Tag: the brilliant fall of gianna z

Where I’ll be this fall (and how to get a signed book even if you’re not there!)

First things first…a "virtual book signing" for anyone who wants a personalized, signed copy of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z but can’t make it to an event…

Josie and Elizabeth and the other awesome booksellers at Flying Pig Bookstore are making it possible for everybody to attend our launch party in spirit, if not in person.  If you can’t make it to one of my events listed below but would like a personalized, signed book for yourself or for holiday gifts, we’re having a "virtual book signing" on September 5th, the day of my launch party at Flying Pig.  Here’s how it works:

  • Call Flying Pig Bookstore at 802-985-3999 and tell them you’d like to order a signed copy of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.
  • They are fabulous and will have a form ready to take your order. They’ll ask for your name, contact and payment information, how many copies you’d like, and how you’d like them signed.
  • Right after our launch event on September 5th, I’ll sign your books and tuck a bookmark or two in each one.  (I’d send you some cookies, too, but they don’t travel as well.)
  • The fabulous Flying Pig folks will send out your order, and you’ll get your books in the mail.

Of course, if you can make it to one of my real live events this fall, I’d love to see you in person!  Here’s where Gianna Z. and I will be through the fall. Starred events are open to the public.

September 5- Flying Pig Bookstore, Shelburne, VT*
11am – THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z Vermont Launch Party!
(Vermont teachers & librarians who attend will be entered in a drawing for a free presentation at your school/library on Oct. 12th!)

September 6, 2009 – 2pm – The Bookstore Plus, Lake Placid*

September 11- Koffee Kat – 104 Margaret St. Plattsburgh*
4-6 pm – THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z New York Launch Party! 

September 25- Lake Forest Senior Living Community, Plattsburgh*
4 pm – Author presentation on writing for kids

September 26 – Burlington Book Festival*
11am- Fletcher Free Library-Writing for Children & YA Panel Discussion
(with Julie Berry, Linda Urban, Jo Knowles, and Tanya Lee Stone)
 

October 22 – New York State English Council Conference, Albany

October 24 – Bear Pond Books, Montpelier, VT*
2pm – Reading & Book signing

November 7 – Rochester Children’s Book Festival*
Rochester, NY

November 14 – Barnes and Noble, South Burlington, VT*
1-3 pm – Reading and book signing

November 19-24 – NCTE Annual Convention– Philadelphia
Nov. 20, 4 pm – Panel Discussion on Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction
(with Jenny Moss, Loree Griffin Burns, & Tanya Lee Stone)

November 25 – Dodge Memorial Library – Rouses Point, NY*
10:00 – Presentation for kids & families

Book trailer for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z will be out two weeks from today! If you’re a Vermonter, please mark Saturday, September 5th on your calendar if you can make it to the launch party at the fabulous Flying Pig Bookstore at 11am. We’ll have the usual reading & book signing, along with Nonna’s wedding cookies, the Great Tree Identification Challenge for Kids. Teachers & librarians present can enter a drawing to win a drawing for a free school or library presentation, so spread the word to your teacher & library friends!  My other 2009/2010 appearances are listed here, and of course you can always order GIANNA Z through IndieBound. 

And now…here’s my extremely non-traditional book trailer for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z (courtesy of many great people at ALA 2009 and my background as a tv reporter/interviewer). It’s based on a game that main characters Gianna and Zig play as they’re working on their school leaf collection project.

If you’d like to share the book trailer on your own blog or site or really anywhere, please feel free to copy & paste:

Here’s the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwsgo3vOAGY

And the embed code:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xwsgo3vOAGY&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xwsgo3vOAGY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Many, many thanks to the kind-hearted authors and librarians and illustrators and cats, etc. who participated in this video!  Gianna Z. and I are forever grateful.

SLJ Article and some nice reviews for GIANNA Z

It’s less than a month until THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z will be released from Walker Books for Young Readers, and while my attention right now is mostly on revisions for my Fall 2010 book, SUGAR ON SNOW, I’m taking time out to share some cool bits of GIANNA Z news…and some thankfulness.

Some of you might remember this post about Authors Who Skype with Book Clubs and the list of those who do.  Well, through the magic of the Internet and Twitter, one thing led to another after that post, and I ended up writing a technology feature for School Library Journal, which thrills me to no end. I love School Library Journal and stalk it every month when it arrives at my middle school.  I have been known to stealthily sneak into the room and snatch it off the librarian’s desk before he’s even had a chance to read it (sorry, Russell), so having an article in SLJ is mighty exciting for me.  The feature is called "Met Any Good Authors Lately?" and you can read it online here.

Some people have started saying nice things about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, which also thrills me. 

From Booklist: "Laced with humor and heart…this is an insightful and affecting read, offering a compassionate portrayal of a family member’s illness and the discovery of beauty and inspiration in nature and poetry.

