The YA Bookshelf: The Purple Haze by Andrew Einspruch

Audience

Teenagers!

Genre

Humour, adventure, coming of age, fantasy

Book Number 1 of 3

Pages

468

Recommended For and Similar Reads

The Purple Haze by Andrew Einspruch is the most gleeful book I've ever read! You’ll be laughing out loud and squirming with excitement as the characters embark on such a life-changing journey. If you have read and loved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Doctor Dolittle, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or pretty much anything by Terry Pratchett, you will adore The Purple Haze!

Summary by Author

A slightly OCD princess. A kidnapped twin. A journey to find her.

Eloise is Future Ruler and Heir to the Western Lands and All That Really Matters. Her life is structured by Protocol and full of things that help her get through her day despite her "habits." But when her twin sister sister is kidnapped, she must leave home for the first time and try to get her back.

Traveling with her champion (a chipmunk), her guard (a human), and their two horses, Eloise follows an increasingly cold trail across three realms in search of her sister. The only way she can go home is if her sister is with her.

The Purple Haze is a humorous YA novel set in a unique fantasy world that features weak magic, equality between species, and töö mänÿ ümläüts. It's a funny, witty book that's been called "funny and witty," as well as "Pratchett-esque." If you like quirky, clever characters, lively dialog, and a fun fantasy setting, then you'll love this fabulous debut novel from Andrew Einspruch.

The Purple Haze: A Recipe

Pour 1 cup of wit, 2 cups of world building, a pint of chilling atmosphere, three teaspoons of originality, 4.754mL of OCD, and the soul of a chipmunk in a large mixing bowl.

Mix well. Pour the batter into a pan and cook in the oven at 400° C (approximately 10° too hot, but forget about that; it emphasises the chalky undertone) for seventeen minutes.

Leave to cool then sprinkle umlauts on to make it authentic. When cutting, refrain from touching the purple smoke that is released because there’s a slight chance you won’t come back.

Warning: Because these ingredients are hard to come across and the creation of The Purple Haze must be done to perfection, you should consider leaving the process to the professionals, such as Andrew Einspruch.

Quick Statements

Bizarre. Witty. Immersive. Stimulating. The list goes on because The Purple Haze is simply an amazing book! I finished reading The Purple Haze in a weekend because it was so enthralling and heartfelt. For me, The Purple Haze normalized what were previously considered controversial topics, such as OCD, in a lighthearted way. The book not only entertained and made my weekend special, but teaches readers many valuable lessons through its inclusivity and creativity. I will definitely be continuing with the series!

My Favourite Quote

‘“Princess Eloise, if I may have a moment first.” Cäääsëëëy climbed down the Nameless One’s leg and walked away from the others to wait for her in the shade of a liquidambar.’

Review: 5/5

Opinions: I simply adore The Purple Haze! It’s as perfect as you can get for YA. Right from the start, there is an overwhelming amount of creativity and self-expression that overtook any faults of the story. The Purple Haze can only be described as a hoot! It is light-hearted and full of innocent humour that allows sensitive topics to be discussed and overcome, such as OCD and friendship struggles. For me, this is one of the most defining factors of the book because it will reach out and resonate with teenagers. The Purple Haze trumped all other YA fairytales I've read! There is an unbelievable amount of creativity and, at times, randomness in The Purple Haze, allowing it to be an easy and fun read. “The Western Lands and All That Really Matters” series will now be my go-to read when I need a break from revising for exams!

My Favourite Thing: I enjoyed the innocent humour while reading The Purple Haze. A lot of YA authors stretch themselves to write innuendos, roasts, or other inappropriate jokes, but Einspruch wrote what was natural. There are a lot of plays-on-words (champignon vs. champion), bizarre stories (losing an eye and a kidney in a freak kumquat harvest), and ridiculous word choices (spangly bits). This book could easily be considered too juvenile to be funny for teenagers, but I enjoyed the break from all of the awfully written sex jokes.

Author Information

Andrew is the author of the humorous YA fantasy series The Western Lands and All That Really Matters, as well as more than 120 books for primary-aged readers, both fiction and non-fiction. First published in the 1990s, Andrew's work has covered everything from basketball to DNA, from biographies to histories to mysteries, from outback heroes to Christmas Island red crabs, and from how the rides work at amusement parks to how the Australian Government works (that, perhaps the greatest mystery of all).

Andrew is an ex-pat Texan living in Australia, and is the co-founder of the not-for-profit charity the Billie Dean Deep Peace Trust (http://deeppeacetrust.com), which fosters deep peace for all species.

If pressed, he'll deny he ever programmed in COBOL for a bank.

Please visit http://andreweinspruch.com and say “howdy.”

FREE BOOK ALERT

The Purple Haze has a prequel that is just as amazing! You can get “The Wombanditos” for FREE by clicking the link here: http://bookhip.com/FLNZSB

Interview with Author

When did you realize you wanted to be an author?

I came to writing through journalism. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had a chance to have a number of articles published in computer magazines. But my life changed when, around the same time, I had a few humour pieces published in a Sydney newspaper’s weekend magazine supplement. I was really proud of those, and that’s when I first got the *ping* for being an author with them.

