Month: May 2011

I finished reading an advance copy of this YA novel on an airplane heading home from IRA, quietly wiping tears from the corners of my eyes and hoping the lady next to me wouldn’t notice. If she did, though, it would have been okay… I’d just have to tell her about PEARL.

Its author, Jo Knowles, is someone I’m lucky enough to count as a friend. She’s one of the smartest, kindest people I’ve ever met, and I loved her first two books, so I wasn’t surprised when this one crept quietly up and swept me away, too.  This book keeps its secrets close to its heart, so I’m going to tell you only what I can without giving them away.

Pearl Collatti has lived a pretty mundane life with her mom and grandfather, Gus.  She hangs out with her best friend Henry and watches Days of Our Lives with his mom. But when Gus dies, family secrets fly like milkweed fluff in the wind, and everything is different – Pearl’s relationship with her mother, her friendship with Henry, and her image of the grandfather she thought she knew.

PEARL is so many things… it’s part family drama, part romance, and part mystery. It’s peopled with characters so rich, so beautifully imperfect, that it’s hard to believe they’re not real.   It’s a book about the cost of keeping secrets, trouble that turns beautiful, and painful truths that make room for love. It is a book that believes in love, too…even after years have passed.  This is one I’ll be thinking about for a long, long time – and a book that I think will be an amazing choice for teen book clubs and literature circles when it comes out this summer.

I have some appearances, talks, and signings this month. If you’re going to be in any of these same places, please stop by & say hello!

First stop, the Hudson Children’s Book Festival this Saturday from 10-4!

I’ll be signing copies of all of my books, including the newly released MARTY MCGUIRE chapter book and a special sneak-preview-release of my first picture book, SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY.

From Monday to Wednesday, I’ll be in Orlando for the International Reading Association Convention. Here’s my speaking/signing schedule:

Monday:   4-5 pm Signing MARTY MCGUIRE – Scholastic Booth #840

Tuesday:  9-10 am Stenhouse Publishers Booth #701 to sign bookplates for my first book for educators, REAL REVISION: AUTHORS’ STRATEGIES TO SHARE WITH STUDENT WRITERS.

I have to say…this book was just SO much fun to write. It’s about teaching the revision process using tested author strategies, and it includes revision stories, tips, and tricks from more than three dozen of my favorite authors. (In all honestly, I learned so much doing interviews for this book; I’m hoping it’ll be a great resource for writers as well as teachers!)  REAL REVISION is due out at the end of May, and Stenhouse is offering both signed book plates and a 20% discount for conference pre-orders.

Tuesday: 11 – 12 Engaging Readers K-5 Author Panel with Gail Carson Levine, Ethan Long, Laurie Friedman, and Kristin Venuti Clark. Room W312

Tuesday: 12-15-1:15 Signing SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY – Chronicle Books Booth #815

Tuesday: 2-3 Signing SUGAR AND ICE at Walker/Bloomsbury Booth #1127

Tuesday: 3-4 Signing at Anderson’s Bookstore Booth

Wednesday: 9-11:45 am – Author Workshop: Get Plugged into Reading! Innovative Web 2.0 Strategies You Can Use to Connect Readers to Literature Online with Lindsey Leavitt, Cynthea Liu, and Gbemi Rhuday-Perkovich. Convention Center – West Building, Room 206B.

(I’m excited about this one… it’ll include a LIVE Skype author visit with third graders at librarian John Schu’s school in Naperville, Illinois. If you love kids’ books and you don’t know Mr. Schu, you’re missing out. He’s @MrSchuReads on Twitter, and he’s a great promoter of reading not only for his own students but online, too. Mr. Schu was just named one of Library Journal’s “Movers & Shakers” and was on the cover of this month’s SLJ.

Go, Mr. Schu!

After the technology & literacy workshop, it’s off to an afternoon school visit, on to the airport…and then home to finish up the school year…and think about summer events!

MARTY MCGUIRE, the first title in my new chapter book series with Scholastic, came out last weekend…and to celebrate, I thought I’d hold a fun little contest. Marty is a third grader who loves catching frogs and crayfish and getting muddy, so when they make her be the princess in the school play, she must learn to improvise to make the part her own.  You can learn more about Marty here.

So… isn’t that at the heart of third grade? Improvising? Trying out new things (and winging it when something unexpected happens?)  I’d love it if some of you would share a memory of third grade — it can be happy or funny, embarrassing or traumatic…something vivid that you remember as part of that year. I’ll be giving away THREE signed hardcovers — one here on my blog (you can comment on WordPress or LJ – either is fine), one on Twitter, and one on Facebook.  To enter, just do any or all of the following (and YES…you can enter more than once!)

• Share your third grade story on your own blog or Facebook wall, along with the MARTY MCGUIRE cover if you’d like. (Then come back here and leave a link in the comments to let me know where to find it!)
• Click here to find and “Like” MARTY MCGUIRE on Facebook and share your third grade memory on the book page wall.
• Share your third grade memory on Twitter with the hashtag #martymcguire
• I’d also love it if you’d suggest the MARTY MCGUIRE Facebook page to any of your FB friends who are teachers, librarians, or parents who might want to hear about a new chapter book series for fans of Clementine and Ramona.  If you do that, just come back here to leave a comment and let me know and I’ll toss your name in the hat again!
• Tell your favorite librarian about Marty. (Again…just come back & leave a comment to let me know – honor system!)

On May 15th (let’s say 9pm EST is the deadline) I’ll draw the winners & announce on my blog.  And don’t worry…if you already have a copy of MARTY MCGUIRE by then, you can choose any one of my other books for your prize (including REAL REVISION, my new revision book for teachers, or SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY, which doesn’t come out until later on!)

Can’t wait to hear those third grade memories!

It’s been a remarkable spring for weather, not only in the tornado-ravaged South, but also here in Northern New York, where Lake Champlain is at its highest level ever…and expected to rise more as the rain continues tonight and tomorrow.

Sunday was May 1st, release day for MARTY MCGUIRE, the first in my new chapter book series with Scholastic, so we took a drive to visit a couple bookstores (there are signed copies of MARTY at Flying Pig Books in Shelburne and the South Burlington Barnes & Noble now) and take a look at some of the worst flooding from the high lake level.  It was higher than I’d imagined.

This is what Burlington’s King Street Ferry Dock looked like on Sunday.

For a little perspective…here’s a photo of me with the statue of Champ, our legendary lake monster two summers ago.

Here’s what the same sculpture looked like on Sunday…

Sending good thoughts (and dry wishes) to all those who are fighting flood waters & wet basements tonight – and especially to those trying to rebuild their lives after the tornado outbreak in the South.

I got an exciting email late yesterday afternoon from the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. “We’ve been trying to call you for several hours, but you’re not answering your home phone,” it said. “So we’re resorting to email to tell you that SUGAR AND ICE won the 2011 Crystal Kite Award!”

(I was out picking up kids from school & playing tennis with my daughter yesterday… and when my agent called last May to tell me that THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. had won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, I almost didn’t answer my cell phone because I was in the kitchen in my swimsuit, making dinner and dripping all over the floor because I’d just gotten in from a swim in the lake. I’m pretty sure this officially makes me the worst award-news recipient ever.)

All kidding aside, I want to say a HUGE thank you to SCBWI and its amazing members, especially in NY.  I feel incredibly honored because this award comes from my fellow writers & illustrators, and I’m truly overwhelmed to be  in such great company with winners & finalists from all the regions. You can see the full list of Crystal Kite Awards here. Congrats to all!