Lauren Baratz-Logsted has written books for all ages. Her books for children and young adults include the Sisters Eight series, The Education of Bet and Crazy Beautiful. She lives with her family in Danbury, Connecticut. You can learn more about Lauren and her books at her official website.

Earlier this month, Lauren kicked off her One Question, One Answer blog tour to promote TWO releases, Marcia’s Madness (May 3rd) and The Education of Bet (July 2010). So, when Lauren asked me to come up with a question for her blog tour, I wanted a question that went beyond the books; I wanted a question that touched on the personal and the writing process.

My question was: How do your roles as woman, wife, mother affect what and how you write?

Lauren’s response: Leave it to you to ask me a question I have to think about! Hmm… Let’s see… I think being a woman has predisposed me for most of my writing career to write female-centric fiction, but I appear to be branching out. The YA novel Crazy Beautiful is told in first-person, dual-narrator, he-said/-she-said fashion. And I’ve just delivered an adult novel to my agent that’s from the point of view of a man’s man – fingers crossed that she likes it and that others do as well! I don’t think my writing is affected by being a wife at all except for maybe in two areas: 1) if I write about a wife who decides the only answer to her problems is to murder her husband, I have to expect a few dirty looks at the dinner table; 2) my husband Greg Logsted (website) is one of my collaborators on The Sisters 8 series for young readers, along with our 10-year-old daughter Jackie. Finally, as to the last part of your question, being a mother affects me as a writer in every way. Jackie’s proud of what I do for a living now, and I’m grateful for that. I only hope that when she grows up she still feels the same way.

I have been a fan of Lauren’s since her debut novel in 2003, The Thin Pink Line; she knows how to develop a strong, realistic character and how to move a reader along a great story with her pacing. You owe it to yourself to pick up her latest projects!


Released May 3rd!

Questions! Questions! Questions! The Sisters Eight have so many questions and so few answers! Luckily, one more month means they’ll get a few answers.

Marcia’s month is about to begin. You remember Marcia, right? The sensible one? The one who would never do anything . . .crazy?

“Part Snickett, part Dahl with a little dash of Gorey, author Lauren Baratz-Logsted along with Greg Logsted and Jackie Logsted have created a series that is perfect for the younger tween set. I have already test-driven the first two titles with my 4th graders, and they are bugging me for more. With 8 sisters, there is a character for every reader. Fun, fun, fun.” ~ Stacy Dillon, Tweendom.blogspot.com

Click cover to buy your copy of Marcia’s Madness today!

The Education of Bet (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, July 2010) is about a 16-year-old girl in Victorian England who impersonates a boy in order to get a proper education.

“This book left me laughing and rooting for Bet the whole time. Many surprises and wonderfully included twists to capture your interest from page one all the way to the end. Another wonderfully written book by a great author who never ceases to amaze me with her writing skills and easy flowing story. A great historical book for the young adult genre!” ~ My Overstuffed Bookshelf

Click cover to buy your copy of The Education of Bet today!