Erika Lewis: Hello. I am Erika Lewis. I am the author of Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts. I lived in London for a year, and while I was there, I did a ton of traveling, and I became completely enthralled with the study of classics of the historical structures, the ancient past of Scotland and England, Wales, Ireland. But I fell in love with Ireland. And since then, have been visiting frequently. It's sort of a home away from home. For me, the study of Celtic mythology and Irish mythology, specifically that time period in Ireland, has just been something that, I just fell in love with it.

We were actually on a trip to the Isle of Skye in Scotland, which feels like it's Scotland, but when you think of Ireland and Scotland, they're actually really close together when you get up there near Belfast. So there was a lot of connection in their history, in their ancient past. On the Isle of Skye, there is a castle called Dunscaith Castle, which is translated to the fortress of shadows, which was named for Scáthach, who is the legendary warrior teacher woman who taught most of the biggest, if not all of the biggest, Irish heroes in their mythologies how to fight -- martial arts, magical weapons, all these kinds of things. There's a lot of inspiration for the school itself, for the academy. And she plays a prominent role. Of course, she is the headmaster of the school, the preceptor.

So I just saw this school and I wanted to go to it. In the stories and the legends about Cúchulainn, was one of the Irish heroes. They literally had to leap across this bridge that was not going to let you cross. If all these little things were like, "Ugh, this just writes itself. I've got to do this." And then it started with, which kids are going to this school? I guess the place came first and then the characters came on board.

I first watched Avatar the Last Airbender. Well, I watched it on the Cartoon Network and now it's on Netflix. For me, and when it comes to reading books like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and so many others that are out there now that are utterly stupendous.

For me though, it's the emotional aspect of it. And there's a family story at the heart of this. There's Kelcie, there's the parents who she doesn't know who they are. And it's the part where she's not looked at as perfect. She's not the chosen one. She's the one that nobody wanted to be born. And that part of trying to not only discover that you've had a miserable life altogether. And now all of a sudden you've stepped into this world where it's like, are you going to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and be your own person and figure out who you are, which I think a lot of kids struggle to do. I know I did. Or are you going to succumb to the way everybody looks at you because of where you come from, which is what she's always struggled with before and is still struggling with at the school. That's probably my favorite part.

If I could say one thing to my readers, I sincerely hope that they enjoy the story. I hope that they have as much fun reading it as I did. I hope that they take away from it some of the lessons about what it's like when you feel like the world is against you, that there's always someone to reach out to and friends, even the ones who you think weren't your friends and aren't your friends, your frenemies, so to speak, that at the end of the day, you'd be surprised how much people want to help. I hope they take away hope. I hope they read it and realize that even though sometimes it does feel like the world is against you, there is somebody out there who really wants to help. And typically it is the person sitting next to you in the classroom, even though you don't feel like they do.