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I traveled to Maine for the Maine State Libraries Reading Round Up this week.  One thing that made the trip special was the lovely bed & breakfast where I stayed, Maple Hill Farms. When I checked in, I decided to take a walk and asked the innkeeper about the animals in the farm yard.

“Is it okay if I say hi to the llamas? Are they friendly?”

“Oh, very much so!” he assured me. “They love people. Go right up to the fence, and they’ll come running over to say hello. They’ll want to sniff you, and they usually give kisses, too.”

So I went up to the fence and talked with the llamas a little. I said hello. I asked how their day had been going. They did not come running over to meet and greet and sniff and kiss me. They did this:

 

I am still not sure if the llamas simply didn’t like me, or if this was a joke the innkeeper plays and he likes to look out the window and laugh at people being snubbed by the llamas.

The warmth of the teachers and librarians at the conference more than made up for the lack of llama love, though.  The Reading Round Up  is a great event with hundreds of public and school librarians and teachers — book people, through and through. This was the room where I gave my keynote talk…

 

I started my speech with a story that only true book people could understand.  We have a LOT of bookshelves at our house, but somehow, they are always overflowing, so books are also stacked on all of our living room tables, the fireplace, and often the floor.  From time to time, I have to honor my husband’s pleas to clear out a few of them, so I weed out a bag of titles for the library book sale.  The trouble is…I also love to purchase books at the library sale, and the week before the Maine conference, I found one of those Best American Poetry of 2001 books for fifty cents. (That is less than a penny a poem. How do you say no to that?) I bought the book and brought it with me to read before bed.

When I opened it and started reading, I recognized one of the poems, and my face lit up the way it does when I see a beloved old friend at the store. “Oh, it’s you!  “Snow Day” by Billy Collins…how have you been?”  I turned a few more pages and thought, “Wow! I know this poem, too!  And this one! And this one…and…”   Then I closed the book, took a closer look, and found “Messner” written on the inside cover.  I bought back my own donated book from the library sale.

Stop laughing… I swear it called out to me from the shelf. It must have missed me.

The book people in the Reading Round Up audience understood perfectly, of course, and I loved talking books with everyone after my talk. Here I am with some members of the conference committee…

…and with some members of the Maine Student Book Award Committee.

My Scholastic mystery CAPTURE THE FLAG is  one of their titles for kids to vote on next year in the 2013-14 Maine Student Book Awards. My books have been on a number of these state lists, but it’s not often that I get to meet the people who choose the books to say thank you, so this was a treat.

Many thanks, Maine teachers and librarians, for making me a part of your Reading Round Up this year! I loved spending the day with you, and your readers are so very lucky to have you.

I’m not shy about my stance on independent bookstores. I love them.  I owe my career as an author to them. And I support them every chance I get. One of my local indies, The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, carefully organizes book orders for all of my Skype author visits so that kids all over the country can order signed books after I Skype with their classes.

So today’s news that Amazon has acquired GoodReads is a concern for me. People who use GoodReads are book lovers who like to keep track of their reading and share great books with one another. And soon, they’ll be supporting Amazon whether they chose to or not.

I understand that lots of people like buying books online, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you like bookstores — real brick-and-mortar bookstores that smell like paper, with smiling people who know your kids — then you need to support them, or they won’t be here for long.

So here’s my suggestion for friends on GoodReads who want to support independent bookstores.  Write your reviews. Log your reading and recommend your books. And end each review with a link to IndieBound.  I’m going to go through my GoodReads reviews to do this as I have time to edit. I started with my friend Linda Urban’s new book, THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING. My review ends like this now:

You’ll want to read this one aloud because the language sings. You’ll want to read it for the voice, for the humor, and for the interconnected stories that fit like a perfect puzzle.  You’ll want to read it for that made-of-awesome small-town New Hampshire parade. And you’ll want to read it for Ruby. Mostly for Ruby. She’s a girl you know, so your heart will ache for her and celebrate with her, and when you turn the last page, you just might understand where to find the center of everything, too.

