Get to know Ingrid… 

Newbery Honor recipient, Ingrid Law, is the New York Times bestselling author of two novels for young readers, SAVVY and SCUMBLE. Ingrid’s books have been placed on over 25 state reading lists and have earned accolades from Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah’s Reading List, the Today Show’s Al Roker’s Book Club for Kids, and Smithsonian. Ingrid lives in Lafayette, Colorado, where she writes full time and is currently working on her next novel, SWITCH, coming Summer 2015. For more info, visit her website. 

Quirky Questions 

What is the most vivid or realistic dream you’ve ever had?

Not long ago I dreamed that I found the meaning of life in a pink velvet hat topped with a pink peacock, pink silk roses, and lots and lots of rhinestones. In the dream, it just felt so RIGHT. Maybe life, in the end, is all about a great hat. 

If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?

Dr. Who.

What’s your favorite zoo animal?

Prehensile porcupines.

What’s the best restaurant you’ve ever been to?

When I was in Chicago to accept my Newbery Honor at the ALA Youth Media Awards in 2009, my editor and I treated ourselves to a celebratory dinner at a restaurant called Alinea, where the (molecular gastronomy) twenty-two course meal was served suspended on wires, flaming, cushioned on pillows of lavender air, and plated directly on the table. It was a feast for the senses! 

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done?

Face to face with Neil Gaiman, I told him that I’d been having recurring nightmares about him chasing me. 

If you were to get a tattoo, what would it be? 

I actually have a partial-sleeve tattoo on my left forearm. It’s mostly pretty flowers. I like pretty flowers.

Writing Questions

Has rejection ever affected your desire to continue writing?

Rejections–dozens and dozens of them–are what inspired me to try harder, to write better, to make my work as exciting and original as I could. Rejection is what inspired me to write Savvy. If my other work hadn’t been rejected, my first published book wouldn’t have been as good.

What was the biggest opposing force that you’ve encountered on your writing journey?

Self doubt. It’s still a huge problem.

If you could interview any author (past or present), who would you choose?

Lucy Maud Montgomery.

What is your favorite accomplishment?

I raised an awesome child.

Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work?

Hidden “connections” might be a better term for what I occasionally do. For instance, there are a number of subtle connections to the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my second book, Scumble. But not many people are too familiar with that movie anymore. And I’ve never run across anyone who has made those connections on his or her own.

If your writing were edible, what would it taste like?

Cookies with funny, but delicious ingredients. I think I’d call them “gooey-chewy mega-chip sardoodlesnaps.” (My favorite word is “sardoodledom.”) Mmm… someone should invent those and bake them for me!

In terms of your writing, how would you like to be remembered?

Joyfully. My happiest moments as a writer come when a young person tells me that my books turned him or her into reader. I think we all remember the first book or author who did that for us. For me, it was the book Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland. For my own child, it was the author David Almond. What an honor to fill that roll for another person! I couldn’t ask for anything more.