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Cross-posted from the Blue Rose Girls:

As Grace announced last week, her beautiful novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was selected by Al Roker as the December selection for the Today Show Book Club, aka Al's Book Club for Kids. I thought I'd share a little behind-the-scenes look into how this type of good news is shared in the publishing house.

It was Thursday morning around 10:30 am, and I had just gotten out of our weekly editorial meeting. I was in my office chatting with our Library Marketing Director when I heard the sound of running footsteps down the hall. Running footsteps is a sure sign of news--although sometimes bad (for example, something printed incorrectly, what are we going to do?!). Our Publicity Director and Grace's in-house Publicist burst into my office holding a copy of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with huge smiles on their faces. (Whew, it's good news. But what?) "Today Show book club selection! Today Show Book Club selection!"

Excitement, shock, disbelief, happiness.
"Wait...what? What? Really?!"
Laughter, cheering, yay yay yay! I could hear the news spread down the hall.
What happened?
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is going to be on the Today Show!
No way! Awesome!
"You should tell Grace!" I was told.
"This is Al Roker's Book Club, right?" I asked--I wanted to make sure I told Grace the right thing.
I IMed Grace on Gchat.
me: hey, are you there?

I got Grace on the line. Our Publicity Director and I told her the news together. I think the first words out of Grace's mouth were, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Really?! Oh my gosh!" as the news sunk in. "I have to tell my mom!" and then later..."What am I going to wear!?" and "How did this happen?!"

This is generally how it works when we hear good news. For example, when we receive the bestseller lists and see that we have a new title make it on, the news spreads down the hall, and people cheer and clap and yell and come out of their offices and cubes to celebrate for a little while. When The Curious Garden hit the list for the first time back in April, our Publisher's Assistant started calling my name while running down the hall. "Alvina! Alvina!" It's especially exciting when it's the first time an author has made it on the list. In the case of Peter Brown, a group of us crowded into my office to hear Peter react to the news. He had been on tour in CA at the time.

I love good news in the office, obviously. Keep it coming!!

And congratulations again, Grace!

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Beyond the Book: GEEKTASTIC: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Oh boy, there's so much beyond-the-book geeky goodness to share. First of all, here's the skinny on the book itself:

Haven't you heard? Geek is the new cool! Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!

This is the book that I've acquired based on the least amount of material. I've acquired books based on partial manuscripts, but I have never acquired a book based on basically one paragraph:

Description: From Dungeon Masters to cosplaying Klingons, Science Fair winners to the Drama club stage crew and band geeks to comic book collectors searching for that pristine back issue, GEEKTASTIC explores the subculture of geekery, letting those who are often the supporting cast become the stars. The inner sanctum of geekdom will be penetrated and demystified. In this book all will be revealed, from the convention hook-ups and fanfiction rivalries to the civil wars between lovers of original Star Trek and those on the side of the next generation, and the unfortunate incidents when the bacchanalia of the chess club goes just a little too far. Hang on to your laptop and chug some Jolt cola, because once and for all, you'll see that there's very little difference between the most popular and the least.

GEEKTASTIC promises to make you cringe with recognition and embrace your inner geek.

But what the pitch also came with was the incredible team of Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci, and five fantastic contributors already attached: John Green, MT Anderson, Libba Bray, Scott Westerfeld, and Kelly Link. And what it came with was a fantastic idea that, to borrow the words of Holly and Cecil, sang to my geek heart, and sang to the geek hearts of my colleagues.

The project went to auction, and in my offer letter, I included some of the geek qualifications of my colleages (names deleted to protect the...er, geeks):

“I saw Star Wars seven times when it first came out and even saw it twice on the same day. I also made a Star Wars scrapbook and had a huge crush on Mark Hamill (what a geek! Everyone knows Harrison Ford was the cute/smart/cool one.)” –former neck-gear-wearing geek

"I seem to always love TV shows about misfits and geeks or else I watch shows that only misfits and geeks would watch: 1970s Favorite TV Show: Mork and Mindy; 1980s Favorite TV Show: Square Pegs; 1990s Favorite TV Show: Daria; 2000s Favorite TV Show: Antiques Roadshow UK" --geeky watcher of the entire Lord of the Rings Director's Cut DVD collection (in one sitting)

“In high school I truly believed you had to do paperwork to join the apathy club.” –recovering Zappa addict geek

