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By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 3/6/2016
Blog:
Beth Kephart Books
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In less than five weeks,
This Is the Story of You, my Jersey Shore novel, will be released by Chronicle Books. A Junior Library Guild selection that has received two early stars, this is a mystery set in the wake of a monster storm. It's a meditation on our environment and an exploration of friendship, sisterhood, loss, and resilience.
It is, perhaps, the most urgent novel I've yet written, both in terms of themes and pacing.
On March 18, in the New York Public Library, as part of the
New York City Teen Author Festival, I'll be reading from the book and talking about the perspective adults bring to the novels they write about teens in a panel gorgeously assembled by David Levithan and featuring Carolyn Mackler, Luanne Rice, and Francisco Stork. On March 20, I'll be signing early copies at New York City's iconic Books of Wonder. And on April 30, at Main Point Books in Bryn Mawr, PA, I'll be doing a signing.
This morning I'm sharing this scene.
Here I should probably explain the rules, the lines in the sand, the ins and outs of Haven. We were a people shaped by extremes. Too much and too little were in our genes.
To be specific:
Too little was the size of things—the dimension of our island, the we-fit-inside-it-bank-turned-school, the quality of restaurants, the quantity of bridges.
Too much was The Season—Memorial Day through Labor Day. Vacationeers by the boatload, bikinis by the square inch, coolers by the mile, a puke-able waft of SPFs. The longest lines at night were at Dippy’s Icy Creams.
The longest lines by day circled the lighthouse. During The Season the public trash bins were volcanic eruptions, the songbirds were scarce, the deer hid where you couldn’t find them, the hamburgers were priced like mini filets mignons, and the rentable bikes streamed up, streamed down. At the Mini Amuse the Giant Wheel turned, the Alice in Wonderland teased, the dozen giraffes on the merry-go-round looked demoralized and beat. At Dusker’s Five and Dime the hermit crabs in the painted shells sold for exorbitant fees.
Whoever was up there in the little planes that dragged the advertising banners around would have looked down and seen the flopped hats, crusted towels, tippy shovels, broken castles, and bands of Frisbee fliers—Vacationeers, each one. Whoever was up there looking down would not have seen the bona fides, the Year-Rounders, the us, because we weren’t on the beach. We were too employed renting out the bikes, flipping the burgers, scooping the Dippy’s, cranking up the carousel, veering the Vacationeers out of riptides—to get out and be seen. From the age of very young we had been taught to maximize The Season, which was code for keeping the minimum wage coming, which was another way of saying that we stepped out of the way, we subserved, for the three hot months of summer.
We Year-Rounders had been babies together, toddlers together, kindergartners together, Alabasterans. We had a pact: Let the infiltrators be and watch them leave and don’t divide to conquer. We knew that what mattered most of all was us, and that we’d be there for us, and that we would not allow the outside world to actually dilute us. Like I said,we knew our water.
Six miles long.
One-half mile wide. Haven.
Go forth and conquer together.
Friends,
This Is the Story of You, my Jersey shore storm mystery, is (I have heard it said) printed and on its way to me.
Story has received two stars in these early days (
Kirkus and
School Library Journal) and kind words from
BookPage and
Publishers Weekly. It is a Junior Library Guild selection and will be featured in an upcoming story on environmentally aware novels for younger readers in
The Writer Magazine.The launch date (early April) grows near.
In celebration of it all, Chronicle Books is sponsoring a Goodreads Giveaway, starting tomorrow.
Information is right there (I turn to glance toward the left side of my blog, where I hope you now glance as well), should you wish to enter. Twenty-five will win.
In the meantime, a big box of
One Thing Stolen paperbacks has arrived.
One Thing Stolen, which won a Parents' Choice Gold Medal and is a TAYSHAs selection, among other things, will launch alongside of
Story.
I'll be signing early copies of
Story at Books of Wonder, during the
New York City Teen Authors Festival, on Sunday, March 20.
I will be signing
Story and
Stolen (and possibly even
Love: A Philadelphia Affair) at Main Point Books, in honor of Independent Bookstore Day, at 2 PM.
I'd love to see you.
Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar this week.
To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.
Author Jeffrey Bennett will headline a signing session at the Dyer Observatory (Vanderbilt University). See him on Wednesday, April 8th starting 7 p.m. (Brentwood, TN)
Writer Bethany Chase will discuss her novel The One That Got Away at BookCourt. Hear her on Thursday, April 9th starting 7 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)
Father Norm Supancheck will appear at Barnes & Noble (Valencia branch) to talk about his memoir, When Love Calls. Meet him on Friday, April 10th starting 7 p.m. (Valencia, CA)
Children’s books creator Joyce Wan will celebrate the launch of her picture book, The Whale in My Swimming Pool, at Books of Wonder. Join in on Saturday, April 11th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (New York, NY)
The next session of the Franklin Park Reading Series will feature appearances from five writers. Check it out on Monday, April 13th at the Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden starting 8 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY)
Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar this week.
To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.
Three writers will appear at the Pen Parentis Literary Salon. Join in on Tuesday, February 10th at Andaz Wall Street from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (New York, NY)
Six authors will participate in the “Unconventional Teen Romance” panel. Check it out on Thursday, February 12th at Books of Wonder from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (New York, NY)
Scott McCloud will perform a reading of his newest graphic novel, The Sculptor, at Macalester College. Meet him on Saturday, February 15th at the John B. Davis Lecture Hall starting 4 p.m. (New York, NY)
In June, at Books of Wonder, I met (among other fine writers) the debut novelist Lindsay Smith, who professed a love for Russian culture. She has traveled to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Siberia. She writes about foreign affairs in Washington, DC. And for her first novel she imagined a 17 year old named Yulia who has psychic capabilities and is "recruited" (to use a kind word) by the KGB.
