Interview with Sherrill Joseph
Season 2: Episode 3
We connected from our homes for this virtual interview. Sherill lives in San Diego, California, and I am in the countryside outside Corvallis, Oregon. For those who have difficulty hearing the video or audio podcast, you can download a transcript below. You may also select the closed captioning (CC) option on the video.
About This Podcast
Sherill Josph is the author of four published middle-grade detective stories. Her plan is to write a total of 26 in this series.
She is a retired K-12 literacy teacher. Her current work is The Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries series, written for children ages 9-14. (Though I have to say, some adults will enjoy these as well) She has garnered multiple awards for these books. I won’t list them all but among them are: the Mom’s Choice Book Awards, the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, and a Reader’s Favorite Book award.
She says she has been inspired by the children she taught, and she uses her writing to stay connected with “kids who rock.”
Her stories present responsible, role-model children detective characters who provide readers with a fun mystery to solve and something to learn, while showing that being respectful and helpful citizens can be cool!
She lives in San Diego, California, in a 1928 Spanish Mission Revival bungalow. Her inspirations for her series include her historic neighborhood, the Nancy Drew mysteries she grew up reading, and her unique brain which includes lexical-gustatory synesthesia. We talk about that in the interview. It’s a rare disability/ability I know kids and adults alike will be very interested in learning.
At the time of this interview, Sherrill was beginning the release process for her fourth book, Saffron Street, which takes place in Hawaii. I was fortunate enough to be an early reader of this book and I was completely captured by the characters, the Hawaiian culture, and how well the detectives worked together to solve the mysetery.
You can learn more about Sherrill and her books on her website . If you really want to know about her next book, school events she’s doing, or anything else about her writer life, be sure to sign up for her monthly newsletter.