“I used to have crushes on anime characters, like Spike from Cowboy Bebop. I would download the Japanese theme songs from these anime series and pine for my unrequited, animated love.”–cartoon fetishist geek

"Sometimes I look at my friends and wonder what our superpowers would be if we were a crime-fighting squad." –resident fantasy/sci-fi loving geek

“I was a band geek - part of the colorguard to be exact. We'd march around the band at football games waving our flags in our skirts & boots thinking we were cooler than the cheerleaders - oh, definitely not...” –former wannabe cheerleader geek

"One Halloween I dressed up as the Ebola virus--I even included symptoms written in blood-like red pen on my back. The other kids thought I was dressed as puke." –former infectious diseases geek turned adult hypochondriac

"I recently went to a competitive cat show and took a class on puppet making." –former Moon Boot-wearing geek

“I feel like my geek qualifications are far too numerous to list, whether it was collecting comic books as a kid (and buying two copies--one to put away and never touch--and one to read) or collecting action figures in my 20s... Or it could be getting braces for the first time when I was 30 (alas, no headgear)! But perhaps my geekiest moment is the level of excitement I feel over the possibility of having this book to work on--lot's of very geeky marketing ideas come to mind that would help readers from coast to coast celebrate their inner geek!” –all-around geek

As for me? Well, I included my geek qualifications, too--in resume form, no less (click to enlarge): According to the agent, the incredible Barry Goldblatt, every other interested party also included their geek qualifications, but I'm proud to say that I was the only editor to include hers in resume form.

We got the book, and team Holly and Cecil were on board. I've never worked on a short story collection before, so this was a bit of a challenge. We came up with our dream list of contributors, and asked for rough topics from our existing contributors, and then chose contributors to fill in the blanks. We wanted to cover all kinds of geeks: book geeks, sci fi geeks, band geeks, comic book geeks, theater geeks, science geeks, and more. The final book as everything from a baton twirling geek (story by Lisa Yee), astronomy geeks (Wendy Mass), LARPers (Garth Nix), Quiz Bowl geeks (David Levithan), Buffy the Vampire Slayer geeks (Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith), Rocky Horror Picture Show fanatics (Libba Bray), and it's kicked off by a story by Holly and Cecil, about a Klingon and a Jedi hooking up at a ComicCon. Geek categories that didn't get a full story were covered in the comic interstitials between each story, illustrated by Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, including this one:
There's truly something here for everyone. I've really loved how a story that one reviewer may not have cared for was the favorite of another reviewer. Sure, some of the stories speak mainly to hard-core geeks, and non-geeks might not get all the references. But that's kind of the point. This is a book for geeks, by geeks; but it's also a book for past geeks and future geeks.

Other challenges:
-contracts details were a headache--we had to negotiate with many different agents and coordinate payment for 19 different contributors.
-How would the editing process work? We decided that Holly and Cecil would edit the short stories until they were happy with them, and then pass them along to me.
-How to determine the order? At one ALA, Holly, Cecil, and I sat outside in a courtyard and each made our own order--it was like making a mix tape. Then we compared lists and worked out the order together.
-Keeping track of all the stories and all the deadlines was a juggling act for me and my assistant Connie. And yes, I may have once sent queries for the wrong story to the wrong contributor... whoops!
-The subtitle: we went through so many different possibilities, from "Stories of geeks by geeks," "Stories of geeks and the geeks observed," "Stories for your inner geek," "Stories of the Awesomely Uncool," "Stories from the Nerdishly Obsessed," and so on. In the end, it was assistant editor T.S. Ferguson who came up with the final subtitle, "Stories from the Nerd Herd." And yes, we debated the difference between geeks and nerds, but in the end, we felt that this was a book for geeks and nerds alike to relish in. This is a picture we took of Holly right after we settled on the subtitle:


Working on the package for this book was so much fun. The designer Ben Mautner had the genius idea of approaching Design collective eBoy for the cover avatars. Our brilliant marketing team came up with the idea of having eBoy make avatars of each contributor, which we also used throughout with each author's bios. (Read more about the cover design in the PW Cover of the Week article here.) We even made a wink at the whole "All Your Base are Belong to Us" thing on the back jacket flap ("All Your Stories are Belong to Us."). Viva the nerd herd!

