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Review:

When I saw Eileen Cook’s  new MG series, I was eager to give it a read.  I enjoyed Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood, and wanted to read another of her titles.  Fourth Grade Fairy kicks off with a fun introductory volume that is sure to please younger readers with a blend of humor, angst, and suspense.  Plus, it has talking animals, and that always goes a long way in for me.

Willow is a fairy godmother in training.  She doesn’t fit in at school, and being the youngest kid in the house is a drag.  Her older sister is practically perfect, and she excels at fairy school.  Her magic has manifested right on schedule, and she never stops letting Willow know how perfect she is.  Willow is lonely and longs for a BFF (and a dog!), but she wants to have a human friend.  She is fascinated by all things human, and when her grandmother arranges for her to attend a human school for two weeks, she is over the moon.  She will have an opportunity to learn more about them, and maybe find a best friend, too!

Poor Willow!  She wants to fit in so badly, but she just doesn’t.  She wants to learn more about the Humdrums (humans) but nobody understands her interest in them.  Her sister thinks it’s a waste of time that Willow could be using to work on her fairy skills.  Her parents are all for her learning more about Humdrums, but they think that making friends with humans is a bad idea.  To make matters worse, Willow’s first day at Humdrum school is a nightmare!  How is she ever going to fit in after that debacle!

I enjoyed Fourth Grade Fairy because Willow is such a likable character.  She has normal kid fears and problems, like how she’s going to make friends and how she’s going to deal with her bossy sister.  She decides to be BFF with the most popular girl in school, and all she manages to do make one bad impression after another.  She just can’t catch a break!  When she starts hearing voices in her head, things get really messy!  Willow’s social missteps are entertaining, and I felt so badly for her each time she stumbled on her path to finding a friend.  It’s easy to understand how she would be dazzled by the cool kids, but there were t

Just wanted to share this cool widget from the new Aladdin Mix site! :)

Please welcome the supersparkly Lauren Barnholdt! Lauren's here to dish all about her new book, DEVON DELANEY SHOULD TOTALLY KNOW BETTER, that comes out today. Happy release day, L!

Book summary:

Devon Delaney cannot believe she's lying again. But the thing is, she couldn't help it. Her new boyfriend, Luke, is talking to his (gorgeous) ex-girlfriend, Bailey Barelli (!!!), every single day in mock trial.

Devon couldn't just stand by and let him find out that she'd never dated anyone else before. Could she? Oopsie. Too late now. To show how totally unaffected she is by Bailey's obvious Luke hang-up, Devon invents a fake ex-boyfriend of her own: Greg. Fab! What could go wrong?

But it isn't long before Devon finds herself in the middle of another supergigantic lie. Can Devon come clean in time to keep the guy? Or will she lose everything due to another lie?

Bio: Lauren Barnholdt is the author of many books for teens and tweens, including TWO-WAY STREET, FOUR TRUTHS AND A LIE, and THE SECRET IDENTITY OF DEVON DELANEY. She lives in Boston with her husband.

Okay, here we go!

Pitch Devon as a Tweet! (140 characters or less, people who are not familiar with the awesome that is Twitter)

Devon’s lies get her in trouble again – will she come clean in time to keep the guy? Complete with some kissing and a brand new cell phone!

How are you and Devon alike and different? Break it down.

Hmm, Devon is fun, and I like to think I’m fun. She also likes the same colors and things I do – like sparkly cell phones and pink.

She’s thirteen, so, you know, we’re different in that sense. At least, I hope we are, hmm.

She’s a lot more self-confident and more outgoing than I was at thirteen. But she’s dramatic the way I was at thirteen. (I’m totally not dramatic anymore, la la la.)

You’ve been writing at coffee shops more recently. Fellow coffee shop writers understand the shortage of outlets. (So wrong!) Tell the truth, LB. Have you ever wanted to unplug someone’s lap top when he/she got up to grab an order? Or (*gasp*) have you already done so??

Jessica!! I would never do something like that!!!

Okay, I’ve totally wanted to. I mean, some people are doing things in coffee shops that are just.. I don’t know. Like, what if someone is playing video games? And I am under deadline? Shouldn’t that be more important?