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780547763484

If you love indie bookstores as much as I do, and you’re reviewing any of my books on GoodReads, I’d love it if you used these links at the end:

CAPTURE THE FLAG

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order CAPTURE THE FLAG on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780545419741

HIDE AND SEEK

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order HIDE AND SEEK on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780545419758

MARTY MCGUIRE

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order MARTY MCGUIRE on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780545142465

MARTY MCGUIRE DIGS WORMS

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order MARTY MCGUIRE DIGS WORMS on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780545142472

OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order  OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780811867849/kate-messner/over-and-under-snow

SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780811875646

EYE OF THE STORM

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order EYE OF THE STORM on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802723130

SUGAR AND ICE

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order SUGAR AND ICE on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802723307

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.

I support independent bookstores. You can use this link to find one near you or order THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. on IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780802721730

 

The doorbell rang yesterday while I was Skyping with readers in Dublin, Ohio…and when the session ended, I found a package in the door. Inside?  The first advance reader copies for WAKE UP MISSING, my Fall ’13 science thriller with Walker/Bloomsbury. I’ll be signing ARCs at IRA in San Antonio next month, and I am SO excited about this book!  Here’s the cover…

Here’s what it’s about…

Meet Quentin, a middle school football star from Chicago…
Sarah, an Upstate New York girls’ hockey team stand-out…
Ben, a horse lover from the Pacific Northwest…
And Cat, an artistic bird watcher from California.

The four have nothing in common except for the head injuries that land them in an elite brain-science center in the Florida Everglades. I-CAN is known as the best in the world. But it’s state-of-the-art in its technology and its secrets. As days pass, the kids begin to suspect that they are subjects in an experiment that goes far beyond treating concussions….and threatens their very identities. They’ll have to overcome their injuries – and their differences – to escape through the swamp, or risk losing themselves forever.

And here’s what some amazing early readers had to say…

In WAKE UP MISSING, Kate Messner combines a fascinating concept with page-turning suspense. Cat Grayson just wants to get rid of her constant headaches — but what if the cure makes her a totally different person? Reading this book is like a wild roller-coaster ride through the Florida swamps.       

~Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of THE MISSING and the Shadow Children series.

Wowza! WAKE UP MISSING is a winner. I read it in a single sitting. As the secrets were revealed and the suspense mounted, I found myself turning pages at an ever increasing pace. I had to find out what happened next! 

~Bruce Coville, author of THE UNIVERSE CHRONICLES and MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN

WAKE UP MISSING scared the pants off me. Loved it! Mystery, intrigue, danger, and creepy futuristic science set in today’s world? Yes, please!

~Lisa McMann, New York Times bestselling author of WAKE and THE UNWANTEDS

WAKE UP MISSING is a compelling mystery full of paranoia and suspenseful twists and turns, with villains as menacing as Everglades alligators lurking beneath the surface of the water, and heroes confronting danger with bravery and heart.

~Matthew J. Kirby, author of THE CLOCKWORK THREE and ICEFALL

From mad scientists to one-eyed alligators, the adventures in WAKE UP MISSING had me on the edge of my seat — I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!

~Carrie Ryan, author of the New York Times bestseller INFINITY RING BOOK 2: DIVIDE AND CONQUER

WAKE UP MISSING uniquely blends the fast-paced kid adventures of Carl Hiassen, an attuned awareness of nature’s awe, and a lovely largesse of heart and humanity… As usual, Kate provides us with a group of smart, self-reliant kids you can’t help but cheer for.

~Jane Knight, Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, VT

Twenty three years to the day after criminals posing as police officers broke into Boston’s Isabelle Stewart Gardner museum, the FBI made an amazing announcement today. Agents know the identity of the thieves who pulled off one of the most famous art heists in history; they just don’t know where the art is yet or how to get it back.

