Tonight, tonight!

There's an event that you've all heard of right?  I've been publicizing it non-stop.  I've invited more people to it than I did to my wedding.  You're invited, too!

In case all my shouting from the rooftops didn't make it to the rock you are hiding under, pop by the Loft (Open Book Building, 1011 Washington Ave S., MPLS) tonight at 7 PM for the Launch of Split!  It should be a blast -- a party!  There will even be some Mexican munchies after the reading.  Free.

  And then tune in tomorrow to learn all about "Split's Tour!"  It will be a multi-city engagement!

On Giving Readings

Shortly after I graduated from college and landed my first job, my boss asked me to introduce her at a talk.  I had no idea what to say, so I pretty much said nothing.  Just a "Mary asked me to introduce her and here she is."  Seriously, I think that's all I said.  Maybe less.

Since, one of my job requirements to train up to 200 people at a time, I had to learn how to say more than a few words in front of a crowd.  So, I did what any logical, honest person would:  I tricked myself.  I reasoned: no one comes for me.  They want information is a reliable and quick way.  My trick served me well.  As a presenter.  As a teacher.  

But definitely not as a reader of my own work.  I can't hide behind the material because the material is something I've created.  I've invariably gotten ill before readings. Given this little phobia, I was concerned about reading on the radio.  Not only an audience, but it was being recorded.  I prepared diligently, taking a few hours, marking up my copy, and timing out the segments.  

I walked into the booth.  Five microphones were perched around a table with a center console where someone was doing a show.  The microphones were ridiculously huge.  (Why do microphones needed steroids? I wondered.)  I put on the headphones, listened to the opening, and started reading.  

And I loved it.  Not having a visible audience seemed to free me.  The interview was a blast; I received great questions from Charlotte Sullivan.  When I was done, I had no idea what a said.  Good thing it is downloadable from KFAI.

I have a big reading coming up, the launch of Split on March 20th at the Loft at 7 PM.  I've invited everyone.  You're invited, too.  Come on by.  See if my new trick works.  This reading, I've learned, isn't for me; it isn't even about me.  It's about my readers.  And knowing that, I'm ready.  I hope.  I'll keep you posted.

Winner Announced for 3 Rivers Rising Giveaway

Congrats to Caroline Starr Rose!  You'll have an ARC of Jame's lovely book your hands very soon.

Thanks to all who entered! If this was any indication of Jame's forthcoming success, I'm sure she is grinning from ear to ear.

I suppose the downside of the doing a drawing is that there is only one winner.  Sorry to all who didn't get it. The only consolation I can give you is that in one month you can buy it!  I know I am pre-ordering my copy.

Reminder -- One Day Left

To win Jame Richard's fantastic Three Rivers Rising, enter here for a signed ARC!  Kirkus gave it a starred review.

I suspect this book will be big once awards roll around.  In fact, it has already won a Pen New England and the Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award.

Some details:

Sixteen-year-old Celestia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy. It’s a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May, 1889. After days of heavy rain, the dam fails, unleashing 20 million tons of water onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the valley below. The town where Peter lives with his father. The town where Celestia has just arrived to join him. This searing novel in poems explores a cross-class romance—and a tragic event in U.S. history.

And:

"I loved this powerful story that is wrought with such skill and told in soaring language. Readers will long remember these memorable characters as they struggle against disaster. A splendid work!"

 -- Patricial Reilly Giff

 I'l be sad to part with it, but you'll be happy to receive it.

Release Day

I had some misgivings about release day.  My theater background means that opening night is a big deal:  you get your first audience, get your first feedback, and of course, you get to see the performance how it was meant to be seen.

But releasing a book is different.  And I was worried it would be a little anticlimactic.

My day started out with the highlight.  My 8-year old daughter invited me to join her in her classroom to celebrate the release.  I was a little worried about talking to second graders about domestic violence.  I told them that Split was inspired by a time when I used to help people handle bullies.  I think that's pretty fair.

I asked them to tell me about a time they had helped someone.  Oh did those hands go up!  Everyone had helped someone:  a baby sister whose diaper needed a change; a friend who needed a band aid, a boy who played with someone who was feeling left out.  We talked about the cover and it didn't take long before someone said he could see the faces, not just the keys.  Oooh.  Ahhh.  Really cute.

I went from there to breakfast with my husband and a couple of friends of mine, Patrick Hueller and Charlotte Sullivan -- both of whom will have books out someday, both of whom helped me along on Split's journey.

Then I had this totally wonderful experience inside Barnes and Noble.


 OMG! Top Shelf. Centered.

Ooo... signing stock!

See the green sticker on the cover.  It says autographed copy!



So amazing.  I hit a bunch of stores before picking up my kids from school.

To finish out this practically perfect day, I headed out to dinner with more friends.  We ate Indian food and celebrated.  They brought me beautiful flowers and a Starbucks gift card "for the next book" they said, knowing that my favorite way to work is at Starbucks with my earbuds in.  They also had bought books and I signed those.

But the best compliment of the night was that I could not sign books for two of my friends.  Why?  Because the wonderful, independent bookstore, The Wild Rumpus SOLD OUT! (More copies due in on Friday.)

Not anticlimactic at all.

