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Five Questions with Brenna Jeanneret, Author of THE LAW OF BIRTHDAYS
From idea to pub date, how long did it take to cook up your book?
I don't usually write this quickly, because as a pantser, I find I have to write the story alive to some extent. Meaning, I don't always know where I'm going with it! In this case, however, I had a clear vision fight from the start. I was able to get final edits to my agent in just a few months and because I published with Cardinal Rule Press the completed book is available just a year and half after the initial inception!
Describe your book in 3 words.
Cake. Choice. Stubborn.
What “ingredients” make a kid lit book “delicious” to you?
I love funny, quirky, weird-o books in the vein of Rowboat Watkins or Micheal Slack!
What food or recipe evokes a strong memory for you?
My mom's Olive Chicken was hands down my favorite meal as a kid! It's got onions, cumin, salt and SO many green olives!! I love salt! Can you tell?
Describe your perfect birthday treat or meal.
Both my parents are amazing cooks and bakers! And since I don't really like cake, my dad would make me either cherry or lemon meringue pie for my birthday despite his visceral hostility for cherries.
Two Questions About the Book with Audrey and Gennie
What’s your favorite ingredient of this story?
[Audrey Perrott] Ninety-eight percent of the time I would choose French fries over cake just like the main character. (I know, I know, shocking!) I love how the main character advocates for herself. I also love the phrase, "Cake the children!" and will forever use this when presenting one of my bakes to someone.
[Gennie Gorback] I find the “there’s no one right way to celebrate a birthday” very comforting. I think it’s important, unique, and meaningful!
What food did this story inspire you to make?
[AP] First of all, it's a book about birthdays and cake, so I really wanted to make a cake since those are kinda my thing! Also, I am used to making vegan or "almost-vegan" goods, so I wanted to make a cake that maybe even the main character would eat. Enter a vegan dark chocolate cake with vegan dark chocolate frosting and strawberries. It isn't too sweet but it is moist and chocolatey enough to satisfy the sweet tooth as well as those who don't have much of one.
[GG] I created Vegan Cinnamon Pie Crust Swirls. Four reasons I chose this recipe:
The main character in The Law of Birthdays wants the choice to not have cake for her birthday.
Both the main character of this book and the author, Brenna Jeanneret, are vegan. I don’t make a lot of vegan recipes but remembered that some store-bought pie crusts happen to be vegan (but always check the ingredients to be sure!)
On our podcast episode (listen here), Brenna mentioned fond memories of her dad baking pies for her. I have fond memories of my own father baking pies, too! He loved to dunk the pie crust trimmings in cinnamon and sugar and make me little pie crust cookies as his pies baked.
Brenna also mentioned on the podcast that she wasn’t a baker… so I wanted to create a recipe that even a non-baker could love!
Audrey, Gennie, I love both of these recipes! The vegan chocolate cake is definitely something I would eat and those cinnamon rolls?! Wowza! Gennie, they look absolutely delicious! My only wish is that I could order these treats to my door, haha! Thank you both so much for having me on your blog! It was a true joy (of booking!) ❤️
Both of those recipes sound delish! I love the concept of this story. I am not much of a cake fan myself, and my grandma always made me a pumpkin pie for my birthday (my birthday is Nov 27th), and one year, she cut off all the crust and gave it to me bc it's my favorite part -- everyone else had to eat crust-less pie LOL!