Dear Indie Booksellers, I have been thinking all day about what I could write that might possibly express how truly grateful I feel about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. winning the E.B. White Read Aloud Award at BEA last night. First, I thought I’d say thanks for all that you do — for authors…
I am home after a whirlwind trip to the International Reading Association Convention in Chicago, and I have a few last photos to share. After a crazy-busy day of presenting and signing on Monday, I met up with the other Walker/Bloomsbury folks in the lobby to head to dinner. It’s always so much fun to…
Have I mentioned that talking with kids about books and writing is one of the absolute best things about being an author? Today was one of those amazing school visit days, starting first thing in the morning here… Students from Rouses Point joined the kids at Mooers Elementary School for my presentation "Firing Cannons and Kissing…
I may write upbeat books for middle grade readers, but I have a dark secret… I’m a sucker for a great dystopian novel. Bring on the floods, the repressive governments, the book burning, the horrifying reality TV, and you’ll have me up reading long past bedtime. I’ve been delighted by the fantastic array of new…
I got a surprise email from my editor at Walker/Bloomsbury one day last week while I was cleaning up my desk at school, getting ready to go home. "I’m delighted to report that Scholastic Book Clubs have licensed book fair and book club rights to GIANNA Z…." I had to write back to make sure that meant…
Dear Tyler, So I heard a rumor today. Is it true that you told your teacher that real authors don’t use story webs or outlines or plan their writing? That real authors just write whatever comes into their heads and if they need to outline or do any prep work, they’re not real writers? Hmm.…
Saturday was my busy day at NCTE, starting with a morning book signing, then an interview about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. for the ReadWriteThink podcast, lunch, and the Middle Level Mosaic, a highlight of the trip for me because I got to hear presentations from English teacher rock stars like Jeff Wilhelm, Nancie…
Our NCTE publisher dinner at Philadelphia’s Le Castagne was one of those nights a starry-eyed author never forgets. Friendly, book-loving people from NCTE, the International Reading Association, and Anderson’s Bookshop joined us at a big table behind a curtain, so we had our own little dining room. Since Jenny Moss and I were the guest…
This morning started with a walk to the Philadelphia Convention Center under sunny blue skies (Finally – yay!) to see the panel discussion called "Fractured Classics" about using well-known archetypes to create stories for middle grade and young adult readers. It included fellow Bloomsbury/Walker authors Shannon Hale and Suzanne Selfors as well as Malinda Lo…
On Thursday, I’m flying to Philadelphia for NCTE. For my mom and other people who won’t immediately recognize the acronym, that’s the annual conference for the National Council of Teachers of English. It’s hard for me to even type this without bouncing just a little, because even though I’m an English teacher, I’ve never been…