Lindsay's sentences have pace and glimmer. Her knowledge of that time is stunning. And when I reached this passage, about East Berlin, I knew I was in the company of a like-minded researcher and writer. How beautifully she captures that place. It's a slightly different (by which I mean earlier) Berlin from the one I write of
Going Over. But it is wholly recognizable to those who have read the history books.
East Berlin is a concrete crypt. Everywhere I look, stark, flat buildings rise out of shell-shocked rubble and watch us with broken windows for eyes. The streets hold no cars. The old buildings—from before Stalin seized this land for his own—look safe from one side, but when we pass them, the rest is crumpled by artillery fire, the wreckage blocked off by barbed-wire fences. The few people we pass fix their stares on their feet and hurry past us. Coal smoke and sulfur linger around every corner as we wade through half-melted black slush.
Congratulations to a young writer with great seriousness of purpose—and reliable knowledge.
Confession: There are a lot of us who die many small deaths during the act of promoting our books. We wish we didn't have to. We wish we were Michael Ondaatje or Alice McDermott or Colum McCann or any of the greats for whom the world both spins and waits, and not us, ourselves and ourselves only, who are easily forgotten, or never actually known.
Book promotion. It can involve embarrassing displays of self-involvement (for the next sixty minutes I will be doing all the talking, thank you very much), nasty tricks (remember the writer who recently shipped her dead husband's ashes around with the galleys?), indulgent wardrobing (you will remember me, you must remember me, won't you remember me?), and bold pronouncements about one's own talent (eeewww). We are asked to do many things. We do what we can. We close our eyes, we (maybe) grin and (barely) bear it, and then, mercifully, the promotion season has passed. We can be ourselves again.
We can buy and celebrate the books of others.
I'm not a touring writer. I'm not a famous one. This here blog, which is dedicated primarily to writerly musings and the works of others during the bulk of the year and to the news it seems right to share following the release of the small books I write (forgive me, I beg you, forgive me), is my home base, my foundation, my brand, my world, my virtual me. There is also, for the record, a flesh and blood me—a somewhat innocuous middle-aged woman who has little to say in real life and surprises people who meet her for the first time.
Just ask dear Debbie who could not, on Tuesday night, at Books of Wonder, get over how short I actually am.
(You might have thought I was tall? You might have thought I was glamorous? Ha! Wrong on both counts. Plus, I don't have a memorable wardrobe.)
I think about this promotion thing sometimes. Indeed, not long ago, musing out loud, I told my agent that I had begun to feel pressure not to speak of myself anymore on my blog. That, if only I had much more time than I do, I'd spend all the blog language on others.
"But it's your own blog," she said, "and you have responsibilities to your books."
"I know," I said. "But. Still. People are talking."
I'm talking about all of this right now because I just read Caleb Crain's piece on Stephen Crane in this week's
The New Yorker, "The Red and the Scarlet." It's a fine piece of biography and it doesn't need much of a preface; it stands, wildly, on its own.
But here's the part I'd like to excerpt for you. It's the late 1800s. We're looking at self publishing and self-promotion. Seriously. Has anything changed?
Unable to find a publisher, Crane scraped together the money for "Maggie" to be printed. He chose yellow covers and the pseudonym Johnston Smith, and his friends threw him a raucous party....
To advertise the book, Crane hired four men to read it as conspicuously as possible on the elevated train, which, unfortunately, had little effect on sales. "It fell flat," he later admitted."
Self promotion. It's a terrifying term.
I'm going to be taking a small respite from the blog for the next few days, for I have several books I've bought and am planning to read. I need a little reading time and space. And then I'm going to report back here, as my short and unglamorous self. I hope you'll return when I do.
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 6/17/2014
Blog:
Beth Kephart Books
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How entirely psyched am I to visit the Big Apple next week?
Entirely psyched.
It will be a day away among people I love in a city I've got a thing for.
It will be a privilege.
I'll spend the day in Brooklyn, with my dear friend Rahna Reiko Rizzuto and her pottery-brilliant Ming. I'll see my son, who has just taken on a second job and (in addition) been elected a co-vice president of Marketing for his NYC Alumni Association (love. that. young. man. and I have to give him a personal high five). And I will spend the evening hours among wonderful YA talents, in the Great Teen Reads event at Books of Wonder.
I'll be there with gratitude.
Speaking of gratitude, I have this photo in my possession because of one Dahlia Adler, who so incredibly kindly wrote of
Small Damages and
Going Over here, and who, rumor has it, I will meet at the store! Speaking of gratitude (again), might I also mention that I will meet, at Books of Wonder, a certain copy editor, Debbie DeFord Minerva, who wrote to me after she worked on
One Thing Stolen, the Florence novel—words I will never forget.
Join us?
Books of Wonder
Tuesday, June 24
6 - 8 PM
18 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 5/9/2014
Blog:
Beth Kephart Books
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Lindsay Smith,
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I'm always honored when Peter Glassman of Books and Wonder notices a book I've written and invites me to his store.
So of course I said yes to his recent invitation to join Brian Conaghan, Padma Venkatraman, Lindsay Smith, and Marthe Jocelyn for
Great Teen Reads Night
June 24, 2014
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Books of Wonder
18 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
New York friends, I hope you will join us for this panel discussion and signing. More information is
here.And thanks, too, to two recent reviewers who found
Going Over and had kind things to say. Miss Literati concluded her review with these words:
I found GOING OVER to be exhilarating to read. It was a great book and I’m excited to read other books by Beth Kephart! — Miss Literati
And then there was Ruth Compton, Librarian and Readers' Advisor, who wrote:
Ms Kephart has created a hauntingly lyrical and powerful story about lives in a divided Berlin, about choices and consequences, about love and loss that draws you in and won’t let you go long after you’ve put the book down. — Ruth Compton
Thank you, Miss Literati and Ruth. And hello, Books of Wonder.
