The Lost Crown of the Isle follows two cousins who discover a magical suitcase during a Hawaiian vacation and embark on an extraordinary quest to save a princess and recover a lost crown. What drew you to creating a children’s fantasy series centered on cousins who discover new adventures during their annual summer reunions?

What drew me to cousins specifically is that cousin relationships have this really interesting mix of closeness and distance. You can know someone incredibly well, share family history and inside jokes, and then still have stretches of time where you’re living completely separate lives.

That makes the annual summer reunion such a fun structure for a series because every summer, Pie and Ty are coming back together a little older, a little changed, and carrying new things with them. They have to reconnect with each other at the same time that they’re stepping into a new adventure.

I also loved the idea of giving the series a rhythm that kids can understand. Summer already feels a little magical when you’re young. It’s a break from normal routines, families travel, cousins come together, and there’s this sense that something unexpected could happen.

So the fantasy grows out of something very familiar. Pie and Ty aren’t superheroes. They’re two kids on a family vacation who suddenly find themselves somewhere extraordinary. And underneath the magic and adventure, the series is really about family, friendship, growing up, and learning who you are in relationship to the people you love.

That’s what I hope readers come back for every summer — a new place, a new mystery, a little magic, and two cousins who keep growing right alongside them.

How do Pie and Ty’s different strengths influence the challenges they encounter throughout their adventure?

Pie and Ty are very different, and I think that’s one of the things I love most about writing them. Pie is more thoughtful and analytical. He likes to understand what’s happening, put the pieces together, and think before he moves. Ty is much more instinctive. He’s curious, energetic, and usually the one who wants to go see what’s around the next corner.

Those differences can absolutely create friction, because sometimes one of them wants to slow down while the other wants to move. But they also end up needing those differences. Pie notices things Ty might rush past, and Ty can get Pie moving when he might otherwise overthink something.

A big part of the story is them realizing that being different doesn’t mean one of them is doing it the “right” way. Their strengths work best when they stop competing with each other and start trusting what the other person brings to the adventure.

How does the story explore the difference between being brave and knowing when to ask for help or rely on someone else?

One of the things I really wanted to explore is the idea that bravery doesn’t always mean being the person who goes first or the person who isn’t afraid. Sometimes courage is saying, “I don’t know what to do.” Sometimes it’s admitting you’re scared. And sometimes the bravest choice is trusting someone else enough to let them help you.

Pie and Ty are both eight years old, so I wanted that lesson to feel very real for kids their age. They’re trying to prove things to themselves, and sometimes to each other, but throughout the adventure they begin to understand that they don’t have to do everything alone.

For me, that’s really at the heart of the series. Growing up doesn’t mean having all the answers. It means learning when to trust yourself, when to speak up, and when to choose each other.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?

Yes, The Lost Crown of the Isle is the first book in The Suitcase Summers series. The next book is called The Quiet Harbor, and it takes Pie and Ty to Sitka, Alaska, for their next summer adventure. I’m not ready to announce an exact release date yet, but it is already in development.

This story has a very different feeling from Hawaiʻi. It’s colder, quieter, a little more mysterious, and there’s a lighthouse at the center of it. The emotional theme is really about speaking up—what happens when we keep things inside, when we assume someone else knows how we feel, or when we’re afraid to say something important. Pie and Ty are growing too, so readers will see some of the things they learned in the first book tested in a completely different way. They’re still themselves, still funny, still frustrating each other, but their relationship keeps evolving.

And that’s really the promise of the series: every summer brings a new place, a little bit of magic, and a new way for them to grow.

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