Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Martha Brockenbrough will have a biography of Alexander Hamilton for young adults coming out next fall. Meanwhile, The Game of Love and Death made the International Literary Association’s Young Adult Choices 2016 list.

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New on the drawing table for illustrator Erik Brooks? His first board book project with Sasquatch Books! Stay tuned for additional news in future posts, but here is a cover sketch and some sample color for IF I WERE A WHALE by Shelley Gill:

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Dori Hillestad Butler skyped with classrooms in Texas, Maine and Hawaii this month and shared some behind-the-scenes stories about  Haunted Library #7: The Ghost in the Tree House (Grosset & Dunlap), which was published this Spring. She also learned that Japanese, Portuguese and Czech language rights have been sold to the first three books in the series and that book club rights to book 2 were sold to Scholastic.

Dori was excited to hear that the Washington Library Media Association has created a new transitional chapter book award (the Otter Award) and her Haunted Library #1 is on that first list. Washington kids will vote on their favorite chapter book starting in 2017.

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Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams are happy to announce that film/TV animation rights to their Goddess Girls series have been optioned to Universal Home Entertainment.

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Clare Hodgson Meeker‘s Rhino Rescue! just got a great review from Booklist (May 1, 2016). Here are a few excerpts:

“Featuring three stories of dramatic, inspiring rescues and rife with color photos, this National Geographic Kids Chapter series entry offers and engaging, accessibly written addition to animal-rescue-themed books….”

“…Word pronunciations, including locations, are helpfully embedded within the main text, and factoid-rich sidebars add helpful bonus information…”

“…Throughout, the featured animals provide a personalized account of the challenges facing endangered animal species while highlighting their human rescuers. The back matter includes information on rescue organizations.”

 

It was also chosen as A Junior Library Guild Spring 2016 Selection.

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At the end of April, Lisa L. Owens had the great pleasure of Skyping with Grade 5 students from Konawaena Elementary in Hawaii. At the students’ request, she discussed the making of her graphic novelizations of the classic tales Black Beauty and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then answered the kids’ insightful questions about the writing life. In early May, she donned her editor’s persona to give an in-depth talk for the Northwest Independent Editors Guild on her extensive experience doing developmental editing in the children’s market. And, just last week, she learned that her forthcoming elementary-level biographies about explorers Hernán Cortés and Robert de la Salle have a publication date. Look for them from Lerner in Fall 2017.

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Laurie Ann Thompson is thrilled to share that Emmanuel’s Dream is a Notable Book in the Children’s Africana Book Awards!

It has also appeared on several more state lists, including being a Star North Nominee in the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards, a nominee for the 2016-2017 Black-Eyed Susan Book Award by the Maryland Association of School Librarians, a nominee for the the 2017 Children’s Literature Association of Utah (CLAU) Beehive Award, and a Transitional Non-Fiction Honor Book in the 2015 Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Awards.

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Trudi Trueit is currently writing a pair of nonfiction books for the Detecting Disasters series: Detecting Avalanches and Detecting Volcanoes (ages 8 – 10). A former TV weather forecaster, she’s written a number of books about weather watching, storm chasing, and the water cycle for classroom and library use across North America. The disaster books will be published in the summer of 2017. In the meantime, look for her new nonfiction children’s titles later this summer, Mother’s Day Crafts and Birthday Crafts (both from The Child’s World). Trudi worked in a craft store through high school and college and loves all things crafty! For more of her nonfiction titles, visit her website at www.truditrueit.com

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Suzanne Williams had a great time speaking to K-5 students at Eastgate Elementary’s 27th annual Young Author’s Day in Bellevue on May 20th. She also signed 162 books!

Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Here’s a peek at what our members have been up to this month:

Erik Brooks has final cover art/design to share for July’s Later, Gator! (Sterling Children’s Books), and he couldn’t be more pleased. He is also excited to Skype with Schickler Elementary for his first World Read Aloud Day on February 24.

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Martha Brockenbrough was on the national SCBWI faculty in New York, where she taught techniques in social media. She also interviewed Rainbow Rowell. She’ll be visiting a community in Kansas City in March, and a school in Connecticut in April.