Up next on Second Story Reading Series: Lynne Jonell and Stephanie Watson

Little refresher:  Heather Bouwman and I co-curate the Loft's Second Story Reading Series.  We feature MG and YA authors and pair them up so that readers can come for their favorite and discover another author.  We've been having a blast at these.  

This time we are doing book giveaways!  You'll have a chance to win Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls, and The Secret of Zoom.  But that's not all.  You could also win Elvis and Olive or an ARC of Stephanie Watson's second in the Elvis and Olive Series, which is coming out in July. Honestly, these book are so great that I want to enter. But, I'll buy them at the reading instead, so I won't go home empty-handed.

We'll also have tasty treats and door prizes.

And, because the Loft is awesome, all readings are free.

Second Story Readings:  A Reading Series for Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Come to listen to one author.  Stay to discover another.

The Loft Literary Center

Open Book, second story

1011 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis

Saturday, March 6^th, at 10 a.m.

Lynne captures and keeps her readers from word one.  She's one of those authors who knows how to keep the pages turning while giving us such much more than a page-turner.  She gets to a deeper level that makes her stories valuable without ever sacrificing a sense of play and suspense.  I can see why she won a Minnesota Book Award for her fabulous Emmy books.  Great writing! Open one of these book and you'll sink right in.

Lynne Jonell is the author of three middle-grade novels (Emmy & the Incredible Shrinking Rat, winner of the 2008 Minnesota Book Award; Emmy & the Home for Troubled Girls, and The Secret of Zoom) and seven picture books.  Her work has received starred reviews in Horn Book, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Sesame Street Parents.  She lives in Plymouth, Minnesota with her husband and has two grown sons.  

The Secret Zoom 

By Lynne Jonel

Christina lives in a stone mansion on the edge of a forest surrounded by barbed wire, an electrified fence, and signs that read “TRESPASSERS WILL BE BOILED.” High above looms the Starkian Mountain Ridge, and deep within the forest is the laboratory where her mother was blown to bits when Christina was just a baby.

 Christina’s father, the head scientist at Loompski Labs, knows how dangerous the world can be.  So he keeps his daughter safe at home, and forbids her to talk to the very interesting orphans down the road.

 But when an orphan named Taft talks to her, whispering of a secret tunnel, Christina forgets about safety to help him escape.  All too soon she and Taft discover that there is far more to the orphanage, Loompski Labs, and the mystery of her mother’s supposed death than she ever suspected...

 

Stephanie's Elvis and Olive is one of the best book I've read for capturing that period in girlhood when you're just learning that your parents aren't always right, that friendships are strange and wonderous things, and that boys are next on the horizon.  Her characters are drawn in a crystal-clear fashion and I recognize them and want to spend time with them.  So, I'm excited that Elvis and Olive is a series.  

Stephanie Watson’s debut novel, Elvis & Olive, was a 2008 Junior Library Book selection and a Washington Post Book of the Week. The sequel, Elvis & Olive: Super Detectives will be on store shelves in July of 2010. Last year, Stephanie created Life is Life, an online story in words and pictures. A groundbreaking storytelling experiment, Life is Life has drawn online readers from over 50 countries.

In addition to creating fiction, she teaches writing at the Loft Literary Center, gives classes in improvisation at Dreamland Arts in St. Paul, and runs a web copywriting agency called PlumLines. 

Elvis and Olive

By Stephanie Watson

Ten-year-old Natalie Wallis is a shy bookish perfectionist. Annie Beckett (age nine) is a wild tomboy liar. Why do these two very different girls become friends? Because they’ve got some serious spying to do.

“Even the most dull-looking people do all kinds of weird, interesting things when they think no one’s watching,” Annie says. With this in mind, the girls form a secret spying club and start snooping on their neighbors under the code names Elvis & Olive.

By the end of their summer together, Elvis & Olive have uncovered a number of strange secrets about their neighbors. Eaten far too many freeze pops. And formed a friendship like no other. 

Three Rivers Rising Give Away!

Remember when I went to Boston for ALA Midwinter?  I met Jame Richards whose debut novel, Three Rivers Rising, is coming out on April 13th.   Before I went, I was lucky enough to get an ARC of the novel.  I was eager to read it because of its beautiful cover, because Jame is a Class of 2k10 member, and because she is published by Random House, like me.

So, as soon as it came in the mail, I opened it.  I'll admit, then I kind of groaned, discovering it is a novel in verse.  And, it is historical fiction.  Which, to me, is two strikes against it.

But reading it was entirely groan-free.  In fact, it had be me gasping.  At one point, I read a beautiful line that had me picturing a moment that I held my breath until it passed.  Then when I tried to read on, I had to stop and share that moment with someone, anyone.  I walked into the next room and read it aloud to my husband who nodded solemnly in the wake of the power.

Three Rivers Rising gives you that and much more.  But don't take my word.  Enter here for my giveaway!  That's right.  A signed ARC of Three Rivers Rising in your hands before the book is released.  

You've got until March 13th to enter.  (One month before the release.)  Enter by leaving a comment.  +1 entry for tweeting in your right. +2 entries for blogging about it.  +3 for following my blog.  Increase your chances, people; it's worth it.