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Interview with Middle Grade Author M.D. Payne

By Karen Reeder on August 20, 2026 / Articles, Author Interviews

Author Photo of Matt Payne sitting in a chair

M. D. Payne on His Newest Book Pumpkin Apocalypse

Karen Reeder: Matt, when I saw the cover and title of Pumpkin Apocalypse on the list of interview opportunities I was like, ‘yes! That ridiculousness is just what I need in my and my kids’ life! (And I hope you take ridiculous as the compliment it is intended) I really enjoyed reading Pumpkin Apocalypse and look forward to sharing it with my kids! Thank you for a chance to chat about this fun story!

M.D. Payne: Yes, of course, it’s such a pleasure to chat with you, and I totally appreciate the “ridiculous” comment. That’s totally what I was going for, so I’m happy to know it landed!

Pumpkin Apocalypse

KR: We all know that kids have limited attention spans. If you ran into me on vacation and we were in an elevator to the lobby with us and our kids, how would your kids pitch your book to my kids?

MDP: My 7-year-old would say, “It’s a book about evil pumpkins trying to take over the world!!” My 14-year-old would say, “My dad’s a weirdo.” They’re both right in their own way.

KR: Can you tell us what inspired Pumpkin Apocalypse?

MDP: Every year, we bring millions of pumpkins into our homes, or onto our porches, and it made me laugh to think, “What if they were all evil!?” Like, if they wanted to take over the world, they’ve got a pretty big reach! Not to mention, I can’t think of anything more boring than a vegetable sitting in your house, so spicing up the idea of what they’re capable of is fun.

KR: Ha! A Vegetable sitting in your house! I never thought of it like that. You certainly made pumpkins all more fun! And maybe a little disconcerting.

Is any of the book based on personal experience?

MDP: Yes, I’ve been possessed by pumpkins!!! Wait, just kidding. (But if anyone has, please reach out and let me know…). Ahem. I mean, the story was based on a number of childhood experiences that I pieced together to make this completely fictional story seem real. Scenes like the kids talking over lunch in the lunchroom brought me back to my school lunchrooms (Rio Vista Elementary in San Bernardino, California; Stephensen Middle School in Mountain Home, Idaho), and a lot of the teachers and students were inspired by real people (in middle school, I actually had a Principal Prouty and Mr. Stewart was my science teacher). Molly is based on my daughter (the aforementioned 14-year-old), and my Grandfather’s voice was literally in my head when I wrote the character of Gramps.

M. D. Payne Middle Grade Author

KR: Love it! What about with you? What character from PA was childhood you most like? And can you share an example of how you were like that character?

MDP: I think I was most like Adam in childhood: the smart kid who was content reading a book. Though I’m a lot like Molly in that I’m such a people person (even though I wrote the character based on my daughter).

KR: PA feels like something that kids will just eat up! How do you channel your inner child when writing for kids?

MDP: There’s a certain freedom found in writing for kids — you get to bend the rules a little bit and be…what’s the word…oh, yeah, a little more “ridiculous,” and I love that. When I write, I think back to my days in elementary school and middle school, and what seemed to matter back then, and how it really all came down to having fun with your friends: life just wasn’t as serious, though emotions seemed so much bigger! So letting the emotions be bigger, but letting the fun and friendships feel bigger, too…

KR: One of the main characters is constantly battling a childhood fear. Are you willing to share a childhood fear of your own and if it affected you in anyway growing up?

MDP: I was terrified of bees and wasps when I was a kid. When I was four, a friend dared me to poke a wasp nest with a stick. I did…and was suddenly covered in wasps. I was stung more than a dozen times before my dad hosed them all off of me, and hosed the wasp nest. From that point on, any flying insect that buzzed near me FREAKED ME OUT. I had zero control over my reaction, I’d just jump and scream and flail. When I was a teen, I bent my dad’s car key because I slammed into his arm when a bee buzzed me while he was unlocking the door. To a certain extent, I still am terrified of bees and wasps, I’ve just learned how to control it better. But it’s a shock into my hardwiring that I’ll always live with. (Hmmm…could Bee Apocalypse be a sequel!?!)

