Interview: Joni Sensel

Welcome to South Wiggot, where everyone knows everyone and life is pretty steady. One day, a crate lands in the middle of the road. As eleven-year-old Bryan watches, an odd fellow who looks a lot like Colonel Sanders pops out of the crate. Something strange has come to town - and things are only going to get stranger in the coming days.

Such is the basis for Reality Leak by Joni Sensel, a new comedic fantasy for kids. After writing for magazines and drafting screenplays, Joni (pronounced Johnny) has found a new cozy home in the world of children's literature. Today, we talked about her novel, luck, ACME, and our mutual love for The Phantom Tollbooth.

Among your promotional items are packs of Authentic ACME Wish Seeds, complete with planting instructions. Do you wish on dandelions or shooting stars? Do you look for lucky signs?

I don't wish on dandelions, but I do love to blow on them and set them free. I do like to think of shooting stars as good omens, though, and I totally see messages and significance in quirks of the natural world -- call it a pantheist's tarot. It's nutty, I know, but fun. And since writers thrive on seeing and creating meaning and order where none, perhaps, exists, it seems only natural.

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Visit Joni's official website as well as the Class of 2k7 website.