Jessica Day George

Princess of the Midnight Ball
by Jessica Day George

Returning home from the war, young Galen finds work with his mother’s family in the royal gardens. There he learns that the king’s twelve daughters have a secret: every night they dance their shoes to tatters, but no one knows how or why. When prince after prince tries and fails to find the answer, and the family is haunted by accusations of witchcraft, Galen decides to help. Armed with a pair of silver knitting needles and an invisibility cloak given to him by a strange old woman, he follows the princesses and unlocks the secret of their curse.

This book includes knitting patterns for a shawl and a chain of black wool that are key to the plot. I will also be posting more knitting patterns here that correspond with with the story.

IB Teen talks to Jessica Day George

IBT: If you could choose one fictional character to bring into real life, who would you choose?

JDG: Crowley from Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.


IBT:How did you survive being a teen?

JDG: It wasn't easy! I read lots and lots of books, and got into acting at the local college's summer theater, and well, left town to go to college once I graduated!


IBT: Have you ever written something that you feel uncomfortable writing, knowing that your family and friends will probably end up reading it?

JDG: Yes. I wrote a novel about Queen Guinevere, set in the future when Arthur is prophesied to return, which had a lot of mentions of drug use. It hasn't been published yet, but I'm really scared to find out what my dad will say if it ever does hit shelves and he reads it!


IBT: What do you think are the biggest issues that teens need to be thinking about today? Do you think teens today are looking for quality in the books they read, or just to live vicariously through superficial characters?

JDG: I really think teens need to work harder than ever to get a place at a good university and get the best education they can. We have so many difficulties facing the world: the environmental issues, wars, poverty, epidemics, that we need educated people to help alleviate these problems. It's not fair, but that's the world teens are facing right now, which is why I think most teens are reading to live vicariously through the characters. But there's no reason you can't look for the best written books to escape into!


IBT: How have the books you’ve read inspired the books you’ve written, if at all?

JDG: Oh, in so many ways! Readin Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer makes me want to write my own historical romances, reading about funny quirky dragons in Patricia Wrede's books made me want to do something like Dragon Slippers. . . .My whole reading history is laid out in my own books!


IBT: What is the strangest thing you have ever gotten inspiration from? What inspired you to write School for Dangerous Girls?

JDG: I wrote my hard core version of Arthur and Guinevere, living in the future (and Guinevere is a drug addict), after listening to the musical Camelot too many times. Also, I'm afraid I didn't write School for Dangerous Girls!


IBT: Many writers say parting with a character is hard. Do you ever look back on a character and wish you had changed something about him or her?

JDG: In my head, one of the dragons from Dragon Slippers was red. She's a very warlike, tough female. But for some reason I typed "green", and green it stayed. Then as I've written the sequels, I've had the worst time remembering that she's green. I still want her to be read, and I begged my editor to change future printings of the books, so that she could be the "right" color.


IBT: What is the one thing such as, sky diving or any other daring thing, that you would love to do but you are too afraid?

JDG: I'd love to sky dive, but I'm well aware that I am too chicken.


IBT: What do you do when you are faced with writer’s block? What helps you get over it?

JDG: Dancing around and eating licorice. Works every time.


IBT: Paris is the one city I cannot die without first visiting. Do you have a place you've yet to visit but cannot live without?

JDG: Iceland.


IBT: Is Princess a stand alone novel or will it be part of a series? I love that you've added a knitting pattern that get's the reader involved in the story, if there is a series will they all have some interaction like this?

JDG: There will be at least one sequel. It's already complete, and in it, Princess Poppy will stand in for Cinderella. It also has knitting patterns.

IBT: Thanks Jessica!