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Patrick Jennings has been visiting schools in the Sno-Isle Library District as his book, Odd, Weird & Little is on the reading list for their Mega-Fun, Biblioday-Trivia, Rockem Sockem Reading Challenge. He’s also been doing Skype visits with participating schools that he’s not visiting. (There are 40 schools participating in the challenge!) The kids, all in third grade, are super-excited about participating (i.e. studying the books that they will be quizzed on in team competitions). He’s been having a ball!

Patrick’s drawing pad after a presentation. They wrote a story in fifteen minutes based on audience suggestions.

A librarian’s jacket with last year’s book list embroidered on it

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Dana Sullivan writes: I just had a GREAT experience in New York City! While there for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators winter conference, I stopped in at the 42nd St. Public Library, where I met Louise C. Lareau, the children’s librarian. She grabbed some of my books off the shelves, which I signed. THEN I got to sign the author guest book! And THEN I got a NYC library card! You don’t have to be a NY resident and it’s good for three months. I don’t have any plans for checking books out, but I flash that card whenever I can. The next day I went back for a visit and my books were on display. I definitely  ♥ New York!

 

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Earlier this month, Laurie Ann Thompson presented to 130 young changemakers at the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) Student Diversity Leadership Retreat for middle school. Students learned about acceptance and social justice, brainstormed ideas and plans for how they could increase diversity and inclusion at their schools, and then shared their best ideas with the group. It was an inspiring event for all! Laurie also spoke recently about how to Be a Changemaker to a mixed group of students and adults on behalf of the Newcastle Youth Community Engagement Program.

In awards news, My Dog Is the Best was awarded a 2015 Blue Ribbon from the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB), and Emmanuel’s Dream is a finalist for the 2016-2017 Georgia Children’s Picture Book (Gr. K-4) Award!

Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Here’s a peek at what our members have been up to this month:

Martha Brockenbrough worked with aspiring novelists and poets at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, where she was a guest faculty member for their winter master’s degree residency. She likes working with grownup writers almost as much as she likes working with students (and is available to Skype with groups of teachers as well).

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Dori Hillestad Butler thought she was ending her Haunted Library series at book 8, but two days after she turned in the final revision, her editor offered her two more books. She had to quickly do a little more revision to book 8 so she could continue the series, but now she’s prepared to keep the series going indefinitely. Here’s a sneak peak at the cover of book 7, The Ghost in the Tree House, which comes out the end of March.

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Dia Calhoun and Lorie Ann Grover are excited to announce the upcoming publication of The Magic Cup by Howard Behar. The two critically acclaimed authors collaborated in the writing of the corporate fairy tale with Behar, former president of Starbucks International. The book encapsulates the values he has held as a leader throughout his life, such as truth, courage, compassion, and responsibility. The Magic Cup helps us discover that only by acting on sound moral values can we fill our lives with the personal and professional success and satisfaction we seek.

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Joan Holub has two new books out this month. This Little President: A Presidential Primer is a board book with simple information and facts for your little leaders-in-training. Perfect for Presidents Day and Election Year 2016. What Was Woodstock? is a groovy new chapter book for ages 7 and up about the 1969 rock music festival in New York.

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The ALA Youth Media Awards were announced last week, and Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson received a Schneider Family Book Award! This award is for books that “embody an artistic expression of the disability experience.” Emmanuel’s Dream was also included in the ALA Notable Children’s Books list for 2016.

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center announced its CCBC Choices list for 2016, which included Emmanuel’s Dream and My Dog Is the Best.

And, Be a Changemaker: How to Start Something that Matters won a Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in the Helping Others & Philanthropy category.

 

Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Here’s a peek at what our members have been up to this month:

Erik Brooks recently upped the ante on his Online Author Visits expertise by screen sharing both a slide show from his recent arctic explorations and a Photoshop window so that he could draw polar bears and other critters as a part of the presentation. And it was awesome! Erik is also finishing final art for Later, Gator! (Sterling, 2016) and is still sending polar bear post cards to the president via The Presidential Polar Bear Post Card Project! 42 down and only 273 to go! Read more about it in post #1 at: http://polarbearpostcardproject.tumblr.com and you will find a template as well if students and teachers would like to participate!

