f.a.q.

on Bounce

What inspired you to write Bounce? One of my dearest friends in the world became part of a blended family when she was in high school. Her mother, widowed at the time, married a man who was also widowed, and the two families—eight kids total—moved into a house together. I remember the day my friend brought me home with her for the first time. She said, “I have to warn you: We’re not the Brady Bunch. We’re more like the Addams Family.” I spent many holidays in that house, in the midst of that chaos. A story was just begging to be written.

Do you have any stepsiblings? No. I have one older brother (to whom Bounce was dedicated). Nick was a lot like Mackey when we were growing up. My parents got divorced when I was sixteen, but neither of them remarried so I never experienced a blended family myself. I did have to watch my mom and dad start dating other people, which was both weird and horrifying.

Is Eleni’s baby a boy or a girl? Girl, I think. Don’t you?