Interview with Eileen Cook, Author of Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood and The Education of Hailey Kendrick! ~ THE BOOK BUTTERFLY

Welcome to today's Teen Book Scene tour stop with Eileen Cook.We're doing something a little different with this interview. Eileen has to answer my questions using lines from either Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood or The Education of Hailey Kendrick which released in January of this year!

1. If you could spend the day with Hailey Kendrick from The Education of Hailey Kendrick and Helen from Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood, what would you do with them? Do you think they'd get along?

With Hailey, although I sing like a bad American Idol reject, …”I realized there was something worse than putting myself in a life-and-death situation. Karaoke.” (TEHK Page 179)

When hanging with Helen, “Once I dressed up a Barbie doll in a cheerleader outfit and tossed it into the giant wood chipper in the park. I grinned as a the flesh-colored plastic sprayed out in tiny half-moon crescents onto the ground.” (GRLW Page 23)

As to Hailey and Lauren getting along it would have to be out in the open and not a secret. “I’m not interested in being friends with you if you’re going to be all CIA I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. I don’t even know if you want to be my friend.” (GRLW Page 206)

2. Name a favorite quote of Hailey's and Lauren's from your two books.

Hailey: “Did you know that more people are killed every year in falling vending machine accidents than in shark attacks? Our school had an entire wall of unsecured ending machines in the lobby of the gym. If someone were crushed to death trying to get a frosty can of Diet coke, it wouldn’t be my fault.” (TEHK Page 9)

Lauren: “Old movies are black-and-white; they’ve got good guys and bad guys. The thing was, I didn’t want to live in the past anymore. It was time for my life to go full color.” (GRLW Page 261)

3. If you were a book on a bookshelf, what books would you want your neighbors to be?

“Bon Appetit” (GRLW Page 80) because I love to cook and “The New Yorker” (TEHK Page 4) because they always have great articles and cartoons.

4. In Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood, Helen wants payback for all the pain Lauren put her through. What would you say is Helen's greatest fear?

“You make him sound like a cocker spaniel. That’s not love. That’s affection. He’s a habit. Deep down you want to break the habit, so you did the one thing you know he wouldn’t be able to stand. You kissed someone else, and now you’re free. You’re scared to be off track, but I think you’re sick of always living in the lines.” (TEHK Page 145)

5. Describe your books to us in 5 words or less.

Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood: Karma (page 25), best friends (Page 98) Revenge (Page 38) Fun (Page 126)

The Education of Hailey Kendrick: Independent (Page 255), Wondering (Page 149) declaration of love (Page 187)

6. What is something surprising that Hailey keeps hidden from others The Education of Hailey Kendrick?

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a the vandal rebel-without-a-cause type.” (Page 97)

7. If Helen was a superhero, how would you describe her?

“Fa-la-la-la kind of crazy.” (GRLW Page 127)

8. What can we expect next from you?

“I’m not sure where life is going to take me….but at least now I feel like I’m going somewhere.” (TEHK Page 225)

Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. Her latest release, Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood was released in Jan 2010.

You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at http://www.eileencook.com/. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.