Yes, I am hiding my head in shame for being so late with this post. I have nothing to say for myself, except, here is the rest of this week’s events:

TODAY! NOVEMBER 12, Thursday, 10:00 AM

Blue Willow Bookshop
Kathy Duval, PB Author

Join local author Kathy Duval for a special story time as she read her new picture book A BEAR’S YEAR. In this gorgeous, lyrical celebration about the passing of seasons, readers will follow a mother bear and her cubs through the course of a year. Deep in her den under a snowflake blanket, Mama snuggles her newborn babies. When spring arrives, the bears awaken and emerge from their lair, and as the weather warms to summer, Mama teaches her young ones to fish, gather berries, and dig for roots. Then, in fall, the leaves turn gold, food grows scarce, and the family prepares for hibernation and the coming winter.

TODAY! NOVEMBER 12-NOVEMBER 15, SUNDAY
ERJCC, 5601 S Braeswood Blvd.
Lynn Abrahms, PB Author

Local author Lynn Abrams has been selected to be one of the “Local Literati” who will be featured at the 43rd annual ERJCC Book & Arts Fair. Her new picture book, the fifth in her Ten Dinosaurs series, THE JOLLY DINOSAUR CARNIVAL, will be available in the children’s section of the book store for the duration of the Book Fair. The previous books in the series will also be available. In THE JOLLY DINOSAUR CARNIVAL, The Ten Dinosaurs and their friend Turtle are holding a Carnival. They are having lots of fun playing games, having their picture drawn, and going on cool rides. But one Dinosaur is missing and will only be found at the end of the book.

TODAY! NOVEMBER 12, Thursday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Joelle Charbonneau, YA Author

Joelle Charbonneau will discuss and sign her new novel for young adults, NEED. Teenagers at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling TESTING trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature?

NOVEMBER 14, SATURDAY, 11:00 AM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Four Authors from Pelican Publishing

Blue Willow Bookshop celebrates 4 Houston-based authors from Pelican Publishing. Jo and Josephine Harper, authors of WHISTLING WILLIE FROM AMARILLO, TEXAS, Roberta Baird, illustrator of RUNAWAY PUMPKIN PIE MAN, and Marci Izard, author of NOURISHING YOUR WHOLE SELF: A Cookbook with Feelings, will meet and greet customers.

NOVEMBER 14, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM
READ3Zero 6th Annual iWrite Luncheon and Book Signing
Hilton Americas, 1600 Lamar St, Houston
TICKETS: $150 per person
Sponsorship Opportunities Available

The READ3Zero Non-Profit Literacy Organization will hold the 6th Annual I Write Luncheon & Book Signing at the Hilton Americas in Downtown Houston. You are invited to celebrate our 6th Anniversary of publishing children in the 3^rd-12^th grade, thereby furthering READ3Zero’s mission to encourage children to read and write daily.

NOVEMBER 15, SUNDAY, 2:00-5:00 PM
Houston YA/MG Writers Write-In
La Madeleine, Town & Country Village
Cost: FREE; All are welcome!

Grab your laptop or notebook and join us for an afternoon of writing! We’re a group especially for those writing for the middle grade and young adult age groups. We are passionate about helping writers connect with each other, improve their craft, and learn how to market themselves and their work.Our events are always free and are a great place to get plugged into Houston’s writing community. Members include both published authors and those yet to be published from all over the Houston area. Anyone is welcome!

I ♡ critique days! It’s especially nice when we take the time to chat a while before getting into the nitty-gritty of critiques. It seems that having these warm-up talks makes giving and getting critiques a little easier. Plus, it’s just fun to spend a little time catching up with each other. It will soon be the holiday season which is a pretty barren time for author events. Since critique groups often slow down in this busy time as well, I’m storing up my groups’ comments on my current WIP so I’ll have fun revisions to work on in this lean time.

But we’re not there yet, so here’s what’s going on around Houston this week:

NOVEMBER 5, THURSDAY, 2:30-4:00 PM
NASA Johnson Space Center
Marianne Dyson, NF Author

Children’s author, science fiction writer, book reviewer, and former NASA flight controller Marianne Dyson will be speaking to NASA Alumni League about A PASSION FOR SPACE and doing book signing. Marianne will share stories from the first Space Shuttle flights such as the missing tiles on STS-1, the failed fuel cell on STS-2, a space sick crew on STS-3, the first secret payload on STS-4, a fire in Mission Control on STS-5, the Challenger disaster, and future missions to the Moon and Mars. Copies of her memoir, A PASSION FOR SPACE , will be available for sale and signing as well her children’s books. Event is free and at the Gilruth Center, Lone Star Room. Public is welcome, no badge required. Access via Space Center Blvd.

NOVEMBER 5, THURSDAY, 5:00 PM
Outreach Center of West Houston, 725 Bateswood Dr.
Tim Green, J.A. White, Tom Watson, Nate Ball, Annabeth Bondor-Stone, Connor White—MG Authors

The Class Acts tour hits Houston as authors Tim Green, J.A. White, Tom Watson, Nate Ball, Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White play games and talk about their books. To go through the signing line and meet the authors for book personalization, please purchase one of their books from Blue Willow Bookshop. At the time of your purchase, you will be issued a signing line card that indicates your place in line. Your book and signing line card can be picked up at the event.

NOVEMBER 7, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM- 4:00 PM
Writespace
Young Writers Fiction Intensive
COST: $85.00;  Limited to 20 Students Ages 14-19

Instructor Cassandra Rose Clarke will discuss the basics of writing fiction, including getting ideas, creating characters, and telling an exciting story. We’ll talk about some of our favorite works of fiction and discuss what makes those stories tick. And finally, we’ll work through lots of exciting in-session writing exercises that will help spark creativity. With any luck, students will walk away from the workshop ready to tell stories of their own. All fiction genres are welcome, and come prepared to write, read, and have fun!

NOVEMBER 8, SUNDAY, 2:00-5:00 PM
Houston YA/MG Writers Write-In
La Madeleine, Town & Country Village
Cost: FREE; All are welcome!

Grab your laptop or notebook and join us for an afternoon of writing! We’re a group especially for those writing for the middle grade and young adult age groups. We are passionate about helping writers connect with each other, improve their craft, and learn how to market themselves and their work.Our events are always free and are a great place to get plugged into Houston’s writing community. Members include both published authors and those yet to be published from all over the Houston area. Anyone is welcome!

Also, it looks like there might still be time to sign up for Read3Zero’s 6th ANNUAL iWRITE LUNCHEON & BOOK SIGNING on November 14. Tickets are $150 per person. Help celebrate their 6th Anniversary of publishing children in the 3^rd-12^th grade, thereby furthering READ3Zero’s mission to encourage children to read and write daily.

I had a fun time hanging out at Blue Willow Bookshop Saturday for Sara Joiner’s launch for her debut MG novel, AFTER THE ASHES. Sara is a local librarian, and it was great to see so many of her fellow librarians show up to help her celebrate. I got to read an early version of this novel a couple of years ago during a Darcy Pattison workshop that was sponsored by SCBWI Houston. Even in its early stages, I loved this historical novel set in Indonesia in 1883 about two young Dutch girls struggling to survive the aftermath of a volcano. I knew it would be a hit! Kirkus calls it “heart-rending story of love and loss, family ties, and friendship” and Publishers Weekly says it’s a “breakneck, and often heartbreaking, coming-of-age survival story.” Here’s a review from Teen Reads!

 Here’s this week’s events:

OCTOBER 22, THURSDAY, 5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Gitty Daneshvari, MG Author

Gitty Daneshvari will discuss and sign her new book for kids, THE LEAGUE OF UNEXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN. Are you average? Normal? Forgettable? If so, the League of Unexceptional Children is for you! This first book in a hilarious new adventure series is for anyone who’s struggled to be noticed in a sea of above-average overachievers.

Twelve-year-olds Jonathan Murray and Shelley Brown are completely average and forgettable until they are recruited to help the League of Unexceptional Children (a covert network that uses the nation’s most average, normal, and utterly unexceptional children as spies) save the Vice President of the United States, who has been kidnapped along with an important code.

OCTOBER 24, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Writespace
Picture Book Critique Workshop, with Varsha Bajaj
COST $50-$70

Picture books seem simple to write, but they are deceptively simple, for it is challenging to create a story that has relatable characters, a strong plot, and a compelling premise in under 700 words. Picture books are wholly unlike other books, in that they are the marriage of pictures and words. While this fact makes writing picture books exciting, it also creates challenges unique to the genre. Despite the inherent challenges of writing picture books, the endeavor is well worth the work, for picture books alone introduce entire generations to the joy of the written word.

In this workshop we will read and analyze several beloved picture book classics and identify the elements that contribute to their magic. If you are an intermediate picture book writer with at least one year of experience attending critique groups and studying picture book craft and you would love the opportunity to explore how you can vitalize and deepen your manuscript with supportive fellow writers, then this is the perfect workshop for you.

The first six writers to register will get to have their picture book manuscripts critiqued.

OCTOBER 24, SATURDAY, 11:00 AM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Jenny McKissack, YA Author

Seabrook author Jenny McKissack will sign and discuss her new book for teens, SANCTUARY. After the untimely death of her aunt Laura, Cecilia Cross is forced to return to Sanctuary, a rambling, old French-Gothic mansion that crowns a remote island off the coast of Maine. Cecilia is both drawn to and repulsed by Sanctuary. The scent of the ocean intoxicates her, but she’s also haunted by the ghosts of her past — of her father who died at Sanctuary five years ago, and of her mother who was committed soon after. The memories leave Cecilia feeling shaken, desperate to run away and forget her terrible family history.
But then a mysterious guest arrives at Sanctuary: Eli Bauer, a professor sent to examine Sanctuary’s library. Cecilia is intrigued by this strange young man who seems so interested in her — even more interested in her than in the books he is meant to be studying. Who is he and what does he want? Can Cecilia possibly trust her growing feelings for him? And can he help her make peace with her haunted, tragic past?

OCTOBER 24, SATURDAY, 12:30–5:00 PM
Maud Marks Library, 1815 Westgreen Blvd., Katy
Celebrate Local Authors: More than 30 authors
Cost: FREE

Please join the Maud Marks Library for the second annual Celebrate Local Authors event. The theme is “Treat Yourself to a Good Book” and the event is FREE for all ages. More than 30 authors will be selling and signing their books. In addition, there will be book presentations throughout the day for various children’s, YA, and adult genres. Attendees will receive a door prize ticket for every 15-minute session they attend and will earn a bonus ticket if they come in costume.

There’s lots going on this week, but I particularly hope you can all come to Blue Willow Bookshop on Saturday for local librarian Sara K. Joiner‘s launch of her debut middle grade novel, AFTER THE ASHES. See you there!

As always, please check the sponsoring bookstore or organization’s website for the most up-to-date information! Here’s what’s going on:

OCTOBER 13, 20, 27, and NOVEMBER 3, TUESDAYS, 7:00-9:00 PM
Writespace
How to Make the Most of a Moment: A Fiction Workshop, with Marian Szczepanski
COST: $95 – $125

Everyone loves a car chase. Or avalanche. Or any rapid-fire action that causes readers to turn pages at warp speed. But sometimes fiction needs to get out of the express lane and allow readers to dwell in—and savor—the moment.

Pace matters when it comes to fully engaging a reader. As the driver of the car that is your story or novel, you decide when it’s time to take a deep breath and slow down. Decelerating from the speed of light to a leisurely stroll, however, shouldn’t cause your narrative to stall. Quite the opposite. If handled correctly, moments of reflection, remembrance, decision-making, and flat-out awe can fuel your plot with greater complexity, enhance your characters with greater depth, and increase overall tension.

OCTOBER 14, WEDNESDAY, 5:00 PM 
Blue Willow Bookshop
Lincoln Peirce, MG Author/Illustrator

Cartoonist/writer and New York Times bestselling author Lincoln Peirce will discuss and sign his new book for kids, BIG NATE: WELCOME TO MY WORLD  . Aspiring cartoonist Nate Wright is eleven years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for detentions in school history. He’s a self-described genius and sixth-grade Renaissance Man who lives with his dad and older sister and enjoys pestering his family and teachers with his sarcasm.