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Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams had new releases in their Goddess Girls and Heroes in Training series this month.

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Dana Sullivan just reviewed the final proof of Digger and Daisy Plant a Garden, the sixth in the D&D series by Judy Young. Everything looks great and he can’t wait for Sleeping Bear Press to release it March 1, 2016. More info at http://sleepingbearpress.com/shop/show/11715

This delightful review of Digger and Daisy Star in a Play just came in from 6-year-old Raif: Digger and Daisy are two dogs who are brother and sister. They are going to be in a play at school. The problem is that Differ wants to have a talking part, but he is just a tree. Daisy is going to be a princess, but she only has two words to say. Digger says the other people’s words everywhere — in the bathtub, at the playground, on the bus, and everywhere she goes. Daisy keeps telling him that he is a tree, and trees do not talk! Digger tells Daisy to say her words over and over so she will not forget, but she doesn’t because she only has two words. But the night of the play, she forgets them! Can Digger help her out? I like this book because it’s fun and silly. Why does anyone have to be a tree? They could just cut the tree out of cardboard and stand it up! But it’s a good thing that Digger was in the tree because he saved the play. This book is easy to read and I could read it by myself. I like the pictures because they are colorful and funny. See more about Digger and Daisy Star in a Play at http://sleepingbearpress.com/shop/show/11702

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Laurie Ann Thompson was thrilled to learn that Emmanuel’s Dream will be performed on stage in Maine by the Portland Stage as part of their Play Me a Story Theater program for kids. It was also selected by the Chicago Public Library as one of the Best Informational Books for Younger Readers of 2015! After a flurry of amazing school visits covering grades K-12, book signings, interactive workshops, a Google Hangout, and in-person public appearances this past month, Laurie is looking forward to staying home for a change and working on the first book in her upcoming series, Two Truths and a Lie (co-authored with Ammi-Joan Paquette). Laurie’s dog, Prim, says it’s about time, but she wishes she didn’t have to share Laurie’s lap with the laptop.

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Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Here’s a peek at what our members have been up to this month:

OAV authors Erik Brooks, Dori Hillestad Butler, Dana Sullivan, Laurie Thompson, Trudi Trueit and Suzanne Williams recently joined their Northwest colleagues in Seattle for the Inside Story. Educators, booksellers and book lovers of all ages packed the auditorium above Mockingbird Books to hear our authors talk about what inspired their new books. The event is sponsored by the Western Washington Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of SCBWI’s Crystal Kite Award to OAV’s own Laurie Thompson for her inspiring book, Be A Changemaker. The Crystal Kite is an award voted on by peers, recognizing outstanding books from 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world. Congratulations, Laurie!

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OAV authors Martha Brockenbrough and Janet Lee Carey joined YA authors and hundreds of YA librarians at the YALSA Symposium in Portland, Oregon. Highlights included the Book Blitz–a terrific confluence of energized YA librarians and YA authors coming together at a single Saturday evening book signing. Martha and Janet signed stacks of The Game of Love and Death and In the Time of Dragon Moon for library shelves and lucky teen winners in libraries across the U.S. Generous publishers (Scholastic for Martha B. and Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin Random House for Janet C.) donated books for the YALSA Blitz. Here’s Martha with Mindy Mathis, a Napa library. A good time was had by all!

                                                                       
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Martha Brockenbrough‘s Game of Love and Death continues to collect awards. It was one of Amazon’s YA Books of the Year and also made Publisher’s Week’s Best of the Year list for YA.
                                                                       
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The sixth book in Dori Hillestad Butler‘s Haunted Library series, The Ghost at the Fire Station, launched on November 3 and to celebrate her publisher sent her on tour! She visited schools and bookstores in Fort Collins, Chicago and Miami. The highlight of the tour was reconnecting in person with her 6th and 7th grade English teacher, Mr. Hartshorn. When Dori was in 6th grade, she wrote a novel for
Mr. Hartshorn for extra credit. She believes she is an author today in part because of his response to that novel.

