Featured Interview With Sierra Luke
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Sierra Luke is the pen name used by Alecia Campbell and her minor children.
We write books for kids because we are kids!
We live in Jamaica and have a beautiful bull mastiff named Lucy.
I’m Sierra and no my last name is not Luke. Luke is my brother’s name. My brother, Mom and I write stories. I am in grade 4 and love to read. I just read Anne of Green Gables and think that she and I would have been great friends.
Check out my blog called Kids Who Write for tips and ideas for other kid writers like us!
http://sierralukebooks.weebly.com/kids-can-write
I’m Luke, I’m 8 and I love Lego. After our Mom writes the story I edit to make sure that kids like us would like to read it. We check for errors and choose the pictures. Check out our website for our books, fun activities and cool free stuff.
Our Mom Alecia does most of the writing, but my brother and I come up with the characters, the ideas and the stories, it’s a real team effort. We also work with great editors, illustrators and narrators to bring our stories and all our characters to life.
Start your Sierra Luke library with E.C. Max, Kid Genius, Oh No! and Travel with Andy Airplane books. More books and series are always coming soon.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books have always been a part of our lives. Our Mom read ‘My Book of Bible Stories’ to each of us while we were still in the womb. We were all taught to read very young and always have a book nearby.
Currently Sierra is focused on reading Exodus as part of her personal daily Bible reading goal.
Luke has been watching a lot of Youtube videos on Minecraft and Legos and is planning to dig into the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid ‘ The Getaway’ as soon as he gets a copy.
Mom has been motivated by Sierra to reread Anne of Green Gables so she can join in Spirited conversation with Sierra who just loves the book.
Sierra has kept a diary since grade two, Luke has been writing short illustrated stories since age 5 and Mom has been a prolific journal writer since high school.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
We currently love the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid ‘series by Jeff Kinney. The ‘Junie B. Jones’ books by Barbara Park are also very close to our heart, since they were read to us since we were babies. We also adore classics, like ‘Call of the Wild’, ‘Anne of Green Gables’, ‘Tom Sawyers’ and more. We also read books from different cultures.
As avid animal and nature lovers we watch and read tons of National Geographic, Blue Planet and anything about the planet. We devour books on how stuff is made, what makes things work. We each have our own interests whether it is Barbie, Lego, dogs, learning French, baking or so many other things
Everything we watch, read, listen to or do influences what we write.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
E.C. Max, Kid Genius: Critter Camp is one of our most recent books.
Max relates his misadventures as he tries to solve everyday problem using science and technology. In Critter Camp, he has to figure out have an enjoyable camping trip with his father free of pesky, creeping, crawling bugs without hurting or killing the little critters.
There is a bit of everyone in Max, our lovable kid genius.
9 year old Sierra calls herself the ‘everything’ girl.’ Being a scientist is just one of the many things she plans to become. Her notebooks are full of experiments and ideas, just like Max.
8 year old Luke is a bit of a know-it-all especially when it comes to nature and marine life. He is also a Lego genius and makes creative gadgets every day. He and Max talks the same way using big words and terms. They are both inspirations for Max.
No one really likes pesky bugs so dealing with critters is definitely a problem for Max to solve at Critter Camp.
We love Max, because although he is a certified genius and does a lot of advanced college and post graduate level courses, he is still just a kid. He is not stand-offish. He plays basketball, has friends, spends time with his family and does all the things a regular child likes to do. These qualities make him relatable and simply adorable.
Ok, so don’t tell anyone this ….
We have created a Giant Idea book that we add every single idea we think of no matter how small. Well it’s not really a book it’s more like a database of every idea we have.
When we think of a character we sketch him, talk about the stuff he likes or can’t stand. We imagine how he would talk, his age, how tall he is, what he likes to eat, wear, read, watch and do. We picture his room, his pets, his school, his work, his town. We talk about his family, their names, jobs, jokes they would make, the color of their hair. We think of name for his friends, teachers, pets, boss….
After thinking about E.C. Max this way, we were able to write Critter Camp in less than four hours early one random Tuesday morning.
Find out what E.C. stands for and why he prefers to be just be called Max!
Learn about Max’s ‘experi-ventions; and help him to name them.
Find out about KITS and how Max researches each project he works on
Read the Post Experiment Notes to find out what happens after the adventure is over
Connect with Max online and get your FREE cool bonus material like posters and info-graphics.
You can read Max’s next misadventure which he relates himself. Check out Max in Mighty Magnet. Max has to race against the clock to find a special toy in time. His nuclear-powered electromagnet may be just the gadget he needs to find what he is searching for or is it just a little too powerful. Find out in Mighty Magnet.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles