Here is a youtube video promo for the book.
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I had a great time skyping last Friday, Feb. 15th with students at Benjamin Middle School in West Chicago, IL.
Thanks to all the great questions, the time just flew by.
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debut children's author blog about writing, etc.Statistics for Born to Fly
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 1
By: Michael Ferrari,
on 7/10/2016
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 7/6/2016
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Enter to win a free copy of my new book!
Amazon Kindlebook Giveaway
and
Goodreads Book Giveaway
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 5/1/2016
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 10/11/2015
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 9/28/2015
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 10/30/2014
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In addition to writing books, I write screenplays.
I will be teaching a screenwriting seminar on Saturday November 8th, 10am-noon at Cuyahoga Community College's Westshore Campus in Westlake, Ohio. If you're in the Cleveland area, join us and learn how to write a screenplay!
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 2/20/2013
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Thanks to all the great questions, the time just flew by.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 10/5/2012
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I had a blast at the SCBWI conference. I met so many nice people and talented writers, each with a story to tell.
 |
| using my "Italian" sign language during a critique |
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 9/19/2012
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I'm very excited to say that this Friday and Saturday, September 21-22, I will be speaking at the Northern Ohio SCBWI Conference. I will be giving a children's writing workshop called "Writing Books Kids Can't Put Down: Plotting and Structuring the Children's Novel." Can't wait to meet all my fellow writers.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 6/8/2012
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I was away camping for the last 4 days so I had missed the news and just heard about the passing of one of my heroes, Ray Bradbury. 
But the way I heard about Mr. Bradbury's death was via a wonderful, unexpected email letter which I thought I would share:
Mr. Ferrari,
You taught my English class in the 6th grade at St. Robert Bellarmine Elementary School in Burbank, CA some 15 years ago. That year I was introduce
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 2/11/2012
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Born to Fly was one of 10 middle grade books recently nominated for Connecticut's state book award, the Nutmeg Award
The Nutmeg Book Award encourages children in grades 4-8 to read quality literature and to choose their favorite from a list of ten nominated titles. Jointly sponsored by theConnecticut Library Association (CLA) and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians (CASL), the Nutmeg Committee is comprised of children's librarians and school library media specialists who are members of our sponsoring organizations.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 1/31/2012
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Had some exciting news yesterday that "Born to Fly" is among the 20 books on the Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award shortlist for 2013.
It's an annual award given to a book voted most outstanding by students in grades 4-8 in participating Illinois schools.
Here's a list of all 20 nominated books.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 12/27/2011
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A student at an international school in Japan created this cool book trailer for BORN TO FLY.
Check it out.
She also did a video book review on this page.
Born to Fly is one of the books nominated for the Sakura Medal, a book award started by a network of international schools across Japan. Books in a number of different categories (chapter books, YA, picture books, etc.) are nominated by librarians and then the winners are chosen by student readers.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 11/28/2011
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There's a nice review of BORN TO FLY on The Next Best Book blog
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 9/14/2011
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Did you know that in 1961, thirteen women pilots underwent secret astronaut testing, passing the samephysical tests as the men of the Mercury 7? The "Mercury 13" hoped to become America’s first female astronauts (though they never got the chance).
I learned about the Mercury 13 when I had the privilege of attending the annual Labor Day Pre-Air Show Party and Wine Tasting at the International Women's Air and Space Museum. There was a lot of great food, delicious wine from around the world, and wonderful exhibits about women in aviation.
Guess who?
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 6/3/2011
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Last weekend I travelled to Middleburg, Virginia to visit The Hill School during their spring book fair to talk about writing and my book, BORN TO FLY.
Along the way I was passing a cemetery with civil war headstones and though I was running late, I couldn't help but stop and pay my respects on our nation's Memorial Day holiday.
I enjoyed these cozy accomodations...
...and had a great visit at the beautiful Hill School.
The students had great questions and were so enthusiastic.
They made this great display for my visit and the 6th grade even read me some of their stories which were very imaginative and fun.
By: Michael Ferrari,
on 5/20/2011
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A few weeks back I ran a writing workshop for some young writers at Menlo Park Academy where Tammi Belko teaches (Tammi is in my writing group).
Last night Tammi read from some of their finished books and parents and family (along with myself and writer/illustrator Deborah Perez-Stable) got to see what they had produced over the last month.
These are some examples of the fun and imaginate work these future authors created!
