{"id":2302,"date":"2024-10-16T18:15:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T18:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/?p=2302"},"modified":"2024-10-16T18:15:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T18:15:50","slug":"interview-with-the-author-of-is-there-a-boy-like-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2024\/10\/16\/interview-with-the-author-of-is-there-a-boy-like-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with the Author of &#8216;Is There a Boy Like Me?&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:4px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXci33eTC6Wzus6hQgrplxRG2zCD_XT95-Wljwkp15VRmMeWnHacHBijmwZuXDP8dLFS4PIx_7FcLRT3cBnoSYhHNfVrdnkkM8da4R97k3o2KDv8f7Ms9NgRj0FzwnaiukNd97Q20JRxFx1vWvdbeT7JXA75?key=1Gbo1ih2R8mVu0KccgF3iA\" style=\"width: 300px\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:4px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What inspired you to write your book? \/ Where did the idea for your book come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong>I was thinking about how I could write a story for young boys that spoke about the expectations that are placed on them and how they interpret those expectations. For me, a lot of my novels start from real life situations or real life observations and then I imagine a story around it. The story I imagined around this time was from my own childhood and how conflicted I felt with all the expectations that were being placed on me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What did you enjoy most about writing? What were some challenges that you faced while writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong>I just love to write so I enjoy all aspects of the writing process, even the difficult parts. For <em>Is There A Boy Like Me?<\/em>, specifically, I loved forming London&#8217;s character (London is the main character in the book). It felt so natural and I had so much fun creating the viral comics that London creates. I think the biggest challenge I had was finding a way to balance the plot of this story with the messages I wanted to convey. I didn&#8217;t want this book to feel heavy in any way, but at the same time, I wanted the themes to be clear. Finding that balance wasn&#8217;t always easy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What do you hope your readers will take away from your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong>I want readers to understand that they don&#8217;t always need to accept the expectations placed on them by other people. Yes, as children, listening to adults and their opinions is important, but it&#8217;s also important that they take the time to discover who they are, what they like to do, and what they love about themselves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do you come up with the names for your characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong>Honestly, I have no idea. I usually just steal from my friends \ud83d\ude42&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What books have had the biggest impact on your life? \/ What books were your favourite to read growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong><em>Beloved<\/em> by Toni Morrison is number one on that list. Morrison is my favourite author in the world. When I was a bit younger, the first book I actually remember reading was a story called <em>The Orphan Boy<\/em>. It&#8217;s the book that made me fall in love with storytelling. Then there are more known books that impacted my love of reading and writing, Like <em>Charlotte&#8217;s Web<\/em> and <em>Lord Of The Flies<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your writing process look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong>I wake up and write almost every single morning. Mornings are when I feel the most inspired and most creative, so I write for two or three hours a day starting at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s next for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kern Carter: <\/strong>Well, there might be a companion book for <em>Is There A Boy Like Me?<\/em> Who knows LOL. I&#8217;m always writing, though. I&#8217;m working on two or three books right now at different stages of development. We&#8217;ll see how they turn out.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bookclubs.scholastic.ca\/en\/-is-there-a-boy-like-me%3F-\/49424293-cec-ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Get your copy of <em>Is There a Boy Like Me?<\/em> at Scholastic Book Clubs today!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What inspired you to write your book? \/ Where did the idea for your book come from? Kern Carter: I was thinking about how I could write a story for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[40,5,6,14,42],"class_list":["post-2302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-topics","tag-author-interview","tag-book-clubs","tag-book-fairs","tag-books","tag-october"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interview with the Author of &#039;Is There a Boy Like Me?&#039; | Scholastic at School Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.scholastic.ca\/scholasticblog\/2024\/10\/16\/interview-with-the-author-of-is-there-a-boy-like-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview with the Author of &#039;Is There a Boy Like Me?&#039; | Scholastic at School Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What inspired you to write your book? \/ Where did the idea for your book come from? 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