In order to go through the signing line and meet Lincoln Peirce for book personalization, please purchase BIG NATE: WELCOME TO MY WORLD from Blue Willow Bookshop. At the time of your purchase, Blue Willow Bookshop will issue a signing line ticket that indicates your place in line. Your book and signing line ticket can be picked up at the event.

OCTOBER 17, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM-NOON
Houston YA MG Writers at Writespace
COST: FREE

YA/MG meetings are held the third Saturday of the month at Writespace. Join us for discussions of writing craft and the business of publishing books for young readers. This month’s topic is TBA.

OCTOBER 17, SATURDAY, 2:00 PM 
Blue Willow Bookshop
Sara Joiner, MG Author

Local author Sara Joiner will discuss and sign her debut book for kids, AFTER THE ASHES. In 1883, on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies, thirteen-year-old Katrien Courtland is determined to prove Darwin’s theory of natural selection. When Krakatau suddenly erupts, Katrien knows her only hope of survival is to flee the jungle with the one person she vowed never to befriend.

In order to go through the signing line and meet Sara Joiner for book personalization, please purchase AFTER THE ASHES from Blue Willow Bookshop. At the time of your purchase, Blue Willow Bookshop will issue a signing line ticket that indicates your place in line. Your book and signing line ticket can be picked up at the event.

OCTOBER 18, SUNDAY, 3:00 PM, DOORS OPEN AT 2:30 PM
Johnston Middle School, 10410 Manhattan Drive, Houston
Stefan Pastis, Cartoonist

Inprint Cool Brains! Presents bestselling author and syndicated cartoonist Stefan Pastis. Mr. Pastis will share his fourth book in the popular TIMMY FAILURE series, TIMMY FAILURE: SANITIZED FOR YOUR PROTECTION, for ages 8 -12. After his presentation, he will take questions from the audience, followed by a book sale and signing*, giving fans a chance to visit with him. Books will be available for sale at the event through Blue Willow Bookshop.

OCTOBER 19, SATURDAY, 12:00am-11:59PM
Read Across the Globe
COST: FREE
Volunteer Opportunities Available

Join The Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, Deloitte LLP, Points of Light, Volunteer Houston, and The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo  and more as they team up to break the Guinness World Record for the number of children read to within a 24-hour period. The current world record is 238,000 children, and this year’s goal is to smash it by reading to 300,000 children across the globe!

OCTOBER 20, TUESDAY, 7:30 PM
Bay Area RWA
Kirkmont MUD Building, 10102 Blackhawk Road
Dawn Temple: Writing Contests: Giving, Getting and Appreciating Good Advice

My apologies for being late with this post, but it’s in time to catch all the events happening this week. I want to send a big THANK YOU to Kimberly Morris and SCBWI Houston for the wonderful workshop we had Saturday, and to Mary Wade for taking us on a tour of the beautiful Lanier Theological Library. What a gorgeous, inspiring place!

I want to remind everyone to sign up for the Connections and Craft: Novel Workshop at SCBWI Brazos Valley on October 10 in College Station. Featured speakers will be award-winning author, Kimberly Willis Holt; the Book Doctor, Robyn Conley; and Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins) editor, Kelsey Murphy (By the way, Kelsey Murphy is editing Crystal Allen’s upcoming series, THE MAGNIFICENT MYA TIBBS!). Workshop topics include:

• “Develop Your Character”
• “After the First Draft”
• “Self-editing without Self-destructing”
• “Cross Marketing Story Elements for Cross Selling”

The big KidLit event happening this week is TWEENS READ! This one-day event is this Saturday, October 3, from 9:30–5:00 at South Houston High School, 3820 Shaver Street, South Houston, TX 77587. There are SO MANY AMAZING AUTHORS coming this year including SCBWI Houston’s own Crystal Allen, and SCBWI Austin’s Nikki Loftin! Grab a tween and get there!

Now for the rest of this week’s events:

OCTOBER 1, THURSDAY, 7:00-9:00 PM
Writespace
Social Media Workshop for Writers with Rebecca Nolan
COST: $20-$30; See website for details

Social Media for People Who Don’t Like Social Media: A Hands-On Workshop
There are many reasons you might not like social media. Have you put off creating social media accounts because it all seems too overwhelming? Do you have a couple of social media accounts but they use a language and method foreign to you and you don’t have time to mess with it? Are you worried about strangers seeing what you’re up to? Bring your laptop and learn how to creatively make social media your own workhorse. Learn how to deal with time constraints and pick up tips and tricks that make social media less time-consuming. In this workshop we will discover how to make Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+ work to your advantage.

OCTOBER 3, SATURDAY
Central Library, 500 McKinney
LibroFEST

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at Houston Public Library’s (HPL) 4th Annual Houston LibroFEST on Saturday, October 3, 2015. Featured presenters include author, activist, and television director Jesús Salvador Treviño, Viola Canles, and children’s author and illustrator Xavier Garza; as well as programs and activities connected to the Houston Metropolitan Research Center exhibit on display, Remembering World War II: Houston’s Latino Veterans. Also taking part in the festival: musicians, artists, and local literary organizations and vendors including Arte Público Press, Gulf Coast Literary Journal, Inprint, Writers in the Schools (WITS), and more.

The theme of this year’s LibroFEST is “heros.” LibroFEST coordinators are looking for Hispanic and Latino children’s and young adult book authors to read, sell their books, or participate on panels. Those interested should contact Carmen Abrego at [email protected] .”

OCTOBER 3, SATURDAY
Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America
2015 Lone Star Writers’ Conference
COST: $130 Members, $140 Non-members

“The Power of Subtext: Body Language, Dialogue Cues, and Visceral Responses” Master Class with Margie Lawson. Visceral responses can be more than roiling stomachs and pounding hearts. Dialogue cues can be more than predictable, carry-no-power, pin-the-cliched-tag-on-the-dialogue. Body language can be more than cookie-cutter expressions. More than one-descriptor smiles. More than over-used phrases that many readers skim. This power-packed workshop will teach writers how to how to add psychological power to body language, dialogue cues, and visceral responses. Participants are requested to bring five chapters (or more), printed, double-spaced, in a binder. They’ll have opportunities to review their chapters and rewrite or add the right amount of subtext in the right places. Also attending is Linda Scalissi, an agent with 3 Seas Literary Agency.

OCTOBER 3, SATURDAY, 2:00-5:00 PM
Writespace
Writers’ Workshop: Easy E-book Creation with Scrivener, with D.L.Young
COST: $20-$30; See website for details

Does the idea of e-book formatting fill you with dread? Have you tried to create an e-book, but can’t get the darned thing to come out right? Are you new to e-book creation and looking for tips and shortcuts? When you are equipped with the right tools and techniques, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to create a professional-grade e-book. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll create our own e-books and learn how to set up an e-book friendly template for our novels and short stories—and even learn to create e-books with our signature on them! Please bring your laptop, and D.L. Young will take you through the process step-by-step.

OCTOBER 5, MONDAY, 7:00-9:00 PM
SCBWI Houston
Tracy Gee Community Center
Elizabeth White-Olsen: How to Empower Your Prose by Stealing the Super Power of Poets
Cost: FREE; All are welcome!

This monthly meeting of the Houston Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators features Elizabeth White-Olsen, Director of Writespace.

OCTOBER 6, TUESDAY, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Julie Murphy and Cammie McGovern, YA Authors

Julie Murphy and Cammie McGovern will discuss and sign DUMPLIN’ and A STEP TOWARD FALLING, their new books for teens.

IN Julie Murphy’s DUMPLIN’, Willowdean, Dubbed Dumplin by her former beauty queen mom, has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American-beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . untilWill takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But sheissurprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself.So she sets out to take back her confidence by doingthe most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant along with several other unlikely candidates to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she ll shock the hell out of Clover City and maybe herself most of all.

Cammie McGovern’s A STEP TOWARD FALLING is about learning from your mistakes, and learning to forgive. Emily has always been the kind of girl who tries to do the right thing until one night when she does the worst thing possible. She sees Belinda, a classmate with developmental disabilities, being attacked. Inexplicably, she does nothing at all.

Belinda, however, manages to save herself. When their high school finds out what happened, Emily and Lucas, a football player who was also there that night, are required to perform community service at a center for disabled people. Soon, Lucas and Emily begin to feel like maybe they’re starting to make a real difference. Like they would be able to do the right thing if they could do that night all over again. But can they do anything that will actually help the one person they hurt the most?

OCTOBER 6-NOVEMBER 10, TUESDAYS, 7:00-9:00 PM
Glasscock School of Continuing Studies
Co-sponsors: Blue Willow Bookshop, Writespace
Writing Children’s and Young Adult Literature, with Elizabeth White-Olsen
COST: $265, For Rice alumni: $239

Children’s books have a power that resonates across time and generations. They connect us to our younger selves, to the children in our lives today and to the rich imaginative capacities that characterize childhood. This lively workshop invites aspiring and practicing writers to explore the craft of writing for children and young adults. The course will share guidelines specific to the main genres of children’s literature: picture books, middle-grade novels and young adult novels. Participants will also explore applications of fundamental writing topics to children’s literature such as characterization, plot, point-of-view, metaphor and voice. Engaging in-class writing exercises will provide multiple starting points to develop stories based on your imagination and life experiences.

OCTOBER 6, TUESDAY, 6:00-9:00 PM
Writespace
Workshop: The First Six Months: Creating Your Own Book Launch Marketing Plan, with Pamela Fagan Hutchins
COST: $20-$30; See website for details

Whether you publish indie or traditional, the marketing and promotion of your book is up to you, and the launch is critical. Bestselling (Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple iTunes), nationally-distributed indie author Pamela Fagan Hutchins will lead a hands-on workshop as you create a launch timeline, budget, and marketing plan for “your” book. Pamela will pull from her experience as president of the Houston Writers Guild, her many indie workshop presentations, and the launch of her own six romantic mysteries and six nonfiction books, as captured in her USA Best Book award-winning how-to, What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?  Bring your funny bone and a sharp #2 pencil (or laptop), as well as a book/manuscript (yours or someone else’s), with the blurb/description, genre, market, sales formats, a general budget, and price in mind.

Tomorrow may the the autumn equinox, but it still looks (and feels) very much like summer here! This will be a fun writing week. I’ve got critique tomorrow, lunch with writer friends on Friday and on Saturday, (drum roll please….) 

The Essential Workshop for Fiction Writers!

There may still be places left in this workshop, so scroll down to see more information!

Here’s more of what’s happening this week in Houston:

SEPTEMBER 23, WEDNESDAY, 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, The Woodlands
Two YA Authors, Rae Carson & Sophie Jordan

Join two popular teen authors, Rae Carson and her book WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER, and Sophie Jordan and her second book in the Uninvited Series, UNLEASHED. Signing will be upstairs in the seating area.

Rae Carson’s WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER is the first in a new an epic saga in which a young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold must flee her home, taking her on a sweeping and dangerous journey across Gold Rush–era America. Lee Westfall has a secret. She can sense the presence of gold in the world around her. Veins deep beneath the earth, pebbles in the river, nuggets dug up from the forest floor. The buzz of gold means warmth and life and home—until everything is ripped away by a man who wants to control her. Left with nothing, Lee disguises herself as a boy and takes to the trail across the country. Gold was discovered in California, and where else could such a magical girl find herself, find safety?

SEPTEMBER 25-26, FRIDAY & SATURDAY
The Houston Writers’ Guild
Crowne Plaza Hotel, 7611 Katy Fwy
Indiepalooza Conference
Cost:
Kathy Murphy Mingle =  Members: $35, Nonmembers $45
Saturday Main Event = Members: $75, Nonmembers $85, Students $65
Two Day Pass for Only = Members: $100, Nonmembers: $125
Please see costing details on their website!

Join the Writers Guild for their first annual Indiepalooza conference.  The Guild will host great sessions on marketing and tools for the Indie author, as well as discussion panels on industry jargon and what it all means. Some of the topics include: Legal Issues for Indie Authors by entertainment attorney Andre Evans;  Adding Art to Your Work by Monica Shaughnessy; Secrets your Editor Won’t Tell you by Tina Winograd; E-books Made Simple by D.L. Young; Where to Sell Your Book Besides Bookstores by Rita Mills; Marketing Renegade Style by Alan Bourgeois of Texas Authors Association; Social Media for People Who Don’t Like Social Media by Rebecca Nolen; Using Poetic Elements to Improve All Writing by Deborah Frontiera; 50 Shades of Publishing by agent April Eberhardt and many more sessions.