KR: Yes! We definitely need a Bee Apocalypse book from you!

Your family is on a road trip in your family RV, you have a closet filled with something that represents something about your family, it is also what you are going to have to use to fight off possessed pumpkins. What are those objects?

MDP: I married into an Italian family, so our RV’s closet would be a pantry chock-full of homemade jarred tomato sauce, herbs, pasta, Italian Bread, probably fresh cucumbers and tomatoes. I’m not sure how we’d use all of that to fight off possessed pumpkins, unless they have a natural aversion to meatballs or Sunday sauce. Though we could send my mother-in-law out and she’d cook them into something delicious!

KR: Oh, I can’t wait to try what she cooks up! Can we expect more from you with Adam and Molly and their town? Anything else that you have in the works that we can look forward to?

MDP: I’m currently working on another book with these characters, and it’s been fun to revisit Little Pine! I can’t say much about the book yet, except that pumpkins are no longer involved, but a super-creepy haunted house is. But this is not your regular haunted house…(insert evil laughter).

Lightning Round

KR: What is the best part about fall?

MDP: The crisp air!

KR: Your writing snack?

MDP: Anything that won’t make my fingers messy while I type. Popcorn is a go-to.

KR: Favorite vacation spot?

MDP: A lakeside cabin.

KR: Best reading spot?

MDP: My bed.

KR: Favorite holiday?

MDP: If you can’t guess by now…

KR: Hobby when not writing?

MDP: Hiking or drumming

KR: Something you dressed up as for Halloween as a child?

MDP: A vampire. Like 1,000 times. But my James Madison costume in 4^th Grade might be the most unique.

WNDMG Author Interview: Huda Al-Marashi on her Middle Grade Novel HAIL MARIAM

By Shifa Safadi on August 12, 2026 / Articles, Author Interviews, Diversity, WNDMG

Author Interview – Huda Al-Marashi

I’m so excited to be able to introduce you to author Huda Al-Marashi today. Huda is a Middle grade author who has written many beautiful books, among which is a personal favorite of mine GROUNDED, and today we will be discussing her book: HAIL MARIAM which came out from Kokila/Penguin Kids on Feb 24, 2026

I adore reading Muslim middle grade, and the synopsis sounds so compelling. I am so excited to dive into this story and talk to Huda about this book!

Librarians and educators- you don’t want to miss this!

About HAIL MARIAM:

Hail Mariam is an interfaith Muslim take on Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret drawn from the author’s own experiences in Catholic school.

Sixth grade wasn’t supposed to be this complicated.

Iraqi American Mariam Hassan transfers to a local Catholic school and before her first day her parents remind her that she might be the first Muslim her classmates have ever met. No big deal, right? Just represent an entire religion while making new friends, keeping up with schoolwork, and figuring out who she is.

When Mariam’s younger sister, Salma, is diagnosed with a serious lung condition, her family faces endless doctor visits and sleepless nights. Mariam tries to lighten their burden and keep her own problems to herself—including the fact that she’s just been cast as Mary in the school’s Christmas nativity play.

Mariam wants to honor her faith and her new community, but she’s terrified of crossing a religious line. Can a Muslim girl be the lead in a Christian story? What will her family think? And why does she feel like every decision she makes represents all Muslims?

Mariam discovers that faith, much like friendships, isn’t about perfection—it’s about connection. As she leans on her family, friends, and school community, she begins to see the power of interfaith cooperation and learns she doesn’t have to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Hail Mariam is a celebration of the beauty of finding common ground.

Interview with Huda:

I loved getting to talk to Huda about her new book and I know you will enjoy meeting her and Mariam as well.

SSS: What a wonderful premise of interfaith commonality. Can you tell us a little bit more about what inspired this story?

