Trick or Treat with Marzieh Abbas!

Welcome, readers, writers, and mystery lovers, too! We have the magnificent Marzieh Abbas with us today sharing her next installment of her popular award-winning series, Nadia and Nadir. Nadia and Nadir, brother and sister, have so much in store including mysteries, composting, racing, making slime, and more. You won't want to miss it! Want to know more about Marzieh, her now 12 book chapter book series, PLUS want to hear an amazing trick she uses when writing manuscripts? Read on...

Q: Hi, Marzieh! Thanks so much for joining us again on #SeasonsOfKidLit. We’re thrilled to have you Trick or Treat with us and hear all about the new books in your Nadia and Nadir series.

Readers, Marzieh joined us last year and talked about her first six books in the series! If you’d like to read her interview, click here.

I’m so excited that Nadia and Nadir went on more adventures together, Marzieh! How did this new series come about? Did you approach ABDO with new book suggestions or did they approach you?

A: Thank you once again for having me on #SeasonsOfKidLit! It’s an honor to be joining everyone again this year to talk more about my Nadia and Nadir series.

Coming to your question, ABDO Books approached me to write 6 more books for the series before the first set was even published. I guess they know their markets well, and felt a niche needed to be filled. I was overjoyed to work with their amazing team on more books. They asked me to share some ideas. I shared tentative titles (for about 8/9 books) and short pitches (for 6 books). They picked their favorites, we tweaked the pitches slightly and I got to working on my month-long deadline for each book.

Q: How fascinating! Thanks for sharing that background with us.

Nadia and Nadir have six more fun adventures, including, Backyard Mystery and Compost Scraps - both excellent reads for fall! Can you share a little about each book in the new series and what our readers can look forward to?

A: This series has lots of fun, adventurous discoveries, and unexpected incidents, just like the last one. Nadia and Nadir are a curious duo and live in a friendly neighborhood. The stories revolve around their Muslim-American household, family friends, school, and their Houston neighborhood.

The titles included in this set are:

• Nadia and Nadir: Host and Hostess

• Nadia and Nadir: Compost Scraps

• Nadia and Nadir: Architect Assistants

• Nadia and Nadir: Backyard Mystery

• Nadia and Nadir: Run for a Cause

• Nadia and Nadir: Slime Time

Readers, want a not-so-spooky read this season? Check out Book 4 in her new series, Backyard Mystery:

Blurb: Nadia and Nadir can't wait to have a sleepover in their backyard. But missing treats and critter footprints have them thinking of monsters. Eventually, they set up a plan to track down the creature and figure out what nightly visitor is in their backyard.

Q: What's your favorite title from your new series?

A: Slime Time! It involves slime, charms, glitter… and also it has an entrepreneurial layer to the story. I’m hopeful it will inspire my readers to explore kid-preneurship!

Q: We can't wait to check out the new series!

And we happened to notice quite a few book announcements swirling around. What can we look forward to seeing from you in the near future?

A: I have 4 picture books releasing in 2024! Yay!

• A Ramadan to Remember (Soaring Kite Books)

• Awe-samosas! (Clarion/HarperCollins)

• Henna Is…– a companion book to my debut, A Dupatta Is… (Feiwel&Friends/Macmillan)

• Yasmeen Lari, Green Architect (Clarion/HarperCollins)

I also have an unannounced series for an age-category I haven’t written for yet! I can’t wait to talk more about it when I can!

Q: Wow! Congrats on all your success. We can't wait to hear about your upcoming series, too.

What is one of your favorite ways to celebrate fall or Halloween?

A: Hoard up on all things rust-orange-olive-green!

Q: BONUS QUESTION: What’s your favorite Halloween Candy?

A: Those Dracula teeth gummies. ;)

Thanks again for joining us, Marzieh! We can't wait to check out all the awesome additions in your news series.

Q: Would you like to leave a Trick or a Treat for the readers?

A: I'm leaving a Trick!

Trick: If you feel really stuck with a manuscript, and your critique partners have seen it too many times to offer any more helpful advice, search out avenues where you can pay for a critique. I have found this immensely helpful! Even agented authors need a fresh pair of eyes sometimes!

Thanks for such an amazing trick! I definitely think this will come in handy.

Everyone, please leave a comment below and thank Marzieh for stopping by! Dracula GIFs are always welcomed.

About Marzieh Abbas:

Marzieh enjoys learning new skills, jumping rope, sipping chai, and observing nature. Marzieh dreams of owning a talking parrot someday. But until then, she lives in Pakistan with her husband and children who inspire her daily. She occasionally writes under the name: Marzieh A. Ali.

For more about Marzieh, check out the below links:

Instagram: @marziehabbas_author

Twitter/X: @MarziehAbbas

Website: www.marziehabbas.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marziehabbas

To purchase Marzieh's books, or to leave a review for them, click here!

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A special thanks to David Rodriguez Lorenzo for the amazing custom-signatures!