Today we are very excited to share an interview with author Christine Virnig!
Read on to learn more about the author, the book, and a giveaway!
Meet the Author: Christine Virnig
Christine Virnig is a fan of books, candy, spooky stories, poop jokes, and coffee… in no particular order. As a former physician, Christine now spends her days writing books, reading books, and working at a library where she is surrounded by books.
About the Book: A Bite Above the Rest
A boy moves to a Halloween-themed town only to realize there may be more to the tourist trap than meets the eye in this fast-paced romp of a middle grade novel perfect for fans of The Last Kids on Earth and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library!
Caleb is thoroughly unexcited about leaving Los Angeles just because his mother wants to return to her old childhood home in Wisconsin. Not helping matters? They’re relocating to a small town called Samhain, a thoroughly ridiculous tourist trap where every day is Halloween, kids wear costumes to school every single day, and the town’s mayor is a method actor so strongly attached to his bit about being a vampire that City Hall is only open from sundown to sunup.
As someone who hates Halloween even when it only happens once a year, Caleb is miserable in Samhain and finds that he just can’t get himself to play along, so while all of his classmates are pretending to be monsters, Caleb is the outcast in sixth grade because of his own commitmentment to shunning traditions. But then he makes a friend in fellow outcast classmate Tai. (Tai actually loves Halloween and dressing up everyday, but she accepts Caleb and his choices.) They’re lucky to have each other because things are starting to get weird in Samhain. Well…weirdER. Because there’s no way the mayor is an ACTUAL vampire. And their teacher absolutely cannot REALLY be a werewolf. Right?
As Caleb is about to discover, things are so much stranger in Samhain than he could have ever imagined. And as one of the only people who realizes what’s actually happening, can he save a town that doesn’t want saving?
~Author Chat~
YABC: What came first, the concept, landscape, characters, or something else?
The character! One day a frightened boy just sprang into my head. He had a wooden stake in his back pocket and was terrified that he’d encounter a werewolf or vampire at any moment. He seemed like a pretty awesome main character, but he became even more awesome once I realized that nobody around him was afraid. Everyone else was just going about their business as though nothing was wrong. I was immediately filled with questions about who this kid was and where he lived. A Bite Above the Rest was basically my answer to these questions!
YABC: If you were able to meet them, would you be friends with your main character?
Yes!… and no. Caleb and I have so much in common (we’re both anxious, unsure of ourselves, share a similar sense of humor, etc., etc., etc.) that we should TOTALLY be best friends. But let’s face it, in the real world I’d probably be too shy to ever talk to him. Which is really sad to think about.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in A Bite Above the Rest?
I adore all my characters, but Tai is probably my favorite. She’s so fearless and confident—I love that for her!
YABC: What research did you to do to write A Bite Above the Rest?
My research for A Bite Above the Rest fell into two main categories. One category dealt with real world stuff, like when does the sun set in early October in northern Wisconsin? Or which constellations, planets, and stars would Caleb see when looking out of his bedroom window in September? The other category dealt with commonly held beliefs about vampires, werewolves, witches, etc. A Bite Above the Rest is fiction—so of course I could make stuff up whenever I wanted—but I didn’t want anything in my world to stray too far from the lore one could read about elsewhere.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you would like your reader to remember from A Bite Above the Rest?
That reading can be fun! And that’s it! Because Caleb grows as a main character throughout the book, and he faces a lot of difficulties—including a bully and fitting in and getting over the death of his father—you will absolutely find deeper real-world takeaways if you look for them. But my main goal when writing A Bite Above the Rest was simply for kids to have FUN.
YABC: How do you keep your ‘voice’ true to the age category you are writing within?
Honestly, whenever I write anything—a to-do list, a birthday card, a text, an email—it wants to come out in the same middle grade voice. I can force myself to write sophisticated stuff if I really have to, but it’s a struggle. Sometimes I think my brain is confused and has forgotten I’m no longer eleven.
YABC: What can readers expect to find in your books?
All my books—whether fiction or nonfiction—have a generous helping of humor. A Bite Above the Rest is also spooky, and my nonfiction books (Dung for Dinner and Waist-Deep in Dung) are also gross and educational, but I hope readers will find ALL of my books to be funny.
YABC: What word do you have trouble overusing?
Just. It just keeps popping up in everything I write!
YABC: What’s up next for you?
Much to my surprise, I’ve recently started writing picture books (which has been So Much Fun)! I’ve also been working on another middle grade novel that features a ghost as the protagonist.
Title: A Bite Above the Rest
Author: Christine Virnig
ISBN-13: 9781665946575
ISBN-10: 1665946571
On-sale date: Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Imprint: Aladdin
Ages: 8-12; Grades 3-7
~ Giveaway Details ~
Three (3) winners will receive a copy of A Bite Above the Rest (Christine Virnig) ~US Only (No P.O. Boxes)!
*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*