Some of the panel breakout sessions are: The Small Press—Different Strokes for Different Folks with Fern Brady of Inklings Publishing, Pamela Fegan Hutchins of Skipjack Publishing, Jeff Hastings of Chart House Press, and Patricia Flaherty Pagan of Spider Road Press; Bringing Your Book to Readers with publicist Caitlin Hamilton and agent April Eberhardt; and Going Indie—Issues & Opportunities with Deborah Frontiera, RT Book Review Founder Kathryn Falk, Rita Mills, Enos Russell, Shawna Stringer of Barnes and Noble Pasedena, and other industry professionals.

SEPTEMBER 26, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM-3:00 PM
Lanier Theological Library,  14130 Hargrave, Houston 
The Essential Workshop for Fiction Writers, with Kimberly Morris
COST: SCBWI members $40. Non-members $60
NOTE: To receive the SCBWI fee, please make sure to sign in as a member!

Is your manuscript sagging in the middle? Has it been rejected because of too much back story, slow pacing or one-dimensional characters? Is POV or story arc the problem? Kimberly Morris will present a workshop to help with common problems all writers face with every manuscript.

Kimberly Morris is the author of 60 books for children and young adults, many of them for popular series including Disney Fairies, That’s So Raven, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Animorphs, Sweet Valley, and Generation Girl. Her credits include read-aloud stories for the Muppets, Muppet Babies, and Fraggle Rock, and animated television scripts for the classic ThunderCats. She will distill 25 years of professional writing experience into 4 hours of intuitive, entertaining, and easy-to-digest instruction that you can immediately apply to a new or stalled manuscript. This workshop is for writers of any genre of fiction; chapter books, middle grade, young adult and adult.

SEPTEMBER 26, SATURDAY 2:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, The Woodlands
Cheryl Pilgrim, Illustrator

Join children’s book Illustrator Cheryl Pilgrim as she signs her book HOUND DAWG at the front of the store! Cheryl will be in store from 2:00 to 4:00PM.

HOUND DAWG is a retelling of The Little Red Hen, southern style. Bessie, Calico, and Penny work their fingers to the bone down on the cotton farm. But Hound Dawg, he’s a couch potato… lazy, lazy, lazy. Hold on now… something has caught Hound Dawg’s eye… something that changes his life forever.

Time is running out to sign up for The Essential Workshop for Fiction Writers with the Houston chapter of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators! This one-day workshop with Kimberly Morris, author of over 60 novels for teen and middle grade audiences as well as screen writing credits for several television shows, will be held September 26 at the beautiful Lanier Theological Library. This workshop is for writers of any genre of fiction; chapter books, middle grade, young adult and adult. Using over 25 years of professional writing experience, Kimberly will teach us the architecture and engineering of plot, a methodical and organized technique for sequencing events, and much, much more! Go here for more information and to register!

I hope to see you there!

Here’s this week’s events:

SEPTEMBER 15, TUESDAY, 7:30 PM
Bay Area RWA
Kirkmont MUD Building, 10102 Blackhawk Road
With author Christie Craig

SEPTEMBER 18, FRIDAY, 5:00
Blue Willow Bookshop
Eoin Colfer & Jonathan Stroud, MG Authors

Blue Willow Bookshop welcomes two NYT bestselling authors of books for kids, Eoin Colfer and Jonathan Stroud, as they present their newest books. Please visit Blue Willow’s website for important information about this event!

Eoin Colfer: WARP 3: THE FOREVER MAN: Riley, an orphan boy living in Victorian London, has achieved his dream of becoming a renowned magician, the Great Savano. He owes much of his success to Chevie, a seventeen-year-old FBI agent who traveled from the future in a time pod and helped him defeat his murderous master, Albert Garrick. But it is difficult for Riley to enjoy his new life, for he has always believed that Garrick will someday, somehow, return to seek vengeance.

Chevie has assured Riley that Garrick was sucked into a temporal wormhole, never to emerge. The full nature of the wormhole has never been understood, however, and just as a human body will reject an unsuitable transplant, the wormhole eventually spat him out. By the time Garrick makes it back to Victorian London, he has been planning his revenge on Riley for centuries. But even the best-laid plans can go awry, and when the three are tossed once more into the wormhole, they end up in a highly paranoid Puritan village where everything is turned upside down. Chevie is accused of being a witch, Garrick is lauded as the town’s protector, and . . . is that a talking dog? Riley will need to rely on his reserve of magic tricks to save Chevie and destroy his former master once and for all.

Jonathan Stroud: LOCKWOOD & CO., BOOK 3: THE HOLLOW BOY : As a massive outbreak of supernatural Visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in exterminating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic, while the skull in the jar utters sardonic advice from the sidelines. There is a new spirit of openness in the team now that Lockwood has shared some of his childhood secrets, and Lucy is feeling more and more as if her true home is at Portland Row. It comes as a great shock, then, when Lockwood and George introduce her to an annoyingly perky and hyper-efficient new assistant, Holly Munro.

Meanwhile, there are reports of many new hauntings, including a house where bloody footprints are appearing, and a department store full of strange sounds and shadowy figures. But ghosts seem to be the least of Lockwood & Co.’s concerns when assassins attack during a carnival in the center of the city. Can the team get past their personal issues to save the day on all fronts, or will bad feelings attract yet more trouble?

SEPTEMBER 19, SATURDAY, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
Bay Area RWA
South Shore Harbour Resort, League City
Starfish Writers Conference Featuring Sarah MacLean
Cost: Members $30, Nonmembers $50

Mastering the Art of Great Conflict. We know that the wallflower makes the perfect heroine for the rake; that the vampire makes the perfect hero for the vampire hunter; that the thief makes the perfect match for the detective. These matches work because of their innate initial conflict, but how do we keep conflict alive for an entire book?
Dialogue. Effective dialogue keeps your readers reading by keeping your characters talking.
Conquering High Concept. Sarah MacLean will be joined by bestselling author Sophie Jordan as they demystify the term “high concept” and provide concrete techniques, tips, and tricks to keep your stories big, your writing sharp, and your manuscripts selling.

SEPTEMBER 19, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM-NOON
Houston YA MG Writers
Cafe Express, Town & Country Village
COST: FREE

YA/MG Write-In! Join other Houston area writers of children’s and young adult literature. Grab some breakfast to nourish your muse, then the silent writing sessions will start at 10:15. Come early, come late, but come ready to make words!

SEPTEMBER 19, Saturday, 11:00 AM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Audrey Wood, PB Author, Don Wood, Illustrator

Please visit Blue Willow’s website for important information about his event!
Also appearing SEPTEMBER 20, Sunday,2:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, The Woodlands

Audrey and Don Wood will discuss and sign their new picture book, FULL MOON AT THE NAPPING HOUSE. In the wide-awake bed in the full-moon house, everyone is restless. The moonlight is pouring in and no one can get to sleep: not Granny, her grandchild, the dog, the cat, or even a mouse. It’s not until a tiny musical visitor offers up a soothing song does the menagerie settle down, and finally everyone is off to dreamland.

SEPTEMBER 19, SATURDAY, 1:00-4:00 PM
Writespace
Writing Workshop with Cassandra Rose Clarke
COST: $75 Members, $95 Non-members

Nothing keeps a reader turning pages like tension! In this three-hour workshop, we’ll consider how writers can effectively build tension in their writing. Together, we’ll discuss the elements of tension, from cliff hangers to pacing, from character motivations to story stakes. We’ll dissect some high-tension examples from published stories and participate in several writing exercises in order to put these elements to work. Bring a laptop or pen and paper and be prepared to write, share, and try new things!

Happy Birthday

today to

Cindy Pon

for her new YA novel

SERPENTINE

This book is getting awesome reviews from from the big reviewers and has been selected as a Junior Library Guild selection for Fall 2015. See what other YA fantasy authors have to say about it:

“Vivid worldbuilding, incendiary romance, heart-pounding action, and characters that will win you over–I highly recommend Serpentine.” Cinda Williams Chima, bestselling author of the Seven Realms and Heir Chronicles fantasy novels

“Serpentine is unique and surprising, with a beautifully-drawn fantasy world that sucked me right in! I love Skybright’s transformative power, and how she learns to take charge of it.” ~Kristin Cashore, New York Times bestselling of the Graceling Realm Series

“Serpentine’s world oozes with lush details and rich lore, and the characters crackle with life. This is one story that you’ll want to lose yourself in.” ~ Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of Legend and The Young Elites

Hop over to Cindy’s website to find out more about it and get an eyeful of Cindy’s beautiful artwork!

The Essential Workshop for Fiction Writers

If you haven’t signed up for this workshop with Kimberly Morris yet, I think there are still a few spots available. This is a one-day workshop on Saturday, September 26. Join us for 25 years of Kimberly’s professional writing experience distilled into 4 hours of intuitive, entertaining, and easy-to-digest instruction that you can immediately apply to a new or stalled manuscript. This workshop is for writers of any genre of fiction; chapter books, middle grade, young adult and adult. Go here for more information and to register!

Here’s this week’s Houston area events:

SEPTEMBER 8, TUESDAY, 7:00-9:00 PM
SCBWI Houston
Tracy Gee Community Center, 3599 Westcenter Drive
Cost: FREE

A panel of local SCBWI members will discuss the topics covered in the recent annual SCBWI International Conference in Los Angeles. Also, this is the night local author Varsha Bajaj is presented with SCBWI’s Texas/Oklahoma Region Crystal Kite Award for her 2014 debut MG novel, ABBY SPENCER GOES TO BOLLYWOOD. The Crystal Kite is a peer-given award to recognize great books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world.

SEPTEMBER 10, THURSDAY, 5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Patricia Polacco, PB Author/Illustrator
Cost: FREE! In order to go through the signing line and meet Patricia Polacco, please purchase TUCKY JO AND LITTLE HEART from Blue Willow Bookshop. Please see Blue Willow’s event page for more information.

Patricia Polacco will share her new picture book for children, TUCKY JO AND LITTLE HEART. Tucky Jo was known as the “kid from Kentucky” when he enlisted in the army at age fifteen. Being the youngest recruit in the Pacific during World War II was tough. But he finds a friend in a little girl who helps him soothe his bug bites, and he gets to know her family and gives them some of his rations. Although the little girl doesn’t speak English, Tucky Jo and Little Heart share the language of kindness. Many years later, Tucky Jo and Little Heart meet again, and an act of kindness is returned when it’s needed the most in this touching picture book based on a true story.

SEPTEMBER 12, SATURDAY, 9:30 AM-5:00 PM
Writespace
Novel Workshop with Chris Rogers
Cost: $75 Members, $95 Non-members

This workshop will take you quickly through the basics of novel structure and will equip you to create an intriguing plot, wonderful characters and page-turning suspense. Topics we will cover include: The 12-Step Story Plan; Dramatic & Reflective Structure; Plot, Point of View & Characterization; Suspense, Tension & Conflict; Subplot & Pacing; Emotional Connections

This workshop will meet you wherever you are in your novel writing process, so feel free to come with a completed novel draft, with a completed first chapter, or without a particular plan in mind, but open to new possibilities.

SEPTEMBER 13, SUNDAY, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Robin Preiss Glasser, Illustrator
Cost: FREE! In order to go through the signing line and meet Robin Preiss Glasser for book personalization, please purchase NANCY CLANCY: SOCCER MANIA from Blue Willow Bookshop. See Blue Willow’s event page for more information.

Robin Preiss Glasser, illustrator of the wildly popular FANCY NACY series, will share her new book, NANCY CLANCY: SOCCER MANIA. Normally Nancy doesn t like dressing like everyone else. But wearing a soccer team uniform well, that’s different. Nancy adores being on the Green Goblins she loves cheering for her teammates, sharing refreshments, and painting her fingernails bright green before every game. If only she wasn t cursed with slow legs All Nancy wants is to be mediocre or maybe even a little better than average. Will she reach her goal? Here’s a brand-new chapter book with plenty of humor and sports action, written expressly for kids like Nancy who aren’t the star of their team.