The book has been greating great reviews, including from trade reviewers:
“Throughout, this all-inclusive love fest plays homage to the classics of D&D and Star Trek, but there’s plenty of room for fans of new faves such as the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and Joss Whedon-verse as well…Geeks, old and new school, will appreciate this collection written by their own.”--Booklist

"Geektastic explores universal themes in original settings, and its talented authors bring transparent, infectious enthusiasm to what is obviously a cherished topic."--The Horn Book

Blogs: "Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci's wonderful anthology of nerdy fiction and comics, Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd was a great read: the short fiction ran the gamut from soul-searing angst to high comedy and all the territory in between....All told, Geektastic is a cliche-busting, smart, and funny book about celebrating your inner mutant. Highly recommended." --boingboing.com

But my favorite review is from one of our teen Hip Scouts: "I’m not sure that I can describe how much I loved this book, but I’ll do my best. Imagine kittens sneezing adorable kitten sneezes whilst dancing on a rainbow. That’s how great Geektastic was."--Meg, 16Read more about GEEKTASTIC here, and play a game featuring the avatars, the Great Geek Escape!

Read a recent interview with Cecil and Holly here. Check out pics from our Geektastic bowling party at BEA here. And check out the fantastic Lego avatars our resident Lego expert Jonathan Lopes created for ALA:
I LOVE this book. Love it.

So, how geektastic are you?

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Cross-posted from the Blue Rose Girls.

Beyond the Book: Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin*

Looking back, I was disappointed to discover that I had never written a post dedicated to Sean Beaudoin's debut novel, Going Nowhere Faster, which came out in April 2007. Going Nowhere Faster was a novel about an unmotivated genius, Stan, who has just graduated from high school and is working a dead-end job at a video store. I called it Good Will Hunting meets Clerks. It was hilarious, with a sharp voice and memorable characters, and from the moment I read the proposal, I knew that Sean was a special writer, someone with a bright future.

His second book, Fade to Blue, does not disappoint. In fact, in my mind it changed Sean from "just" a contemporary, humorous, smart writer, to a writer where there are no limits. A writer who can do anything, a writer who will keep surprising.

Fade to Blue is what I call Donnie Darko meets the Matrix. Or maybe it's Charlie Kaufman meets I Am the Cheese. Or perhaps it's Feed meets Be More Chill. However you describe it, this book is crazy. It's crazy good.

Speaking of crazy, the book starts out from the point of view of Sophie, a goth girl who thinks she just might be going crazy. Her father disappeared mysteriously almost a year earlier, on her 17th birthday. And now her 18th birthday is approaching, and she's having these crazy dreams. And did I mention that there's a weird Popsicle Truck stalking her?

Kenny Fade is the opposite of Sophie. He's the big man on campus, basketball star who has everything. But it's not all perfect with him, either, because, like Sophie, he thinks he may be going crazy.

The book alternates chapters between Sophie and Kenny, with some chapters from Sophie's brother O.S. and some other mysterious figures thrown in. It's a mind trip, and above all, it'll take you on a ride. It's innovative, funny, smart, and a little bit scary and sad, too. And it will make you think.

In terms of how this book came to be, this was not one of those books that came to me almost done. This one needed work. Because there were so many twists and turns, and because the mystery element was crucial to the overall success of this book, I needed help--I needed that invaluable "fresh read" several times throughout the revision process. In addition to my assistant, I had to recruit the help of three other editors along the way to give me that fresh read. This was truly a group effort, and a fun one at that. The revision process was as crazy a ride as the book is.

The book's title was also a challenge. The proposal came in called Sour White, which never felt right to me or the acquisitions committee. In the book, Sour White is the name of a soda that plays a key role in the plot. But most of the people we polled, and for some reason mostly women, had a negative reaction to the name. So, the author came up with a long list of other possibilities, including: Scatterblue, Standing Without Permission, Black Kite Blue, Splickity Lit, Sky Blue, Code Blue, Neon Blue Panic, and more. (BTW, Sophie's last name is "Blue")

What do you think? Do any of these appeal more than Fade to Blue? Maybe one will work as the title to a future book.

In terms of the design of this book, a lot came from the idea of having a comic book artist illustrate the cover, as a comic book plays an important part in the plot. But Sean took it a step further and asked if it would be possible to include an actual comic in the book. Now, when he asked this, I think my first thought was "Cool," and I think my second thought was, "How the heck do we do that?" Luckily, the amazing designer, Kirk Benshoff, who at the time had started to work mainly with our graphic novel imprint, Yen Press, was up for the task of figuring this out with me. We started by coming up with a list of possible artists. I believe it was Sean's agent who suggested Wilfred Santiago, who ended up being the artist we chose. And from there, it was working out the budget for the interior comic, having Sean write the text and description, and then Wilfred worked his magic.