HA: This story is based on so many of my lived experiences. Like Mariam, I went to a Catholic middle school, but I also went on to an all-girls Catholic high school and a Jesuit university. As I got older, I came to appreciate the ways in which being immersed in another religious tradition shaped me, and it was something I wished more people had the opportunity to experience. Even when we have major theological differences, it helped me to see the patterns among people of faith and how we value similar things. It got me thinking that I could use stories from my middle school years to show how my interfaith education broadened my horizons and allowed me to see those commonalities.

SSS: Tell us about the character Mariam- is she similar or different personality-wise from you?

HA: Mariam is the eldest daughter of Iraqi immigrants so we definitely share the personality traits that tend to come with that. At home, she’s wants to be a dutiful daughter and sister, and at school, she wants to be recognized as her teacher’s sunshine. And while much of that does resonate with me, Mariam is far more conflicted than I ever was. In order for me to show her transformation, I started her off in an almost exaggerated place of right and wrong, and she struggles with the decisions she makes in the book far more than I ever did. For example, she wrestles with being cast as Mary in the Christmas play, however when I was in middle school and was also offered the part of Mary, I immediately said, “No, I can’t,” and the decision was over in minutes.

SSS: I hardly ever see Iraqi rep out in the world. Thank you for this book. Tell us more about how culture affects Mariam and her story?

HA: Thank you for recognizing that under-representation! With this book, I hoped to show how our religious and sectarian differences have been exploited. I chose to make Mariam’s parents mixed sect and her mom’s best friend Christian as a way to reflect the various groups in Iraqi society and to show how integrated these communities are. We have a much longer history of coexistence than the politically-motivated strife that we see represented in the media.

SSS: I love the cover! Can you tell us more about how the concept came about?

HA: I love it too! From the beginning, we knew wanted to integrate Christian and Muslim symbols, and my editor shared a few concept ideas with the cover artist, along with pictures of when I was in middle school. And then we went back and forth quite a bit to capture Mariam’s inquisitive look and spunk.

Link to order here.

Writing Process

SSS: When did you start writing the story and was the process a long one?

HA: It was so long! I drafted a version of this during Covid when I set a goal for myself to write a chapter a week, but it was my first attempt at writing a middle grade novel and I knew it had problems that needed to be addressed. I put it aside while drafting GROUNDED, a collaborative novel I wrote with Aisha Saeed, S.K. Ali, and Jamilah Thompkins Bigelow, but when that was finished, I had to face the draft again and I didn’t have the tools to fix it. Thankfully, I got into what was then known as the Highlights Foundation and is currently known as Boyds Mill Muslim Storytellers Fellowship, and I found the resources there to revise it into the draft that finally sold in 2024.

SSS: Are you a pantser or a plotter? And what helps you with finishing stories when you first start writing your drafts?

HA: I’m a bit of both. I’ll do a rough outline by hand and then try to feel my way through, drafting chapter by chapter, but once I have a draft, I go back to my paper and pen outlines to really think through what I’m actually doing and where I still need to go.

SSS: Any advice for fellow middle-grade authors looking to write MG?

HA: Since I was making the switch from writing for adults to writing for middle grade audiences, I had a lot of work to do on the voice. It was one of those things that I sincerely thought I was addressing in each revision, but my early drafts were far too serious and I would sometimes slip into a more adult voice. It wasn’t until my agent suggested that I lean into the humor that something clicked into place for me. I think that some levity will always be welcome in middle grade books. A little humor goes a long way!

Bonus!

SSS: Bonus question! Do you have more books coming?

HA: I have one more middle grade on the way. I know it will tackle the themes that I’m always drawn to in my work, identity, faith, and family, but it’s still in its early stages so I’m not quite sure how it’s all going to show up!

Thank you Huda for joining us and I hope readers and librarians enjoy your book! I know I am so excited to dive in!!!

About Huda:

Huda Al-Marashi writes for both children and adults. She is a coauthor of the middle grade novel Grounded, which won the Walter Dean Myers Honor award, and the author of the memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story. Her other writing has appeared in various anthologies and news outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Al Jazeera. She is a fellow and mentor with the Muslim Storytellers Program at Boyds Mill, formerly known as the Highlights Foundation, and she lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and three children.