We have a quiet week to slip into the back to school routine, but there are a few things coming up that you may want to either mark on your calendars or go ahead and register. An event I am particularly excited about is a one-day workshop:

The Essentials Workshop for Fiction Writers

with Kimberly Morris

Kimberly Morris is the author of over 60 books for children and young adults, many of them for popular series including Disney Fairies, That’s So Raven, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Animorphs, Sweet Valley, and Generation Girl. Her credits include read-aloud stories for the Muppets, Muppet Babies, and Fraggle Rock, and animated television scripts for the classic ThunderCats.

This workshop is for writers of any genre of fiction; chapter books, middle grade, young adult and adult. You can read an interview with Kimberly about her writing career on the blog, 7 Magic Islands. This workshop is limited to 40 people, so don’t wait to register. I’ve already booked my spot! Go here for more information and to register.

Another event on the horizon is the Houston Writer’s Guild conference for self-publishing writers, INDIEPALOOZA. Registration is open! Registration is also open for the Houston Bay Area RWA Starfish Conference, and SCBWI Brazos Valley’s Connections and Craft: Novel Workshop.

And if you haven’t gotten your ticket to see Rick Riordan on his MAGNUS CHASE Tour, call Blue Willow Bookshop right away to get your book and secure your seat!

Here’s this week’s event in Houston:

AUGUST 25, TUESDAY, 6:30-8:30 PM
The Houston Writers’ Guild
Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Rd.
Julian Kindred: Growing the Architectural Writer: Helping “Plotters” Breathe Life into their Plots
Cost:$10 Members; $20 Nonmembers; $5 Students w/ID.

Writers tend to fall into one of two categories: gardeners and architects. The latter group is also called “plotters” for their meticulous plotting and careful structural setup. This workshop is for the second group, and will examine methods and techniques for helping these writers grow their characters into their plots so that they come to life and feel like more than pieces of the plot-machine.

This week I want to wish a Happy Book Birthday to two books which debut on the 15th:

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEAR BOOK

by author Tara Lazar and illustrator Benji Davies

After an unfortunate bookcase collapse, Alien suddenly finds himself jolted out of his story and into a very strange world, complete with talking bears. Desperate to return to his book, Alien asks the Bear family for help so he can get back to his story and save his beloved Planet Zero from total destruction before it’s too late.

Mama Bear and Papa Bear try all kinds of zany contraptions (with some help from their nemesis, Goldilocks) without much luck. Baby Bear might have the perfect solution to get the Alien out of the woods and back to his planet…but will anyone listen to the littlest voice in the story?

and

FOR THE RIGHT TO LEARN:

MALALA YOUSAFZAI’S STORY

by Rebecca Langston-George, Illustrated by Janna Bock

from Capstone Press

This week’s Author Event:

August 15, Saturday, 3:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Tom McNeely, MG/YA Author

Tom McNeely will discuss and sign his book, GHOST HORSE. Set amidst the social tensions of 1970’s Houston, Ghost Horse tells the story of eleven-year-old Buddy Turner’s shifting alliances within his fragmented family and with two other boys–one Anglo, one Latino–in their quest to make a Super-8 animated movie. As his father’s many secrets begin to unravel, Buddy discovers the real movie: the intersection between life as he sees it and the truth of his own past. In a vivid story of love, friendship, and betrayal, Ghost Horse explores a boy’s swiftly changing awareness of himself and the world through the lens of imagination.

Three writing events in Houston this week:

AUGUST 11, TUESDAY, 6:30-8:30 PM
The Houston Writers’ Guild
Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Rd.
Julian Kindred: Bringing Structure to the Organic Writer: Helping “Pantsers” Give their Plots Direction
Cost:$10 Members; $20 Nonmembers; $5 Students w/ID.

Writers tend to fall into one of two categories: gardeners and architects. This former group is also sometimes called “pantsers” for the way they write “by the seat of their pants.” This workshop is for this group, for whom writing is an almost external force and aims to help these writers explore methods for giving their work a cohesive plot, solid ending and overall sense of structure. Exercises will include methods for predicting character reactions and utilizing a fluid plot outline.

AUGUST 11, TUESDAY, 7:00 PM
Writespace
Elizabeth White-Olsen: Critiquapalooza
Cost: $25-$35

Have you ever wondered what a critique from a professional editor is like? Do you wish you could have an editor’s support and feedback, but you don’t feel ready to incur the cost? Or, are you just starting out and you would like to know what aspects of craft to consider when you’re writing a novel? Join us for Critiquapalooza, a fast and fun, yet in-depth look at dozens of craft elements essential to creating great stories. At Critiquapalooza you’ll learn what an editor looks for when he or she is determining whether to publish a submission.

AUGUST 18, TUESDAY, 7:30 PM
Bay Area RWA
Kirkmont MUD Building, 10102 Blackhawk Road
Fern Brady: Conflict

In this presentation Fern will discuss how the four types of conflict can be integrated within individual scenes to add depth and tension.  Come prepared with your work in progress, if you want to try the technique out as a revision strategy or come ready to write. The objective is for each participant to be able to use the strategy and discuss its impact on the story.

All over the world this week, fans of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD are celebrating the release of GO SET A WATCHMAN. I haven’t gotten my copy yet, so I’m watching twitter and facebook with one eye closed to avoid seeing spoilers. Instead, I’ve been busy reading and critiquing manuscripts by two of my writer friends. This is one of the best parts of being a writer: getting to see exciting new manuscripts years before the rest of the world gets to see the published book (publishing takes forever). I love this!

We have a couple of author events this week, plus FIVE writing events! Hurray!

JULY 14, TUESDAY, 6:30-8:30 PM
The Houston Writers’ Guild
Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Rd.
Julian Kindred: Crafting Characters and What Makes Them Compelling
Cost:$10 Members; $20 Nonmembers; $5 Students w/ID.

Characters are the driving force behind any literary work. No plot is complete without a compelling  individual or  group of individuals  to drive it forward. In this workshop, we will examine the art of crafting characters who engage the reader by examining the use of voice, flaws, and motives. Exercises will explore the creation process and developing your characters and their relationships with the world around them.

JULY 15, WEDNESDAY, 7:30-9:00 PM
Writespace
Andreana Binder: Music and Writing
Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced; Cap: 12
Cost: $20-$25

Many writers find that writing in a room filled with music unleashes new ideas. For some writers music helps them connect with the rhythmic and sonic qualities of language, while for others music relaxes them and opens the door for the subconscious to deliver its wonderful surprises. Whether you write to music often or you have never written to music before, this workshop will help you connect with your story, essay, or poems in new ways. Participants will listen to varying tempos of ambient and instrumental music and free-write about what comes to mind based on the melodies. This will be an opportunity to see how music can inspire, transform, and enhance writing projects. Those with an existing project, please bring a draft. Those without existing projects may use this workshop as a way to inspire their next project. Writers of all experience levels are welcome.

July 15, Wednesday, 7:00 pm
Blue Willow Bookshop
Mary Pearson, YA Author

Mary Pearson will discuss and sign her new book THE HEART OF BETRAYAL. Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape, and even less of being together. Desperate to save her life, Lia’s erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komisar that she has a magical gift, and the Komisar’s interest in Lia is greater than either Kaden or Lia foresaw. Meanwhile, the foundations of Lia’s deeply-held beliefs are crumbling beneath her. Nothing is straightforward: there’s Rafe, who lied to her, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom she always believed to be barbarians but whom she now realizes are people who have been terribly brutalized by the kingdoms of Dalbreck and Morrighan. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her very sense of self, Lia will have to make powerful choices that affect her country, her people, and her own destiny.

JULY 18, SATURDAY, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Houston YA/MG
At Writespace
Cost: FREE; All are welcome!

Monthly meeting including a craft talk at Writespace. This month’s program has not yet been announced.

JULY 18, SATURDAY, 1:00-4:00 PM
Writespace
K.J. Russell: The Secrets of Effective Characterization
Cost: $30-$45

When we write, it can be easy to stumble into the trap of creating characters we’ve come across before, but often these characters are stereotypes or caricatures. Populating a story with characters that seem unique and truly alive, that draw readers irrevocably into the story’s fictive world can be a challenge. In this workshop, K.J. Russell will teach you how to easily render fully-formed characters, so that every character, including your minor characters, becomes a chance to add flavor and life. You will learn what makes a character effective, the difference between a character and a caricature, and how to render a fascinating portrayal that takes seconds to write, yet stays with a reader for the length of your work. Come learn the tools you need to vitalize your heroes from page one and to transform your minor characters into major assets.

JULY 18, SATURDAY, 1:30-5:30 PM
Inprint
Jennifer Mathieu: Young Adult Fiction
Cost: $90

Writing Real Teenagers for Real Teenage Readers (and Adult Readers, Too!)
It’s hard to deny that realistic teen fiction is having a moment.  In recent years books like John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park have captured the hearts of teenage readers as well as readers whose high school years are long behind them.  But how can an adult writer craft an authentic teenager as protagonist?  How do we, as grown-ups, write stories full of the tension, excitement, longing and frustration that come with being 16?

This four-hour workshop focuses on writing realistic contemporary fiction for young adults.  We’ll spend time in class studying two mentor texts and discussing how and why they work, including analyzing the voice, characterization, setting, structure, pacing and plot.  Participants will have time to write in class, applying our conversations to an existing work in progress, or they may choose to respond to an exercise or two.  Sharing is optional but encouraged.  Participants will leave with a reading list of some of the best contemporary young adult fiction from recent years as well as resources on the querying and publishing process.

July 18, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Kim O’Brien, YA Author

Kim O’Brien will discuss and sign her new YA novel, BONE DEEP. When Paige Patterson travels to Arizona to spend the summer with her archeologist father, she expects answers. Why did her parents divorce? Why did her father choose his career over family? She doesn’t expect to be reunited with her best friend Emily Linton, or to find herself falling for the project manager’s son, Jalen Yazzi. But the summer takes a terrible turn when Emily vanishes. As the police struggle for answers, Paige sets out to find the truth.

The search takes Paige from the Cliffside ruins of prehistoric Native Americans to the Navajo Nation to the horrifying possibility that the answer is much closer to home. Her father has no alibi for the night Emily disappeared. An intern with the motive insists he’s innocent. And Jalen has secrets of his own. Old bones might not be the only things buried in the ruins. As Paige digs deeper into Emily’s disappearance, she realizes that uncovering the truth may cost her everything—even her life.

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Hey folks, there’s a new hedgehog in town! Happy book birthday to Tammi Sauer and Lynn Munsinger’s GINNY LOUISE AND THE SCHOOL SHOWDOWN! The Truman Elementary Troublemakers are a bad bunch. Especially these three: Cap’n Catastrophe, Destructo Dude, and Make-My-Day May. But they are no match for Ginny Louise, the new hedgehog in school. Her unwavering cheerfulness in the face of their bullying will make young readers holler with glee. Full of rhymes, wordplay, and comic misunderstanding, this book will lend itself well to reading aloud as well as discussions about peer dynamics.

I’ve got some great reading lined up this week. I wasn’t able to attend Jennifer Mathieu’s launch for her second young adult novel DEVOTED on Saturday, but I went by Blue Willow Bookshop yesterday and picked up the book she signed for me. I’ve heard great things about it, and I loved her first book, THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, so I’m really looking forward to reading DEVOTED. While I was there, a middle grade fantasy CROWN OF THREE caught my eye. I’d never heard of the author, J. D. Rinehart (who also uses the name J.D. Blackthorne) but I loved the cover and the blurb sounded like my kind of adventure, so I got that one, too.

You can read an excerpt here.

This morning I was delighted to see that MG author Crystal Allen has shared the cover of the first book in her new chapter books series, THE MAGNIFICENT MYA TIBBS: SPIRIT WEEK SHOWDOWN! With this newest chapter book addition, Crystal has covered the full range of middle grade from the upper edges with HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY, and the smack in the sweet-spot middle story THE LAURA LINE. I can’t wait to get to know Mya!

