A Season for Fireflies by Rebecca Maizel Pages: 256
Published by HarperTeen on June 28th 2016
A story of second chances from the author of Between Us and the Moon, which Kirkus Reviews called “what first love is meant to be.”
A year ago, Penny Berne was the star of her high school’s theater department, surrounded by a group of misfit friends and falling in love for the first time. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, her new best friend is the most popular girl in school, and her first love, Wes, ignores her. Penny is revered and hated. Then, in a flash, a near-fatal lightning strike leaves Penny with no memory of the past year—or how she went from drama nerd to queen bee.
As a record number of fireflies light up her town and her life, Penny realizes she may be able to make things right again—and that even if she can’t change the past, she can learn to see the magic where she never could before.
This captivating new novel about first love, second chances, and the power of memory is perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall and Katie Cotugno’s How to Love.
I have my review of A SEASON FOR FIREFLIES coming soon, but until then I am very excited to have author Rebecca Maizel here today for an interview about the book.
1. Describe A SEASON FOR FIREFLIES in a tweet (140 characters or less)
So I tried to do distill the story down to a tweet like 40x and realized that I absolutely suck at this. It’s like a puzzle – a brainteaser. My brain hurts! I hang my head in shame.
A year ago, Penny Berne was the star of her high school’s theater department, surrounded by a group of misfit friends and falling in love for the first time. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, her new best friend is the most popular girl in school, and her first love, Wes, ignores her. Penny is revered and hated. Then, in a flash, a near-fatal lightning strike leaves Penny with no memory of the past year—or how she went from drama nerd to queen bee.
2. What is something we would be surprised to learn about Penny?
She loves musical theater, but isn’t the best at singing. She leaves that to Panda. Adores those singing talent shows, but never would try out. Secretly loves the firefly infestation but would never admit it openly.
3. What is something we would be surprised to learn about you?
I’ll just go with some weird facts. Does anyone else find it alarming when you’re asked questions about yourself – you draw a blank?
Guns and Roses is my favorite band of all time (the original line up). I live for chicken Tikka Masala. I could defend myself with kickboxing if I had to. I am the worst, the absolute worst with math. I can’t even do long division or subtraction or whatever. I can barely figure out percentages. Decimal what?
4. What are some trends is YA now that you are loving (or hating)?
I love contemporary! I’ve been reading as much as I can in the contemporary market. I don’t hate on any genre because I wrote a series about a vampire main character and I never would have thought it possible that I could write gothic fantasy. It’s really not the genre that matters but the quality of the characters and the story that makes a story worth reading. I just finished a middle grade, Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Holy moly that book is so good. That woman can write – wonderful use of voice throughout. Read it. Bring tissues.
5. What do you do when you have writers block?
Free write from the main character’s perspective. Sometimes I’ll write a letter from the character to me or from one character to another. Most times I’ll listen to music, go for a run, or read. I really find that reading books is the best kind of inspiration. I’ll read a great line or a character will say something super smart and I’ll just love how a writer used his or her craft. It will inspire me to go write.
6. What did you get the inspiration for A SEASON FOR FIREFLIES?
I’ve said this in other interviews, but I think that mainly I was inspired by the idea of second chances. How many times have you made a decision that was a monumentally BAD idea? Sometimes those choices come from a place of pain and we can’t share why we do what we do. I was interested in exploring those kinds of decisions. There’s that old adage – “you might not remember what someone said but you’ll always remember how they made you feel.” I think this is true for our deepest, youngest memories and traumas. What if your memory was erased? You could potentially still access the way you felt or the pain you experienced when you were very young, but you might not be able to explain it. I very much wanted to access Penny in a deep emotional place. Penny has to heal herself emotionally first – only then can the rest of her life fall into place. Also, I loved the imagery of a fireflies taking over a town.
7. And most importantly, if we looked under your bed right now…what would we find?
Nothing! I am in the process of moving (just to another town in Rhode Island) so my bedroom is quite sad at the moment. Usually it’s spare gym socks and on occasion, my cat, Papaya. He loves to hang out under the bed. Once in a while, I’ll be reading in bed and I’ll hear purring so loudly from underneath the bed it’s like a motorboat.
@RebeccaMaizel Joins @BookBriefs for an #interview about her new book A SEASON FOR FIREFLIES @HarperTeen Share on X
What a sweet book. I would love to read this. Thank you for sharing!