And Kirkus (which was very complimentary despite all my worries because they are…well…Kirkus): "Messner succeeds in creating an engaging saga….jazzing up the plot with a riddle-loving younger brother, making Gianna’s family proprietors of a funeral home and sprinkling in a hearty helping of references to art and poetry keep things interesting. An ending that’s hopeful without being saccharine is another big plus."

School librarian and blogger Stacy Dillon of Welcome to My Tweendom says:

Kate Messner has written a poignant novel about family, friendship, and change. Gianna is so close to her Nonna, and the possible onset of Alzheimer’s is a reality that many families face, but not many kids get to read about in a relevant way. Messner handles this weighty topic with grace. Gianna is a lovely mix of a dreamer, an artist, and an advocate.Read the full review here.

  listed GIANNA Z as a favorite on her Family Fun Together blog’s list of tween books  "because of the beautiful story, the wonderful science input (through Gianna’s tree project), and the poignant discussion of grandparents and aging."  Read more…

  calls THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z   "a sweet story of family and friendship featuring a likeable, energetic main character, who manages to be both realistic and funny…." Read more…

Thanks, Stacy and Robin and Brenda – and to everyone else who’s had a chance to read GIANNA Z a bit early and shared the title with friends. To an author waiting for a book to arrive in the world, those lovely early reviews and GoodReads posts and little notes on Facebook and elsewhere are like warm blankets and freshly baked brownies and big bouquets of flowers all rolled into one.

An iPhone App for Gianna Z…

This is just too cool. 

In my upcoming middle grade novel The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, the main character has a monster leaf collection due.  It’s a project she’s put off to the last minute, and now everything that can possibly go wrong…does.  If only she’d had access to this iPhone application, I might have written a whole different story. The scientists developing this particular app say if all goes well, you’ll be able to identify a plant from a photo of its leaves that’s then uploaded to a database.  Ultimately, they say it could help researchers learn more about climate change and changes in biodiversity.  And of course…it would make those school leaf collection projects a walk in the park.  Thanks to  for the link!

Goodbye, Ice… Hello, ARCs!

Two big things happened while I was at school today, teaching 7th graders how to do a bibliography.  My husband emailed me to hurry home after school because:

1.  The ice on Lake Champlain was breaking up.  I really like to be there when this happens because it’s one of my favorite sounds in the universe.  But by the time I got home this afternoon, I was looking out at open water, and the broken-up ice had drifted north.

2.  The UPS guy had arrived with a box of advance reader copies of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z!  I haven’t shared my cover here before because there may still be some tweaks, but since the art is final and it’s on the ARC and all….

The incredibly talented Joe Cepeda is the illustrator.  He also created the cover art for ESPERANZA RISING, so I was thrilled when I found out he’d be working on this cover, and I couldn’t be happier with the way he captured Gianna’s spirit and the feeling of autumn in Vermont.  Gianna’s release date, September 1st, doesn’t feel quite so far away tonight.

GIANNA Z’s Page Proofs

So all this week, I’ve been reviewing page proofs for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, looking for any mistakes that survived the copy editing process and any typos that were introduced during type-setting.  I was distracted throughout this process because when page proofs arrive in the mail, your actual title page is included.  I kept flipping back to stare at it…

Did you see the little leaves?!!  Squeeee!!!!

I mean…ahem…I’m very busy looking for typos now…

The Truth About Leaf Collections

As a middle school teacher in a school where the huge 7th grade leaf collection project is downright infamous, I thought I’d done my research for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z (Walker Books, Fall ’09).   It’s a funny, contemporary novel about a girl whose 7th grade leaf collection project is ruining her life.  I’d heard the horror stories of kids getting caught in mean neighbors’ yards, stealing leaves off their trees.  I’d heard tales of the all-nighters kids pulled, securing the last few sets of leaves into their binders.  But until this fall, I’d never watched my very own 7th grader complete a leaf project of his own. 

To be sure, it’s meant some beautiful autumn hikes for leaf collecting…

Point Au Roche State Park on Lake Champlain

But the leaf project also has a dark side. This is what my living room looked like last weekend, when son and his two friends were working…

My manuscript is in copy edits right now.  Do you supposed I’ll have a chance to go back and add a few more details about the impact Gianna’s leaf project had on the rest of her household?  We’re still vacuuming pine needles here (Or are they spruce needles…? I’ll have to check the key…)

My Fall ’09 middle grade novel has a title!!

I’m awaiting copy edits right now on my next book, a funny, contemporary middle grade novel about a Vermont girl, her quirky family, and the school leaf collection project that’s ruining her life.  It’s due out with Walker Books for Young Readers in Fall 2009.  The title has changed a few times, as titles sometimes do, and it’s been up in the air for a few months.  Today, my delightful editor emailed to let me know we have a title!

From now on, instead of blogging about "the-novel-that-used-to-be-called-Maple-Girl,"  I’ll be talking about…

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z!

Thanks to all the friends who suggested ideas and offered input.  I love the new title, though I also still like my agent’s suggestion… GIANNA AND THE NO-GOOD, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE, VERY BAD TITLE. 

Maybe that can be the sequel.