Friends, I may be working on my website this week and next, so if things go wonky, please know the problem is on my side, not yours. The theme I’ve been using is seriously outdated and is keeping me from using a lot of WordPress’s cool plugins and even basic necessities, like a functioning mobile site, so it’s got to go. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here’s this week’s events:

June 19, Friday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs, YA Authors

Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs will discuss and sign their new novel for teens, POWERLESS. Kenna lives in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary—which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers.

June 20, Saturday, 1:00-4:00 PM
Writespace
Joy Preble, Workshop: The Power of Point of View
Cost: $30-$45

Point of view is one of the most important choices an author can make because it impacts how readers see and respond to the story. Through whose eyes is the story being told? Through the eyes of a character as he experiences the story’s events (1st person present), through an unnamed narrator (3rd person omniscient), or through a narrator who shares the thoughts of just one character (3rd person limited)?

Come prepared to write, revise, and experiment. Please bring the first three to five pages of a novel or short story you are working on, as well as a laptop or a notepad and pen or pencil.

June 20, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
YA Debut Author Panel

Debut authors Katie Stout, Jenny Martin, and Meredith Moore will discuss their books in a panel moderated by WISH YOU WERE ITALIAN author Kristin Rae.

Sweet, fun, and romantic, Katie Stout’s HELLO, I LOVE YOU explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process. Grace Wilde is running-from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start. But when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame.

Jennie Martin’s futuristic, action-packed debut is TRACKED. On corporately controlled Castra, rally racing is a high-stakes game that seventeen-year-old Phoebe Van Zant knows all too well. Phee’s legendary racer father disappeared mysteriously, but that hasn’t stopped her from speeding headlong into trouble. When she and her best friend, Bear, attract the attention of Charles Benroyal, they are blackmailed into racing for Benroyal Corp, a company that represents everything Phee detests. Worse, Phee risks losing Bear as she falls for Cash, her charming new teammate. But when she discovers that Benroyal is controlling more than a corporation, Phee realizes she has a much bigger role in Castra’s future than she could ever have imagined. It’s up to Phee to take Benroyal down. But even with the help of her team, can a street-rat destroy an empire?

In Meredith Moore’s debut I AM HER REVENGE, Vivian was raised with one purpose in life: to exact revenge on behalf of her mother. Manipulative and cruel, Mother has deprived Vivian not only of a childhood, but of an original identity. With an endless arsenal of enticing personalities at her disposal, Vivian is a veritable weapon of deception.  And she can destroy anyone. When it’s time to strike, she enrolls in a boarding school on the English moors, where she will zero in on her target: sweet and innocent Ben, the son of the man who broke Mother’s heart twenty years ago. But the more Vivan learns about herself, the more dangerous this cat and mouse game becomes. Because Mother will stop at nothing to make sure the truth dies with her.

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Hey folks, there’s a new hedgehog in town! Happy book birthday to SCBWI Oklahoma member Tammi Sauer’s GINNY LOUISE AND THE SCHOOL SHOWDOWN! Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. The Truman Elementary Troublemakers are a bad bunch. Especially these three: Cap’n Catastrophe, Destructo Dude, and Make-My-Day May. But they are no match for Ginny Louise, the new hedgehog in school. Her unwavering cheerfulness in the face of their bullying will make young readers holler with glee. Full of rhymes, wordplay, and comic misunderstanding, this book will lend itself well to reading aloud as well as discussions about peer dynamics.

I’ve got some great reading lined up this week. I wasn’t able to attend SCBWI Houston member Jennifer Mathieu’s launch for her second young adult novel DEVOTED on Saturday, but I went by Blue Willow Bookshop yesterday and picked up the book she signed for me. I’ve heard great things about it, and I loved her first book, THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, so I’m really looking forward to reading DEVOTED. While I was there, a middle grade fantasy CROWN OF THREE caught my eye. I’d never heard of the author, J. D. Rinehart (who also uses the name J.D. Blackthorne) but I loved the cover and the blurb sounded like my kind of adventure, so I got that one, too.

You can read an excerpt here.

This morning I was delighted to see that SCBWI Houston member Crystal Allen has shared the cover of the first book in her new chapter books series, THE MAGNIFICENT MYA TIBBS: SPIRIT WEEK SHOWDOWN! With this newest chapter book addition, Crystal has covered the full range of middle grade from the upper edges with HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY, and the smack in the sweet-spot middle story THE LAURA LINE. I can’t wait to get to know Mya!

Friends, I may be working on my website this week and next, so if things go wonky, please know the problem is on my side, not yours. The theme I’ve been using is seriously outdated and is keeping me from using a lot of WordPress’s cool plugins and even basic necessities, like a functioning mobile site, so it’s got to go. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here’s this week’s events:

June 19, Friday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs, YA Authors

Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs will discuss and sign their new novel for teens, POWERLESS. Kenna lives in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary—which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers.

June 20, Saturday, 1:00-4:00 PM
Writespace
Joy Preble, Workshop: The Power of Point of View
Cost: $30-$45

Point of view is one of the most important choices an author can make because it impacts how readers see and respond to the story. Through whose eyes is the story being told? Through the eyes of a character as he experiences the story’s events (1st person present), through an unnamed narrator (3rd person omniscient), or through a narrator who shares the thoughts of just one character (3rd person limited)?

Come prepared to write, revise, and experiment. Please bring the first three to five pages of a novel or short story you are working on, as well as a laptop or a notepad and pen or pencil.

June 20, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
YA Debut Author Panel

Debut authors Katie Stout, Jenny Martin, and Meredith Moore will discuss their books in a panel moderated by WISH YOU WERE ITALIAN author Kristin Rae.

Sweet, fun, and romantic, Katie Stout’s HELLO, I LOVE YOU explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process. Grace Wilde is running-from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start. But when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame.

Jenny Martin’s futuristic, action-packed debut is TRACKED. On corporately controlled Castra, rally racing is a high-stakes game that seventeen-year-old Phoebe Van Zant knows all too well. Phee’s legendary racer father disappeared mysteriously, but that hasn’t stopped her from speeding headlong into trouble. When she and her best friend, Bear, attract the attention of Charles Benroyal, they are blackmailed into racing for Benroyal Corp, a company that represents everything Phee detests. Worse, Phee risks losing Bear as she falls for Cash, her charming new teammate. But when she discovers that Benroyal is controlling more than a corporation, Phee realizes she has a much bigger role in Castra’s future than she could ever have imagined. It’s up to Phee to take Benroyal down. But even with the help of her team, can a street-rat destroy an empire?

In Meredith Moore’s debut I AM HER REVENGE, Vivian was raised with one purpose in life: to exact revenge on behalf of her mother. Manipulative and cruel, Mother has deprived Vivian not only of a childhood, but of an original identity. With an endless arsenal of enticing personalities at her disposal, Vivian is a veritable weapon of deception.  And she can destroy anyone. When it’s time to strike, she enrolls in a boarding school on the English moors, where she will zero in on her target: sweet and innocent Ben, the son of the man who broke Mother’s heart twenty years ago. But the more Vivan learns about herself, the more dangerous this cat and mouse game becomes. Because Mother will stop at nothing to make sure the truth dies with her.

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We have three big events in Houston this week, including one HUGE event for the whole family! The Houston Public Library is having their 6th Annual Books Alive! Event, and this year the featured author is Jon Scieszka! Scroll down for lots of exciting details, but don’t miss all the fun stuff happening before then!

May 14, Thursday, 7:00 pm
Outreach Center of West Houston, 725 Bateswood, Houston

Sophia Rossi, HelloGiggles co-founder, will meet and greet fans as she discusses her new book, A TALE OF TWO BESTIES.

Whatever you want to call them, Harper and Lily were born to be besties. Casual-cool Cali girl Harper and awkward, always-costumed Lily are in constant contact, whether they are sharing after school fro-yos or swapping emojis. Not even the threat of different high schools could throw this BFFship off-course, even if Lily begs her parents not to send her to the “dreaded Pathways,” a special school for creative types, while effortlessly-popular Harper attends Beverly High with the rest of their class. But in a city like L.A., where fitting in means standing out and there’s nothing more uncool than being cool, it’s the naturally charismatic Harper who finds herself fighting the tide of American Apparel’d teens who rule the school. Meanwhile, it’s the perpetually “gawkward” Lily–who accessorizes every ensemble with a pair of tattered fairy wings–who finds herself flying alongside the queen bees of Pathways. Can BFF-ship survive the tidal wave of HS drama, or does growing up mean leaving some friends behind?

Admission: In order to go through the signing line and meet Sophia Rossi for book personalization, please purchase TALE OF TWO BESTIES from Blue Willow Bookshop. At the time of your purchase, we will issue a signing line ticket that indicates your place in line. Your book and signing line ticket can be picked up at the event. Each person who purchases a copy of TALE OF TWO BESTIES from Blue Willow Bookshop will receive a gift bag.

May 15, Friday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Fierce Reads 2015 Tour: Four YA Authors

Four YA authors will appear together at Blue Willow Bookshop, talking about their books and anything else.

Lynne Matson: NIL UNLOCKED: On the island of Nil, the rules are set. You have exactly 365 days to escape–or you die. Rives is now the undisputed Leader of Nil City, but keeping the City united is tougher than ever. Raiders have grown bolder, supplies are dwindling, and non-human inhabitants have taken a turn toward the deadly. New arrivals cause rifts within the City, putting the Search system at risk, and calling everything Rives knows into question. Desperate for answers, he teams up with the only other person searching for them: Skye, a new arrival with a mysterious past of her own. Soon the duo find themselves locked in a desperate race to save all the residents of Nil–and possibly destroy the island forever. But at what cost? And who will pay the price?

Katie Finn: REVENGE, ICE CREAM, AND OTHER THINGS BEST SERVED COLD:

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The end of the school year is upon us, and I want to wish good luck to all our dedicated high schoolers who are suffering through their OWLs (AP tests) and preparing for their finals.

We’ve got several events happening this week, mostly on Saturday. I hope you’ll be able to get out and enjoy a few. As always, please verify the event information with the sponsoring bookstore or organization.

Now through June 30
Houston Writers Guild
Short Story Contest
Entry fee: $25 HWG members / $35 non-members / $20 students or seniors over 65
Multiple entries: $15 for subsequent entries for members / $25 for nonmembers / $10 for students and seniors over 65. Authors may submit up to 3 short stories for consideration in the contest.
Please see their website for more information.

DIVE INTO MYSTERY Short Story Mystery Contest:
The Contest is open for submission through June 30 to both members and nonmembers. The Houston Writers’ Guild ise looking for original unpublished mystery short stories; stand-alone adaptations from a longer manuscript are welcome.

May 7, Thursday, 5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Jean Reagan, PB AUTHOR

Jean Reagan will discuss and sign her picture book, HOW TO SURPRISE A DAD. Author of the New York Times bestsellers HOW TO BABYSIT A GRANDPA and HOW TO BABYSIT A GRANDMA introduces her charming new how-to book about surprising dear old Dad!

So you want to surprise your dad? You’re in luck! The pages of this book are full of tips on how to become a super dad surpriser, including tips for things you can make, do, or find—just for your dad.

Be sure to read up on:
·      Yummy treats and presents for a dad
·      What to do if he starts getting suspicious
·      How to prepare for the big moment (where to hide everyone, and how to practice whispering “Surprise!”)

Illustrated by NYT bestseller Lee Wildish.

May 9, Saturday, 11:00 AM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Dianna Aston, PB Author

Dianna Aston will discuss and sign her picture book, A NEST IS NOISY. From tiny bee hummingbird nests to orangutan nests high in the rainforest canopy, an incredible variety of nests are showcased here in all their splendor. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, this carefully researched book introduces children to a captivating array of nest facts and will spark the imaginations of children whether in a classroom reading circle or on a parent’s lap. Illustrated by Sylvia Long.

May 9, Saturday, 1:00
Writespace
Mathew Salses, Novel Workshop
Cost: $30-$45

STARTING YOUR NOVEL: Have a great idea for a novel but don’t know how to start? Stuck in the middle of novel-drafting and don’t know why? Much of writing a novel through to its end is about what is set up by its premise. Bring your novel ideas or incomplete novels to this workshop on novel premises. We will discuss the novel form and do some exercises on character and plot. Plan to leave with ideas of how to go forward with your draft.

