Thanks for your interest in my book events!
(This post will be continuously updated.)
Essay • “Checking the Weather” Teen Librarian Toolbox Blog @SLJ
Interview • “Writer Q&A” @NerdDaily
Interview • “Author Q&A” @Confessions of a YA Reader
Interview • Author Q&A @ at Karen B. McCoy’s
Interview • Conversation @ Edie’s Cotton Quilts
BOOK GIVEAWAY • from September 16th – 21st: CLOSED Recipients have been contacted on Twitter and Instagram. If you were contacted, please use the drop down the menu on the left “About This Site” and leave your address in the contact form. Thanks!
ICYMI: View the Crowdcast of my book launch with Janae Marks here.
View the Shelf Stuff conversation with Saadia Fauqi and Shanthi Sekaran, and educator, Dr. Dawn Bolton at Brave & Kind Books here.
View the Princeton Children’s Book Festival’s Book Jam with Damian Alexander, Kathryn Erskine, Lee Durfey-Lavoie and Veronica Agarwal here.
{pinned post: a launch date}
{#JLGSELECTION}
SO many of the books I read when I was a kid had affixed the little gold seal that read “A Junior Library Guild Selection.” I wasn’t quite clear on the details, but I knew it was shorthand for A Good Book. That’s why it’s really special to me that PARTLY CLOUDY is A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection! Yay!
{one good turn…}
…usually deserves another. [YAWN]
Hello! Happy Spring Forward Week! My agent saw heard I was giving away some ARC’s of PARTLY CLOUDY, and since he’s not doing as many in-person schmoozes this Spring, he gave me a few of his copies, so now I’ve got well over five on hand. I’m happy to give out a few more, so if you’ve contacted me prior to now and you’re a bookseller, teacher or other book-person who would like one, do stay tuned!
{revealed: PARTLY CLOUDY, coming 2/16}
Ta-daaaah!
IT’S A CLOUD!
It’s a rainy Monday, and I’ve got clouds, folks!
I haven’t historically made a fuss over my covers, but my HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books book covers are so lively I’ve been unable to stop myself. And the upcoming PARTLY CLOUDY (coming SEPTEMPBER 7, 2021!) has got to be my favorite cover this year so far. Illustrated by the splendidly whimsical Geneva B (Dragons in a Bag, The Dragon Thief, Beyoncé: Shine Your Light, Curls) PARTLY CLOUDY somehow looks like it was done both in chalk pastels and digitally (how?) and captures all the heart and emotion of its main character, Madalyn.
Come back and see it tomorrow! Until then, enjoy your President’s Day, and… have some clouds.
An Audiogram of SERENA SAYS
The first thing my little sister asked, with increasing intensity, was whether or not SERENA SAYS would be out in audio. She wanted to read it, and via audiobook is how she “reads.” Of course, Harper-Collins gets right on that as soon as books come out – and if you read that way, too, here’s the first chapter for your perusal. Enjoy!
HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAYS TO…
…THE ENIGMA GAME, and to Elizabeth Wein, whose book shares the excellent timing of having a book emerge on Election Day. THE ENIGMA GAME is a WWII mystery featuring a Jamaican-Scots girl, and it’s for older readers, and is All Good Things. Go, read it!
And, of course, Happy Book Birthday to SERENA SAYS!
Reviews so far talk a lot about this as a very happy book – which, with this year as it has gone, is a hopeful, helpful thing. I hope Serena’s very ordinary frustrations and celebrations remind older readers and younger readers alike of how very much the same we all are – no matter what makes up the bits that make us who we are. Here’s to having that to celebrate today, if nothing else.
Incoming…
{a naani example, from the poet who created them}
Grieve not
for the broken earthen pot.
The earth is preparing
to shape anew
– by N. Gopi, from Naaelu
{a running list of events}
Welcome to my running Author PSA to remind myself what’s going on this month, and drag you along for the ride:
- Interviews, essays, book club signings, and filmed appearances (including one for World Literature Today and the Digital Frankfurt Book Fair) that I’ll link as I find,
- CYBILS SEASON! Nominations your fave children’s and young adult books until October 15th: NOMINATE NOW!
- 10/6-11/30: SCBWI Bookstop goes live!
- 10/6 9:30-10:45 AM PST: CALIBA (California Independent Bookstore Alliance) Children’s Lit Virtual Speed Date,
- 10/19 5-6:30 PM CDT: NSK Neustadt Prize Jury reading & book giveaway
- 11/3: SERENA SAYS BOOK BIRTHDAY!
…
FYI: the naani poetry form was created by Indian poet and retired professor Dr. N Gopi. Naani is a short form, like haiku or senryu, with a set line- and syllable-count: 4-lines with 20 syllables total. Unlike haiku, naani poems are typically written about people, or on the human condition.