A couple of years later, I had a chance to put in a proposal for children’s books with an education publisher who was looking for high-interest chapter books for primary-aged reluctant readers. In our phone call, I asked her, “Is there something you haven’t been pitched yet that you’d like?” She answered, “No one has pitched me a basketball story.” So I came up with one about the worst basketball team in the school league, and what happens when the new kid shows up and he’s really tall and really good. That became DUNKIN DAZZA’S SOARING SLAMMER, which was published in 1996. Holding a physical copy of one’s first book is a great moment, and it makes you want to do it again.

What is your favourite part of the writing process?

My favourite part of the writing process is when I write something and think, “Where the heck did *that* come from?” Maybe it’s when a character does something I didn’t anticipate, which takes the story in a different and better direction. Maybe it’s a phrase that comes out unexpectedly interesting. Maybe it’s when I think, “If I do that over there, then this over here will make more sense,” and there’s the clink of pieces falling together. Maybe it’s when I think, “That could be funny.”

Those are all good moments.

Do you write for yourself or for your readers?

I hope I’m doing both.

There’s a movement among authors to “write to market,” that is, figure out what the market wants and deliver it. (“Hey, people are reading military sci-fi books featuring ballet-dancing dragons in space books. I’ll write one of those.”) There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s a really good way to make money, especially if you can write and publish quickly. I tip my hat to those authors.

I may do that one of these days, but so far, I haven’t. I’ve written books that are fun for me to write and which I hope people find fun to read.

(Although, military ballet-dancing dragons in space? Hmmmm.…)

If a child or teen could only read one of your books, which one would you recommend and why?

I always encourage people to start with THE PURPLE HAZE, since that’s where we get to know the characters and the story gets launched. But there’s a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of it, and they tend to want to go on to THE STAR OF WHATEVER to find out what happens.

The Purple Haze contains a variety of themes, creatures, and settings. What inspired you to write it?

In the 1990s and 2000s, I taught creative writing classes, and one of the exercises I did all the time was to say, “Write for two minutes as fast as you can starting with the following phrase.” And then I had a series of prompts that I’d give them. One of them was, “Please, please marry my son.”

Because it was more interesting to me to do the exercises rather than just watch everyone else, I always had my notebook with me and would scrawl along with the class in my terrible handwriting. In one of these classes, I wrote, “Please, please marry my son said the chipmunk to the maiden,” and was followed by her pleas that revealed her son to be totally unsuitable. It got a laugh when I read it out, and I thought, “Maybe there’s something here.” Over the years, I’d get the idea out, dust it off, and write a bit on it. Then in 2016, I thought, “I really have to write this thing.” So I did. And that phrase became the opening of THE PURPLE HAZE (as well as — spoiler alert — the ending of one of the others).

If you could ask a famous author three questions about their books/inspiration/etc, who would it be and what are the questions?

My favourite author is William Gibson, the science fiction author who invented the term “cyberspace” in his book NEUROMANCER. I eagerly await everything he puts out (his most recent, AGENCY, came out this year. It’s a sort of sequel to his previous book from about five years ago, THE PERIPHERAL.

What would I ask him?

Is there any way we can get you to write faster so we can get more books from you?
What’s your writing process? (Like, are you a pantser or plotter?)
How has your writing process evolved over the years?

Is there a story you’ve always wanted to write but never have?

There will *always* be stories to write that haven’t I haven’t written yet.

Elizabeth Gilbert (who wrote EAT PRAY LOVE) has a book called BIG MAGIC, where she talks about the creative life and harnessing the magic of it. In there, she talks about how stories seek to manifest themselves in the world, and how they fly around the ether seeking a suitable channel, someone who will help bring them into being. Sometimes, she says, the story is just not yours to write. It isn’t the right time in your life, or you choose not to be the person to help it out. (Bless you, story, but you need to find another author.) She tells about an idea she had jumped from her to another great author, Ann Patchett. You really should read BIG MAGIC, if just for that story alone.

I think Gilbert is right. It takes so much to bring books into the world, and there are only so many you can do. The right stories will pick you as much as you pick them, and together, you work to shape them into something others might enjoy.

What was your favourite book when you were a kid?

My favourite picture book was Maurice Sendak’s WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. “Let the wild rumpus start!”

My favourite chapter book was Madeleine L’Engle's A WRINKLE IN TIME. I re-read it a few years ago (actually, I listened to it as an audio book — that’s how I do most of my reading these days) around the time the movie came out. The book holds up pretty well, and I remember thinking, “Look at that. You liked weird science fiction from pretty early on.”

What does success mean to you? Alternative: when do you become an 'author' rather than a 'writer'?

Success is getting to “The End.”

Success is pressing the Publish button.

Success is having someone part with their hard-earned money to buy one of my books.

Success is having someone say they enjoyed what I’ve written.

Success is having someone who has read one of my books decide to read another one.

Success is having the opportunity to share a few thoughts with International Girls and Books. Thanks for your interest in what I do.

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Other Books by Author

Andrew Einspruch has a message to share with younger kids, meaning he has written an unbelievable amount of books about science, humanity, and the future! To find the full list of books he’s written, visit here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1058064.Andrew_Einspruch