Goodreads asked Stefania Shaffer:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Stefania Shaffer As a teacher, I always wonder how students ended up on their path to trouble in eighth grade. There is a theory that there really are no new problems in middle school, just unmanaged ones that have snowballed.

So, I like to make up what I don't know and fill in the blanks building character profiles. When I have time to write, some of my classroom observations become a launchpad for my stories. I never write about the worst of what I've seen, or the best of what I've seen because I don't want there to be any identifying information. Kids usually turn themselves around for the better after a few years:-)

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