Joy Lynn Goddard
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Hi teens,
This is your page. I want to hear from you. Let me know what you think about Maddie, Justin and Ava, or any of the characters from my books and I'll post some of your comments. Your ideas mean a lot to me. Here are some samples of the things that kids are saying.
Hi Joy,
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My mom found When Pigs Fly at the library and brought it home for me. At first, I didn’t want to read it cause I’m not interested in mountain biking but the book was good. I liked the part where the kids were trapped in the subway. I also liked when Sam and Maddie started getting closer. Sam reminds me of my ex-boyfriend. We are just friends now but someday I hope we’ll get back together. Hope you write some more books about Ava. She’s just like me. She talks a lot.
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- Caitlyn, 14
Hi Caitlyn,
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Thanks for letting me know what you think about my characters. I definitely will be writing more about Ava. She reminds me of a lot of girls I’ve taught. Hope things work out for you with your boyfriend!
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- Joy
Hi Ms. Goddard,
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My teacher told me to read When Pigs Fly because its about somebody who is depressed and I have brother who gets depressed. I know what that does to my mom and me. When he’s depressed we both want to stay away from him but when he’s not he’s fun to be around. Maddie was mean to her dad but I know why. I feel better after reading your book and I’m gonna give it to my brother.
- Ethan, 16
Hi Ethan,
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I’m glad you are trying to understand your brother. Good for you! That’s not always easy to do when you’re dealing with mental illness. Hope everything works out for you and your family.
- Joy
Hi Joy,
My name is Paul James but everybody calls me PJ for short. I read your book When Pigs Fly and thought it was pretty good. Justin’s kind of like me. He is not very athletic but tried out for every team and that’s like me! He likes Maddie but just as a friend. I have a friend like that too. We just hang out and stuff.
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- PJ, 13
Hi PJ,
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Keep trying out for those teams. Someday you’ll find what works best for you. I like your name. In one of my books I have a JP, but not a PJ. Hmmm . . .?
- Joy
Hi Joy,
I just finished reading your book Charlie’s Song. I read it in one day! I especially liked the part about Alessa. She’s just like this kid I know from my school. Kristin (not her real name, because she’d kill me if I said it for real) thinks she’s so great. Her hair is perfect, everything is perfect, but she’s mean to everybody. She has a group that follows her everywhere and if you’re not one of the group, she won’t even look at you much less talk to you. She gets her friends to ignore you too. Anyway, I’m glad Alessa didn’t get everything she wanted. I’m going to go out and get Hello, my name is Emily.
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- Amy, 14
Hi Amy,
I’m glad you liked Charlie’s Song. It had a lot of me in it, especially the part about Charlie being bullied. My school bully was such a creep. She used to torment me because I didn’t have much money and didn’t wear the “right” clothes. I just ignored her, hung around with my own friends, and she lost interest in bugging me. Sometimes ignoring the creep helps. Don’t let “Kristin” get to you.
- Joy
Hi Joy,
My mom went to a conference and came home with a present for me. When she said it was a book, I wasn’t very happy. I don’t like reading much and don’t like it when everybody is always telling me to read. But I was surprised!!! I LUV your book Charlie’s Song. Charlie is kinda like me. She has to look after her little brother and my mom is always asking me to look after my little sister because we can’t afford a babysitter. My sister is okay but most of the time I’d rather be out with my friends. Charlie likes to sing like me too. I was in the talent show at school this year but didn’t win or anything. But all my friends said I sounded good. I got a question for you. What happens to Matt and Briana?
- Brittany, 15
Hi Brittany,
When I was your age, everybody was always telling me to read too. Like you, I didn’t like to be told to read so didn’t read much at all. Funny, now I can’t stop reading. Keep entering those talent shows, for you never know when it will pay off. As to your question about Matt and Brianna – they are definitely dating. I think they are a good match. Don’t you? They’ll probably appear in another book, but I haven’t decided how. Stay tuned.
- Joy
Hi Joy,
I like baseball a lot and when I saw Mrs. Maloney’s Garden was about baseball, I decided to read it. It was awesome!!! I really liked the part about the dog. I have a dog and I would be really mad if my friend treated my dog like Trevor treated Stitches. He was so mean!!! I think he kicked Stitches and made him run away. Hey, what happens to Trevor after the book is finished?
- Steven, 10
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Hi Steven,
I also hate Trevor. He appears in Daredevils too, although I wrote Daredevils before I wrote Mrs. Maloney’s Garden. He’s just like a kid I knew who picked on one of my children when they were your age. I’ve decided to kill him off! Yes, that’s right. In my head, he dies because he’s such a nasty kid. You won’t have to put up with Trevor in any other books.
- Joy
Dear Ms. Goddard,
Hello, my name is Lucas and I am writing to tell you about what I thought about your book, Daredevils. At first, I didn’t think I would like this book because I’m not really interested in hockey, but then I found out that the book wasn’t just about hockey. After I had finished the book, I thought it was a good story. I enjoyed Daredevils because it had a good storyline and plot and also dealt with real life issues such as bullying, peer pressure and getting along with others. I thought it was very well written and I would recommend it to readers of my age group. I think you should write a sequel to Daredevils about how the children got along at school afterwards, how Lizzie and Tara’s relationship changed, and how Lizzie’s whole family got along.