Yesterday, in New York City, I joined the great cast of writers that the truly great David Levithan had gathered at Books of Wonder, a store famous and hallowed and grand. I met a student with a future, a librarian with a heart, a blogger with whom I'd corresponded, an AP English teacher, a science fiction writer, a screenplay writer, super cool Wonder staff, others. K. M. Walton and I compared war stories (we always do; this time I won). A.S. King swore she'd been practicing her salsa (but I don't know; the girl does write fiction). David revealed some of the new work on his Scholastic list, and I sort of begged, I hope that's okay, for one of the ARCs.
(David Levithan did not reveal, however, how he maintains his fresh-faced good looks after his long and uber successful week of moderating and hosting countless (all right, so someone counted them, probably even David himself) YA panels and conversations.)
And then something else amazing happened: Ed Goldberg, who wrote to me following the launch of HOUSE OF DANCE and who has remained in touch ever since—a stalwart cheerleader in times both green and fallow, a teacher, a librarian, a garden lover, a dad, a man in love with his Susan—took the train into the city and surprised me. Yes, indeed, the surprise was gonzo. And Beth Kephart, born on April Fools' Day, does not easily surprise.
After the signing, I wove through New York City. I share my quick snapshots here.
On the train there and back, I was reading Elizabeth Graver's new novel,
The End of the Point.Help me, Rhonda: I can't wait to tell you about her book. (That is, if you haven't already read about it everywhere, my friend Elizabeth now on bestseller lists everywhere.)
Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing
18 West 18th Street
New York, New York
You want books?
You want fine?
You want signatures?
You want to meet me and some of my friends?
Join us.
1-1:45:
Jessica Brody (Unremembered, Macmillan)
Marisa Calin (Between You and Me, Bloomsbury)
Jen Calonita (The Grass is Always Greener, LB)
Sharon Cameron (The Dark Unwinding, Scholastic)
Caela Carter (Me, Him, Them, and It, Bloomsbury)
Crissa Chappell (Narc, Flux)
Susane Colasanti (Keep Holding On, Penguin)
Zoraida Cordova (The Vicious Deep, Sourcebooks)
Gina Damico (Scorch, HMH)
Jocelyn Davies (A Fractured Light, HC)
Sarah Beth Durst (Vessel, S&S)
Gayle Forman (Just One Day, Penguin)
Elizabeth Scott (Miracle, S&S)
1:45-2:30
T. M. Goeglein (Cold Fury, Penguin)
Hilary Weisman Graham (Reunited, S&S)
Alissa Grosso (Ferocity Summer, Flux)
Aaron Hartzler (Rapture Practice, LB)
Deborah Heiligman (Intentions, RH)
Leanna Renee Hieber (The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, Sourcebooks)
Jeff Hirsch (Magisterium, Scholastic)
J. J. Howard (That Time I Joined the Circus, Scholastic)
Alaya Johnson (The Summer Prince, Scholastic)
Beth Kephart (Small Damages, Penguin)
Kody Keplinger (A Midsummer’s Nightmare, LB)
2:30-3:15
A.S. King (Ask the Passengers, LB)
Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14, Macmillan)
David Levithan (Every Day, RH)
Barry Lyga (Yesterday Again, Scholastic)
Brian Meehl (Suck it Up and Die, RH)
Alexandra Monir (Timekeeper, RH)
Michael Northrop (Rotten, Scholastic)
Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars, HC)
Lindsay Ribar (The Art of Wishing, Penguin)
Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park, St. Martin’s)
Kimberly Sabatini (Touching the Surface, S&S)
Tiffany Schmidt (Send Me a Sign, Bloomsbury)
3:15-4:00
Victoria Schwab (The Archived, Hyperion)
Jeri Smith-Ready (Shine, S&S)
Amy Spalding (The Reece Malcolm List, Entangled)
Stephanie Strohm (Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink, HMH)
Nova Ren Suma (17 & Gone, Penguin)
Greg Takoudes (When We Wuz Famous, Macmillan)
Mary Thompson (Wuftoom, HMH)
Jess Verdi (My Life After Now, Sourcebooks)
K.M. Walton (Empty, S&S)
Suzanne Weyn (Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters, Scholastic)
Kathryn Williams (Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous, Macmillan)
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 3/21/2013
Blog:
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Friends of this blog know how much I love California—the sun, the ocean cliffs, the people. I was so happy, therefore, to be invited to conduct a memoir workshop at the great BookPassage in Corte Madera. I'll be out there in early September, and I'd love to see you there. The details are here, below, along with a few other events that have cropped up in the meantime—events that will touch on everything from
Small Damages,
Dangerous Neighbors, and
Dr. Radway's Sarsaparilla Resolvent to memoir writing, Philadelphia, and the boutique marketing communications firm I run.
Please join us if you can.
March 22, 2013, 5 - 7 PMPost-Penn Perspectives Panel
Sweeten Alumni House
University of Pennsylvania
March 24, 2013, 1 - 4
No-Foolin' Mega-Signing At Books of Wonder
New York, New York
For Details click here.
April 10, 2013, 7 PM
Feature Author Book Club Dinner
Harleysville Books
Harleysville, PA
May 22, 2013, 2 PM Strange and Familiar Places in YA Fiction (a panel)
Drexel University Week of WritingPhiladelphia, PA
July 27, 2013, 3:30 - 5:00 PM Launching Small Damages paperback/Memoir Workshop
with Debbie Levy
Hooray for Books
Old Town Alexandria, VA
August 6, 2013
Launching Handling the Truth
with a memoir workshop
Free Library of Philadelphia
(details to come)Philadelphia, PASeptember 7, 2013, 10 AM - noon
BookPassage Memoir Workshop
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925October 20, 2013
Talking Memoir with Linda Joy Myers @
Rosemont College
(details to come)
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 2/8/2013
Blog:
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A few days before I left for a research trip to Florence, Italy, I spent this Friday evening at Children's Book World with David Levithan. Of course he is a legend. Of course I'd read many of his books. Of course I'd seen him charm and challenge at a Publishing Perspectives conference. But I hadn't met him in person until that evening, hadn't seen his fabled generosity at work until, at this group session with my friend Jennifer Hubbard, Ellen Hopkins, and Eliot Schrefer, I watched as he put others on his stage.
