The Lost Bitcoin is an exciting middle-grade adventure about four friends who travel to London on a billion-dollar treasure hunt to recover a lost Bitcoin hard drive while uncovering a mystery that adults have failed to solve. What is the most rewarding aspect of writing a series? 

The most rewarding thing is probably getting to imagine how these adventures would play out like a movie in my head. When I first heard about James Howells trying to gain access to a landfill in Wales to find a hard drive containing the key to hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin, I immediately thought, If my friends and I lived anywhere near there, we would figure out a way to find that thing!

That’s one of my favorite parts about writing a series. Whenever I hear about a real lost treasure or an unsolved mystery, I start imagining what would happen if my friends and I tried to find it. What would we need? Who else would be looking for it? What could go wrong?

How did you develop the personalities of the four friends and decide what each would contribute to the team?

You asked me this same question in the interview for my first book, and my answer is still the same. The four friends are really different parts of my own personality. I think everyone has different “voices” in their head depending on the situation, and I thought it would be fun to turn those into separate characters.

I’m writing the third book now, and one of the coolest parts of writing a series is seeing how their personalities have grown. Each character has become more complete and distinct, and sometimes I already know exactly what one of them would say or do before I even write the scene.

What research did you do to make the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency elements understandable to middle-grade readers?

First, I will say that there is nothing understandable about Bitcoin! I spent a lot of time researching cryptocurrency, private keys, digital wallets, and what happens if someone loses access to their Bitcoin.

The hardest part was figuring out how much readers actually needed to know. And that turned out to be pretty simple: there’s a hard drive, it contains keys to a fortune in Bitcoin, and no keys = no money.

The real shock was learning that Bitcoin is only valuable because a lot of people believe it’s valuable—kind of like cash—and that you basically own it because a huge network of computers agrees that you do. Once I understood that, I figured readers didn’t need a school lesson on Bitcoin. They just needed enough to understand the treasure hunt.

What do you hope young readers learn from the characters about ingenuity, responsibility, honesty, and teamwork? 

I don’t really have a goal of teaching my audience anything. I just want them to be engaged, entertained, and to keep turning the page.

This question actually reminds me of a trip I took to a museum. The guide kept pointing out all the symbolism and hidden meanings in the paintings, and I remember wondering if the artists really intended all of that or if they were just painting something they liked.

I think about my books the same way. If adult readers see lessons about teamwork, honesty, or responsibility, that’s great. But when I’m writing, I’m mostly thinking, Is this story good enough to make someone put down their phone and keep reading? 

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