Welcome to Books by My Friends, Cheryl! Thanks for dropping by to share your debut novel Sitting On Top of the World.
JH: What’s the blurb for your book?
CK: Fourteen-year-old June Baker never in a million years thought she’d be dressing like a boy, sneaking into a hobo camp, and jumping onto a moving freight train to travel across the state of Tennessee. But that’s what she has to do to find work so her family’s farm can survive. It’s 1933, and the Great Depression is spreading misery throughout America. Where once June was sitting on top of the world, now she’s carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Once she was picking fruit from the pawpaw trees, and now she’s picking up the pieces of a family torn apart. Once she was climbing and falling from trees, and now she’s jumping from moving trains. June knows the risks. What she doesn’t know is that the railroad bull she’s falling for has a devastating secret that will change the course of her life. Sitting on Top of the World is appropriate for ages 11 and up and would be a great addition to any classroom, library, or family collection.
JH: What inspired you to write Sitting On Top of the World?
CK: This book began as an idea for a flash fiction contest and was inspired by a story I’d read years ago about the hobos of the Great Depression. I thought, what if I had an awesome teen girl as my protagonist who’s forced to ride the rails looking for work to help her family? But instead of a 1,000-word flash piece, it grew into a roughly 67,000-word novel!
JH: What one thing do you love most about writing?
CK: For me, it’s a release. I have so much going on in my head all the time, and writing allows me to let go of some of the noise.
JH: What’s next for you in the way of writing/publishing?
CK: I’m working on a sequel to Sitting on Top of the World, and I have an idea brewing for a YA dystopian book. Both of these I will likely self-publish.
JH: How can readers get in touch with you?
HTTPS://CherylKingWritesThings.com
BIO:
Cheryl King is a dyslexia therapist and longtime educator, and Sitting on Top of the World is her debut novel.
JH: Thanks, Cheryl! Please come back soon and update us on the sequel to Sitting on Top of the World!
All good things,
Joy
Note: Possible triggers- Some instances of physical violence, death, mention of suicide, mention of miscarriage, and characters encounter racial bigotry.
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Joy E. Held