Because, in addition to writing bestselling, critically acclaimed books alone and with others, in addition to finding, editing, and believing in some of the most popular young adult books of our time, in addition to being a spokesperson for the possible in literature, David Levithan time and again puts others on his stage. Inviting rising young adult authors to appear with him when he is launching his own books. Serving as a moderator while established young adult authors speak. And spending who knows how many hours putting together what has become a phenomenon: the NYC Teen Author Festival.
He might have written an entirely new book, I imagine. But he spent time doing this. Over ninety authors from over a dozen publishers, over seven days, to quote David. And we're all hoping that you will both attend and help spread word.
I'll be whisking away from my Penn teaching/corporate world for the "mega signing" at Books of Wonder on March 24, when I'll remember what it is to be an author again. I've got my fingers crossed that you'll be there.
And while you are waiting for this fab event, pre-order David's upcoming book, coauthored with Andrea Creamer and edited by my friend Jill Santopolo for that wonderful house, Philomel. It's a really, truly excellent book. How excellent? Read
here.
2013 NYC Teen Author Festival
http://www.facebook.com/NYCTeenAuthorFestival <http://www.facebook.com/NYCTeenAuthorFestival>
Monday, March 18 (Mulberry Street Branch of the NYPL, 10 Jersey Street b/w Mulberry and Lafayette, 6-8):
I’ll Take You There: A Change of Scenery, A Change of Self
Description: In their recent books, each of these authors have plunged their teen characters into new places as a way of revealing their true selves. We’ll talk about this YA journey narrative – where it comes from, and what it can lead to.
Gayle Forman
Kristen-Paige Madonia
Bennett Madison
Jennifer E. Smith
Melissa Walker
moderator: David Levithan
Tuesday, March 19 (WORD Bookstore, 7-8:30, 126 Franklin St, Greenpoint):
The Only Way Out is Through: Engaging Truth through YA
Description: Pain. Confusion. Loss. Mistakes. Revelation. More mistakes. Recovery. One of the things that makes YA work is its desire to engage the messy truths of both adolescence and life in general. Here we talk about what it’s like to engage this messy truth, and how to craft it into a story with some kind of form.
Crissa Chappell
Tim Decker
Ellen Hopkins
Amy McNamara
Jessica Verdi
moderator: David Levithan
Wednesday. March 20 (42nd St NYPL, South Court room, 6-8):
Imagination: A Conversation
Description: It’s a given that authors’ minds are very strange, wonderful, twisted, illogical, inventive places. Here we talk to five rather imaginative authors about how they conjure the worlds in their books and the stories that they tell, along with glimpses of the strange and wonderful worlds they are creating at the present.
Holly Black
Lev Grossman
Michelle Hodkin
Alaya Johnson
Robin Wasserman
moderators: David Levithan and Chris Shoemaker
Thursday, March 21:
SOHO Teen night, 6-9pm (Books of Wonder, 18 W18th St)
Celebrate the launch of SOHO Teen, featuring readings by Jacquelyn Mitchard, Joy Preble, Margaux Froley, Elizabeth Kiem, Heather Terrell & Ricardo Cortés, and Lisa & Laura Roecker.
Friday March 22, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Berger Forum, 2nd floor, 2-6)
2:00 – Introduction
2:10-3:00: He Said, She Said
Description: Not to be too mysterious, but I will email these authors separately about what I’m thinking for this.
He:
Ted Goeglein
Gordon Korman
Lucas Klauss
Michael Northrop
She:
Susane Colasanti
E. Lockhart
Carolyn Mackler
Sarah Mlynowski
Leila Sales
moderator: David Levithan
3:00-4:00: Taking a Turn: YA Characters Dealing with Bad and Unexpected Choices
Description: In each of these authors’ novels, the main character’s life takes an unexpected twist. Sometimes this is because of a bad choice. Sometimes this is because of a secret revealed. And sometimes it doesn’t feel like a choice at all, but rather a reaction. We’ll talk about following these characters as they make these choices – both good and bad. Will include brief readings illuminating these choices.
Caela Carter
Eireann Corrigan
Alissa Grosso
Terra Elan McVoy
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Elizabeth Scott
K. M. Walton
moderator: Aaron Hartzler
4:00-4:10: Break
4:10-4:40: That’s So Nineteenth Century
Description: A Conversation About Playing with 19th Century Archetypes in the 21st Century
Sharon Cameron
Leanna Renee Hieber
Stephanie Strohm
Suzanne Weyn
Moderator: Sarah Beth Durst
4:40-5:30: Alternate World vs. Imaginary World
Description: Of these authors, some have written stories involving alternate or parallel versions of our world, some have made up imaginary worlds for their characters, and still others have written books that do each. We’ll discuss the decision to either connect the world of a book to our world, or to take it out of the historical context of our world. How do each strategies help in telling story and developing character? Is one easier than the other? Is the stepping off point always reality, or can it sometimes be another fictional world?
Sarah Beth Durst
Jeff Hirsch
Emmy Laybourne
Lauren Miller
E. C. Myers
Diana Peterfreund
Mary Thompson
Moderator: Chris Shoemaker
Friday March 22, Barnes & Noble Reader’s Theater/Signing (Union Square B&N, 33 E 17th St, 7-8:30)
Eireann Corrigan
Elizabeth Eulberg
Jeff Hirsch
David Levithan
Rainbow Rowell
Nova Ren Suma
Saturday March 23, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, Bergen Forum, 2nd Floor, 1-5)
1:00 – Introduction
1:10-2:10 – Defying Description: Tackling the Many Facets of Identity in YA
Description: As YA literature evolves, there is more of an acknowledgment of the many facets that go into a teenager’s identity, and even categories that once seemed absolute now have more nuance. Focusing particularly, but not exclusively, on LGBTQ characters and their depiction, we’ll discuss the complexities about writing about such a complex experience.