Dori’s first Haunted Library book also won the Silver Falchion award for “Best Children’s Chapter Book” at Killer Nashville, a place for thriller, suspense and mystery writers and literature lovers.

If you’re in the Seattle area, visit Dori and the 26 other local authors who are participating in the Seattle 7 Writers Holiday Fest at the Phinney Neighborhood Center on Saturday, November 21 from 3:00 until 5:00.

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November is Picture Book Idea Month and Joan Holub helped kick off PiBoIdMo 2015 with three ways she comes up with ideas. And she’s giving away a wooden castle to celebrate idea #2, which inspired her new picture book, The Knights Before Christmas. Read to the end of her post on ideas for a chance to enter!

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In addition to the Crystal Kite award, Laurie Ann Thompson has a couple of other new awards to smile about. Emmanuel’s Dream won a Eureka Nonfiction Honor Award from the California Reading Association and Be a Changemaker received a Gold Medal from the Moonbeam Award.

She also recently returned from the AASL annual conference in Columbus, Ohio, where she met many inspiring teacher librarians, signed books, and moderated a panel on “Changemakers in Society: Books that Motivate Kids to Solve Problems and Make the World a Better Place,” featuring fellow nonfiction authors Shana Corey, Loree Griffin Burns, Melissa Steward and Don Tate.

And she released this new book trailer for My Dog Is the Best.

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Trudi Trueit is excited to again be in the author line-up for Sno-Isle Regional Library’s AUTHOR NEXT DOOR series. Come meet her, along with seven other Northwest authors, at this relaxed panel format on Saturday, December 5 at the Mountlake Terrace Library from 2:00 to 3:30pm. Don’t miss this fun event! Probing questions will be answered at deep secrets reveals (writing secrets, that is!). Books will be available for purchase following the event.

Trudi had a great time recently skyping with 3rd to 5th grade students at Old Town Elementary School in Maine all the way from her home in Seattle! The students asked some insightful questions, including one she’d never had before: how does writing affect your social life? The answer? Writing is a solitary career, but she gets out as much as she can!
                                                                      
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Cover Reveal!!! Suzanne Williams reports that she and Joan Holub are thrilled that two more books will be added to their Grimmtastic Girls series in 2016. Book 7: Snowflake Freezes Up releases on April 26. “Snowflake isn’t sure which fairy tale character she is. But with her magical powers causing lots of trouble, she’s definitely on thin ice! So just in case she might be a villain, Snowflake is chilly to her classmates. Can she keep her cool until she knows her whole story or will her social life at Grimm Academy be permanently frozen? 

Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Here’s a peek at what our members are up to this month:

Martha Brockenbrough’s Game of Love and Death is a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. It was also an ALA Booklist pick for Top Ten Romance for Youth, and is a finalist on the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list. If you’re in the Seattle area, she’ll be speaking with Nancy Pearl and Steve Scher this Sunday at Town Hall about grammar.

                       

                                                                        

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Dori Hillestad Butler has online author visits scheduled with schools in Kansas, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Iowa this month. She will also be participating in the Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival in Eureka, CA from October 15-17, and she’s looking forward to promoting her new Haunted Library #6: The Ghost at the Fire Station in early November. She’ll be traveling to schools and bookstores near Denver, Chicago, Miami and around the Seattle area.

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Joan Ho-Ho-Holub “launched” her new picture book, The Knights Before Christmas at Quail Ridge Books with cake and catapults! Publisher’s Weekly called her book’s premise “great”: On Christmas Eve, three young knights guard the king’s castle against a red-and-white invader–Santa Claus!

And more jolly reviews just in for The Knights Before Christmas:
“This rousing, ridiculous Medieval “Night Before Christmas” parody jingles with castle and holiday wordplay. Cheeky digital illustrations brim with good cheer.” – Horn Book

“An excellent interplay between the amusing illustrations and the polished text, with lots of clever jokes for readers to discover in the art. These knights know how to keep the castle safe and readers entertained.” –Kirkus Reviews

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Dana Sullivan is hard at work on final art for Digger and Daisy Plant a Garden, the sixth in the Digger and Daisy early reader series, written by Judy Young. He reports that this book has not improved his attitude toward kale, but the unusually hot summer in Seattle did produce some delicious cherry tomatoes in his own garden.

