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Even more very nice news – Powerless has been selected as a 2012-2013 Reader’s Choice Nominee!

This means that my little book will be making its way into more classrooms and into the hands of more readers than ever before. A big thanks to the Virginia State Reading Association for this honor.

I hope to meet some of the great educators and readers this spring when I come down there for the Virginia Festival of the Book! (details forthcoming on this visit)

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You know that one place (or maybe two) you've lived in that, from the moment you got there, just felt like home?

I've lived all over the Midwest, East Coast and Western Europe, and as luck would have it, that place, for me, is Charlottesville, Virginia. Every time I get back, I feel like I'm home. It's funny, too, because I spent the five most difficult years of my life there. Difficult because I was writing a dissertation, and, for me, just about every other challenge I've faced in life has been a thousand time easier than that gut-wrenching, sleep-depriving, paranoia-inducing academic obstacle course. Still, Virginia turned out to be the perfect place to do it.

My husband and I made really great friends there. Friends we still keep in touch with although we've been gone now for (gulp) ten years. And the air has just right smell to it. And the food, just the right taste.

So when I was invited to speak at the Virginia Festival of the book in C-ville this year, I was ecstatic. The kids were ecstatic. It was like a second Christmas in Spring.

Except for the trip out. It was...what is the right adjective here...insane? We missed our connecting flight in O'Hare due to weather (I'm not sure what kind of weather because it was in the 50s and raining, but that's what the airline was claiming was the cause of delays and the reason they didn't have to try very hard to get us out until, say, next Spring). Pandemonium ensued. It was two weekends ago, the first weekend of Spring Break in the Midwest, and everybody was trying to get somewhere. Let's just say that it was a minor miracle we were able to get anywhere near Virginia before I'd aged another year. I think the gods of aviation must have intervened because before my birthday dawned on Sunday, we were at my brother's in Chesapeake.

My kids were then subjected to the usual, learn American history firsthand routine. I took them the Yorktown, Jamestown, and colonial Williamsburg. It rained, but it didn't matter. We were too excited to be back in Virginia. Then it was off to Charlottesville (C-ville to townies and students) for a week of school visits. My kids spent the time with their godparents and old friends, one of whom took them hiking two days in a row.

When I asked my kids if they were having an okay time, what with my being away all day at schools, my ten year old looked at me and said, "Are you kidding? I would have come here without you!"

Needless to say, the week went by way too quickly, and it was suddenly Saturday morning and I was off to the Festival. Red letter day. Got to see old writing friends, talk on a panel with them about setting in kidlit, schmooze, meet lots of authors I'd never met before, and round the evening off with a dinner at a cozy tapas joint in town (where we all learned to never order the tu

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Our moderator was children's author and environmental economist, Barbara Kanninen, who asked perfect questions, the kind that make you think, and inspire you to have a great answer, and that five MG writers will each respond to in different ways.


Here's one of Barbara's insightful questions:

Continuing on our theme of adults, I was struck, in reading your books, at the strong roles that parents and/or teachers play in the stories.  Traditionally, we often think of children’s stories as happening without parents around.  A lot of children’s book characters are orphans, for example, or runaways, or they discover that they’re wizards, or the sons of Gods, and they have to go away to a special school or camp.  

But you all chose to include adults and family as prominent and important characters in your stories.  Would you talk about this decision?  Did you know from the beginning that these adults would be important people in your main characters’ lives?  How did you know you were striking the right balance between including adults and keeping your story kid-driven?

Excellent, right?

However, I have to say that the highlight of the panel for me was seeing this non-adult in the audience:



You can find more pictures at Anne Marie Pace's journal.

Still to come: moderating the Land Ho! panel about setting in YA and children's fiction. Wow oh wow, did I learn a lot.

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We all lost an hour this weekend. Zoop! Gone. Don't let the rest of the week slide by, too. I'm inspired by this quote I pulled from An Altar in the World:

"Why, when God's world is so big,
did you fall asleep in a prison
of all places?" ---Rumi

I can't wait to read the whole chapter, because it's entitled "The Practice of Getting Lost." Oh, right. I need lots more practice at that. It's not good enough that I've gotten lost returning to my hotel room from the lobby. Or that, yesterday, my husband and I hiked up to an overlook called Shepherd's Point, and I said, "Wow, what a great place for a sunrise service!" to which he said, "If we weren't facing west."

If you need more ideas to keep you awake and out of prison, I suggest:

The Virginia Festival of the Book is this weekend. Every year, the VFB is terrific, but this year, it has an expanded children's and YA author focus, with FIVE panels focused on the Kidlit world. Come out and savor the day.

Right now, this minute, go read my editor's beautiful essay, "Raised by Reading: A Life in Books from the Children's Literature Festival to Harry Potter." It's intellectually sharp and emotionally honest, just like Cheryl is.

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Author Fran Slayton calls it a "free children's book writing conference." See why.

P.S. I'll be on this panel, Saturday, March 20th:

(10 a.m.) Terrific Kids’ Novels Adults Will Love Too  (Moderated by SCBWI member and author Barbara Kanninen)

If you are writing for middle graders, this is the panel for you! Operation Yes is a finalist for the Cybil Award; When the Whistle Blows and The Last Newspaper Boy in America were in numerous Mock Newbery programs around the country; and Mockingbird and Leaving Gee’s Bend are getting great buzz prior to their upcoming releases. Come listen to these authors read from their works, discuss publication, and talk about all things middle grade writers need to know!

Fran Cannon Slayton (WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS)
Kathy Erskine (MOCKINGBIRD)
Sara Lewis Holmes (OPERATION YES)
Sue Corbett (THE LAST NEWSPAPER BOY IN AMERICA)
Irene Latham (LEAVING GEE’S BEND)

and I'll be moderating this one:

(2 p.m.) Land Ho! Creating New Worlds in Any Genre  (Moderated by SCBWI member and author Sara Lewis Holmes)

Whether you’re writing fantasy, historical or contemporary fiction, world-building is part of your craft. Come listen to five authors discuss how to build believable, memorable worlds that readers will love falling into.

Suzanne Morgan Williams (BULL RIDER)
P.J. Hoover (THE EMERALD TABLET)
Keri Mikulski (SCREWBALL)
Stacy Nyikos (DRAGON WISHES)
Barrie Summy (I SO DON’T DO SPOOKY)

In between, I'll be listening to all the other great discussions. Thanks to authors Anne Marie Pace and Fran Cannon Slayton for organizing this booktastic day.

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