This was jaw-dropping news for me. The history & art geek in me would have been fascinated anyway; add to that the fact that this heist is a plot thread in my Silver Jaguar Society mysteries, and I was practically bouncing off the ceiling over this news. If you’ve read the first mystery in that series, CAPTURE THE FLAG, you know that it’s about three kids — Anna, Henry, and Jose — whose families are part of the Silver Jaguar Society, a secret society to protect the world’s artifacts. The Society’s arch enemies are members of an international art theift gang known as the Serpentine Princes. That group’s criminal masterminds are suspected in just about every unsolved art heist in history — including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist — a plot thread that explored a little bit in the second book, HIDE AND SEEK, which comes out next week and a lot more in the third book, MANHUNT, which hits shelves in 2014.

Writer-friend Erin Dionne also has an upcoming mystery with ties to the heist — MOXIE AND THE ART OF RULE BREAKING comes out in July — so we spent much of this afternoon tweeting back and forth in our geeky state of excitement after the news broke.  And because 140-characters just aren’t enough sometimes, we decided to have a longer conversation about the heist, our books, and our thoughts on the whole hullabaloo. Here’s my interview with Erin…

So Erin… You are the only other person I know who got as excited as I did about today’s headline in the Boston Globe:

FBI says it has identified the thieves in Gardner Museum heist; paintings’ location still unknown

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/03/18/feds-reveal-investigative-developments-publicity-campaign-gardner-heist-probe/VmSiOGRgKbRakLJr1wCA3I/story.html

Since we’re both art lovers and mystery writers, I thought it might be fun to extend our Twitter conversation a bit and talk about our upcoming kids’ mysteries with ties to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist. MOXIE AND THE ART OF RULE BREAKING comes out this summer, right?  What’s the connection?

Thanks so much for hosting me, Kate! MOXIE releases on July 11, and it’s basically a treasure hunt centered around the Gardner heist. Moxie has two weeks to find the most valuable stolen art in the world–a task that’s baffled the FBI for decades. But Moxie has some tools that the FBI doesn’t have. You’ll have to wait til July to find out what they are.

I’d love to hear about what drew you to this heist and what kind of research you did, too!

The art was stolen a few years before I moved to Boston to go to college, so I’ve never seen the missing paintings. From the first time I stepped into the Gardner, I was absolutely fascinated by it–the heist and the museum itself. The museum is beautiful and quirky and so very Isabella (it used to be her house! She even designed it!) The empty frames on the wall simultaneously made me feel sad, guilty, and angry. How dare those thieves ruin something so beautiful!

Isabella Stewart Gardner was a woman with a bold, brilliant personality who was ahead of her time. I wanted to learn about her, and about what happened to her precious museum. So when I decided to write this story, I researched by reading about the heist (Ulrich Boser’s THE GARDNER HEIST), I watched the documentary “Stolen,” and became a member of the Gardner Museum. I took tours and visited. trying to map out what happened. Like a lot of other people who have learned about the case, I got a little nutty over it. I came up with my own theories as to what happened to the art (I’m not convinced it’s still in the US, actually), and I dream of one day finding it.

    I have to find my car keys first, though.

(You and me both, Erin. Also my phone…and my other blue sock…and…)  Anyway…did the development today require you to do any revision? Just the author’s note, maybe? 🙂

At this point, I’m not making any changes to the book. The author’s note details the theft and info about how to contact the FBI. As of today, they haven’t really released information that’s specific to who had the paintings (and they admit they lost track of them a decade ago); so my author note is still okay. WHEW.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing those empty frames at the Gardner Museum. It’s such a chilling image – and such a reminder of what was lost.  I’m guessing they’re mentioned in your book (they are in my 3rd installment of the Silver Jaguar Society mysteries) and I thought it might be neat for us to share those quick excerpts.  Sound like fun?

Yes! There are a few references to the frames in my novel. Here’s one:

The Dutch Room is big and rectangular, and everything in it oozes richness—not rich like money-rich, but rich like thick and beautiful richness. Two of the empty frames were across from where we walked in: big, golden squares that showed only wallpaper and tiny shreds of canvas from where the paintings were cut out. Ollie and I gasped as we stood in front of them.

Tiny plaques with the names of the paintings—Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee and A Lady and Gentleman in Black, still hung on the wall, lonely.

