including happenings and celebrations...
Out this month: Teach Your Buffalo To Play Drums, by Audrey Vernick, a picture book featuring Buffalo's quest to learn rhythm. Falling for Hamlet, by Michelle Ray, a young adult novel about royalty, true love, and the searing public eye. Sass & Serendipity, by Jennifer Ziegler, a young adult novel about sisters and finding true love. Your Best Friend, Meredith, by Melissa Glenn Haber, a middle grade novel about friendship and finding out what it really means. And FORGIVE MY FINS, the sequel to FINS ARE FOREVER by Tera Lynn Childs, is finally on the shelves!
More news from the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. I can't possibly put all this good stuff on my page; it won't fit! So go to http://tinyurl.com/3wa9kok for the agency's First Annual Awards Spring Roundup. Then click over to http://tinyurl.com/3h2qa5n for the agency's First Annual Foreign Rights Spring Roundup -- and prepare to be flabbergasted!
Ana Maria Rodriguez's teen-and-up nonfiction book AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS is receiving amazing reviews! Every one of them gives it a "highly recommended." Also, KNOW, The Science Magazine for Curious Kids, published her article, Colored Pencils in the May/June, 2011 issue.
Trent Reedy's Words in the Dust is one of Al Roker's children's book picks! See Trent's interview on The Today Show here. And then go here for his interview on The Scholastic Channel. Trent’s second novel, a middle-grade adventure called STEALING AIR, follows three boys in a small Iowa town who set out to build a their own flying machine. It will be out next year.
Erin Moulton is blogtouring for her new book, FLUTTER, which just came out May 12. Chris Barton (CAN I SEE YOUR ID?), Phil Bildner (THE UNFORGETTABLE SEASON), Mary Lindsey (SHATTERED SOULS), and Joanne Rocklin (ONE DAY AND ONE AMAZING MORNING ON ORANGE STREET) are making rounds, too. Check out their websites for more information.
Dotti Enderle's CROSSWIRE is not only this year's Texas Institute of Letters Young Adult Award Recipient, but also received the June Franklin Naylor Award for Best Book for Children on Texas History. Yay, Dotti!
From SCBWI-Houston: Deborah K. Frontiera's historical fiction book Living on Sisu: The 1913 Union Copper Strike Tragedy won First Place in the Purple Dragonfly Awards given by the Arizona Authors Association on Nov. 6, 2010
Mandalay Pictures has made a pre-emptive deal to acquire film rights to Sophie Jordan's young adult novel Firelight, reports Variety.
Cate Tiernan's Sweep will be a movie, too! With the same scriptwriter who adapted Chocolat! More details here.
P.S. I snagged a copy of the ARC for Cate's sequel to Immortal Beloved and I gotta tell you Darkness Falls is even better!
Current Reading
The Penderwics on Gardam Street, by Jeanne Birdsall
Brixton Brothers: The Ghostwriter Secret, by Max Barnett
Chime, by Franny Billingsley
The Devil Colony, by James Rollins (for science geeks)
Congratulations to my friend, Jo Anne Banker, who just won the Romance Writers of America 2011 Golden Heart award for her contemporary series romance manuscript. And a shout to Kay Hudson, who was also a finalist.
News & Gossip
July 10 My best friend is making a research trip to Scotland. Wish I was writing about the Highlands, too!
July 3 Big congratulations to all the Golden Heart and Rita winners (AND the finalists!) recognized at this year's RWA Conference in New York. Wish I could have been there to cheer!
June 21 I took the big step and joined an online critique group! Hopefully, these new readers will help me break through the publication barriers. They are the fabulous Phil Bildner, Cindy Strandvold, and Tricia Lawrence. Be gentle.
April 14 I joined my agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette (Erin Murphy Literary Agency) and others in the 'Gang of Erin' at their annual retreat -- this year in Austin, Texas. Best. Retreat. Ever.
On My Keeper Shelf...
Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade
Tulsa Burning by Anna Myers
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey
Wake by Lisa McMann
Evermore by Alyson Noel
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R. L. LaFevers
The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley
The Penderwics by Jeanne Birdsall
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Shadow Falls by C. C. Hunter
The Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld
Crosswire by Dotti Enderle
What's on your Keeper shelf?