If you read my Compound review, you know about the author's visit at my school. The author visiting was the author of four YA books including the Compound and the Fallout. Anyways the event was organized into groups, so that she could read younger children some of her children's books, and then talk to the older kids and tell them about how she got to writing and where she got her ideas from. I even managed to get my copies of the Compound and the Fallout signed! (It took a really long time for The Raft to come, so I did not unfortunately have a chance to get it signed.) :(
Anyways, S.A. Bodeen was super friendly, and it was a wonderful experience meeting her. She talked about her childhood in Wisconsin, and how she got the idea to write the Compound. ( Which BTW was that when she was a child because of the threat of nuclear warfare she and her classmates had to hide in a bomb shelter.) She also talked about the time she spend in Africa where she got her idea to write Elizabeti's school.