Today I welcome author Nancy Hird, who writes books for tweeners--the 10-13-year-olds who love action, adventure, clean stories, and series.

I didn’t start out to be a writer. I went to college to become a teacher—English. Actually, I wanted to become an actress which explains my other major. However, I didn’t become an actress. God had a different path for me. I fell in love with and married a theater professor. That’s how I became a writer. Well, at least that’s how I came to write I Get a Clue and We All Get a Clue.

My theater professor husband took his college students for the experience of a lifetime to Edinburgh, Scotland, to perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I went along as wife and company publicist. On this, the first of our trips, my husband and I stayed at a bed and breakfast on a quiet street in the Morningside district. From the moment I opened the door to our room at the top of the house I was enthralled. The dormer window, the view of the street below, the noisy seagulls swooping and playing over the rooftops—I knew a young girl would love the room. With that, Libby Carlsen and I Get a Clue began to form in my mind.

I Get a Clue and its sequel We All Get a Clue are mystery novels written for young people ages 10- to 13- year-olds. In the first novel an American girl, Libby Carlsen, goes to live with her Scottish grandmother and aunt who run a bed and breakfast in the busy, exciting city of Edinburgh. Libby isn’t a Nancy Drew, not yet that is. (One reviewer of I Get a Clue wrote that she’s “Nancy” before she knew she was “Nancy.”) Libby is just a bright, observant, inquisitive pre-teen. But she’s a girl who likes to figure things out. When some strange things happen at Gran’s, and then to Libby herself, that don’t make sense, well . . . 

I think the stories of her adventures are fun. Other people agree. But I hope the novels are more than just an escape for young readers. I hope they bless them. I created Libby, her family, her friends, and their adventures with that in mind. Many popular novels that are offered to young people have protagonists who are “super” kids—solving murders, thwarting criminal masterminds, saving the world. In small doses such stories can have value, but I think a steady diet of them can make a young person’s more ordinary life seem insignificant.

Libby and her friends solve mysteries, but the novels have other take-aways. Readers come to see that making friends, helping people, developing character, living in a city, and starting a new school are adventures worth having. They may also glimpse that discovering who God is and that He can be trusted is the greatest adventure of all.

Nancy Ellen Hird currently writes for children and young people. Passionate about what kids read, she is the team leader of Books 4 Christian Kids, https://nancyellenhird.wordpress.com This blog recommends books for kids from 2 to 25. To find out more about Nancy’s mystery novels and enjoy games and puzzles with an Edinburgh flavor go to her website www.nancyellenhird.com.  You will also find suggestions for hosting a mystery party. Nancy and her husband live in California. They have a grown daughter.

 She is on Facebook at Nancy Ellen Hird. I Get a Clue and We All Get a Clue are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.