On Saturday, October 22nd, 2016, I had the amazing opportunity to go to TeenReaderCon 3.0 at the Acadia Middle School in Clifton Park.  Jackie Morse Kessler was one of the authors we were able to connect with.  She is the author of the Riders of the Apocalypse series and many more YA and some adult books. She has an interesting background.  She lives in Delmar, NY with her two sons, Ryan and Mason, husband and  her two cats Nyx and Tux. She originally grew up in Brooklyn! About the two regions of New York state, she says, “I really love both Upstate and Downstate New York. I like downstate because there is always stuff to do and you always have the chance to do it. Upstate New York is amazing because of the nature.” Her first experience with a deer was sudden: “I pulled into my driveway and saw a deer, I was freaking out and was clueless of what to do, so I called up my friend and she told me to take a picture it will last longer, so I did and immediately calmed down. A couple months later I planted a blackberry bush–that was a mistake. The deer dug out the bush and ate it.”  Now she says she buys her blackberries from the farmers’ market.

Some of her favorite landmarks in NY include The Statue of Liberty and Saratoga Springs, but she did describe the taste of the spring water as disgustingly bad (which I agree with). Other places she has been include New Jersey, Florida, parts of California, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Israel.

Jackie couldn’t identify one favorite book in the whole entire book world.  She said, “ I love just about any book. One book that I am currently reading that I LOVE is Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (I recommend it), but some of my other  favorite books are  The Fault in our Stars by John Green and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  Some of her favorite authors are A.S. King, Neil Gaiman and Jim Butcher. She just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (she loved it) and is just about to start A.S. King’s newest book, Still Life With Tornado.

Jackie is very sweet, amazing, and easy to talk to.  She has a new book coming out, Killing Chameleon, which sounds very, very good, and I know because she gave me a sneak peek of it. Give one of her books a chance and you will immediately fall in love with it.