BLOG TOUR: Dear Diary, E.P Thompson Here by Judith Mclaughlin

Hi everyone! Today I'm welcoming author Judith McLaughlin to talk about her favourite book settings. But first, let's learn a little bit about Judith and her upcoming middle-grade novel, 'Dear Diary, E.P. Thompson Here'

Judith Mclaughlin

Judith Natelli McLaughlin grew up reading a solid diet of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, and Shel Silverstein. Her mom was famous for telling her, "You are never alone if you have a book," and her dad, a lover of words, was always reciting poetry to her.

She went on to write, illustrate, and publish her own poetry book,Poems on Fruits and Odes to Veggies—Where Healthy Eating Starts With a Poem. Her other works include a women’s fiction novel titled This Moment and a soon to be released children’s chapter book, Mackenzie Goode Makes A Mistake—A Big One.

She lives in New Jersey with her husband Brian; her three daughters Katie, Lindsay, and Maggie; and her faithful writing companion, a Westie named Duke.

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Dear Diary, E.P. Thompson Here'

Dear Diary,

E. P. Thompson here.

Worst. Year. Ever. First semester in sixth grade, and my best friend Debbie has dropped me because my boobs aren’t big enough. Well, she didn’t say that exactly, but I just know that’s the reason. Then I got paired with Adam Berry, the biggest pencil-protecting geek of the decade, for the never-ending, semester-long math project. And as if that’s not bad enough, Thomas Maxwell, the cutest boy in my grade, only pays attention to me when I’m making a total fool of myself. Ugh.

Weirdest thing of all: it seems Lucas C. Tanner Middle School has a full-on, bona fide thief! Now all the teachers are going crazy and all the students are too, because Mrs. Peule has promised to make this year a living nightmare until the culprit is caught. We have to find out who is ruining sixth grade. Like, now!

Well, at least the criminal activity has taken the focus off my lack of bra ownership. Sigh.

I have to go. I’ll write again soon. Promise.

So…. I asked Judith what her 10 favourite book settings were, and this is what she replied with:

TOP TEN FAVORITE BOOK SETTINGS

• “It was a dark and stormy night…” – Picture Snoopy on top of his doghouse tapping the keys of his typewriter.
• Middle School – Picture Westchester Country Day from Dork Diaries or Lucas C. Tanner Middle School from my book Dear Diary E.P. Thompson Here.
• New York City – Picture Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
• Brooklyn, NY in the early 1900s – Picture A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
• Independence, Kansas– Picture Laura Ingalls and her family arriving there via covered wagon in Little House on the Prairie.
• Planet Camazotz – Created by Madeleine L’Engle, picture Meg Murry and her siblings in A Wrinkle in Time (funny, the first line of this classic is “It was a dark and stormy night.”
• Tara Plantation, Atlanta Georgia  – Picture southern belle, Scarlett O’Hara, from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind.
• The Beach – Picture Massachusetts’ Cape Ann Beach in Good Harbor written by Anita Diamant.
• A courtroom – Picture the trial in Maycomb, Alabama in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
• Suburbia – Picture the friends, husbands, enemies and exes at school trivia night in Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies.