Come get In the Middle today with Laura Marx Fitzgerald, author of the wonderful Under the Egg:

 Only two people know about the masterpiece hidden in the Tenpenny home—and one of them is dead.

The other is Theodora Tenpenny. Theo is responsible for tending the family’s two-hundred-year-old town house, caring for a flock of unwieldy chickens, and supporting her fragile mother, all on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. So, when Theo discovers a painting in the house that looks like a priceless masterpiece, she should be happy about it. But Theo’s late grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if the painting is as valuable as she thinks it is, then her grandfather wasn’t who she thought he was.

With the help of some unusual new friends, Theo’s search for answers takes her all over Manhattan and introduces her to a side of the city—and her grandfather—that she never knew. To solve the mystery, she’ll have to abandon her hard-won self-reliance and build a community, one serendipitous friendship at a time.

Under the Egg is available on Indiebound, B&N, Amazon, and bookstores near you.

Q&A with Laura

What draws you into writing for a middle grade audience?

My childhood was pretty much formed by my favorite middle-grade books: Alice in Wonderland, The Westing Game, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Anastasia Krupnik, The Borrowers. I read these books over and over again. Each one features a nice, normal, well brought-up girl who, whether she’s looking for it or not, lands feet first in an adventure and has to find her way out again. She has to make decisions and take bold actions from her own heart, even if her parents don’t approve. Because of these books, I went out into the world expecting the same kind of adventure. And that’s still the kind of story I like to write (and read) best.

Another reason I write middle grade is for my mother, who said if I ever write anything with sex, drugs, or bad language while she’s alive, she’ll disown me. (Ignore everything I wrote above about making your own bold decisions.

If you had a time machine and could visit middle grade you, what would you tell him/her? 

One day you will get to buy your own clothes and won’t have to wear jumpers with Peter Pan collars anymore.

Choose your own adventure: Is there an interview question you’d love to answer, but haven’t been asked?

“Are you like Isaac Asimov, who wrote: ‘I write for the same reason I breathe . . . because if I didn’t, I would die’?”

Good heavens no. I would rather do anything than write. Read, watch TV, pay bills, do the dishes. In fact, I did all of these things before forcing myself to sit down and write today. I think there’s a myth that writers are those other people, the people who can’t live without writing. For me, I just needed an idea so compelling that I couldn’t ignore it any longer. And even once I had it, it was still a battle to get my butt in the chair and my fingers on my keyboard. 

Just remember: discipline does not always make a writer. But in the end, it does make a book.

I love everything about this interview and your book! (Seriously, it has history, chickens, homeschooling, and pie. Did you write it for me?) Congrats on your debut!

In writing UNDER THE EGG, Laura Marx Fitzgerald drew on her study of art history at Harvard and Cambridge Universities. Though she grew up Down South, today she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two kids (and a dog, if the two kids keep begging). UNDER THE EGG (Dial/Penguin) is her debut novel. Connect with her on her website, LauraMarxFitzgerald.com, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.