- Lucas, 13
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Hi Lucas,
Thank you for your ideas. I often consider kids’ ideas, and some of these end up in my books. A few years ago, I wrote a sequel to Daredevils called Hello, my name is Emily. Although they are older now, Lizzie, Emily and Alex are the same characters who appeared in Daredevils. In Hello, my name is Emily, Lizzie is boy crazy, whereas Emily has more serious things on her mind. Adopted, she’s searching for her birth mother and reaching a dead end. Despite Alex’s objections, she agrees to meet a stranger who has sent her an email, and she heads into serious trouble. This book is even scarier than Daredevils. Hope you’ll read it too.
- Joy
Dear Ms. Goddard,
My name is Megan and I’m from St. John School. I really enjoyed your book Daredevils. It was really inspiring. I liked the way you showed what bullying is like and I also loved the way you made it have a great impression on younger children. I don’t have any suggestions for your next book because I think you are doing a great job with your books. If you have any other books out, please let me know so then I can read them. I am very glad that Mrs. McCabe made us read this book for our novel study because if she hadn’t I would not have known how great the book really was. Thank you, Ms. Goddard, for taking the time to read my letter.
- Megan, 14
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Hi Megan,
I’m also happy that Mrs. McCabe made you read Daredevils. I always try to take kids comments seriously so I can write stories they want to read. The character of Lizzie was based on a girl I taught years ago. She played hockey on a boys’ team, and the other players gave her a hard time. Mary didn’t let them get the better of her, however, and helped the team win lots of games. Thanks for your letter, Megan.
- Joy
Dear Mrs. Goddard,
I really enjoyed Hello, my name is Emily. It was full of surprises! I like how you used an everyday problem – kids meeting people they’ve only talked to over the Internet. Every chapter had a new surprise in it. I didn’t want to put the book down! I will enjoy reading this book again and again, and look forward to passing it down to my younger sister and, hopefully, my kids. I know that they will enjoy it as much as I did!
- Mary-Margaret, 14
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Hi Mary-Margaret,
Thank you for your email. I’m glad you liked the surprises in Hello, my name is Emily. I climbed into the trunk of my husband’s car in order to get the feel of what Emily would go through if stuffed into a trunk in the park scene. I felt as if I were suffocating! I know what happened to Emily wasn’t real but in my head it was real.
- Joy
Dear Joy Lynn Goddard,
I am writing to you to tell you how much I enjoyed reading Charlie’s Song. Even though I’m not very “musical,” I could relate to Charlie very well on the topics of school, friends and family. Your book was very realistic and I could see that you spent a LOT of time on your character development. You described each scene in great detail. I also liked how you wrote about real life issues today. Most books don’t talk about the dilemmas your characters faced – Charlie’s mom’s “casino problem,” Nicholas’s learning disability and Charlie’s friendship mishap were all real eye-openers to me. I now see how lucky I am. I also liked your main plot idea. The brainstorm on creating a singing contest at a local High School was genius! I’m sure that everyone would love to read this novel. One last thing that I would like to say is that I am really glad that you wrote this book for both boys and girls. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
- Iryna, 14
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Hi Iryna,
I appreciate all your comments. I like writing for girls and boys because I’m a mother of two boys who were always looking for books that they found interesting. They wanted to read about boys, not girls as much, until they got older. They also liked to read about sports, danger, adventure and social problems, so I’ve tried to include these topics in the books I write. Did you know that boys are harder to please than girls when it comes to reading? Yep, that’s right!
- Joy
Hi Joy,
I’m writing to tell you how much I liked your book Jazz. It was sort of creepy, but in a good sense. Like Jazz, I used to live in an old house that everybody said was haunted. I never saw a ghost but I sure heard one. I’d close my bedroom door and it would creak open again, but nobody was passing my room who could have opened the door! My bedroom window was always shut, so no wind was to blame for the door opening either. Sometimes I’d hear footsteps at night and when I got up to investigate, nobody was there! Sometimes my dog would act weird and my family couldn’t understand why. We’d all be sitting in the living room watching TV and my dog would suddenly howl, then dive under the couch. It was freaky. I was just wondering if you believe in ghosts.
- Jesse, 16
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Hi Jesse,
Yes, I believe in ghosts. Kind of. Just because I can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. However, I’ve had a few unexplained experiences that I’ve tended to toss off as meaningless rather than paranormal. My digital picture frame or TV or CD player has turned on and off by itself; all the lights in my house have turned on in the middle of the night when my family was sleeping soundly.
One snowy day, I was pulling my car out of my driveway when I suddenly stopped because something told me to – and then, from the corner of my eye, I spotted a bus rounding the corner, spinning out of control, directly in my path. I’m sure some people would say I have a wild imagination – but I’m not so sure that imagination has anything to do with the experiences.
- Joy
Dear Mrs. Goddard,
My name is Natasha. You came to my school and told us about Mrs. Maloney’s Garden. I didn’t think I’d like the book because of all the gardening stuff but I really liked it!! I felt sorry for Nicole when she had to go to the hospital. I was really scared like Pat was. I liked the part about digging up the garden. I have a question for you. Why did you call Pat’s dog Stitches?
- Paul, 11
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Hi Paul,
In Mrs. Maloney’s Garden, the dog was called Stitches because he needed stitches after being abused by his former owner. The man had kicked and beaten him for just being a dog. The dog was based on our family dog, Prince, who has since died. Like Stitches, Prince could only see out of one eye. Before we’d adopted him, he had been hit by a truck. As a result, he couldn’t see well and got confused a lot. When he was older, he often wet on the carpet. Despite his problems, he lived for 17 years and was a wonderful pet.
- Joy