Marissa Calin
Emily Danforth
Aaron Hartzler
A.S. King
Jacqueline Woodson
moderator: David Levithan
2:10-2:40 -- New Voices Spotlight
Description: Each debut author will share a five-minute reading from her or his work
J. J. Howard
Kimberly Sabatini
Tiffany Schmidt
Greg Takoudes
2:40-3:30 – Under Many Influences: Shaping Identity When You’re a Teen Girl
Description: Being a teen girl is to be under many influences – friends, parents, siblings, teachers, favorite bands, favorite boys, favorite web sites. These authors will talk about the influences that each of their main characters tap into – and then talk about what influences them as writers when they shape these characters.
Jen Calonita
Deborah Heiligman
Hilary Weisman Graham
Kody Keplinger
Amy Spalding
Katie Sise
Kathryn Williams
moderator: Terra Elan McVoy
3:30-3:40 – Break
3:40-4:20 – Born This Way: Nature, Nurture, and Paranormalcy
Description: Paranormal and supernatural fiction for teens constantly wrestles with issues of identity and the origin of identity. Whether their characters are born “different” or come into their powers over time, each of these authors uses the supernatural as a way to explore the nature of self.
Jessica Brody
Gina Damico
Maya Gold
Alexandra Monir
Lindsay Ribar
Jeri Smith-Ready
Jessica Spotswood
moderator: Adrienne Maria Vrettos
4:20-5:00 – The Next Big Thing
Description: Again, not to be too mysterious, but I will email these authors separately about what I’m thinking for this.
Jocelyn Davies
Leanna Renee Hieber
Barry Lyga
Maryrose Wood
Saturday March 23: Mutual Admiration Society reading at McNally Jackson (McNally Jackson, Prince Street, 7-8:30):
Sharon Cameron
A.S. King
Michael Northrop
Diana Peterfreund
Victoria Schwab
Nova Ren Suma
hosted by David Levithan
Sunday March 24: Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing at Books of Wonder (Books of Wonder, 1-4):
1-1:45:
Jessica Brody (Unremembered, Macmillan)
Marisa Calin (Between You and Me, Bloomsbury)
Jen Calonita (The Grass is Always Greener, LB)
Sharon Cameron (The Dark Unwinding, Scholastic)
Caela Carter (Me, Him, Them, and It, Bloomsbury)
Crissa Chappell (Narc, Flux)
Susane Colasanti (Keep Holding On, Penguin)
Zoraida Cordova (The Vicious Deep, Sourcebooks)
Gina Damico (Scorch, HMH)
Jocelyn Davies (A Fractured Light, HC)
Sarah Beth Durst (Vessel, S&S)
Gayle Forman (Just One Day, Penguin)
Elizabeth Scott (Miracle, S&S)
1:45-2:30
T. M. Goeglein (Cold Fury, Penguin)
Hilary Weisman Graham (Reunited, S&S)
Alissa Grosso (Ferocity Summer, Flux)
Aaron Hartzler (Rapture Practice, LB)
Deborah Heiligman (Intentions, RH)
Leanna Renee Hieber (The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, Sourcebooks)
Jeff Hirsch (Magisterium, Scholastic)
J. J. Howard (That Time I Joined the Circus, Scholastic)
Alaya Johnson (The Summer Prince, Scholastic)
Beth Kephart (Small Damages, Penguin)
Kody Keplinger (A Midsummer’s Nightmare, LB)
2:30-3:15
A.S. King (Ask the Passengers, LB)
Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14, Macmillan)
David Levithan (Every Day, RH)
Barry Lyga (Yesterday Again, Scholastic)
Brian Meehl (Suck it Up and Die, RH)
Alexandra Monir (Timekeeper, RH)
Michael Northrop (Rotten, Scholastic)
Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars, HC)
Lindsay Ribar (The Art of Wishing, Penguin)
Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park, St. Martin’s)
Kimberly Sabatini (Touching the Surface, S&S)
Tiffany Schmidt (Send Me a Sign, Bloomsbury)
3:15-4:00
Victoria Schwab (The Archived, Hyperion)
Jeri Smith-Ready (Shine, S&S)
Amy Spalding (The Reece Malcolm List, Entangled)
Stephanie Strohm (Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink, HMH)
Nova Ren Suma (17 & Gone, Penguin)
Greg Takoudes (When We Wuz Famous, Macmillan)
Mary Thompson (Wuftoom, HMH)
Jess Verdi (My Life After Now, Sourcebooks)
K.M. Walton (Empty, S&S)
Suzanne Weyn (Dr. Frankenstein’s Daughters, Scholastic)
Kathryn Williams (Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous, Macmillan)
This happens very soon, like today. Come if you can! It's kind of amazing.
By: Maryann Yin,
on 1/25/2012
Blog:
Galley Cat (Mediabistro)
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Forget Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich! Children’s author Nick Bruel has cast the “purrfect” candidate in his latest chapter book: Bad Kitty for President. We’ve embedded the book trailer above.
We caught up with Bruel to ask a few questions about politics, writing and illustrating.
Q: With your latest title, Bad Kitty for President, why did you decide to touch on such a
topical event?
A: I find politics in general to be a very weird, absurd, and sort of wonderful creature in this country. As Americans I think we have a propensity to take politics too seriously (myself included), but at the same time I don’t think many Americans understand our political system as much as they should. It’s a bit like watching a full season of baseball but never really understanding the rules of the game.
continued…
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
This Saturday, June 18th, from 12 to 2, I will be at Books of Wonder to talk about Tweak Tweak. With me there will be other authors and illustrators: Javaka Steptoe, Chris Raschka, Greg Foley, and Teresa E. Harris.
Today at 1pm, teen author panel at NYPL on 42nd with Kim Harrington, Maggie Stiefvater, Robin Wasserman, and moderator David Levithan. More panels/authors all afternoon!
Tomorrow at 1pm, Books of Wonder signing on 18th Street, along with 40-some other teen authors. FUN.
Both events are open to tweens and up and are free.
All the details here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=56488781586&v=info
Little Black Crow, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka, Atheneum, $16.99, ages 4-7, 40 pages. A boy in a trapper hat looks up into the winter sky and wonders where the wind will take a little crow, as soft strokes of watercolor paint sweep the story from one page to the next. Caldecott Medalist Raschka's spare, yet exuberant, style is beguiling: it fills us with the same feelings of awe that we hear in the boy's words, as he watches the crow from off of the page. "Little black crow, where will you go?" he asks from the seat we see only at the end, atop a wood rail fence. The black bird sits in a leaf-bare tree, his beak bigger than his head and his ink-drawn body as expressive as a character in calligraphy.
On the next two pages, the bird hops down to the snowy ground, where now only a few brown weeds poke through. "Where do you go in the cold white snow?" the boy continues on, adding with growing curiosity. "Where do you go?" As the crow takes off in a glide, up into brown puffs of clouds, the boy further inquires, "�Where do you fly in a stormy sky?" Like a crescendo, our voices rise as the boy's anticipation for the answers grow. Next, the crow touches down in the rain by a rabbit and the boy asks the crow whom he will meet in a long wet street. The boy now wonders if the crow feels as he would in the cold. "Do you ever complain / in the wind / and the rain?" he wistfully asks. "�Is it enough / to have feathers / in all kinds of weathers? …Are you a boy like me?" The boy seems almost breathless, as he continues on and asks the crow if he ever worries and if he's ever afraid of the mistakes he's made? Whom does he love?, the boys adds. Does the crow wonder about the same things he does? About lighting or thunder? Other creatures he meets? About stars? Maybe even, the boy's words conclude, "someone…like me?" Only at the end do we see the boy, perhaps because only then are we looking toward him rather than through his eyes. It's extraordinary how breathtaking something so simple can be: with spare words and brush strokes, Raschka captures the intangible: the swelling sense of wonder that occurs in a child's mind when he gets fascinated by something -- when his head fills with so many questions at once that they spill out before any can be answered.
By: Anika Denise,
on 12/10/2010
Blog:
Anika Denise - Children's Book Author
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Bob Shea is leading the kids through some truly stellar dinosaur "roars" during a read-aloud of his new book "Dinosaur vs. Potty," a hilarious play-by-play of one little dinosaur's battle to resist going you-know-what, in the you-know-where. The story bounces along with Bob Shea using his best boxing ring announcer's voice to repeat the refrain, "Dinosaur wins!" at the end of each spread. Kids roar, and giggle, then roar some more - and the book concludes.
That's when Chris Raschka, Caldecott medalist and all around cool dude, leans over to me and whispers, "So, who wins? I couldn't see the pictures, is it the dinosaur or the potty?"
"I think the Dinosaur went in the potty... so I guess they both win," I say.
"I should save my questions till the end," says Chris with a wry grin.
"Yeah, we should probably stop all this potty talk," I say.
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| Left to right: Chris Denise; Anika Denise; Chris Raschka |
This is why I love doing group signings. Picture book authors tend to be down to earth, funny, frequently irreverent folks, content with the good fortune of being able to do what they love for a living. This past weekend Chris and I signed at
Books of Wonder in NY, alongside Jane Dyer (A Train To Dreamland) Tad Hills (How Rocket Learned To Read), Maira Kalman (The Pursuit of Happiness), Laurie Keller (Birdy's Smile Book), Chris Raschka (Little Black Crow), and Bob Shea (Dinosaur vs. Potty).
What struck me (besides the fact that all these authors are amazing, talented folks and I was honored to be counted among them) was the palpable appreciation for one another's work. The authors were clearly having just as much fun as the audience during the read-alouds.
Equally cool was hearing all the behind-the-scenes chatter about everyone's book projects, how they developed, where they are doing signings, what other artists they admire, how they promote their titles, etc. For me, an author relatively new to the industry, it was a fascinating and fabulous experience.
Next signing stop: Tomorrow! Saturday Dec. 11th: Where The Sidewalks Ends in Chatham, MA (on Cape Cod) 10a - 12p. Big Stella will be joining us (and rumor has it the mouse from "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" will be in the house too); they'll be a holiday stroll going on, hot chocolate, a cozy fireplace, and of course: books, books, books. Come see us!
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By:
Lucy Coats,
on 3/1/2010
Blog:
An Awfully Big Blog Adventure
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His name is on every child's lips these days.
Percy Jackson and The Olympians (The Lightning Thief) is the latest blockbuster film-from-book from the director of the first Harry Potter movie--and he's everywhere from Nintendo DS to an app for the iPhone. I first met Percy--half boy, half god, all hero--some years ago in my favourite New York bookstore,
Books of Wonder (on West 18th Street, and a must-visit if you are a children's book-lover in the Big Apple). He was quite famous then, but not nearly so famous as he is now. In the first of Rick Riordan's books, Percy is having a few problems in school, not the least of which is that he accidentally vapourises his maths teacher. Things go rapidly downhill from there, as Percy discovers that not only is he the son of Poseidon--but also that Zeus is after him for a crime he hasn't committed.
I just love the idea of moving the Olympian deities to 21st century America (as much as I loved the idea of them in North London in Marie Phillips' excellent novel
'Gods Behaving Badly'). And anything which gets children interested in Greek mythology is okay in my eyes. I've banged on about this at length on the comments page of the
Bookwitch's excellent blog, where someone suggested that it was wrong to tell these stories for children, and says that
'They are beautiful, but crammed with murdering, inzest (sic), sexual crimes and worst. These things you cannot be explained to young children, specialy when the hero is doing such deeds.' Needless to say, I disagree with this point of view quite vehemently. There are, of course, many kids out there who won't have a clue who Poseidon or Zeus or any of the rest of them might be simply because they haven't been taught or had access to any of Percy's mythic origins. That is a very sad state of affairs to me, and one I hope to help remedy with my own stories. But to say that those 'mythic origins' cannot be explained to young children at all is just plain wrong. It is perfectly possible to tell those ancient tales in an age-appropriate way--keeping the heart and spirit of the myth while skating gracefully around the more inappropriate bits. I should know. I've done it.
