, can talk and sing and do all sorts of things.
How long
would you say it takes you to write a book?
We write
lots of different kinds of books and the time required has varied. Our novels
can take well over a year – sometimes many years. Our tween novel, Things
Are Not What They Seem went through many drafts over the course of a few
years. Remembering Thomas, the sequel to Things, was not as
time-consuming, because we had established the personalities of the main
characters in the first book. Similarly, in the Alice Series, Stone Faces took
the longest for us to be satisfied with the main character, Alice. Brownstone
Faces and Splotch came to us in far less time.
What is your favorite childhood book?
Anne’s
favorite book was Five Children And It by E. Nesbit. The book that
stands out the most in Ken’s memory is Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
by Virginia Lee Burton.
If you could spend the day with one of the
characters from Splotch who would it be? Please tell us why you chose
this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
We would
spend the day with Alice. We would probably go to Central Park. She would like
the North Woods, where there are big rocks to climb and paths that twist all
over up and down the hills. She would probably see a face or two in the trees
and have an adventure. It would be lots of fun to tag along and see what
happens.
What was the hardest scene from Splotch
to write?
We found
the action scenes most challenging, such as the day when Alice is having
trouble spelling the words that were assigned to the class for homework, and
Splotch decides to help her out by nipping at the girl who corrected and
embarrassed her in front of everyone.
What made you want to become a writer?
Anne and
Ken were avid readers as children, and at an early age both started writing
their own stories.
Just for fun
Favorite song:
Ken—“What A Day For A Daydream,” by
the Lovin’ Spoonful.
Anne—“My Sweet Lord,” George
Harrison.
Favorite book:
Ken—Bleak House by Charles
Dickens, followed in a close second by Anne’s choice.
Anne—Sirens of Titan by
Kurt Vonnegut.
Favorite movie:
Ken—Casablanca.
Anne—Wizard of Oz.
Favorite tv show:
Ken—The Office
Anne—The Affair
Favorite Food:
Anne and Ken both love to cook,
and they love their food better than anything they buy anywhere else. Their
specialties are soups of all kinds and Middle Eastern food, the spicier the
better!
Favorite drink:
Ken—Could not face the day
without a cup of coffee brewed on our stovetop, but by the afternoon he looks
forward to an iced tea, made with a tea bag left over from Anne’s lunchtime
tea.
Anne—Anne also requires a
home-brewed cup of coffee in the morning (thank you, Ken), but by lunch she
will switch to a nice hot cup of tea with honey and some vanilla soy milk.
Favorite website:
Neither spend much time on
websites, except the news, like the New York Times or CNN. But Ken’s favorite
Facebook sites involve birds, butterflies and moths.
About the Authors
Anne Rothman-Hicks is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College where, in 1969, at a college dance, she met a student from Haverford named Kenneth Hicks. They have been together pretty much ever since, getting married, having children, writing books, making art, and generally conspiring to live lives that are happy, creative, and good.
Anne and Ken’s most recent novels and stories are set in New York City, where they have lived for most of their married lives.
Their middle reader series, Alice and Friends, features Alice, a 10-year-old girl with a vivid imagination that gets her into and out of trouble. The titles are, STONE FACES, BROWNSTONE FACES, and SPLOTCH.
In Ken and Anne’s tween book, THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM, Jennifer and James find a pigeon in Central Park whose foot was caught in a bit of string attached to a fence. Only this pigeon was actually a man before he was turned into a pigeon over a hundred years earlier. Now he needs some help to be turned back into a man before a certain hawk captures and eats him instead.
A sequel, REMEMBERING THOMAS, has been published by MuseItUp Publishing in March of 2018.
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