May 9, Saturday, 1:00-3:00 PM
River Oaks Bookstore
Shirley Jordan-Bellamy, PB Author

Shirley Jordan-Bellamy presents A TRIP TO THE BARBER SHOP. This darkly funny debut picture book celebrates imagination and bravery while addressing the dilemma: taking a trip to the barber shop.

May 9, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Tricia Barr, NF Author

Author Tricia Barr will celebrate the release of ULTIMATE STAR WARS (Co-authored with Anthony Daniels). There is no other guide that visually explores characters, vehicles, locations, and technology from the entire Star Wars galaxy. An excellent primer to prepare for the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens, ULTIMATE STAR WARS® is the ideal go­to resource for fans who wish to brush ­up on their Star Wars knowledge, and for a new generation of children eager to start their journey into a galaxy far, far away….

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This Saturday, May 2, we are celebrating Independent Bookstore Day all over the country, all day! If you live in or around Houston, stop by one of these local bookstores and see what’s happening. Tweet at @BookstoreDay

Houston shops participating in special events this day:

Blue Willow Bookshop
14532 Memorial Drive, Houston, 77079
Locally owned by Valerie Koehler (aka, Girl Boss). Here you’ll find an eclectic selection of books (fiction and nonfiction) for adults and children. There’s something for everyone, including puzzles, games, and gifts for the book lover. Join Blue Willow Bookshop’s Independent Bookstore Day with activities, great food, giveaways and some very cool limited edition merchandise!

Brazos Bookstore
2421 Bissonnet, Houston 77005
Locally owned by a group of twenty-seven Houstonians. Celebrate with Brazos Bookstore on Independent Bookstore Day all day, from the special edition story time at 10:00 AM to the Ultimate Literary Showdown at 6:30 PM.

Katy Budget Books
2450 Fry Rd, Houston, 77084
New and Used Books
On Independent Bookstore Day, Katy Budget Books will be celebrating with exclusive, one-day only merchandise.

If you aren’t near one of the bookstores listed above, you might find one of these locally owned shops closer to you:

Murder By The Book
2342 Bissonnet St., Houston, 77005
One of the nation’s oldest and largest mystery specialty bookstores, stocking new & used, hardbacks & paperbacks, first editions, collectibles, gift items, mystery magazines, and more.

River Oaks Bookstore
3270 Westheimer, Houston, 77098
Locally owned by Jeanne Jard.

Galveston Bookshop
317 23rd Street, Galveston, 77550
Locally owned by Sharan Zwick and Jack Schlossberg. Books Used & New, Vinyl LPs, Comics, with a monthly local authors meet and greet!

Copperfield’s Books
8220 Louetta Rd., Ste. 106, Spring,  77379
Locally owned. New and used books.

Glow Worm New and Used Books
311 Main, Spring, 77373
Locally owned by Nelda Monjure. New and used books and sundries.

Good Books in the Woods
25915 Oak Ridge Drive, Spring, 77380
Locally owned by Jay Rohfritch. New, Used, and Out of Print titles, Fine Bindings, and First Editions.

The Book Nook Sugarland
5022 Hwy 90-A, Sugar Land, 77498
Locally owned by Katrina Chapman. New and used books, plus gifts and gift cards.

The Book Nook Brenham
212 W. Alamo Street, Brenham, 77833
Locally owned by Stefani Snead Kelley. Mostly used, with a smattering of new books.

We also have a two-author YA event happening that day:

May 2, Saturday, 4:30 PM
Murder By The Book
Joy Preble & Meredith Moore, YA Authors

Joy Preble will sign and discuss FINDING PARIS, and Meredith Moore will sign and discuss I AM HER REVENGE.

FINDING PARIS: Sisters Leo and Paris Hollings have only ever had each other to rely on. They can’t trust their mother, who hops from city to city and from guy to guy, or their gambler stepfather, who’s moved them all to Las Vegas. It’s just the two of them: Paris, who’s always been the dreamer, and Leo, who has a real future in mind–going to Stanford, becoming a doctor, falling in love. But Leo isn’t going anywhere right now, except driving around Vegas all night with her sister.

Until Paris ditches Leo at the Heartbreak Hotel Diner, where moments before they had been talking with physics student Max Sullivan. Outside, Leo finds a cryptic note from Paris–a clue. Is it some kind of game? Where is Paris, and why has she disappeared? When Leo reluctantly accepts Max’s offer of help, the two find themselves following a string of clues through Vegas and beyond. But the search for the truth is not a straight line. And neither is the path to secrets Leo and Max hold inside.

I AM HER REVENGE: She can be anyone you want her to be.
Vivian was raised with one purpose in life: to exact revenge on behalf of her mother. Manipulative and cruel, Mother has deprived Vivian not only of a childhood, but of an original identity. With an endless arsenal of enticing personalities at her disposal, Vivian is a veritable weapon of deception.
And she can destroy anyone.
When it’s time to strike, she enrolls in a boarding school on the English moors, where she will zero in on her target: sweet and innocent Ben, the son of the man who broke Mother’s heart twenty years ago.
Anyone…except for the woman who created her.
With every secret she uncovers, Vivian comes one step closer to learning who she really is. But the more she learns about herself, the more dangerous this cat and mouse game becomes. Because Mother will stop at nothing to make sure the truth dies with her.

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Sorry, I don’t have time to write about our SCBWI Houston conference this past weekend, but I’ve just got to shout about our keynote speaker:

KELLY LIGHT!

Along with a big thank you to everyone who helped put this conference together, I want to say a special thanks to our guests, Wendy Loggia, Annie Berger, John Cusick, Molly Jaffa, Susan Hawk, Isabel Warren Lynch, and J. Patrick Lewis, and of course, to our wonderful bookstore host, Blue Willow Bookshop. It was truly an outstanding conference.

This week’s events:

April 22- May 27, Wednesdays, 6:00 PM
Writespace
Cassandra Clarke: Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop (Hybrid)
Cost: $170-$205
Cap 12

Do you take your fiction with a side of aliens, superheroes, dragons, or witches? Then this is the workshop for you!

This course will provide an overview of the SFF genre. Together we will consider those elements of writing which are crucial to crafting compelling speculative stories, such as building our own worlds, extrapolating the fantastic from reality, and creating compelling non-human characters. In addition to discussing classic and contemporary SFF works, you will participate in writing exercises and bring in your own work for critique. Come to class prepared to write and discuss, and by the end of the six weeks, you will have completed at least one SFF short story.

Please note: This is a hybrid workshop, which means the workshop meet three Wednesdays at Writespace and three Wednesdays online, from the comfort of home. Though writers will be asked to post and read discussions on our online forum on Wednesdays, our Wednesday online meeting dates will offer more flexibility. For instance, on the days of our online “meetings,” if you need to check in at a time other than between 6-9 PM, this will work.

April 25, Saturday, 10:00 AM
Writespace
Kathy Duval: Workshop: Make it Shine! Polish Your Picture Book to Its Fullest Potential!
Cost: $75-$95
Cap 12

Five hundred words—no problem, right? Wrong!

A successful picture book is an art form combining lyrical language and dynamic images, each dependent on the other.  To compete, your work must shine, as well as follow the conventions of today’s crowded market.

In this hands-on revision workshop, we’ll take a fresh look at your characters, setting, plot, and picture book language. Participants will complete exercises to polish their prose, as well as create a dummy to see how your text fits into a picture book format. Feedback in small groups will help you take your picture book to the next level.

Participants will be asked to bring three copies of the same completed picture book manuscript. You will be notified closer to the workshop date about the other supplies you will need for making a dummy.

April 25: Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Joy Preble, YA Author

Joy Preble will discuss and sign her newest novel for teens, FINDING PARIS.

Sisters Leo and Paris Hollings have only ever had each other to rely on. They can’t trust their mother, who hops from city to city and from guy to guy, or their gambler stepfather, who’s moved them all to Las Vegas. It’s just the two of them: Paris, who’s always been the dreamer, and Leo, who has a real future in mind–going to Stanford, becoming a doctor, falling in love. But Leo isn’t going anywhere right now, except driving around Vegas all night with her sister.

Until Paris ditches Leo at the Heartbreak Hotel Diner, where moments before they had been talking with physics student Max Sullivan. Outside, Leo finds a cryptic note from Paris—a clue. Is it some kind of game? Where is Paris, and why has she disappeared?

When Leo reluctantly accepts Max’s offer of help, the two find themselves following a string of clues through Vegas and beyond. But the search for the truth is not a straight line. And neither is the path to secrets Leo and Max hold inside.

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Yesterday, I got to spend a delightful morning at Blue Willow Bookshop for a special story time with Melissa Marr. Melissa’s young adult novel WICKED LOVELY took the YA world by storm when it debuted eight years ago. Since then, she’s successfully ventured into the world of MG fantasy as well as books for adults. Now she’s breaking into what may be the toughest challenge for  a writer, picture books.

How do you tell a beautiful, funny and touching story in under three hundred words? Take a look at BUNNY ROO, I LOVE YOU, from Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin.

That’s how.

There is so much love in this book, maybe because Melissa wrote it while she stayed in the hospital with her newborn son for forty days. The beautiful hand painted illustrations by Teagan White are warm and sweet.

To put whipped cream and sprinkles on top, Melissa was great at story time. Her little listeners had a blast making animal noises (along with Melissa) and creating bunny pictures, complete with googly eyes and fluffy puff tails. She brought stickers of the images in her book which the children used to decorate their pictures when they were through drawing.

Blue Willow’s owner and manger, Valerie Koehler, was in top form, too, as she led the little ones in a song and then a hilarious game of Simon Says.

Melissa also just announced Nancy Paulsen Books will be publishing her new picture book. BABY DRAGON, BABY DRAGON is about a day in the life of an adorable, hyperactive baby dragon, who finally simmers down when he meets his match. This book is scheduled for release in May 2017, but you can start getting excited about it now by visiting the website of the chosen illustrator, Lena Podesta.

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It’s finally here! This weekend is the SCBWI Houston conference! All the details are in place, agents, editors, authors and illustrators will be flying and driving into Houston for the big weekend. If you haven’t registered, there is room for walk-ins Saturday morning. Come to the Westin at Memorial City and find out what it takes to be an author or illustrator for children’s and young adult literature! (Art by Diandra Mae.)

The Houston Public Library is offering an exciting opportunity:

Win a Lunch with Jon Scieszka!

Create an art masterpiece inspired by one of the many books written by the award-winning, world-famous author Jon Scieszka! Fifty winners and one adult guest each will be treated to a catered lunch 
with Jon Scieszka and receive an autographed copy of “Frank Einstein & the Antimatter Motor!” This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is scheduled to take place prior to the kickoff of the 6th Annual Books Alive! Children’s Book Celebration on Saturday, May 16, 2015.

Deadline: Friday, May 1, 2015
Winners will be notified by Friday, May 8, 2015.

For more information visit the Books Alive! Contest.

Now for this week’s author visits:

April 14, Tuesday,  5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Kimberly Willis Holt, MG/YA Author

Kimberly Willis Holt will discuss and sign her newest novel for kids, DEAR HANK WILLIAMS. It’s 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee’s new teacher has just given her class an assignment–learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.

April 16, Thursday, 6:30PM
Murder By The Boook
David Baldacci, YA Author

Worldwide bestselling novelist David Baldacci will sign and discuss THE FINISHER (Scholastic). Vega Jane has never left the village of Wormwood. But this isn’t unusual, nobody has ever left the village of Wormwood. At least not until Quentin Herms vanishes into the unknown. Vega knows Quentin didn’t just leave, but that he was chased. And he’s left behind a very dangerous trail of clues that only she can decode. The Quag is a dark forest filled with terrifying beasts and bloodthirsty Outliers. But just as deadly are the threats that exist within the walls of Wormwood. It is a place built on lies, where influential people are willing to kill to keep their secrets. Vega is determined to uncover the truth. But the closer she gets, the more she risks her life.