He’s also teaching graphic novel workshops for the King County Library System. They are for all ages and FREE to library patrons. If you’ve always wanted to create your own graphic novel or comic book in two hours, check out the details and schedule here.

This coming weekend Dana will travel to Beaumont, Texas to speak at a literacy conference at Lamar University. His talk focuses on his path to diversity and inclusion, but Digger and Ozzie are really more excited about Beaumont being the reputed home of hte world’s largest fire hydrant. We’ll give you a full report upon their return.

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Praise for Trudi Trueit’s new middle grade novel, The Sister Solution (Aladdin M!X):”An insightful, engaging tale that celebrates the relationship that sisters share.” –Kirkus Reviews

Tween bloggers 5GirlsBookReviews “recommends this book for anyone that has sisters.” To learn more about The Sister Solution (for ages 9 and up) and download the reader’s guide, head to Trudi’s website: www.truditrueit.com.

If you live in the Seattle area, you’re invited to THE SISTER SOLUTION Book Release Party tomorrow night, Friday, Oct. 16th, from 7 – 8 pm at University Books in Mill Creek, WA! There will be an author chat/signing, food, a trivia contest w/prizes, a student writing display, and more!

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Laurie Ann Thompson has just wrapped up a slew of in-person events for all three of her books, especially Be a Changemaker.

She is soon heading off to Austin to read Emmanuel’s Dream at the Texas Book Festival, where she gets to meet illustrator Sean Qualls for the first time ever!

And, she was tickled to see this new review of My Dog Is the Best pop on Goodreads:

“I just hugged this book. It may be because this dog looks like my dog. But the text is cute and the dog is cute and the little boy is cute. I love it. Hug Hug Hug”  —Laela

Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

Here’s a peek at what our members have been up to lately …

Dori Hillestad Butler‘s Haunted Library #5: The Secret Room (Grosset & Dunlap) was released last week. Now that Kaz can finally pass through walls without feeling all “skizzy,” he can explore Beckett’s secret room at the back of the library. What he finds there is a mystery he never expected.

Dori also turned in a manuscript for Haunted Library #8: The Hide and Seek Ghost this week. This will be the final book in the series.

                                          
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Joan Holub‘s What Were the Salem Witch Trials? released last week. This is a chapter book about an incredibly tragic, fascinating event about which many questions remain. A memorial was dedicated to the Salem Twenty, 300 years after their unjust deaths in Massachusetts, and all were finally and officially declared innocent. Joan has written other books in the Who Was/What Was series with Grosset & Dunlap, including Who Was Baby Ruth?

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Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams celebrated the release of Goddess Girls 17: Amphitrite the Bubbly and Heroes in Training 10: Hephaestus and the Island of Terror this week. 

A fan letter (below) may not have been the deciding factor in convincing Scholastic to continue with their Grimmtastic Girls series (which Scholastic had brought to an end in April 2015 with Book #6: Goldilocks Breaks In), but the letter couldn’t have hurt! Just two months after Joan & Suzanne forwarded a copy of it to our editor, Scholastic asked them for Books 7 & 8. They’ll be out in Summer & Fall of 2016. (Titles are yet to be determined.) 

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Lisa L. Owens has just signed on to write two titles in a 2016 upper-elementary-age series about world explorers. She’ll share more details as the books approach publication!

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Dana Sullivan reports that his illustrator copies of Digger and Daisy Star in a Play arrived on his doorstep last week. This is the fifth book in the early reader series published by Sleeping Bear Press. Judy Young writes the text and Dana draws the pictures. Books are scheduled to be in stores September 1.

