About Kiki

Kiki Thorpe has written over forty books for young readers, including picture books, easy-to-reads, early chapter books, and middle grade fiction. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling series The Never Girls and the spinoff series, Finding Tinker Bell. In 2021, her early reader How to Grow a Monster was named Book of the Year by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. Her books have sold more than six million copies and have been published in 26 countries.

Kiki was born in Hagåtña, Guam and grew up in Boise, Idaho. She is a graduate of Brown University and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona. Previously, she worked as a children’s book editor before becoming a writer full time. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.

FAQ

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Is Kiki your real name?

Although it’s not the name on my driver’s license, Kiki is what I’ve been called since I was a baby, so it sure feels like a “real” name to me. To hear more about how I got my name, listen here.

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Do you have any kids?

Yes, two.

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Do you have any pets?

We have one dog, Calvin. He is a very good boy.

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How did you become a writer?

My first job after college was with The Jim Henson Company (the Muppets!) in New York City. That was a pretty cool place. The office was in an old four-story townhouse. There were tables with legs carved like Muppet feet and a stained glass skylight depicting the view from Kermit’s lily pad . . . but I digress.

I was working as an assistant in the publishing department when someone asked me to write a tie-in book for the movie Muppets in Space. I wrote a manuscript, and a very nice editor said, “Hey, not bad. You could do more of this.” So I did. I just kept writing.

I’m really grateful to that editor. It just goes to show a little bit of encouragement can go a long way.

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Where do you get your ideas?

Ideas can come from anywhere. I came up with the concept for The Space Between while watching my neighbor’s cat slip through the fence between our yards. The idea for the mist horses in From the Mist came to me while I was watching the fog from the window of my San Francisco apartment. (I guess I get a lot of ideas just staring out the window. I am a big fan of daydreaming!)

But ideas are only the beginning. They are like that little bit of packed snow in the middle of a snowball. To create a story, you have to keep adding and adding, packing more ideas on.

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Do the books in your series need to be read in order?

Although they are numbered, the books in the Never Girls series can be read in any order. (If you read them out of order, you may find little changes here and there. But you’re smart, you can figure it out.) The books in the Finding Tinker Bell and Horsetail Hollow series, on the other hand, build on each other, so they are best read in order.

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Are there going to be any more Never Girls books?

I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying the Never Girls! If you have read all the books on the Never Girls page and are looking for more, check out the Finding Tinker Bell books. In this follow-up series, Kate, Mia, Lainey, and Gabby go on a quest to the mysterious Shadow Island to find their missing fairy friend.

If you’ve already read all six books in the Finding Tinker Bell series, I’m both happy and sad to say The Last Journey really is the last journey. I’m not working on any more Never Girls books at this time.