Here are some shots of the 12-page interior comic. Does this mean that I can now say that I've edited a comic book?

And finally, check out this fantastic blogger review. Perhaps we'll put a blurb from it on the paperback edition: "This book is nine different level[s] of F*CKING AWESOME!"

I concur.

Sean is hard at work on his third YA novel, tentatively titled You Killed Wesley Payne which is due to pub next Fall. It's a slick, noir-ish mystery set in a high school where the cliques are battling for power. So: What do you think of that title?


*pronounced something like "bo-DWAH"

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In honor of Grace Lin's book launch for her new novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, here's a video I took of her showing off the book:



Head over to her book site for more book launch fun and giveaways!! The T-shirts she's made are adorable.

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Greetings from Boston! Or, Somerville to be exact. I came up for a quick, whirlwind trip yesterday (heading back this afternoon) for a surprise engagement party for fellow BRG Anna and her beau Bruno. The party had an Indian Wedding theme, and was very fun and festive. Here's our requisite BRG photo op:

Last week I received a bunch of fabulous news about some of the books I edited:

1) The Curious Garden will be reviewed in the NY Times next weekend. The book is called "quietly marvelous" and “As all good, enduring stories are, The Curious Garden is a rich palimpsest. Echoing the themes of The Secret Garden, it is an ecological fable, a whimsical tale celebrating perseverance and creativity, and a rousing paean, encouraging every small person and every big person that they too can nurture their patch of earth into their very own vision of Eden.”

Aside from just being just a fantastic review, it taught me a new word--palimpsest! The Curious Garden is also up to #5 on the NY Times bestseller list!

On Saturday I went to Peter Brown's book signing at 192 Books, and as we were so close to the Highline, we took a walk over to take a peak at the inspiration for The Curious Garden. We weren't allowed up yet (it's opening in June), but here's Peter in front:

2) Thursday night at the Edgar Alan Poe awards ceremony, Tony Abbott won for Best Juvenile Mystery for The Postcard! It was really thrilling to be there with him to celebrate. It was a "real" awards ceremony, like the Golden Globes, with everyone all dressed up, eating and drinking and merry making, and eagerly awaiting each award presentation. It was so exciting to hear Tony's name announced as the winner. His speech was exuberant and gracious, funny and heartfelt and sweet. And the little statuette they give is really cute!
3) And finally, because good news comes in threes, I found out that Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, illustrated by Ed Young, has won the Asian Pacific American Library Association (APALA) award for best picture book!

I love good news. Keep it coming!

And speaking of good news, congratulations, Anna and Bruno!

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(Cross-posted from Blue Rose Girls.)


Our Focus meeting for our Spring 2009 list is this afternoon. I've touched briefly on this before, but I thought I'd take this opportunity to procrastinate from preparing for the meeting by talking a little bit more about what Focus means.

This is how I defined it in an earlier post on Bloomabilities:

For those of you who don't know what Focus is, it's sometimes called Launch, sometimes called Presales. Basically, it's the first formal meeting that we have to introduce our books on a certain list to the sales force. Generally, we have a Focus meeting, then a Presales meeting, and finally the formal Sales meeting.

And so, to set the stage: our Focus meeting is held in the largest of our conference rooms. There is a large table on one end of the room, and additional seating set up as rows of chairs on the other end. I'd say that there are usually about 50 or so people in attendance--generally just the in-house sales and marketing people, which would include Trade Sales, International Sales, Special Sales, Subrights, etc. Occasionally, some of the regional sales reps will attend as well.

In preparation for the meeting, editorial has updated the Title Fact Sheets (these are called Tip Sheets at other publishers, and probably have still more names elsewhere) which are distributed to attendees. Basically, these are what they sound like--they give all the facts for our titles: price, trim size, page count, age group, pub date, etc., a "handle" or tag line, a longer description that will include plot information, selling handles (for example, "Great for Valentine's Day promotions" or "Book has a fun seek-and-find element that lends itself to multiple readings"), reviews and awards for previous books if applicable, and sales from previous books and comparable titles.

