Which minor character in this book would you like to know more about? If there were a whole book about them, what would it be called?
In Olive and the Backstage Ghost, I found Olive's mother more interesting than Olive herself. Her mother had been an amazing singer and actress, but after a mortifying performance in which her voice was off-key and strained, Laurel Preiss's career ended. Humiliated, she turned her attention to her daughter's career, and took control of everything. Laurel wasn't trying to help Olive, though, she was trying to give Olive's career the happy ending her's didn't have. In the book, Olive is terrified of her mother, but there isn't much information given about her. What I would like to know more about is her mother's career, her ambitions. I want to know more about the struggles she faced as she became more famous. I want to know how she was raised, and if that had anything to do with her steel grip on Olive. I want to know what her final performance was like, the one that ended her career. If I was to write a book about her, I would start from the very beginning, telling the reader her entire history: her ambitions, her friendships, her struggles, etc. I hope that the author writes another book about Olive's mother, because I found Laurel Preiss a very interesting, underexplained character.
- Anaiya, 6th grade, CSUS