Dana also turned in initial sketches for the sixth book, Digger and Daisy Plant a Garden earlier this week. He’s waiting for publisher feedback before making edits and proceeding to final art.
                                                                                        

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Laurie Thompson‘s Be a Changemaker won the Coalition of Visionary Resources Book of the Year Award. For more information, check out her blog post. She’s also recently had the opportunity to do two radio interviews. You can listen to those here and here. And she participated in a group panel and signing event at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL, signed books at ILA in St. Louis, MO, did several in-person summer camp visits, donates books to both her childhood school library and her hometown public library, and went on a very successful research trip for a nonfiction picture book she’s working on.
 
                                                            
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Simon & Schuster is offering the ebook of Trudi Trueit’s middle grade novel, Stealing Popular, for just $1.99! This Back-to-School special is available in all e-book formats but only lasts until the first week of September so don’t wait! Also, pre-order Trudi’s upcoming tween title, The Sister Solution (releases Sept. 29th), and get a bonus gift (while supplies last)! Head to her website for details: www.truditrueit.com.


                                                                        

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Good News from the Online Author Visits Team!

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Here’s a peek at what our members have been up to lately …

Dori Hillestad Butler‘s Haunted Library recently made the ILA Children’s Choice list. The list is a joint endeavor by the International Literacy Association (ILA) and the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and is the result of voting by 12,500 school children from all over the U.S. Haunted Library is also part of Barnes & Noble’s 2015 Summer Reading Program. Children can earn a free book by reading any eight books, recording them in their reading journal and then bringing the completed journal to their local B&N store. Haunted Library is one of the 15 books that first- and second-graders can choose.

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 Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams‘ Goddess Girls Books 1–8 starter collection is now available at Costco! Be sure to pick them up in bulk. Also, a bound collection of Heroes in Training Books 1–4 is soon to be available through Amazon, B&N, & Costco!

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Look for an essay by Lisa L. Owens in Dr. Bernie S. Siegel’s forthcoming Love, Animals & Miracles.

 

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Dana Sullivan gave a graphic novel workshop at Third Place Books Lake Forest Park on June 15. After a quick demo, he turned them loose with these instructions: 1) Introduce the hero, 2) Introduce the villain, 3) Conflict ensues, 4) Surprise twist ending! In less than an hour they all came through brilliantly with crazy and unexpected stories. Below right is one from his friend, Annie. O … 

 
Dana also just received the text for the sixth book in the Digger & Daisy series written by Judy Young  This new title is Digger and Daisy Plant a Garden and he’ll have a few months to complete the final art.

 

In July, Dana will be speaking at the ILA Conference in St. Louis about writing and illustrating his books, focusing on Kay Kay‘s Alphabet Safari, which also made the ILA Children’s Choice List. He can’t wait to meet Shaq and tell him about the real-life inspiration for Kay Kay. (Hint: he’s a real artists in the Kenyan village where the Star of Hope school and orphanage supplies love and education to more than 120 kids). Come to their fundraiser dance July 11, 2015, if you’re in Seattle!)

                                                                              

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Laurie Thompson has had a very busy spring. Her Be a Changemaker won a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award, along with the Society of Children’s and Bookwriter’s (SCBWI) Crystal Kite Award, an honor bestowed on her by her peers in the children’s literature writing community! Laurie’s children’s book, Emmanuel’s Dream was selected for the First Book Stories for All campaign. Laurie also just had a launch party for My Dog Is the Best, which is now available at your favorite online or retail bookseller. 

 
 

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Trudi Trueit recently signed a deal with Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin MIX division for a new middle grade book. American Kestrel (working title) tells the story of an American teen who travels to Canada to help save her grandmother’s ski lodge from foreclosure. To do it, she’ll have to battle of pair of evil twins, save a rock star dangling from a ski lift, and overcome her own worst fear! Publication is scheduled for Spring, 2017. This will be her third title for MIX, following Stealing Popular (2012) and The Sister Solution (releasing this Sept. 29th). 

If you live in the Seattle area, you’re invited to the book launch party for The Sister Solution on Friday, Oct. 16th at 7:00 pm at the University of Washington Bookstore in Mill Creek. Bring your sister (or a best friend that’s like a sister!).

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