Our Marketing department puts together a Power Point slide show, coordinating with Design and Editorial to get the appropriate cover images and interior images.

Our publisher and associate publisher start the meeting with a quick wrap-up of the last season, talking about numbers, successes, books that we shouldn't forget about, and then we go into the new season. Generally, the presentation is ordered according to genre/age group--we do picture books first, then novelty, then middle grade, then young adult. Each editor presents the titles they've edited; we have just 1-2 minutes per title, so we have to be pithy. In addition to quickly introducing the project, touching on the plot, we try to bring in a memorable anecdote that will help get the Sales group interested and excited, remember the book, and then be able to pitch the book themselves to our accounts.

In addition to introducing the books to our Sales group, Focus meeting is also an opportunity for us to get feedback from the larger Sales group on everything from format, covers, prices, and more. Sometimes the feedback is welcome and useful, but sometimes it can be frustrating if we get negative feedback on something that may be too late or too difficult to change. And of course the reaction we're always hoping for is that at the end of the meeting everyone applauds and says, "What a strong list!" and seems excited to start selling.

Let's hope that's the reaction we get this afternoon.

And now, to give you a sneak peak, here are the books I'll be presenting (with their tag lines!):

Picture Books:

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
In this beautifully illustrated environmental story by Peter Brown, a young boy tends to a meager garden which blossoms and spreads across the city.

When the Moon Forgot by Jimmy Liao
An evocative, gorgeously-illustrated story about an unusual friendship between a boy and the moon, who has forgotten to return to the sky, by world-renowned illustrator Jimmy Liao.

Sergio Saves the Game by Edel Rodriguez
Sergio, the adorable penguin who won our hearts in Sergio Makes a Splash, returns with a story about soccer, determination, and discovering one's true talents.

Middle Grade:

Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez
A heartwarming debut middle grade novel about a young Latina girl navigating growing pains in her South Texan city.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (YAY!)
A new middle grade novel that crosses fantasy with Chinese folklore in a wondrous story of adventure, devotion, and friendship, from the creator of the beloved Year of the Dog.

Young Adult:

Geektastic edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci have united in geekdom to edit a collection of short stories from some of the greatest names (and geeks) in YA literature. Get your geek on!

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin
An intriguing, smart, and satisfying YA mystery in the tradition of M.T. Anderson's Feed and Ned Vizzini's Be More Chill. This is Donnie Darko meets Ghost World.

Paperback:

The Postcard by Tony Abbott
The Devouring by Simon Holt (the hardcover is pubbing this Fall)


And now, back to working on my presentations!

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If you happen to be free tomorrow (Saturday, March 8) between 1:00 - 1:25 pm EST, tune into WBAI 99.5 FM to hear me interview authors Grace Lin and Justina Chen Headley about their books out this year (that I edited): YEAR OF THE RAT and GIRL OVERBOARD, respectively.

WBAI is celebrating International Working Women's Day by having 29 hours of women-only programming, and an organization I've been involved with, the North American Taiwanese Women's Association (NATWA) asked me this year if I'd like to put together the segment. We taped last night, and I think it went okay, despite me losing my voice earlier in the week due to a cold (if you hear a cough in the background while Grace is speaking, that was me--I thought my mic was off!).

I actually had a lot of fun doing this--I did a lot of radio in college (news producing, reporting, and anchoring, plus deejay and production training) but none since, so it was cool revisiting that world and being at a radio station again.

You can also tune in via their website.

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I just posted over at the Blue Rose Girls about what I'm working on now, plus I also highlighted a few of the books I've worked on that are available this fall. Check it out here.

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I think I'm recovered from ALA now. I hope to do a whole wrap-up on Monday over at the Blue Rose Girls. But in the meantime, I'll just say that it was busy, exhausting, thrilling, and fun. I attended the Caldecott/Newbery dinner for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I seemed to have barely a minute free from Saturday through Monday, was booked most days from 8:30 am till 11 at night. It was the busiest conference I've ever attended. But more on that later. I got home late Monday night, only to go to work early on Tuesday to prepare for our Focus meeting for our Spring 2008 list. For those of you who don't know what Focus is, it's sometimes called Launch, sometimes called Presales. Basically, it's the first formal meeting that we have to introduce our books on a certain list to the sales force. Generally, we have a Focus meeting, then a Presales meeting, and finally the formal Sales meeting. At my company, the editors usually only get to present their titles at Focus, and then only the editorial directors present at Presales and Sales (although this policy keeps changing). Just to give you a sneak peek, my four hardcover titles for the Spring 08 list are:

Sergio Makes a Splash by Edel Rodriguez: this is the first picture book both written and illustrated by Edel, and he's using a completely different art style--very simple, graphic, bright. Sergio is a penguin from Argentina who loves water but doesn't know how to swim.