Lately I’ve also noticed some people with their laptops plugged in, and they are just chatting away to other people, not even using their computer! Mostly, though, it hasn’t been a problem—I try to only go to places where there are enough outlets to go around.

Devon invents a fake boyfriend, Greg. Would you have ever been able to pull that off at your school?

Um, well….full disclosure: The first Devon book is based on something I did in junior high. So I guess, um, yeah, kind of.

I know (because I have people) that you and Editor Kate don’t get along AT all. Do you just cry every time you get an edit letter from her? It’s okay. This is a safe space.

I don’t cry, because I’ve been in therapy to deal with it. Plus last time I went to visit her, she gave me tons of amazing books, to sort of buy me off and keep silent about her torturous techniques.

Obviously, the above question was a total joke. Lauren and I share Editor Kate and she nicknamed us “Barnhart.” She recognized that we only need to go by one name, ‘cause we’re awesome like that. When do you expect Team Barnhart to dominate the publishing biz? (And don’t give away any secrets to the enemy camp…)

Classified. Barnhart would never give away any secrets on a blog --- there are spies everywhere!

There’s one tiny issue I have to bring up. The one that could one day cause a Barnhart-break up that would be splashed over every tabloid. You know where I’m going with this. Nick and Jess. You’re obsessed with them—totally fine—but I’ll still tell you that Robsten is better, la, la, la…Predict it for us, Lauren. Are Nick and Jess getting back together?

Sadly, no. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t!! They were so in love! Didn’t you see the episode of Newlyweds where Jess did laundry for Nick because SHE LOVED HIM SO MUCH? I just don’t see what went wrong.

Also, I don’t really get Robsten. Like, is that even happening? Or is he just obsessed with her? It’s so meta, like I totally picture him, like, watching over her on the set and stuff.. Crrreeeeepppppyyyy.

Favorite line from the book?

Can it be “favorite paragraph”? If so:

“Okay,” I say. “Point taken. But we’ve turned over a new leaf! I don’t have any secrets from you right now. You know everything that’s going on with me, and I want to know everything that’s going on with you. We’re BFF.” Mel doesn’t look convinced, so I rush on. “For example,” I say. “Last night at mock trial I made up a fake boyfriend, and now Luke wants to meet him.” I give her an encouraging smile. “Now you go.”

Knowing that you looove your iPhone, if we should see more of Devon, will she upgrade?

Hmm, I don’t think so. Devon’s parents hardly even let her get a flip phone, I don’t think she’s ready for such technology. It would probably get her into more trouble.

But if she did, it would be sparkly and pink.

Final question: Write your own question and answer it. Make it good. *pressure*

Would Devon from my book and Sasha from your book be friends? Totally! Except I think Devon might corrupt Sasha a little bit. Although I’ve heard that Sasha is totally ready to French kiss, and Devon isn’t quite there yet, so maybe they’d be bad influences on each other.

This is a super sparkly day because...



is shipping! Well, it's shipping from Barnes & Noble and that means it's going to start releasing in other places very, very soon!


Now that it's my fourth book, I'm like, sure, I'm still new at all of this



Totally kidding. Unlike Captain Jack, I don't expect you to have heard of me. But maybe you know about Canterwood Crest. If not, to recap:

It's about a girl who
and adores her horse.

There's also a and they might

It's the fourth book in a series of twelve for tweens from Simon & Schuster's Aladdin MIX.

I feel like this:
(EK and Jess)

This book is incredibly special to me for various personal reasons. I know people think I might say that with every book, but it's totally true for this one.

And okay, I wanted to tell this entire post with Twilight avatars and graphics, but uh, I restrained myself. :)

Hearts and sparkles to everyone who made this happen! Now I'll be watching for it be available in other places. Book stalking will begin soon! Ha. :)

Yaaay Triple Fault!

Giving the Gift of Poetry Originally uploaded by teachergal I was tagged by Megan for the Passion Quilt Meme. Essentially one needs to think about what they’re passionate with regard to education and their students. Naturally, one of my biggest passions is writing (Hence this blog!), but I wanted to zoom-in closer and really create [...]