April – June news for the Class of 2K7
It has been a busy three months for the Class.
Teens at Plainfield, Illinois public library read advance copies of Melissa Marr’s book, Wicked Lovely, for their April book group. Wicked Lovely received a starred review from Publishers Weekly in April, and was chosen as a Book Sense Summer 2007 Pick. Melissa lunched with members of the Michigan BGI (Borders and Waldenbooks) children’s division in April, spoke at the ABC New Voices luncheon in May, and attended the Balticon Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention in Baltimore where she served on two panels (“Feminism in YA” and “Is it worth it to write a book?”). While at BEA in June, Melissa did a Podcast interview and book signing. She also signed books in Altoona, PA and at ALA in Washington D.C.
Kelly Bingham’s Shark Girl received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal. She made her first author appearance at the Book Nook in Ellijay, GA. Kelly says, “It was a wonderful experience!” She’s happy to report that Shark Girl is already in its second printing.
Film rights for Sara Zarr’s Story of a Girl were sold to Mixed Breed Films (Kyra Sedgwick and Emily Lansbury producing) by co-agents Eddie Gamarra of the Gotham Group and Michael Bourret of Dystel & Goderich. Sara participated in the Summer Blog Blast Tour, produced by Colleen Mondor of Bookslut and Chasing Ray. Story of a Girl has been nominated for a Texas Library Association TAYSHA, an ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, and is now in its fourth printing.
On June 2, A.C.E. Bauer, author of No Castles Here, was a featured speaker at the Ninth Annual Shoreline SCBWI Conference in Madison, Connecticut. She discussed how she revises manuscripts for publication, and was particularly thrilled to be able to share the day with her editor, Lisa Findlay of Random House Books for Young Readers.
Julie Bowe celebrated the April 1st debut of My Last Best Friend with a sold out book launch at Borders in Eau Claire, WI. She had a busy spring visiting schools, providing media interviews, and memorizing the terrific reviews she’s received from Publishers Weekly, Kidsreads.com, School Library Journal, and more! Julie is thrilled that My Last Best Friend is included in Kirkus Reviews 2007 First Fiction Spotlight: Promising Debuts from Important New Voices. Julie is hard at work planning summer/fall book events and working on a sequel to the story. She loves hearing from kids who have read the book and, like a best friend, she always writes back!
Suzanne Selfors is happy to share that To Catch a Mermaid has been selected by the Junior Library Guild as a Premier Fall Selection.
Girl Overboard by Aimee Ferris has been recommended as one of Justine Magazine’s Page Turners in the June/July issue. Girl Overboard was also listed as a Summer Read Pick from the Girls Say What blog for Allykatzz teen community, earning “two paws up!” Aimee celebrated the book’s release in May with an outdoor tropical signing party at The Golden Notebook children’s bookstore in Woodstock, NY where readers can order signed copies of the book online at: www.goldenbook.com
Ruth McNally Barshaw, author and illustrator of Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel launched her book on May 1. She visited dozens of Michigan schools, bookstores, and libraries, spoke at the Michigan Library Association Spring Institute, the Michigan SCBWI Spring Conference, the Ann Arbor Book Festival, and the Lansing School District Calbery Awards Ceremony. Ruth also participated as a judge in Detroit’s PBS Reading Rainbow writing competition for children. In addition, she donated a painted table to her local PBS auction. The table, featuring 34 scenes of Lansing family activities as well as her book’s heroine, Ellie McDoodle, went to the Capital Area District Library after spirited bidding. Despite the frenzy of such a busy spring, Ruth found time to complete the first draft for a sequel to Ellie McDoodle which is due out with Bloomsbury USA in July, 2008. Both books are a sketch diary hybrid (a combination of graphic novel and journal) aimed at kids ages 7-13. In the first book, 11-year-old Ellie travels with relatives she can’t stand, keeping a sketch diary of the trip. In the sequel, Ellie begins sixth grade at a new school in a new city, sketching her encounters with bullies and broken friendships. Ruth’s website and sketch blog (ruthexpress.com) put a fun spin on all her author events, with lots of extras for both kids and grownups.
The Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson was nominated for the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list in May!
“This gritty story has great appeal.” So says Kirkus Reviews of Jeannine Garsee’s book Before, After, and Somebody in Between. Jen celebrated the book’s release with a launch party at Borders in Strongville, Ohio on June 26.
Sarah Beth Durst had a very busy spring, with lots of events leading up to and following the release of her book, Into the Wild. On May 5, she returned to the town of her college alma mater to be a guest author at the Princeton Teen Book Bash. After snagging lots of free books at BEA in early June, she did her first book signing on June 9 at the Worcester Public Library in Worcester, MA. This was followed by her first school visit on June 12 at Village Elementary in Syosset, NY. On June 16 Sarah woke up early to do a two-hour live radio interview/reading on the Hour of the Wolf program on WBAI 99.5 FM in NYC. She celebrated her June 21 book launch with a reading/signing/party at Book Revue in Huntington, NY. Two days later, she continued the celebration with another reading/signing at Books of Wonder in NYC. Hours later, she hopped a train to Washington D.C. to attend the ALA conference! Now she is in dire need of a long nap.
Beauty Shop for Rent by Laura Bowers was featured in the June/July issue of Girls’ Life Magazine as one of their top three picks! The book was also featured in the April 26 and May 24 issues of Publishers Weekly Children’s Bookshelf newsletters.
Tiffany Trent, author of In the Serpent’s Coils, the first book in the young adult fantasy Hallowmere series, enjoyed several April happenings. She was interviewed by Chris Eboch for a historical fantasy article that will appear in the 2008 Children’s Writers and Illustrators Market, served as a panelist at Technicon in Blacksburg, VA, and was guest author at the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) Support Teen Literature day at Benito Juarez High School in Chicago, IL. While in Chicago, she was interviewed by three local news affiliates and three newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. In May, Tiffany served as a panelist and reader at Balticon, signed books at BEA, and was interviewed by Joe Kennedy of The Roanoke Times as well as Teens Read Too (www.teensreadtoo.com/InterviewTrent.html). In June, Tiffany signed copies of In the Serpent’s Coils at ALA where she also enjoyed reading at the Live@Your Library stage.
Eric Luper’s novel, Big Slick, was selected by Richie Partington as a Richie’s Pick!
Autumn Cornwell is excited to announce that foreign rights for Carpe Diem have been sold to Mondadori in Italy and The House of Books in Holland. In addition, the audio rights for Carpe Diem have been sold to Rebecca Bullene at Listening Library.
City of Bones author, Cassandra Clare, went on a seven-city book tour with fellow urban fantasy author Holly Black. Dubbed the “Iron and Bone” tour for the authors’ books, the duo traveled to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Chicago, Ann Arbor, and New York. There were many terrific events, but one stands out. In San Francisco, Not Your Mother’s Book Club (a book club for YA enthusiasts sponsored by Books Inc) held a Goth Prom with an urban fantasy theme. Everyone came dressed in their darkest finery, and Cassandra and Holly were guests of honor. They signed books and chatted with fans while gothic music played and sparkling pixie dust was scattered on the attendees! The bash was such a success it was later featured in Publishers Weekly.
In the course of promoting her book, Reality Leak, Joni Sensel has run into two long-lost high school pals, traded a book for a potted pansy, gotten out of bed at 4 a.m. for a breakfast event, accepted autographs from three readers under age eight, spent two hours in a hallway with an untuned middle-school band, worn a plastic lei, personalized a book for a customer who then decided not to buy it, dealt with one inexplicably angry parent, and had her book donation rejected by fundraising auction organizers in favor of a giant plastic hammer. She also managed to finalize copyedits on her second book, The Humming of Numbers, and got the news of the sale of her third book on the day of Reality Leak’s release. Couldn’t be better!