The Blue Stone by Jimmy Liao: our follow up to The Sound of Colors, this is another 80-page breathtakingly illustrated book. This one follows the journey of a blue stone as it is transformed from one thing to another. It's carved into an elephant statue for a museum, then becomes a bird statue in an elderly woman's garden. It becomes a stone cat in an orphanage to keep the children company, and a heart-shaped necklace for a teenager's first love. This is a story of the different possibilities of life, and finding home again.

Crocs! by David Greenberg, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger: another installment in the "gross animal" series, alongside Slugs!, Bugs!, Snakes!, and Skunks! When a boy and his dog need a break from the busy, dirty city, they go to a tropical island for vacation, not realizing they're about to encounter an islandful of crocodiles.

The Postcard by Tony Abbott: his follow-up to Firegirl (now out in paperback), this one is quite different. I like to call it Holes meets Chasing Vermeer meets Carl Hiaasen. When Jason's grandmother dies, he's sent down to Florida to help his father deal with the funeral and selling of her house. A mysterious phone call leads Jason to discover an old postcard that launches him on a journey to uncover family secrets.

So, keep an eye out for these books come Spring! In terms of my workload, I'm almost done dealing with this list, and am about to start concentrating on my Fall 2008 list. I have a lot of novels on that list, so I'm anticipating more craziness. I had a moment of despair today thinking about it. There are times when work is hectic, but I can see an end in sight, I can see it getting better. But today, I realized that for the next three months its only going to get worse. My cube has been a disaster zone for the past month, and it's past the perfect mess state, and has now reached the unproductive, I-can't-find-anything state. But I stayed at the office till 9:30 tonight, put together my new shelves that I ordered from OfficeMax, and managed to create a semblance of order once again. I went through old emails from a month ago and responded and sorted emails dated up to June 7th. I'm hoping to get through another few weeks worth tomorrow. I'm feeling better. I'll have two days next week to catch up, and then I'm off for vacation to Southern CA for a family reunion on the Fourth of July. I have no more trips planned for the rest of the summer, so I should have plenty of time to get work back on track.

I think I can, I think I can.

On a brighter note, last night I went to see Manu Chao at the Prospect Park bandshell. It was a miserably hot, sticky night. The subway down there was slow and crowded. I was sweating sweating sweating. But after I finally met up with my friends, drank down a cold beer, made a work call, and finally the music started, all was wonderful again in the world. The rain held off until the middle of the encore, and by then it was welcome and exhilarating. We danced in the rain. Later that night, my phone stopped working. It said "Car Kit" on the face of it, for some reason. I googled it and discovered this was probably due to water damage. I thought I'd have to buy a new phone. But today, I went to Verizon, and instead of asking me if the phone got wet, the technician said, "Well, this is usually a sign of water damage, but as there is no physical evidence of this, we'll replace the phone." Woo-hoo!

Sometimes things work out.

Okay, I pounded out this post because T.S. complained that I don't post a lot anymore. Happy now?

Oh, one more thing. I FINALLY finished reading Carter Beats the Devil which some of you have noticed has been in my "What I'm Reading Now" queue for probably the last 6 months or so. You probably thought I just wasn't updating it, but you were wrong. I've really been reading it for that long. I kept putting it down and starting other things and losing it and then finding it again and reading more. It was a really really great book, and I wish I had read it without all those breaks, but regardless, it was still a fascinating, compelling read.

I'm hoping to finish New Moon tonight, which I've also been reading for a while.

And with that, I say good night.

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I'm very happy with how the books I've edited have been received so far. This year I had four starred reviews for four books: Year of the Dog by Grace Lin, Sound of Colors by Jimmy Liao, Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley, and Firegirl by Tony Abbott. I got more good news last week: Firegirl got its SECOND starred review!

So I'll take this opportunity to write about Firegirl just as I've written about Year of the Dog, Nothing But the Truth, and others.

