Story behind the book – Katie L. Carroll

The Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour is going strong, and today I’m at Mary Waibel’s blog with an unusual character interview. K.L. Pickett was gracious enough to stop by and talk about the inspiration behind her middle grade novel Maybe It’s Magic! (check out my Goodreads review here). Welcome, K.L.!

Why Did I Write Maybe It’s Magic! ?

By K.L. Pickett

If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?

When I was a kid, the only thing I wanted was a horse. Horses were my obsession: I read about horses, got to know horse owners, saved my money to rent horses, watched the horse races with my dad on TV, went to the race track with him, watched local horse shows, scooped poop for horse owners in exchange for horse rides, wrote reports about horses, drew pictures of horses – well, you get the picture.

When I was in kindergarten, I rode an invisible horse to school every day.

Our house was zoned as county, not city, so horses were allowed. But it was more like a suburb than a rural area. Our property was only a quarter of an acre. In the very back corner of the yard we had an old, wooden, rotten-to-the-point-of-falling-down stall where someone had kept a horse a long, long time ago – which only served as a daily, constant reminder that I didn’t have one.

Every birthday, every Christmas, I asked for the same thing: a horse.

Every birthday and Christmas morning, I’d walk into the living room, close my eyes, and yank open the drapes. Next I’d open my eyes and look outside, hoping and wishing with all my heart there’d be a horse out there.

There never was.

But I never gave up. I begged and pleaded with my parents. I prayed. I researched horses and horse training and riding. I rode whenever I had the chance.

And finally, when I was eleven years old, a miracle happened. The phone rang; I ran to answer it. It was my dad. “Karen,” he said, “I just bought you a horse.”

That was the happiest day of my eleven-year-old life.

That’s why I wrote Maybe It’s Magic! It’s written for all those kids who dream and wish and pray they have a horse someday.

My hope is that every kid who reads Maybe It’s Magic! will have his or her dream come true, too, just like mine did.

Maybe It’s Magic! blurb:

More than anything in the world, ten-year-old Pippy wants a horse. Plan One – begging her mom for one – doesn’t work. Plan Two – performing her own made-up magic spell – conjures up a tiny glass horse statue. Pippy’s disappointed; she wanted a real horse. But after studying it, Pippy thinks: Maybe it’s magic! If it is, she can use its powers to get a real one.

Soon her life changes. Because of the statue, she meets a grouchy, old ranch owner, who hasn’t had horses for years. The old woman buys one, stating it’s for her granddaughter. Pippy believes the horse is really for her. She learns to groom, saddle, and ride it. Now she’s even learning how to show it. The magic is working.

Then bad things start to happen. Why? Is the statue running out of magic?

When the ranch owner ends up in the hospital, Pippy knows the magic is almost gone. She needs more magic. But how? If she doesn’t get more soon, she could lose her horse. But even worse, the ranch owner could lose her life.

You can purchase Maybe It’s Magic! from MuseItUp Publishing at: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museityoung/maybe-it-s-magic-detail

Palleo when Karen got her About the Author: