The time it was about Take Me with You

Posted June 19, 2020 by Stacee in Interviews | 0 Comments

When I got the invite to interview Tara Altebrando for her upcoming book Take Me with You, I jumped at the chance. I’ve read and enjoyed a few of Tara’s books and the new one sounds so good.

Before we get to Tara’s answers, let’s check out the book!

Title: Take Me with You
Author: Tara Altebrando
Pages: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Pub Date: June 23, 2020
Find it: Bloomsbury | Indiebound | Bookshop | B&N | Goodreads

Eden, Eli, Marwan, and Ilanka barely know each other beyond having a class or two together. But when they are all summoned via messaging app to an empty classroom after school, they find a small cube sitting on a desk. Its sides light up with rules for them:

Do not tell anyone about the device. Never leave the device unattended.
And then, Take me with you . . . or else.

At first they think it’s some kind of prank or a social experiment orchestrated by the school administration. Still, they follow its instructions until the newly-formed group starts to splinter. Nobody has time for these games–their lives are complicated enough. But the device seems increasingly invested in the private details of their lives. And disobeying its rules has scary–even life-threatening–consequences . . .

Sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for Take Me with You.

“The Breakfast Club with a menacing AI twist” or maybe “Imagine your phone is like a gremlin.”

2. Which came first: the plot line or the characters?

Plot. I always start with plot and then decide who would be the best/worst/most fun characters to deal with this plot. I was floating in a pool trying very hard to think up an idea for a new book when the idea of a creepy controlling device came to mind. I had floated in the pool many times before and no ideas presented themselves but I got lucky that day. Ideas are funny that way.

3. Why do you love Eden, Eli, Marwan, and Ilanka and why should readers root for them?

I love them because they’re a bunch of weirdos and they live in Astoria, Queens, which is my home and the neighborhood most dear to my heart! Also, they would never have anything to do with each other if it weren’t for this creepy device that has called them together so it’s fun to watch them see how they’re really not that different after all. Readers should root for theme because they’re all a bit lonely.

4. What was the weird thing you googled while researching?

I probably googled “sexy pic request teens” because I wanted to find an article I’d read a few years ago about how often teenagers are asked for pics of themselves. Also: “nursing home time with.” I’ll let you Google that on your own to see what that’s all about.

5. Without spoilers, which scene was your favorite to write?

There are a few scenes that involve characters talking underneath elevated train tracks and not being able to hear each other when a train goes by. So sometimes the characters just mime conversations until the train passes. I started doing this with my children when they were small and the way it works itself into several scenes ended up being, I think, very poignant.

Speed {ish} round:

1. You find out that you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

Ha. I was published for the first time more than half a lifetime ago, so I sort of forget. But there was probably screaming. Through a landline.

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

A sun sail for shade; a comfortable chair; and enough seltzer to sink the island.

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

4. Which book character would you want to hang out with?

Olive Kitteridge

5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

That it is a long game and that reinvention is the key to surviving and thriving.

6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently?

(Sorry, never read it!)

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Tara Altebrando is the author of numerous books for young adult and middle-grade readers. Her upcoming book, THE LEAVING (Bloomsbury), is a YA thriller that received a starred PW review and is a Junior Library Guild selection. Her other YA novels include ROOMIES, coauthored with Sara Zarr; Dreamland Social Club (A Kirkus Reviews Best Books for Teens), The Best Night of (Your) Pathetic Life, What Happens Here, and The Pursuit of Happiness.