Website: www.hudaalmarashi.com

INSTAGRAM: @huda.almarashi

Author Interview – Tiffany D. Jackson – Ghosts in the Night

By Ben Boche on August 5, 2026 / Articles, Author Interviews, New Releases

Headshot of Tiffany D. Jackson Last summer, Tiffany D. Jackson published her middle-grade debut Blood in the Water, which became an instant New York Times bestseller, debuting at #4 and has spent a total of 10 weeks on the list. The novel’s success continued this spring when Tiffany received the 2026 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Book. Now, the “Queen of Thrillers” returns with her sophomore middle-grade mystery—this time set beneath the moss-draped trees of Savannah, Georgia.

Ghost in the Night Cover with a girl holding a lamp on a haunted street

In GHOST IN THE NIGHT, Jackson transports readers to Savannah, famously known as America’s Most Haunted City, where twelve-year-old Harmony’s fascination with ghosts turns chilling as she’s pulled into a missing-persons case that will expose deadly secrets.

Harmony arrives in Savannah, GA for the summer with her musician father while still dealing with the unresolved emotions around her grandmother’s passing. As they travel from city to city, Harmony insists on one non- negotiable activity everywhere they go: a ghost tour. Desperate to prove that ghosts are real, she hopes evidence of the supernatural will mean her loved ones are never truly gone.

But when the ghost tour in Savannah leads Harmony and her new friends into a dangerous mystery, what begins as a search for spirits quickly becomes something more sinister. The suspicious death of a beloved pillar of Savannah’s Black community, coupled with the disappearance of a young Black boy has everyone on edge. As Harmony digs deeper, she uncovers a tangled web of lies and dark secrets that someone is willing to kill over to keep hidden.

Packed with Jackson’s signature suspenseful storytelling and fast-paced prose, GHOST IN THE NIGHT thoughtfully
explores Savannah’s rich Black history, underscoring everything that unfolds and propels Harmony directly to the center
of the mystery…and the danger.

I’ve been on a few ghost tours in the south, and I never grow tired of them. There’s something about the atmosphere and the history! What drew you to include these ghost tours as an inspiration for Ghost in the Night?

TJ: It’s one of my favorite things to do when I visit new cities. Ghost tours give a gritty realistic background. As I always like to say, you can learn a lot from the dead.

The ghost-hunting tools you mention are top notch! What kind of research did you do for Ghost in the Night and ghosthunting?

TJ: I went down to Savannah for a week to meet with some experts and do additional ghost tours. I had some pretty spooky/creepy moments. The things I do to write a good book!

I always appreciate it when middle graders are active in solving problems! Tell us a little about Harmony, the main character, and her desires to solve multiple problems in Ghost in the Night?

TJ: Isn’t it fun watching kids solve the world’s problems? They have such a raw unfiltered view, that gives them a clear picture on what they should be looking for. They’re always eager for information and facts, which makes them a wealth of knowledge.

In your author’s note you mention that you experienced a haunting! Maybe you want to save that story for another time, but I think our readers would love just a couple of details…

TJ: I was in a haunted bar, learning about ghost hunting equipment and while I was chatting, my EMF reader went missing right in front of me. We later found it downstairs. We have no idea how it got there.

What would you say is the easiest part and the hardest part of writing a mystery?

TJ: The easiest part is coming up with the pitch! The hardest part is landing the pitch, making it believable and satisfying for readers of all ages.

What are some of your favorite middle grade novels and why do you like them so much?

TJ: Wait Till Helen Comes was one of my all time favorite books! Of course anything RL Stine wrote. More recently, I really loved the Track Series by Jason Reynolds and The Last Resort Erin Entrada Kelly.

Now that this book is out in the world, what are some next steps for you?

TJ: Coming up with the next book, taking time to interact with readers, maybe read a book just for fun.

Is there anything else you want to share about Ghost in the Night for our audience of teachers, librarians, and middle grade authors?

TJ: Even though it says “Ghost” in the title, don’t be fooled. This is definitely a mystery (with a little spooky on the side).