    “Creepy, isn’t it?” The security guard had come up behind us.

            -Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking (Dial, 2013) pg. 65

Creepy indeed — and haunting, too. Thanks for this conversation, Erin – can’t wait to read all about Moxie’s adventures in Boston!

I love that our books share this fascinating topic! Thanks, Kate!

———-

To learn more about Moxie and Erin’s other great books, check out her website.

I’m visiting Erin’s blog today, too – so head on over there if you’d like to read more about the Silver Jaguar Society connection to the Gardner Museum — and read a very, VERY early sneak preview of the third book in the series, MANHUNT.

I’ve had a busy year of travel, so it’s with a big smile that I’m sharing the news about my speaking event for this weekend…right here at home!

If you live near Plattsburgh, I hope you’ll join me for “An Afternoon of History & Mystery” from 1-3pm this Saturday, March 16th, at the Battle of Plattsburgh Association’s War of 1812 Museum at 31 Washington Road on the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base.

I’ll be sharing some fun behind-the-scenes stories about my children’s mystery novel, CAPTURE THE FLAG and helping young writers do a little mystery brainstorming of their own. Here’s what CAPTURE THE FLAG is all about…

Anna, José, and Henry are complete strangers with more in common than they realize. Snowed in together at a chaotic Washington DC airport, they encounter a mysterious tattooed man, a flamboyant politician, and a rambunctious poodle named for an ancient king. Even stranger…news stations everywhere have announced that the famous flag that inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” has been stolen! Anna, certain that the culprits must be snowed in, too, recruits Henry and José to help catch the thieves and bring them to justice.

But when accusations start flying, the kids soon realize there’s more than a national treasure at stake. And with unexpected enemies lurking at every corner, do Anna, José, and Henry have what it takes to solve the heist?

And if you’d like, you can read the first two chapters of CAPTURE THE FLAG here. This was an amazingly fun book to research and write, and its sequels, HIDE AND SEEK (coming out this spring!) and MANHUNT (coming in 2014) have been a gift to work on, too.

This Saturday’s talk is open to all ages but is especially suited to families and anyone who loves history and mysteries.  I’ll also be talking about my Adirondack picture books and figure skating novel, SUGAR AND ICE. After the event, I’ll be signing books and hanging around to visit and answer any questions.  And…I’ve decided to bring one of my early author copies of HIDE AND SEEK to give away in a drawing.

Hope to see some of you this weekend!

Dear Olde Sawmill Elementary students,

Last month, I flew to Ohio for the Dublin Literacy Conference, and I was supposed to spend the Friday before that event at your school. You had a special welcome sign  for me and everything…

But it turns out…I was pretty much the only person at school that day, since you ended up having a snow day! (Or should we call it an ice day? At any rate, there was no school because the roads were all yucky.)  Your librarian was there, and she invited me in to sign books and see all the artwork you’d done after reading my books. That was fun, and I thought you might like to see some pictures of my day, since you weren’t there…

I signed all the books you left for me.

Then I spent some time checking out your art projects. Boy, are you guys ever talented! Your hallways and library were like an art museum!

I was sad that you weren’t there, but I found one of your teachers who’d come in to get work done during the snow day. I convinced him to take a break and visit the library for story time.

When school is empty, you can get away with some things that you might not try with everybody there.  I might have run in the halls once or twice.

I took advantage of your empty gym to get a little exercise.

The lunch room wasn’t much fun without all of you, though.

The GREAT news is that Mrs. Angel and I have figured out a way to have our author visit day now that your ice storm is over, even though I’m back in New York. On March 21st, I’ll be having a private Skype author visit session with every single grade level.  I’ll show you all the cool stuff I was going to show you when I visited your school — and one of the neat things about a Skype visit is that you’ll get to see where I live, too! (I like to pick up my laptop computer and give little tours – show you what’s outside my window, things like that!)

Even though your school is lovely and fun any day of the week, it’s all of you that I’m really excited to meet, so I’m looking forward to connecting with you (finally!) on March 21st.

