The Three Rules of Everyday Magic Fun Facts with Author Amanda Rawson Hill
If you’ve ever come face to face with a challenging moment in your life, whether it be drifting from friends, family struggles, or something entirely different, The Three Rules of Everyday Magic is the comforting book your heart needs. Kate isn’t just dealing with hard times, she’s facing everything all at once and she relying on her Grammy’s rules for everyday magic in order to get by. Believe in magic, give magic and kindness to the people you love, and trust that that magic will work. She’s never really been a believer in magic, but as everything she’s always known drifts further away, Kate is ready to try pretty much anything to handle everything that’s going on around and her make things better again.
The Three Rules of Everyday Magic is emotional, heartwarming, and full of the hope you need in order to get through even the hardest of days.
As you know, here at YAYOMG!, we’re always on the lookout for books that show the realness and rawness of growing up, to read under the covers when you need them most. Think this is a must read? Then you’ll love hearing these 9 Fun Facts that author Amanda Rawson Hill shared with us about how she brought The Three Rules of Everyday Magic to life!
9 Fun Facts about The Three Rules of Everyday Magic:
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- FACT #1:
- The first draft of this book was about Kate dealing with her two grandmas coming back from the dead as guardian angels to help her fix her problems. It was based on my children’s imaginary friends. Two old ladies. Obviously, the book isn’t about guardian angels at all anymore. But that’s where it started.
- FACT #2:
- The character of Jane is based on an exaggerated version of my own daughter, Jane, when she was four and five. She was (and is) such an artist and would wear these things that always super contrasted. Like really fluffy tutus and a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack. And when it was cold and we couldn’t find her mittens, she’d just wear socks on her hands. Her preschool teacher thought she was so cute and funny that she actually told me, “She needs to be a character in a book.” So I projected her into the future as an 11-year-old with a lot of those same traits and based Jane-in-the-book on that.
- FACT #3:
- A lot of people rejected The Three Rules of Everyday Magic before an editor said she loved it. So many that I had given up hope of it ever getting published. When my agent sent me the email saying an editor loved it, it was the day before Thanksgiving and I almost didn’t open it because I was sure it was going to be another rejection.
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- FACT #4:
- At the end of the book, Kate’s mom tells her about when she was in high school and learned to play Beethoven’s Pathetique for a big piano recital. But then at the recital, she made a mistake and skipped 8 pages of the song. That story actually happened to me. I spent 6-8 months memorizing Pathetique. It’s really, really long. And then when it was time to perform, I skipped most of it. It was so frustrating!
- FACT #5:
- Kate’s Grammy, Pat, is named after my husband’s grandma. She was a great lady. But a lot of the things Pat does are based off of my Grandpa Rawson. He had Alzheimer’s and died when I was 15. One of my fondest memories of him is when he sat next to my grandma playing the piano, and whistled harmony to the song. He couldn’t read to sing anymore. But he could whistle! I, of course, had to put that in the book.
- FACT #6:
- I’ve never done karate, so some of my details about it might not be very accurate. But when I was researching it, I decided that Kate did Shorin-Ryu Karate.
- FACT #7:
- The scene with the storm ripping the blossoms off of the almond trees came straight from that happening here in my hometown. We had a big rain storm one night, and the next day the orchards looked like it had snowed because the ground was completely covered with almond blossoms. It was pretty, but very sad because a lot of those blossoms on the ground represented almonds that wouldn’t grow anymore.
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- FACT #8:
- I live in Atwater, which is where Kate lives. But for the purposes of the story, I changed some of the details of the town. For example, there isn’t a bus route that makes a big circle around the outside of the town with all the orchards and then goes into town. And most of the schools that are right next to almond orchards, have too busy of streets for a child to cross or are too far away from the house on the property to be walkable. But I pretended.
- FACT #9:
- The ice cream store Kate and Parker go to is based off of one in Omaha, NE called Ted & Wally’s, which makes all their ice cream without any shortcuts and uses local sources for their flavors. Which means that a lot of the flavors are based on what’s in season. It’s delicious!
Can’t wait to read The Three Rules of Everyday Magic? You’re in luck! It’s out today from Boyds Mills Press, so download it on your favorite e-reading device or head to the coziest bookstore in town to pick up a copy. Author Amanda Rawson Hill has a few upcoming events you can attend as well! She’ll be in California, Utah, and Wyoming chatting with readers, signing books, and celebrating this very special story.
The Three Rules of Everday Magic Events:
9/29 – Merced, CA Barnes and Noble – Launch party – 12 pm
10/6 – The King’s English in Salt Lake City – Discussion and Signing – 2 pm
10/10 – Sweetwater County Library in Rock Springs, WY – Teen Writer’s Workshop panel and signing party
Always on the hunt for new reads? Check out our latest YAYBOOKS! Roundup for all the books and graphic novels releasing throughout September!