Thursday, April 16, 7:00 PM
Brazos Bookstore
Meredith Moore, YA Author

Houston author Meredith Moore will sign her debut YA novel, I AM HER REVENGE. She can be anyone you want her to be.
Vivian was raised with one purpose in life: to exact revenge on behalf of her mother. Manipulative and cruel, Mother has deprived Vivian not only of a childhood, but of an original identity. With an endless arsenal of enticing personalities at her disposal, Vivian is a veritable weapon of deception.

And she can destroy anyone.
When it’s time to strike, she enrolls in a boarding school on the English moors, where she will zero in on her target: sweet and innocent Ben, the son of the man who broke Mother’s heart twenty years ago.

Anyone…except for the woman who created her.
With every secret she uncovers, Vivian comes one step closer to learning who she really is. But the more she learns about herself, the more dangerous this cat and mouse game becomes. Because Mother will stop at nothing to make sure the truth dies with her.

April 16, Thursday, 7:00 PM
Texas A&M, Langford Building
The Neuland Concept Designers
Cost: FREE!

SCBWI Brazos Valley Illustrator Event: The Neuland Concept Designers

Concept designers Margaret Wuller and Patrick Hannenberger will discuss their work for film projects such as The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, Monsters vs. Aliens, and How to Train Your Dragon. The free public lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Geren Auditorium at the College of Architecture on the A&M campus.

April 18, Saturday, 10:00 AM
Houston YA/MG Writers
Writespace: Silver Street Studios – Studio 212

Cassandra Clark: Workshop: Engaging Your Reader Through Tension
Cost: FREE!

Tension may be a bad thing in our personal lives, but it’s a necessity in our writing. Nothing engages a reader like tension! This month, YA and adult science fiction and fantasy writer Cassandra Rose Clarke will show us how writers can effectively build tension throughout their work. We’ll consider how to up the tension through the internal and external elements of the story, from cliff-hangers to pacing and from character motivations to story stakes. We’ll leave with the tools to keep readers turning pages until late into the night!

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YOU’RE NOT TOO LATE! There is still time to register for the SCBWI Houston Conference: CraftQuest! If you’ve ever wondered about whether writing for children and teens is right for you, come to our conference. We have editors, literary agents, authors, illustrators, an art director and a poet laureate to help put you on the right path. Join us for a wonderful, exciting weekend!

This year’s BIG Ya event is here—TEENBOOKCON! The organizers have put together a fabulous event with twenty-eight authors.

April 11, Saturday, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Alief Taylor High School
7555 Howell Sugar Land RoadHouston
TeenBookCon
FREE!

This years TeenBookCon features Gayle Forman as Opening Speaker and Ally Carter and David Levithan as Closing Speakers, plus a fantastic lineup of 28 YA and Graphic Novel authors:

Panels include:

The Secrets that Bind Us: Lindsay Cummings, Ally Carter, Justine Larbalastier, Henry Turner, Maureen Johnson

The Hardest Thing: Kevin Emerson, Aisha Saeed, Elizabeth Wein, Gayle Forman, Jason Reynolds

Reality Need Not Apply: Lydia Kang, Megan Miranda, Kristen Simmons, Scott Westerfeld, Tommy Wallach

Magical Mayhem: Josephine Angelini, Sarah Cross, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Rachel Hartman, Joe Shine, Leslye J. Walton

Fight the Good Fight: George O’Connor, Jen Wang

The Truth About Love: Alexis Bass, Susane Colasanti, Joy Preble, David Levithan, Jennifer Mathieu

Blue Willow Bookshop is the official bookseller of TeenBookCon.  All featured authors’ books will be available for purchase all day.  Buy books at the festival and have them signed by your favorite authors at the end of the day! Your receipt from Blue Willow will also entitle you to bring 2 additional books from home to be signed by the authors as well.

April 14-May 19, Tuesdays, 6:00 PM
Writespace
Adrienne Perry: Writers of Color Workshop
Cost for 6-week Workshop: $245

Over the last few decades, organizations designed to support and promote the work of writers of color have emerged across the country to encourage writers of color to take risks, resist stereotypes (in ourselves, others, and in our writing), and creat poems, stories, novels, and essays that speak to the range of our experience as human beings. This workshop shares these intentions. While no single feature can capture the experience and identity of a human being, writers of color—of all levels, and from all genres and backgrounds—have the opportunity to thrive in workshop experiences where their many, varied voices are welcomed and seen to enrich the workshop’s diverse worldview. We will read the work of poets and fiction writers of color, including our own. This workshop is open to writers of all races typically underrepresented in American literature. We will study the craft of prose and poetry, whether literary fiction or slam or sci-fi, consider what the work is trying to say, and explore what possibilities it can open up for our writing. As a special treat, Trinidadian author Lynn Joseph will visit our workshop via Skype to supplement our conversations with an international view of craft and community considerations specific to writers of color. Expect to come away with fierce new work, as well as a renewed sense of the power found through community.

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It’s good to be home! I just got back from D4EO Literary Agency’s first annual retreat, on the beautiful Sequim Bay in in Washington (Seals! Bald eagles!). My body was still on Houston time, so I got six to seven hours of writing in each morning before the day’s activities began. It was fantastic to be surrounded by so many brilliant, dedicated writers and our wonderful agents, Kristin Vincent, Mandy Hubbard and Bree Ogden.

If you haven’t signed up for the SCBWI Houston Conference, April 18-9, there is still time! There are also available spots for the Sunday intensives, one for writers led by Wendy Loggia, Executive Editor at Delacorte Press, and one for illustrators led by Isabel Warren-Lynch, Executive Art Director at Random House Children’s Books.

Though the critique spots are filled, all attendees will be given information on what the speakers are looking for and how to submit their work to these editors and agents after the conference. Please join us to hear what this great line up of speakers has to share with us!

KELLY LIGHT  is the illustrator of two chapter books series: THE QUIRKS and ELVIS AND THE UNDERDOGS and the author-illustrator of the LOUISE LOVES ART picture book series.
ISABEL WARREN-LYNCH is the Executive Art Director at Random House Children’s Books.
SUSAN HAWK is a Literary Agent at The Bent Agency, representing middle grade, YA, picture books, and non-fiction for kids.
WENDY LOGGIA is Executive Editor at Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.
MOLLY JAFFA is an agent with Folio Literary Management. She focuses exclusively on middle grade and young adult fiction.
ANNIE BERGER is an associate editor at HarperCollins. Annie is looking for both middle-grade and teen fiction.
JOHN M. CUSICK is an agent with Greenhouse Literary, representing picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels.
J. PATRICK LEWIS is the author of more than fifty books of poetry for children and served as the nation’s third Children’s Poet Laureate from 2011 to 2013.

Here are the registration details.

Here’s what’s going on this week around Houston:

April 02, Thursday, 5:30 PM
Barnes & Noble, Town & Country
Chad Morris, MG Author

Chad Morris is the author of the Cragbridge Hall series, a middle grade romp through a futuristic secondary school. He will sign the third book in the series, THE IMPOSSIBLE RACE and give away posters and bookmarks!

Every year the futuristic school, Cragbridge Hall, holds its most popular tournament–the Race: a series of challenges that range throughout the school and require the use of its amazing inventions like its holographic time machine! But this year is different. Rather than a monetary or academic reward, this year’s winner will be the recipient of a carefully guarded school secret: a secret that could prove both powerful and dangerous. Afraid that the secret may be one of their Grandfather’s inventions, Abby and Derick gather several friends and enroll.

But when Derick gets a mysterious message from the future, the team of friends must figure out how to succeed even when they know they are destined to fail. The stakes have never been higher. A page-turning, time-travel adventure that teaches powerful lessons about choice and consequence, believing you can do hard things, and valuing our history.

Watch the exciting trailer!

April 4, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Meredith Moore, YA Author

Houston author Meredith Moore will sign her debut YA novel, I AM HER REVENGE.

Vivian was raised with one purpose in life: to exact revenge on behalf of her mother. Manipulative and cruel, Mother has deprived Vivian not only of a childhood, but of an original identity. With an endless arsenal of enticing personalities at her disposal, Vivian is a veritable weapon of deception. And she can destroy anyone. When it’s time to strike, she enrolls in a boarding school on the English moors, where she will zero in on her target: sweet and innocent Ben, the son of the man who broke Mother’s heart twenty years ago. With every secret she uncovers, Vivian comes one step closer to learning who she really is. But the more she learns about herself, the more dangerous this cat and mouse game becomes because Mother will stop at nothing to make sure the truth dies with her.

April 7, Tuesday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Paige McKenzie, YA Author
TICKETED EVENT!

Paige McKenzie will discuss and sign her new novel, THE HAUNTING OF SUNSHINE GIRL, which is based on her YouTube series of the same name.

Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother Kat move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn’t recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just … creepy.

In the days that follow, things only get stranger. Sunshine is followed around the house by an icy breeze, phantom wind slams her bedroom door shut, and eventually, the laughter Sunshine hears on her first night evolves into sobs. She can hardly believe it, but as the spirits haunting her house become more frightening–and it becomes clear that Kat is in danger–Sunshine must accept what she is, pass the test before her, and save her mother from a fate worse than death.

NOTE: This is a ticketed event. In order to attend this event with Paige McKenzie, please purchase THE HAUNTING OF SUNSHINE GIRL from Blue Willow Bookshop. At the time of your purchase, you will be issued a ticket that indicates your place in line. Your book and signing line ticket can be picked up at the event.

Here’s the haunting trailer:

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I’m so excited today, running around, packing and getting ready for D4EO Literary Agency’s client/agent retreat, which starts tomorrow! I’ll get to spend time with agents Kristin Vincent, Mandy Hubbard and Bree Ogden, plus a whole lot of writers and illustrators including Gail Shepherd and Priscilla Mizel! Squee!

BTW, D4EO author Cindy Callaghan’s Middle Grade debut, JUST ADD MAGIC, is now an Amazon TV pilot! Watch and share!

I want to wish a Happy Book Birthday to Paul Greci’s debut MG novel, SURVIVING BEAR ISLAND, which launches tomorrow from Move Books! Watch the exciting intro:

Here’s the fun I’ll be missing in Houston:

March 28, Saturday, 11:00 AM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Nathan Hale, Author/Illustrator

Author and illustrator of graphic novels and picture books Nathan Hale will meet and greet customers. His graphic novel ONE DEAD SPY is on the Texas Bluebonnet list this year. Nathan Hale has gathered some of the most fascinating true-life tales from history and given them his inimitable Hazardous Tales twist. Easy to understand, funny, informative, and lively, this series is a great way to be introduced to U.S. History.

Take a look at Nathan’s fun and fascinating presentation, WAR HATS. SPOILER ALERT: He might show this at the presentation, so if you’re bringing kids to BW for his event, don’t let them see this!

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What a lovely week for Spring Break! I hope everyone gets a chance to get outside and enjoy this fabulous weather! Before we get going on this week’s events, I want to share a fun little springtime book, TEN EASTER EGGS, by Vijaya Bodach, illustrated by Laura Logan.

From Scholastic: In this sweet story, clever die-cuts, touchable plastic pieces, and fuzzy flocking all come together in a rhyming adventure all about Easter traditions. Follow and count along as ten quiet Easter eggs become ten colorful chicks ready to celebrate the holiday! A fun, engaging novelty story just right for the littlest of readers.

This week:

March 21, Saturday, 1:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
YA Panel with Lindsey Lane, Jennifer Mathieu, & Varsha Bajaj

A great YA panel hits Houston when author Lindsey Lane chats with authors Jennifer Mathieu (THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE) and Varsha Bajaj (ABBY SPENCER GOES TO BOLLYWOOD) about EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN, Lindsey’s novel for young adults. Told in a series of first-person narratives from people who knew a missing teenager, EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN explores themes of loneliness, connectedness, and the role we play in creating our own realities.

When high school junior Tommy Smythe goes missing, everyone has a theory about what happened to him. He was an odd kid, often deeply involved in particle physics, so maybe he just got distracted and wandered off. He was last seen at a pullout off the highway, so maybe someone snatched him. Tommy believes that everything is possible, and that until something can be proven false, it may be true. So as long as Tommy’s whereabouts are undetermined, he could literally be anywhere.