I've been involved in a passionate (but platonic) love affair with the Greek myths for as long as I can remember. Charles Kingsley's
'The Heroes' was my first mythological experience (my grandfather's tattered red-and-gold bound copy), and then I dived headfirst into the Iliad and Odyssey courtesy of Padraic Colum's magnificent retelling (illustrations by Willy Pogany). The Olympians have been part of my world ever since. I studied them at school, and delved further at university, and when I was first given the chance of retelling 100 of their stories by Orion (what more suitably-named publisher for this could there be?), I jumped at it. It has been and is my privilege and pleasure to be able to introduce a whole new generation of children to these wonderful tales in language suitable for the 21st century. Even in our modern, hi-tech lives there are a plethora of words and phrases with back references to these most ancient of tales. An ignorance of the basics of myth will keep them forever locked, dark and impenetrable and beyond understan
This weekend's Books of Wonder signing in Manhattan was one of those author-moments I'll tuck away and keep for pretty much ever. It was just that special, in part because we made a family weekend of the event, driving down to New York Saturday afternoon. We actually stayed here...
...in a tiny bed & breakfast that a delightful artist runs out of her three-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side. The place was beautifully decorated, cost about a third of what a hotel room would have run on this busy weekend and gave us a view of city life that you don't get staying at a midtown high rise. Plus, it was only a block from the train, so right after we unloaded the car, we hopped on the subway and headed downtown to see the lights.
We walked to Rockefeller Center in the snow-sleet-rain-slush mix to see the Christmas tree.
It's a little blurry because I was shivering.
So we hustled a few blocks over to Joe's Shanghai for some of these soup dumplings that I learned about from Alvina Ling on Twitter.
These are the crab soup dumplings. To eat them, you plop one in a big spoon and sort of nibble a bite out of the top to let the soup inside cool a little bit. Then you can slurp it out and eat the noodle and the rest of the filling. They were delicious and warmed us right up.
Sunday was a day of strolling along Fifth Avenue, checking out the window displays until we made it down to Books of Wonder on 18th Street, where I was signing THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. along with seven other debut authors and their awesome books.
| | 2009 Debut Author Event
MICHELLE ZINK - Prophecy of the Sisters
JON SKOVRON - Struts and Frets
MEGAN CREWE - Give Up the Ghost
SARAH CROSS - Dull Boy
SHANI PETROFF - Daddy’s Little Angle: Bedeviled #1
KATE MESSNER - The B
So, with our faces still aglow from the Dylan concert, we decided to spend Saturday doing what I've we've always wanted to do in New York.
For years I had been hearing about Books of Wonder, the oldest and largest independent children's bookstore in the city. Years ago, I had ordered some lovely Wizard of Oz editions from them via mail order, and now I was anxious to see the store in person.
It was exciting spotting their banner on 18 West 18th Street, and entering via the Cupcake Cafe -- these people know exactly where I live! There's nothing like sitting down with a scrumptious cupcake and a good book, but first things first.
The yummy Cupcake Cafe was cute and cozy.
Front register area
It had been awhile since my last foray into an indie bookstore, since all the ones I used to frequent in my area have sadly closed. I immediately felt at home as I wandered around, appreciating the wonderful displays featuring new and familiar titles, many of them signed.
This is what it's all about.
The back of the store had a gallery featuring awesome pieces of original art, and shelves stocked with old and rare books.
Every weekend, and some weekdays, the store hosts special events. It just so happens that this particular Saturday, they were having a mega booksigning with eight picture book authors and illustrators, including the one-and-only National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Jon Scieszka! Hee!
Picture book panel set up in gallery area.
After introducing their newest releases, the panel took questions, bantered back and forth, and then signed a boat load of books for very enthusiastic fans. Besides Scieszka's Melvin Might?, I picked up Laurie Keller's Arnie the Doughnut (well, what did you expect from a foodie)? She agreed to stop by alphabet soup in 2009!
Seated are (l-r)Jon Scieszka, David Gordon, Brett Helquist, and Art Spiegelman.
Art again, Dean Haspiel, Laurie Keller, Bob Shea, and Laura Cornell.
Jon is the perfect ambassador -- charming and charismatic.
Jon and David discuss Jill Esbaum's To the Big Top!
I also noted that I am probably the only person on the planet who's not familiar with Art Spiegelman's work, and it was fate that he just happened to be there that day. Recently I had been receiving emails from his publicist, asking if I wanted to review his books, and I had not yet had a chance to check him out. I would say over half of the people at the signing were there for Art.
There were so many books I wanted to buy, but the entire store refused to fit in my carry-on bag. I did manage to tote home signed copies of Kevin Henkes' Old Bear and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, though, both birthday gifts for friends.
I was so taken with the books, atmosphere and energetic and attentive staff (practically unheard of in chain bookstores), that I forgot to eat a cupcake. And that's really saying something.
Another thing I had always wanted to do was dine at the Algonquin, the oldest operating hotel in New York City, which is famous for the Round Table, a group of literary luminaries who lunched here daily for ten years beginning in 1919.
As we sat waiting for our lunches, I listened for witty exchanges among the likes of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Harpo Marx, and Edna Ferber. I tried to imagine Douglas Fairbanks and William Faulkner walking into the lobby, and Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe composing My Fair Lady upstairs in Lerner's suite. It's only my favorite musical of all time!
Beautiful understated elegance and Edwardian decor.
Esconced in the comfy Round Table Room, we couldn't help but overhear an interesting conversation between three elderly gentlemen, discussing whether or not they should publish someone's book.
Painting of the Round Table, who actually called themselves the "Vicious Circle."