This one came to me the traditional way, from an agent, but the interesting back story to how that came about is that it was sent to me because the agent, George Nicholson (a legend in the children's publishing field) was impressed with the work I had done to acquire Flight of the Dodo by Peter Brown, which was represented by his then assistant, Paul Rodeen. So I would never have gotten the opportunity to work with Tony if I had not met Peter at that illustrator party so many years ago. I like thinking about what events and connections had to have been aligned in order for something to happen.

So George sent Firegirl along to me. Tony Abbott is fairly well-known for his commercial, paperback-original series with Scholastic, The Secrets of Droon, but Firegirl was something completely different. I don't remember what the George said when he sent it over, but I do remember sitting in bed one night and starting to read the manuscript. I had no idea what it was about (I generally don't like to read cover letters before diving into the manuscript, which sometimes has proven problematic because there is oftentimes a due date or other pertinent information in the cover letter)--and I actually thought it was going to be a science fiction or fantasy novel, partially because of the title, and partially because the agent must have mentioned that his previous series was fantasy. At any rate, I had that delicious feeling of anticipation when you start to read a book or watch a movie that you know will be good but you have no idea what it's about. I distinctly remember feeling my heart beating faster because I was realizing the manuscript was special from the first few pages, even before getting to the part where Jessica joins the narrator, Tom's, seventh-grade class. I remember actually laughing out loud at Tom's fantasy sequences and thinking, wow, that's what I do. That's how I think. And then came the part where Jessica joins Tom's class, and that sealed the deal for me. Jessica, you see, is a severe burn-victim, and ultimately this book is about how her presence, even though she's only there for a short time, changes Tom's life forever.

My initial impression was right--this manuscript was special, from beginning to end. I found it to be compelling and quietly powerful, most of all because it was a novel that showed that even the smallest of gestures can make a powerful difference in a person's life. I brought it that week to our editorial meeting, where another editor wholeheartedly and passionately loved it as much as I did (thanks, Sara!), propelling it to our publications committee meeting where it went on to easily be approved. It was really interesting to see how much the novel touched everyone, and more than one committee member recounted a similar instance in their childhood that affected them.

We signed Mr. Abbott up to a two-book deal, and I hope Little, Brown will be his home for his literary fiction. Firegirl took very little editing on my part--my comments were all very small ones, and the changes that Tony made were subtle. It came to me in almost perfect shape, so I cannot accept any of the praise that it has been getting, except to say that I recognized this beautiful, wonderful book. Aside from its two starred reviews, it's received many other glowing reviews, including this one. Some say it has Newbery potential, but I'm not even going to dare to hope, although I certainly think it deserves it! (Then again, I think all of my books deserve Newberys and Caldecotts. Someday, someday... it's on my list of things to do before I die.) Oh, and since I'm talking about this (literally) beautiful book, I would also like to give props to the designer Tracy Shaw for the perfect jacket design.

Tony is working on his second novel now which is due out next Fall of 2007, and I'm very excited to say that although it's completely different, it's wholly as wonderful. I have no doubt that he is a future Newbery winner many times over, and I know he has a long, incredible career ahead of him. I'd be honored to be along for the ride!

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Firsts are special. First steps, first word (mine was "hammer"), first kiss, first relationship, first you-know-what, first job, first baby, first spouse (haha). My first book acquisition is special in so many ways, least of all because it was my first. It's special because it was the perfect book to BE my first. It was a book I absolutely loved, and even though the first draft (that I read--not the author's first draft!) was so different from the published book it became, I loved each manifestation of it along the way. The book is Blow out the Moon by Libby Koponen. It's a book about a feisty young girl who moves with her family (by ship!) to England, where she deals with dreary grayness, prejudice, and unpleasant change. She eventually ends up at a boarding school in the English countryside where she finally finds her bearings, learns to ride a horse, learns proper manners, and grows up just a little bit. It's a charming, wonderful book that reminded me of all my favorite books growing up: LITTLE WOMEN, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, LITTLE PRINCESS, CADDIE WOODLAWN, etc etc.

The manuscript originally came to me after my boss at the time, Megan, received her own imprint at L,B: Megan Tingley Books. She decided to open up our submissions guidelines somewhat and allow unsolicited query letters, and I was in charge of reviewing these letters, as well as the manuscripts I requested to see. I liked Libby's description of the book and sent a letter that I'd like to see the whole manuscript, and the letter was returned to us as "address unknown." Luckily, we also had a conscientious intern who took the time to track down the author's email through her website which was (also luckily) on the original letter. It turned out that Libby had a major typo in her return address!