(pictured on this page :The Day I Found Out My Sister Was a Vampire by Katie Munro,
French Fries That Talk by Sathya Sundaram, and White by Olivia Wenzel)
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 5/16/2011
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I found a great site for Dads who like to read to their kids called Book Dads.
They read a copy of Born to Fly and really "got it". Here's their review by Chris Singer.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/31/2011
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After much internal debate I decided today to start (mildly) exploiting my kids in the pages of this blog. I've always felt kind of "icky" about writers who share their kids most personal and embarrassing moments without fictionalizing them since I always imagined how mortified I'd have been if my mom or dad was a columnist writing about their kids' battle with stuttering or their latest bedwetting episode, etc.
But two things have convinced me to waffle and do what I vowed I would never do:
1. my kids seem more entertaining than I am and
2. after my laptop screen fried the other day and smoke began puffing out of the circuit board endangering everything on my hard drive, I rationalized that incorporating parts of my parent-memories file to my blog might be a better archiving/backup system in case I lose all my files. So feel free to ignore the following as it has nothing to do with writing or children's books:
For a long time whenever one of our family would start singing a song, and then someone else (without even wanting or meaning to) would have that song stuck in their heads and start singing it on their own, we would say to the person who was infected by the song, “Gotcha.”
My son caught on to this very quickly without our realizing it.
One day, probably a football Sunday but maybe not, he was singing “Who let the dogs out?" (we're long-suffering Cleveland Browns fans, here).
And then without even thinking I answer “Who! Whoo-whoo-whoo-who!”
And the little dickens promptly says, “Gotcha!”
I thought this was very amusing. The only thing is, even when I get him to sing “Who! Whoo-whoo-whoo-who!”
Or one of the sing-song Wiggles classics like: “Quack, quack, quack, quack,…
"cock a doodle doo”
or
“Fruit Salad-”
“Yummy Yummy.”
And I say, “Gotcha!”
He still says “No. I got you.”
I can't win.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/31/2011
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Had a blast with the book discussion group at Avon Lake Library last night.
I showed a little video of what it looks like to fly a real P-40 and then we dove into the book. The kids had so many great insights and comments, I felt like they knew the book better than me!
Not only were they a group of great readers, but many were also working on their own stories for the young authors program so it was like conversing with a junior version of my writers group.
Afterward, librarian Miss Sally passed around cookies and the kids all got to color and take home their very own wood model airplanes.
Thanks to everyone who came, and to Avon Lake Library for making it a fun night (even with the snowstorm outside).
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/30/2011
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This is the view out my back door today, two days before the start of baseball season.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/25/2011
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I did a fun online interview today with Casey McKormick at Literary Rambles, a great site about navigating the world of children's book publishing. Casey had lots of great questions and her site is aptly named 'cause I think I might have rambled on a bit myself.
She's also giving away a signed copy of BORN TO FLY. All you need to do is leave a comment in the comments section and you're entered to win.
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/18/2011
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I was excited to learn that BORN TO FLY has been nominated for the 2012 Grand Canyon Reader Award in the Intermediate Fiction category.
The Grand Canyon Reader Award is a reader award program for students in Arizona. Students vote annually on their favorite book in the following categories: Picture, Non-Fiction, Intermediate, Tween and Teen. One of my favorite writers, Gordon Korman was a double category winner in 2010 so I feel quite humbled to be nominated.
A big thank you to all the Arizona students who read and nominated the book.
Here is a list of the wonderful books nominated in my category:
11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass (2009)
Born To Fly by Michael Ferrari (2009)
Closed For the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (2009)
Dying To Meet You by Kate Klise (2009)
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements (2009)
Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle: and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino (2009)
A Nest For Celeste: A Story about Art, Inspiration, And The Meaning of Home by Henry Cole (2010)
The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz (2010)
The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell (2009)
Star in the Forest by Laura Resau (2010)
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/15/2011
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My local library is hosting a Born to Fly book discussion on Wednesday March 30th from 7-8 PM.
I will answer questions about the book or writing or about my snowball-catching dog Trixie. There will be a fun craft (I think you get to build a toy airplane) and I'm told it will all be topped off with some kind of a treat. Sounds like fun.
Sign up and they will give you your own paperback copy of BORN TO FLY to read prior to the event. I will see you there!
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By: Michael Ferrari,
on 3/7/2011
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Here's the first look at the paperback version of Born to Fly which arrived from my publisher a couple days ago! Goes on sale tomorrow, March 8th, 2011. Thanks to my daughter Clarissa for modeling and smiling.
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