From what I could gather, the manuscript in question was written by an eminent theologian, and while the subject matter was definitely desirable, the man doing most of the talking (perhaps an editor), was unsure whether he wanted to devote the time necessary to help the writer revise. Their other hot topic was whether to purchase property in Chautauqua. Since they used words like, "gauntlet," "Augustine" and "languishing," it was like watching a Jeremy Irons movie. But maybe the Algonquin has that effect on people.
To top off our visit, we made our required pilgrimmage to The Plaza, because I'm a huge Eloise fan. One day, when I win the lottery, I will fulfill my dream of staying at this sumptuous world class Beaux Arts wonder, the only hotel in New York City listed as a National Historic Landmark. It's one of those places where, as soon as you walk in, you feel the elegance and luxury, and know, instinctively, that nothing bad could ever happen to you there. Our final stop was a peek in Tiffany's window. Audrey Hepburn, after all, was the one who started my love affair with New York in the first place.
I am Jama. I am six. I am a city child. I live at the Plaza.
So, I really couldn't have asked for more on this grand adventure. It included three of my very favorite things -- music, books, and food. Thanks for tagging along with me, and have a glorious day!
I'll be at Books of Wonder. Please come! I'll be reading from FADE, woo hoo!
18 W 18th Street
New York, NY 10020
Here's the info from Books of Wonder's website:
LISA McMANN, LINDA GERBER, MELISSA WALKER, CLAIRE MYSKO, KATIE DAVIS,
and JENNY DAVIDSON
Please join us on Wednesday, August 6, as we host 6 talented authors for teen who will present some of the newest in scintillating teen fiction and non-fiction. Come meet author and scholar JENNY DAVIDSON, whose debut teen novel The Explosionist, set in Scotland in the 1930's, introduces us to sixteen-year-old Sophie, her friend Mikael, and her great-aunt Tabitha as they are caught up in a murder mystery involving terrorists and suicide bombers whose plans have world-shaping consequences; best-selling author KATIE DAVIS, whose latest novel, The Curse of Addy McMahon, is a comic look at the titular hero's attempts to get down to the bottom of a purported family curse even as she tries to repair the fallout after her entire school gets a look at one of the comics from her private journal; LINDA GERBER, whose Death by Bikini introduces us to Aphra Behn Connolly, a lonely girl living on her family's island resort and forced to turn sleuth when a shocking murder and the sudden arrival of smoldering Seth's family seem just a bit too coincidental; LISA McMANN, author of Wake, a spellbinding novel in which seventeen-year-old Janie Hannagan learns she has the supernatural ability to enter into other people's dreams and influence those dreams; CLAIRE MYSKO, author of You're Amazing!: A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self, a fun-packed advice book that tackles the pressures faced by today's teens by offering inspired wisdom and guidance from older teens, female role models, and activities from Girls Inc., a non-profit organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold; Violet series writer MELISSA WALKER, author of Violet in Private, Violet by Design, and Violet on the Runway, which explore the travails of Violet Greenfield, wallflower turned catwalker turned college student, as she encounters romance, the pitfalls of celebrity, and those everyday insecurities of teenage girls; and CHLOE WALSH, author of The Interns:Fashionistas and The Interns: Truth or Fashion, which presents the glamorous yet nerve-wracking world of the four summer interns at Couture magazine--aspiring designer Callie; party-girl photographer Nadine; accommodating Ava, who's about to learn you don't get what you want by standing back and waiting for it to happen; and Aynsley, sexy socialite with an attitude to match. Don't miss your chance to meet these cutting-edge teen fiction and non-fiction authors and get your books signed by them! 6:00-7:30pm. Ages 12 and up.
This event is free and open to all. Please note that you are welcome to bring one book from home to be signed for each book you purchase on the day of the event. If you have any questions, call us at (212) 989-3270.
Hello peeps,
My lazy month is coming to a close and things start speeding up again for me.
I'll be in San Francisco July 13-15 at the Ypulse Mashup (Youth Marketing Convention). I heard MC Hammer is going to be there and if he is, I'm totally getting his autograph for Michigan friend Brian Aulick, who still owns Hammer pants (rumor has it, anyway). I'm excited to meet cool authors like Melissa Walker, Justina Chen Headley, David Levithan and Dave Nadelberg.
Then it's off to see family and friends in Michigan for 10 days. If I have a chance, I'll stop into Holland's bookstores to sign copies of WAKE. Same goes for the "South of Detroit" area.
Then I'll fly out to NYC for the Backspace Conference (details in the post below) for an August 6 signing with fellow YA authors Melissa Walker and Linda Gerber:
BOOKS OF WONDER
18 W 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 989-3270
The reading/signing is Wednesday August 6 from 6-7:30 pm. Please spread the word!
 In keeping with one of the themes of the current issue of PaperTigers - books published for good causes, I just wanted to flag up the visual treat recently published (September) to raise funds for The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and presented by Eric Carle himself. Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk about Their Art is awe-inspiring and down-to earth at the same time. This is the book for anyone with an interest in getting behind the scenes and finding out what makes different illustrators tick. Each artist has written a letter about how/ why they became an artist and/or their musings about being an artist – and these are some of the big names in children’s book illustration today. In fact, if they weren’t all listed both on the museum’s website and here (with links), I would feel compelled to list them all, so inspirational is what they each have to say.
The layout of the book provides a photograph of each illustrator as a child, a full page illustration and then a fold-out containing further examples of their work. Take a look at this full review from Planet Esme.
And if you’re lucky enough to live in the US and are aged 6-9, you still have a chance (until 28th December) to win a copy of the book and more – for details look here! Thank you Book Worm’s Diary for pointing this out (ages ago!).
Books of Wonder in New York is hosting an Artist to Artist event on Thursday 6th December - but it’s for Museum Members only and you need to book ahead… See here for information on how to become a member.
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I'm about to start Elizabeth Graver's book too! It's my spring break treat (next week). Sounds like a fabulous experience in NYC.