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We agreed that there was a little lesson for everybody in this story for young folks."I hope this lesson isn't just for little girls, its for little boys, big girls, big boys, the elderly too."

The books are not preachy or a morality tale in any way at all, Pandora's saga is definitely centered around whimsey, action, adventure, life and death situations, rock solid friendships, and the gamut of situations every teenager goes through. It's no moral baseball bat over your head.

"I hope that they look at Pandora and say 'Wow. She did this, took responsibility for it, had the adventure of a lifetime and saved the world.'"

"I'm not going to lie, some of the inspiration for writing the children's book included the vision of 'branches of money over my head.' That turned out to be a tremendous lie. Writing doesn't pay. But while sitting to write the first book, I realized that no matter how I got there, this was a story I needed to tell. I had the BEST time writing it. The notion of being able to control what flies out of my fingertips, it's all my own creation. I can purge my own teenage angst, its' very cathartic. I can say things I could never say when I was thirteen."

"When I speak to girls that age, the story definitely resonates. I've had girls who come up and say, 'When I'm in trouble, I think about what Pandora would do.' It's gratifying on a soul level. That is heaven!"

"The 'life changing money' shown to me will never be realized, but I know I was put on this earth to write this story. It is mine to tell, and I'm having the best time telling it."

Describing the difference between performing other people's thoughts and words and creating her own, Carolyn explained that in performing, you are in collaboration with the writer, director, the lighting guy, other actors, large team in front of and hidden from the audience. When the spotlight is on you, you have to make it click. She described an elevated joy when writing on her own. Compliments given to a performer are shared, even if indirectly. Kind words to an author are very much more personal.

The books have been compared to Harry Potter. "There is nothing like that. J.K. Rowling has single-handedly elevated the literacy rate around the world more than anyone else. The be mentioned in some infinitesimal fashion with her is the biggest compliment in the world."

"Because of the action, friendships, relying on each other, squabbling, universal themes in friendship and any relationships."

With two young nephews as the only available immediate family to observe, Pandora is written from the perspective of author Carolyn's 'still fresh, still smarting' teenage perspective. She even had more than one sixteen-year-old say "I didn't want to, but I really liked Pandora."

Kids are challenged by this type of book - 'what does that word mean?', 'where does this fit in this universe?' Children crave accomplishment and achievement, and Pandora illustrates that anyone can make mistakes, fix them, the value of friendship and struggling and eventually winning.

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