I’ve been getting lots of emails and tweets and general pokes about when HIDE AND SEEK, the sequel to CAPTURE THE FLAG, will be available. The answer to that question is April 1st – less than two months away!  But last week, I decided I was feeling impatient and wanted to give away an advance reader copy…or two or three. You can read more about the books here…

CAPTURE THE FLAG is out now, and HIDE AND SEEK  is available for pre-order, through your favorite bookseller.  (I hope you’ll pick up a finished copy, even if you’re one of the winners!)

Personalized, signed copies may be ordered through The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, one of my great local indies by calling 518-523-2950.

And advance reader copies will be sent to the following drawing winners…

EMILY PHILLIPS

HOLLY MUELLER

DONNA MCDONALD

Please drop me an email with your mailing address (I’m kmessner at kate messner   dot com… no spaces) and I’ll get your ARC in the mail. Thanks to all who entered!

I posted a version of this story on Father’s Day a while back, but today is both my mom and dad’s birthday – and I wanted to share it again…

My dad was the school superintendent in the village where we grew up.  His office was in the junior high school, which was both convenient and mortifying for me, in turns.  Convenient because he’d carry my baritone saxophone into school on the mornings I had jazz band.  Mortifying because if I got in trouble for talking in study hall, he knew before lunchtime.  But something else happened in those junior high years, too — something I didn’t figure out until I had grown into a less gawky, slightly less nerdy high school girl.  My dad was my secret admirer.

The student council at my junior high school had renamed Valentine’s Day “Carnation Day.”  In the weeks leading up to it, you could pay a dollar to send a carnation to the person of your choice, and it would be left on his or her desk before homeroom that morning.  The result was a very colorful and extraordinarily visible display of relative popularity.  There were some kids who walked in and sat down at empty desks every Valentine’s Day morning.  It’s a wonder they kept showing up.  There were other kids whose desks were so laden with flowers there was no room for a pencil.

It was a great source of angst.  I worried.  But I didn’t have to.  In my three years of junior high school, my desk was never without a carnation on Valentine’s Day.  Some years, there was more than one.  But always, there was one.

The card was either signed “from a secret admirer” or not signed at all.  My friends thought it made me seem exotic and mysterious.  I think it was freshman  year when I figured it out.  Every year, he heard the student council’s morning announcement and made the long walk from district offices at one end of the building to the cafeteria at the other end to order my flower. 

Happy Birthday, Mom & Dad!  And Dad… thanks for the carnations when I needed them most.

Living on the East Coast, winter travel can be tricky, so I don’t do too many speaking events in January and February. But when the Wisconsin State Reading Association asked if I’d speak at their annual convention and Authors Festival this week, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. The weather, thankfully, held off just long enough for me to arrive in Milwaukee on Thursday.  We had to circle the airport a few times while they plowed the runway, and here’s what it looked like when we landed.

On Friday, I spoke to Wisconsin teachers and librarians in two separate sessions — “Letting Kids Lead,” focused on transcending the one-answer sort of thinking that standardized tests promote and helping kids develop problem-solving and divergent thinking skills through authentic literacy activities, and then “Real Revision,” focused on writing that goes beyond those single-draft test questions. The lead learners in both of my sessions were absolutely fantastic – rolling up their sleeves to write and revise and try out world-building and mystery crafting activities they might share with their students later on.

Friday night, we had a wonderful dinner with the WSRA organizers and Authors Festival Committee. There was lots and lots of laughter coming from our room at the restaurant!

On Saturday morning, the festival authors got to spend time with young writers from area schools, which was such a wonderful way to end the conference. Jack Gantos had us all laughing during the morning breakfast.

I worked with two different groups, sharing some stories from my own research and writing adventures, and then we did some brainstorming and mystery crafting together.

I’m so thankful to have had this opportunity, in addition to working with the teachers and librarians on Friday. The young writers in my sessions were amazingly enthusiastic and talented, and I have no doubt I’ll be reading some of their books one day.

Thanks so much, Wisconsin Reading Association! I loved spending time with your teachers and young writers, and I can’t imagine a warmer welcome on a snowy weekend.