K.A.:
Please join me in welcoming Kendra E. Ardnek to the blog today. She’s the author of the Bookania Quests, a fantasy fairy tale mashup series for preteens. The fifth book in the series, Hair We Go Again, releases in August.
Welcome, Kendra! Before we journey into the Bookania world, tell us about your upcoming release—Hair We Go Again.
Kendra:
Still reeling from recent trauma, Robin and Eric struggle to find stability in the midst of increasing tension both at home and with others. When friends ask their help to rediscover their castle, lost during their hundred-year sleep, Robin and Eric agree to help. But this castle holds secrets of its own—including what may be the fate of Eric’s long-lost brother—launching them on another quest. Meanwhile, Maryanne’s busy on a much more important mission of her own: find a jackalope. Yet no one’s ideas seem to coincide with hers, and family disagreements muddy everything. Can healing ever be found when people refuse to communicate?
K.A.:
A jackalope? Those don’t pop-up in too many stories, nowadays. I really want to ask why she has to find a jackalope, but that seems like a rabbit hole best left for readers to discover. ;)
What kind of world is Bookania?
Learn about the mythological jackalope on Mythology.net.
Discover the jackalope lurking in the Smithsonian’s collection on Smithsonian Insider.
Kendra:
Bookania is a psedo-medieval Europe-esque world spun out of the legends and stories that we of the real world tell. Important countries to the north are Fronce, Briton, Germaine, Locksley, and the Broken Country that lost its king three hundred years before, Just south of them are Winthrop, Normandy, and Scotlund. A large desert known as the S’Thera covers the southern part of Winthrop, and Normandy is home to Skewwood forest, once known as Sherwood, where things aren’t always as they seem…
K.A.:
How does Bookania compare to our world—how is it similiar or different?
Kendra:
It’s based on our world, but possibility is reality, and there’s altogether more magic. Its purpose is to contain the stories that we, as society, tell, and as such, it’s home to fairy tales, myths and legends—and even some historical figures who’ve attained legendary status. The stories play over and over, generation to generation, never quite the same way twice.
Kendra:
It actually exists inside a book—I only described one page for you. There are hundreds more—each with fairy tales playing out differently.
K.A.:
Such a unique story world! What inspired you to create the Bookania series?
Kendra:
My love of fairy tales and the desire to cram all of them into one world. It’s evolved from there.
K.A.:
Tell us about some of the research you did for these stories.
Kendra:
Mostly just reading fifty bajillion fairy tales and their retellings! And a lot of medieval books. I don’t think too hard when it comes to the logistics of this world. It’s made of story, after all.
I did research the proper uses of you’s archaic forms, ‘cause I had characters using them in the first couple of books. It also made me sad because we’ve lost a lot of nuance by reducing “You” to just one word.
K.A.:
Anything else you can tell us that readers may be interested to know?
Kendra:
I actually focus on a page of Bookania that is just coming out of a hundred-year period without magic, which is a lot of fun to play with.
K.A.:
Hair We Go Again is available for preorder on Amazon.
And, you can grab the first book in the Bookania Quests series—Sew, It’s a Quest—here, on Amazon for free.
K.A.:
Great to have you here, Kendra! Thanks for giving us a tour of the Bookania world and introducing us to your latest release, Hair we go Again.
About Kendra E. Ardnek
Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairytales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She’s been or acting them on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years. “Finish your story, Kendra,” is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children’s tales that glorify God and His Word.
You can connect with her at her website or blog, or on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.
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K.A. Cummins 
Thanks so much for having me over!
It was my pleasure! :)