March 21, Saturday, 1:00-4:00 PM
Writespace
Writing Workshop: Benjamin Rybeck
COST: $30-$45

Character Development: Pushing the Story Forward: Everyone has something they want—to find a lost dog, to snag the jewels from a bank heist, to attract a romantic partner—but the reasons behind these desires are complex, suggesting our past experiences in rich ways.

In fiction, giving your protagonists clear goals pushes the story forward, but it also helps you develop complicated characters that will move your readers. Is your character striving for a promotion? Perhaps she’s also working through feelings of worthlessness in her childhood. Is your character searching for a friend’s child after a disastrous day of babysitting? Maybe he’s also confronting his own failings as a man who abandoned his own son years earlier. All great characters contain a mix of these desires—some literal and immediate, others figurative and lingering.

In this workshop, we will look at familiar characters from short fiction and even film to identify these literal and figurative objectives, and a series of in-class prompts will help you use these lessons in your current projects—and also as inspiration for your next story.

Attendees will receive a $20 gift certificate to Benjamin Rybeck’s six-week “Short Story” workshop, which begins March 28.

March 20, Friday, NOON-9:00 PM
Writespace
Open House
FREE

Writespace is happy to announce their first Open House and Faculty Reading event! On Friday afternoon, join a free write-in complete with writing prompts hosted by Layla Al-Bedawi, then stick around for a free critique session with director Elizabeth White-Olsen. If you’d like to receive free feedback from a professional editor, please bring along the first two to five pages of a work of fiction, poetry, personal essay, or memoir you’ve written, as well as seven copies for the group! Afterward, enjoy a spontaneous poetry lesson from Writespace’s brilliant and wonderfully unpredictable poetry instructor BJ Love.

From 5:30-7:30 PM there will be a cocktail hour and public reception (Free to the public, 21+) with faculty readings from K.J.Russell, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Katie Bagley, Benjamin Rybeck, B.J. Love.

Free Gift: $15 gift certificate to every person who walks in our door either day. Here’s a link to the event on facebook.

March 21, Saturday, 4:30-9:00 PM
Writespace
Open House
FREE

The Open House celebration continues! Saturday from 4:30-5:30 PM, Writespace director Elizabeth White-Olsen will give a free mini-workshop on “How to Wow Readers on Page One.” Afterward, there will be a meet and greet for interested parents and teens of the Young Writers Program. Meet SAT/ACT and college admissions essay instructor Jessica Capelle and young writers creative writing instructors Elizabeth White-Olsen and Adrienne Perry. At 6:30 there will be an electric violin performance: “Our Simple, Spacious Envelope” by Shepherd School of Music student Nigel Deane.

Stick around for faculty readings from Adrienne Perry, Joy Preble, Jess Capelle, BJ Love, Matthew Salesses, and Elizabeth White-Olsen. Before and after the reading, you will have ample opportunity to meet Writespace faculty members and learn about their work. This would be the perfect opportunity to ask them for writing advice! Have a question about the writing process or about what will happen in a workshop led by one of the Writespace teachers? Now is the time to get to know Writespace faculty members and to see whether the teacher you are interested in is someone you can learn from.

Free Gift: $15 gift certificate to every person who walks in our door either day.

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I saw a lot of great reader and writer news on the  SCBWI-Houston newsletter this month. Varsha Bajaj’s debut MG novel ABBY SPENCER GOES TO BOLLLYWOOD (a Cybil’s Award finalist) is now available in a paperback edition which comes with a bonus of six henna tattoos! I also discovered a great blog about middle grade historical fiction, Mad About MG History.  Today’s post Women’s History is History, is by SCBWI-Houston member, children’s coordinator at Brazoria County Library System, and soon-to-be debut author (!) Sara K. Joiner.

Here’s what’s going on around Houston this week. As always, please check the host’s website for the most accurate information.

March 10, Tuesday, 5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
2 MG Authors: Blast from the Past Tour

It’s the Blast from the Past tour with Middle Grade authors Jo Whittemore, COLONIAL MADNESS, and Cory Putnam Oakes, DINOSAUR BOY.

In COLONIAL MADNESS, Tori Porter is best friends with her mom, and most of the time it’s awesome. Not many girls have a mom who’d take them to a graveyard for hide-and-seek or fill the bathtub with ice cream for the world’s biggest sundae. But sometimes Tori wishes her mom would act a little more her age. Thanks to her mom’s poor financial planning, they are in danger of losing their business and their home. But an unusual opportunity arises in a bizarre contest put on by an eccentric relative: Whoever can survive two weeks in the Archibald Family’s colonial manor will inherit the property. The catch? Contestants have to live as in colonial times: no modern conveniences, no outside help, and daily tests of their abilities to survive challenges of the time period. Tori thinks it’s the perfect answer to their debt problems, but she and her mom aren’t the only ones interested. The other family members seem to be much more prepared for the two weeks on the manor—and it doesn’t help that Mom doesn’t seem to be taking the contest seriously. Do they stand a chance?

In DINOSAUR BOY, it isn’t a complete surprise when Sawyer sprouts spikes and a tail before the start of fifth grade. After all, his grandfather was part stegosaurus. Despite the Principal’s Zero Tolerance Policy, Sawyer becomes a bully magnet, befriended only by Elliot aka “Gigantor” and the weird new girl. When the bullies start disappearing, Sawyer is relieved-until he discovers a secret about the principal that’s more shocking than Dino DNA. The bullies are in for a galactically horrible fate…and it’s up to Sawyer and his friends to rescue the day.

March 12, Thursday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Lauren Oliver, YA Author

Author of New York Times and international bestselling novels Lauren Oliver will discuss and sign VANISHING GIRLS, her new book for young adults.

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara’s beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it’s too late.

March 14, Saturday, 9:00 AM – NOON
Tracy Gee Community Center
Diandra Mae, SCBWI-Houston Illustrator Coordinator

In preparation for the upcoming SCBWI Houston Spring Conference on April 18-19, our chapter’s Illustrator Coordinator Diandra Mae will be holding a Portfolio Prep day. Please bring whatever work you intend to display in your portfolio, a portfolio purchased for the conference (if you have one), and any questions you have regarding illustrator opportunities at the conference.

There is a private group for SCBWI illustrator members on Facebook. It’s a place for discussion as well as critique. If you are a local illustrator, SCBWI member, and wish to participate in the group, follow this link and request to join. Once SCBWI membership has been confirmed, you will be added.

March 14, Saturday, 1:00 PM
Barnes & Noble, Westheimer
Meena Dhanjal, PB Author

Meena Dhanjal presents her picture book MATTIE HAS WHEELS. Mattie is a little girl with a strong love for life. She is a young girl that uses a wheelchair. Nothing stops Mattie from being a normal kid. Mattie loves to play basketball and reading. She is surrounded by great friends and a wonderful family.

March 14, Saturday, 1:00 PM
Writespace
Cassandre Clarke: Writing Workshop
Cost: $30.00 – $45.00

TENSION: HOW TO BUILD IT, KEEP IT, AND INCREASE IT:
Cassandra Clarke, author of the YA novel THE ASSASSIN’S CURSE, leads this three-hour workshop discussing the elements of tension, from cliff hangers to pacing, from character motivations to story stakes. The class will dissect high-tension examples from published stories and participate in several writing exercises in order to put these elements to work. Bring a laptop or pen and paper and be prepared to write, share, and try new things! Attendees will receive a $15 gift certificate to Cassandra Clarke’s April 22nd-May 27th Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop.

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There is so much going on this week, with visits from NYT Bestselling authors, two authors visiting from Austin and a debut for Houston YA author, Becky Wallace. Congratulations, Becky! Thanks to Blue Willow Bookshop for hosting so many of these great events!

Please remember to check the bookstore’s website for the most accurate information.

March 5, Thursday, 5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Lisa McMann

Lisa McMann will discuss and sign her novel ISLAND OF SHIPWRECKS, the newest book in THE UNWANTEDS series. In book five of the series, Alex and his friends from Artime are stranded on a newly discovered island after barely surviving a storm that destroys their ship. And it turns out they’re not alone…

Back in Quill, Aaron’s power base grows as he aligns himself with an unlikely ally. Together, the two enact a drastic, risky plan to finally conquer Artime—a plan that could ultimately leave everyone in both Artime and Quill in far more danger than Aaron realizes.

March 5, Thursday, 7:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Jessica Brody, YA Author

Popular YA Author Jessica Brody will discuss and sign her novel UNCHANGED, the final book in the UNREMEMBERED series. After returning to the Diotech compound and undergoing an experimental new memory alteration, Seraphina is now a loyal, obedient servant to Dr. Alixter and the powerful company that created her. Happy and in love with Kaelen, another scientifically-enhanced human designed to be her perfect match, Sera’s history with a boy named Zen is just a distant memory from a rebellious past she longs to forget. But as Sera and Kaelen embark on a nationwide tour to promote Diotech’s new product line—a collection of controversial genetic modifications available to the public—Sera’s mind starts to rebel. She can’t stop the memories of Zen from creeping back in. As more secrets are revealed, more enemies are uncovered, and the reality of a Diotech-controlled world grows closer every day, Sera will have to choose where her true loyalties lie, but it’s a choice that may cost her everything she’s ever loved.

March 6, Friday, 4:00 PM; March 7, Saturday, 10:00 AM; March 8, Sunday, 10:00 AM
Barnes & Noble, Vanderbilt Square
George Arnold, Children’s Author

George Arnold’s seventh installment in the CIA Cats Adventure series, KREMLIN KERFUFFLE: KOSHKI OF THE CIA, finds our heroes Buzzer Louis, Cincinnati the dancing pig, Dusty Louise, and the kitten twins—Luigi and Luisa in the process of tracking down the smuggler panda Ar-Chee and learning to speak considerable Russian. This book is illustrated by Jason Eckhardt. Russian translator is Oksana Stotska-Day.

March 7, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
Becky Wallace, YA Author

Becky Wallace will discuss and sign her debut novel THE STORY SPINNER, the first book in THE KEEPER’S CHRONICLES series for young adults. In a world where dukes plot their way to the throne, a Performer’s life can get tricky. Expelled from her Performers troupe after her father’s death, Johanna Von Arlo is forced to work for the handsome Lord Rafael DeSilva. Too bad they don’t get along. But while Johanna’s father’s death was deemed an accident, the Keepers aren’t so sure. The Keepers, a race of people with magical abilities, are on a quest to find the princess—the same princess who is supposed to be dead and whose throne the dukes are fighting over. But they aren’t the only ones looking for her. And in the wake of their search, murdered girls keep turning up—girls who look exactly like the princess, and exactly like Johanna.

March 10, Tuesday, 5:00 PM
Blue Willow Bookshop
2 MG Authors: Blast from the Past Tour

It’s the Blast from the Past tour! Middle Grade authors Jo Whittemore, COLONIAL MADNESS, and Cory Putnam Oakes, DINOSAUR BOY, will meet and greet customers.

In COLONIAL MADNESS, Tori Porter is best friends with her mom, and most of the time it’s awesome. Not many girls have a mom who’d take them to a graveyard for hide-and-seek or fill the bathtub with ice cream for the world’s biggest sundae. But sometimes Tori wishes her mom would act a little more her age. Thanks to her mom’s poor financial planning, they are in danger of losing their business and their home. But an unusual opportunity arises in a bizarre contest put on by an eccentric relative: Whoever can survive two weeks in the Archibald Family’s colonial manor will inherit the property. The catch? Contestants have to live as in colonial times: no modern conveniences, no outside help, and daily tests of their abilities to survive challenges of the time period. Tori thinks it’s the perfect answer to their debt problems, but she and her mom aren’t the only ones interested. The other family members seem to be much more prepared for the two weeks on the manor—and it doesn’t help that Mom doesn’t seem to be taking the contest seriously. Do they stand a chance?

In DINOSAUR BOY, it isn’t a complete surprise when Sawyer sprouts spikes and a tail before the start of fifth grade. After all, his grandfather was part stegosaurus. Despite the Principal’s Zero Tolerance Policy, Sawyer becomes a bully magnet, befriended only by Elliot aka “Gigantor” and the weird new girl. When the bullies start disappearing, Sawyer is relieved-until he discovers a secret about the principal that’s more shocking than Dino DNA. The bullies are in for a galactically horrible fate…and it’s up to Sawyer and his friends to rescue the day.

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