Well, I read the manuscript, loved it, my boss read it and saw something in it as well and told me I could ask for a revision, which I did. After I believe two revisions, we took it to our acquisitions meeting where it was well-received, but unfortunately several key members of the committee were not in attendance, and they were not as enthusiastic about it. So, I went back for another revision. Happily, though, because my boss saw my passion for this project and was willing to give it a chance, we were able to sign it up, and I made my first-ever call to an author to make the offer. That is still one of the highlights of my career so far.

Libby and I met for the first time for lunch at Silvertone (the BEST mac and cheese EVER) for my first expensed lunch. We had, of course, talked on the phone and had many correspondences since then, so we were already dear friends, but that was confirmed when we met in person. Libby is a kindred soul!

At this point, our relocation to New York was taking place, so again things were a bit in limbo in terms of it's publication date, but after many more revisions and several moving of lists, it was finally published in the Spring of 2004. It's first review was from Booklist--a star!

"The word delightful is overused in reviews, but it's difficult to find one that's more appropriate for this novelized memoir -- though warm and cozy would do in a pinch."--Booklist

It's since received many other glowing reviews, was picked by the NYPL as a Top 100 Title for Reading and Sharing, and was a Massachusetts Honor Book. It has just come out this Spring in paperback (with a newly illustrated cover!), so I'm hoping that it will reach a whole new audience.

This was a very sweet first for me, and also Libby's first published book. But the best part of all of this is that I gained a new friend for life in Libby. She wears glitter on her face, cooks a kick-ass meal and is a wonderful host, has traveled the world (and isn't done yet!), reads voraciously, and has a unique view of the world. Her personality really shines through in her writing, and I hope to work with her on many more books to come. But she and I will always remember our first time.

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I have every intention of blogging about Thailand, but as more time goes by, I'm not sure if I'll get to it. I'll try. I kept up with my journal while I was there, so I can always refer back to it. I also wanted to talk about the Kindling Words retreat (http://www.kindlingwords.org/) that I attended this past weekend. But first, I wanted to blog about THE YEAR OF THE DOG before Lunar/Chinese New Year is too far in the past.

All of the books I edit are my babies and I love them dearly, and I know you aren't supposed to pick favorites amongst your children, but this one is so near and dear to my heart. It's a very special book about friendship, identity, and finding one’s passion in life, and for many reasons is exactly the book I wished I had growing up, and exactly the book I hoped to publish when I became a children’s book editor.

As childhood friends when I lived in Upstate NY, Grace and I were two of the few Asian children living in our small town. We bonded over our love of books, and devoured any book with Asian American characters (at that time, there weren’t many!). Grace and I remained close even after I moved away, and twelve years later, we were roommates in Boston just as we were both starting out in the children’s book industry: Grace as a children’s picture book author and illustrator, and I as an editorial assistant at Little, Brown. As the years passed, we both progressed in our careers, and at the same time, Grace’s picture book audience was growing older and asking for older books. Little, Brown was also looking to publish more novels, and I kept asking Grace if she'd ever considered writing one. One day (at Kindling Words in 2004, in fact) she told me, “I wrote it.”

I read it in one sitting, and imagine my surprise and delight to find that I was a character in the book! (My name is Melody in the book, because I thought it would be weird to edit a book with a character of my same name. When my parents were deciding what to name me, they narrowed it down to either Alvina or Melody, which is why Grace chose that as my name.) Many of the stories in this novel are based on events that really happened to us as children: our struggles with our ethnic identity, as well as school issues, friendships, and crushes—it isn’t too often that an editor gets to work on a book that tells her story, too!

THE YEAR OF THE DOG is both hilarious and poignant, and very powerful in its own way. I am thrilled to have played a role in introducing it to the world. Please go out and buy it, for yourself, for a friend, for a relative. If you do read it, I'd love to know what you think! It's gotten rave reviews so far, including a starred review, which is a rare thing. I'm hoping it'll sell a bazillion copies and becomes a classic. It deserves it!

And yes, this year is the Year of the Dog. It's a good year to discover your passion in life, if you haven't already.

You can check out grace's website at: http://www.gracelin.com/. She also has a great blog here: http://pacyworks.blogspot.com/

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